Craft Fair Approaching!

Well hello!  Hope everyone is well.  I currently am gearing up for our Yuletide Magic Craft over at Sweet Magnolias on the book of faces.  If you didn't already know, after the pandemic started, I teamed up with a fellow crafter to start our own virtual craft fair, Sweet Magnolias.  So many events were canceled due to covid, which meant makers were feeling the pressure to find alternative venues for their crafts.  I'm happy to say we have had great success with our little fair!
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​Our makers are happy and so are our patrons.  The Yuletide Magic fair will run October 30 - November 1st.  We also plan to have a little somethin', somethin' for Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday in November.  So make sure to head on over to Facebook and join the Sweet Magnolias group so that you don't miss out on all the fun.  Each fair we do an Album Scavenger Hunt and each vendor holds a drawing from the participants.  That's 21 chances to win some great prizes!!!

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So, that being said, I am currently working on some items for the craft fair.  As you know, or maybe you don't, I mostly work with vinyl and screen printing.  But recently, I have gotten into sewing again.  I have known how to sew since I was young.  With a mom that would sew most of our clothes herself, of course she taught her kiddos how to sew.  Granted, I'm not nearly as talented as her with sewing, mainly because I'm a little rusty, but I can hold my own and it's all starting to come back to me.  Kinda like riding a bike.  
Here is the list:

1. Bowl Cozy
2. Fabric Coasters
3. Mask Pouches
4. Denim Christmas Stockings
5. Christmas Ornaments - Peace on Earth

First on the list, I have been dying to make these bowl cozies that I found on Pinterest.  The pattern is super easy, basically a 10" square.  I have to say the first one I made was a little difficult, but I was much more confident with my second cozy.  Now, I have made 6 of them and I feel like a pro. I purchased several different fat quarters from Wally World and made some cute pairs.  Each fat quarter will give you 2 - 10" pieces.  So either you can get 1 entire bowl cozy from one fat quarter or pair up two coordinating fabrics to get a set of 2 cozies like I did. 

These are perfect for soup weather!  I made sure to use 100% cotton everything (thread, fabric, & batting) so that my cozies are microwave safe.  I found my Wrap-N-Zap batting at Hobby Lobby and it can also be found at Walmart.  You can find the Wrap-N-Zap on Amazon as well.

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Numero 2 on the list is fabric coasters.  After making the cozies, I had left over pieces of fabric and batting that I did not want to go to waste.  I hate to throw out scraps, but also don't want to be a hoarder.  The struggle is real.  So, off to Pinterest I went and found something to make with the scraps I had.  These coasters are also extremely easy to make.  I made several coasters in an hours time, and all with scraps!! 

​The pattern/instructions I used came from ICanSewThis.com.  These coasters are a great way to use those pieces of scrap fabric. I hope to also make a few of these with some repurposed denim when I start on my denim projects.  

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Next up is the mask pouches.  When searching on Pinterest, I saw plenty of mask pouches for sale, but no patterns available.  I decided to come up with my own pattern so I did a little trial and error.  It only took me 3 tries to get a prototype that I was happy with.  I wanted something big enough to carry the larger duck-bill style masks, but something that also wasn't too bulky to carry on a keychain.  I am super happy with what I came up with and will do a full tutorial for these in a future post.  You can watch me make a few of these on Twitch. 

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As for the last two items on the list, I am still working on finding a pattern I like for the stocking and the ornament will be a basic fabric circle ornament with fiberfill.  I created the pattern I used for the ornament and the "Peace On Earth" graphic that will be ironed onto the fabric.  The way this world is going we need a little "Peace On Earth" badly.  I mean, really badly.  I'll create a tutorial for the Christmas ornament as well. 

For the upcycled denim stocking, this is the  look I am going for.  Well something similar at least.  I have a huge stack of old jeans that are dying to be used for some projects.  These stockings are just the beginning.  Damn you, Last Chance Goodwill!!!  It doesn't help that the Goodwill is right up the street from us and temps me every time I drive by it.
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For now, that's it.  A bit ambitious I know, at least to get done in the next few weeks, but we will see what happens.  So stay tuned.  The plan is to do a weekly blog post on current projects, as well as a few tutorials sprinkled in here and there.  I'm new to this blog thing (I'm sure it shows), so bare with me.  I'm a fast learner.  Until then, keep being weird. 

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