OUT: Muster of YOU! (plus a giveaway)

So many of you have been playing right along with Once Upon a Thread and have done such fun projects.  Here are just a few from the Flickr group:

Sweet Cheeks Design had fun with the princess and the pea!

Liza Jane made this colorful jacket based on the book "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More," actually painting the fabric!  (The book looks like a very fun one, too.)

A Piggy Baby did some cute onesies inspired by "A Color of His Own"

Feather's Flights made this cute applique and somehow managed to capture this shot of her cutie cute mimicking the bird from "Are You My Mother?"  Love it.

And we all recognize these characters from Richard Scarry.  Good job girls from Crafting Makes the Heart Grow Fonder!

Darling bunny from "Fluffy" and I'm loving the cover to the book as well!

A peasant dress from Bremen Town Musicians, great applique work!

Story dolls-I can pick out Pippi Longstocking, can you tell who the rest are?

Colorful Skirt and Shirt inspired by Suki's Kimono written by Chieri Uegaki--makes me want to check out the book!

"Little Blue and Little Yellow" land on a hoodie!  

"The Little House," of course!  You'll want to click to see Jane's great roof detail.

Another one you'll want to click on to see the interior details from "Will You Be My Mommy." 

Another Pigeon Project!  Look at the tie.  Love that detail!  Good job, Jen.

Richard Scarry's characters in a quilt to keep you warm!  Darling, and fantastic embroidery.

and a matching "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" quilt!

"Emily's Balloon" recreated by stamping random red stars on the fabric.  Brilliant!

And I've been waiting for this one to appear!  "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See."  I know my little Cloves would love this as she "reads" it.

Look what those lovely gals at Clever Charlotte came up with using their patterns, as well as the Knuffle Bunny look alike!

I hadn't heard of this book before OUT, but think I need to check it out, because I certainly have 7 silly eaters of my own!

You really just need to check out the Flickr group to see them all, such great projects, everyone!  I wish we could just all meet up and have a night of sewing and sharing our inspiration and eat avocado ice cream with almond cookies.  I think I'll put it on my wish list to Santa.

Now, for one more giveaway to send you off from another round of Once Upon a Thread, I have 3 patterns returning from last OUT, Follow the White Bunny!

This would be a great holiday project to take with you when you travel, you know, just in case you have the itch to sew in the midst of the fruit cake and mistletoe.

Okay.  So: 

➊ Leave a comment to enter to win one of 3 patterns!

➋ Please include your email address if it's not linked to your profile.

➌ Open JUST TODAY!! (so hop on it. ;) Closed!

Thank you one and all for another great round of Once Upon a Thread!  

It was delightful as usual!

OUT: Itsy Bitsy Spider with Make It and Love It

Ashley from Make it and Love it is here today!  If you don't know who Ashley is, maybe you just got the internet?  She has loads of tutorials that are perfect for those who are new to sewing or experienced seamstresses who want a quick project.  Her ideas seem to be never ending!  I think what is most admirable about Ashley is that she will see something she likes and figure out how to replicate it, saving money and often times recycling something else that might have just been thrown out-such great qualities to have!  Happy to have her as my final guest for Once Upon a Thread, here's Ashley!  

Yay..........I love this Once Upon A Thread series that Katy puts on. And was so excited to join in this time around (last time I was days away from popping an 11 pound baby out of my belly!). And wow, all of the projects have been fantastic this time around. Again. How I love this series Katy!

Anyway, I love children's books. And I love being inspired by them. I had about 27 ideas running around in my head but I finally I chose the book The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Kate Toms. The story and song is a popular one......but Kate Toms gives it such a fun spin.


The story line is so silly and the flow is so easy to love. And most likely, you'll giggle through the whole thing.


And what I love about it, is that each image is a scene created with textured fabrics. They're so eye-catching. And darling.


So, of course I fell in love. And then decided to take an image from the book and create a piece of art work out of it.....using some textures from my stash of fabric scraps.


Don't you think it would make a great little addition to a nursery or toddler room? Sit it on top of a dresser or hang it from the wall. Or hey, it would even be cute in the bathroom, hallway, playroom, etc. (Okay, and after I made this one......I decided it would be cute to make 2 more scenes from the book and hang them all together on the wall.)

But really, you could do this with any book and any scene.......

But what a great gift it would be to give someone a book, along with a piece of artwork that corresponds. Anyone making their Christmas gifts this year?


Would you like to create one of your own?

If you want to create a page from The Itsy Bitsy Spider like I did.......here's what I did.
(But keep in mind, you really could do this with any book and just use this as a guide.)


First of all, decide on the size frame and matte you want to use (I bought a frame with a 11x14 opening but the matte is an 8x10 opening).....then cut a piece of burlap that is an inch bigger than the opening of your matte on all sides. Now place the matte on top of the burlap to see how big your opening is and mark with chalk or place pins on each side to use as your guide.


Now sew a few stitches around that edge but about a 1/4 inch in from where the matte would sit....so that you can see the stitches after the matte is in place.


Now, cut out some shapes to create the water spout. Then add a few stitches for detail. (The yellow fabric is duck cloth and the blue is faux leather.)


Now, you could use your sewing machine to stitch each piece on......or use the glue gun. Since this won't be washed or played with, using a glue gun totally works. And is a quick short cut. Place your water spout pieces down and glue in place. (I always placed the matte down over top to see if my placement was good before gluing anything down.)


Then cut out the shapes for your spider, umbrella, and raindrops. I used all different textures and materials. Anything works though.......use up your stash!


Then place your spider down on the burlap and arrange the legs how you'd like them. (I just bent the twine to get the bend in each leg.)


Then lift the body off carefully and glue a foot down to each end. Then place the body down with glue, sealing in the top end of each leg with it.


Now, glue your umbrella down in place.........and then add the top arms and hands, attached to the umbrella. (I tucked the other end of each arm underneath the body fabric.)


Then add eyes, nose, and mouth out of felt.


To finish it off, I stitched out some lettering with my machine (feed dogs down) and glued it to some burlap and then down to the matte. (You could also hand stitch some lettering or print the title off on the computer.)



It certainly makes your book come to life a bit more. And will put a big smile on your face.


Now make another one or two from the book. Or choose another book and make a scene to match.
But have fun...........and enjoy your favorite book scenes inside a frame.
And thanks again Katy for inviting me over! I had so much fun.


 What a fantastic way to personalize a child's room with their favorite book!  Thank you, Ashley!

The Giving Tree: V and Co.

It's funny how I feel like I have met and known all these amazingly talented women who have participated in Once Upon a Thread.  Miles apart, yet I feel like they could be my neighbor, you know?   I think it's so fun how someone's personality comes out in their writing.  Vanessa (the V of V and Co.) is that girl who is the life of the party with her quick wit and sense of humor.  She doesn't take herself too seriously and puts everyone at ease.  Her post today shows a little more serious side, but beautiful, nonetheless.  Quilter extraordinaire among a plethora of other talents, Vanessa is always up to something fun and ingenious.  Welcome, welcome Vanessa!

hi there no big dill readers! i am truly honored to be here today to be a part of this wonderful once upon a thread. i was asked to pick a book.
i picked the giving tree by shel silverstien
you either love or hate this book.
i love it.
there's a lot of takes on this book. a lot of negative ones, and a lot of positive ones as well. i want to show you my take on it:
 i view this story as a mother's (parent's) love and the child taking the things and teachings she can give to him to launch him and make his life good.

"once there was a tree...and she loved a little boy..."

"and the boy loved the tree...very much...and the tree was happy."

the boy would take her leaves and create wonderful things with it. they would play hide and seek. he would play king of the forest

the boy would climb the tree and "swing from her branches"


up to this point i view the story about a mother nurturing her child with the basics, like love, protection under her shade, feeding and playing. much like we get to do when our children are very young. we as parents are in our children's lives constantly. as it should be. they don't have the means to figure out on their own yet so we have to teach and do a lot of it for them.


but as the boy gets older the boy finds love, and leaves the tree alone a lot.


i don't view this as sad, i view it as a good thing. (heck man, i hope my kids find love and marry their best friend like i did.


the child is learning to be a adult, trying his legs out in the world...still needing the occasional  physical closeness (aka coming home from college, or even coming home for a visit with the fam) and of course the emotional support and love of the parent that is always there to give.


and the story goes on:

the boy takes apples for money. the boy takes branches for a house, the boy takes the stump for a boat.
this is where i think i view it quite differently than most who are critics of this book:

instead of viewing it as a child that takes and strips the parent of "things", i view this giving from the tree as the lessons given to the child. the tree gives the tools and the knowledge on how to be on his own. the tree gives the boy all the teachings on how to make money, how to build a house of order, and how to take leaps of faith and sail away.


the boy now has all the teachings that mother had to give and is able to live on his own, and be successful and happy and hopefully... come and visit sometime.
i know my mom would love for me to be in the same town, state, heck same time zone as her. i know she's happy for me and loves that i am doing well as i raise my kids with my spouse...but she misses us.


as i will my kids when they do the things i am doing now.

in the end the tree says she has nothing left to give. 

the boy still finds things the tree is giving him even when she feels she has nothing left to give.

i think adults find solace in parents even when they can not provide as they used to before.

i think this book is a wonderful book of the true meaning of love. selfless in giving, and giving the tools to children so the child can become a person who can find love, success, and happiness.


so the project i am including is a inspired subway art of the basics that we are teaching our children.

i believe the things on your walls influence your kids. it's one of the "teachings" i am giving my kids. and the things on your walls, whether intentional or not, i think makes some kind of impact.

i put on my subway art important things to remember on a daily basis. of course there are so many more things like "brush your teeth" "wipe well" kidding but not really...but i wanted some of the real core important ones on there.

these things are good things to remember no matter how old you are. and i hope to be teaching these things through my actions as well as my words...

because in the end if my kids are happy, and able to figure out life with the teachings and examples i give to them while still under my roof, that will definitely make me a happy tree.


okay that's it for me thank you katy for letting me be a part of this. :)

It's beautiful and poignant, Vanessa, thank you.

Don't forget that tomorrow is ThanksGiveaway Day!  All day long I will have some amazing giveaways going on.  I'll keep them open through the weekend in case you happen to get distracted by a large golden bird on your table tomorrow ;).  Then tune in Friday for my final guest for Once Upon a Thread!