the haystack needle

whip up mini quilts + giveaway!

Today I'm doing a different Friday post, as I'm part of the Whip Up blog tour. And Chronicle Books is so kindly giving away one copy of this lovely book by Kathreen Ricketson, Whip Up Mini Quilts, to one of you! Simply leave a comment below by June 17th for a chance to win. 

I've personally never made a quilt, yet. It's on my list of crafting projects that I plan to accomplish at some point soon. But for a novice like me, whipping up a queen-size quilt seems beyond mission impossible. The skills, the time, the patience. Crafting is all about pleasure, but I for one revel in that feeling of finishing a project you love. That's why this concept of mini quilts is so appealing to me: a quilt that can be finished as a weekend project. 

 

I asked Kathreen about decorating with mini quilts, and how to display them as wall art. I love the way her mini quilts look hung up on the wall in the book. And if I finished a quilt, the first place I'd want to put it is prominently displayed in a look-how-amazing-I-made-a-quilt gesture of satisfaction. But I couldn't figure out what the invisible mounting trick was, so I asked Kathreen. Here's what she said:

 

+ Decide where you want to hang the quilt. Be sure the quilt is not in direct sunlight, since this will fade the fabrics. Avoid areas near heating vents, fireplaces, and walls that may heat up in the summer. Moisture is also bad for textiles.

+ Wherever you hang it, you should change your quilt's location every six months in order to protect it.

+ When hanging your quilt, you need to distribute the weight evenly so you don't put any stress on the seams or the fabric.

+ Never piece them with nails or use metal clips to hang them — this would damage the fabric.

+ To hang your quilt, attach a narrow sleeve to the back of the quilt and hang with a dowel or curtain rod. This distributes the weight evenly and will not damage the quilt. For a small quilt, you can use a picture hanger: just sew two buttonholes into either end of the sleeve, insert a flat strip of wood in the hanging sleeve, and attach the two ends of a picture-hanging wire to the ends of the wooden strip. Hang as you would a painting.

 

Kathreen shared how to make a hanging sleeve:

+ Measure the width of your quilt and cut a strip of cotton or muslin fabric that is the same width as your quilt.

+ Hem the short edges by folding 1/4" under and under again; then pin and sew. 

+ Fold the strip of fabric lengthwise, Wrong sides together, and sew along each of the long sides, making a tube. Lay it out so the seam lies in the center and press it open. You won't turn it Right side out. Instead lay the open seam against the back of the quilt, about 1/2" below where the binding finishes, and whipstitch, or blind stitch through to the quilt front.

And she shared a no-sew method, too!

+ An alternative for short-term quilt hanging that doesn't involve sewing anything to the quilt is to securely attach a strip of stainless steel to the wall, just the width of the quilt. Then use tiny rare-earth magnets all along the front of the quilt, attaching it to the stainless steel strip on the wall. (I also think this would work with a magnetic tool bar if you can't find a strip of stainless steel.)

 

Kathreen did a fantastic job of making this book an easy-to-follow primer for people like me who've never made a quilt.The pretty projects are inspiring (my favorite is the Shibori Sampler, above, which uses a Japanese dyeing method. So cool!) If you like to make things by hand, I think you'd love this book.  

Thanks so much to Kathreen for sharing her quilt-hanging secrets and a big thanks to Chronicle Books for the giveaway! Just leave a comment below for a chance to win the book. I'll pick a random winner on June 17th.

Have a great weekend!

ps. Here's the rest of the Whip Up blog tour, if you'd like to follow along.

UPDATE: I used Random.org and goosie is the lucky winner! Thanks for playing everyone! It was so fun being a part of this blog tour. 

June 1 - Craftzine – essential quilting tools
June 2 - Crafty Pod – book review + giveaway
June 3 - Chronicle Books – Behind the making of the book
June 4 – Indie Fixx – Designing your own mini-quilts
June 7 – Craft Sanity – Piped binding tutorial
June 8 – Hand Made by Alissa chatting about mini quilts
June 9 – My Love for You Background on Mini Quilts
June 10 - Film in the Fridge
June 11 - The Haystack Needle Decorating with mini quilts
June 12 – West Coast Crafty

(Photography by Leigh Beisch for Whip Up Mini Quilts, courtesy of Chronicle Books)

 

skt ceramics

While it was a sweltering hot Saturday shopping Renegade (and I forgot to put SPF on the back of my neck), I had a great time walking the show and walked away with a loot that I'm so excited about (including a cross pillow by Enhabiten, citronella fir soap that smells awesome, and a Forestbound bag — woohoo!). I also couldn't resist scooping up this ceramic cup by new-to-me SKT Ceramics. Susannah hand paints these amazing porcelain pieces, with animal motifs that are so sweet. My little blue cow cup is right now on my desk containing a bunch of business cards from the Stationery Show that haven't made it into the rolodex yet. This will also be my go-to serving bowl for fresh whipped cream at the next party, and I'm sure it will be the best tea cup come fall. Other successful to-dos checked off this weekend: turned two so-so jeans into stellar jeans shorts and scored an antique settee on eBay for a great price! 

renegade brooklyn

I'm woefully behind on my to-do list, but I did want to share a peek at Renegade Brooklyn, otherwise known as the amazing craft fair happening a few hops away from my apartment this weekend! I can't wait! Chris and I are going to be hitting up all the booths tomorrow. I did a quick browse through the list of artists. I'm feeling a little guilty that Dan has to take a big work test tomorrow while my big test will be how not to spend all my money at Renegade. I'm the one in danger of failing!

Gold Teeth (above) — this Brooklyn-based company knocked my socks off at the Stationery Show with their silkscreened prints.

 

The hippie in me really wants to scoop up a handmade dreamcatcher by Land-Rich.  

Meow Meow Tweet carries organic soaps with cool combinations (like fennel, oranges and oats) — such fantastic packaging, too. 

 

Loving these map boxes for little trinkets by Paper Pastries.  

 

Curious to see what Clay Wood & Cotton will be selling — their online shop is full of cool finds, like these Hot & Saucy bowls. 

I'm also hoping to walk home with a cross pillow by Enhabiten and I've had my heart set on a Forestbound bag for more than a year. Will one be mine?

 

Have a fantastic weekend! xo Jen
 

david stark design + how to make a book clock

Yesterday evening, I headed into the city to check out the purely paper flower shop at the West Elm store on Broadway and 62nd street, designed by the ever-amazing David Stark (of course, who else would create wellies out of book pages!). I definitely suggest making a trip today or tomorrow while the pop-up shop is open — there are oodles of paper flowers and all sorts of out-of-box ideas magically constructed from pages of discarded books (all for sale!). 

 

It sort of felt like being given a ticket to shop one of the pretty paper installations in an Anthropologie shop window. Very whimsical and fun. The place was mobbed, and so I didn't get to say hi and personally congratulate David on the paper wonderland he created. But I'm thrilled to share this fun DIY project that David's created for us! A crafting how-to from the crafting master. I'm excited! 

Scott, from David's design team, made a clock out of a book for the pop-up shop. The clock is David's fantastic new book, David Stark Design, transformed into the shop's timekeeper. Since the installation is all about books and their transformation, we thought it'd be fun to share how to turn a book into a clock. You can use these steps with any book you love — think how cool a fat dictionary or vintage children's book would be. 

Here's how to make your own book clock!

To make a clock, you need two things: the clock movement and the clock hands. There are many movements, but for the simple clocks we make, we buy these. This is a simple, 3-handed movement that runs on a AA battery. For this particular movement, there are a few options. The important one is the column they call "maximum dial thickness". This is the length of that threaded brass neck that sticks through whatever the clock is made from. The options range from 1/8 inch to 3/4 inch. For a typical hardcover book we recommend buying a neck length, or maximum dial thickness, of 3/8 inch. 

+ Pick your favorite book. 

+ Decide where on the cover you would like to place the clock hands. They could be centered or off-centered — whatever looks good to your eye. 

+ You will need to cut a reservoir into the pages of the book to house the motor of the clock so that the cover can shut. To do so, use a sharp exacto blade and cut the book deep enough to hide the thickness of the clock movement, about 1/2 inch. The size of the square hole should be about 2-1/2 inch x 2-1/2 inch.

+ When cutting the book, it is important to NOT open the book flat on a table. (The pages fan out when the book is opened all the way, so when the pages realign in the closed position, the cut will not retain their intended square shape.) To avoid this, prop the front cover against something when cutting so that the book is only opened to 90 degrees. 

+ Use a 5/16" drill bit to drill a hole in the front cover of the book to host the clock hands. To keep the drilled hole clean and prevent it from fraying, sandwich both sides of the cover with two thin scraps of wood. Hold the wood tightly in place with a spring clamp and drill through the entire sandwich. Then remove the wood.
 

+ The Klockit site sells the motor and the hands separately — and they have hundreds of hands to choose from. Look here for options. The hour and minute hands are sold as a set, and the second hand (sometimes also called the sweep) is sold separately. The above clock movement works both with and without a second hand, but we recommend getting one because it is the only hand that moves fast enough to see.
 

+ The clock movement is not affixed to the pages of the book. It is held in place by bolting through the hole in the front cover. All hardware for this is included with the clock movement. The book still is able to open and this allows access to set the time and change the battery.

+ Once you have bolted the hands, the cover, and the motor together, carefully close the book, aligning the motor to fit within the cut reservoir and set the hands to the appropriate time.
 

 

+ Hang your book clock or use on a table and enjoy!

A big thank you to David and his team (thank you, Scott and Lesley!) for creating this DIY project for us, and congratulations on the amazing book! One of my favorite parts of the book is this peek at Cynthia Rowley's Swell for Target event that David designed, back in the days when Swell was around (loved that line). I definitely have making a book clock on my project list — now to find the perfect book. 

find me on diy life

Hey everyone, sorry for the late post today (wasn't the sunshine today amazing!). I have some news to share with you. You can also find me blogging now on DIY Life. I'll be posting on everything from greener cleaning to organizing ideas and cheap home fixes – as well as some crafts. Here's a peek at one handmade project: I turned a bucket into a cute, patterned wastebasket (which I'm using to stash paper scraps for future projects.) Check me out over on DIY Life, if you like!

semi-handmade shower invites

I don't know about you, but I always have about 10 projects in the works that I'm planning to make from scratch. And sometimes that means super-belated birthday packages or scrapbooks finished a year after the trip happened. That's why I'm so inspired when someone finds a semi-handmade approach to an idea that gives you that personalized touch (without the weekend spent crafting) when you're short on time. My friend Charlotte made these clever baby shower invites for a friend, and I love them!

 

She found these sweet letterpress notecards at Kate's Paperie, and then she drew a speech bubble with the phrase announcing "It's a boy!" and turned it into a custom stamp. So cute! Charlotte printed out the party information on separate paper and attached the sheets inside the blank cards. 

 

As a finishing handmade detail, she stamped baby on the back of each envelope. And yes, anything involving rubber stamps makes me happy. Thanks for sharing the invitations, Charlotte — they turned out adorable! You can also follow Charlotte's latest work on her photography blog, right here.

(all photographs by Charlotte Jenks Lewis)

valentine cupcake toppers

Last night, I made cupcake toppers with my Paperfinger calligraphy love stamp, some Japanese tape, and toothpicks (Bryn's stamps work so well with their wooden handles). The plan is to bake cupcakes with Hershey Kisses inside and top each cupcake with a little love flag. Hope you have a sweet Valentine's Day!

See you next week! xx Jen