Roses, Roses: A "Treasure of Time Travel"

As someone commented on my Instagram post about this afghan, "...that's a treasure of time travel..." 

It’s rare to have a chance at seeing something I made years ago, still be in brand new, pristine condition! I was so excited to see this afghan that I gifted to a relative in 2004, and have the opportunity to take some photos of it. She kept it stored safely away all these years, rather than using it, which led to a squeal of excitement when I saw it again just a few days ago!

Back when I used to crochet, my photos weren’t the greatest, and of course I only took two (not so great) pictures of this beauty before I gifted it to her. I remember making this, and was so proud of those roses, lol!

Note: The yarn in the main body is actually an ecru color, so in some of the photos, depending on the lighting, it appears more yellowish. The day I took these photos happened to be a rainy, dreary day so it wasn’t the best day for a photo shoot, but did the best I could indoors.

Casper really wanted to snuggle up with it, haha... so I guess it's kitty approved!

I miss crocheting, but there’s just no time for it anymore. If only I could quit my day job and just stay home sewing and crocheting... now that would be living my real dream! 

 

According to this scan of the original photos in an old album, I started crocheting this in 1999 and completed it in 2001. 
 

 The past few months have seemed like the time of friends and even some relatives turning 50 years old... myself included!  So I've been making "Over the Hill Pandemic Survival Kit"s to give as gifts.  They've really become a hit amongst friends and family!

Here's one I made for a friend...  it consisted of a St Patty's Day theme since the holiday was only a couple weeks away from her birthday.  

I made a cute little lunch sack style gift bag with an appliqued toilet paper on the front, and a snap closure, and a mask with adjustable elastic.

Inside the gift sack was hand sanitizer, hand sanitizing wet wipes, tissues and a roll of toilet paper (as well as the mask mentioned above).

As you can see, it all fit in the gift sack perfectly!

The green dish was not part of the gift.  It just helped prop up the mask for the photo.

Then for my boyfriend's sister, we got carried away with the gag gifts, so I made a very large gift sack for her!  I used black Kona cotton, doubled up for the outside and inside linings.  Then traced the letters and designs onto Wonder Under, using my light pad.  Ironed to the backs of the fabrics I was using for the decoration/wording, and cut them out, then ironed onto the front panel of the bag.  I did a raw edge applique to keep it all attached permanently.

We filled the bag to the brim with all sorts of fun gag gifts...

...which included a large bottle of hand sanitizer, large pkg of double roll toilet paper, pkg of adult diapers, pkg of baby wipes, box of tissues, adult-themed finger puppet book (which she read out loud for everyone to hear, LOL), bottle of Beano and a large bottle of Poo-Pourri!

OMGosh, she enjoyed it...and everyone was laughing hysterically!  Such a fun time with family and friends!

"Birdsong" - A Quilt

This is a quilt that I started in 2019.  It wasn't being made for any specific purpose.  Mainly to use up some bird pillow panels and scrap fabrics.  Sometimes I like having an extra quilt laying around in case I need one as a last minute gift.  Well, this didn't get finished in 2019, but it did in early 2020.  

I had been invited to my ex-husband's niece's 2020 high school graduation party, so I decided to gift her this quilt.  It was very well received and I'm so glad I had it finished, to be able and give her.

I made a quilt carrying tote to gift it in, and that way I didn't have to buy a gift bag!

The long-arm quilting done on the quilt was by Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side

Here's a view of the back of the quilt... I like doing scrappy quilt backs...

A 2020 Highschool Grad Gift for My Niece...

 The year 2020 sure was one of pure chaos and craziness.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to attend my niece's high school graduation because of the pandemic.  But I did get to watch her open this gift, via Face-time.

This project took me 1-1/2 years to complete, from start to finish.  It was my mom's idea for me to make this, and we are all so happy with how it turned out. 

Name of Quilt:  Photo Memory Crazy Quilt
Techniques Used: Improv-Piecing, Raw Edge Applique, Basic Piecing

Photos were snatched off my brother's and my sister's-in-law FB pages, as well as a few from my niece's FB page.  I did a lot of fun edits to many of the photos, to take them from plain to insane, LOL!  All the photos were then uploaded to Spoonflower, then printed on fabric. 

Once all my insane piecing was finished on the top of the quilt, I took one of my Spoonflower fill-a-yard panels, featuring all of my personal designs, and added borders onto it until the panel was large enough to accommodate the long-arm quilting part of the project.

I then shipped the quilt top and back off to Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side to be long-arm quilted.  In the meantime, I also made a custom, reversible pillowcase with my parents’ handwritten notes to their granddaughter on it, which was also printed on Spoonflower fabric. And last but not least, a reversible tote bag with personalized notes to my niece from both Brian and I, also printed on Spoonflower fabric.

I used an iPhone app called Bazaart to create the fun designs featuring the notes on the pillowcase and tote bag.  And I used a plethora of different iPhone photography apps to do the numerous edits on many of the photos in the quilt itself.

This was a true labor of love.  Needless to say, now my sister-in-law wants one.  :)

I told her to start gathering the photos!

To see additional photos, please visit my Facebook Page: Gina's Custom Creations and go to the album titled 2020 Sewing & Quilting Projects.

National Curd Nerd Day 2020

 October 15, 2020 was National Curd Nerd Day, and we celebrate that day at work since the company I work for makes the cheese curds for Culver's restaurants.  

This year has been unlike any other, with Covid pretty much running the show worldwide, and like most places of business here in Wisconsin, we are required to wear masks while at work.  In light of this, I was asked to make some masks for Curdis and Goldie, the Curd Nerd Mascots.  Don't they look adorable in their masks?

I also made myself a custom mask to wear to work on Curd Nerd Day.  I purposely created it to match the t-shirts that us employees were given and asked to wear to work.  So fun!

 

 

Pinky - A Baby Quilt

 

“Pinky” a baby quilt finished and gifted to a coworker/friend and her husband at their baby shower in October 2020, for baby-to-be. 

I love this quilt so much! It’s made from a pattern designed by Creative Bee Studios, which I purchased in her Etsy shop. It features a technique I’ve never used before, “Use Both Sides”... in other words, use some of the fabric’s backsides rather than the front. It mutes the colors and gives a creative effective that I just love. Four of the fabrics in this quilt were sewn in backwards, and it turned out perfect.Can you figure out which ones they are?

I'm sorry for so many photos, but it was a gorgeous fall day out and I couldn't decide which photos I liked best, so decided to use them all!
 

A huge heartfelt thank you to my friend Dorie for her long arm quilting, and for putting the binding on for me as well since I have been so far behind on sewing projects this year due to mask making. This quilt turned out beautiful!

 

Added Note 6/18/2021:
I'm linking my Pinky - A Baby Quilt post up to blog post "Show Me Something Outdoors" over at Sarah Goer Quilts.  Give her blog a look and follow for great inspiration!

More Masks

With the COVID19 pandemic still going on, I’ve been so busy making masks lately that my other sewing projects are suffering. But it’s okay...masks are important to those who need and want them, so it’s been a priority for the time being. However, it takes me a little longer to make each mask since I like to take my time and make sure each one is perfect before it gets sent off to its recipient. I want people to feel confident in knowing they are worth the extra time and effort when wearing a mask that I’ve made for them. Plus, anything I make, regardless what it is, is a reflection of me and my craftsmanship.  So I want that reflection to show the pride I have in my work, and the fact that I care about quality craftsmanship.

Anyways, the following are photos of more masks I've made, and a few of the happy recipients.  (Including myself in a couple of photos, haha)!  Descriptions will be in captions under some of the photos.

“Mod Ovals on White”
Fabric is available to purchase in my Spoonflower shop: Gina's Custom Creations

Bottom 3 masks in above pic are from my Spoonflower fabric designs,
which are available in my shop: Gina's Custom Creations

 Here are two photos are of me wearing a mask I made for myself using my Spoonflower fabric design: "COVID19 - The Battle Is On - V.2" printed on Basic Craft Cotton.  The fabric used in this mask is available for purchase in my Spoonflower Shop: Gina's Custom Creations

 And also some photos of happy mask recipients. 
(Just a note that the purple mask is not made lopsided.  It's the way he was wearing it, lol).

 

 

                      R.I.P. Rich: Nov. 15, 1968 - August 27, 2020

My mom loves her mask!

 And here are a few more masks...

Used low volume fabric for mask, and appliquéd a fussy cut rose emblem to the top center.

For the music lover...

A special request for a skull mask.
Made from: Regent Skull by Henry Alexander - OOP
I just happened to have a teeny bit of this fabric left in my stash from quite a few years ago!

Made and surprise gifted this one to a really awesome friend of mine.
He's a die-hard Kiss fan.
(You can see him wearing it farther up in one of the photos in this post).

*Before making this mask, though, I did some research to make sure I'm not
infringing on any copyright laws, since I didn't make it to sell.