The Spunky Diva

This link, Ellie Inspired Blog , is to Laura Johnson's blog, a lovely lady that I know from www.sewforum.com .  She has several wonderful children's patterns available on her site.  I am planning on making up her "Dancer" pattern for Ms. Diva.  What colors should I use for this skirt?  Decisions, decisions, LOL!

All projects have been put on hold while I prepare for our first craft show of the season.  The "Pup in the Park" is the 3rd annual fundraising event for the Elgin Human Society.  We will be donating 10% of all sales (including custom orders paid for at the show) to the Elgin Human Society. Pup in the Park Information These wonderful folks do not receive funding from the city or county to provide for their rescues. Spunky Diva will have Stay-Put Towel (sets and singles), Tissue Cozies, and Burp Cloths available for you.  All of these items will make a wonderful (and appreciated) gifts for the mothers in your life!  Mother's Day is Sunday, May 9th, 2010. Here is Colton's "puppy" all grown up.  We brought him home in January of 2009 from the Elgin Humane Society.

Here is an in progress photo of stay-put towels being made for an anniversary gift by special request.  Special requests take about one week to complete after the order and payment are received.

Here is a special request item completed for a birthday gift.  What do you give your sports loving, coffee drinking guy?  A UT Coffee Sleeve!  Send me an e-mail ( spunkydiva@live.com ) if you have a special request.

On my trip to Joann's, to get thread for the girls gifts, I managed to find these fabrics that just had to come home with me.  Stay posted for newly completed projects using these fabrics!  

One month down... Here is my completed lined zipper pouch.   Putting in the zipper was easier than I thought it would be.  The tutorial I used (link in earlier post) was very easy to follow, and I am happy with the end result.  The layer of felt, I added by sewing it to the outside fabric before piecing together, gives this pouch a nice substantial feel.  Unfortunately, my guesstimate measurements did not create a pouch big enough for a paperback.  Oh well, it adds one more matching piece to my purse set, and holds lots of odds and ends.   As was my hope when signing up for this challenge I learned more about sewing, and used more features of my sewing machine than I have yet.

Whew!  We are back from a speed trip to Nebraska.  Friday we went up, Saturday we came back.  On Tuesday I decided that I wanted to have something to give my nieces, and finalized the designs I wanted to use on tote bags I had found earlier this year at Target.  It is very easy to create a truly unique and personalized gift.   Thread and ribbon can be used to match or to create accent colors.  I chose chocolate brown for the plain blue bag, since the chocolate/blue combo is popular.  The other two bags already had an accent color used for the contrasting straps.  So, I just made sure to pick thread (which required a trip to Joanne's of course) to match the straps as closely as possible.  I also picked up ribbon (at 50 cents a spool, why not?) in case I wanted to add more decoration to the bags.  I used the Chunky Curlz Applique font for 4x4 hoop ( Chunky-Curlz-Embroidery-Font ) from 8 Claws and A Paw Embroidery .  I also used...

I stumbled across this link: http://www.sewing.org/html/easy_fleece_edges.html and think I have found even more ways to use fleece!  I cannot wait to try doing some of these edges on a pillow for Ms. Diva (or myself).  This is now on the list at No. 123 of things I want to make, LOL!

I have my pieces cut for the zippered pouch.  The finished size of the pouch should hold a paperback book in theory.  I tend to stick a book in my purse for when I have a spare moment, and the pages can get bent when not protected.  The embroidery design for "Kimberlee" is from Heart Strings Embroidery a great site that has over 6,000 names digitized in three fonts. Hint: Use spray temporary adhesive when stitching a design on a piece of fabric smaller than your entire hoop.  As a personal preference I always add pins outside my design area to ensure the fabric is secure to the stabilizer.  If using pins make sure to check the area your design will cover prior to starting your machine.   Here is another look at the hooped fabric prior to stitching out the design. To make the zippered pouch have more body I am adding a layer of felt between the outside and lining fabrics.  I am planning on doing some decorative stitches and the felt layer will help ...

I have sorted through the scraps left over from making my purse, and came up with a pile to use for the April sewing challenge.  Still a go for the lined zipper bag (I have even found the zipper I had stashed away).  I googled "zipper pouch tutorial" and found this tutorial that seems easy enough to do: zipper pouch tutorial .  We will see how "easy" this project turns out to be!

So... I have joined up for Carolyn's 12 challenges in 12 months (of course I am starting on the fourth month of the year, but hey!).  Details are available at the link I have posted.  April's challenge is "Something Line".  As it is already halfway through the month, I am thinking something fairly simple is a good idea.  And with the new fabrics I have just finished prepping from my Hobby Lobby excursion the possibilities are swimming around in my head.  Here is a question: If I combine two months' challenges, can I use one item for both months?  LOL!  Somehow I don't think that is the point of this challenge, :).  My first thought for this challenge is to make a lined, zippered pouch to match my butterfly purse.  Let's see if that is what comes about.

I am preparing for the Pup in the Park Event, here in Elgin (at 95 and FM 1100) on May 8th, and thought these Tissue Cozies would make a fun addition for all the pet lovers out there. I will be adding these the items available here on-line for $10 each.  They can also be customized with an initial in a fun font, or different embroidery designs.  More examples to come!

Three newly completed sets of Stay-Put Towels have been added on the "Stay-Put Towel" page. Previously completed sets are also posted so that you can see how these towels can be customized to match your or a friend's kitchen.

I had a fun, inspiring time at the Embroidery Club meeting last night at Sew Much More. As always, the projects that people bring for Sew & Tell are gorgeous. Several people brought projects that included ME (Machine Embroidery) Stippling designs from design packs by Eileen Roche. I brought several of my burp cloths to show the others how I have been sewing the fabric onto the prefolded diapers. I brought home a pack of Madiera threads, some fabric, and Insul-Bright batting for use in coasters and coffee sleeves.

I went on a shopping trip last night, and came back with these finds. Fun flowers and two new fabrics for the boys!

I have started this blog to keep everyone updated on the products available from The Spunky Diva, what Craft Fairs we are going to be at, and other general news and updates. As always, feel free to e-mail me at SpunkyDiva (@) live.com with any special requests!