3 day weekend!

I don't have too much to say but I did have a very enjoyable 3 day weekend! I love sleeping in. Someday last week I decided I was sick of the blue rug in the bathroom that didn't match the shower curtain. I moved all of the vacation pictures and sea shells that matched the pre-wedding beach decor to the laundry room. (Who isn't wishing for vacation while doing laundry?) And attempted to match the decor with the brown/green shower curtain that I picked out and love.

These cubes also got exiled from the bedroom, Britton thinks they are too dormroom/junky... I love them. Anyways I have held out for a while and finally got a lovely piece of art from my friend Chelsea for my birthday, which is neither dormroom, nor junky, so the cubes moved to the bathroom with their green artifacts. (junk) They inspired me to go mostly green in the bathroom. I did by plastic poppies to put in the Ale8 bottle to decrease its "junky" appearance.
So I raided my yarn stash and crocheted stripes from all my greens, browns, off whites, and made a bath rug that matches the shower curtain!
Then today I bought 9 5x5 canvases (for $1 each!!!) and 9 cool green fabrics (in fat quarters or fat eighths). Then I used my handy dandy staple gun and stretched the fabric on the canvases. I am headed back tomorrow to get the rest of the $1 canvases. I have an idea :)
Happy Memorial Day! Thank you again to those who sacrifice for our freedom and liberty and the freedom and liberty of others.

And I thought a whole week was bad....

Time flies, I have still had a little time for crafting (not this week, but before) but no time for blogging! Britton's Aunt and Uncle were in town this week. I became ancient (25!!). The school carnival was last night (I ran the under 7 basketball booth), and I sold hot dogs and soda to raise money for school this AM. Then errands and now homework, which I am procrastinating so I can blog! (My mom said she showed it to someone and told someone else about it, so maybe it should be relatively up to date!)I finished the sleeves from the previous post. I think I have mentioned the sleeves. They are wonderful :) Especially for coffee addicts.

While I was looking for the link again, I found this, which I might try, I really like the button and that its "more manly."
However, my LGSM doesn't have a button hole stitch. I girl from work loaned me her never-used nifty machine but I am slightly afraid. I haven't had time to mess around with it.


For Treya's bday I made her a lunch bag and coffee sleeve. She is a Vikings fan (can you tell)? It was challenging to find Vikings fabric in May in Vegas :)

The next project was derby decorations, our party was on, off, then on again. Not a huge turnout but it's the quality of the company, not the quantity! right? So here's my derby pennants, made using this tutorial. (they call it bunting in England and Australia!)

I used felt and black polka-dot bias tape (that I made) first time for that too! My ideal is to decorate each flag like a different stable's derby silk but that might be next years derby craft. I still have a bunch of triangles cut on my bookshelf, I need to make more bias tape too.

Then for my mother's day presents I made these for my mom and mil and a much smaller version for my Mammaw. The mom and mil bags where made much larger than the original idea and the Mammaw bag was slightly smaller than the original. I modified them slightly. The bigger bags now have larger straps to use over a shoulder. I also attached the linings more securely. I loved the colors, which I found for super cheap and picked out with my mom in mind. The green was kind of a honeydew speckled color and then the lining and front pocket was kind of dark cantaloupe. They looked cool. I don't know if I would use the pattern again but they turned out cool and I really liked the front pocket and flap.





I also made another baby blanket which I will post when I finish the stuffed wombat I am attempting to make to go with it.

a whole week!

I wish there were more fun fonts, but oh well. I can't believe it's been a whole week. I guess I just have so many projects that I am half into. Hopefully I will finish and post a bunch this week. I love these giraffes! I found the fabric super cheap at Walmart. They had one more yard left when I was there tonight, I almost bought the rest.... I'll probably give in if it's still there next time.
These are for Kristina (I already made her an afghan but I got invited to a shower and wanted to send something) I am pretty unsure about the snaps, but I did my best. They are better than my eyelets, so I guess we'll see. I need to find out a better or more durable way. I made a small and medium the pattern said to blow up to 175% and my copier only had 155% (The small one) and 200% (the larger one).
I am currently working on bday gifts, mothers day gifts, derby decor, and a baby blanket. I also need to finish the other crayon rolls.... Poor Britton has to put up with my loud hammering (between 9 and 10 pm) (He hates it!) and my sewing crap which is currently all over the living room (For the 2nd week in a row). Although, I think it bothers me more than it bothers him. But, its the only way I get any sewing done! This weekend was all report cards and stuff. I am getting a lot of planning done too. I love being organized! (I find it challenging to be organized and flexible.) Well I need to relax and get to bed. Hopefully you'll here from me sooner than later.

weary, but less annoyed.

I finally figured out that changing the needle fixed my problem. I do fine sewing until I run into a problem and then I panic. I am not good at problem solving with my little green friend. I am terrified of messing up the tension, I have no idea how to fix it. I researched online a little, and one recommendation was to change the needle. Hallelujah, that fixed my problem! So in the AM I changed the needle and finished this zip pouch for my friend Tyler's birthday. (I think she turned 8)

I only sewed a little this weekend. Most of it was spent cutting and pinning, etc. I made a bunch of personalized coffee sleeves for friends.Like reusable, personalized sleeves.

I am not sewing tonight, but I am working on another baby blanket... This one is for a podcast "friend". It will be similar to the previous ones, (it has a ruffle because it's for a girl).

Grouchy...

Last night I made another lunch bag. I took it to school and took it's picture outside my classroom this morning. This one is for another girl I teach with, Terri, is the 5th grade super hero. She needed a bag for her glass water bottle. I am still unhappy with the eyelets. One of Chelsea's needs fixed already.... so I am going to have to do some more eyelet research and practice.
I am also going to have to research why tonight my lgsm is not working. I was just trying to make a simple zipper pouch. It worked for a little while but I changed the bobbin and now it's not catching the bobbin thread at all. I bent 1 needle and broke one needle and screamed obscenities at it... I was not a happy camper. So I need to research that too. It's past bed time. arg.

double post day! :)

Ok, so I love that I was productive enough to make this a double post day, but I think the pictures I took without natural light look disgusting. So this is the last p.m. post, from now on I'll need to take pictures during the day to post.... That's annoying I am not a patient person and I am more likely to blog if I am posting recent successes. Anyways.... I finished Holly's (my sister in law) pink and black purse. I like it. I assume the pink will be the inside usually... but It is reservable. I made my sisters and I similar purses from this pattern. I like my purse but my cell phone and keys get lost in it's depths, so I added a pocket to hers. I have UofL/black cut for Lindsey (my other sister in law) and myself but I couldn't find any red or black thread in my stash, so sewing will have to wait until tomorrow.
Then I moved on to the next plan.... I made a lunch bag for myself in the first week of March as one of my initial sewing projects. It's cute and I like it, but I saw this (I made the large size) and thought it was really cute and similar. I also wanted to brave the eyelets. I don't think I am a fan of them yet. But Chelsea (my best friend from work and a Kindergarten phenom) needed a lunch bag too. Orange and lime seemed very her. I am happy with how it turned out. I liked the way these instruction had you attach the lining to the exterior. I had to mod it slightly because my lgsm doesn't have a zigzag stitch like recommended, but I think it worked just fine. I used ribbon for the handles now, but I might switch it out for cording. We'll see. It's getting late and I need to clean up all my fabric and fold laundry.

So the real beginning....

So Britton started my blog preemptively... I said I wouldn't blog until I had kids, but I am crafting again and excited to show the world my creations.... So y'all have to pretend you are as excited about my results as I am! :) Also, our digital camera is missing and so you will have to survive with the less than mediocre pictures from my blackberry. I finished two baby blankets last week and needed a big brother present to mail with one of them. I have had my eye on this for a while. I love the colors. Picking out fabric was a blast! I modified them slightly to make them crayon rolls for Henry and my non-nieces. (Until Britton's sisters or mine have kids for me to spoil I will be spoiling my friend's children) I am hoping to make one for my mom and myself too. But they are not high on the priority list. I have been working on the rolls off and on all week, picking fabric, cutting etc. I really like them.


Henry's, cute finished and all rolled up :)
Chloe's (the green/pink) is backwards black on the left, instead of red, and it gathered a little on the pocket. But I like them. I have a few other things to work on today... maybe this inaugural day will have 2 posts... :) we'll see. Thank goodness tomorrow is an inservice day and I don't have to grade stuff today (I'll do it in meetings tomorrow).