Another mini collage, this time in a used Altoids tin. I made it for a special someone :)
Fabric, cameo and setting, beads, guitar pick.

Pencil Holder of the Gods

I fabric collaged a Norse mythology pencil holder using an empty tea tin. Vikings, trolls, ravens, runes....it's like a desktop mini-Valhalla!
The fabric was attached with heat fusible web. turns out you can iron it onto metal- who knew?? (pro tip: don't try to hold a piece of metal while you're ironing it!)
Finished with glued on embellishments. quick, simple and fun. Not all fabric projects have to be sewn!

Black Arts and Crafts

Up next, a little something I whipped out for an XXXmas present last year....behold the world's first and only (to my knowledge) BLACK METAL PENCIL HOLDERRRRR!

To make it, I used a cardboard snack tin as empty as our bleak existence itself. I took scraps of sufficiently grim and nihilistic fabric, and cut them out into rectangular shapes using a rotary cutter and ruler. I measured the dimensions needed to wrap around the tin, and arranged them on top of fusible webbing in the most depressing configuration. Then I tacked them into place with the iron (using a Teflon cover sheet to protect it.)
After trimming the big rectangle of fused scraps to size, I attached it to the tin by fusing it down with an iron as hot as the flames of burning hellfire. Then I decorated it by gluing on various 3-dimensional collage objects whilst contemplating the futility of it all.

At last, my quick and easy no-sew gift project was ready to hold the implements of doom, when they are not being used to write curses and morbid song lyrics! These make a great gift for everyone on your unholyday list!

EMBROIDERMETALMATION is sweeping the nation!

Sometimes, the universe just randomly combines a few of your favorite things. Case in point: this EMBROIDERED video by British heavy metal band Throne. Over 3000 drawings were first animated in Flash, then converted to digital (machine) embroidery. That's 12 frames/embroideries per second!

THRONE - 'THARSIS SLEEPS' (OFFICIAL VIDEO) from Nicos Livesey on Vimeo.

And as an added bonus, they are selling the individual frames here!

Needle de los Muertos

A while back I found some great Dia de los Muertos fabric online, and HAD to get some even though I didn't have any immediate plans for it. (I'm sure that's never happened to any of you....right??)
Recently I've been doing more embroidery and hand sewing projects, and got sick of digging around for the right size needle. Then it hit me: these Muertos loteria "cards" are a good size to fit on the cover of a needle book!
I whipped out a few by using the escape hatch technique (similar to how I made the band patch xmas ornaments), using some batting scraps and sacred heart fabric for the lining. Then I fused the loteria cards over the turning slit, and sewed the felt pages in down the center. Voila! I think they turned out pretty cool :)
There are a few in my etsy if you need one.

PINCUSHIONS OF DOOM!!!

Now that my class is over, I'm finally able to get back to making some of my own projects I have been itching to do for a while- like these most grim and frostbitten of pincushions!
Using this tutorial, I made them with mason jars and skull and skeleton fabric, and filled them with an assortment of black buttons. Then I added a few skull and bones decorations and a white guitar pick to each jar.
I was lucky to find the black pleather eyelet trim in just the right width, by the yard at Joann fabrics.
The skull pins were made by snipping off the bead ends of stickpins, and gluing on a tiny skull bead.
I have a couple listed in my Etsy  \m/  >_<  \m/

photos by Ronnie Williford

what's the password?

I always like to keep a hand embroidery project around, for when I fly somewhere or have a bit of time in the waiting room (don't ask how many times I've been there in the last couple of years).
This is a piece I finished over the holidays; it's a tea towel embroidered with a drawing I did based on "the narwhal bacons at midnight", an internet meme made popular on reddit.

Hand embroidery is very relaxing to me; despite (or maybe because) it takes so long.
As for machine embroidery, I am on the fence between thinking it looks good, and thinking it looks TOO good and may even be "cheating". I would like to see some of my own designs done by machine before I sign off on it one way or the other. If you have an embroidery machine, what are your thoughts about it?

needle artistry

Here's a roundup of quilting and sewing-related tattoos from across the interwebs. I have several tattoos, but none of this nature. I don't have any more planned, but I wouldn't be opposed to it if I could find or come up with a design I had to have. Enjoy!

(above: courtesy of Miss Sews-it-all)

Japanese Oni pillow

I have always liked the look of redwork embroidery, but I would never spend time doing a traditional Sunbonnet Sue or any other overdone country kitsch design. 

I am also a fan of Japanese artwork and mythology, and figured this Oni (demon) mask from Kabuki theater would look good in red! 

When it was done, I added red borders and finished it into a square pillow. The back side is Japanese tattoo print fabric I found on equilter a while ago. Super fun!

Just a crappy little quilt

This is one of the first quilts I made a few years ago. At the time, I wanted to make something cute, simple and original....but every subject I wanted to do (video games, heavy metal, tattoos etc) had been quilted before. Then I thought of the one thing I was SURE no one had done yet! (so far I have not been proven wrong on this.) I also like the idea of something being simultaneously cute and repulsive. And thus was born what you see before you. It was done in fused applique (or should I say, crapplique?), machine pieced and quilted.

I entered this in the 2010 Austin quilt show, where it won 3rd place in the novice category. I was feeling pretty good about this....until I realized there were only 3 entries in the category! LOL. At least I can now say I'm an "award-winning quilter"! 

I'm dreaming....of a BLACK CHRISTMAS!!!

So last year after Christmas, I happened to find this black pre-lit tree on sale super cheap, and couldn't pass it up. I haven't had a tree of my own since I moved away from home 20+ years ago, so I've had lots of fun all year coming up with ideas for the 1st annual BLACK CHRISTMAS!

My first idea was to take a few heavy metal patches I have been collecting, and turn them into quilted ornaments! (I figure I'm kind of past the age where I can get away with wearing them on a grungy denim vest....) They turned out pretty cool! I am working on a tutorial for these, so stay tuned.

Then around Halloween, I happened to see a big plastic chain decoration, and realized it would make a great "metal" garland for the tree! Can't wait for next fall to roll around and see what other cool items can be found.

Finally, this weekend I put it all together while listening to a playlist I made of metal covers of Christmas songs! It's fairly poppy with Twisted Sister etc, but super fun. Here's a link in case you want to check it out (may contain a bit of NSFW language ;)

This is something I'll keep adding to every year. Next I need to make a black tree skirt!

Oh my Goth!

This is a potholder I made a while back for a friend who loves zombies, monsters and other ghoulish things. I  got the awesome pink hearse fabric at equilter.com, but it's out of print now. (there are a few cuts for sale on etsy.)

I just quilted a rectangle with a black backing, and cut it out in the shape of a coffin. Then I machine stitched a narrow black binding with a hanging loop. My friend loved it!

BAGNAROK!

Welcome to the Quiltocalypse!!
Here I will present the best in alternative quilting and crafts, interspersed with random cuteness.

Let's start with a heavy metal tote bag I made using 2 backpatches of one of my favorite bands, Finntroll (Scandinavian folk metal). I used black cotton duck canvas to match the weight of the patches. It has a lining and studded black pleather handles, which I was amased to find by the yard at Joann Fabrics. I was pretty happy with how it came out, considering it was my first bag and I was kind of making it up as I went. If I make any more I will be sure to post a tutorial!