Green Grocery Bag Challenge

Did you hear about the Green Grocery Bag Challenge over at Sew, Mama, Sew?  I’m so excited!  I had already made plans to give gifts in reusable bags this year and this just adds fuel to the fire.  Are you up to the challenge?

(Remember, if you need a bag pattern, there’s a tutorial I made here.)

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A Backpack Fit for a Pirate

Lest you think I haven’t been crafting during the unintentional blog silence…  I whipped this up from the latest issue of Stitch magazine.  It’s the Pint Sized Backpack.

I used three fabrics from Debbie Mumm’s pirate line.  It fits perfectly!

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Skirting Adventure

Last week I attempted to sew a garment.  For myself.  With guidance from some tutorial on the internet that I can no longer locate, I attempted a skirt.  My first attempt was, shall we say, less than flattering…

Basically you take one yard, fold it with selvedges together, add some elastic at the top, hem the bottom, and voila! skirt.  While this skirt shape is flattering on many body types, mine is not one of them.  My darling hubby politely offered some very tactful suggestions for making it fit better.  His suggestions proved to be very helpful and the resulting modifications made the skirt much more attractive.

One yard of cotton fabric (purchased on clearance, no less), French seams, and a bit of elastic equal one simple and fairly cute skirt.

Modifications from the first version: Took off 7″ of width and tapered the side seams in a bit at the knee.

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It’s My Job

To sew, that is!  Besides my new gig at the yarn shoppe, I’ve also been recruited for the sweat shop* in the back.  Today was my first day!

See that?  That is a custom made ottoman cover sewed by yours truly.  I also did 6 pillow covers (with zippers) and 42 buttonhole curtain tabs.  My day was pretty much awesome.

*The owner refers to it lovingly as the “sweat shop” because it isn’t air conditioned.  It’s really a very nice custom sewing shop that specializes in slip covers, draperies, and more.

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A Not-So-Pretty Patch

To say that Chloe is hard on her frisbees would be an understatement.  Until I found the guaranteed indestructible Zisc, she went through about a 3 frisbees a week (or more).  She is also very fond of her Flying Squirrel.  Normally the FS is reserved for trips and special occasions and put up immediately afterward so it isn’t shredded.  Well… we got a little lax on that and this is the result.

Check out a close-up of that damage.  She really ripped into this poor thing.

Normally I would let this kind of damage go (on a plastic frisbee it would be thrown out because it cuts up her mouth), but in this case the FS just wasn’t flying right anymore.  A new FS is around $12, which isn’t a lot, but… In this case the frame of the thing was still in good shape, it just needed the giant hole repaired.  Well, a little outdoor fabric remnant and some determination later and this FS was patched up.

(Do you know how hard it is to sew on an oddly shaped fabric frisbee on a sewing machine?  It’s really hard!!) It looks like it was patched by a blind monkey, but it is patched nonetheless.  And, despite how the patch looks, the FS now flies properly again.  (Besides, Chloe doesn’t care if it’s ugly as long as you throw it.)

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Nell’s Bag

A bag commissioned by Nell.  It is the same as Kaitlyn’s bag with a slightly larger size modification.

She chose the two main fabrics and I added the handle/pocket fabric from my stash.

Stunning aren’t they?

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Kaitlyn’s Bag

I’ve had such good blogging intentions lately and then been side tracked.  I’ll do my best to get back to an almost every day schedule.

There is a very special little girl who comes to the yarn shop with her mother.  I believe she just turned 11.  Her mother has been looking for the perfect knitting bag for her.  I had one I had made that didn’t turn out quite like I wanted, but I was carrying it anyway.  Well, as luck would have it, it was almost exactly what she wanted.  So Kaitlyn picked out her fabric and she got her knitting bag.

The bag is a modified version of this one from BHG.  I made it a bit taller and wider to better accommodate magazines and knitting projects.  The handles are longer and I used fusible fleece instead of batting.  I also boxed the corners a bit deeper to compensate for the larger dimensions.

Inside, there is an added pocket for storage.

There was a bit of fabric leftover, so I whipped up a little coordinating zippered pouch.  Since this was commissioned a couple days before her birthday, I threw in a knitting book from my library that I thought she would like.

I came to find out later that several other ladies at the shop bought her goodies, so when she picked up her bag it was overflowing with birthday treasures.  I have it on good authority that she loves her new knitting bag.

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Just Filling

I have nothing to blog about today.  I’ve been deep in thought about various things all day.  (Perhaps life changing things someday.  But for now, they’re just ideas, notions, and dreams.   It could just be the lack of oxygen getting to my brain.  Stupid allergies.) So instead, I leave you with this title appropriate picture.

I needed pattern weights to cut out the skirt for Dani’s apron (it’s the one she’s wearing in the tea video I posted earlier this month).  So I grabbed a few cans out of the cupboard of stuff that I knew wouldn’t be missed for a while.  My pattern weights come in pumpkin, cherry, and strawberry flavor.

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Grandma’s Birthday Apron

Sunday was Grandma’s 78th birthday.  Since spring is coming and she’s a great gardener, her birthday is usually filled with garden themed gifts.  As a family, we got her a really neat garden cart with a flat of pansies.  I decided to add my own little gift, a gardening apron!

Apron in repose.

I saw this apron made up in the local craft store and knew it was perfect.  It’s very simple.  It uses a tea towel, a small cut of fabric, a roll of ribbon, and two buttons.  It sewed up in under an hour.

The neck and ties are made from a single piece of ribbon.  You fix it in place with a couple of buttons.

Button detail.

The top has a simple detailing sewn on to accent the plain tea towel.

Top detail.

The bottom has a single panel sewn on and separated into three pockets.

Pocket panel detail.

The apron turned out lovely and Grandma was thrilled with it.  I couldn’t be happier with this project.

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Stitches – Part 2

So, the rest of the story on Stitches… I already told you about all the yarn I bought.  Well, there was more than just yarn!  We also went to opening day and heard Jane Slicer-Smith and one of the ladies from Twisted Sisters.  It was an interesting keynote address with lots of discussion on miters and color.  Plus, we got some nice knitting time in!

Sonja, Connie, and I knitting at Opening Day.

After Opening Day, we had some time to kill.  We decided it would be fun to hit some fabric stores!  Among the stores we went to were The Granary and Eddie’s Quilting Bee.  The Granary is a nice little store with tons of quilts hanging all over.  They had a class going on while we were there and the ladies who run the shop were very friendly.  I picked up an adorable piece of flannel for Connie’s baby (she’s due in August).

Cow flannel for Connie.

I also picked up this beautiful fat quarter (the camera doesn’t do it justice).

Fat quarter.

At Eddie’s, I had to get a cut of this adorable hermit crab fabric.  I just couldn’t resist it.  I mean, could you?

Hermit crab fabric.

I ended up with a pattern from each store.  From The Granary, the Chubby Chicks quilt pattern, from Eddie’s the Happy Feet slippers pattern.

Patterns

We also went to the fashion show, but I didn’t get any pictures.  And that’s about the gist of the trip.  I can’t wait to dive into the projects I brought home with me! (I may have already finished one… Come back later this week to see!)

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