Happy New Year

01
Jan 2012

Well, it’s 2012…………….. wow, where did 2011 go?  I have no idea but I’m often told that I do just too much and that I’m always too busy.  So maybe I didn’t take enough time to sit back and smell the roses (or to blog) and just let the year whiz right by me.  I’m looking at 2012 with a bit of trepidation but I’m not sure I can pin point why.  I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I didn’t get enough accomplished over the holiday break and that there is a lot of craziness and also a lot of expenses coming up.

I didn’t really make a whole lot of resolutions but I do want to:

  • renew my commitment to losing weight with WW.  I continue to go regularly but I’ve fallen off the tracking and being good wagon a bit, especially in the last couple of months, so I have stalled out a bit (a lot).  Need to pick up the pace.  I would like to make more progress during 2012.  I also want to get on our treadmill at home more regularly.  I have a few weeks of Zumba coming up but I can’t afford right now to make a financial commitment for the rest of the year beyond this next session I’m already committed to, especially since my studio wants a 12 month commitment with 12 monthly cheques.  I can’t afford another monthly commitment as that will add to my stress not help me destress.  I’m very sad about that.
  • blog more
  • do more fun things with the kids
  • bring my focus back to creating regularly for my Etsy shop so that there will be new items listed in my Etsy shop, do more hand spinning for my fibery Etsy shop and launch my sewing shop on Etsy.  The last two will remain small shops though but I would like to shift my focus a bit from only jewelry to also include more of my fibery and fabric artistic endeavours.  Having said that, I need to not forget to make some pieces for myself and just plain enjoy making those and having those (or wearing those) just for me.
  • try to save some money (or just spend less), especially on the things I don’t need like magazines
  • Finish my unfinished quilting projects and don’t add fabrics to the stash like I used to add yarn and fibre (that’s pretty much under control these days – not buying anything)
  • Knit and spin from my stash!!!  Only exception is that there’s a boy’s sweater I’d love to knit for the boy and I don’t have yarn for that.  I will only buy that when I’m ready to cast on though.   Knit lots of socks and small projects throughout the year so I can have a stash of them for “the country shop” next fall.    I will probably also de-stash some more fibre.
  • Do a bit more weaving, too.
  • take time to smell those roses so that anxiety about 2012 does not stick around all year long

A bit of a jumbled mess of thoughts more than an organized list but that’s okay for the moment.

Before I take off today, let me show you the handmade things I created for Christmas gifts this year:

Dad's Christmas 2011 Socks

 

Dad’s Christmas socks were plain fun to knit.  My Dad loves my socks so I love knitting them for him and as a bonus, I can knit them on 64 stitches (like my own) and his foot is only a bit longer than my own feet.  I maybe knit 1/2″ more before starting the toe on my own so they don’t really feel like knitting big mens’ socks.

These were done with some striping Regia that I got from Dressew in Vancouver some time ago for a really inexpensive price.  He loved them.

 

MIL's Kindle Cover

My Mother-in-Law had asked for a Kindle pouch that would fit her Kindle including her Kindle leather book cover.  It took me a couple of tries to get the measurements just right but I got it worked out.  Inside it, she found an Amazon gift card to go and buy some more books with.  She loved the fabric.

 

 

 

 

Christmas Table Runner

 

My Mom got a Christmas table runner and I think she really loved it, too.  Mom is a hard one to make/buy for and I was worried that she wouldn’t like these fabrics (although I found them stunning) but she really did like it.  It is Christmas themed but I think it can work right through the winter season.

Those were all my Christmas gifts for 2011.    I really don’t like making things for people who I don’t think will enjoy them.  My girl knit her BFF and her teacher a scarf and I think both of them loved it.  I’m so proud of her because she did such a good job and I only helped her just a teeny little bit.

I have other projects to show off and talk about but I’m going to sign off for now.  I did start the mittens and I’m just past the thumb of the October mitten (yes, I know, it’s January by now).  They are awesome but also a slow go.

Today, on New Year’s Day, I think I’m going to start 2, maybe even 3 projects.  Handspun socks, a hat of some variety and a top down cardigan with some yarn that’s been stashed for a long time.  I will also find some time to pull out any UFO’s and put them in one place so I can make sure none get forgotten about.  I’m also working on a few quilting projects.

For the remainder of the Day at Creations by Uli my Boxing Week Sale in my Etsy shop continues.  At checkout, use coupon code BOXINGWEEK25OFF, to have the entire purchase (excluding shipping) discounted by 25%.

For those few of you that still come back to read once in a while, have a happy and healthy and most wonderful 2012.

Category: Chainmaille Jewelry, Finished Projects, Sewing, Sock Knitting, Spinning, Stash and Supply Shopping, Weaving, Woodland Mittens  Tags: , , , , , ,  One Comment

Mitten Mania

12
Oct 2011

I was totally struck by KnitPicks’ Woodland mittens kit.  Aren’t these mittens something else??

KnitPicks Woodland Mittens

Well, they jumped into my cart rather quickly but then I didn’t click “check out” right away and then they were out of stock and then they had some weird info on the web site about them not being available until 2012 some time (and that was an error).  I e-mailed them and asked about it and lo and behold, later that day, they were back in stock.  I had to made them mine.  There are two colourways.  A brights and a pastel colourway.  If you know me at all, you’d know I would pick the brights.  6 different mittens, knit over six months – from October to March.  Do you think I can do it?

Well, it sounds like a great winter project.  They look challenging.  A small project.  Lots of challenges.  Something to sit next to the couch to pick up on those cold, long winter nights.  I can’t wait until they arrive.  By the time they arrive, October will probably be more than halfway over so my October mitten will be a definite challenge, especially since I’m also preparing for craft show season!!!  It will be a busy few months.

Come back and watch me as I work through them all.  I hope to do lots of progress updates.

Category: Knitting, Woodland Mittens  Tags: , , ,  Leave a Comment

Fall Things and Pouches

04
Oct 2011

September is such a busy time for me so I’ve not been around much.  I’ve also had some web site issues on my other site that kind of discouraged from working on the web site/blog altogether.  That hasn’t slowed down my creative playing around though.  I must admit that my lovely sewing machine still takes the cake and I’ve been working lots with it.  So much that I haven’t knitted much, spun much or even made a whole lot of jewelry.  Given my fall craft show schedule though, I need to take care of that jewelry slump really soon.  I did get some new rings – square wire stainless steel rings……….. they are gorgeous….. and I have played with them.  Here’s one example, a shaggy loops bracelet and I love the look of the square wire rings.  Don’t you?

As fall moves in fast and furiously, I can’t believe that JR started Kindergarten and my girl is already in Grade 5.  The year is passing by just so quickly, it seems, already.  K has been a wonderful change for the boy but he sure seems so grown up all of a sudden.  It’s amazing.  As school is back in full swing and work is a whole different story this year (details I won’t ven go into), the Little Miss is back into dance and JR has started at Karate.  We find ourselves driving from A to B to C, often like passing ships in the night.  Today, we’re “celebrating” our anniversary by me waiting at the dance studio for the girl (and I have tap class, too) and DH is home with the boy.

At the moment when it comes to my sewing adventures the projects that I find most enjoyable are the smaller projects…. table runners, table toppers and I am so in love with zippered pouches at the moment.

I had a lot of fun with this Halloween table runner that I made with fabric I bought at Fabric Depot in Portland this summer:

For a very long time, I debated how to quilt this.  I thought about doing some straight line quilting, mirroring the angles in the blocks but in the end, I decided to do an all overy swirly, loopy design.   It turned out really fun.  I had some beautiful variegated thread (excuse my ignorance but I’m not home to check on the thread) in the top and just plain brown in the bobbin.  I really liked how my little loopy swirls turned out.

From fall I moved into winter and played with a little hexagon table topper and I think everyone will get one of these for Christmas.

And then there are the pouches………. here are just a few and I’ve made a bunch of them.  The girl picked the groovy 60s fabric:

I’m thinking the pouches may need to be an addition to the craft show tables this year!!!

Well, hour one at the studio is almost over.  Another hour to go before my own tap class.  I’m lucky that the hubby is preparing our dinner.  Best anniversary gift ever…. knowing that I”m coming home to a nice dinner.

Category: Chainmaille Jewelry, Quilting, Sewing, Totes and Pouches  Tags: , , , , , ,  Leave a Comment

Back To School

16
Aug 2011

We don’t start back to school until September 6th but I thought I’d get a head start on sewing a few back to school things.  The girl wanted a pencil case and the boy needs a draw string bag to keep a change of clothes in (Kindergarteners get wet and dirty etc. etc. especially around our Wet Coast climate). 

Just when we returned from our trip, I read an update to one of my blogs on my blog reading list: During Quiet Time.  It happened to be the day of Amy’s release of her Hexicase pattern.  I showed the pictures to the Little Miss to see if she’d like that as a pencil case and she was all over it so I popped over to Etsy and picked up a copy of the pattern.  It’s a lovely and well-done pattern and I could see it would be a fun project at first glance.

Now you know, yarn and fibre this girl has a HUGE stash but fabric (it’s growing, I admit) but the stash itself isn’t so big that I can usually just find enough to make something scrappy that actually ends up working together.  I had a little pack of fun, bright novelty fabrics but I would have had to repeat fabrics and didn’t quite have enough of anything to complement for the lining.  That all ended on Saturday when I managed to pop in at Hamel’s Fabrics.  I only had about an hour before closing which was disappointing but I had enough time to do some damage.  It was fun and the lovely store out in the country is stacked full of fabrics, kits, quilts, notions, thread etc. etc.  It’s absolutely wonderful and everyone was really friendly.  I wish I could stop by more often but they are open Monday through Friday and it seems to be that, most of the time we end up visiting the inlaws (who live close by there but it’s an hour’s drive for us) on a Sunday.  I went a bit shop happy and ended up with a bunch of things including some a table runner kit with 3 table runner patterns, some “java” fabrics that all coordinate, a pack of Bali Pops and a pack of Tonga Treats.  What I really liked seeing were these rolled up packs of srappy pieces that all seemed to coordinate.  I picked two little packs of bright, bright fabrics.  They are so fun and the fabric pieces were quite generous.

Once those came home, I let the girl pick out any fabrics she wanted for her case and she picked some fun and bright ones.  The pattern was easy to understand, the sewing went well.  The hardest part probably ended up sewing the hexagon end pieces in at the end and I freely admit that my corners aren’t perfect and that I had a couple of places where I had to add a few extra little hand stitches just because my fabric maybe slipped away a little and I hadn’t caught all layers.  But, most important, this was a fun and quick project and the girl loves it.  Her words “and Mommy, nobody else in my class will have the same case as me…………. so true.

Hexicase PencilcaseHexicase Pencilcase – Other side
Hexicase Pencilcase – Other side
Hexicase Pencilcase – Bottom

I had a lot of fun with this case.  I will proably make some more.  It’s almost big enough to turn it into a sock in progress bag.  Maybe I’ll play with the size and make it just a little larger, maybe I’ll add a little handle?  Lots of options but I know I’ll make some more.

 
And yes, I still have to go back to the other stuff………… the rest of the trip update but I couldn’t let today pass by without showing off my case.
 
Next up: I think tonight, I’m going to experiment with some hot pads and maybe a mug rug.  I need some small, quick finishes as I’m taking a few things up to the “country store” this weekend.  They’ve had some commission knitting pieces from me (hats, fingerless mittens etc) but she’s expressed there’s a demand for things like place mats, table runners etc. so I’m hoping she’ll want to display a few of my simple, quick projects like my quilted coasters, hot pads maybe the odd table topper.  And as soon as that is done, I must start playing with my girl’s dance back……… another back to school project of sorts.  I also want to play with some flannel and make some PJ bottoms for her.
Category: Quilting, Sewing, Uncategorized  Tags: , , , ,  One Comment

Skipping Ahead but I Promise I’ll go Back

11
Aug 2011

Oops…………….. I didn’t finish up with our summer vacation and updating on the last days of Sock Summit and Portland.  Of course, Great Wolf Lodge deserves its own review.  All of that, plus pictures of the stash acquisitions etc. are all forthcoming but the trip already seems so far in the distance and I really wanted to show off my newest project off my sewing machine that I photographed today.  So, I’m skipping ahead but I will try to return to the last days of vacation 2011, even if it’s just for me and to record everything so I can keep it in memory.

We’ve still been enjoying a week off post sock summit and the actual trip and it’s been so nice to have that time at home.  I’ve driven the girl to dance camp every day and she’s had fun with that.  I must admit that we’ve let to boy to his own devices too much and so he’s been playing Wii and watching TV (yes, bad parenting, I know….) but both the hubby and myself have been trying to get some projects done around the house.  I’ve been working in my room and I’ve made lots of progress yet there is still so much left to do.  I did finish my little fall table topper I started before holidays using a 5″ charm pack.  The charm pack is from the Moda line called Grand Finale by Sandy Gervais.  I loved all the fabrics in the line.  It’s such a great fall fabric line.  The binding and backing wasn’t from the same line but the colours were a perfect match and worked so well with the rest of the fabric that I was extremely happy.  As well, who can complain if you find the bolt of fabric on the 50% discount shelf.  I think I’m a lazy quilter but I admit that I really, really enjoy the world of pre-cuts.  I think what I like about it is that you get a bit of all the fabric from one line and it all coordinates etc.

But without much more talking (it’s late and I need to get to sleep), here is a little gallery of pictures I took today”

This was my first FMQ attempt on the Horizon and it worked beautifully.  Now, I admit my own skill still lacks but for my first attempt I’m happy with it and I like how the Horizon performed.  I can’t wait to practice the basic meandering stippling a whole lot more.

Bed time………… yawn.

Category: Quilting  4 Comments

Portland Day 2 and 3

29
Jul 2011

Wow, time flies when you’re having fun!!!!

Day 2 in Portland was our first full day in Portland.  I had a class in the afternoon so after a lovely encounter with a very nice waitress at the hotel restaurant for breakfast, we set out for a little excursion.  We decided to check out the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry).  The main reason we went there is because the hubby wanted to take the tour of the Blue Back Submarine.  We had been on a submarine tour in Pearl Harbour on our honeymoon in Hawaii so this was a bit of deja vu.  Different submarine but similar setting.  Those things are so tight and small and narrow.  It’s hard to believe how the crew could manage the close quarters.  It was an interesting tour.

Checking out the Periscope

Sleeping Quarters

Inside the OMSI was a little bit like Science World but JR decided that he didn’t want to partake in any of the explorations.  He only got interested when we discovered the set-up to play live Angry Birds……….. too funny!!!

Live Angry Birds Game

Soon we headed home because I had a class in the afternoon.  I barely made it on time.  I took a sock design class – Sock Design – Know the Rules and then Break Them with Star Athena.  It was a really good class.  I started doodling around with a stitch pattern and some other ideas that I really want to try out now.  I started knitting a little bit of a swatch but my yarn was too busy to really move forward with it so I’m leaving it until I get a more semi solid yarn – must go back to the market tomorrow.  :-)

At 4:30, the market place was set to open and as I walked out of the class I saw the line-up.  OMG!!!  It was long line but once the market opened everyone got in rather quickly.  I find this setting so overwhelming.  There is so much and so overwhelming.  I’m almost too scared to spend anything because every few steps there’s something else that might want to come home with me.  But really, still being in that craft room re-organization mode, I am a bit humbled by how much I have and by that thought about why I would actually add more to what’s already too much??  So, I am allowing myself to buy tools (I have to go back tomorrow and get that new tool tomorrow) and things I don’t have much of.  I will buy some sock yarn but it will all be semi-solids, solids or tone-on-tones.  I do not need any more variegated yarns (although many are tempting) but what I do need are some semi-solids to do some more of the challenging patterned socks I’d like to make.

So, I haven’t bought anything yet except for a couple of favourite needles.  Remember, I must still get fabric shopping, too.  Tax free shopping!!!

Today, I had a class first thing in the morning and it was “Writing Up and Awesome Sock Pattern” with Kate Atherley.  A long time ago, I wrote up a sock pattern and put it out there in my Etsy shop.  I haven’t done much since then except make up some socks for myself but this was great information to put in the “tool box” as my former boss would have called it.  He always gave us lessons on topics relating to our work and told us to keep them handy in our tool box.  This was one of those tool box classes and I thoroughly enjoyed it……… a lot.

After I quickly ducked into the market but I didn’t have enough time to make any purchase decisions.  Geez…………….. I was meeting my gang at the convention centre though so I kind of had to get moving.

We took the MAX to get to a few places in Portland.  Today, we checked out Old Town Pizza where we had a yummy pizza lunch and the kids checked for ghosts and messages from within the haunted house.  Then we went on to wonder around Powell’s books.  Same thing for me………… it’s too overwhelming in there to make any sort of purchase decisions.  There were a couple of quilting books I was interested in but there were no well priced used copies of them and I didn’t want to shell out the new book price.  The kids got some books.  Even hubby didn’t find anything today.  It was so busy in there, too.  Then we did a bit more exploring and stopped in at Knit & Purl and hopped back on the street car to go to Tartberry Frozen Yoghurt.  I’ll highly recommend that place.  The kids loved it, the peanut butter flavoured frozen yoghurt was awesome and it was just a fun experience.  Then we popped into a place called the Button Emporium where I found a few decorative buttons.  After that, we headed back to the MAX train (love public transit in Portland) and we headed back to the hotel for a quick stop.

We grabbed a quick dinner at the mall and went to see the Smurf movie.  So, so……. I was having fun until I screwed up a decrease in my sock gusset, dropped a stitch and couldn’t fix it in the dark.  If that hadn’t happened, I would have had my Sock of the Month for August all finished by tonight.  But no, I had to just sit through the movie (hate that – idle hands – hate that) and now I still have the foot to finish.

Tomorrow is another class.  One I’m really looking forward to.  I will also do the shopping that I want to do – hoping that some of the yarns I scoped out will still be around – but if they aren’t, there will be something else.  It’s not like yarn is scarce in that gorgeous market place.  We’ll also go and check out the fabric shops tomorrow and I don’t know what else yet.

We’re having lots of fun so far!!!

Category: Kidlets, Stash and Supply Shopping  Leave a Comment

Summer Vacation 2011 – Day 1 – The Drive to Portland

27
Jul 2011

I can hardly believe that Sock Summit 2009 is two years ago and we’re back again for another round.  The kids are two years older so they seem to travel a little better (especially the little man).  Although, we did hear a bit of complaining from the peanut gallery as the day wore on.

We left early this morning and still ended up with about a 20 minute wait (at least) at the border.  Of course because I travel on that German passport, I always have to go inside the US customs building and fill out a Visa form and pay them some money, answer a bunch of questions etc.  It’s all good though………..

First stop was the Denny’s in Ferndale.  Denny’s all over are in bad need of updating and this was no difference but my breakfast skillet was rather yummy.   We pushed on through Seattle and stopped at the same rest stop we stopped at two years ago.  The kids were having some fun playing around in the grass, running some races with the dogs that were getting their chance to stretch their puppy legs.  To top it all, the sun started coming out…………….. so nice to feel some warmth!!!

Fun at the Rest Stop

We pushed on and pulled off the Highway at Grand Mound….. the same exit we’ll need to take when we head to the Great Wolf Lodge after our stay in Portland.  The McDonalds was a bit small and for McDonald’s food, it wasn’t the greatest.  I ordered some coffee after our meal to go and it was probably the worst cup of coffee I’ve had in a very, very long time.  Actually, I took one sip and that was it.  Awful……………  As we headed out, we drove by the Great Wolf Lodge and the kids were so excited to see the outside of that place.

We arrived in Portland just after 3pm.  I think our GPS sent us on a bit of an awkward approach to the hotel.  We either missed a turn and it re-callibrated or we were meant to go that way.  In the end, we arrived safe and sound.  The hotel is nice.  The thing that bugs me is how much money we have to pay for wireless internet in our room.  The web site said a “small fee”.  To me $13US for 24 hours of wireless internet is not a “small fee”.  This might be enough reason to not come back to this chain of hotels again.

Saw lots of other excited sock summeteers as we walked about and stopped in at the convention centre to get all signed in and registered.  The kids have a real addiction to escalators…………….. as a result, they love the convention centre with all its elevators.

Escalator Rides

We had dinner at Red Robbin.  Basic meal……………… so hard to eat well while on vacation and when you’re restaurant bound for every meal.

We’re heading to sleep now.  Everyone is tired.  Hubby is particularly grumpy so I guess I’d better shut down the computer……….. but hey, I’m paying all this money………. ha, ha, ha…

Tomorrow I have my first class but that’s all I know.  We haven’t decided what we’re going to do yet when I’m not at Sock Summit!!!  Tomorrow I’ll talk more about the car knitting I did today.

Category: Kidlets, Knitting, Sock Knitting  Tags: , , , ,  Leave a Comment

Placemat Experiment

24
Jul 2011

It took me all week but I managed to get my 4 placemats put together and quilted and finished today.  I’ve enjoyed these a lot but I’ve also learned a few lessons.  Believe me, they are not perfect and I think my biggest lesson I learned is to measure really well and to make sure that the bigger centre piece is perfectly squared off and sized correctly.  As I was finishing up the placemat tops, I realized that one cut on my centre pieces wasn’t perfect which really impacted the rest of everything else being nice and squared etc.  You can really tell in the final outside border.   Here they are in all their glory:

I quilted the borders in the ditch and in the centre rectangle, I taped diagonal grid lines with masking tape.  I used 1″ wide tape and I spaced every piece of tape 1″ apart in effect creating a 2″ grid.  When I finished one direction, I carefully took off the tape and then re-taped the lines in the opposite direction to complete the grid.

I will make these again, with other fun fabrics and I hope to apply some of the things I learned to see if I can make them “just perfect”.

In the last few weeks, I accumulated quite a few magazines and there are a lot of projects in there that I’d like to try.  However, I find that when I’m at a quilt shop, I never remember any of the projects or their requirements.  I was thinking quite a bit how to overcome that, especially since I’m planning on doing some fabric shopping on our upcoming road trip.  Tonight I had an idea and I think it will work.  I took my trusty i-phone and called up an app called “Evernote” that I’ve had on the phone forever but haven’t used much.  I put in the name of the quilt, the magazine it was published in and then the basic fabric requirements.  Then I snapped a picture of the sample quilt in the magazine and attached that to the material requirements.  Now, if I’m out shopping and I see a fabric I like, I can pull out my little “notebook” and look at the “want to make” list and figure out material requirements to buy for a certain project.  Yes, as much as I’d love to just work on building the stash, I need to buy some stuff that will work together and be enough for some real projects.  I fear that if I just buy little bits of stuff I like here and there, everything will have to be scrappy and I never have anything that will work together.  So, for now, this app seems to be my little helper that will come along on the road trip with me.  Having said that, this still won’t mean that I won’t just grab some goodies here and there… I’m fickle like that. LOL

I also finished the little man’s PJ bottoms……… with these I experimented with the Overlock type stitch on my Horizon and it worked very well.  Made the project really quick.  Since I don’t have a serger that seemed like a good option.  He loves them!!!

Purple Shiny PJs

I stepped a little out of my normal comfort knitting zone, too but more on that later.  I need to plan some projects to take with me for our road trip.  One of them will be some sort of a shawl project.  Something comforting and warm.  I’m dealing with a new work environment (not a new job – just an office move).  I’m not happy about the whole situation and I’ve really struggled emotionally over the move and my new life and how I fit into this new office setting.  Without talking about too many details, I’m not comfortable or happy in my new work space and on top of it, from the few hours I’ve now spent there (half of Friday), I can already tell that I will be cold…. a lot.  So, I’m thinking that I need to knit myself a nice comfort shawl that can hug my shoulders on those days when I need something comfortable surrounding me and when I need something to just keep me warm.  I’ve always loved my job and I still like the job and my work but I now don’t look forward to going to work.  Maybe in time, I’ll get used to it. A nice shawl will help keep me warm at least.

Sock Summit is almost here.  I’m so excited!!!

Category: Knitting, Quilting, Sewing, Stash and Supply Shopping  Tags: , , , ,  One Comment

Big and Little Cousin

21
Jul 2011

I’m working on a bunch of stuff………….. holy cow……….. I don’t have much to show though because I haven’t taken many pictures recently.

This afternoon, I had the opportunity to come home a little early and so first I finished up quilting the 2nd of 4 placemats I’ve been working on (pictures when they are all ready).  These placemats are fun.  I’m using the same yellow, grey etc. fabric that I used for this pillow.  They aren’t perfect.  I have some crooked seams!!!  So once I finished the one placemat, I decided that I didn’t feel like cutting the backing for the third placemat.  I felt like experimenting with my machine so I figured out how to attach the free motion quilting foot and decided to practice that a little bit.  I’m now on my fourth little practice sandwich and I think I’m almost ready to try it on a real project.  It won’t be perfect yet but I can only get better by trying and practicing.

The other day,  I made a little cousin to the original envelope clutch (pattern by Keyka Lou).  I like how the little one turned out but I had a bit of a hard time going through the elastic on the front flap.  I’ve since bought a slightly lighter elastic because the one I was using was a bit heavy.  I just love this fabric so much!!!

The little one is carrying my library card now.  I like them.  These are fairly quick to make.  Not too much work and pretty easy to put together.  I’m almost ready for some of the more complex seeming bag patterns but I’m having fun with these clutches!!!

In a short time, I’ve accumulated quite a few sewing WIPs.  Shame on me……. knitting WIPs are one thing but sewing WIPs…. not, that wasn’t the plan!!!  I won’t get much done this weekend as we’re getting ready for a bit of a family excursion that will involve lots of yarn and fibre as well as some fabric shopping!!!

Maybe summer will come soon!!!

Category: Quilting, Sewing  Tags: , , , , , ,  Leave a Comment

My Helper…. Or Hinderer

16
Jul 2011

I often get asked how I find the time to do all the crafty things I do as well as everything else. Well, I need to do this sort of stuff as much as I need to love, live, eat, drink and breathe. It’s just a part of who I am and what makes me a happy, content, fulfilled Mom, wife, employee…. Human being.

And, really the kids aren’t the problem most of the time. Sam, the evil yarn and fibre destroyer has also taken a very possessive attitude toward my new Horizon. Cat, move over…. You might not want to pick a fight with Mommy today.

I’m working on a simple table topper using a great charm pack of very fall inspired fabric. More on that later…. The weather feels terribly much like we skipped summer!!!

20110716-111755.jpg

Category: Just Babbling, Quilting  Tags: , , ,  Leave a Comment
« Previous Entries