Giveaway: Win a Table Runner

Hello friends!

I am participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day today (well, this whole week, really). Go check it out, there are so many wonderful handmade items offered by bloggers all over the world, as well as crafting and sewing supplies.


I am offering TWO things from my shop today: a table runner and a tablet cover. (You can enter the tablet cover giveaway here.)

Here is your chance to win the table runner! The winner of this giveaway can choose one table runner from the selection below ($42 value).

My table runners are thoughtfully handmade with a combination of bold cotton prints and natural linen, for a look that is both earthy and modern. My Wonky Stripes table runners feature large stripes of linen and cotton. A layer of soft flannel and a crisp cotton linen keep them sturdy and flat. They measure approximately 36 by 16 inches. My Quilted table runners feature one catchy cotton print, quilted in a large zigzag and bound with natural linen. A layer of cotton batting makes them cozy and soft. They measure approximately 42 x 17 inches.

Note: This giveaway is for a ready-to-ship table runner, not a custom item.

You can see all my table runners in stock in my Jenny Bartoy ~ Handmade Designs shop on Etsy.


The winner of the giveaway may choose ONE table runner from the following options:


Purple and Queen Anne's Lace


Moroccan Tiles


Red Poppies


Chartreuse and Dots


If you're new to my little blog, please take a look around. I create fiber art with recycled materials like stamped coffee sacks. I also design textile items that I hand-make with a mix of modern fabrics and linen. I do a lot of custom work and, when time allows, stock my Etsy shop with new designs.

You can find me on Etsy, Facebook and Pinterest. I also co-write the crafty blog Stumbles & Stitches with my friend Angel. I look forward to meeting new friends!


** How to enter the giveaway **

• Please leave a comment on this blog post. Let me know which table runner you would choose, and what else might have caught your eye in my shop. (One entry per person, please)
• Make sure to include an email address if it's not included in your Blogger profile.
• This giveaway is open until May 10 at 5PM PST, at which point I will choose a random winner and will contact them by email.
• This giveaway is open to everyone, international friends welcome.

Void where prohibited


Oh, don't forget to enter the tablet cover giveaway. Thank you so much for visiting and good luck!!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this giveaway! The lucky winner is nicmowat who said "love them ALL, so hard to choose!! Chartreuse and Dots i think would match my bedroom, and i'm itching for a new runner for on top my dresser. i need a bucket from your shop! perfect for scraps! :)" Congrats! Look for an email from me in your inbox.

Giveaway: Win a Tablet Cover

Hello friends!

I am participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day today (well, this whole week, really). Go check it out, there are so many wonderful handmade items offered by bloggers all over the world, as well as crafting and sewing supplies.


I am offering TWO things from my shop today: a tablet cover and a table runner. (You can enter the table runner giveaway here.)

Here is your chance to win the tablet cover! The winner of this giveaway can choose one iPad cover from my shop ($36 value). My covers are made from a combination of bold cotton prints and natural linen, for a look that is both earthy and crisp. They are padded with layers of interfacing and cotton batting to keep your tablet cozy. Note: This giveaway is for a ready-to-ship cover, not a custom item.

You can see all iPad covers in stock in my Jenny Bartoy ~ Handmade Designs shop on Etsy. Below are some examples of my favorites.





If you prefer, you may choose a smaller cover that fits either iPad mini or Kindle Fire HD instead ($30 value). For example, this chartreuse and linen one:



If you're new to my little blog, please take a look around. I create fiber art with recycled materials like stamped coffee sacks. I also design textile items that I hand-make with a mix of modern fabrics and linen. I do a lot of custom work and, when time allows, stock my Etsy shop with new designs.

You can find me on Etsy, Facebook and Pinterest. I also co-write the crafty blog Stumbles & Stitches with my friend Angel. I look forward to meeting new friends!


** How to enter the giveaway **

• Please leave a comment on this blog post. Let me know which tablet you would choose, and what else might have caught your eye in my shop. (One entry per person, please)
• Make sure to include an email address if it's not included in your Blogger profile.
• This giveaway is open until May 10 at 5PM PST, at which point I will choose a random winner and will contact them by email.
• This giveaway is open to everyone, international friends welcome.

Void where prohibited


Oh, don't forget to enter the table runner giveaway here. Thank you so much for visiting and good luck!!

Thank you to everyone who participated in my giveaway! The winner of the tablet cover is Jill R. who said "I like the white flowers on grey. Thanks for the giveaway!" Jill, congrats! Look for an email from me in your inbox.

Marinus Home

I am very excited to announce that Jenny Bartoy ~ Handmade Designs items will soon be sold in a real life brick-and-mortar shop!

Marinus Home is a brand new store opening in Poulsbo, Washington on Friday, May 3. Marinus Home is a lifestyle brand with a focus on fresh vintage goods. Their collection of vintage and locally made treasures range from simple classic country style to a more industrial vintage vibe.




Here are the items I just shipped to Talitha for the opening of Marinus Home: a selection of coaster sets and fabric baskets with a somewhat vintage and nautical feel.








My family is headed to the Kitsap Peninsula in early summer for a camping trip. We'll definitely be swinging by Poulsbo to check out the shop! If you happen to visit, tell Talitha I sent you and please let me know what you think of my stuff in her shop.


You can find Marinus Home online here: website * Facebook * blog * Pinterest * Twitter

A New Batch of Table Runners

Hello friends!

We've been busy around here -- custom work, consignment orders (!), Spring Break and a visit from my mama, and a lot of sickness (my boys are currently cuddling on the couch, half-way recovered from a fierce round of norovirus, ugh). I have so many ideas and so much FABRIC to make things for my shop, but I don't get around to it as often as I'd like.

BUT I did complete a stack of table runners recently and stocked my shop full! Below are some photos so you can check them out -- there are both new Wonky Stripes Table Runners that measure approximately 36 x 16 inches and Quilted Table Runners that measure approximately 42 x 17 inches. They are all priced $42. To see what's left in stock, please visit the Table Runners section of my Etsy shop.


















These are all new fabric combinations aside from that last navy and white runner which has been an extremely popular combo. I hope you like them!

My Latest Custom Work

The first few months of the year have been so busy for me with creating custom projects. Here are a few photos of recent work for a few lovely and wonderful customers.

~ For Alli (you may recognize her name, as she is a very loyal client), I created this artwork as a gratitude gift for someone special who has supported her through her recovery from cancer. This artwork was inspired by the piece I created for my son's Kindergarten auction and that Alli loved. Per her request, I embroidered "be brave" on the branch below the birdie.








~ For Theresia (very talented in her own right, check out her Etsy shop!), I created a beautiful wonky stripes table runner with the Scalloped print in grey from Ellen Luckett Baker's Stamped collection, combined with natural linen. I had only made fabric baskets with this combination before and LOVE how the table runner turned out. Theresia sent me photos of it on her mid-century Danish dining room table with a modern red bowl on top -- it is fabulous! I also made her a set of 4 custom mix-and-match coasters in various grey and white prints.








~ For my friend Carrie, I created a custom book cover for the Bible that she carries around back and forth to her weekly study sessions. We worked together thoughtfully on planning the cover. We decided to include pockets, a little loop for her pen, and a button closure. I was nervous about the fit and took double, triple, quadruple measurements. Carrie was thrilled and said it fit perfectly, yay!! (Photos taken at night, sorry!)






~ For Heather, I made two quilted table runners in muted shades of blue. They are both bound with natural linen. It's always fun to do custom work as I end up working with fabrics I wouldn't necessarily have picked out myself and it often opens my creative horizons.






~ Speaking of working with new fabrics, my loyal customer Debby contacted me to create a wonky stripes table runner involving purple to celebrate her son's graduation (purple is his school color). We looked at dozens and dozens of fabrics, until finally a certain combination caught her eye. I loved what she chose and the resulting table runner so much that I made some for my shop too!








I am working on other posts to update you all on what's been going on around here. Stay tuned!

Kindergarten Auction Project

I recently finished the art project for my son Benjamin's Kindergarten class and thought I would share a little bit of the behind-the-scenes process. I tend not to share much of the how-to around here, since I have another blog for that and I prefer to show finished products here instead. But, this art project turned out so well, I thought you guys might get a kick of seeing how it was made.

Here is the finished artwork that is going to be auctioned off on Friday:




The Kindergarten class follows a project-based curriculum and their latest project was "Fabrics through the world". How fortunate for this mama!

I presented several ideas to the team in charge of the auction art, each of them using fabric in some way so the kids could celebrate their new knowledge and skills (cutting fabric!). When the auction team saw photos of my previous burlap art, they suggested I go with that. I initially had a vision of doing something new and edgy for this project, but it turned into a huge headache, so I went with a tree and leaves -- familiar territory!

Working with kids, I knew the project could easily become more whimsical and, well, crazy, than I intended, so I picked a specific palette to work with. It was a mix of these two, courtesy of Design Seeds:




I must have been hungry!

I selected a range of fabrics according to this palette, and created leaf templates for the kids -- both small and large.




The kids did such a great job tracing and cutting their leaves! I was very impressed. Each of them thoughtfully selected 2 pieces of fabrics and got to work. We were done with this part of the project in less than half the time allotted by their teacher!








Back in my home studio, I prepped the canvas for this artwork: a large piece of stamped burlap upcycled from a coffee sack. I love working with used materials, since they are infused with meaning and stories. Being a coffee addict and a Seattleite (are those two things ever separate?), I feel a strange connection to these burlap bags. Creating fresh artwork from them allows me to tell a subtle story about our environment, about recycling, about awareness in our consumption-addicted society.

But back to the Kindergarten project...

I cut the background and marked a 20 x 20 inch square for the area to be filled by the tree. I then created the tree trunk from a large piece of natural linen (another favorite material, I love its texture!).








I played around with some of the leaves and applied a few to the background burlap. Instead of separating the pair of leaves cut by each kid, I used them together in a "two-layered leaf". As a result, there are 26 fabric leaves on the tree: one for each Kindergartner.

It was then time to head back into the classroom to show the kids our progress. They brainstormed names for the piece and took a vote. The winning title was "Queen Anne Friendship Tree".








Back to work... I applied all the leaves to the "canvas". Each individual piece of fabric is fused, then stitched with white cotton thread.

I then added a handful of grey and white birds throughout the tree. Since the kids called it a "friendship tree", I thought it needed some friends living in it.








The final step was to add some leaves cut from two shades of green wool felt. I attached them with simple embroidery stitches.

The result is colorful but cohesive, and wonderfully textured.




I stretched the artwork onto a wooden frame and finished the back so it is ready to hang with a wire. There is also a special image tucked into the back that shows the tree with each leaf labeled with the name of the child who created it.








I am so happy with this artwork and hope our Kindergartners will be too. I am taking the finished piece to the classroom in a couple of days to show them, just before it heads off to the auction!

The palette worked so well with the burlap that I will be making several pieces for my shop with similar fabrics. Check back soon!