“Re-imagined” dreams of a travel quilt

When Disney Imagineers make significant updates to an attraction, they will sometimes refer to it as “re-imagined” instead of refurbished, remodeled or any other similarly drab and uninspiring reconstruction word. Well, I am about to tell you about a grand idea I had that didn’t quite work out the way I expected… but I hesitate to call it a failure. No, I would rather refer to the results as re-imagined. Because after all, creativity is one of my favorite things in the world – and creativity is not simply getting from Point A to Point B. Nope, it’s about the journey that gets you there!

My BFF Albert Einstein agrees.

Some months ago, when I realized how elaborate my international trip was becoming, I decided I needed to set some goals. Was there something I wanted to do in each country, or collect from each country, or do to prepare for my visits?

I decided that my number one goal was to buy a journal specifically for the trip to be sure I captured as many memories as possible while traveling. After much research – because I can never make purchasing decisions without research! – I finally decided to buy a SmashBook for my trip.

SmashBooks come with a pen/gluestick combo to assist with the “smashing.” GENIUS.

I’m happy to report that my SmashBook was a SMASHING SUCCESS (Get it? Ha ha ha) – I wasn’t sure if I’d keep up with the journaling, but I even impressed myself when I spent the little free time I had jotting down thoughts and smashing mementos into the book.

Spent my “day at sea” on the cruise ship working on my SmashBook in the solarium!

My secondary goal? To collect fabric from each country and sew a quilt when I returned home. Could it be done? I did some Google research, and sadly… there’s not much out there about making a travel quilt. So I went into this goal blindly and hoped for the best. I thought I would collect any sort of fabric I could find… a clothing item, a tablecloth, a pillowcase, whatever!

Well, this is where the “re-imagined” part comes in, because I’ll admit this right up front: I was not able to collect fabric from every country. And each piece of fabric that I did collect is fabulous… by itself. Each fabric type is different, with varied weights, colors, styles, etc. The idea of putting it all together for a quilt now seems like an overzealous dream and would likely ruin the integrity of each piece.

Time to re-imagine! I’m taking a look at all of the pieces I did manage to collect and coming up with individual new dreams for each one of them… which I hope to share soon!

Have you ever had to re-imagine one of your goals?

Ghosts of Halloweens past!

Happy Halloween!

This is the first year in many that I haven’t prepared a Halloween costume. While I don’t have access to photos from every single Halloween I’ve ever celebrated, here’s a sampling of some of the “ghosts” of my Halloweens past!

Pre-school Years: A repurposed dance recital ensemble turned Tooth Fairy costume. Yes, Tooth Fairy. See the tinfoil wand that says “Tooth Fairy” at the top? What can I say? I come from a family of dentists, and I was easily impressionable.

Kind of a sad little Tooth Fairy...

More pre-school years: I’m a store-bought bunny, and my brother is a skeleton. My mom made the skeleton costume herself by tediously cutting white felt into bone shapes and sewing them onto black sweats. My mom is awesome!

Kind of a sad little bunny... why was I always so sad!?

1990: I’m a non-politically-correct Native American. One of my favorite costumes, despite the fact that a boy in my class was also a non-politically-correct Native American that year, and everyone said we were going to get married, which is a traumatizing statement in the first grade.

So excited to bring my non-politically-correct Native American baby doll to school!

1992: I was a “50′s girl” complete with a poodle skirt and a silky pink jacket from the Mirage in Las Vegas… because every girl from the 1950′s had a Vegas jacket. LOL!

Why were there poodles on skirts back then, anyway?

1994: I was a mime. Not pictured, as it was one of my most embarrassing costumes. However, if you ask my mom, it was one of her favorites and she’ll show you pictures. So don’t ask my mom.

Don't ever let your mom talk you into being a mime.

With the exception of freshman year (when I didn’t know any better and wore a Dorothy costume to school), I didn’t dress up in high school. I went to a Catholic school with a strict dress code and there were just too many restrictions to even bother. Back then, we were just happy if we were allowed to wear blue jeans. And I didn’t dress up in college because I consider myself a person who values dressing tastefully and appropriately, and dressing up isn’t an option in college if you dress appropriately.

After college, I moved to central Florida and started spending a lot of time at Walt Disney World… after a long hiatus of no Halloween costumes to my name, I was excited to jump back in to the wonderful world of Halloween – especially in a place where awesome, appropriate costumes are valued. All of the sudden, Halloween was fun again!

2006: I was determined to dress up as my favorite Disney character, Wendy Darling, and ordered a handmade Wendy costume from Kelly’s Costumes. I wore it to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party with some friends who dressed up as Peter Pan and Tinker Bell!

What's a kiss?

2007: Because I just couldn’t get enough – Wendy returned.

Sometimes Peter gets mistaken for Robin Hood... what's your vote?

2008: I debuted TWO costumes in 2008 for two separate parties! One Tinker Bell costume, complete with light-up fairy wings and – my favorite – poof ball shoes. I was so adamant that the shoes be exactly the way I pictured them that I made them myself – celery green Prima Crocs with a poofball sewn on top.

Perfect poof-ball shoes!

And one Mouseketeer ensemble, easily created with a white t-shirt, iron-on letters and a custom set of Mickey Mouse ears.

Y? Because we like you!

2009: Two chefs hats, a chef jacket, some red hair dye and an “Eiffel-tower-on-a-stick” created the perfect Remy and Linguine costumes from the movie Ratatouille. I wore all gray and pinned craft-foam rat ears to my chef hat. I also decoupage’d that pretty fab version of the cookbook from the movie!

Can you believe I was lucky enough to go to the Halloween party with Nick Lachey?

That brings us to last year, which was the first year I sewed a Halloween costume! I dressed up as Boo, and I sewed this gigundo Mike Wazowski costume!

Nick Lachey loves Mike Wazowski!

So why no costume this year? Well, at the risk of sounding like I’m full of excuses, I’ve just been too busy with school, and dressing up as an MBA student is kind of boring.

Not the coolest costume in the world.

But in a dream world, this is what I really would have liked to be this year… maybe this is something I can sew for next year? If I get started… now… I might just finish in time…

Giselle's blue "curtain dress" from Enchanted! Dreamy!

Any fun Halloween costumes in your world this year?

My first wearable project: a sneak peek!

A hearty update is in order! I finished my sewing class at JoAnn’s and completed a pretty awesome dress as a result. Here’s a sneak preview until I get a chance to write in more detail and take some photos actually wearing it!

Simplicity 2443 in all of its stretch knit glory!

I will also say this:

1. I am fairly confident I never would have been able to figure out the pattern for this dress on my own.
2. I am no longer scared of stretch knit, and in fact, I am a little excited to try working with it again!

Stay tuned for more photos and the full story.

The countdown begins: One month to “something wearable!”

Today I pulled up my handy-dandy Joann Fabric & Craft Stores iPhone app and realized I had a coupon for “50% off select classes” expiring tomorrow. There’s a class I’ve been eyeing for awhile, so I took advantage of the opportunity and signed up! Normally $75 for the two 3-hour sessions, I paid $37.50 for the Sewing 301: Misses’ Dress class. Woohoo! The class isn’t for a whole month though. Sad woohoo. But I’m really hoping to knock my “something wearable” goal off of my 2011 check list. Happy woohoo!

This is THE dress I will learn how to make!

Three thoughts:

1) Has anyone else ever taken a class at JoAnn’s? Was it helpful?

2) The price does not include supplies! Yikes! And here I’d always thought the class prices were a little high because of the supply costs. Apparently not!

3) Anyone else in Central Florida want to take the class with me? Leave me a note and I will let you know which class and location I plan to attend! Take advantage of the 50% off class coupon while you can.

I made an ugly skirt.

I made an ugly skirt tonight.

I initially didn’t find the experience to be blog-worthy, but I think it’s only fair to document downfalls in addition to the victories. I was really hoping to cross “make something wearable” off my list of goals, but it doesn’t look like that is going to be happening tonight!

Because I consider admitting defeat an accomplishment in itself, I do not plan on sharing any photos of this hideous project.

The world of sewing is not always a magical one, but I will continue to chug along anyway!

That is all.

Inspiration Station!

I’ve lived with roommates my entire adult life, so I’m a long way from my dream home. What’s my dream home? Who knows. I couldn’t tell you a thing about it, other than this: It will have a generous space devoted to crafting.

I can’t even fathom a timeline when said room might actually take shape, but I dream about it anyway. Out of curiosity, I started browsing the internet to see what other people’s craft spaces looked like. I was blown away by the creativity that went into these spectacular sanctuaries. But really, I shouldn’t have been surprised that innovative people create innovative workspaces!

When the time comes, I want to whip out my craft room blueprints and make my dreams a reality. I need to be ready! So I created an inspiration board to show how I imagine my craft space.

(Source: I Google-imaged all of these and lost track of where they came from, so leave a comment and I will give you credit if your photo is in the mix!)

I want shelves upon shelves of see-through storage with colorful containers and tidy labels. I want countertops that stretch on for miles. I want racks hung up in rows with rainbows of ribbons and threads spilling down the wall. I want a sunshiney space where time stands still and seam rippers are never touched. I would appreciate enough floorspace for victory cartwheels and craft parties with friends. And in a dream world, I would top it off with one of those ridiculously priced but RIDICULOUSLY PERFECT pink or green desk chairs from Pottery Barn.

But at the center of it all will be sewing, crafting, creating… because that’s what it’s all about!

The Friday 5: Five sewing goals for the new year

1) Create something wearable. No more fears about making items that are poorly fitted! I will make it happen this year.

2) Adequately prepare for next year’s holiday season and make as many Christmas gifts as possible. This year I didn’t get to sew a single gift. I know… excuses, excuses… but really, working two jobs and being new to sewing didn’t blend well when it came to Christmas gifts.

3) As much as possible, use fabric/notions that I already have on hand and avoid those tempting trips to the fabric store! Those trips add up, and plus, sometimes I think I get more creative when I’m forced to do amazing things with what I have on hand.

4) Create and sell some items in my etsy shop (that is currently collecting virtual dust).

5) Blog more often, including more completed projects and maybe even some of my own tutorials!

What are your goals for 2011?