My Fabric is Finally Here!

Hooray! Yesterday I received my little fabric stash with my own designs from Spoonflower. It took what felt like forever but it was totally worth it. I ordered without looking at their color guide (I know, I know), but my colors still came out just as they are on screen. Some of the line work on the seahorses print is too dark and not very visible - that's probably the only color that's off. The quilting weight sort of feels like not-so-great muslin but I'm still very pleased with the product. I now have a better reference for sizing and what-not, so I'll be reordering a few of these and some new ones in a month or two. I can't wait to start cutting up these little samples for some new projects!

Oh, and Jake moved all my stuff upstairs into one of our spare rooms and I'm already loving it. I still have to "unpack" but I'm looking forward to getting attached to this little room.

New Site Design

For a graphic designer (or at least me), redesigning your own portfolio is just about the hardest thing to do. How do you choose to represent yourself? Do you want to look trendy and cool or buck the trends and do something ugly or weird? Do you make something unlike the rest of your work or pay no attention at all to the design and let your work speak for itself? Or do you just use one of the million template sites out there for designers?

So you can see, now, how it's big news that I redesigned my website and it actually made it's way online. It's the other side of Elloh Handmade: Elloh Design. Where it all started. I'm hoping to keep up the textile design and illustration and get some new clients/work, but this is simply just a show-and-tell :)

Lya Doll

Lya is my most recent plush creation. She's cute and simple, with triangle hair and a separate skirt tacked on to her body. I'm torn between using this pattern for future dolls or just keeping it organic and making them all completely different. We'll see.

See more photos here.

Weekend Recap

The weather was beautiful this weekend, so we spent some time (4 hours) napping outside on a blanket. That was the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

More Pattern Experiments

I was inspired by Audzipan's display of her fabric design and decided to share with you some of the patterns I've been working on. I recently ordered samples of these from Spoonflower, and they should be here in the next week. I'm too excited to see what they end up looking like. Hopefully soon I'll have the guts to show you some more.

Right now is a weird stage for me in my design career. I've always been a full-time web and part-time print designer. Now I really feel like I want to move away from branding myself as a web designer and explore the type of design I really love: print, illustration, textile, etc. I'm in the process of changing my online portfolio from a showcase of work to a showcase of my personal style, but it's difficult to believe anyone would be that interested in my wacky ideas for fabric or art. Somehow, I feel better sharing all of this - like I can really move in that direction instead of feeling like it's a big special secret I'm keeping all to myself and thinking about way too much.

Any feedback on these designs is appreciated :) I still have a few in my back pocket for a later release.

New Location

That's right! My plush goods are now on display and for sale at Lemea's Gift Gallery on Main Street in American Fork.  Now I just have to work on making my space a little prettier, but it's a good start.

Some Dux

These are my two newest creations. Even though it's still gray and gloomy here, it has to be spring somewhere, right?

Weekend Recap

This weekend started off with lots of walking and exploring Salt Lake City with friends. We saw some galleries, ate some food, had some drinks, road the train around. I loved it - We haven't had a night like that since we lived in LA. Then we spent the next day with family, which was also fun. And Sunday was a very lazy day. I napped in the middle of the day and finally got around to making more labels and going through my awesome stash of old rick-rack.

Sending/Receiving

This week I sent my little nerdy rabbit friend all the way to Florida for a show at Eve-N-Odd Gallery. The show will be April 9th, it's dedicated to bunnies, and it'll last a month. I hope he enjoys his journey!

I also received a very welcome gift from my mom in the mail: a huge box of felt and assorted fabrics. And the little smiley face in the "O" was so simply stated that it made me giggle for a while. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I usually don't care about St. Patrick's Day at all. I actually think, along with Valentine's Day, that it should be totally disregarded as a minor holiday. Especially because I don't use it as an excuse to party with friends anymore. Maybe I'm just bitter, then. Either way, this year I have to give every holiday/season change/whim some recognition with some sort of dumb craft. I thought about making a plush leprechaun but I couldn't get over how creepy leprechauns are, so I made this little leprechaun heart with a few adaptations from the strange mythical man. And since I made this in February, you'd better believe I'm excited to sport it about town.

A Bright Blue Shirt

I've been working through my stash of fabric saved just for shirts/skirts/etc. Here's a simple shirt made from a pattern from the 80's.

I really like the little "tuck" in the front and back. It's a good way to make a simple shirt just a little different. I used an obviously very blue woven material that's lightweight but heavy at the same time. I don't know how else to explain it.

I also had to add 4.5 inches to the bust (not bragging) but keep the hip measurement the same. I probably did it in a very lazy way but I moved the pattern away from the fold 1 1/8 inches while setting it up to cut, then angled it so the bottom still hit the fold. Turned out alright. I had to take it in an inch on each side around the hip, still. Only thing that turned out not so much like it should have is the neckline - it came out too wide from adding the inches. So next time, I'm going to make sure to bring the neck in to the original position as well as the hips.

This shirt also came with a front/back facing for the neckline but that didn't quite work with my material, so I just hemmed the neckline.

All in all - success!

Sweater Revamp

I have been looking for a mustard-colored cardigan for months. They do exist, but they exist online for $60 and that's just not my style. After keeping an eye out for a while, I saw this perfect sweater from H&M at my local thrift store. Not only is it mustard colored, it's also got stripes - another of my current favorites. But it's not a cardigan. It's a pullover sweater, which I don't do well.

So it's time to cut it up and get that much closer to my dreams. I saw a tutorial for this a few weeks ago but I can't find it anymore. Turns out, there are tons all over the web.

The sweater.

I cut it up the middle. No need for a ruler; eyeballing it turned out alright.

Got my very old bias tape out, opened it up and pinned/stitched one edge to the right side (of the fabric) of one of the sweater's new openings.

I then turned the bias tape to the inside, folding it again and creating a new edge for the sweater's opening.

There you have it. And, no, I didn't wear stripes with stripes that day - this photo is purely for educational purposes.

Weekend Recap

This weekend was one full of food. I cooked a couple dinners, did some baking, and made pancakes for Jake for breakfast TWICE. We also went to a BBQ where we had elk meat, burgers, and steak. And we went out to eat once as well. So, pretty much food and I are all caught up and familiar with each other after the weekend. It was also warm enough for about 4 hours on Saturday for sandals. So I took advantage of that. We got to go visit our house which they broke ground on last week. Pretty exciting. And of course I did some sewing.

I didn't get any pictures of it because it was consumed much too quickly, but I made this Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread from Joy the Baker. So good.

Recipe: Mushroom Sauce

It's not the most attractive sauce, but it is delicious on rice, chicken, noodles, whatever.

2 cups mushrooms
1 cup spinach
1/2 tbl. worcestershire sauce
1 tbl agave nectar
salt/pepper/garlic to taste

Puree and enjoy! Can be cold or hot.

Nerdy Rabbit

Going to take a break from the rabbits for a little bit but I had to share this guy first. He's made out of fleece so he's really soft. I also love how I have a scarf JUST like his. See more here.

Second Version

I took my finalized shirt pattern I created last week and made another version out of this crazy polyester fabric that was at Wal-Mart for $1.50 a yard. So loud, so awesome.

I also tried the DIY fabric labels tutorial I posted last week. (See it here if you missed it.) I serged the edges pretty close to prevent fraying. Love these little labels - they're a great addition to the plush toys I've been making.

Earring Round-Up

I'm not into accessories very much, especially if they're sort of over the top or too dangly or big or make too much noise. I usually have to remind myself to wear one of the few necklaces I have or a scarf. But I will wear earrings everyday. I hadn't bought earrings in a few years, so I decided to do a little shopping on Etsy.

The fun thing about buying from Etsy is the care and detail taken in the packaging of the items. It's so nice to get a little gift wrapped up in a box with ribbon and sometimes a few extra goodies :) A few of these sellers, too, I've continued to talk to and read their blogs, so it's a lot more personal.

1. White Drop Earrings from Sparkling Bliss
2. Pebble Gray Sterling Silver Studs from Allison Moore Designs
3. Gunmetal Bow Earrings from Reverberate
4. Silver Lotus Flower Earrings from Piixl Jewelry
5. Olive Pom Pom from SoukySuz

Weekend Recap

The weather was beautiful this weekend. Even though yesterday was pretty gray most of the day, I loved it. We spent some time doing karaoke, some time with family, and some time doing nothing at all on the couch. Successful weekend.