Sharks! New Handmade Pincushion Cats

I wanted to get some fun new pincushion cats ready for Shark Week. And I'd always wanted to make a cat in a shark costume, so figured this was the perfect time to do it!

So I came up with 3 new pincushions: Shark Cat, Shark Pig and Swimming Cat. All my felt pincushion are handmade by me and from my own patterns. They stand approximately 5.5 inches (14 cms) tall and measure approximately 11 inches (28 cms) around the bellies.

First up:Shark Cat! I had so much fun making this one! What's not to love about the silliness of this?

This brown cat is showing his ferocious shark side by wearing his gray shark costume complete with hood, big teeth, shark fin and tail.

Next: Shark Pig:

This pink pig is happy to be wearing his gray shark fin and blue iridescent ribbon collar.

And lastly: the Swimming Cat! This one might actually be my new favorite.

This white cat is celebrating summer by going for a refreshing swim with his yellow ducky inner tube, blue fins and snorkel (which is on a pin so can be removed if desired).

All these cat pincushions can be viewed or purchased in my Etsy shop: CLICK HERE

Do you have a favorite one? Let us know in the comments!

Sewing Room Organization - on a budget! - The supply wall

 Part 3 of the sewing room makeover!

The goal: 

**To completely reorganize everything in my room and probably move around the furniture. 

**To find a space for my new embroidery machine.

**To put up artwork and other stuff I find visually inspiring.

**To keep my room neat and tidy. I need to be able to actually find what I'm looking for.

**To have my dream sewing room!

**And do it all on a budget. Reuse or refurbish anything you can.

Next up: the dreaded sewing supply wall.

There's a lot of parts to this process so it's not quite done right now. But there's a huge great start to it!

I have a blank wall which I decided is going to be the home for my small dry erase board which I will keep tabs on what supplies are getting low. Along with getting my ribbons, lace and various other trims and patterns up there as well. 

So first things first. Gotta map out what's going where. OK done. Easy part over.

 

 Now let's get this stuff up on the walls!

 

Got the dry erase board up, nothing really to say about that part. 

What I decided to use for the ribbon racks was one of those CD towers. It had been unused for years and just taking up space in my corner. So I took it apart, put some screws in the wall and hug the 2 pieces up there.  

I tended to stuff my trims in any container or bag I could find. Which was never very efficient when trying to find something. 

I have these rotating cup holder things. I had gotten them at Costco years ago with the intention for this. But never got them into the cups and never got the devices up on the wall. Until now! How they're color coded and organized by style!

A few years back I started putting all my patterns into labeled ziplock bags. Which was great, but since I start a new pattern bags for every different pincushion I make, I have close to 100 bags, I had no where to put them so I could easily find which one I needed. 

 

Decided I needed them up on a wall with clips so I can easily detach which one I need. So a PVC pipe will do. Though I see I need to get a third middle brace as well but that's an easy fix. 

 

Getting the actual devices/racks up on the wall wasn't too bad, but trying to sort through years of supplies and properly organize them was not. 

Price tally:

**2 office paper dividers/Felt dividers - saved from the trash - $0

**Hanging shoe divider - $6.00 

 **Oatmeal containers/Pipe cleaner organizer - counting those as free since I ate all the oatmeal $0
**Paper towel rolls/Pipe cleaner organizer - also counting as free $0

**CD tower/Ribbon racks - already had - $0

**Rotating cups/Trim organizer - already had - $0
**PVC piping and random screws, nails, supports - $7.00

**Dry erase board - $4.00

New Spring Themed Fat Cat Pincushions: gardener, flower heads, hula dancer and frog costume

My sewing room has been full of activity lately! Along with working on the room redesign, I've also gotten a bunch of new spring themed Fat Cat pincushions completed. All my felt pincushion are handmade by me and from my own patterns. They stand approximately 5.5 inches (14 cms) tall and measure approximately 11 inches (28 cms) around the bellies.

First up: Gardener Cat!

This gray cat is ready for gardening in her blue jeans, lavender shirt, green apron, tan sun hat and purple gloves. She carries her trusty shovel and precious pot of yellow flowers with her.

Flower Head Cats!

These brightly colored cats are celebrating spring by wearing a big flowers on their faces.

Hula Dancer Cat!

This tan cat is ready for dancing in her grass skirt adorned with multicolored flowers, coconut bra and lei. She wears a flower by her right ear, which means she's single!

And last for now, Frog Costume Cat!

This caramel cat is showing his froggy love by wearing his two-tone green frog suit complete with hood, big eyes and frog feet.

 All these cat pincushions can be viewed or purchased in my Etsy shop: CLICK HERE

Tell us which Fat Cat is your favorite in the comments!

And there are still more to come throughout the rest of this month! Queen bees, Uncle Sam, George Washington, Betsy Ross with flag and and some special ones for shark week! 

Sewing Room Organization - on a budget! - The pipe cleaners

Part 2 of the sewing room makeover!

The goal: 

**To completely reorganize everything in my room and probably move around the furniture. 

**To find a space for my new embroidery machine.

**To put up artwork and other stuff I find visually inspiring.

**To keep my room neat and tidy. I need to be able to actually find what I'm looking for.

**To have my dream sewing room!

**And do it all on a budget. Reuse or refurbish anything you can.

Next up: the pipe cleaner area.

For some reason, I've acquired a ton of pipe cleaners in various colors and sizes. I do use some pipe cleaners in my Fat Cat pincushion designs, but nowhere as many as what I have. So I needed some sort of storage case and/or divider. My overflowing boxes were no longer working. 

So as I was pouring my oatmeal out of my container one day, a brilliant idea filled my mind. OATMEAL CONTAINERS!! Since I eat oatmeal everyday I have a ton of empty containers in my recycling bag. Plus I eat a lot of it so I'll get more empty ones soon. Oatmeal containers are going to be the base for my pipe cleaner case. Now how to separate the different colors and sizes? And what's something I already have? Empty paper towel rolls! 5 rolls fit nicely in an oatmeal container. Yay! I figured out the first part!

Now where will they go? Putting them on a shelf will take up space but it's doable. But I saw that I had a bit of space in between my two shelving units.

 

What would fit in there? I bet one of those hanging shoe dividers would! And it did! And an oatmeal container fits perfectly in a cube! Wow, this is all working out pretty nicely! 

So with some extra PVC piping, a brace was made to hold it in between the two shelving units.

 

 

And I'm going to have some extra space on the bottom so I threw in my few skeins of yarn I have. 

Though ignore everything to the right of that - I haven't gotten to that part of the room yet...

So far this is turning out pretty easy! And I feel so accomplished. Though the next part will be challenging: the ribbon/trim and pattern wall. Stay tuned! 

Price tally:

**2 office paper dividers saved from the trash - $0

**Hanging shoe divider - $6.00 

 **Oatmeal containers - I'm counting those as free since I ate all the oatmeal
**Paper towel rolls - also counting as free

 

Sewing Room Organization - on a budget! - The felt fabric corner

I'm happy to report that I'm FINALLY starting on my sewing room redesign! 

The goal: 

**To completely reorganize everything in my room and probably move around the furniture. 

**To find a space for my new embroidery machine.

**To put up artwork and other stuff I find visually inspiring.

**To keep my room neat and tidy. I need to be able to actually find what I'm looking for.

**To have my dream sewing room!

**And do it all on a budget. Reuse or refurbish anything you can.

First up, the felt fabric area! And I'm only talking about the 9 x 12 sheets of felt, not the ones cut off the bolt. Those I have hanging in my closet. But these sheets now have taken on a life of their own. It started out not too bad since I didn't have too many colors. So I just made something out of those metal cube things. 

But that fast became not too convenient anymore. 

So I got a scrapbooking tower, which proved perfect...for awhile. 

But then I got more colors and didn't have enough shelves or width in those shelves. 

And then comes my sister to the rescue who saved these 2 office paper dividers from the trash! Mine!

 See the huge pile of fabric on top? Yeah, I'm a fabric hoarder and I'm OK with that.

And they turned out to be the perfect fit for my felts!! All colors can be separated with plenty of room in each space for lots of sheets. And I still have some free spaces on the last 7 or so slots that I just filled with random patterned sheets that I've never used, but were too fun not to buy. 

Perfect size fabric organizer that are free! What can be better than that??

Price tally:

**2 office paper dividers saved from the trash - $0

Off to a good start! 

Some 2016 Goals

I tend to write up a huge list of goals/resolutions for a every year. Which I then separate into Personal, Health, and Fat Cat Crafts. And then they never get done. 

But nonetheless, I'm doing it again this year. So here are 10 from each category. I have many more, but thought listing more would be over-kill. Maybe writing them down and putting them out in the virtual world will help me keep them???

Personal

 1. Go swing dancing - I've wanted to for years so now is the time to do it!

 2. Take a road trip - I haven't gone anywhere for years, I think I deserve a vacation.

 3. Visit the West Side Market - A local farmer's market that everyone raves about.

 4. Get nose piercing - Something I've wanted for years much to the dismay of my mom...

 5. Finish my Riddler dress - At least the construction of the dress is already done!

 6. Attend a comic convention - Should be easy right?

 7. Wear my Riddler dress to that convention - Another easy one, right? 
 8. Make a Halloween costume - Possibly from Hocus Pocus.
 9. Make a Padme DIY costume tutorial - Which I get asked a lot how I made that costume.
 10. Make a Bellatrix DIY costume tutorial - Mostly for the lace-up sleeves.

Health
 1. Go to the eye doctor - It's been wayyy too long since my last visit.
 2. Establish daily healthy eating habits - Should have already been done.
 3. Establish daily routine exercises - Yeah, another one that should have already been done.
 4. Start running - Not really looking forward to this one but my cardio is really bad.
 5. Be able to run a full 3 miles without passing out - If I can master this I'll be thrilled
 6. Be able to hold a handstand for a full 30 seconds - Used to be simple when I was a kid.
 7. Get 6 pack abs - Because this is my dream list so why not!
 8. Make it to the top of a rock wall (indoor) - Must strengthen up wrists, Lupus sucks.
 9. Make it to the top of a real rock - Still strengthening wrists but in a nicer scenery.
 10. Do Scorpion pose - Don't do yoga but I'll aim for one of the hardest positions. Why not!

Fat Cat Crafts
 1. Completely organize sewing room - Should have been done YEARS ago!!

 2. Post up various new non-pincushion items - I need to branch out from pincushions.

 3. Retake all poor product pictures - And sadly, there's a lot of poor pictures.

 4. Add in color more choices for basic cat ribbons and skirts - More choices are good right!

 5. Organize product computer picture file folders - My picture folders are out of control!

 6. Sell at a large juried craft fair - Never done it, so figured it would be a good experience.

 7. Stock-pile pieces for Christmas - Just a smart idea.

 8. Be featured in a magazine - I was featured in one last year so I may as well hope for another!

 9. Get my pincushions sold a shop - Branching out is good.

 10. Sell to all 50 states - I can dream right!

And there we go: some of my to-do list for 2016! Stay turned throughout the year for blog posts to see how well, or poorly, I do!

 

Air Force Fat Cat Pincushion

I feel like I'm on a role this month because I've managed to get another new pincushion completed: US Air Force! I think she's quite cute if I do say so myself. 

She's made from various colors of felt and is stuffed with polyester fiberfill. Due to the small pieces, a lot of these pincushions are sewn by hand. 

She stands approximately 5.25 inches (13.25 cms) tall and measures approximately 11 inches (28 cms) around the belly. And she, like all my other creations, is handmade by me and from my own patterns.

To see the Etsy shop listing for full details, CLICK HERE!

Or to visit my Etsy shop to view all my pincushion styles, CLICK HERE!

Italian Cat Pincushions

A new year means new Fat Cat designs. And I am so happy about this newest one I finished! ITALIAN CATS!!!

I knew I wanted to have him holding a plate of food, which my first thought was spaghetti and meatballs. But I'd had a few people ask if I would be doing pizza. So I opted for both options and then you can choose which one you want!

These tan kitties are wearing dark green pants, white shirt, red neck tie and of course a black mustache. They are made out of felt except for the occasional pom poms which are used for his feet and for the meatballs. But everything else is felt, including that pizza. Now don't hold it against me, but I find that pizza to actually look delicious...

Which version do you like better?

The cats stand approximately 5.25 inches (13.25 cms) tall and measure approximately 11 inches (28 cms) around the bellies. These cats, like all my other creations, are handmade by me.

To see the Etsy shop listing for the spaghetti and meatballs version, CLICK HERE!

And to see the Etsy shop listing for the pizza pie version, CLICK HERE!

Or to visit my Etsy shop to view all my pincushion styles, CLICK HERE!