Making New Friends

I can't believe we're almost six weeks into the "new" year already!  It's just been whizzing  right past me.

I've been doing a bit of knitting, though I have yet to finish anything this year.  I've been making progress on several things.  I have also been doing some sewing and quilting, though I haven't got any finished quilts to show yet, either.  The other thing I've been doing is some "smaller" sewing projects.

I finished up this little caddy intended for carrying hand-sewing tools:



Here's what it looks like on the inside:



This was probably started well over ten years ago, and all it needed was the button and the loop added so that it would close!  Yes, I may have a slight case of quilter's/knitter's/crafter's ADD.  The dark fabric in the picture is actually a pretty burgundy/barn red color. 

Then I also made this little zipper bag, which measures about 5.5" x 8.5":



And here's the other side:



The color's off in the photos of this bag, in reality they're pretty, somewhat darker than pastel colors.  This was a little kit I got somewhere, I don't even really remember where.  I'm thinking it was a door prize at a retreat or something, because while it's kinda cute, it isn't something I would have bought.  It was a fun little quick project, though.

Then, I was in the mood to make some stuffies.  First up is Frieda, the free-spirit.  She doesn't like it when I call her a Monster, so let's keep that part just between us, okay?



Frieda really likes to play hide & seek, but since her arms are permanently stitched to her torso, she can't cover her eyes.  So she ends up throwing herself onto the floor face-first so she can't see.  Then she has a hard time getting back up -- again, the arms attached to the torso make it tough for her to find a way to turn over or stand up.  So, she started dancing.  She discovered she really likes to dance, too.  She likes all kinds of dancing, but her favorite is line dancing.  She just has trouble with the clapping...

And finally, I'd love you to meet Owl-livia:



She's made from a panel.  I was at one of my LQSs in January for the Block-of-the-Month session, and they showed the panel, and they had one made up.  Well, I thought it was just too cute to not bring home with me.  And in contrast to my usual tendency, I started and got it finished in pretty short order.  The pattern didn't say to quilt her, except for her wings and feet, but hey, I'm a quilter, it's what I do.  I also thought she could use that extra touch, somehow.  I hadn't done any free-motion quilting on a regular sewing machine in quite a while, and she was a great project to "warm up" with, because I didn't really care if the quilting was wonky or less than "just so," and the uneven stitch length and the places where I lost track of where I was or where I was going just don't matter because, well, she's a stuffy.  It's nice to do those kinds of projects every once in a while, where you can just cut loose and have fun with it.

Frieda's been spending a fair bit of time keeping an eye on our DVD collection lately.  I think she wants to choose what we watch on our next "Movie Night."  Owlivia has settled down on the cutting table, and decided she likes having a front-row seat to my sewing area.  I hope you enjoyed meeting my two new friends.  I'm planning to make some more throughout this year, and I'll be sure to introduce them here, too.

Thanks for stopping by to play.  Come back again soon.

So, What Have I Been Doing?

I came home from my retreat a week ago last Sunday, with the start of a cold coming on. By Tuesday it had become a raging bronchitis, and I started antibiotics. Then I apparently became allergic to that antibiotic -- Saturday evening I started breaking out in hives. I kept getting new eruptions, all the way until yesterday, in spite of the fact that I stopped taking that antibiotic as soon as I realized what was happening. It hasn't been a lot of fun to be me for the last 10 days.

Today, though, was full of goodness. I don't really have any itching to speak of, and my Knit Picks order arrived. I had to order more needles so I can cast on some more socks -- for waiting room and other "away-from-home" knitting times, I need to have socks that are in a straightaway, so I don't have to refer to a pattern. So I need to get some more toes done, so I have more mindless knitting ready to go.

One of the other things in my order was this sock blocker keychain:

Isn't it cute? I was supposed to go to Knit Night this evening, but the weather was too foul to go out anywhere. So instead, I made a sock for it:

Now it's properly dressed:



I've also been making some progress on some other knitting projects. I don't have any other finishes, but I'm moving some things along a bit.

I think by tomorrow I'll feel like doing a bit of sewing. I have to make a trip to Ohio this weekend, but I'll be back Sunday or Monday, depending on whether I go on Friday or Saturday. In the meantime, I think I'll go back to my knitting.

Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again any time.

Sock Project Bags

Last night I was playing around a bit with some of my decorator fabric samples I was given a while back. If you didn't see that post, you can read it here. I've wanted to use some of them to make some project bags for carrying around a pair of socks in progress. I had some muslin around that I used to line it, and bought the cording at Hancock Fabrics when it was on sale, so I'm out of pocket very little for this, and it's already being put to use, as you can see. This was the first one I made:


And here is the second one, with a few differences in how it went together:


And the third one, from a different sized fabric piece, so the bag turned out a different size:


That pair of socks in progress just had to get into the act, and model with each bag in turn. I have lots of sock projects on the needles, and I have lots more fabric samples to play with, so I'm quite sure that there will be more of these little bags in my future! It sure looks better and is a lot more fun to carry than the gallon ziploc bags I've been using. I still need to fine-tune the design some more, and I really should have added one or two pockets to the inside of these. So as I figure out more of what I'd like in a project bag, I'll make more prototypes. Eventually, I'll no doubt come up with the perfect project bag design. Well, perfect for me, at least. Now I'm going back to my quilting for the rest of retreat.

Thanks for coming by to play. Come back again any time.

Heading to Retreat...

I'm off for a week-long quilting retreat. I'll have my laptop with me, and I hope to post some progress pictures as I work on things.

As I always do, I'm packing way too much to work on. But I never know just how productive I'll be, nor what I'll feel like working on. I'm taking a number of UFOs with me, but also a few new things to work on, in case I need that "spark" of starting something new.

At the moment I don't have any quilty pictures to share, but here's a picture of Max, sleeping on the arm of my recliner the other evening. Well, on a blanket that was tossed on the arm of the recliner. Pay no attention to the clutter on the end table beyond the kitty ;-) Max is my shy boy -- if anyone besides DH and I is in the house, he makes himself scarce. So this is likely as close as anyone will ever come to meeting him.



Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again soon.

More Beading....

Since I got my beading stuff out some time back to fix a couple pairs of earrings that had come off their fishhook wires, I've been wanting to do some more beading. I did a bit the other day, when I made those watches, but I was still wanting to play in the beads some more. The night before last, I was up much later than I should be, and started going through some beads looking for something. I can't recall now what I was looking for, but I never did find it. I did, however, make some new stuff.

First, here's a pair of earrings from these fun, sort of stained-glass tropical fish charms:

More fish, but these are enamel on sterling:

Hugs and kisses for my ears:


A variation on the theme, hearts but no hugs or kisses ;-)


And finally, this pair, which needed nothing but these amazing glass beads. I just love these:




Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again soon.

Just For Fun Sewing

This is a pattern/kit I've had for a few years now. I know I got it from a Brother sewing machine dealer at a show I was at -- probably the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo, and probably in Cleveland, Ohio, but I'm not positive as to the location, and have no idea about the year. I'm thinking it may have been as long ago as 2005, since the copyright on the pattern (from Quiltmaker magazine) is 2004. Anyhow, they were giving out these kits, which contained the pattern, fabric, Insul-Bright and Warm & Natural batting, and even a small spool of thread, at this machine dealer's booth. I thought that was really generous, and I've always intended to make it up, but hadn't gotten there. So I finally did it. They intended you to back and bind with the blue background fabric, too, but I figured if I put plain muslin on the back (and bound one with something else), I could make two potholders! One for me, and maybe one for a giftie. I still need to add rings or binding loops to them for hanging.



Then, I've been playing around with some small pieces of some hand-dyed fabrics that I was given way back some time in the mid to late 1990s. I never knew what to do with them, and then recently saw a tutorial on someone's blog (and I'm so sorry that I can't remember whose) for mug mats. She made hers somewhat large, they were 9 or 10 inches square, which was a bit big for me, so I decreased the sizes of the pieces and included fewer squares. I just wanted it as more of a coaster, not a snack mat. Anyhow, I started playing around, and this is what I've ended up with. A fun little thing to play with, when I wanted to sew but didn't want to think too much. These are for our house, but I've also made and already gifted several others.


And as a variation on the theme, I made this slightly larger one, which is about 9" square. Larger than the (about 6" square) mug mats, but smaller than a placemat. I'm planning to use this one when I have a bowl of soup or a small plate with a sandwich or salad that I'm eating at the computer. I just love the teal fabric in the background of this one.


Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again any time.

More Beading

Today I made these three beaded watches.






They were kits that I got as a set from somewhere, quite some time ago. I think they may have come from the Mary Maxim catalog, but don't quote me on that. Anyway, I wanted to do something crafty this afternoon, and I didn't have a lot of time. In about 2 hours, I made these three from start-to-finish. Although now that they're done, I'm thinking I may want to redo them on elastic cord, instead of having them on wire with a toggle clasp. But that can wait for another time. For now, they're done and usable. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, and it was a fun way to spend part of an afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by to play. Come back again any time.