Stack and Slash Placemats

 

I took a class with one of our local quilt guilds. A friend of me, who belongs to that guild invited me, and I happily accepted that invitation. I'm learning about quilting, and practicing various techniques for piecing and building finished items. I thought, hey! a placemat is something I could accomplish!

This is one of the finished placemats

The project turns a set of fat quarters - plus a yard of fabric and about that amount of batting - into a set of 4 placemats. I stacked my fat quarters, and slashed them with the rotary cutter. the next step was to put the middle section on the bottom of the stack then sew those three sections together. Then, slash a section from each side, and again, move that strip to the bottom of the stack, and then sew the pieces together for each placemat.

Finally, I pinned the layers together, and did some stitching to quilt the layers, and then turn the edges of the back to the front and sewed them down to complete the placemats.

I really enjoyed playing with these fabrics, BUT I don't know many people who actually use placemats. I do think the technique (with some modifications) would make some beautiful fabric boxes, though. Or, now that I think about it, mug rugs, which would be smaller that these placemats. I AM really glad I got to use these coordinating fat quarter fabrics together, I think they are beautiful! I didn't take nearly enough pictures, though.

I Learned a New Crochet Technique: Corner to Corner

 I have a friend who makes some amazing crocheted items like scarves and baby blankets. She combines some beautiful yarn, with a cool technique that I had not seen used before. She asked me if I wanted her to teach me how to do it, and of course I said "Yes!!" I probably added "please" to my reply. At least I hope I did.

My learning samples

As you can see, there are two basic techniques, both are variations of granny squares. If you can make a granny square, you can do these. The thing that takes practice is how you advance them. I really like the texture in the smaller sample, and I've worked on that one first. I started simple, with a scarf from the same yarn I made the samples from. 

Here's the scarf in progress

Child sized blue scarf for donating

The technique makes stairstep rows, alternating the orientation of the stitches. I really like the texture it creates. I have found that I like to experiment with texture in crochet, so I was really glad to add this to my "toolbox." Yes, I did a single crochet edging at the ends to be a finish on it. I also made a second scarf, experimenting with some different yarns for a stripe.

Nice diagonal stripes

Since I carried the pink thread along one side of the scarf, I felt like I needed to give it an edging because that yarn showed. 

Currently, I am making a baby blanket from a fuzzy yarn that I found at Cruces Creatives. The yarn is variegated, and I wasn't sure how the colors would pool (sometimes I find the pooling disappointing). I thought about starting as a scarf, but I worried whether I would be able to pull the fuzzy yarn out to start over, so I just went for it!

This is the yarn. Pink Sands

And here is how the blanket is coming along:

I am liking the pastel stripes

This is a little over one skein of the yarn (they are not big skeins). I have three more skeins, so I will continue to increase until I get into the third, skein and then I will start to decrease. It seems to be squaring up pretty well, even, so far.

I'm glad to learn something new!!

Scattered Fans Purse

 

Once upon a time, I made myself a purse. A few years later, I made another one. And now, I've made another.

scattered fans purse (without the hardware)

This purse came from a collision of crafting ideas. First "my" purse. I wasn't happy with the purses I could find in the store. I'm picky, because (in great part) I'm not really a fan of purses. BUT, I need to carry stuff, and take it with me. Generally, it's too much stuff to put in my pockets (if the clothing even HAS pockets), much less carry in my hands. What if I need to wait for something? Yeah, there better be a book in there somewhere, too. At least part of the time. But, I don't want a big purse either, to fill up and get heavy.

So, I made myself a purse. I used some black denim and I used the heck out of it.

Not a big fan of the distressed look

It didn't wear as well as I would have liked. First the strap wore out. I was held together by the threads I used to sew it with before I replaced it with this woven belting. THAT lasted long enough to add to the second purse! I also didn't like how that denim just wore out. I was really disappointed with that. Plus the purse was a little smaller than I found I wanted.

The second purse I made was also denim, but a different piece. 

Oh, look how new and clean it looks!

I had fun making this purse, playing with the fabrics on the inside, making pockets for stashing small stuff, adding hardware like clips to hold my keychains out of the way. This purse did a good job, for a long time, but eventually, it also wore out.

Well loved/ well used

It has seen better days

Definitely time for a new purse. I tried making a slouch bag, but it didn't seem to really be what I wanted. Then I started my vintage crafting challenges, and found this magazine in my stash:

Vintage from 1988

It has a scattered fans tote bag pattern in it.

a selection of totes

I fell for that idea in a big way. I started by making fans. I didn't want blue and pink, but I do like the scrappy look of them, and the background fabric peeking through in places.

The pattern for the fans and their placement

The pattern helped me visualize what I needed to do, but of course I wasn't working within a square, so I figured out roughly how many fans (or parts of fans) I would need, and some fabrics I liked, and cut the pieces of the fans out. Then I foundation pieced them with a quilt as you go method. I wanted them to be able to stand some wear! Once I was happy with how they looked on the background fabric, which I also used for the inside of the purse, I found some thin batting which would give the purse some body. I also cut side pieces for depth and shape of the purse. Then I worked on sewing it all together. 

Y'all, I'm going to take a moment here to talk about this machine. 

The Green Singer

She is the first sewing machine I owned. I got her for a present (Birthday? Christmas?) when I was maybe 12 or 13. She was not new then, but in those days she had a simple wooden cabinet which eventually rotted from around her, and I eventually had to take her out before she fell out, and throw that thing away. I got her serviced, and commissioned one of the wood workers at Cruces Creatives to make a box stand for her so I could use her again. This little workhorse will sew pretty much anything that will fit under the presser foot. My other Singer machine will do a lot of things, but it doesn't do that. This girl had no trouble sewing up the layers of that purse. She also does a great job with quilting when there get to be a lot of seams to stack.

Anyway, back to that purse... I made pockets with fan detailing on them to go inside.

Pockets for coupons, and chapstick, and...

And yes, the background/inside fabric is a batik. I love a batik. 

fans scattered on the outside

Finally I added the hardware. Clips for my keys again, taken out of the old purse and sewn into the new one. Another piece of belting for the strap (Thanks, Eva!). And she is ready to go!!

Ready for anything!

I'm counting this as a win for a vintage crafting challenge. Even though I didn't make the item in the magazine, it definitely is related to that tote, and I wouldn't have gotten to this purse if I hadn't found that magazine. I Love it!

Baby Booties Challenge

 

A preview of the project:

Baby booties are done!

My friend is looking forward to some grandchildren in the not-too-distant future, and was asking me if I had any baby crochet patterns among the myriad of resources that I have. She wanted to get a head start on a baby project or two. So I looked, and found

A book of baby patterns to crochet.

Thumbing through the book, I found quite a few really cute patterns and thought this would be a good place for a crochet challenge. It isn't really vintage, like the magazines I have stored up, but, still a good opportunity to try something I haven't done before. It doesn't hurt that I can put the results toward an excellent baby shower gift.

This book has some very cute options in it, which I will explore more at the end of this post, but I'm going to focus on the challenge item first.

A cute collection of booties

The included patterns offer a variety of baby booties, including these. The yarn I had on hand was white with a pink fleck in it, so I was drawn to these in particular:

The Rose Booties

Cute, right? A couple of comments about the book in general. Notice that the print is a good size for easy reading. Also, the binding is a ring binding, which allows the book to stay open to the page you are working from. Good job, publisher!

On to the crochet. The pattern was pretty easy to follow, but the booties are constructed from several pieces, sewn together. I will admit to having some issues with that. Mostly, they are issues of practice and taking care to find the correct start to the joining of the pieces, but still.

So my first booty, even after trying a couple of times to get the sole attached to the sides is rather wonky.

Ummm. Is it supposed to look like that? NO!

The second attempt went better. (See, a matter of practice.) But I'm still not loving it. I just don't know why they need so many pieces!

Definitely better, but not perfect

And, no, it isn't quite finished, and might never be, honestly. I never did get to the roses. On the other hand, I did find out the the little skeins of thread were enough to make at least two booties. Back in the day when I knitted some pairs of socks, I needed a skein for each sock, so I wondered whether that would be the case for these. I had plenty of yarn for the pair in one skein, though.

Well, for my third attempt, I kinda went off the rails and adapted the pattern to be made in one piece. I had to sew the instep down, but it was connected in the right place, and I could work up into the stocking part either before or after I sewed the sides. 

My third attempt at booties - the keepers

My take on this book, and the booties? Well, I think that I could still do a better job on them, but the last ones are definitely usable as they are (more practice is in order, I guess). The pattern took me a few tries to get closer to their intended result, and I'm not done trying for the perfect result. Particularly how they described attaching the sole to the sides. It just looked weird in my opinion, following the instructions in the way I understood them (which could be an imperfect interpretation, I freely admit). I may try one of their other patterns in a different part of the book to see if that is done differently.

I would also be willing to try some of the non-booty patterns in the book. This cute nautical sweater, for instance:

Adorable

There are also several blankets that I could happily revisit:

Cute take on a granny square

Using a variety of stitches

A different take on blocks

I don't know that I would go crazy crocheting a dress or something like that for a baby, but there are several patterns in the book for those who would. There are hats, and more sweaters (a more likely make than a dress for me) along with other blankets and it seems to be a really nice variety of items, and if it is going to be grandparent season among my friends, I could really get some use from the book!

Southern NM State Fair, 2025 Edition

 

I enjoy entering my crafts into the fair every year. I don't think state fairs get the attention that they used to, but I do think it should be a valuable place to compete with other makers, growers, and artists. It could be a way for us to see what others are doing and making. I really love seeing what others are making! And, if you are thinking about getting paid for those skills, it can be a way of gauging your skill growth. Unfortunately, the fairs don't draw like they used to, and the competition is only sometimes stiff. At least when it comes to making. I don't enter stuff because I have to win. I enter stuff because I don't want the venue to die out.

I'm going to share what I made and entered with you, but I'm also going to share what a few of the competitors entered, that I thought was cool.  

Time for sharing the fair entries and results.

First were my crocheted items. Since the fair last year, I made a couple of stacking ring toys, that I entered.

Stacking ring toy Sheep

Stacking ring toy Snowman

Along with these, I entered several of the Christmas eyeballs I made this year. I didn't get a photo of them with their blue ribbon, but here they are, on their way to the fair...

Some Christmas eyeballs, ready for the fair

They look pretty good, right? But here was their competition...

This crocheted spider was beautifully done! 

Yes, the spider won best of lot. I can't complain. It looks beautiful!

I also entered some sewn items. I made a bunny for my aunt, and a wardrobe for that bunny. I took the bunny and a friend, so I could show how the outfits fit the bunnies.

These cuties!

And I entered the wardrobe as one entry. 

The red ribbon is Second Best of Lot

Not a bad result, right? I know these judges have seen dressed bunnies before (because I've entered some before at the very least) BUT this time I altered the patterns some, giving a little different take on the outfits than before. Yes, that black outfit the bunny on the right is wearing is a ladybug costume. I did that a couple different ways, for different people (and one had butterfly wings). I was pretty happy with them!

Another ladybug, just to get the idea

Finally, I have to share another entry, not my work. Someone created the sock monkey version of the Little old woman who lived in the shoe. Check out this cuteness!!

Sock Monkeys at the Fair!

What will the entries next year be???

The Blue Shells and Ripples Afghan

 

I started this afghan out of this magazine:

Remeber that challenge afghan?

I posted about this edition of the Hooked on Crochet magazine, HERE and the chain link afghan that I challenged myself to make. There is a companion pattern called shells and ripples in the magazine, too.

What is it about brown afghans???

I decided to make this one, too. But the brown had to go.

My palette of BLUES

Once I got the yarn I wanted in the colors I wanted, I started on the afghan. As in the previous one, some of the instructions weren't as clear as I would have liked, but since I have years and years of crochet making stuff experience, I was able to fudge my way through them. One thing I really like about the blues that I picked for the contrast ripple stripe is that I don't have to (and I haven't) used those yarns in the same order every time.

I like the effect!

I'm not quite done with the afghan yet, but I better get done soon, because the yarn is going fast! Oh, and please don't mind the sprinkles of Kaliegh hair that shows up...

Yep, I like those blues!

Charitable Crafting Community Quilt Building #2 Quilt

 

This past weekend, the Charitable Crafting group put the finishing touches on the quilt we have been making in time donate it. Cruces Creatives is taking this quilt, and some others made by a couple different groups, the other quilt we made, and some donated sheet sets, pillows, and even some handy dandy tote bags to a group that help unhoused people get a new start in housing.

Sideways view of the quilt

Even though the first quilt that Charitable Crafting made was made along the same lines as this one, I wasn't as involved in all the steps I was in this quilt. It was quite the learning process for me! The blocks are made with a quilt as you go technique, and then sewn together. Because the backing of each block is bigger than the block, when you sew them together, with the backs together, you then fold the back over and finish the block.

You can see what I mean here, I think

It gave us a technique for letting many different people, with different sewing abilities, and who might never have helped make a quilt, participate in our project. And there isn't a wrong way to sew a block. OK, I'm sure if you tried, you could ruin one, but really, look how beautiful it turned out!

Even the back is beautiful!

In the first quilt we made, I did a lot of cutting out of backing fabric and batting into the squares that we needed, and I made a good many squares. I enjoyed making them! On this quilt, I didn't do as much cutting but I did work on many squares again. This time, we also included some orphan blocks, that had been donated one way or another, and then those were free motion quilted, or quilted by using a walking stitch and maybe even some decorative stitching. There was a lot of variety of blocks made and included.

Getting those last rows put on the quilt was definitely a challenge. The quilt took some wrangling to get that accomplished, so I'm sure glad I had help (or else I WAS the help!).

Next up? Would you believe another of these quilts? Look! someone has started blocks!

The first blocks! Loving them all ready!