My Favorite Project from 2019

Lots of bloggers do a review of their projects for the year.  I didn't make a lot of things this year, but there was a lot of variety in my crafting.  I sewed, quilted, crocheted, and knitted.

My favorite project this year was my knitted ribbed ear warmer.  They are easy and cheap to knit and so useful.  Since the middle of September, I was able to knit 12 different ones in different colors of acrylic yarn.  I gifted 3 of them to dear daughter and kept the others for me.  These easily my favorite project this year for their usefulness and ease.  I'm pretty proud of the way I figured out how to make them double thick without using someone else's pattern.

I'm still knitting these.  I just finished a black one yesterday and I'm starting a beige one tonight.  These are fun, warm winter accessories that I needed and was able to make.

Happy New Year Everyone!

  I was just sitting here trying to decide on my favorite make in 2018.  And my favorite make for 2018 has to be the long Christmas stocking cap I knit earlier this year.  I really enjoyed wearing it during December.  I wore it as often as I could on the weekends when it wasn't too warm out.  I had one comment from one young lady who thought it was cool.

    I already have projects started for 2019.  I've got pajama pants cut out to sew up, the black hat I'm knitting is almost done and I have an idea for a couple of Christmas table runners that are waiting for additional fabric and then will be ready to be cut out.  All of this should keep me busy in January.  And I still have to finish my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.

   I'll be spending New Year's Day cleaning my oven and refrigerator, and taking down Christmas decorations.  I think that's a good way to spend the first day of the year.

   HAPPY NEW YEAR!

WELCOME 2019!

Instructions For My Purse

This post will memorialize the instructions for how I make my favorite purse.  

In the previous post there were two bags pictured.  The one on the right is the best size for everything I carry to work or shopping, including my eyeglass case, my cell phone, a wristlet for identification/debit card/money, my keys, inhaler, lipstick/Blistex and hand sanitizer.  

The bag on the left is deeper and narrower and it's a great tote bag but I don't like it to use as a purse, everything goes to the bottom and it's hard to reach small items.  The instructions to make my purse are here:

I used the tutorial here: http://www.psiquilt.com/2009/08/frie...-tutorial.html.  This is the basic instruction on how to make the bag.  

My modifications are made to the front and back, the bottom, the quilting (I add a back to the piece to be quilted to save my machine from the batting fuzz), the boxing of the corners and the size of the straps.    

Here are my modifications: The front and back are each 8 strips of fabric that are 2.5" wide x 8" long, sewn together.  Or you can use two pieces of fabric 8" x 16" for the front and back.  The bottom piece is 8" by 16".  I put this together following the instructions from the tutorial. In the alternative you can make the front, back and bottom on piece of fabric that is 24" by 16".

 

To box the bottom on this larger size I measure 2" from the tip of the corners.  Since the bag is bigger, I can make the bottom a little wider that the original instructions. 

I cut my straps 4" by the WOF, then I cut that piece in half to make each one approximately 4" x 21". 

When I quilt the sides and bottom, I put a piece of backing fabric on this piece. I don't like to quilt with just the batting on the machine. I don't like the fiber from the batting getting into my machine.  

I have another piece of floral fabric and the sea turtle fabric that I made a bag with already.  I should have all my bags done in the next couple of weeks. 

Birthday Kitties!

   Happy birthday to my kitty cats.  They turn 11 years old today.  My kitties are bengal litter mates and devoted to each other.

    Merlin is the oldest of the two and is a tri-color male.  He has lovely brown and caramel swirls in his fur.  His fur pattern is known as marble.  He weighs a little over 12 pounds.  He can be very vocal when he wants to wake me up to feed him in the morning.   Merlin doesn't sleep as much as his sister does and when he does sleep he likes to be by himself unless my lap is available.

    Taffy Morgana is brown spotted.  The rosettes in her fur pattern are very smudged and not as pretty and defined as some of the bengal cats out there.  Taffy usually comes in around 9.5 pounds.  Taffy loves her naps during the day and will lay down with me at night on the bed.  She will even get under the covers when she is really cold.

   They both have gorgeous black paw pads and light brown bellies with spots on them.  They are both fixed.  They are seven generations (F7) from the foundation cats so they have a very sweet nature.  They both like to drink from the kitchen faucet when I turn on a light steady stream.  They put their face under the water and let the water drip down the side of the face to their mouth.  It's fun to watch.

     They still play like kittens and love to chase each other back and forth through the house.  Taffy  likes to jump up on the top of the kitchen cabinets close to the ceiling.  Merlin doesn't go up there much any more.

   I gave them a little party this morning with their favorite wet food (Fancy Feast, any variety, or as it is known by cat people, kitty crack) for breakfast.

   Here is Merlin.

   Here is Taffy Morgana.

2015 - My Crafting Year In Review

 I'm counting down to the New Year. Tomorrow is my birthday, then we have New Year's Eve, then we celebrate New Year's Day.  This week is always just as special to me as the week of Christmas.

   Short Review of 2015

       It's been quite a crafting year for me.  I made a lot of projects this year.  I painted, knitted, crocheted and sewed.  I made yard art, built a quilt ladder, fashioned jewelry and I have more pincushions than I will ever need.  I learned a lot this year about what I'm good at, what I like to do, and what I should not try a second time.  I made some lovely projects and others just didn't turn out like I expected.

     I did a lot of organizing this year to make sure I could find my crafting items more easily.  I replaced some of my old tools with new ones.  I added three sewing machines to my collection and re-homed two machines I wasn't using.  

  I made a lot of projects this year with my sewing machine that I love, but my favorite project would have to be the hanging dishtowels with the button closure.  They are so freaking cute and so easy to make it's hard not to love, love, love them.  This post from November has the link to the tutorial I used and some information on how I made my first, but definitely not my last, hanging dishtowels.

   My biggest fail had to be the bathmat I tried to make in January.  The three posts about that fail started here on January 12th, with another on January 13th, and my complete resignation on January 15th.  I ended up buying a bathmat.  I don't know if I will ever try this one again.

   My favorite quilt would have to be the disappearing hourglass in black and white.  I started it on June 3rd and finished it on July 29th.  It's a nice size quilt and I love the pattern the blocks make.  This is a link to pictures of the finish.

   There were so many projects and I had fun with all of them.  I'm working on my updated crafting to do list for next year and I'm looking forward to lots of  projects in 2016.