Quilting

When I was sorting through all my various boxes of craft things, I ran across a box full of the quilts I had made way back when.  All of them are just the tops and have been awaiting quilting for more than ten years!  I really need to get back them finished and put to good use.

I could get them finished quicker if I do my quilting by machine, but I didn't like doing my quilting by machine back when I made these tops.  I decided to make a few potholders to see if I liked machine quilting any better now.

Nope.  Just don't like machine quilting at all.  I need to toughen up those quilting fingers and get to work and face up to the fact that it will be years before all of these tops are quilted.

Even though I didn't care for the machine quilting, and I rushed so my seams don't match and they are all a little "off", I do like the cute potholders I made.  I'll be making more of these since they are so quick and easy to complete.

I finished this easy hanging kitchen towel in just a couple of days.  Used up some Bernat cotton I had in my stash.  Need to remember on the next one that the buttonhole tends to stretch so I need to make it smaller or use a much bigger button.  I'm going to have to stitch up the buttonhole a bit on this one because I like the button I used and don't want to replace it.  A couple of these with some dishcloths and matching potholders would make a great gift.

I really like that I've taken up so many of the crafts I used to do but had given up in lieu of knitting.  I stitched up a couple of cards for Mother's Day and really like how they turned out.  Paul wrote a poem that we've written inside.  Now to pull out some more floss and work up something for Father's Day so nobody feels left out.

I needed something pretty mindless to work on while I watched TV, and the washcloths I had in the bathroom were in dire need of replacing, so I tried out this waffle weave pattern I've had queued for some time.  I really like how it turned out, so now I'll be making a bunch more and getting rid of some of the more ragged looking ones currently in use.

I learned about Bavarian Crochet at this past month's Prayer Shawl group meeting.  One of the ladies there had made a gorgeous afghan for someone as a gift and I knew immediately that I had to make one for myself.  A and I stopped at Michaels on the way home and found the pattern book and bought yarn, even though we both had promised not to start anything new.  A rationalizes that since we learned about it in church it is OK.  LOL

The pattern works up pretty quickly until you get to about round 10, at which time it seems to take endless hours to complete one side.  This photo shows 5 rounds complete, and I have now completed 12.  I love the look of this textured pattern and the colors I chose.  Another in progress photo later in the week.

Happy Projects

Recently, my crafting has been all about the gifting.  More of my projects are going to others than are sticking around for my own use.  It's a nice change :-)

Last summer I crocheted a metric buttload of flower granny squares and made a tote bag out of them.  I think I used the tote twice .... ummm that's a lot of work to just sit around and look pretty.  That project was an -along with my friend A.  She gave up on finishing her bag because she realized she wouldn't use hers any more than I was using mine.  Instead, she chose to turn quite a few of her squares into a crochet hook roll.  I immediately went to work taking my tote apart and made notion bags out of it.  I had plenty of the quilted fabric I used for the lining of the tote left over, so the only supply I needed to buy was zippers to close them up.  I made two different sizes, and made three sets.  Two of the sets were made as special gifts for two special women in my life, and the third I am using myself.

The other gift I finished recently is a baby blanket for my hair stylist.  I fell in love with this pattern when I first saw it back in 2008.  It's the only pattern in the magazine that I even cared for and I bought it, knowing that some day I would have a baby to make it for.

This was a fairly quick project to crochet, but the sewing together of all those little pieces took me the better part of a day to complete!  I love it dearly though, and hope C does too.

Sewing Room

I've been promising to take and post some photos of my sewing room for an online friend, and finally got around to taking the photos.  Posting them took another week or so *sigh*.  I get so sidetracked playing silly online games and crafting that I forget all about posting to my blog.  I know I say it all the time, but one of these days I'll get better at this blogging business.

Anywho, on to the sewing room photos.  The room is still a work in progress, but all in all it's a nice cozy place to do some sewing.

I don't have a fancy sewing cabinet or table, but I got this nifty corner unit at a reasonable price on sale at Jo Ann's.  When you factor in the fantastic 25% off total order coupon I used, it was a great buy.  Both my sewing machine and serger can be set up for use.  Hey T, I adore the sewing machine cover you made me!

 

I found creative ideas for displaying favorite cards and such on Pinterest and went to work making them up for my sewing room.  I covered 4 cork boards with 2 different fabrics and got coordinating pushpins for them.  Hung them up in a checkerboard fashion and pinned up some favorite tidbits that make me smile when I'm in there working.

Put up some shelves to display other favorite odds and ends.  I'm going to need to add more since I've filled these up already and haven't found a home for all my stuff.

Finished up a couple of projects in the past week or so.  Now to get photos and hopefully remember to post them :-)

Busy Busy Busy

It's been awhile since I last posted, and I've been super busy crafting.  I have so many photos piled up, it's going to take a couple posts to show them all off.  No worries though.  That will force me to post again this week, and maybe posting on a regular basis will become more of a habit.

I already posted some photos of my leaf washcloths blocking, but I now have them living in my bathroom on their own little dish.  They hold the wonderful lemongrass soap I bought.  I love the smell of this soap, and the rough cut bars look right at home on these washcloths.

These handmade bars were purchased at The Oil Bar.  If you have one of these stores near you, you should definitely try them out.

I also recently finished the Wingspan shawl I was working on.  I love the way the two Noro sock yarns worked up together.  The striping is so much fun.  I've worn it to work already and got quite a few complimentary comments on it.  It's just the right size to help keep out the spring chill, without being so big it's too warm.



 I've been doing more sewing recently.  It's so nice to have a room where my sewing machine can be set up all the time instead of having to drag everything out when I want to sew something.  Found this little goodie at Sew She Sews.  It's much bigger than I thought it was going to be, but it is working out great with all the embroidery projects I seem to be working on lately.

I just fill it up, tuck it into a tote bag, and away I go.  Sure makes taking embroidery along with you a bit less painful.

Amanda and I started another project yesterday.  I haven't done any plastic canvas for years, but this little box was a lot of fun to make, and it worked up really quickly.  Not sure plastic canvas will make it to the top of my "like to work on" craft list, but this wasn't too bad.

This afternoon, after yoga class, I put the final touches on a little sewing kit I started awhile back.

These are the perfect size to put into a notion bag and slip into my tote to take when I am crafting away from home.  I adore the vintage feel of them.

More project photos to come later in the week.

Photo Crazy

Last night I finished another prayer shawl.  This was a very quick project.  Crocheted Bowtie Pi shawl, a free Ravelry pattern.  I used up 3 skeins of Noro Kureyon sock yarn that was  most recently going to be a skirt, and I have long since forgotten what its original purpose was.  Since I had 3 skeins I don't think it was for socks.  Socks of a short length in Kureyon are yucky enough, I cannot imagine thigh highs made out of the rough stuff.  It did work up into a nice shawl though, and I am fairly pleased with the results of this pattern.

Last night  I met my friend Amanda to exchange our pincushion swap packages.  I've been dying to share the goodies I made for her, but since she peeks into my blog sometimes, I didn't dare!

I've been obsessed with sewing items lately, so the first thing I decided to make for her was a needle book.  All felt with buttonhole stitching around the edges.  Not much could be simpler, and it turned out really cute with the felt flower on the cover.

Next up was a tea wallet made with a pattern found at Wee Folk Art.  Can't wait to make one of these for myself now.  I think I'll applique little teacups on the cover of mine.  Really fun to make and only took an afternoon to make.

This size is perfect to hold 4-8 tea bags.

In keeping with the tea theme, I knitted her a mug cozy and wrapped it around a big yellow mug.  The flowers were fun to make out of buttons from my collection.

Also added a cute quilted potholder made with coordinating owl and feather fabrics.  I have enough of each left to make a matching one for myself.

And lastly, the pincushion.  I saw the cute leaf pins at JoAnn Fabrics and the topiary idea came to me.  The felt flowers in the pot are also pins.  I'm really proud of this, even if my daughter did come home from work and say "What the bleep is that?".  Obviously she is not a seamstress and has no clue what a pincushion should look like lol.

 And now the lovely things I received from Amanda.

She crocheted me 4 washcloths.  I love handmade washcloths!

She also crocheted me a teapot cozy and bought me this cute little teapot.  The coasters are also crocheted. Can you tell we both had tea on the brain during this swap?

The yummiest lavendar soap is encased in the pretty lacy knit soap sack, and there was a cute notepad in my package as well.

And the pincushion!  A great glass jar filled with colorful buttons.

The top is a cross stitched heart that I'm afraid I'll mess up if I poke pins in it lol.

These adorable handmade wooden pins were also included and I love them.  I'm going to have to check out the store she said she got these from to see what other offerings they have.

The swap was a great success and now I can't wait for the next one to start.  Lots of ideas running around in my head for goodies.

Blank Canvas

Have you ever started a project when you didn't have just the right materials?  What you use isn't really bad, and it will do, but it wasn't what you had in mind when you pictured the project in your mind's eye?  That's what I did with the Nook cover cover.  The type of fabric I wanted to use was available in 14 count, but that would make the cover too big.  When I was shopping for the supplies, I could only find 18 count fabric in an antique ivory solid color.  What I really wanted was fiddler's cloth.  But, I wanted to start the project so badly, I settled for something I could find at the time.  Well, yesterday I had to go shopping for supplies for a different project at a different store and lo and behold they had what I was looking for.  So, last night I was again faced with a blank canvas and I restarted the Nook cover cover.  Looks sad compared to the last photo doesn't it?  Oh well, it is a fairly simple pattern and shouldn't take too long to get back to the point it was at before.

I mentioned buying materials for a new project, and in my last post I said I would make sure that the next project I started was #15 on my Ravelry project page.  I haven't cheated.  I finished up 2 small projects last night that were fairly far along in their completion.

First up is this cute little guy.  I've had him in my queue forever it seems, and I ran across appropriate yarn to make him in when digging around in the yarn room last week.  He was a really quick project and I love him! Now I need to spend some time up in my sewing room so he has a nice place to live.

I also finished up some Leafy washcloths last night.  I had the multi and blue ones done earlier in the week, but needed to spend a bit of time finishing up the tan one.

These will be stacked like so in a soap dish in my bathroom to show off the handmade lovely smelling soaps I like.

I also mentioned that I had "given up" on some projects.  One of those was the sock yarn blankie I had started about a year ago.  I haven't taken it apart yet, but it's in a closet out of the way.  One of these days, I might decide that I like that project again and really want the finished product.  In the meantime, I have succumbed to the siren's call of the Beekeepers Quilt.  This blankie is much more portable than the other and is the perfect project to take when I meet up with Amanda for our knitting dates.

Another project I've recently started (albeit not a knit/crochet, or embroidery project) is an herb garden.  Lookie at the lovely sprouts I have!  This first attempt has Rosemary, Sage, and Garlic Chives.  I've always wanted a window herb garden, so hopefully these grow and I'm able to use them.

This afternoon, I worked on another project idea found on Pinterest.  This is a painted cookie sheet covered  with pretty scrapbook papers.  The whole thing is Mod Podged and, when dry, will get a ribbon hanger and will be a magnet board to hang on the wall in my sewing room.

The pretty heart and magnets were received from an anonymous mail fairy in the Valentine swap in the Handmade Pincushion Group on Ravelry.