A Valentine for Mother

I got a little something for my mother for Valentine's Day.

And put it in a bag,

which seemed a little plain.

So instead of making a card to go with it,

I decided to just decorate the bag.

Think she will like it?

Better question might be will she remember

 what Valentine's Day is?

Doesn't really matter

as she loves the attention most of all.

Last one for the season

I ran across this velvet before Christmas in my stash

and decided to make a scarf.

So I found some fringe and beaded edging

but then got busy with the holidays.

I finally had some time to play and embossed the velvet.

That was the easy part.

I have made scarves and pin cushions before with velvet I emboss.

It is challenging sewing but this just would not cooperate.

I finally ended up having to sew it by hand.

The colors in this velvet are different and the camera just wasn't picking them all up.

I selected it because it was brown with pumpkin undertones.

But the embossing brought out a pale blue!

Under certain angles or lighting,

 which I could not capture with the camera,

it looks blue on blue!

In these photos the fringe braid stands out lighter but in fact it matches very well.

Well on to the next project.  

Arm Knitting

Worn out from crocheting doll dresses for Christmas,

I decided to do some Arm Knitting.

I had tried it some months ago and found it to be a fast and fun diversion

and so bought some yarns to play with

but then other needs took up my time.

After Christmas though is a time I try to relax

and just enjoy things that require little to no thought,

like my annual jigsaw puzzle.

There is however, still a quilt in a frame taking up my dining room,

so I decided that was the perfect excuse to just play with some new craft.

I have a few setting around but the two baskets of yarn were taking up the most room

so they were the first choice.

Anyway, here are the results.

The blue and purple cowl

and bronze and brown long scarf

so I could try out both styles. 

Normally I prefer scarves

but with this texture and colors 

the cowl is my favorite.

Now I am back to sewing pants.

I cannot believe I lost weight over the holidays,

but it is certainly motivation for sewing new clothes!

Play Day

When I went to Michael's to pick up some etching creme yesterday

I decided to check out their Halloween beads.

I could not find a single one!

I did however spot these blue teardrop ones

and the lovely tan ones and bronze smaller ones.

So today I got out my supplies and made bracelets and earrings.

The color here is not true on the browns 

but they look amazing with a couple of outfits in my closet.

YAY!

I guess next year if I want Halloween jewelry

I will either shop earlier 

or make my own beads!

Fun for Halloween

I took a class last weekend

to learn how to use my new toy.

The pumpkin face on the glass block

was one of the projects.

Very easy and fun to scan in what you want

then have the machine cut it out for you.

I see many applications for this and have already used it

to scan and cut out some quilting patterns 

which I then ran through the sticker machine.

It will also cut out actual templates

so I see lots of uses for this tool!

An Unexpected Gift

I have a number of 'critters'

who I share my back yard with.

Many of them eat mosquitoes.

Gotta love those critters!

Some of them I feed.

And they share with the others.

The other day I discovered two empty sea shells setting on the fence rail,

exactly where I set special treats (nuts)!

So I cleaned them and made them into earrings.

Aren't these just a special gift?

And they only cost me nuts!

I do love the critters in my yard.

July Walker Decoration

I just had to make red white and blue stars

for mom's walker this month.   

Not too fancy or creative

but I think she will like them.

She no longer remembers that she crocheted.

Another Bunny

I just had to make another one of these balloon bunnies.

I like pink better with the little white tail that you can almost see.

The blue bead eye helps too.  

Great fun but now it is time to move on to something else.

For a Red Hat Friend

A long time friend of mine

belongs to the Red Hat Society.

So when I saw this pattern I could not resist

making one for her.

I am not too good at felting

But I think she will enjoy it.

Thanksgiving Wreath

Tomorrow I will have help putting away the Halloween decorations and we will bring out those for Thanksgiving.

So today I put together this wreath that I have been working on all week.

Well, I started the orange slices to drying,

and made the cinnamon ornaments which also had to dry.

Once dry I chose to accent the ornaments with some glitter glue,

which then had to dry.

So not really working...

Can you see the little acorn and leaves up under the bow?

My daughter is much more talented with wreaths and bows and such,

but I am happy with how this came out, (though the bow could be better).

Even more so of the fact that I only had to buy two of the ribbons and the orange.

The rest was from what I had on hand,

(cinnamon and white glue, glitter glue and ribbon for the ornaments, as well as

the bay leaves from a tree in my yard and the grapevine wreath made from

the grapevine in the back yard.

Enjoying the bounty (and the wonderful smell from this) and looking forward to family.

Halloween 2013

This year's carved apple heads.

I have everything out for the skull bracelet to tat but am side tracked now so it may not happen until next year.  Time will tell.

I do still have all my decorations out so anything is possible.

Halloween Goodies

Starting to get in the mood for the holidays.

Decided I wanted to make some Halloween jewelry.

And these are what I ended up making.

Then I spent the next day sorting, organizing and putting away the supplies.

Obviously it was much needed!

After finishing with the jewelry

 I made up a few fun fans.

More on these to come.

Cause for Paws

This past Friday I stopped by my local quilt shop

to help support a fundraiser for

a no kill animal shelter.

Last year they raised more than $20,000.00

from selling donated fabric postcards

sent from people all around the world.

The shop provided the machines and all materials.

All I brought was a little of my time.

Literally!

Because I had never made these before.

I had never sewn on any of these new machines.

So this was a win win win for everyone.

Wish I would have had more time.

Maybe next year...

Then again maybe I will make up a few during the year

to bring with me next time.

Now that I know how.

But here is what mine looked like.

Not terrific photos but hey, aren't cell phones wonderful little gadgets?

A Fan for August

My daughter is thinking of having some friends over one evening and we have been crafting for that.  One of the projects that I took on was fans.  Now the original pattern I could not get to work with the supplies I had so I came up with one of these old style fans.

It was easiest to make the front and back the same but in the middle of one I ran out of adhesive in the Xyron and since I did not have any paper to spare with that pattern I used another for the back of one.

It would be easy to add a sticker to personalize it for particular events.

In fact when my future daughter-in-law spotted these in progress

she made the same connection and went home and whipped up a box full,

to be used somehow for the wedding.

The wedding will be in March so they have to be for decoration not to keep cool. 

At any rate a quick and easy and fun little project.

Plarn Day

Yesterday was the first Remembrance Run locally, hosted by the Coast Guard.

It was an incredible tribute to fallen Coasties

and a terrific fundraiser for those spouses and children.

My family and many friends were happy to join them  and look forward to next year!

One of my daughter's friends, who remembers my late husband, even flew in from Chicago for the weekend to join us in this event.

Knowing we like to craft she mentioned wanting to learn to crochet using plastic bags to make mats to donate to the homeless to go under their bedding.  

Makes great sense to form a moisture barrier and the materials are free.

Well, I had heard of this and even filed away some directions and patterns for bags so today before her flight left I went over to my daughter's house and taught her how to crochet.

Here are the plastic bags being cut into strips...

Here you can see where the strips, which of course are actually loops now

are knotted together to form plastic yarn or plarn.

The plarn has then been wound into a ball and the lesson began.

She is a very quick study!

Meg got a great start to her first mat and we sent her off to security assuring her they would allow a large ball of plarn and a plastic crochet hook!  

(I sure hope we were right)

What fun!

I got to 'hook' a new crocheter, try out a 'new' material, and who knows how many homeless will benefit all from one fun filled couple of hours!

So what did you do for Armed Forces Day/weekend?

Accessories

After I finished the latest outfit here,

I decided I needed a bracelet to match and had been wanting to try out one I had seen so...

I bought some dark green beads but the holes were too small.

I went back and bought some light green beads that worked just fine.

The bracelet was so fun once I got the hang of it that I just had to make a couple more.

At that point they just called out for some earrings to match.

That involved getting out some jewelry findings and tools that I had to pack away

a couple of years ago when I closed my jewelry business.   Long story short version, I had to clean the garage to get to the boxes I needed!

Fortunately we have been enjoying the very best (read - record breaking low temperatures) weather in our area so it was actually a pleasant job and I am enjoying the results of that as much as I am the new jewelry!  

Inexpensive beads, leather lacing and buttonhole thread combined with some buttons from the old button jar and bits and pieces from the jewelry supply boxes and I have some fun new accessories to wear with my new outfit.

  (The blue set will work well with the next top set I am making)

These have been a long time in the works with other projects intervening but worth the wait.

National Quilting Day

I celebrated National Quilting Day not by quilting

but at least I was sewing, or more accurately,

serging.

I have had the pansy fabric waiting to be made into cloth napkins for several months.

The gingerbread was leftover from an apron. 

I like to make my napkins double thickness so I lined two of them with red,

and the other two with blue.

The gold ones are for my daughter and are a single layer.

This is a quick project and a great way to use up scraps

 but more importantly so much fun to use!

I have several quilts I want to work on

and hope to finish up a number of these other projects

so that I can get started on some of those.

Dove cards

These cards were fast and easy.

I die cut the doves using a Sizzix

and some bank envelopes I had saved.

I intentionally cut them in different directions but the overall effect remained the same.

Have you ever noticed the variety of patterns

inside security envelopes?

Ones that catch my eye get saved to use as backgrounds.

But when I saw these I immediately thought they would be interesting with this die cut.

I know the current fashion is to use numerous inks and stamps and embellishments.

But I tend to favor simple.

The only glitz besides the glittery background paper is the jewel eyes.

And these are adhesive backed.  

Peel and stick.  It doesn't get any easier than that!

So next time you open your bills or statements 

take a peek at the inside of those envelopes.

You might find something interesting to spark your imagination.

Finished Matts

Finished place mats... check.

Better late than never.

Or am I just ahead for 2014?

Finished these and started playing with an idea I had for something else with the looms.

We'll see where that takes me.

It is something I have been tinkering on for a couple of years now,

so don't hold your breath.

But I always seem to come back to things I start

so don't give up either.

Table mats

I decided, somewhat belatedly 

that I needed mats to go with my tea cozies.

Leftover matching yarn... check.

Love and Money Looms... check.

Frame for looms... check.

Empty toilet paper rolls... check.

I have used the looms before and enjoyed them.

The frame to hold the looms is new however,

and I really am liking it as well.

Although it works great for wrapping I am finding it a bit awkward

when tying and have decided to try taking the loom off the frame to do the tying and see how I like that.

Luckily, that is very easy to do.

I first spent hours  and I do mean hours 

unraveling the mess of yarn so I could use my yarn winder

to make it into a nice neat ball to fit on the yarn holder at the top of the frame.

Winding the yarn onto a toilet paper roll makes that a breeze.

And fortunately the toilet paper rolls fit perfectly onto the winder!!!

Fun.  Fun.  Fun.