Sunday Afternoons…
Hello again, all. It has been awhile for me to find some time to post about all my crafting ventures. Unfortunately, that also means I haven’t had much time for crafting!
Last weekend, I took a trip to Fabricland with my uber crafty aunt. I needed some help picking out “home decor cotton” for a bag I hope to make soon. I found enough for quite a few bags! It was 50% off everything for members so I got some discount fabric for $2 a meter! I love sales. I also found some fabric for a sewing machine cover tutorial that I have been looking at for awhile. I finally got around to it today!
Here is the tutorial and here is the finished product:
Cute fabric, right? Perfect for a sewing machine cover! I was surprised that I managed to cut the pieces straight to the lines in the pattern, except the sewing machines had to go sideways because the fabric wasn’t wide enough to accommodate it otherwise. Oh well.
Overall, it was a very fast put together. The only complaint I had was doing the corners. I haven’t done them before so it was pretty hard on the first side. Then, nothing lined up so I had to take it all apart and start over. The tutorial doesn’t explain how to do corners so if you decide to do this yourself, I highly recommend figuring out the corners ahead of time. I have the problem of not fully reading over a tutorial before I dive in. Whups! It isn’t as sturdy as I expected it to be. But I think that is my fault in expecting otherwise, since it is only one layer of cotton fabric. I suppose I could have used thicker “home decor” fabric and it would have been alot more rigid. And probably harder to do the corners too.
You may have noticed by now the… interesting… window coverings I have. Orange, Yellow, White and Purple geometric squares/diagonals. I have had them since I was in Grade 12. I went to a boarding school and we needed curtains to cover our cubicle-type bedroom entrances. These were mine! I find it hard to get rid of them, they have been with me ever since. They are tacky but I love them.
Well, I have looked through my photos and found that I have actually done more crafting than I thought! Such a good blogger I am, taking pictures of everything. Only to forget about it all.
Here is a picture of the fabric I got to make these bags:
I really wish that the date and time would go away.
Anyways, the left fabric (bright and almost on the tickytacky side of things, kind of like my curtains) is the sale fabric (surprised?) and the right fabric is the regular fabric. I love them both, perfect for spring and summer. You won’t lose the left fabric bag, that is for sure. I will be able to make 2 bags out of it, lots there!
I also made a rice heat therapy bag that has come in handy lately. I made one mistake with this one though, I put in too much essential oil. The whole house smells like cranberries when I heat it up!
Anyways, here is the tutorial and here is the finished product:
I used scrap fabric from my first bag and a grey fat quarter. Easy and fast, yet again.
As for yarn crafts, I have been dyeing a few more skeins to test the waters. I have found that I absolutely love dyeing yarn and I could really get into it. Real dyes and even painting all types of fibers. But, I keep telling myself that it is something I will have to wait to do. Once I get a house with a backyard and a bigger kitchen, I will dabble it a bit more. And then if I am very very lucky, I will someday live on an acreage and have my own llamas and sheep. We can all have a dream, right?
I have begun a crochetted rug for in front of the kitchen sink. I borrowed a few pattern pamphlets from my aunt and picked out one that both I and the BF decided on. The yarns being used are the brown from the sweater I got and unravelled, white that my Grandma gave me a long time ago, and sage green that a friend gave me because she didn’t like the color. She won’t like my rug I guess, but I’m ok with that. ;)
I have also tossed around the idea of picking up knitting again, as well. I have found that there are so much cuter patterns for knitting clothes, purses, anything, rather than crochetting. Knitting is much more time consuming, but it would be nice to have a decent skill set in both methods.
Now, on a final note. I have decided that I WILL NOT LET MYSELF BUY MORE FABRIC OR YARN UNTIL I FINISH UP ALL THE PROJECTS I HAVE ON THE GO. I must use up all (or close to) the yarn and fabric that I have before I can buy more. I live in an apartment with storage restrictions that keep me from buying and storing caches of yarn/fabric. Also, my pocket book has restrictions. ;)
Hope everyone had a crafty weekend! I will spend my evening on the couch with my crochet hook and rug in hand. Looking forward to it!
The First is Always the Worst
The first post in a blog is usually the hardest to write. I would know, I have written about 10 of them, only to give up on nearly all of the blogs soon after. So I’m going to jump on in and pretend like you all know what is going on. If there is a “you all”. Anyways.
My sewing machine is still floating around in “being ordered” land. It was supposed to be here a few days ago but I am still left waiting. And NOT enjoying it, might I add. It will be a Janome 4030 QDC. Its a base-model computerized machine but that is all that I need. I don’t need fancy schmancy stitches or sewing without the pedal. I used to have an old, solid as a rock, Singer Touch n Sew. Only God knows how old it was. But a couple weeks ago, I sewed its last stitch. As much as I loved the old gal, it will be nice to be able to not have to baby my machine into working. That will be a nice change. Also, I will have to think of a name. I like to name inanimate objects. Except my Jeep, she is nameless. Wonderful and nameless. :)
I have a few projects ready to go for when she finally arrives. A few bookmarks and iPod/camera cozies. I will post the links to the tutorials I used when I finish them up and post their pictures. I just used some remnant fabric from Fabricland. Its nothing fancy, but it was nice and cheap. I also got a new cutting board, ruler, and rotary cutter while I was there. All OLFA products were 50% off, so that is always an excellent time to get it. And solid fat quarters were 4 for $10. Another excellent price. I have problems buying things at full price these days. There are so many places that you can get good deals, or just wait a little while and maybe it will go on sale.
As for crochetting, I am writing my very first pattern! I have yet to finish the project, but I will be posting the pattern as soon as its done. Just a hint, its a hood/scarf combo. I know I have seen them before, but I haven’t found one with a hood that is this large. I love huge hoods. Hide yourself away and cuddle up in a scarf. Perfect. I didn’t know how it was going to turn out, so I just used a 1lb bag of yarn from WalMart (again, super cheap). It is 100% “unknown fibre”. But really, these bags are just machine ends so are decent yarn, but have a few flaws so they sell them in 1lb bags for $6(ish). How am I supposed to pass that up??
Knitting: I don’t do much of it anymore, now that I have been crochetting. I like to see progress. Instant gratification. And knitting is so time consuming that I don’t find it as appealing anymore.
Cross Stitching - I have a modified rug hooking-to-cross stitch pattern on the go. But since it is all solid, it is taking awhile. I have put it aside so that I can get started on my cross stitch/suede bookmarks. Another photo or two or twenty will be posted when those are in the process!
Well, I think that will suffice for now. Still no call for the sewing machine today. :(
