Unexpected fabric - pillow out of kitchen towels

Just have a look at this gorgeous woven fabric! It is high quality cotton washable even at higher temperatures than 60 °C. Okay, should be like this with a kitchen towel, or? 

I just found them at the supermarket and was smitten :) 

The colours are difficult to catch without sunlight... but they are really bright and vibrant! 

And the threads create an interesting structure with their different strenghts...

Mine :)

Also surprisingly soft, I really don't know why anybody would make kitchen towels out of this fabric. This is not a kitchen towel fabric at all. I never want to cuddle with the fabric of my real kitchen towels!

A long time - a lot of stiches... and more...

Yes, it is too long ago that I blogged anything. My time is quite dedicated at the moment as are my nerves ^^ I am learning and preparing to defend my thesis (oh yes, more nerves than anything else!), working, trying to get some sleep and somehow stumbled into a relationship. The free time I find I am using mostly to create / make stuff rather than writing and blogging about this. So yes, there are some things I can show you... and hopefully will over the next days. 

Also (this is the sniffing little child inside of me) it seems that I catch every pathogen available! Just yesterday a night without sleep and without the content of my stomach but with a lot of shivering and pain. Bah. Next time please without me!  

One of the things I made was some stitching and sewing resulting into a pillow. I just saw some pictures about traditional indian stitching (don't ask me where, I lost the site... sorry...) and I just loved the structures which were created! 

I just took my embroidery threads randomly and stitched line for line... Yes, I could have marked the lines or ironed them... but I love nothing more than the dynamic created through the process stitching non-perfect. There is an organic feeling to it (you should touch the surface! can't stop touching it!)...

...and while the lines are uneven...

...the stitches are all in different sizes...

There is a whole picture in the end.

Oh.... I would love to have a whole quilt like that...

...but one should stay honest to oneself: Not with my lack of patience! ^^

I choose cream rather than white as background because I didn't want a too sharp contrast, rather something like a harmony with all the random colours :)

Strange as it is, I would never have thought that I would start to love stitching that much. But there is something inside of it that speaks to me: To create structures and surfaces! I don't believe I'll ever be into more traditional stitching but the possibilities with stitching are just so alluring! With patchwork, with fabric paints, with stitches... no end to go into all directions.

And now: Just catching some food, cooking, sleeping. Just too tired at the moment :)

"Just minutes stuff" - fabric bag pillow

Okay, I have to admit that I love colourful fabric bags. Although the cotton is not so heavy it is very stable.

I have bought severals and spend some minutes to make a first trial one. Although I have sewn a lot of pillows I think I also love to make them this fast way.

Cut of the the strap and turn the upper side (where the fabric lays doubly to give the straps there hold) to the inside. After that my bag was a square (38 x 38 cm... by the way... make your pillow case one or two cm smaller than the filling if you use ones and are not stuffing the pillow case itself ^^)

I wanted to use hook-and-loop tape (is this the right term?) but I didn't found it. Sighs... but during my search I had a look at my poppers and used them instead (with this strange tool).

Finished. Writing took longer ;)

PS: To take pics in the middle of the night may not be the best idea ^^

The crow and all the colours!

My sister asked me whether I could make her pillows as christmas present(s). She know most of the pillows I already made as well as my love for making some (and having a lot of them on my bed!).

The first one is made with one of my crow stencils (have a look here or here). I cut the crow out of freezer paper, ironed this on the fabric and painted it over with fabric paint.

I made a pink crochet border... I like this border and thought it would be funny. A crochet border is a little bit old style but with the colours and the crow it has a more modern twist (at least I think so ^^).

It was hard work to sew with this wool because the needle was not really big enough. My fingertips are still hurting!

Afterwards I added a simple border of double crochet stiches (in german: Stäbchen) with my crochet hook (european size 4).

In made one double crochet stich in every needle stich. Only at the edges I put two double crochet stichtes in the needle stich sites. I just played a little bit until I found out which number of stichtes worked.

Yes, I had some problems catching the real colour... sighs. I haven't seen the sun now for some time and especially pink and violett are difficult to catch for my camera with artifical light. Just you know: The pink is a real pink! ^^

The next pillow was an easy one but I love the colours and the ornament! It was a textile bag I bought because I instantly feel in love with the fabric!

There was not enough green fabric for the back so I added some light blue which corresponds to the blue at the front. I am happy I had not enough green fabric because I love how this turned out! And I used red thread! Just a little touch of another contrasting colour but again: I love it!

And the third pillow: With a lot of circles made out of felt! I don't know how long this will last but I think the look of the pillow is worth a try ^^

I just cut out a lot of little circles, glued them on with fabric glue (never again, it will get a little bit to hard... they said it wouldn't get hard at the store.. sniff... quite happy that  didn't use much!) and afterwards stichted over them. Takes some time but won't be my last one!

It made a lot of fun to arrange all the circles on the fabric. :)

Waiting...

...the newest sewn octopus pillow. Again, how could it be different, a gift for a friend (yes... you are old now! ^^).

Black elefant...

Okay, no octopus. No tentacle... hm... at least no real tentacle...?

This stencil is one of my first but I couldn't show it due to "delivery" problems. It was a birthday present for a friend of mine.

I had some problems with the structure / texture of the paint. Not sure why because it never occured again although I did not chance any details in the process... mh...

Mh... next time violett on white fabric...

The different colours are due to the time the pictures were taken... at night / daylight and... I have to confess *blush* without white light correction....

Octopus pillow... (stencil one)

The next octopus pillow... this time I used freezer paper for the stencil / pattern. I don't know, how could I ever live without freezer paper? I simply love it! And thanks for fast and cheap shippings over the ocean ^^

Like every one... not for myself... although I also want to have one! Maybe with the freezer paper I'll craft some of these stuff for myself ^^

My working space... you see, it's just sticking great to the fabric after ironing... even the small details like the eye... hach...!

Sometimes it won't take much to be happy. Just some strange paper!

(fabric is washed and ironed before sewing, fabric is black cotton, I just made a pillow with a flap closure...)

Octopus pillow...

Today is my fathers birthday and... (what else...?) there had to be an octopus! So (I don't have time for writing more stuff, my thesis is waiting... *uhg*) my present was an octopus (pillow).

Look, he smiles! Really!

(Violett/blue silk on black cotton. painted with chalk for cloths. applied by hand. surrounded with sewing machine. highlighted with silver edding.)

Katzenkissen (cat pillow)

Da ich gerade dabei bin mich hier durch die Befehle und Möglichkeiten des Blogs zu arbeiten und alles auszuprobieren, gleich mal das nächste. Das Kissen ist ebenfalls ein wenig älter, dürfte schon an die zwei Jahre mindestens sein. Grundlage für das Kissen war ein Rest fester Leinenstoff (IKEA), dazu ein wenig Dupionseide und Borte. Die Katze ist einfache schwarze Baumwolle (IKEA schon wieder). Als Idee dienten die Katzen von Emily.

Ich hatte fleißige Nähhilfe... ("Was soll ich machen? Ich kann das nicht! Ahhhh... ich schneide daneben...") ...eben weil es ein Geburtstagsgeschenk für die Mutter der Nähhilfe war.

Am Ende frage ich mich immer wieder, warum ich sowas nur für Andere herstelle und selbst kein Katzenkissen besitze.