Basket Full of Projects

 

I finished a couple of projects today. Some that had been sitting in my project basket for a bit. My making process, especially for sewing, includes a cutting out day. Cutting out is my least favorite part of sewing, and I will usually decide on a variety of projects, and then spend a day or two cutting out those projects, and then when I feel like sewing, I can pick something from the stack and SEW it! 

Handy Dandy projects!

The projects are gathered together, and easy for me to find that way. When I cleaned my sewing room earlier this year, I found a few projects that I had set aside before I used the basket. The basket bunny dress was one of those projects. See it back in the basket, waiting on me to sew on the bottom ruffle?

These quilt blocks are another.

Blue star block

Evidently I had only cut enough of the background fabric for one block. but I had cut more pieces for the other parts and here is another version.

Same basic block, doesn't look the same

I got an accuquilt fabric cutter for my birthday, and I want to get some of the dies I got cut out and work on them some, so I thought finally sewing these together would get me ready for that.

Most of the projects in the basket right now are kid's clothes projects. One of the Charitable Crafting yearly projects has been making kid's clothes and donating them to a charity that had collected clothes so kids could choose them before school started. But the charity had to close their kid's room. Then they worked with schools to help them have clothes closets. Many of our clothes last summer were donated to helping families affected by a large fire here in NM. There were still several garments that hadn't been ready to donate when that happened, so I recently gathered those up and donated them to one of our local elementary schools. This week, I finished a little dress that will go in our next clothes closet donation.

Kid's Clothes!

I really like sewing for kids. I feel like fun fabrics are welcome, and I try to stick to "timeless" looks.

Having my project basket lets me have projects ready to work on when I want to work on something. Each part of the project in its own time.

Ready, Set Go!

 

I'm getting some new projects underway. When I post about a project I often have thought about it from beginning to end. SOMETIMES, projects can sit, waiting, for a while before I get to them, and whatever thought process there once was is gone. 

baskets of spring flowers

This dress, for instance. I cut it out a while back (I'm talking years back), and while I put the collar together, and put it in the bodice, that's as far as I got until this week. Now, it just needs the bottom ruffle to be ready for SPRING! 

This evening, instead of finishing it (it is nothing if not patient), I consulted my planning list, and cut out some bunny clothes. My aunt requested a bunny, and I am in the process of making a wardrobe for it. Why? Well, the wardrobe is part of the fun for me.

An array of bunny clothes to be

I've made bunnies several times over the course of about 40 years (OH MY GOSH!! Has it really been that long? Yes, yes it has!) and I think my outfitting of the bunnies has evolved. The dress at the top is definitely from a while ago. It follows one of the patterns I have just so. That fabric, too. And muslin accents. OK, to be fair, I can still go for some muslin. These latest bunnies have had some experimentation. There is something to be said for that super gathered dress. It is cute. But lots of things are cute, right? I've tinkered with the patterns. Turned bodices into shirts, turned bloomers into pants. Made a vest or two. So, now there are some separates going on. I experimented with elastic waisted skirts, but this time, I'm trying a waistband. Some pieces still have that extreme gathering, and some have less. It is fun to experiment!

I made a vest that has ladybug wings

Two different versions of ladybug outfits.

This bunny has a collar that is wings in the back

So, on with the creation! On with the learning process! On with the fun!

Oh, yeah, and on the crochet front, I started this cute dinocorn. A dinosaur unicorn? Yes, please!

Another request in turquoise!

Hope you can find your happy place too!

More Eye Monsters

 

It is time for another eyeball monster. This time, it isn't quite a spider, but maybe an eye bug?

Ever feel like something is watching you?

This time, it's mostly about those legs. I mean. THOSE LEGS! They are what's cool and what's creepy about this monster. You can't really tell for sure from this photo, but there are six legs. More of an eye bug than an eye spider. I thought I would go for eight when I started, but there are a couple of reasons that it worked out to be six. First, I used all of the skein of that variegated that I had, and had to fill in a little with some of the orange on a couple of the legs. And really? six was plenty to have to make. Not quite as repetitive as the dragon spines, and they got easier as I practiced making them, but I was definitely ready to move on to something else. Plus, they are placed pretty close together, here, aren't they?

top view for leg counting

The pattern suggested leg options, like stuffing them or putting in a wire, or both. I opted for wire. Pipe cleaners (fuzzy craft wire these days?) are what I used, and if you pose the legs, they will keep their position pretty well. I did not use stuffing, but if you did, you should stuff as you go, I think, and really a light stuffing, but stuffing and the pipe cleaners would fight and be hard to have both. I also bought some armature wire, which is more substantial than the pipe cleaners. I think if you really wanted the legs to hold the eye up more, you would want to use that, and you might have to have the wire travel through the body and down one of the other legs. The book suggested  a front right to back left sort of pattern. For this monster, I'm satisfied with the pipe cleaners, although who knows what the future of eye bugs may hold. I do still have that armature wire, after all.

This is the second eyeball I've made, and I was pretty happy with how the eye turned out. 

Ready for a close up!

After I did the iris, with the shiny plastic safety eye in the center, I did a row of the light orange, followed by a row of the dark orange, which dropped into the lighter color every third stitch. I really like the depth of color that added, and I'll try that again. I was surprised that the eyelid was a little loose this time, but not too bad, and I was careful to sew into the eyeball to keep everything in place.

I'm going to be working through this book for a while! SO MANY MONSTERS!

So Much FUN!

A Story With a Happy Ending

 

When I was 12 or 13, I got a sewing machine for my birthday. Or maybe it was Christmas... or... ANYWAY, my mom thought I needed my own machine, so I could make stuff that I wanted to make, and practice my sewing skills while leaving her machine for her to use. It was an old (even at the time) Singer machine that just did straight stitching and it was a work horse. It was in a wooden cabinet, that you could put the machine down into, and fold the worksurface over the top of, to make it more of a table. I used the heck out of that machine for a LOT of years. Finally, I got to move on to machines that would do more that straight stitching, and the old Singer kinda got pushed to the side. Then a few years ago, the cabinet - at 50 something years old, in NM with dry rot, and moving a few times - gave up the ghost. I took the Singer out of the cabinet before it fell out of the cabinet. It was a close thing. Sadly, I didn't have another good place to put that machine, so it sat. On the floor. Collecting dust and sadness. I needed to put it somewhere that would hold the machine up off the table so that the mechanisms could move as they should for sewing. But I didn't know what or where that was.

So then, I was talking sewing machines with my friend, and talked about the machine my mother had. The machine she had taught me to sew on. Mom had a Necchi, a pretty fancy machine for its time, it had cogs wheels that you could put together on a handle, and fit into the top of the machine, to create different stitches, like making button holes. When my mom passed away, I inherited her machine, but I never used it much, so I gave it to a friend before I moved back to Las Cruces. When I went through my crafting stuff a few years after that, I found the instruction manual, the case of cogs, and the foot pedal for that machine. OOOps. But my friend had already gotten rid of the machine (and I don't blame her). BUT my friend looked online, and found a Necchi Supernova, like my mom's for sale, and she bought it. When it came, it had been poorly packed, and the bottom of the machine case (the only part of the case in the box) had been treated roughly in shipping, and broken apart.  

(Do you like my story telling so far? Wish you could see the pictures in my head of my memories of these machines.)

Enter Cruces Creatives, the makerspace that I belong to. Well, besides the textile area, and art room, there is a woodworking area, and people who like to work with wood, like I like to work with textiles. We saw an old machine that someone had built a wooden stand for. UREKA!! I posted on the CC communication platform about needing some built for my machine(s), and a week later, I had them! WOOOO!!!

A new base, and welcome back!

Hello machine like Mom's!

Yesterday, I had a goal to actually get the Singer sewing again. I have already had it cleaned and checked, and I plugged it in and put her to work! She's now part of the happy sewing place! She needs to use the templates I have to make some beautiful button holes soon!

New quilt block, old machine

As you can see from the picture of the Necchi, it needs a good clean, and going over, and a new cord (the plug on the old one was in a state. NOT a safe state), so she has gone into the shop for a going over, and probably won't be out until June.

The Turquoise Dragon

I finished another dragon. This one was a special request, AND my first time using a new pattern.

He's a cutie, right?

 

My cousin requested a dragon, for a friend of hers, who saw her dragon and wanted one too (I mean, not to toot my own maker horn, but right??). So when she brought out yarn for me, I couldn't say no.

I wanted to start fresh with a pattern I hadn't used before, so this is where I started.

Here's the book...

And here's the pattern

The pattern looked like it would be reasonably easy to make. SO I got started. I found the instructions to be pretty accurate, and could follow them well. Even though there were a lot of parts to assemble on the head, I got them in place pretty well. The eyelids were a little problematic, but ultimately, I feel like their slight wonkiness creates expression on the dragon's face.

fascinating (a Spock reference)

So what are my take-aways? 

One, the row of spikes on his back are BORING to create. Tiresome. They actually stopped me for a while. I got the head spikes done and sewn on, then FINALLY powered through the rest. 

Two I'm finding that sewing the parts on with a needle helps with more accurate - even if not always perfect - placement of those pieces, and I think it goes quicker as well. Tapestry needle for the win!

Three. Dragon toe beans!!!

Cute as heck!

In fact the construction of the leg as a whole. It was made it two pieces and I think the shaping allowed by that was good! Between the legs and the tail, this dragon is very stable sitting upright. I appreciate that.

Four, I'll be trying another pattern from this book SOON!

So, are those spikes worth it???

An Eye Monster Named Charles

 

Once upon a time, there was a bestie, who had a daughter (Ok, two, actually). Their family is definitely part of my family of the heart. I shared how I made the younger daughter an apple, because she is a teacher with a new teaching job. Now it is time to meet Charles.

Everyone, meet Charles

One of my Christmas presents was this book:

A very fun instruction manual

It has instructions for all kinds of monster parts, to let a crocheter build the monster of their dreams. It is not the first or only book I've gotten by Megan Lapp, and I have found their instructions reasonably easy to follow. So this would count as a recommendation.

Here's an example eye monster

This, then, is where we started. I didn't have much trouble with the eyeball itself. I did one with a crocheted iris, and then added a safety eye anyway. I used the biggest one I had, but wished I had a bigger one. Still it does give a shine. I didn't have trouble making the eyelid, but the yarn was bigger than what I had used for the eyeball, I think. Anyway it looked like this

Not the close fit I wanted.

Darn it! So I tried again with a little smaller yarn.

Better, right?

Still, I kept the green/blue eyelid, you never know what you'll need some day...

Then, came the arms and legs. I debated with myself whether I would even stuff them at all. Lapp does include instructions for putting wires in, in case that is something you want to do, but I left Charles soft and lightly stuffed.

In process with one arm

In process with feet and legs

I wasn't positive I had enough of the variegated yarn to make the whole monster, so I added a bit of grey for the eyelids, and at the elbows, heels and knees. I couldn't resist pinkie toes either. I mean!

I got him sewn together with the needle (Yep, I think that's a learning curve I navigated), and I'm pretty happy with how he sits.

So, this is not the only eye monster on my agenda. I think I have to make one for Ron, and maybe one that has spider legs. You know what else? They turn out the perfect size for a Christmas ornament! Would it freak you out to find your Christmas tree looking back at you?

What else will I find in this book of monsters???

Charitable Crafting and Community Quilt Building (update)

 

I'm a member (since it opened) of our local makerspace, Cruces Creatives. I get a lot of enjoyment from being a member there, and trying out arts and crafts without worrying about buying all the equipment and supplies related to that activity. This week, I took a friend to go try out the Art Room there, and we worked on embossing some blank greeting cards, with only limited success. Let me say, though, that the enjoyment of success of the project is really secondary to the enjoyment of the process and the doing, and the learning that takes place! We have some ideas to try next time, and we enjoyed ourselves!

Most of my time at Cruces Creatives is spent in the textile room. Sewing. I know, what a surprise. Sewing isn't the only activity that goes on there, though. There's a new crochet club, that I would really like to be active in, but I haven't made it there yet. YET. I am also very active in a group called Charitable Crafting. I think I've written about some of our various projects here. The group identifies a need for something and then makes and donates those items. We've made LOTS of bags, for different groups. We've made some comfort items for cancer patients. We've made kid's clothes so that kids who needed clothes for school could maybe even choose new ones, along with the gently used items that are often donated. 

Our latest project is a Community Quilt Building project. I'm super happy that the person that leads many of the children's programs at Cruces Creatives has adopted the project as well. I've helped the various groups she leads build quilt blocks, and I've volunteered at an elementary school so kids could work on quilt blocks in a safe and kid appropriate way. It was fun to see the various students so busy picking fabrics, and looking at colors, and feeling the various textures. We will be donating the quilts to a group that works on housing people who are struggling with homelessness and housing security, with the thought that a beautiful blanket will be a welcome addition to their new home.

Many of the people who regularly contribute their time and efforts with Charitable Crafting are quilters, and do projects for groups like Linus as well as Charitable Crafting. Many of the quilts they work on are kid sized quilts, not full sized. We wanted to do adult sized quilts for this project, though, since there would be the expectation of adults (or adult sized kids) would receive them. We decided on making twin sized quilts. We also decided that a quilt as you go project would be easier to complete, since it would already be quilted when the construction of putting the blocks together was done. We also wanted anyone who wanted to help to be able to do so, whether they were novice quilters, or even new to sewing. 

Here's an example block - my latest finish

The back of the quilt is a variety of fabrics, the edge of this one sticks out beyond the pieced block. There is a layer of flannel in this block for the batting. The first quilt we did had batting that we cut that was a similar weight, even though it was cut from different pieces. We work from donated materials, and found that someone had donated a lot of flannel that had been cut into squares already. The quilts turn out kind of crazy quilt-ish, and they are beautiful! And now, I'm questioning why I haven't taken more pictures of them!

Here's a pillow that goes with the first of our quilts. Someone also sewed a bag to hold the quilt and pillow.

That first quilt had a lot of yellows and reds in it!

The quilt building has been very educational for me, in terms of making projects accessible to more people who would like to contribute, AND for my personal quilting knowledge as well! 

Edited to add:

 I've asked some people for some pictures of quilts from the project, and I've gotten some to show you!

One of the student made quilts. BEAUTIFUL!

I think these blocks were made by elementary school students. AMAZING!

I LOVE this project!