That's how I Troll

I finally made a quilt for myself! I used a Finntroll band flag as the center panel, and a green nature/leaf batik for the borders and back. Quilted with a large, simple allover design, I then went back and stitched along the outlines of the logo after this picture was taken.
I'll keep it in my car as a lap blanket during our brutal 6-week Texas winter :)

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!

They see me Trollin'

In addition to quilts, I enjoy making plush dolls and animals. Not too long ago, I finished a cute troll doll that I had been working on sporadically for over a year. I had found this baby yeti pattern by the talented Jennifer Carson, and thought it would be a good place to start. I modified it a bit to add the tail and other details. He has jointed limbs, and the "hair" is real Tibetan lambskin mohair.

As I worked on him, I thought he was starting to resemble the bass player for Finntroll (another one of my favorite bands) so I decided to make him into a heavy metal troll :)

I got a denim doll's jacket and cut off the sleeves, and sewed a Finntroll patch to the back. I made a tiny spiked bracelet for him and (this is my favorite part!) added a talking doll voice box with 10 seconds of recordable audio-so of course he sings part of a Finntroll song!

And even better, Finntroll came to my area on tour in December, and I got to meet them! They thought my lil troll was pretty cool :) How awesome is it when you can have fun making something, and more fun later showing it off!

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!

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!