A May for Me Guest Post!

Hi, I am Holly from

HollyCraft Originals

Handmade Fabric Appliques and More!

I love to make cards, scrapbook, quilt and try new things in crafting. I am a work at home mom of 2 kids.

I joined Etsy on July 24, 2007. My favorite materials are cotton, cardstock, ink, rubber stamps, fabric, buttons, embroidery floss, vintage cotton, recycled denim and corduroy.

I am bringing quality fabric embellishments and accessories from my home in West Michigan to everyone out there seeking fun and unique handmade products. My goal at HollyCraft Originals is to provide my customers with original designs that they can use and that will inspire them to create.

If you name a craft, I have probably tried it. I have been crafting as long as I can remember, with my Mom as my biggest influence.

During the scrapbooking phase of my crafty endeavors, I was in search of some fabric flowers. When looking for them, there didn't seem to be many choices and what I found seemed expensive...so I decided to make my own.

I had tried selling online with other things, like crocheted hats, cards...but nothing seemed to sell much. Then I started putting my fabric flowers in my Etsy store. From there, I created many other designs and had finally found a niche.

I make fabric embellishments/appliques/patches (whatever you want to call them) mostly from upcycled fabrics along with fabric leftover from other projects. All of them are cut out by hand and sewed by hand. When I run out of fabric there may be no more! This makes my appliques one of a kind. 

I am very thankful I get to work at something that I love doing.

My clown fish. I had fun making the little denim bubbles on this one.

This was a drawing my niece did of her mom baking cookies. I had to turn it into an applique and put it on an apron. So fun! Such a nice gift.

A custom made Train T-Shirt.

My son made a drawing of two monsters. Here is the photo of one of the monsters. Then I made the monster appliques.

Here's another example of special orders. The unicorns and mouse were made to match fabrics.

I have a "thing" for owls! When I was looking through my photos for this post, I found several of owls.

 Available at HollyCraft Originals - Etsy Shop

I love to do custom orders. Many of my appliques are made because someone has asked for a certain applique design.

Marcia asked me to share all the links to HollyCraft Originals!








Website:

www.hollycraftoriginals.com


www.facebook.com/hollycraftoriginals

__HollyCraft_ on twitter

@hollycraftoriginals on instagram

www.etsy.com/shop/hollycraftoriginals


Marcia ordered several appliques to create a one of kind original "Grandmama Book" for using when she talks on Skype with her grandson, who lives in Belgium.  It makes it fun to interact with their own personalized book!

She just ordered more appliques to add to the book.

Thanks Marcia for having me as a Guest Poster! I enjoyed sharing my story.

Holly

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You can leave a comment here and I will share them with Holly.  When you go to her website check out the video!

Thanks Holly for sharing your story!

There will be more Guest Posts this month.  If you would like to guest post, send me an email and you can share too!

Marcia@craftysewing.com 

Enjoying May, one day at a time...

Marcia 

P.S. My favorite applique is the Kiwi, because I love to hear my grandson say "kiwi" and smile. He loves them as much as I do!  It is really my favorite one, because I love the detailed stitching.

A May for Me Guest Post!

Hi everyone!  This is Kim Lapacek, artist and dreamer over at PersimonDreams.blogspot.com.  I’m so excited to be sharing my story with you on Marcia’s blog today.

My story is that I love to create and I always have.  I’ve been at it since I was a little kid.  I sewed my very first quilt by hand when I was just 5 years old.  I took the rags out of my mom’s rag bin and sewed them all together for my brother for his birthday – it even included the furry toilet seat cover!!! 

When I was in college I met my future husband and we went to dinner at his mother’s house.  I looked around and could see she was crafty like me and I thought to myself, “This woman is going to like me.”  And it’s true!  We’ve gotten along from Day 1.  My mother-in-law, Diane Lapacek, is an amazing quilter and teacher.  I started my quilting lessons on Tuesday nights.  Diane would give me a lesson AND make us dinner!  (and to a college kid – a real, homemade dinner is pretty much the best thing ever!).  It wasn’t long before I was hooked.

And now it’s 11 years later and I’m still a quilting fool!  I have to admit that the majority of my sewing and quilting is for me.  I don’t really take much commission at this time because I have three young girls – Mercedi, 8, Capri, 7 and Pip, 4 – that take up my life (in a good way).  So – when I do get to sew and quilt – I want to be making something that I’m dreaming up!

My biggest event of the year is Project QUILTING.  http://www.kimlapacek.com/featured-products.html  Project QUILTING is a challenge I run on my blog.
  

A typical season of Project QUILTING goes from January through March each year.  A challenge goes up on a Sunday and you have ONE week to make and finish a quilt that fits that challenge!  Since Project QUILTING began in 2010 – 1,163 quilts have been started and finished during the week of a challenge!  AND I've gotten to talk with Nancy Zieman about Project Quilting on 'Sewing with Nancy'! http://video.wpt.org/video/2365313401/

This year I’m running a special ‘Off Season Challenge’ – Focus Through the Prism.  It just started this month and there’s still time for you to join in the fun – just head over to here - 

http://www.persimondreams.blogspot.ca/2015/04/focus-through-prisma-project-quilting.html to find out more about the challenge! If the week deadline I talk about above scared you - don't worry, you get a month to start and finish your quilts! 

Website:  www.KimLapacek.com

Blog:  www.PersimonDreams.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PersimonDreams and www.facebook.com/ProjectQUILTING

Twitter: @PersimonDreams

Instagram: www.instagram.com/PersimonDreams

Photo's other than the ROYGBIV bundle picture taken by Karmen Lindner Photography:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=53316167103&fref=ts

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You can leave a comment here and I will share them with Kim. Or you can hop over to Persimon Dreams and leave a comment there.  Kim continues to inspire me and many others!

Thanks Kim for sharing!

There will be more Guest Posts this month.  If you would like to guest post send me an email and you can share too!
Marcia@craftysewing.com

Til Death Do Us Part Quilt - Guest Post

Hi! I'm Trisha Frankland aka Quiltchicken (www.quiltchicken.com), and Marcia asked me today to guest blog about my quilt 'Til Death Do Us Part.

This quilt is 95" x 100" and was free-hand custom quilted by Marcia Wachuta. The quilt is based on the Metro Rings pattern using the Quick Curve Ruler by Sew Kind of Wonderful, but I extensively changed and improvised to make this quilt design unique and personal.

I began this quilt in May 2013 when Maddie Kertay of the Bad Ass Quilters Society (www.badassquilterssociety.com) announced there would be a special BAQS exhibit at the AQS show in Chattanooga in September 2014.

I knew I wanted to make something special to enter in the exhibit, and I took a bit to think on what the BAQS mission means to me. Maddie began the BAQS as an online counterpoint to all the mean attitudes and spiteful venom sometimes found in quilting - the appliquers don't like the piecers, the moderns want to distance themselves from the traditionalists, and everybody gets weird about the art quilts. 

You can go to the BAQS website and read the official manifesto, but essentially to me it boils down to this: Follow whatever muse calls, and we'll cheer you on.

 

In creating this quilt, I threw traditional convention out the window and instead focused on what my heart wanted. Where traditionally a wedding ring quilt is bright and light, this one is grungy and rock 'n' roll.

The asymmetry and interrupted rhythm are meant to stop you in your tracks, to make the viewer slow down to look closer and investigate the carefully chosen themes. Nearly every fabric holds meaning to me - including the dozens of skull fabrics I've been hoarding since I began quilting in 2000 - and many others incorporate symbols of my marriage, career, and personal interests. I'm a 8.5 year ovarian cancer survivor, and several of the teal fabrics are from Blank Fabric's ovarian cancer awareness line.

At every opportunity, I did NOT what a judge or another quilter would want - I did what made me laugh, what tested my skills, and what would make me proud in the end. It's very liberating to make a quilt that way - and then also a little scary to put it out there in the world when it reveals so much about you!

I sent Marcia several sample rings to test quilt before we tackled the final piece. She worked out several concepts for the ring  s, a handful of accent ideas, and multiple options for the background areas. Ultimately, nearly every one of Marcia's ideas were implemented in the final quilting - we used those shifts and changes to complement the piecing's intentional anomalies.

We tried different batting layers too.  We selected two layers. The bottom layer, 80/20 batting and poly batting as the top layer.

Marcia and I completed the quilt in June 2014, and I submitted photos for the exhibit. Ultimately, there were enough quilts entered that a second BAQS show was added to the AQS Des Moines show, too.

 

A view of the labels and the back side of the quilt.

My quilt did get juried in and was assigned to the Chattanooga show. I took a week's vacation to go and see my quilt hanging there.

I was already bursting with pride, but you'll just have to imagine my reaction when I discovered that the AQS used my quilt's image on the exhibit poster and in the show guide!! (There are not enough exclamation points in the world for that sentence.)

The whole experience has been so positive for me. I had a wonderful time explaining my vision to show attendees, I got to meet several other quilters with BAQS quilts. The quilt got a lot of attention and support, and my feet hardly touched the ground all week.

I'm ready to put this quilt in more shows, and I'm ready to make more quilts that make my heart happy. 

Because isn't that really what it's about - making something that makes us happy?

Trish

aka Quiltchicken (www.quiltchicken.com)