Lots of UFOs

I haven't really posted anything here lately mainly because there really isn't too much to post. I have the crafting blahs. I do have a pile of unfinished objects (UFO) lying around but nothing that really gets my heart to racing. So I thought I would post a few things here in the next couple of days to see if I can rekindle my crafting fires.

This is one that I started a while back when I was really excited about rag quilts. I had a small amount of this really cute glittery moon print material. I decided to cut it into 4x4 blocks and offset it with a yellow checked material and maybe make a baby or toddler quilt.




As you can see, I have managed to get all my pieces sewn together. I have even gotten the exposed seams clipped. But I lost the creative mindset to actually finish the project and it is lying on the arm of my couch surrounded by other cast off projects and piles of crafting materials.

I have plans to add a denim border around the entire quilt and maybe embroider a little saying about the moon around the edges.

But for now it lies there forlornly waiting for my fickle interest.

The Fruity Hats Post

I know that it has been several days since I last posted. I have been having trouble with blogspot not letting me finish my post or with uploading pictures. I have tried several times to get through and haven't been able to make it.

Anywho, here is the latest blog... fruity hats.

As I talked about in my last post, my niece was born on October 5. Over the weekend, I had the chance to get up to my old hometown and visit my family and the newest member, Brilee Jo. To really understand where this story goes, you have to understand something about my sister Sam, Brilee's mother and my youngest sister. She tends to have a love of anything that anyone is making at the time. She shows no hesitation over asking you for whatever it is that you are making and somehow she often tends to get her way. I'm not really sure if that is a baby-of-the-family thing or whether or not she has the dark gift of conartistry.

Now also understand that I had made several baby hats for my niece for Sam's baby shower because I had read research into the correlation between the prevention of SIDS and infants wearing caps. However, when I saw Brilee, she didn't have on any kind of cap. I related, again, the research to Sam. She told me all the baby hats were at her house and not at Mom's where she was staying for the next couple of days.

I proceeded making baby hats out of scrap yarn my Mom had in her yarn stash.

After several hats, Sam approached me about making a pumpkin hat. (Don't you just love when someone asks you to make something just like you are making but change the color and the shape and the size, etc.) So trying to be the accommodating big sister that I am, I set out trying to figure out how I was going to get this done.

It just so happened that Mom had a tiny bit of bright orange yarn left over from a University of Tennessee colored scarf project for my other sister, Jaime (maybe more about that craziness another time). So, I whipped out a fairly hideous but close to pumpkin colored orange hat. But how to put the leaves and stem on? I thought crocheting into the top of the hat, around and around in a spiral might just make a stem. For the leaf, I thought a chain with sequenced single, double and triple stitches along the sides might work. I say I thought, because Mom didn't have any green or brown yarn in her stash. Why flourescent orange and not green or brown is really beyond me. There was nothing to do except make a trip out to pick up brown and green yarn for very small details on the hat. However, just this one time, my conceptualized idea actually worked! I think it turned out so cute.




But that got the inspiration motor running. What other kinds of fruit could I make into hats? Mom had some bright red. Why not make an apple hat. So I did. It turned out really cute.




What about a pear? I could increase two rounds, then make a couple of rounds without increasing and then increase to the proper size and continue on normally. Here is a picture of that little cutie.



I still have plans for maybe a pineapple, a burgundy apple, possibly a cherry, and who knows what else. I am still not sure which is worse, inspiration gone awry or little sisters.

I don't know when this latest madness will end..... stay tuned and check out the fruit listings on my etsy site coming soon.

Finished with the Blue Jean Bag

The last several days have been pretty crazy. I haven't had too much time to work on the blue jean bag.

After a night of absolutely no sleep, I heard that my sister was sent to the hospital to be induced into labor. She was still a week away from her due date. I live 3 hours from her and even further from the hospital. There was no way I could get up there. Instead of working outside on the garage with Dave, which is what I needed to be doing, I sat inside by the phone waiting on phone call reports. I needed a project I had to think about but not too strenously so I returned to the blue jean bag.

I had left off with the all the outside denim sown together and the lining ready, or so I thought. I had stopped because I could not decide what kind of handles I wanted to use or make.


I finally decided to continue on with the theme of deconstructed denim and use thick cotton piping material covered in denim strips as handles. I left the seams exposed along the piping and clipped them just like the body of bag.







Originally, I had wanted the body of the bag to be rather stiff and stand upright especially because the lining is so thin. I did buy some heavy interfacing and placed that in between the bag and the lining. The lining and the interfacing were both too big to fit nicely inside the bag. I don't really know how many times I stitched and clipped seams before I got the interfacing and lining to fit inside the bag. I do know that I was ready to throw the whole mess away and consider it a learning process, but then I would not have anything to work on while waiting on any news. So I continued, and continued, and maybe cursed a few times, rolled my eyes, held my forehead, and continued. Finally, I got both layers to fit satisfactorily (okay I kind of just got over it).

I hurriedly clipped the remaining exposed seams and washed the bag for the first time. Excitedly I opened the washer after the first cycle and found my mistake. With all the drama of the day I had not paided enough attention to was I was doing and had not managed to stitch into the interfacing. It was all crumpled up in between the lining and the bag! Expected a miracle, I went ahead and placed the bag in the drier. I kept checking the progress - apparently because I am stubborn and excitable that way. Alas, I did not have the miracle I had hoped I would get. The interfacing was still wadded up between the layers.

Finally I resolved myself to the fact the interfacing was going to have to come out. Luckily, I clipped a small 2.5 inch opening and was able to gently pull the interfacing out. I restitched the resulting hole and decided for a second washing.

Late last night while I was waiting on the second drying of my denim bag, I received the call I had been waiting on. My new niece had been born and she and my sister were both doing well. While I was on the phone with my mom getting the news, my drier when off. I went into the laundry room and reached in to take out the project I had been laboring on all day.

Success! I think it turned out great. So in honor of my niece, I'm calling this one the Brilee Bag.

The Blue Jean Bag

I decided to work on something for myself. For several years I have been hording old blue jeans as if all world governments were going to ban the production of blue jeans. I have stacks! So, I decided to cut them into 4x4 blocks and start sewing them together into a blue jean toddler quilt for my nephew for Christmas.

With good intentions I started sewing Saturday night while listening to Beyond Reality radio. I managed to get 5 strips of 16 squares sewn together when I got inspired. I laid out the resulting 5 strips and decided they would make a great deconstructed blue jean tote bag! As usual, one unfinished project led into another one. I sewed 4 squares of blue jean together into strips. Then I sewed three strips together. The sides were made sewing three blocks together, joined sideways. A long piece of denim was added for the bottom. Viola!

The seams were made on the outside and clipped so they can later be frayed.

And that is about as far as I have gotten on that project. I know the results are going to be great...once it is finished. In my defense, I don't have any interfacing yet and I'm still trying to decide on handles.

On to the next project!

Work, Work, Work

I have been working posting on etsy forums so much lately! I really haven't had tons of time to work on any project.

Lately I have been thinking about working on a few quilts. The heat is finally letting up enough to be able to work on them without burning up!!!!

I'm still going to try working on the sweater purses. Now the only problem that I have is finding handles. I can't find the right kind of handles to use. I need the solid round ones, not the open ones. Its so aggravating to have a half finished project with no way to finish it.

Working on Sweater Purses

I am currently hard at work designing sweater purses for my etsy site. I have one knit but I need to get some purse handles. I'm thinking of trying one with a five stitch cable pattern and other smaller cables along the sides. Not really sure of the color yet though.

Gotta run and take Cara to Tae Kwon Do!!!