I'm making stuff...

in an attempt to avoid job-hunting, something I truly, truly hate doing.

This quilt - from the Roundabout pattern in the Piece and Play book by Judy Martin. Its small, and for a friend's new baby. (I'm actually not going to quilt it, since I loathe quilting, but am simply going to attach a back to it and call it done. Woo hoo!



A week or so back, I also made this quilt (or whatever you call patchwork with a back and no batting) for another friend's baby. I really didn't like the way this turned out, it didn't do anything for me at all, but in the spirit of better done than not, I sent it off anyway.



I also sent the same friend this bib, my first ever bib! I liked it a lot, especially the patch of the boy - the fabric was a great thrift store find.



Also making...

This messenger bag for a friend's 10 year old boy. I think he liked it!



This tote-bag for a friend's mom's birthday... (I really, really like this bag...)


This cushion cover for a craftster swap...


More stuff for a different craftster swap...




Last month, for the first time, I actually made an apron for Tie One On! I took awful pictures of this apron, this is a close-up of the pocket - the best picture I have. However, I sent it to my friend Shirin, so maybe she'll send me an action shot...



And a preview of this month's WIP for Tie One On... I found the house, half finished, in a thrift store, and added the trees... Hopefully, this will also make it off the WIP in time...



Just realized that the apron is not due until the end of June. Yay!!!! I thought it was the end of May. Stress for nothing.

And now, back to the job search, or the avoidance thereof...

More Dear Jane blocks...

A6 - Uncle Homer

B13 - Four Corner Press

D13 - Field of Dreams

M12 - Hopscotch

I'm clearly doing all the easy blocks first.

Since the last post, I felt some guilt about my WIP list. So I added interfacing to my mom's bag, getting that off the list. I made this bag last Labor Day weekend, but without interfacing. My mom said she wanted it, and cooperatively took the seams out, so I could add interfacing. But yet, its stayed on the list for months and months and months. Ah well, finally done.

Yesterday was all-craft day! I ignored the zillions of things I should have been doing, and crafted instead. Which is mostly a good thing, except those zillions of things don't really go away, and now I'm behind.

I made...

This market bag: One of the resolutions I made at the start of the year was to not use any new plastic bags. I've been mostly good at this, diligently keeping a bunch of paper bags in my car, and using them everywhere. (Except when it comes time for leftovers at restaurants. I should make a bag just for that.) This bag is either a bag for me, or a bag for the Sweatshop swap at craftster (plug: my favorite swap!), or a bag for my mom. (Who has already claimed it. Hmm. We shall see.)

These scrappy stringy quilt blocks, made with stray leftover fabric. I have a complete inability to throw away fabric, and this was the result. Its remarkably fun to do, there's no matching, you just pick a piece of fabric, and sew it onto a muslin back, and repeat. I made 5 yesterday. I see this as a one of those projects where you make a block every once a while, and eventually piece together. Another entry on the WIP list. (My friend Brian pointed out I'm very good at starting projects, not so good at finishing them. Its true, but I have only this to say - so what?)

This easy block: In a complete bout of insantity, I decided I wanted to make the Dear Jane quilt. Even though I have no patience. Even though I don't like fiddly little blocks. Even though each block is 4.5 inches, and there's 169 of them. Not to mention the ridiculously intricate triangles in the corner. I figure I'll be done with it in 10 years.

I started easy though, this is block M10 - Simple Simon.

Was this supposed to take an entire evening?

My friend Anu is having a baby girl. I thought I'd make a whole bunch of baby things. So I started with the shirt D from McCall M4280.

And here it is...

I bought the fabric from JoAnn's remnant bin, figuring I'd someday have a use for it. And here it is...

I'd like to think I'd be faster making it the second time around, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm a slow sewer. Plus, despite the many zillions of sewing patterns I own, sewing clothes baffles me. I'm convinced the instructions are written expressly for the purpose of getting me to a sewing class, moaning pitifully for help.

(Yes, it needs snaps. I'm off to buy a snap thingamajing at JoAnn's tomorrow.)

I'm the world's worst blogger.

I think I like the idea of blogging far more than the actual process. Plus, for some reason, I've never figured out how to take low-res images on my camera, so I need to download images to my computer, shrink them, and then upload to the web. All in all, this means my blog gets updated roughly once a month.

Despite the lack of blogging, I've been crafting. On craftster, I signed up for an apron swap, and made this apron.

Close-up of cross-stitch - I found the pattern here, after searching everywhere for a free pig pattern that was easy to do. (Tight deadline, of course, as always.)

I'm very pleased with how it came out.

And here's a picture of the apron Julie made me in exchange. Makes me feel like I'm about to do the cha-cha, or something. Fun! (I've a mental image of me in retro-getup, dancing New York, New York. Go figure.)

This post has become all about aprons, I see. The rick-rack on the apron Julie made me reminds me that I really wanted to make an apron for Tie One On. And at the start of March, I bought a ton of rick-rack, fully intending to make an apron for this. Hmm. I have 7 days, so perhaps this will indeed get done.

Getting off the apron subject, my birthday was on Thursday. Yay! Happy birthday to me! I had the most amazing day (week actually), with good thrifting, dinner and drinks with good friends, yummy wine and dessert, and a glorious, sunny day.

And these adorable cupcake placecard holders! I've been fairly immune to the cupcake cuteness sweeping the blog world, but here, I had to give in. Brian bought me these on Tuesday as a birthday week present (birthday week presents, what a brilliant idea!) and I love them. Too cute!

(Yes, I should clean my sewing machine.)

Making...

A patchwork blanket for a friend's baby (with leftover triangles!)




A tote-bag for Sarah (with left-over fabric from a friend's headboard upholstery project and some yummy velvet ribbon for handles)




I need to work on my doll-making skills... this poor girl is so shapeless...





And of course, a million drawstring bags, as already detailed.

More drawstring insanity...

I made 18 of these over the weekend for a swap. (I only needed to make 10, but made 18, so hopefully people will get their favorite kind.)




Yes, I'm insane.

The small ones are ~6.5"x6; the large ones are ~8x10. The black one photographed really badly, its a black brocade with purple flowers on it, really very pretty and the kind of bag you'd take to go out to a party or something.

I'm ready for a break from my sewing machine. Although, I must say, these sewed up real easy, and remarkably, my sewing machine even behaved!

Fabric for the drawstring bag swap....





And a prototype! I was inspired and learnt how to here http://happythings.typepad.com/happythings/drawstrings/index.html. Thanks!

I want to make:

A frilly, girly apron, from Adorn Magazine...

Sarah and me are doing a personal swap - I'm trading some of my ridiculously huge stack of African tie-dye fabric for hand-knit socks. Yay!

The stash...



In other news, I owe my mom a blog entry. Unlike me, whose WIP piles are ridiculously large, my mom is quite good at finishing projects she starts. But she does take forever to decide on a project to start! Case in point - my mom bought a sewing machine in September - it took her until January to open it and start using it. (4 months! That's ridiculous!) And that was with a lot of persuation (actually, I went to visit, and opened it myself. It was driving me crazy!)

But now that its open, she's making a very nice quilt for her neighbor's new baby, with some remnant half-triangle squares and assorted fabric. Here's a picture of it in progress...



And there you go, Ma. Blog entry.

I should have worked on the WIP list...

but instead I made this, from the free Pet Bird pattern at the Puchi Collective. I made it 4 times larger though, since I wanted to machine sew it.



I love how it came out! Next time though, I'll use better felt, not the cheap acrylic kind, and I might play around with the pattern to lessen the hand-stitching. I must be a slow sewer (or the TV in the background distracts me) - I think this one took almost 3 hours to make!

My WIP list is getting smaller - I finished Jan's wall hanging. My camera batteries were dead, so no photo. Yet. It came out quite nicely, despite the 800 problems I had with it and my sewing machine. (Maybe I need a new sewing machine? Mine's 10 years old.)

Wonder what I should tackle next?

Christmas crafting

Framed some toads that I'd painted in China last year for my friend Brian. I can't paint at all, but anything looks good matted and framed.

Crafting WIP

New Years resolution - finish one project before starting the next. Yeah, right.

1. Black bag for my cousin Priya. (Not yet started.)
2. U2 pillow for my friend Brian. (Half done.)
3. Wall hanging for Jan. (Half done.)
4. My dress. (Half done.)
5. Tote bag for my mom. (Half done, need to add interfacing.)
6. Red fleece blanket (Needs to be hemmed.)

Other things I'd like to make:

1. Postage stamp pendants
2. Soap
3. A Christmas tree skirt.
4. Christmas stockings, like these at Hable Construction .

And so much more...

Jan's wall hanging

inspired by this Motawi tile.

My Christmas tree. I didn't have one last year, so I'm extra-excited about this one.

And some favorite ornaments. I feel bad that so few of them are hand-crafted, but I'm always so rushed during the holiday season I never have time, and I forget the rest of the year. In order, the Michigan helmet Brian gave me last year, a pipe-cleaner snowflake ornament I made for my first tree, a beaded ornament I got in a swap, a gorgeous dove ornament, a mournful policeman? and a flower that I got on clearance after Christmas (I'm addicted to after-Christmas ornament sales), Bart, a present from a friend for my first tree, the spider and web in a swap, and the shoe was bought at Ikea this year.

I love ornaments.

Long time, no blog. But I've been crafting quite diligently.

I finished my quilt for Shirin, and sent it off, with a bag for her. I have no picture of the bag. But here's a picture of the quilt.

It was actually the worst quilting ever - I can make the tops, but I can't quilt to save my life. I have no patience.

I've been wanting a cable knit bag forever (since I saw it in Lucky.) So I went to the thrift store, bought a sweater and some black pleather, and made this bag. I'm not completely happy with it, I think its too large, don't like the shape, but it was good learning - since I've never sewn with a sweater. I might try this again, but with more patience.