Where Have I Been?

I've been here and there and everywhere! Really, I was all over the country last summer, on tour playing accordion with Origami Ghosts. That was an amazing adventure; playing music through the vast summer heat of the USA. I also slung my homemade jewelry the whole way.

Upon my return to Seattle and adjustment to sedentary life I began to sell my wares at the Hangover Flea Market at the Comet Tavern. This is always fun! It takes place a couple of Sunday afternoons out of each month. Now I'm just trying to carve more time out of a busy schedule to work on some new jewelry and to share some of what I've been working on with the blog world.

So, here is my welcome back to myself and to you!

Karlita's Designs at the Hangover Flea Market, Fall 2012

Slow Motion Quilt

I don't really know how to make a quilt- not officially- but I get the general idea. 
I love quilts and the tradition of them.
When I was a little wee one, the church ladies of University Lutheran Church in East Lansing Michigan made me a quilt (or my mom bought it from them- I don't know).  It was soft dark blue underneath and deep hues of dark fuchsia, burgundy, beige, gray and white.  Perfect cozy quilty blanket.  And then somewhere somehow in my young adult adventures, it disappeared.

The sad story is over. 
About a year ago, my friend Eliese and I decided to start a quilt project creating squares based upon squares created by the other.  She lives in Portland, I live in Seattle- this is a long distance project that we are tackling in slow motion.  Someday we will finish it.  For now- it is fun!!!!

Here are the squares thus far:

Lindsey's Birthday Mask

I crocheted this for my friend's birthday.  Freeform mask!

Treasury is O so Zen

My earrings are in there with other fellow spheres!

Refashioned Pants = Yoga Mat Bags!

About a year ago I said that I would make a yoga mat bag. A home-made tube shaped bag with an easy to carry strap to hold it to the body. I thought for a while that I would crochet the bag. Hmmmm.... I thought. Yessss.... I will crochet it with pretty colors. And then I thought about how easy it would be to sew a bag. Well, all of these things take motivation and I am a procrastinator. Although I am a procrastinator that gets so many things done while putting off one simple task; one as simple as sewing a tube with a strap. And then, the other day, the yoga bag motivation kicked in and I started looking through my fabric and found a pair of torn red pants. I looked at the pants... Aha! Pants have legs and legs are tubes and voila, yoga mat bag! Now I just need to motivate to sew those buttons on.

Refashioned Yoga Mat Bags!

Sun Kissed Skin - Etsy Treasury

This Etsy Treasury is full of beautiful finds...
and my earrings are included!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cf93d553a008eef037c4d6d/sun-kissed-skin

Seattle Modified Style Fashion Show 2010

Here is my finished dress in the Modified Style Fashion Show (Saturday, Nov 14th, 2010).  Annika looked so good!

Annika modeling my dress at the Modified Style Fashion Show 2010

Here's a link to photos from the whole show:  http://kerrydahlen.smugmug.com/Fashion/Modified-Style-2010/14708964_XUZKg#1095688417_RUPjm.

Modified Style, Adventures in Dress Making

During the last two weeks I spent all of my free time working out the final details of a dress I designed for Modified Style.  For those who are not familiar with this Seattle/Portland based non-profit recycled dress making fashion show competition, Modified Style is a challenge to make a dress out of a mysterious bag of recycled fabric scraps  in order to eventually raise money for charity.  Check out this post in the Slog.  It is a wonderful organization and I am lucky to have been able to participate in the first one in 2008 and again this past weekend.  All of the dresses are unique and amazing; they are creative visions released for good fun.

Ki modeling the dress I designed for Seattle Modified Style 2008

Ki and I - Seattle Modified Style 2008

I have learned so much from designing and crafting these dresses together; mainly that I am capable of designing and creating a unique dress!  Also, on the other hand, I know very little about sewing and tailoring in general.  It was very exciting to learn how to make a gathered skirt and how to use my sewing machine to make button holes.  I meant to document my dress making process as it happened over the past 2 months and of course I did not.  Now I will recapture as much of the process as I can, mainly with pictures.

To begin, here are the scraps I started with for Modified Style 2010:

And some of my first ideas.

Brainstorming with fabric

One last thing, a little side note, somehow I won best dress overall in this last competition!  I am a terrible winner- it's always hard for me to believe that I deserve to win because I believe that when everyone works so hard at creating something unique that everyone is a winner.  However, I worked my ass off and I'm really excited to get the wellness massage I won:)

Another side note, my friend Annika and I designed and modeled our dresses for each other.  I got to model her whimsical fairyland dress featuring a hoop skirt made out of a bike tire.  She won most creative dress.  She worked her ass off too!

New Petal Crochet Earrings

I started making these earrings a few months ago and I think I'm going to start making many more in different colors.  They are sort of in the spirit of free form crochet.  I would like to start using more natural colors.  In a way, they look to me like abstract leaves or flower petals.

For me mum for Mother's Day...

To purchase please visit my etsy page!

Blue Feet!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-footed_Booby

Inspire...

Icicle Style

This is my newest name for these earrings.  Actually, my friend Lindsey coined the name after I gave her a pair for her birthday.  Here are the pictures she took of my newest Icicle Style earrings:

New Earrings & Photos!!!

A couple of weekends ago I had my wisdom teeth taken out.  I was very anxious about this small operation- but it ended up being an overall pleasant experience.  Dr. Hart did an excellent job and the pain killers kept me going through the weekend:)  I spent the weekend on the couch with Netflix and crochet hooks creating a small basket of new earrings!

My friend Lindsey Liguori has helped me by taking some pictures.  She has a good eye and takes good close-ups to capture detail.  I am also playing around with names.  So- here is a sneak peak at some new earrings:

Owl Eyes in gold and green

              

  

Bubble Links in sparkle pink
                 

Ribbon Style in green with turquoise and black beads

The Victorian Collar

A friend challenged me to make her a crocheted Victorian style collar. I asked what she meant and she vaguely explained that she wanted a sort of long collar that fits somewhat tight around her neck. I started to look for examples of Victorian style collars and found a few and then attempted a collar for Kelli. She loves and almost always wears dark pinks, purples and blues, so I went through the stash and found some soft yarn in those colors.

This is what I came up with... so far...

After I showed her what I had we decided to add more purple "lace" to the top so it comes up higher and blossoms out under her chin a bit. It should be good for winter.

A fun blog I found with examples of Victorian style collars:
Curious Oddities

Welcome to Karlita's Designs Blog!

I am going to attempt to keep this blog interesting - that is, not to write too much about myself but simply about attempted projects, and the world of fashion and crafts. If you are interested in these topics, perhaps you will enjoy this blog! I also welcome anyone to visit my etsy store where I sell the things I make: karlitasdesigns.etsy.com.