A fun stuffie soft project!

Sew Mama Sew has got an awesome Spectacular Softies Contest on right now, and this is my submission for consideration!  An adorable luchador mobile that will be entered in the "This is My First Stuffed Toy" category as well as the "Overall Cute Factor" category!

If you've got a contender of your own head over to the rules page to enter yours today!
Have fun and good luck!

  

  

What's your fave?

OK so who doesn't love etsy.com?

In the age of so much internet garbage, etsy is the one place that I know will inspire me, re-charge my ideas and get me in the mood to create (and when the dollar is high- shop!)

Etsy is the world's most vibrant handmade marketplace. Etsy celebrates individual creativity in design and craftsmanship by connecting unique people, stories and items in a playful and meaningful way. Etsy provides a marketplace for crafters, artists and collectors to sell their handmade creations, vintage goods and crafting supplies.

And there are so many great crafts, gifts, ideas and artists waiting to inspire you on etsy!
Alejandro and I got out wedding bands from an esty seller, as did Vanessa and Brendan!
I've also gotten prints, cross stitch designs, digital images, greeting cards and much more from esty, and love to introduce others to the world of etsy!

If you don't already have an account click here to learn How to create an etsy account.

Then I am hoping that once all the bitches have accounts we can share our favourite shops and items with one another!
To see mine click here and feel free to snoop in my wish-list: 
Shauna's etsy faves

  

I want to encourage you to start "hearting" items that catch your fancy, so that you can share them with the other gals!  It's easy to do, but here are the official how-to details from etsy.

When you find an item or shop on Etsy that you love, you can bookmark it by adding it to your Favorites or "hearting".

To heart an item/shop you must be signed in to your Etsy account. Then simply click the link that says Add this to favorites (in the right sidebar on a shop or item page).  If you're viewing search results or a shop, you can mouse over a listing's thumbnail and a heart icon will appear in the top right corner of the image.  Clicking this heart will add the item to your Favorites list without having to view the listing page.

To view your Favorites list, click the heart icon in the gray site header, visible at the top of all Etsy pages.

You can also browse the Favorites of other members by clicking the Favorites link in their Public Profiles. You can see who has hearted a certain item/shop by clicking the link that says See who hearts this item/shop (in the right sidebar on a shop or item page).

If you want to keep your Favorites private, go to Your Account > Settings > Privacy. Here you can choose to make your Favorites private or public.

Anyways, I will leave you to your browsing and hearting, and then bug you at the next Bitch & Stitch you attend to show me your favourites, and get them up on this page, so that the rest of the world can see what you love!  


 Fun!


Oh yeah, one last tip:
When you find a seller that you like, on their shop page, look at the column on the left, and you can click to see their favourties!  That's a great way to find the gems!

lots of catching up to do!

We've been going so strong in the stitching, that the blogging has certainly fallen behind! 

That's OK, if it has to be one or the other, that is definately the order I prefer!

But seeing as I am bound to voiceless tasks in between naps and medication while recovering from my tonsilectomy, I thought I would post some of the pics we've collected from the

Wednesday night Bitch and Stitches since the last post!

To start out, we had a very special B&S in January to prepare for my very rock and roll wedding reception!

 And the first ever man thrown in with the Bitches was Andy!  What a sport!

A special hats-off to Elaine who not only helped decorate the Windsor with us, but also put some hard work in to some very fabulous cupcakes and a super scrumptious wedding cake!  Nicely done Girl!

OK after all the hullabalu, things got back to normal and here is what we've been up to lately,

I've still got that tablecloth to tackle, but the border is already done!

Sandra is trying to fill in these needle work pieces for Mothers Day!  Good luck, happy stitching!

Carmen is still knitting up a storm, then undoing, then knitting more, and will one day soon start giving us tips on the fine art of crochet!

Elaine finished the knitted socks for her Mom and they are already on their way to Newfoundland.  So she's been working on music homework and an adorable little knitted elephant.

Vanessa was rounding out her portfolio last we saw her, by creating an image using only Word.  Tricky stuff!

I tried my hand at an Artist Trading Card the "zentangle" theme.  It was fun!  Then I sent it away in Swap-Bot, and am eagerly awaiting a stranger to send me their rendition!

Speaking of Swap-Bot, I recieved this FANTASTIC cupcake toppers from a woman in the US.  She read my profile and saw that I liked cross stich and am recently married, so she came up with a stitched heart theme!  I combined them with Elaine's winning recipe and voila!  See there are perks to the Bitch and Stitch, other than getting all those crafts done!

These are a set of tea towels that I made for Brendan and Vanessa's wedding.  I figured I has some time to get them done, and then those two love birds went and tied the knot faster than we realized! 

(perhaps as prophesized at the Jan 1 reception?) see below:

ha ha ha ha, what a great time!

Then I also snuck in time to do this embroidery on a cloth caledar for Andy's birthday.  A pretty fitting piece for the future premiere of this fine province, don't ya think?

Now, I don't know how Kara seems to evade having a pic taken of the stellar stocking she is working on taken, but we will remedy that the next chance we get.  We will also need an update from Jacquie, and perhaps some pics of any newcomers who are interested in getting on board!

We also dabbled into "swapping" territory with a book swap, and I would love to propose another swap: either a clothing swap, another book swap, a cd swap, or even a general "stuff" swap!  If you think you'd like to play along let's chat about it at the next B&S!

See ya then!

2011 the year of the stitch

I don't feel like writitng much, so here is just a peek at some of the projects we are tackling, or have finally completed in 2011!   Thouhg, Carmen I totally did not get a pic of your kick butt embroidery!!!   We will have to change that!

And remeber bitches, that Jan 26 will be a bitch & sitch and book swap!   Bring any book you are ready to trade, be it fiction, non-fiction, illustrated and marked up!   This is gonna be good!

Gettin' in the spirit!

OK so I haven't posted an update in a few weeks, but that is certainly NOT because we were not in action!

Now that it's December the bitch and stitch has more steam than ever! 

Here's a peek at what we've been up to:

Carmen wowed us with an amazing wreath, started and completed all in one bitch and stitch!  

Good work girl!  Hard work is a reward in itself!  And as my reward I am going to keep the extension cord you left at my place.... everyone wins!

Jacquie was spread out on the floor snipping, cutting, getting distracted by interesting magazine articles, but eventually gettting back on track and arming herself with all the card making goodies needed for now.

And I've already reaped the rewards!   Gotta love homemade cards (especially with images offolks impailing eachother!)

Tea cozy madness is still in full swing with Vanessa.  The prototype has been fun for us to watch and add our little hints in here and there, and to see how steady her stitching hand is.  I love how it's coming along, and it should be a great excuse to brew up a nice pot of tea!

Elaine has been knitting her heart out on these cute little chair socks...to keep my floor from scuffing as I shuffle from the glue side of the table to the glitter side of the table and which fit Alejandros big toes just perfectly!  hee hee

They are absolutely awesome!  Thanks Elaine!

And me?  I am still working on the epic tablecloth pictured a couple posts ago, and also getting set for the big wedding.  It's all coming along nicely (except for the friggin' veil which is persistently uncooperative) but I will wrestle it into submission yet!

Only a few more weeks to finish those gifts - so it will be full steam ahead for the next little bit! 

See ya on Wednesday!

shit disturbin'

Sandra, Sandra, Sandra...
The heroic David(ette) up against a bunch of cranky, giant, business card hurling, pager wearing, key jingling Goliath team of Manitoban realestate agents! Your homemade sign, no matter how fancy, won't save you now.  I say break the sign off the post and stab the steak through its empty heart cavity until it empties of all its hot air and inflated sense of worth!
And I will help the cause by making snarky remarks about the blazer wearing demons whenever possible!
Oh and sending everyone to see the full story over at the CBC.

Maybe we will see you at the Nov 10 Bitch and Stitch, and can help you reload and win this one!
B&S this time in Wolseley with Vanessa... check your inbox for more details.

Full steam ahead!

Wow... its been over a month of the Bitch and Stitch and I am loving it!!!  There has been such a nice rotation of stitchers involved, and having a standing date "vale la pena" (is worth the effort!)

It's easier than we think to go about our day to day errands and work, unfortunately prioiritizing other things ahead of keeping in touch with friends, but this is a great way to make sure that friends stay on the weekly agenda!  At least that's what I am finding, and loving MOST about the B&S!

So thanks to all the 'bitches' who keep it going!

Last week Vanessa joined us for the first time, and took a considerable chunk of conceptual work out of her tea pot cozy project.  What she put together so far looks great!!  And I think that I might have to get a tea pot cozy going myself!  Plus we found a great little anarchist tea cozy cross stitch pattern with Jacquie a few weeks ago, so there might even be a tea cozy show off in the future!

But back to the here and now!

This weekend Elaine and I headed out to The Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library Fundraiser - brunch and craft learning event.  It was a  great way to get out of the house, go check out the Crafts museum, nibble on snacks  and try some new crafts. 

We started out at the braiding station and jumped right into learning an 11 strand Algerian braid - That's right ELEVEN STRANDS!  And it was pretty smooth sailing after we got the hang of it!

While I puttered away on that Elaine learned another braid using five loops of yarn... pretty neat stuff, and very rhythmic! 

As we braided away, sipped on coffee and chatted with the other crafters there, my attention kept getting sucked back to the felting table.  Felting!  I have recently been so curious about felting, and here was the opportunity to try it out!  Poor Elaine told me I reminded her of her beautiful but wild at heart husky who cannot keep it together if there is a squirrel or rabbit or anything that moves near by.  Try as hard as he might, he just can't collect himself and resist the urge to chase.  ...Well that was me with the felting.
Finally we went over and tried our hand at it!
Its hard to describe, so take a look, then ask for details at the next Bitch and Stitch.
ha ha ha ha  Bait and Hook!

Thats all for now, this week we meet in St.James, I will send out a map of exactly where!