using up all those small treasured fabrics, unique and adored pieces, scraps and vintage finds. I love the squares quilt at craftopia and how the white really offsets the other fabrics so beautifully. - the back is gorgeous too.
Whiptips craft advice column for readers to ask questions or offer advice by leaving comments. Whiptips archive here. Questions to whiptips@gmail.com.
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janelle wrote in with a question about organising a fair fabric swap.
Hi Whip-uppers!
First let me say that the site is a daily read for me, I can always find great links and inspiration here. I pass the link onto all my friends looking for
great craft sites! I now come to you and the readers for help.
My sewing collective, Philadelphia Sewing Collective, is having our 2nd annual fabric swap meet in April. It consists of tables with vendors selling fabrics and notions (mostly used) and also info tables. By request of the public, we are also going to try out an
actual swap area. Where members and non-members could bring materials supplies to swap - with no money involved.
We are trying to brainstorm how to structure this swap/fabric trade in a fair way with as little chaos as possible. I am asking the whip up contributors and the readers for suggestions or ideas on this matter. Thanks for your help!
Spirits dancing is a Canberra based puppetry blog, she was at the David Hicks rally recently (I didn’t go but my husband did and was in the local paper afterwards). But my crafting point here is all about the fantastic John Howard (Australian Prime Minister) puppet who is holding vigil for David Hicks. If anyone has no idea what I am talking about please go to this site to read about it and join the protest.
Lovely documentary by three first time film makers. I love the bit where the old man is knitting with giant needles.
Very cute brooch / pins made from zippers by Kate Cusack.
closes on 1 March - get your entries in now. Do you want to win one of those fantastic bundles of books from Princeton Architectural Press? get all the details from the competition page which can be found via the sidebar.
I love this Japanese crafts inspired quilt from Aunty cookie
Ruth over at Mantua Maker has a nice tutorial for a spool rack made using some wood and nails. It’s a great way to store your thread so that you can see all the colors you have and keep them in one place rather then rolling about in your crafting space.
Hand printed limited edition fabrics - just beautiful - from Kristen Doren design - check out her blog too.
Shiso mama makes a small piece of collage art every day. See them all on her website and on Flickr. She explains her motivation on day 1. What a great way to keep the creative juices flowing, and develop your creative voice along the way.
Some are representational, some are abstract. Get a peek into her process here.
The collages are giving me all sorts of ideas for quilts and quilting patterns.
What other do-something-every-day projects are there out there?
tell us what you think - faves and fantastic.
Regina from Creative Kismet has an easy to follow tutorial for adults and the over eleven set. Keeping ones hands behind the tool at all times, is the most important rule.Dharma Trading has lots of supplies and ships most everywhere. Check her tutorial pages for printing on fabric too!
The Lost Quilt Come Home website helps reunite quilts and their owners. Pictures of the missing quilts and their stories are posted on the website in the hopes that someone will find them and return them to their homes. There is also useful information on protecting your quilts, including tips for documenting and labeling them.
The work of Miquel Barceló in the Mallorca´s Cathedral is amazing. The artist has covered the entire chapel with tarracotta, creating a kind of second skin, and decorated it with images related to the dividing of the breads and fishes to feed the five thousand.
Miquel Barceló ha realizado una obra única y singular en la Catedral de Palma de Mallorca. Ha recubierto toda la capilla de terracota como si fuera una segunda piel y la ha decorado con motivos relacionados con la multiplicación de los panes y los peces. Más de cinco años ha estado trabajando en ella, realizada totalmente a mano, el resultado es excepcional.
Lots of great ideas for sewing machine cosies:
cool map-print by The Small Object
dish towel+ties from Martha Stewart
and this one made me lol: omg skeletor posted in the sew_hip lj community
Recycled silk yarn skein from The Child Health site shop
The Child Health site is one of the cluster of click-daily sites where your visit (and click) can make a difference to issues such as literacy, hunger and breast cancer detection. Each one also has a shop.
Among the many handcrafted items in the Child Health site shop is this wonderfully colourful recycled silk yarn - fair trade, environmentally conscious and beautiful. What’s not to like? There are several types of yarn available, including alpaca yarn in subtle natural colours, mohair yarn in pretties including pink, banana fibre yarn in colours of the sea and homespun yarn in red and seagreen. Those interested in textile printing might like the Indian batik blocks.
If you can’t knit, they also sell scarves made from the recycled silk yarn.
There are plenty of other handmade and covetable goods, including jewellery, an amazing variety of containers, ornaments and decorations and bags. Don’t knitters need bags to carry their knitting?
Bazura™ “Save The Trees” Grocery Bag
This bag funds health care intervention for 9 children. Quite apart from being quirky, recycled, and the product of a women’s co-operative in the Philippines.
The click-daily sites include the Hunger Site, the Breast Cancer Site, the Child Health Site, the Literacy Site, the Animal Rescue Site and the Rainforest Site.
Loaded Hips Press creates handmade cards and other unique works of art using a couple of methods, hand-carved from blocks of linoleum (handmade one-of-a-kind lithographic transfer prints) and printed using a C+P letterpress (hand-carved from blocks of linoleum and printed using a C+P letterpress, onto acid-free archival paper). All printed text is handset type, also printed on a letterpress. More more info on the processes please go to the website and check it out.
I like their philosophy: Now that television and computers have saturated our lives with images, we’ve become removed from the process of creating them. Hopefully these cards will inspire you to think more about the value of handmade things, and maybe even to create something that is uniquely your own.
[link comes via dear ada]
A tongue in cheek ‘mockumentary’ about knitting v’s crochet, (beware 9 mins long).
Shell at sacred heart arts makes these wonderful stuffed cloth drawings and has some really great collage too.
And Florence, whose work I am slightly obsessed with, from Windbag and thunder continues to astound me with her fabulous flying star toys.
