Bake Sale Preparations

I think Big E needs a blog of her own...she's been the reason for all of the crafting in the house lately! This weekend project was "baking like we've never baked before" in preparation for a bake sale at her school this week. They are raising money for Haiti and Big E is all over it like a cheap suit. We made chocolate suckers, gummy skewers, chocolate chip cookie pizza and some of these (ours aren't as cute, but they'll do!). I must say, the basic cookie recipe for the hugs and kisses cookies is perfectly perfect and easy as pie.

What kind of fundraising are you doing for Haiti?

~Sara

Colour in Collaboration

I bought these colouring pages last week in this etsy shop and I absolutely love them!

I thought they'd be fun to have around when we had a few minutes to scratch away at them. It didn't really go as planned as Big E and I couldn't tear ourselves away from them and each finished one without so much as a bathroom break!

Wouldn't they be so sweet framed as a series?

~Sara

Clay Cuties

One look at this book on WiseCraft was enough to sell me. A few clicks of the mouse later and it was en route to my front door. Vive l'internet! I had all but forgotten my Fimo days when I was Big E's age. Beads were all the rage back then so regretfully, polymer clay food never even crossed my mind. I had to introduce this bit of genius to Big E and it had to be right away. She's the perfect age for this stuff!

I managed to hide it away until Christmas which gave me the necessary time to procure some clay, some tools, some jewelery findings and of course these in the case that she'd want to gift one of her creations...she'd need to be fully prepared!

Rolling that clay around in my hands instantly brought me back to her age. Fimo has come a long way. No longer the frustrating, crumbly mess it used to be. It's soft and easy to massage into these sweet little shapes. There will definitely be more where these came from!

The book is also highly recommended. The instructions are crystal clear, lots of pictures to guide you through. What's also great is that there are edible recipes tucked in there along side of all the cute!

As I say to Big E - try it, you'll like it!

~Sara

And the Winners are...

Thank you so much for all of your birthday wishes! It's heartwarming to know we are an inspiration for other creative people through our blog. And now, the moment you've been waiting for: the winners!

The winner of Donna's treasure trove is Beth! She was commenter #22 who said: "Congratulations!"

The winner of Little Boy Blue is Christina! She was commenter #26 who said "Happy first blog birthday! You are both quite inspiring. Thank you for sharing with all of us out here in blogland. :)"

Congratulations, Ladies! Please email us at kindredcrafters@gmail.com with your snail mail address and we'll get these parcels out to you asap.

~Sara & Donna

Happy First Birthday! Kindred Crafters Turns One

It's our very first blog birthday today! I wish I could let loose on a cake like I did on my real first birthday, but I guess once in a lifetime is enough for an activity like that.

Anyhoo, Donna and I really appreciate you dropping by to check out what we've been up to in our craft spaces. We are having so much fun sharing our projects and experiences. We love hearing from you through comments and email. We love getting to know the people behind the hyperlinks!

We've both decided to send a token of our appreciation out into the blogisphere. That means two of you lovely, loyal readers will be getting a special parcel in your box really soon!

I'll be sending out Little Boy Blue:

And Donna will be sending out a treasure trove of things: some fabric, a quilter's little helper w'nder thimble (pictured below), a "Born to Quilt" bumper sticker she picked up when last at one of her local fabric shops, a lovely Clover seam ripper, and your choice of pattern from The Sometimes Crafter's etsy shop. Her patterns are lovely, and so is she! (Christina, if you win, you'll get something else fab in place!!) ( sorry for the lack of a photo of the entire package, but i can't get my stuff together and want to get this post up - Donna)

We're going on the honor system and trusting that only people who regularly drop in will comment to be entered in the giveaway. If you've landed here for the first time, we're so very happy to have you! Please make yourself right at home here at Kindred Crafters and come back again soon.

Edited to add: winners will be announced this Wednesday, January 20th.

- Donna & Sara

Onesies for Haiti

Big E has decided to sell her onesies in an effort to raise funds to send to Haiti. I told her if she would do that, I would pay to ship them and then match the amout she raised. 100% of the money will be going to Haiti. Please, please hop on over to Frugal Adeline to check out her sweet little onesies. Needless to say, it's for a good cause.

Edited to add: After I told Big E about Craft Hope for Haiti, she decided to donate three of her onsies to that effort and leave one in our shop. With the two we've already sold, she thought it would be nice to keep it even. Three for the initial relief fund we chose and three for Doctors Without Borders. I sure do love that girl!

Thanks!

~Sara

Make some stacking lentil bags

Lentil bags
Originally uploaded by Kindred Crafters

Chez Beeper Bebe posted a fantastic tutorial for stacking numbered bean bags. These little gems have a million uses - toss 'em, stack 'em, sort 'em, use them as teachables for colour or numbers, doll pillows - possibilities are endless.

I used some cream linen I had bought ages ago (before I learned how to sew!) with the intention of making linen napkins. Ha!

Much cuter as lentil bags for my daughters! They promptly fought over them like all good sisters would, and my eldest claimed the number one for herself since "hey! It has the same fabric as my quilt!". Amazing pattern recognition!

What are you making these days?

- donna

Tie Dye with Big E

We spent yesterday afternoon and into the evening dying baby shirts. We had a great time together. Big E was great with making designs and combining colors. It had the potential to be a really messy project, but we managed (with a lot of plastic bags) to refrain from staining anything but the shirts and my hands!

This kit was delivered by none other than Santa Clause, so I don't know where you can get your own, but it was the Tulip kit. The colors seemed to stay pretty vibrant after one wash (as seen above).

Two of these are for presents, but Big E has plans to maybe sell some in my Etsy shop to earn some funds for herself!

~Sara

Gettin' crafty with my facebook friends

Are any of you playing?

I got tagged today by a friend on facebook with the following note:

Five for Five for Fun!

The first five (5) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year (2010).
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be a mixed CD. It may be a poem. I may draw or paint something. I might bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! [not me either]
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange or kind of perverted.

And in return, all you need to do is post this text into a note of your own and make 5 things for 5 others - if you do not post a note of your own, then I cannot make and send your item!ANY ONE CAN RESPOND ... NOT JUST THE PEOPLE I HAVE TAGGED!

I posted a response to my friend's note, securing me a spot as one of her five folks. Then I quickly posted a note on my own profile and within an hour or so I had five friends signed up with posts of their own.

I love the idea of this . . . five surprise gifts to make over the year and passing on the crafty vibe. For fun indeed.

Feel free to post this note in your facebook profile and spread the crafty love!

- Donna

DQS8

A big thank you to Donna for alerting me of DQS8 sign ups. I made it in even though it was an 11th hour situation! *wipes sweat from brow* She's got my back, that Donna!

Hard not to be inspired by these pretties!!

1. Your Parents Are Cool, 2. Narrow Stripes, 3. purple patchwork quilt, 4. Color Stripe Block, 5. Both placemats together...., 6. { geometric squares quilt }, 7. framed quilt!, 8. Hope Valley Quilt - quilting, 9. Pillow received!, 10. Close up of quilting on the front, 11. Untitled, 12. Sewing Room TV Cover, 13. bed quilt, 14. fraction quilt -- two rows to go, 15. Twinkle applique , 16. boxed in quilt

What are your favorite quilts lately?

~Sara

DollQuiltSwap 8

I signed up for a swap I've been eying for a while. I came across the Doll Quilt Swap group on flickr via cruising around through images of fantastic itty bitty works of art, so I decided that the next time one was organized I would throw my name in.

Just in the nick of time, I made it in. Participants have been limited to 180. It's an anonymous swap so we won't know how our partners are, but will be assigned a swap mama who I guess will shepherd us through the swap process. Quilts have to be in the mail by March so I'm really looking forward to seeing if my partner has put a mosaic of their likes together. Fun!

- Donna

Daycare Quilts done in the nick of time

My girls are heading back to daycare today, following the holiday shutdown. They'll be dragging their new mama-made quilts behind them. Starting to make your daughters quilts, however simple the design, on Dec 23rd doesn't equal an attainable goal, at least not for me.

So I reset the goal to have them done by today so they'd be ready for daycare.

and yay!

This one is for my youngest daughter. Maude is a sunny little thing, so orange was a natural shade for this one. I am utterly in love with the Grass Green Kona Cotton, too, so I put a fair bit of that in, along with some cute Japanese prints I've been hoarding, some Joel Dewberry, and some Sandi Henderson, plus a few other prints I had in my stash. Actually, all prints came from my stash, for both quilts.

I quilted it in side to side free motion wiggly lines. I wasn't sure I liked this before it was washed as it was so random it hurt, but a wash does wonders and I'm pleased with the result.

This second one is for my oldest daughter Margo. She's more complicated than Maude, and has a much more contrasting personality, so I went with some clashing colours. She also loves animals so I based this quilt around the Michael Miller Calico Kitty fabric I had purchased months ago with her in mind.

I quilted it a la Ashley, after reading her recent entry about the quilt she made her sister for Christmas. Soft sounded good. (Diagonal lines through the squares with one direction running as single lines and the opposite direction running in double lines) . Love the polka stripe! The quilt is bound in a shred of vintage red and white gingham that I had. Yikes - vintage (read, thin and pully!) fabric as binding? Don't think I'll be trying that in a hurry.

I'll be happy to have these little gems cover my little gems each naptime.

- Donna

I don't make resolutions

Plans for the New Year
Originally uploaded by Kindred Crafters

Just like Christina, I won't make resolutions, but I have crafty goals in mind for this year.

I will finish my string quilt this year.

I will use my vintage buttons in some way. Love the look of this project.

I will try my hand at some paper pieced hexes.

There is a rainbow dresden in my future (just ordered a template since Santa didn't deliver that wish list item. I'm pretending i deserved it!)

I will make more of these awesome quilted bibs, using jcasahandmade's cute pattern.

I need more pincusions. Stitchindye has a cool hex pattern.

I would love to try a mini quilt with some house blocks.

Ticker tape quilt for a baby quilt sounds so textury and good. Thanks Crazy Mom Quilts!

Already thinking about next year I've picked up materials for a wreath a la Sweet Jessie. Sparkly and shiny and oh so pretty.

What do you all have planned for 2010?

- Donna.

1. String Quilt Top, 2. Button Heart, 3. Doll Quilt Swap Received!!, 4. Doll Quilt Swap 7, 5. quilted patchwork bibs, 6. YIP 365. 114 :: Hex Pincushion, 7. Ingrid Press Festival Of Quilts 2009, NEC Birmingham, 8. ticker tape, 9. sparkly wreath

Donna's Year - A Retrospective

This year I learned to sew.

I made 4 baby/toddler quilts, two doll quilts, and a quilted advent calendar. I go into the year with 4 WIPs, two of which I'm handstitching on binding pretty much as I type, so I will share these very soon.

I appliqued some 45 baby shirts, made pins, magnets, fabric ornaments, candy and cookies and set up shop at the indie Craft Sale that I, along with two friends, conceived of, organized, and pulled off.

I worked with a designer friend and came up with a logo and a shop name in time for the sale. (Thanks, Nadia!)

I was reunited with my long time friend and co-blogger, Sara. We, of course, worked on a quilt.

Sara and I started this blog, have written more than 150 posts in almost a year and look forward to our one year blogiversary. Stay tuned for a little celebration!

In my non-sewing world, I went back to work after my almost year of maternity leave and have been juggling life with two kids, and two parents with full-time jobs. On minimal sleep. And we all still love one another.

Not a picture heavy post (read, none at all as they're all on the system upstairs, and I'm downstairs, and lazy.) But I wanted to capture a bit of what, for me, has been a stellar year in terms of sewing, community, and life, in general.

Today, my family and I threw open our doors and held our annual open house, with about 40 people streaming through over the 4 hour period. It's a great way to bookend the holidays, relax, eat some good food, toss back a few bevvies, and one thing that has been so amazing is watching all these darn kids grow. Four years ago there would have been nary a kid present, and this year we were close to being outnumbered. I'm feeling full, happy, and looking forward to moving ahead into this year with open eyes, goals to be met in several areas of life, and a smile in my heart.

All my best to you, lovely blogging community!

- Donna