Leanna Needs Your Help

I'm having a bit of a creative block at the moment, and am enlisting the help of my followers to give me ideas. So put your thinking caps on and here we go!

First off, my sister gave my fabric for Christmas. That's fabulous, except I don't know what to make with said fabric. I thought that it would be easy for me to come up with something, but so far I've got nothing. The fabric:
1 yard of blue peacock fabric, 1 yard of spotted yellow fabric, and 2 yards of purple ring fabric.

Close-ups:
What do you see these as? Obviously I wouldn't use all three in one project, but I do think using the first two together would work quite nicely. I know I'm going to use a part of the purple to make a pillowcase for my bed, but not all 2 yards so I need to think of something for that one, too. You aren't allowed to suggest clothing or anything hard like that, but I know how to make pillows, purses, wallets, and other generally easy project like that.

The second thing I'd love some ideas for are a whole bunch of impressionist painting prints that I cut out of a book. The book had been cluttering up my bookshelf for a long time, and I was just about to take it out to the garbage can when the silliness of what I was doing struck me. Prints as big as these usually cost $5+ in art shops, so it would be ridiculous of me to just throw out a book full of them. So out came my scissors, and out came the pictures.
So now I have 22 painting prints that I don't know what to do with. Should I cover a whole wall with them? Should I cut them up and glue them onto books and things? Should I put them in a box and hide it under my bed? Should I burn them? I have no clue. Let me know what you think.

My four favorites:

1. Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Those of you who have seen Amelie will recognize this one.
2. Woman with a Parasol by Claude Monet. I got to see this one at the National Gallery of Art in DC a few years back. Fun stuff.
3. The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. I got to see several van Gogh pieces when I went to the Musee d'Orsay in Paris this summer, though unfortunately not this one.
4. The Dancing Class by Edgar Degas. I did, however, get to see this one, and several others of Degas' dancers. Degas is my favorite impressionist, so it was quite a treat.

Let the ideas fly!

Purse Part 2

I decided to make a purse similar to the one I showed you guys the other day (click HERE for that blog) as a Christmas present for my sister. It's the same pattern, with a few minor differences. First of all, it's a tad bigger, because I switched from a 5/8" seam allowance to 1/4" and didn't alter the pattern size. Second, I used a fusible fleece for all of the outside fabric so it's much more cushion-y and protective. Third, the strap is a bit shorter because I actually remembered to measure it, unlike the one I made for myself.
Fourth, I switched to using magnetic closures instead of hand-sew snaps. SO MUCH EASIER. I don't know why on earth I ever bothered with hand-sewing...
And obviously, the fabric is different. This one is a nice light canvas with a black and white toile de jouy print (there's a nice phrase for your foreign-language vocabulary).

My sister suggested I do tutorials on my sewing projects, which I think is a pretty decent idea. So unpack those old sewing machines and brush up on your stitching skills, because in probably about 3 weeks or so I'll be starting to sew again (my whole family is home right now, which means zero time for craftiness) and I'll try to work on some tutorials.

Vintage Printable

I was doing some blog hopping the other day and came across Vintage Printable, a 100% free source for vintage images, many of which are available in large sizes suitable for printing out. I love old prints and pictures, so I was thrilled to have a whole collection of them all in one place for me to scoop up at will. Some of my favorites (of the dozens that I've saved so far):
I don't know what I'm going to do with all of my images, but I'll surely think of something fabulous sooner or later. Either that or they'll just clutter up my hard drive for a few months.

The one thing I really am not in love with in regards to this site is the site itself. Horrible navigation, and the flash-gizmo that they use to display their images is enough to make even the soundest of tummies feel queasy. Lucky for everyone, there is a solution to the problem.

Once you click on a category at the top, you should see a page that looks like this. The outlined red box is where the flash player they use is. You will notice quickly that anytime you move your mouse over this flash player, the images inside of it will start swirling around at light speed. Apparently this is supposed to be useful. I just think it's dumb.
They tried their darnedest to hide it, but there is a tiny little link below the flash player that you can click on to disable to it.
The resulting gallery isn't ideal, as you have to open each image individually to view it, but it beats getting motion sickness and upchucking all over your computer.
Click HERE to go to their site.
Have fun browsing! If you think of any fun projects to do with these images, let me know! :)

Exchanging Presents with the BFF

Janell and I have been friends since middle school, and best friends for about 4 years or so. For our graduation we got to go to France together for two weeks, where we stayed in Paris for 3 days before visiting her former exchange student in Dijon for a week and half. Fun stuff!

Not a face I ever wish to recreate... but oh well.
In the second pic we are standing inside of a giant wine taster. Don't drink me!

Anyways, Janell came over last night so we could watch a movie and swap Christmas presents, and I just have to show off my creations that I gave her. Well, mostly I just want to brag about this awesome wallet I made. Huzzah!

As a graduation present a friend gave me a mini wallet that she had made, and I wanted one like it but full-size, so I copied her dimensions and then made one for myself. I like it so much (and use it all the time) that I decided to make one for Janell.
It's all lined on the inside, and you can't really tell because of the striped pattern, but there are 4 slots in the front for credit cards and such. This was also my first experience with non-sewing snaps. So much easier than hand-sewing!

I also made her a simple Moss Agate necklace that's a nice earthy shade of green. She's more into simple designs than big chunky stuff, so it seemed like a good match for her.
In return, Janell gave me beads! I love getting beads. She gave me beads for our birthday, too (we share the exact same birthday), and a few times before that as well. She always tells me that I have to make something nice for myself with them. Yes, ma'am! :)

Chrysoprase and Blueberry Quartz. Pretty pretty!

I'll be sure to post pics of what I make out of them.

Sorry I missed Music Monday yesterday! I had zero time for blogging.

I am a Professional Seamstress

... OK, so maybe not. But I am taking a beginning sewing class and was the the first one to finish my project this week.
I've been using my mom's ancient (well, not ancient, but it's older than I am, so it's old) sewing machine, which is actually quite nice and makes the loveliest sound when it sews. And it has the coolest brand name ever: Pfaff. Just say it out loud, I guarantee it will make you smile.

So anywho, this week in sewing class we made pillowcases. And not just any old pillowcases, but decorative pillowcases. Three different fabrics!

Mine turned out pretty fabulously, if I do say so myself. I love the polka dot fabric that I found on sale at Joann's and think it makes a great body for the case.

Unfortunately, my bedspread is brown... so I don't really know why I bought black and white fabric. Hm.