Typewriter Fabric

I remember thinking I was so cool typing papers and stuff for elementary school on my mom's old typewriter. (We didn't have a computer yet, so a typewriter to me was beyond awesome). I didn't care if it didn't have a screen like a computer. I loved the sounds the keys made, and especially the sound made hitting the return key. Needless to say, I was really excited to see that Spoonflower chose typewriters as the theme for one of their Fabric of the Week contests. Even better was that the fabric designs had to be in black and white. I may have went a little crazy, as I ended up with several designs to choose from for the contest. Here is my entry for the current Fabric of the Week contest, Keys & Ribbons Plaid:

Keys & Ribbons Plaid, test swatch 8"x8" view shown. Click image to see repeat in yardage.

Keys & Ribbons Plaid is made up of circular typewriter keys on vertical lines with letters, numbers, and symbols from vintage and modern machines. Used and unused typewriter ribbons are woven into the vertical lines. This print wasn't my first idea for the theme, but ended up being the one I liked the best for the contest.

Geometric Letter Keys was actually my first idea for the theme, and is probably my favorite.

Geometric Letter Keys Large, shown at fat quarter 21"x18" view. Click image to see it in yardage.

This print has the circular typewriter keys on a mod inspired pattern. It's different and fun, but isn't as obviously typewriter inspired as the plaid print. You can view the rest of my typewriter themed prints here. I'm sure I'll be adding more, eventually. (I do have more designs, but do not have them uploaded yet).

Voting for the Typewriters Black and White contest ends Wednesday. You can vote for your favorite fabrics here until then. There are lots of fantastic entries to see in this week's contest. Seeing all the typewriter fabrics just makes me want a vintage typewriter even more.

I'm currently working on a fabric design involving some creepy critters. I also have my sewing project (jacket) to finish. Holidays and storms kind of interrupted my sewing time. I have a new cut and sew kit that I will be ordering soon, along with lots of swatches. There will be several fun and spooky designs posted soon!

*Past Contest Results*
-Zig-zag Cheater Quilt: Sleepytime zzz Cheater Quilt 209/216

Nyan Cat Cross Stitch Pattern

A little over a year ago, I first saw the Nyan Cat video and immediately loved its silliness. It may annoy some, but it makes me smile. I decided to make a cross stitch of the strange and cute toaster pastry cat. Here is my recently finished project that still needs to be framed:

Creating a pattern for the Nyan Cat wasn't bad, but I spent a while coming up with a border design. And since I had not left a lot of extra fabric around the Nyan Cat (oops!), I had to work with the space I had left. I created the border with "nyan" in rainbow colors and pixelated star shapes similar to those in the Nyan Cat video.

I stitched the pattern on 16 count Aida cloth and the finished pattern with border is 9.0625 (9 1/16)  inches wide and 4.875 (4 7/8) inches tall. At first, I used 3 strands of floss for the Nyan Cat, but then used 2 strands of floss for the rest of the pattern. (I hadn't done a cross stitch in years, so wasn't sure how many strands to use). I used what colors I already had, and chose to use the same pink for the cat's cheeks as the toaster pastry frosting. For the most part, the colors I had were good matches to the colors in the video.

Here is the pattern for this project, with the colors I used listed:

Click image to view it larger. For personal use only.

If I did this project again, I would probably stitch it on a dark blue cloth and use glow in the dark floss for the stars. I do have another Nyan Cat I want to stitch. It's the Missing Nyan Cat. The background music is the Lavender Town music from Pokemon games. This Nyan Cat will be stitched with glow in the dark floss (for the white sections) on lavender linen fabric when I do the project.

If you use my pattern, please do not sell the pattern. (Because of the abundance of Nyan Cat inspired products, I'm sure it would be fine to sell the completed projects). Feel free to make lots of fun Nyan Cat cross stitch projects, though! Also feel free to use different colors if desired. Have fun stitching!

Mod School Supplies

It's back to school time for students of all ages, or will be very soon. I was a strange kid, and always liked getting new school supplies each year. There's something about sharpening new sets of pencils and picking out a fun binder. Oh, and arranging items by color. To celebrate school starting again, Spoonflower's current Fabric of the Week contest is for school supplies themed fabrics. My entry is Mod School Supplies:

Mod School Supplies, fat quarter 21"x18" view shown. Click image to see print in yardage.

Rulers, pencils, markers, marker caps, erasers, and construction paper make up this fun school supplies themed print. I used primary and secondary colors for the print to keep it bright and a tool for learning colors. The black and white keeps it from being too bright. The design was inspired by Mondrian art and uses actual sized rulers (with correct markings), pencils, and erasers. The markers and marker caps are approximate dimensions, as I didn't have any basic markers to use as a guide. This large scaled repeat would be especially great for art smocks, but would also work for backpacks and art supply/portfolio cases.

The last day of voting for this contest is Wednesday. You can check out the rest of the fabulous school supplies themed fabrics and vote for your favorites here. Many of them would make fantastic pencil cases or backpacks, and there are even a few kits amongst the entries.

I have another cross stitch pattern and project to post, and am also working on a sewing project. The cross stitch pattern and project will be posted soon. The sewing project (a jacket) will be posted once it is finished and photographed.

*Past Contest Result*
- Camping: Neverending S'mores 87/162