So (Sew) Much to Report

There has been so much happening around here, I'll see how much I can recreate.  I'm thinking I may need to make several posts.

I just decided to go poking back through my photos and start where I left off.  So this should be chronological, but may also be a bit random.


These first two photos are of the spot where the house I grew up in used to stand.  They pushed it in sometime in the spring, after my last post.  Obviously bittersweet.  This was the only house I lived in prior to going away to college and then moving to the area I live in now.  My grandparents lived across the back yard from this house and in fact one of my brothers now lives in that spot where my grandparents live.

We had a Chicago Sewing Social meet-up at Benzie Design.  Their shop is so gorgeous with all of the felt lined walls and bins of felt balls.  They also carry little kits.  These were needle felting kits that a couple of us bought and worked on.  I think mine is the one on the left.  I also bought some felt balls and made the necklace in the second photo.  It was super easy to make.  I'm looking forward to colder weather when it will be easier to wear a necklace made with wool balls.

This is a quilt that I made when pattern testing for Erica at Kitchen Table Quilting.  This is a version of The Linda Quilt.   I find Erica's patterns to be really well written and would certainly recommend any of them.  I ended up gifting this quilt to my cousin's baby girl.  I was sewing the top together on the day she was born and then the quilt decided it was just meant for her.

Hmmm... just realized that I am at the end of the photos that I loaded into this post, so I will end here for now.  It's late, so I'll try for more posts in the following days.

Struggling

I've been struggling to find my sew-jo since I last posted.  Those shopping bags are STILL not finished.

In the last week, I just decided to move along to something else and come back to the bags after I get going again.

I saw that Svetlana at s.o.t.a.k handmade had released a new pattern, the Nina Wristlet.  I really love look of the wristlet, so I bought the pattern and ordered the same little swivel snap hooks that she had used, too.  I chose this Kokka cotton/linen fabric that I had in my stash.  The wristlet turned out super cute, if I do say so myself.  The making of the wristlet was not without "problems," user created problems, that is.  I did not read through the entire directions before I started and had the card side of the interior all sewn before I realized that I was supposed to interface each of the pieces before sewing them together.  Well, I just modified and put interfacing behind the sewn piece.  It worked out okay, but the card slots could really use the extra stability, so don't make the same mistake I did.

Yesterday, I made up this baby blanket to send to my cousin and his wife.  They are expecting a new baby any day now.  It's been quite some time since they have had a little one (their two older children are 17 and 13-and this baby was planned), so I wanted to send them something to welcome their baby girl.  I bought some double gauze from Japan in the fall and as soon as I had it in my hands, I knew it wanted to be backed in a pink knit and become a baby blanket.  I just squared up the ends of the double gauze, cut off the selvage, rounded the corners and stitched and flipped it, then top stitched twice.  It's really soft and I kind-of wish that I had an adult sized version for myself.

Next up on my agenda is a pattern test of a baby-sized quilt.  I was picking fabrics tonight.  We'll see how well what I pulled looks in the light of day.  

So Many Things...

Do you ever have so much going on, so many lists, or so (sew?) much to do that you're not even sure where to start?  That's how I'm feeling...

School starts back up tomorrow... ugh!  I'll be happy to see my students, but not so happy to be back to the daily grind (especially since I have a busy month or two ahead....).

I have so many projects and things to finish in the next month!  I'm going to be very busy.  However, these are all things I WANT to do.

• I started a new quilt the other day...  Really?  I already have 2 quilts waiting to be finished (both of them just need to have pieced backs and then one will go to the quilter and I will quilt one...)  Plus, I have a baby shower for my brother and sister-in-law in a month, and I need to make a baby quilt for that, too.  The good news on that one is that I already have most of the fabric and I already have a design in my head... the quilt just needs to get made.
• I volunteered to do some semi-"secret" sewing that needs to be finished by @ the end of the month  - orders have been placed for some necessary supplies before I can proceed any further...
• DQS13 - Doll Quilt Swap 13.... I have to make the quilt for my secret partner.... I've have an idea in my head, but I'm thinking it over to decide if I want to modify the idea a bit.  I've started collecting fabrics for this
• 2 Open Wide Zippered Pouches - I was over at my friend Emily's the other day, and she was showing me some fabrics that she had, and I admired a print that she had... so she gave it to me!  Actually, she gave me several pieces of fabric that I admired and a couple of them are pretty hard to come by... wasn't that so sweet of Emily?  Anyway, one of the pieces,  I knew just the fabric that would coordinate with it, so I am all set to make it into a couple zippered pouches.  Oh, and that quilt I started the other day... I cut all the fabrics for it when I was over at Emily's....

..... this is just a small portion of the list... the items that are most prominent in my mind... I could keep going, but then I'd just be really tired and crabby tomorrow :(

Retro Flower Photo Shoot

I made a smaller version of the Retro Flower Quilt pattern to give to my friend as her baby shower gift, along with the fabric baskets that you saw in this post.

I have to admit, I love how this quilt turned out and I want to keep it for myself!

 

 

I will definitely keep this pattern on the back burner in the hopes that I will find the time to make a larger version for myself!

 

I even went the extra "yard" and made bias binding and hand stitched it down in the back.  I told myself that I was just going to cut the bias on the straight-of-grain and machine stitch it down on the back, but when the time came, I couldn't do it.  I admit I like my stitching to be very straight when possible, and I just didn't think the machine stitching down of the binding would leave the stitching as straight as I would have liked.  The good news is, I'm getting a *little* quicker at hand stitching the binding down!

P.S. In case you are wondering, the fabric is Lilly Belle by Bari J Ackerman for Art Gallery Fabrics.  I bought a fat quarter bundle from Hawthorne Threads and then supplemented a couple of Art Gallery solids, also.  And no, neither of these companies is paying me to mention them... they're both just great!  When Art Gallery says, "Feel the Difference", they mean it... and you can. 

I'm linking up to Sew Many Ways Crafty Linky Party, too.

Some Gifts

Any itinerant teacher worth her salt knows the one person in a school that it is most important to be nice to/know the name of/have on her side....drum roll.....   Would anyone like to hazard a guess???  The SECRETARY!  She (there aren't any he's...at least not at the schools I go to) is the one who will call when a student is absent.  She is the one that will find a quiet place with a table so that an itinerant teacher can work with her student(s).  She is the one that will help with anything else that is needed.  So, it is best to be as nice to them as possible. 

Of course, this involves the occasional small gift ♥

My friend and I got together on Friday night, at her request (because she needed help and remembered I had given her one of these before), to make gifts to pass out at the different schools we travel to.

A functional gift:

You can't see this in the photo, but there are little 3x5 in. pads of notepaper inside these little "jackets".  My friend has a Cricut machine, so I cut out the little snowmen with that.  Then, I used some Spellbinders Nestabilities dies in order to cut the green and blue ovals.  I made 12, but decided to give one to my hair lady when I got my hair cut today.  So, I have 11 to pass out at the schools I go to. 

As I was finishing these up tonight, (and thinking that they are so cute) I was wondering how much buyers might pay for a little notepad like this.  I wonder if it would be worth the time that it took to stick all of the little parts together....not difficult, but takes a bit of time.  Would you guys something like this?  If so, how much would you pay/think it was reasonable to pay?   Just curious.....

Getting a Little of My Craft On

Today, I managed to get started back to a little of my craftiness.  I have been slowly acquiring vintage type sheets/pillow cases in order to have enough to make a quilt. 

I started cutting up some of the pillowcases today.  I think that I ended up with 29 squares (they are 10 1/2 inches square).  I have more colorful sheets to add to the mix, too.  I just couldn't face starting the cutting process on those today. 

My grand plan is to make this quilt BIG.  I might as well start with a bang! I want to be able to use it on our bed, if need be.  We have a pillow-top mattress.  Plus, I really like the blankets to hang down and cover the sides and end of the bed.  No scrimping on covers in our house. 

Anyway, I've at least started the cutting process.  I think that I figured I would need 110 of these squares.  So, I've only cut 26% of what I need.  I'm sure that if I don't mind a lot of repeats then I definitely have enough sheets to cut the other 81 squares.  I guess I'll figure that out as I go along.

Does it Count?

Does it count as fiscal responsibility if the money was spent at Goodwill?

A while ago, I purchased this book.  I really want to make those cupcake pincushions that are shown on the cover.  There are lots of other crafts in the book I would like to make, too.  One must acquire a collection of wool sweaters to felt, if the crafts are to be made!  I started looking over the summer and managed to find a few sweaters but did not have a nice color variety. 

Today, I had a small load of stuff to free myself from at the local Goodwill store.  I really went in just to see if they had any vintage sheets to add to my little collection for the vintage sheet quilt I am planning to make.  You can see that I managed to make it home with no sheets, but plenty of sweaters!  I also found a nice Ann Taylor Loft sweater for myself.  

My best deal of the day was a ball of Berroco Suede yarn for a whopping $.99!  I couldn't just leave that lonely ball of yarn there.  I did a search after I got home and Webs is selling it for $10 a ball.  I am not sure what I will end up making out of it, but that's okay.

Now, I just have to get to felting those sweaters so that I can get started on some of the projects.  And, in case you are wondering, there were plenty of wool sweaters that I left at the store...I just tried to pick a nice variety of colors and textures.

A Crafty Kind of Weekend...and A New Assistant

I definitely had a crafty weekend.  I worked on a lot of sewing on small sized gifts for various family members.

These are the things that I managed to finish in between all of the other responsibilities/commitments I had over the weekend.

This is the group shot:

I made this little cosmetic bag following this tutorial.  It turned out rather nicely....I only had to rip out one tiny row of stitching.  I really having to do the rip out and try to avoid it at all costs, but this couldn't be avoided since it would have meant the zipper pull was facing the inside of the bag instead of the outside.  The other nice thing about this bag is that it is made out of laminated cotton.  While it is definitely not cheap, it seems like it will be incredibly durable and I have plently left which I will either use to make more little bags/pouches or else a reusable shopping bag.

As you can see, I also made a whole slew of the little tissue covers.  I have so many people I could pass these out to, depending on how many I actually get made.  So far I have 11(there is a matching one hiding inside the boxy pouch in the first photo).  So of the material I had left from Christmas projects from last year, some of it I bought new, and some of it was thrifted from the Great American Yard Sale. 

The thing that I like the most about all of these projects is that they are all quick and not too complicated.  I really like making things, but I want to me done, too.

I also acquired a new assistant over the weekend:

Every time I sit down at my sewing machine, Smokey the Cat climbs up and sits behind me.  He often sits on the back of our office chair when my husband or I am sitting there, but he can't sit on the back of my little folding chair.  He just squishes in behind me instead!

Vintage Bubble Bag

This is my first ever finished felted object! I am very proud of it. The actual bag took very little time to knit. The part that slowed me down was the handles. They are made of knitted I-cord, which really isn't all that difficult...I was just knitting too tightly which made it difficult. Anyway, once I had the "grand" idea to start over on the I-cord, it went super quickly. I did the felting today and that went much smoother than I thought it would, too! The only part I am not completely satisfied with is where the handles are joined to the bag. I have yarn to make myself this same bag, so I hope I am more pleased the second time around.

This bag is destined to be a Christmas gift for my friend. I chose the yarn colors specifically for her, and she likes to switch up her bags, so I think that she will like it. I want to make one of these for my mom, too, but that will probably have to wait until her birthday in March. I have other projects in mind to give her for Christmas. (Plus, I am trying to knit up some of my stash yarn and I really have no stash yarn that is suitable for this bag...unless I use the yarn I had intended for my own bubble bag....)

Anyway, I am so happy to have one Christmas gift completed. (Unless I decide to line this bag with some fabric which could very well happen...) Never-the-less, it could be given just the way it is and that is the important part. I've already cast-on for the next gift and hope to get it done quickly, too.

Snowdrop Lace Dishcloth

Yep, another dishcloth. What can I say? I love to give dishcloths as gifts, so I am trying to build up my stash of completed cloths. This one turned out nicely. I've never really knit any type of lace design, but I think I did okay. Of course, I like my personal dishcloths to be a little more sturdy so this one is definitely destined to be a gift.

My Standard "Go To" Baby Shower Gift

I had a baby shower to attend today. I made up one of my standard "go to" baby shower gifts. It is a made of flannel that I have edged with satin blanket binding. This was always the standard gift that my mom has given for as long as I can remember.

Luckily, I am handy enough that I can make them as well. The blanket turns out larger than the standard small size baby blanket. Based on "feedback" I have received, this larger size is well liked because those tiny little babies quickly outgrow the small size blanket.

I have gotten thrifty as I have grown older and realized that they usually have the flannel on sale at JoAnn Fabrics the day after Thanksgiving. For several years in a row, it was less than $1 a yard, so I bulked up my stash (a much better price than the full price that ranges anywhere from $4.99 a yard to $7.99). Then, when I am at JoAnn's or another store that might carry blanket binding, if I have a coupon or a few extra dollars, I grab a pack of binding. When it is time to throw a blanket together, I don't have to go out shopping for all of the materials.

I usually add a little something more to my gift, too, even though I know that my time is worth way more than I could ever spend.

Do you have a "go to" gift for baby showers?

p.s. I don't know what is wrong w/ blogger today but it is not wanting to put spaces between my paragraphs and I don't have time to fool with it right now.

WHOOO WHOOO wants a sneak peak?

Not the best photo in the world, but then again, not the worst, either.

Just a little peek at my current work-in-progress. What do you think this will turn out to be?

All For Me! (I am feeling a bit selfish today)

Yes, I freely admit I am in a state of denial regarding going back to work later this week. I worked for three hours today when I didn't intend to, nor was I contractually obligated to, work at all. In that three hour time, I:

• went to four schools
• talked to a speech pathologist, classroom teacher, and a principal at one school
• talked to two office staff members, a principal, assistant principal, and two teachers I worked with last year and acquired a tentative class schedule for my student at another school
• school number three...talked to a secretary to get teacher assignments for two students...but that's only "tentative because they are still having students enrolling this week, so the classroom teacher could always change"
• school number four... went in to find out the name of the classroom teacher for my student and was pleasantly surprised to find said student and her parents actually at the school meeting with the classroom teacher...so, talked to that teacher, the parents, student, speech pathologist (on the way out of the building) and the secretary

This is just a small indication of how the next two to three weeks will go for me. It might give you an indication of why I am exhausted and in denial (and therefore spending my "extra" time crafting). Oh, and I forgot to mention the 30 minutes I was talking to a parent via telephone this evening.

Anyway, I remembered that I had purchased this fabric, which I knew I would use to make something for myself.

Since I am on a pouch box kick the last two days, I just went with the flow. Granted, I had purchased a green zipper "just in case," so it wasn't all that hard to do. I love how this one turned out. I added some little green tabs on the end which I think will make it easier to open and close the zipper. The same green fabric is on the inside, too. I apologize that the photos aren't so great, but I couldn't wait until morning to share!

"Perfect" Box Pouch

Another visual of my craftiness for the day. This is the Perfect Box Pouch. I had some fabric left over from making my Car Trash Bag, so I thought it would be cute to make a matching pouch. I'm sure I can stuff some pens in it (well if they are short pens) or some other items that I like to carry in my car.

I liked making this pouch and it wasn't really difficult. A few things that I might comment on... definitely use the mid-weight interfacing. When I went to the fabric store, the girl that was helping me didn't seem to understand that I wanted medium weight...or else they were out of medium... whatever is the case, she gave me light weight. In the photo, I actually stuffed my pouch with newspaper to give it a bit more shape. I think if I would have had the heavier interfacing it would be perfect.

The only other thing I have to say is that the tutorial could have been slightly more clear. Maybe I am being picky, since I teach a lot of directions and helping students to understand the directions (I realize this is a "thing" of mine...I once got after the girl at the McDonald's drive thru) ... but there were a couple things that I did, that I shouldn't have, but didn't realize until later. It didn't hurt the finished product, but I didn't really realize until I scrutinized the photos and such.

Anyway, I still think it turned out rather cutely!

Car Trash Bag

Now that my summer break is nearing it's end, I find myself with a whole list of things that I never accomplished over the summer. Somewhere along the line, I added this car trash bag to the list. The tutorial is from Make It and Love It and is called simply "Car Trash Bag". I'm not really sure what lead me to Make It and Love It, but I am guessing that I found the link via One Pretty Thing.

The tutorial was easy to follow and there is not much that I would/did change as I went along. I did iron the top edge as I was turning it down...it just seemed easier for me that way. I also would have just gone ahead and turned down the edges all the way around the top at one time, being careful to only sew the front half, first. I found it awkward to try to fold and iron the back top edge after the front was sewn and the boning inserted.





I have already "installed" the bag in my car, as you can see. This bag is going to be a carsaver for me as school starts back up and I am blasting around all day in my car! I will definitely be making more to give to some of my friends and maybe even family.

What Have I Been Doing Lately?

We returned from vacation on the 29th, a little bit tan and fairly well rested. I took my camera with and then it stayed in my bag the whole time. I didn't take even one photo. Oh well.

Since vacation, I have been feeling a little bit scattered. It may have a little bit to do with the thought of the start of the school year looming in very near future. I've decided that on one of my first days of school I am going to do a "Day in the Life of..." feature on myself so that someone, anyone can realize the craziness that is my world at the beginning of the school year. Alas, that is a post for another day.

I have been working on a scrapbook page for a super secret project that is being put together by some extended family. I've got to finish that today. I don't think my page is going to be spectacular....the thought of the start of the school year is zapping my mojo.

I have been tooling around to the neighboring towns going to all of the thrift stores. I've been to several Salvation Army Thrift Stores, Goodwill, Treasure Chest 1 (part of Morningstar Mission), and to a place called Unique Thrift Store. I have had several objects in mind during my searches.
I have been reading Deb's blog (Works in Progress) and she has had some posts regarding making quilts with vintage sheets. In fact, she is currently having a give-a-way for some of her vintage sheet scraps....you don't want to pass up the opportunity to try winning those! You may have to go back a couple pages to some of the older posts, but she has some links to some other great quilts from vintage sheets, too. So, I've been inspired to look for some vintage sheets to use for a quilt. It took some looking, but I did find some. I will have to bundle them all up nicely and take a photo so you can see what I have come up with.

I also bought this book: Warm Fuzzies by Betz White. So, I have been searching for some wool sweaters that I can felt and turn into the wonderful projects that Betz has in her book. I am thinking ahead as I want to make some of these things to give as Christmas gifts. Once I actually get something made from the book, I will be posting photos of that, also.

In my quests to find the perfect vintage sheets and the perfect wool sweaters for felting, I have realized some things:

• some stores are better organized than others
• just like all of the 'regular' stores, some of the thrift stores have better prices than others
• you have to go to different stores to find different things
• you're going to come across some things that you "have to have" that were not on your original list of things to search for (like the two green glassware items shown above -- I have a really small mini-collection of green glass items that masquerade as functional objects around my home -- I couldn't resist adding these two pieces)
  

There are no finished objects to show for all of the "work" I have been doing lately, but I can't wait to get started on all of these projects, AND to finish up some of the ones that I currently have in the hopper. I have been working on that second sock to the one I knitted what seems forever ago, and a simple cotton dishcloth, and a scarf.....

Craftiness...A Knit Hat

This is my most recently completed knit project. A hat, obviously. It is nicely modeled here by a small watermelon! Too bad I need to eat the watermelon and that it will eventually go bad, because it is the perfect size to model hats! This pattern, I found via Ravelry. It worked up really quickly and was fairly simple. I used 12" circular needles, and I did not need to transition down to dpn's, so it was wonderful!

Craft it Forward!

Because it is summer (and I am a teacher), I actually feel like I have the time to do this!

Over on Permission to Unwind, Marie is participating in a Craft it Forward "event," and I agreed to keep it going.

Here's how it happens:

1) The first three people to comment on this post will receive something from me...something handmade and crafty. I'm not really sure what it will be, but I promise it will be something nice!

2) In return for receiving a crafty gift from me, you have to agree to do the same thing for three other people...and they do the same for three others and it keeps going and going.... Hopefully if you have a blog, you will be able to post about this and then suck some others in as well :-)

3) I'll try to mail your little craft gift sooner rather than later, but I guess it depends on what I get up to with my craftiness! Make sure that I can contact you via your blog or else leave me an e-mail address to be able to contact you if you would like to participate.

Craftiness....Out of Control and Nowhere to Go!

The only reason that I am posting the following photos is so that you will be in awe when this space has been transformed.

I reallllly love crafts! I love sewing, rubber stamping, crocheting/knitting and scrapbooking. The problem with this is that a person tends to accumulate a LOT of paraphernalia to go with the different crafting activities. Well, you can see what has happened to me.





I am not by nature a very organized person, and I've not learned to be super organized either. My clutter is getting better (not that you can tell from these photos!), I but I swear it to be true!

We've lived in this house for four years and I've been bothered by this room the whole time. I will straighten it up, get it organized as best I could....then I would eventually have to go digging for something and not have take the time to put my supplies away properly. Then, it would just become this big jumbly mess again. I'm not really sure what I've been waiting for...but the time has come, to get this space organized!

I bought a magazine....and saw exactly what I wanted for my room! Then, I had to figure out where to get the shelving/bookcase that I wanted. I did some searching online and figured out I could get what I needed at IKEA (and we have an IKEA only 15 minutes from my house).

I already picked out and purchased some paint. I've been loving the blue lately, so the color I chose is called Bibbidi Bobbidi Blue (yes, in the Behr Disney paint line) Here's to hoping I like it when it is actually on the wall.

I have even planned out what is going to go in each spot in my bookcase! I can't wait to get this project finished so that I can comfortably do some crafting! I can't wait for everyone to see it! I hope it looks as great as I am imagining it in my head! I'm even planning some thrifty decorating in my head!

I've already started clearing the room out in order to get started on the painting! Wish me luck and a speedy transformation!

Sock-A-Long Progress and more....

I just wanted to supply some visual proof of the fact that I AM making progress on the sock-a-long project. Please excuse the kitten paw in the photo. Tim asked me, "Why is Smokey in the photo?" The answer, "Because I couldn't take a photo and manage to keep him out of it." I think I have about an inch and a half of ribbing done so far. So, I need to do an inch to an inch and half more before I can start on part two.

In my defense, I have also been working on the following project:



It is going to be a small size toddler-type afghan for my niece. I was supposed to be a bunch of small granny square. Then, I realized that I would have to sew/stitch all of the squares together and then weave in all of the ends and I promptly modified my plan! I decided to just make one giant granny square. Then, I will just have to weave in all of the ends. I also plan to back the afghan with flannel or fleece in order to make it a bit more durable and less holey for little toddler fingers. It has to be finished by May 22-ish since that is her birthday!