Back to the Land of the Living . . .

After a most successful semester (4.0 for the first time ever in college), I am finally back to the land of the living. I have finally had time this week to work on projects that I love to do. I've read a pile of books, made jewelry, watches, and earring holders, covered lampshades, helped a friend clean her garage, and sewed 2 dressed, hemmed 2 pairs of pants, remade a shirt, and sewed a quilt top. And that's just been the past week! I am on a roll. So, let me share a few things with you.

First up, these fast and easy earring holders. I've needed jewelry storage for a long time, and saw this cute idea months ago (somewhere online, sorry I don't know where or I'd give credit where it's due). The ones I saw were simply the color the frame came in (almost white), but I thought it would be easy to customize them. Mine? Red, of course. I made me 2, but I could probably use a few more.

Here's how:

First, gather a stand up frame (these are from IKEA for $0.99), plastic canvas (~$1.50, will make 9, I think), and paint (the Fusion works best on plastic, ~$4)

Second, open the frame, twist the frame onto the stand, and spray paint.

Third, use the plastic insert to measure your plastic canvas. I think I got 9 out of one sheet. Throw out the plastic when you're done, unless you can think of another use for it.

Last, when the paint is dry, drop in the plastic. This purple is for my daughter, and a matching one went to her friend for the friend's birthday (along with some earrings). What a simple, personalized gift.

And, my daughter couldn't wait to add her earrings, even though she doesn't have her ears pierced, yet. (She has to wait till her next birthday, but a friend gave her these earrings and she's been saving them.)

My next project is a few quilts. Now, this is a twin sized quilt: 72 x 90. It took 2 yds each of the three fabrics. I cut 11" strips from the length (72"). There's one strip of each color left over for fun pillows, bags, or other projects. I love the bold primary colors, each with a different black pattern. Polka dots on the red, butterflies on the yellow, and swirls on the blue. The back of the quilt will be a black on black fabric to tie them all together. I love the big bold chunks of color. Perfect for a picnic.

Now, I'm stuck. Here's the fabric for my next quilt, and want something along the same lines as the primary colored one. But, I'm a little OCD - I can't do random - I want each strip to be the same size, and each color to have an equal number of strips. But I want BIG, BOLD color. So, with 6 colors, how many strips? What size? Or should I do squares? Any suggestions?

Now, a teaser . . . I'm having a blast making watches and matching earrings. Instructions to come. This is the one I was wearing today.