Moving Time

The big move to the Houston area is almost here. I have been busy getting things ready for the move. Once I accepted the new position, I had to find a place to live. The internet is a great way to look at houses and work on getting the selection down to just a few. My husband and I must of looked to over 100 possible houses. Found the one that I wanted. Worked with a great guy from the Houston area in getting this place. Made a fast trip to Houston to check out the house. Got a lease signed and a move in date. Now it is getting our stuff packed (company is going pay for the move) and on the truck and to Houston. Not looking forward to the unpacking - moving company will do the packing but not the unpacking. Will have to put my etsy shop on hold during the move, hope it doesn't hurt sales - they are just picking up. Need to go work on getting a few craft items packed so I'll be able to find them later.

New Job

Got a new position with my company USG in Galena Park TX. That means that I'll be moving from Mississippi to Texas. Galena Park is part of the Houston area. Will have lots of places to go eat and shop at. It will be nice to be close to shopping and have more than 4 places to sit down and eat. Just have to go down and look for a place to live. Have been looking on line and have picked out a couple of houses.

The bad part of this is the getting ready for the move. It is cutting into my craft time and I haven't been putting any new items in my etsy shop. Have been relisting items, but not the same as new items. Have been working on a new tic-tac-toe game but between training my co-workers to do my old job and getting ready for this move I have not been working on my crafts much. Will keep y'all posted.

Quick Update #2

Been busy make some new tic-tac-toe games. They seem to be a good seller for me on my etsy shop. I do need to be making some other items but not in the mood to work on anything else. Had to take some time off from crafts to take a couple of computer classes for work. Fun classes, just long hours that I can't use for crafts.

Seems like I'm painting

Been working on new items for my etsy shop and letting my blog just sit. Sorry for that.

I've been working on some door signs. It is so much fun to watch the design develop as I add new rows and colors. In a way it is like doing a painting, you start with a plain piece of canvas and by add color and texture with your stitches you create a picture.

Some pictures many not be of a set object but a grouping of color. That is what happens sometimes when I do a solid piece. Each color works with the next and before long you have a warm feeling about what you have made. I love sharing that feeling with others. I hope you can find the warmth in my items as you check them out.

Thanks to all of you who are and have been following this blog. I hope to figure out how to follow each and everyone of you. Just give me sometime to work at it.

Following Up

Hope you enjoyed doing the tissue cover. Now that you have made a project of your own, you can see how much time goes into all the items being made by others. Plastic canvas can be made into just about anything that you can think of. There is a large group of people on etsy.com who make items from plastic canvas. I hope you will take time to check out some of them.
Here are a few of their shop names and there are many more.
circleinthesand
NeedleMania
craftylady2420
craftychris
Lorkey1981

How to make a tissue cover.

Are you ready to make something from plastic canvas?
Here are instructions for making a boutique tissue box cover.

Materials that you will need are
1 sheet of clear plastic canvas (91 x 71 threads)
4-ply yarn
Items listed in the “Getting Started” blog posting.


Cutting the Canvas
Using the cutting diagram shown, mark your canvas using the grease pencil. You will have 4 sides and 1 top marked on the canvas (see photo).

Cut between the marked threads for each piece. Cut close to but not into the threads. Use the craft knife to cut out the center area on the top after marking it. Use a damp cloth to remove any markings on the canvas before beginning to stitch you pieces.


Coving the Canvas
The stitch used in this cover is a Scotch Stitch. It is worked over 4 threads. By using different colors for each row or group of stitches, you can change the look of the cover. The sample shown uses two colors to create a checkerboard look. Each group (row) of stitches is worked down and across the canvas. Cut your yarn into 1-yard lengths until you are comfortable with working stitch then you can use longer lengths.
To start leave a 1” or 2” tail on the wrong side of the canvas. Work your stitches over the tail to secure the yarn. Once secure, clip the excessive yarn close to the stitched piece. While working your stitches keep the tension consistent. Stitches should lay flat and you should not be able to see through your stitched piece. End your yarn by running the yarn under several stitches on the wrong side of the piece. If your yarn becomes twisted, drop your needle and let the yarn untwist.
To finish the opening on the top, use the overcast stitch (see photo). The opening should be completed before you join the top to the sides.

Joining
When all pieces have been completed, you will need to join the pieces together. You will use the overcast stitch to do the joining. To join two pieces of canvas, place one piece on top of the other with wrong sides together. Stitch through all layers. Remember to secure the ends of the yarn. Repeat until all sides have been joined together. Now join the top to the sides in the same manner. Once all the pieces have been completed, overcast the bottom of the cover.

You have now completed your tissue box cover!

Getting started with plastic canvas

There are some things that everyone should know before starting a plastic canvas project. And a few items that you should have on hand before starting.

1. Plastic canvas comes in different sizes (based on thread count per inch). There are 5-mesh, 7-mesh, 10-mesh, and 14- mesh count canvas. The larger the number the small the finished item will be. A 7-mesh count canvas will be larger than a 14-mesh count canvas item. When working a pattern, check the canvas count size first before cutting the pieces.
2. Canvas comes in a large selection of colors. Color canvas works best for items with a large portion of the canvas showing (like the crayon keepers I make).
3. There are different stiffness and sheet size in plastic canvas. There are ovals, hearts, circles, and other shapes to choose from.
4. Always before cutting a shape from canvas, check to see if the pattern is in holes or threads. Cutting a pattern piece listed by thread count by a hole count will cause the pattern not to fit the piece.

Some items that will help with a pc project are as follows


1. A good pair of sharp scissors
2. A craft knife for cutting out small areas.
3. A grease pencil for marking the pattern on the canvas. Comes off the canvas with easy.
4. Needle threader. Makes it easier to thread a needle with yarn.
5. More than one canvas needle. Great for multi color projects to have a needle for each color being used.
6. A hole/thread count ruler.

I sometimes rework the pattern on graph paper to make the cutting details easier to follow. I also use the graph paper to work out new pattern colors for my projects. I use 4X4 and 10x10 paper. The 10x10 is great for working out placemats. The 4x4 for magnets and other small items.


Now your ready for your first project.

New look?

Been thinking that I need to revamp by etsy shop. Make a new avatar, banner, and redo my shop announcement. Do you think that would help?

Thinking of going from the methods of the crafts to the items that I make. Setting it up as home deco, accessories, and children items. For the avatar, putting few items in it, so it is easier to tell what I'm selling. Banner - more photos of the items and a different title. When I get some worked up, I will post some possible banners and avatar.

Craft rooms are nice ...

Before my sons moved out on their own, I had all of my craft stuff on one side of my walk-in closet. Would work on a project in the living room or at the kitchen table and have to move it when I was done for the night. But now I have a whole room for it. So glad to have a room where I can go and do my crafts and not move things to be able to eat or make room for guest. Love being able to work on a project and just leave it as is when I have to go do something else.

Here are some views of the room.



My yarn storage, 12 drawers and I need more drawers. Or get all that yarn made up.



My collection of craft patterns. Last count there were over 375 leaflets,
182 magazines with 2147 patterns. And adding more..



More storage and entertainment




My work table. Doesn't look this clean all the time.

Time on my hands

Got a little time on my hands. I should be unstairs in my craft room working on my next project but not in the mood.

I want to thank eveyone who commented on my last entry. I do plan on doing more on plastic canvas. I'll try to do a how to but it will take a bit of time to get everything together - text and photos.

If anyone wants to see more picture of the dollhouse, here is the link to my flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/gailscrafts/

More work than you know.

I always love the look of needlepoint, but didn’t have the time to do cross stitch. Then I found plastic canvas. I fell in love with it. With plastic canvas you use many of the same stitches as in cross stitch but it is so much easier to work with. You can stop, go back later and know where you left off. In fact plastic canvas is used to teach cross stitch to children.

Many people think of plastic canvas and tissue box covers. Do you know that many items are made from plastic canvas? I made a doll house that fits a Barbie doll.

Did you know it takes 8 to 10 ½ hours to make a tissue box cover? Each side is 30 x 38 threads (intersections of the two bars). It takes me about 5 minutes to do 64 stitches. Using that speed, it would take me 1 ½ hours to do one side in single tent stitches. There are 4 sides and a 30 x 30 top, so the total time would be 6 hours (it takes more time to do a pattern) plus 1 ½ hours for the top. This time does not include the time to cut out the pieces, or stitch them together, or to overcast the edges. So the next time you look at a tissue box, think of this information and decided if the seller is selling themselves short.

Florida Part 2

The rain on the first day wasn't the only bad thing to happen on the Florida trip. My hubby decided to wash his cell phone. So the was the end of it - no more calls on that phone. Good thing is that we had a extra one at home to replace it with. Then my daughter missed the bottom step of the stairs in the townhouse we were staying in. Bruised her foot - didn't break anythings. Then on the way home my cell phone decided to crash the sims card. Phones are back up and going after a trip to the store.

Florida Trip

Back from Florida. Had a great time. Got to see my grandkids, daughter, and son-in-law. We rented a townhouse and it was great. Everyone was in the same place and we could spend time talking and getting updated on what has been going on with them. Hubby decided we should go to Seaworld the first night there. That ended up being a bad idea. No more than we get there and the sky open up. We all were soaked to the bones by the time we got in the park. Parts of the park had a foot of water - we ended up leaving and going back to the townhouse. That was the only day that the rain got us.

more later

Getting ready for Florida

Well it been a bit since I got around to posting anything new. Been getting stuff ready for my Florida vacation which is in 4 days. Seems like it was 3 month to go just the other day, man how time flies. Going to see my grandkids during this trip. They are the main reason that we are going. This is more their trip than ours as my hubby is going to let them do most of the picking of where go and what to ride at the parks.

Lap Weaving

Back in the 80’s, I saw an ad in a craft magazine for a loom to make placemats. These placemats looked like a mat of flowers. I decided that I would do that. So when my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told her a set of the looms. Well she got them for me. Those looms sat in my closet for about 5 years before I made the first set. The first ones were for my mom and I’ve been making them for gifts since then.
Later on I saw the square set of looms and got them too. I’ve only made one set of the square placemats. Been thinking that I need to work on some the last few weeks. So maybe I’ll get around to doing that in the near future.

How I got started.

The first time I remember doing something along the lines of crafts was as a child. I grew up on a small farm and didn't have a lot of fancy toys to play with. I remember the first baby doll I had. It came with a couple of outfits, but I wanted more. So I decided to use the material scraps that were around from my mom sewing. I would get a piece big enought to go around the doll and then some. I would cut holes in the material for the arms and wrap it around the doll and would use a strip to tie it. After that there was no stopping me. Learn to sew and crochet from my mom.

Getting started

Just getting started here on my blog. It will take a bit to get much posted. I hope to be able to feature others who are on Etsy. I have a shop on etsy where I sell handmade items. Most of my items are made with plastic canvas and yarn but I have other items as well. I hope you will drop by my shop and check it out.