whileshenaps.com

Sewing, blogging, and creative business.

Saguaro

A little bear, about 7″ from top to bottom, made from linen and suiting. I transfered a saguaro cactus from my sketchbook (originally drawn during a trip to Tuscon two years ago) onto some muslin and painted it with watercolors. Cut it out and appliqued it to her little belly. Her arms, legs and earsRead More →

They’re listening

All ready for her bath last night, Roxanne is standing there naked in her room trying to stall her inevitable tubby. She picks up a little magic wand I made her from a dowel and a piece of satin and says, “Magic wand. Mommy made dat.” I said that yes, Mommy did make that forRead More →

Pen and Ink and Watercolors on Muslin: A Tutorial

I’ve been having fun recently experimenting with drawing and painting on fabric. Here is a tutorial if you’d like to give it a try yourself. 1. Start with a drawing from your sketch book. I’ve been drawing some penguins that I’m hoping to make into softies soon. 2. Trace or redraw your drawing onto aRead More →

Fred

My friend Dana her husband Mike and their daughter Abby used to live right nearby. Dana and I met at a new mom’s group when our daughters were only a few months old and we became fast friends. Now we are both pregnant again and due only a few months apart. Last summer, Dana andRead More →

Owls and Cards

I’ve been really liking making owls recently. I developed this pattern for Sidney the Owl and it works really well. I sold Sidney a while ago, but his green nubbly girlfriend was still around and I made two more just like her from different fabrics (actually three, but the third is still in a stateRead More →

Baby Bok Choy Valentines

We had stuffed shells, garlic bread and baby bok choy for dinner. When I was slicing the bok choy and saw their pretty cross sections I was reminded that one of Martha’s Good Things this month is “surprising stamps” in which you make rosette stamps from cut vegetables. She suggests radicchio, romaine or halved brusselRead More →

bird cards and red polar bear

I finished the set of bird cards. I made five in total and each one is a little bit different. The drawings of chicks started as these sketeches and the taller bird came from an old drawing in my sketchbook. I used permanent black marker and water colors on white muslin and then cut themRead More →

My postcard

Yesterday my package of postcards for the Postcard Swap finally arrived from Snapfish and I’m pretty happy with them. They are all addressed now and ready to go, along with the packages of fabric for the little solids for print swap. Because I’m going to be mailing several items overseas today I have a feelingRead More →

A new blue dog

I just finished cutting and ironing all the fabric for the solids for prints swap. Whew! That was a big job. I was thinking about the history of each of the pieces – some of them I’ve been lugging around since high school, some are from my mother-in-law’s fabric stash, some I found thrifting recentlyRead More →

Solids for Prints

Okay, let’s get some swap action going. I’ve thought about doing this one for a while and I think, now that the craft area is finally getting a facelift, the time has come. I would like to do a little solids for prints swap with anyone interested. Over the past few years I’ve seem toRead More →