Fabricaholics Anonymous

Could it be?! More cat costumes? Oh yes, it very well could be! Purry is here to pimp your pussy with her shop at www.purry.etsy.com. This little feline hatred-inspiring ensemble is festive for fall, yet stylish for the tacky-conscious kitty. And I love how Purry understands that though a person may buy an outfit for their cat, they will not necessarily get them to wear it for long. This Etsy seller also has another shop at natorious.etsy.com, where you can find a good mix of items, including an awesome painting set of kitties in yoga poses. Cuteness!!! I'll have to suggest that the yoga class at my gym implement the "frontward-facing anus lick" pose.

And in regards to other cuteness, I've finally finished the fish kitty bed. I think it came out awesome! It was tough using a pattern and following directions, as I usually tend to kinda throw things together and do them my own way. Use pins? Baste? What? So say hey for following directions. But not only are the seams attractive, but it's actually attractive to the furries! I put Little Man in it for some pictures, and I couldn't get him to come out. He fell asleep in it for a while once I gave up. It's something I would definitely love to make again if people on Etsy are interested in it. I really lucked out on finding cool fabrics that went together well. I hope I have some more luck. A great excuse to frequent Joanne's like the fabricaholic that I am!

Do you find yourself lost in stacks of fabric in your own home? Can you never pass up a cute remnant, justifying your purchase by saying, "I'll make SOMEthing out of it SOMEday." Do you find an odd sense of comfort and satisfaction in picturing squirrels stashing away nuts for the winter? Then you may just be a fabricaholic. My name is Sarah, and I am a fabricaholic. I'm not yet drowning in fabric, but it has taken over one room of my house. But perhaps that's just because I'm messy and have all my craft supplies stacked everywhere in plastic bags... But I have yards of fabric, curtains, tablecloths, blown-out jeans, scraps...all vying for the attention of me and my Singer 600E, the new love of my life. I think I may even have to write a love poem for it, I heart it so much. I guess I should stack all of my fabric findings around the sewing machine, like a shrine to it. Oh, this will be great! Off to find candles!

Crafticles

I think I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm all set to be decoupaging, knitting, sewing clothes and cat items, baking cat treats, painting with watercolors, and needle felting. I hate to be a "jack of all trades, master of none", but it all either is or seems to be so much fun! My computer room is filled with stacks of fabric and bags from JoAnns. I have glaze, shells, nautical charts, wooden shapes, ribbon, sand, baskets, yarns, tags, thread...and not enough time in the day. I may have enough craft supplies to amuse me for about ten years or more. But now that I have a stockpile -- is it possible to be inspired and original when you've been dancing around the same materials for months or years? Can it be just as creative to simply use what you have instead of creating your exact vision?



One of my recent ideas is perfect for taking to work with me. I work as a data collector for the government on commercial fishing boats, so the downtime is perfect for hand stitching cute cat toys. It's that or stare at the wall once you've read all your books. One can only pack so many books before the bag is too heavy to pick up. So I've been making these little birdie cat toys. I love the way the blanket stitch looks around the edges, and it's hard to keep my cats off the feathers and catnip when I'm making them at home. I'm hoping to have a decent stash to bring to my next craft fair at Liberty Hall in Marstons Mills, MA on December 6th. I took a special day off of work for it, so I hope it goes well (i.e. I make the table money back).

I also just made a really nice cat bed from my own pattern. I even lined up the plaid fabric so it's not all cockeyed. It came out really quite nice. Right now, I'm working on a fish-shaped cat bed/tent. It has some great furry fabric accents, and, well it's a fish. How cool is that?!

So I guess that while I am ahead of myself in materials, I've at least been relatively fruitful. But sometimes it's hard to stop sewing and go to the gym. I'll be sewing myself some new fat clothes if I'm not careful. EEK!