Rose Festival Craft Village

Come visit me at the first Rose Festival Craft Village, hosted by Handmade NW. I will be there on Saturday, May 30th and Sunday, May 31st from 11am-11pm. The Craft Village is located at Waterfront Park in downtown Portland, Oregon. Just look for all the rides as you get near the river into downtown. Hope to see you there!

Hand Embroidered Neck Tie

I have fallen in love with hand embroidery! What a fun way to spice up a men's work shirt, jacket or vintage tie!! I love the patterns on retro men's ties, but had not found a project that allowed me to use them... until now!! I take old neckties and add a little flava by hand embroidered fun images. So far I have tried a robot, a map of Oregon (my favorite state), a gnome and a sugar skull. I ask my husband for his opinion on each design since he is a guy and lets me know honestly whether he thinks a guy would wear one or not. (Apparently a sock monkey would not be manly enough, unless he was holding a beer... Who knew!)

Recycled Sweater Rug

This recycled sweater rug is my latest project. I have been wanting to make something with recycled sweaters again. They make great mittens, but those are so seasonal that I wanted to try a new project. I really enjoyed making this rug and so much was learned. I will have to experiment using different types of sweaters that are in different stages of felting. When I sewed the two pieces together, then tended to pucker up. Possibly using a longer stitch and not pulling the fabric will help solve this problem. I added a piece of a non slip pad to the back (like what you would use under a rug or in your dish cabinet), so that it would not slip on a smooth surface. The piece of non-slip pad I used was not wide enough, so I had to piece together two pieces. Not the best solution, but it works for my first attempt. I think my next rug will be larger using long strips of sweater to make a striped pattern. The possibilities are endless!

Check out these blogs

ReThink Crafts has been featured in a handful of blogs lately featuring my cloth diaper covers. Check them out when you get a chance.

www.sproutstyleblog.com
www.homespunoasis.com/2009/03/rethink-crafts.html
www.ourgreatgreenglobe.com/2008/10/20/rethink-crafts/
www.ourlifeupstate.com

Craft Group

I had the idea to start a craft group with some friends that have my passion for crafting. The idea is that we get together once a month at someone's house and work on our latest projects, share ideas and teach each other what we know. Our first Craft Night was small, but productive. I had a birthday present to make for my husband and a friend worked on a small scrapbook for her mother that highlighted her daughter's year. It was just as I had hoped. A couple of hours away from the responsibilities of being Mom, and time to be with friends and work on a project.


My friend embroidered a shirt for her husband for Christmas and I knew that would be the prefect gift to make for my husband for his birthday. She introduced me to SublimeSticthing.com , a website with patterns that are right up my alley. With patterns called Dia de las Muertos, Roller Derby, Rock n' Roll, Lucha Libre, and Tattoo Your Towels... I was in heaven. This is what I have been looking for. Crafting with an edge. The shirt I decided to make was a whiskey jug with flames coming out the top. I couldn't find a whiskey jug at Sublime Stitching, so I used clip art as my pattern... with a little modification. The shirt ended up looking like a working man's shirt, with a little something extra. That was exactly what I had in mind.

Embroidery

My newest passion is embroidery. I stumbled across the book Doodle-Stitching: Fresh & Fun Embroidery for Beginners by Aimee Ray and entered the world of embroidery. I never knew it would be so fun or easy. I always enjoy finding a new craft that keeps my hands busy, but relaxes my mind.
My first real project was one of Aimee's owls. I enjoyed making it so much, I made 2 more and gave them as gifts. I am already thinking of some alterations that I can make to "make it my own".

Stores

I have been selling my diaper covers at a couple of Portland/ Vancouver stores and they have been very successful. I am needing to make more since I keep being asked to send more. You can find the diaper covers at:

Milagros
5433 NE 30th Avenue
Portland, OR 97211
503-493-4141
milagros@milagrosboutique.com

Boomba Toomba
Boomba Toomba Is located @ 1705 Broadway Street
In Downtown Vancouver, WA
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Hours:
Tuesday-Friday 11am-5pm
Saturday 11am-3pm

Contact us:
360-607-4552
BoombaToomba@gmail.com

New fun fabrics are always being added so check out one of the stores or my Etsy shop to see what is new. www.rethinkcrafts.etsy.com