Finished Pleated Beauty Bag

Well, here it is. This is a Pleated Beauty Handbag from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing. I'm in a bag swap, so this is the bag I made for my person, Rachel, in MI. I haven't taken a picture of the bag I got from my person in CA, but will do so at some point. I really enjoyed making the bag- it's a different challenge to know you're making something for someone you don't know. To everyone else I've given things I've made I've always added the caveat: "Let me know if it falls apart and I'll fix it!" With this bag, however, I really made sure I was doing everything very sturdily with extra attention to finishing and the details. I hope she likes it! Even though I'm not an automatic fan of pink, I think I would keep this bag if I weren't set on sending it off. I really like how the reverse applique on the front turned out, and I like how bright and warm it is, too.

First T-Shirt Refashion

Well, here's a new t-shirt that I made from two others. I so love it! And I'm proud of it, too. I went on a Saver's splurge this weekend (mostly because the closest Saver's is 100 miles away and I don't get the chance to do this very often). I took a plain black v-neck and spliced it with a crazy patterned shirt. I've always had a problem with the average t-shirt being a little too short, so I cut off a strip of the crazy red shirt and sewed it to the bottom of the black one. I kept both the bottom hems of the shirts so they look really finished. Then I did a reverse applique thingy on the shoulder and some fancy stitch-work to dress it up. Voila!

No camera!

My husband is gone for the weekend and took the camera with him. He's at a weekend-long bachelor party in Moab, UT, so I hope he takes some good pictures. He said they went back country skiing today and logged 1,000 feet vertical, so there should be at least a few good photos. He called just a few minutes ago, and said they'd just gotten out the keg...

Anyhoo- I don't have a camera, but I have projects I've finished and want to talk about! First of all, I finished the companion pillow for our neighbor's new adopted children. I don't really need to take a picture of it since it pretty much looks like Abera's (except it says "Wake" and is green instead of blue. Oh, and the pom-pom edging was done correctly). They all come home tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure it was done and at their house, so I won't be able to take a picture of it.

The second project was a Pleated Beauty bag from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing. I joined a bag swap so I have to make a Pleated Beauty to send to someone. It's doubtful my recipient is reading this, but I'll leave off the specifics so she won't know what it will look like. However, before making her bag, I decided to make a "practice" bag. Other than the multiple options for cursing and the large amount of time spent ripping out some seams (someone else in the swap referred to it as "The Pleated Beast" on her blog), it turned out well enough to give to a friend, Tricia. Tricia was leaving for a three week trip this morning, though, so I had to give it to her yesterday (sans photograph since I didn't have the camera. Just in case you hadn't figured out the theme of this post...) The good thing was, I learned a lot by doing the "practice" bag. The bad thing is, I no longer have it to refer to! Actually, I received my bag from my swap partner on Thursday, so I can refer to it. It's a beauty, too! When I get the camera back, I may post a picture of it.

Spacey Bean Bag

We went to a birthday party yesterday for our friend Christopher. He turned 3 years old. I made him this bean bag because, well, everyone needs a cool bean bag! I was hoping to find a matching book about space, but didn't find one geared toward 3 year-olds. His mom let me know today that he's had fun tossing the bean bag around (and they like the book I did get him which is about seeds and growing them), which is exactly what a bean bag is for. In my quest for applique, this is another thing that turned out well. It's such a versatile technique!

Abera's Pillow

We have some lovely friends and neighbors who are adopting two boys. I'm planning to make each a pillow with his name on it, but have only completed one. I still have a week to complete the other. I'm still playing with applique- and I think I'm getting better. I had a heck of a time doing the pom-pom edging at the bottom, however. I didn't plan to add anything, but in my extreme aversion to hand sewing, I wanted to close and finish the pillow by machine. It was a disaster. I decided to add the pom-pom edging to cover up the icky sewing that I did to close the pillow... and six attempts later, I finally managed what you see. I had to rip it out, re-sew it, sew again, rip parts of it out, and zig-zag it twice. Now, it is compeletely obvious why one puts pillow edging on the inside/right side as you're sewing up the sides of a pillow. Lesson learned.

Here we go...

Well, I've decided to join the gazillions of others out there and do my own blog. As if anyone is reading it! For those of you who have seen our family web page, this new blog is a result of that. The family pages are still there so that we can share what's going on with us here in New Mexico, but I'm doing this blog to concentrate on my own projects. I admit it, I'm a little embarrassed about my diatribe about holidays on that site, and didn't feel it was really appropriate for a family blog. The only people reading those other pages are grandparents and my husband, anyway, so I'm going to stick to stuff about the baby there. I was also getting really wordy, so I'm trying to be short and to the point. This is my space.

And, here's a project:



I'm having delusional fantasies about crafting and selling my work. I'm practicing with tote bags and purses. Here's one I made for a friend- I was focusing on the appliqued bird and mixing fabric patterns I wouldn't ordinarily put together. I'm still struggling with putting together patterns and colors that don't "match" but rather "go" with eachother. I guess I'll keep practicing!

More photos: