Knitting, Weaving and More

Since I haven't been doing much art, now what might I be doing you might wonder.

This is a hat I just finished knitting.  I wish you could feel it, it is so soft. Its made from Noro Silk Garden which is a silk/wool blend.

Here it is being modeled but the color is not real true which is why I showed the first picturee.

A side view show the entrelac pattern and the bobbles. I bought the yarn back in January when I visited my sister.  We both made the same hat.

WEAVING

This is my loom all warped and ready to begin weaving. I am making dishtowels.

These are some of the colors I'll be weaving with.




Here is what the pattern look like.  Its a bird eye twill.  I'll be changing the colors every inch or so.

SEWING

I have been making these Soup Cozies, they are like a potholder for your bowl that you cook in the microwave. That way you don't touch the hot bowl, plus you can hold it on your lap and its an insulator.  I am selling these to make some spending money for my trip.

I have made 15 so far.  I'll sell them at the Snake River Fiber Festival in May.

Each side is a different fabric. That way you can use both sides if you want.

Plus its more fun to make them that way. I am selling them for $12. If you are interested leave me a comment or send an email.

In the Winner Circle

I am happy to report that I am a NanoWrimo winner once more. I'm glad to have accomplished this once more and I am real happy its over.

For the last day of Art Everyday Month I am switching gears to sewing,  This is a tote bag I made out of a Bag of Bird seed.  I cut the bag down a little, sewed up the bottom and added some handles.  It cost me about 2.00 to make this and that cost was for the handles.  It makes a great little tote bag out of something that was going to be thrown out.

It has been a lot of fun completing this challenge. I'll be going back to blogging 3 days a week.

Linking to Art Every Day Month

How Do You Get So Much Done

How do you get so much done? This is a question I am often asked so I thought I would share what I do.  To begin with I have to admit I go through periods where I really don't get a lot done. In those times I think my focus is elsewhere. When I am not getting things done I find that I need to regroup and see what the problem is.  Often I do some or all of the following/

* Turn off the TV
* Limit my time on the Internet
* Do things in small steps
* Choose to focus on finishing
* Put the project on my To Do List.

Here is a tote bag that I finished last week.   This was made with the Birdie Sling pattern by Amy Butler.  I just love her patterns. I use small steps to get this completed.  By this I mean I will do just a little bit every day, sometimes as little as 15 minutes.  At first I just cut out a few of the pattern pieces at a time, then the interfacing, lining etc.  I did the same small steps in making the bag. Some days I would pin pieces together and then next day I would do the sewing of them and move on to the next step. Before long I was almost done and did the final work in one longer session.

Often I will use this small step technique with art too. I'll work in an art journal the same way. In a short time you can easily get a background done, or add some collage. Even a quick sketch in your sketchbook can be done in 15 minutes.  Most of us don't have large blocks of time to get our creative work done. Try breaking things down to small steps and you might find that you that you really can accomplish a lot.

A New Project

I decided to take advantage of the holiday week and start work on a new porject. There is some sewing that I have wanted to start but always seem to put it off.

This is how it all started. I had one of those charm packs from Moda and a pattern for a tote bag. First I had to lay it all out to decide what order I wanted all the squares in. Then came the sewing and there was lots of it. It took me three days to get to the next picture.

Here is the finished tote bag,  I really like how it turned out. I ended up machine quilting a 1/4 inch inside each square. The handle has a lot of topstitching on it so it is really sturdy. The whole bag is lined with fusible fleece, which is something I didn't even know existed before I started the project.





















This is the back, there are no pockets here, but there are 2 big pockets inside the bag.




This show the front pocket.  I even made a bottom insert out of foam core and covered it in fabric. What a fun project this was.  I was amazed how long it took me but am happy with the results.

Some Sewing and Knitting Projects

Since I have not managed any art lately I thought I would share all the things I made at Christmas time.  This year I ended up making quite a few things.   I couldn't show them when they were made but now that the recipients have them its time for all of you to see.

I made five utility aprons, this one is for my friend Celeste. She is a spinner and knitter so I added a sheep to all the buttons in the placket.

This one was for Janet, she loves purple so I went through my stash looking for purple fabrics.

I made a tote bag from this fabric for my sister last year, so I took the scraps to make her an apron this year. She really loves New Mexico so its perfect for her.

My sister Peggy loves coffee so I chose some coffee cup fabric for her apron,

and lastly my daughter loves cats so it had to be cat fabric for hers. One of our cats is a siamese so I made sure to applique one that  looked like Lucky.

Sarah started crocheting so I made her this holder for crochet hooks

This is the holder opened and you can see she has it filled already. I was really pleased on how well it turned out.  I had seen a similar one on Etsy so I made my own pattern and tried it in muslin first.  I tweaked the pattern a little before cutting it out of the fabric that Sarah picked out.

I also did some knitting, I made my daughter these fingerless mitts.   

Then after Christmas I made my sister Marianne this pair, and then Sarah wanted purple one's  so I made her a pair too! She kindly modeled them for these pictures, thanks Sarah.

Paint and Pass Continues

I thought I had better get the latest paint and pass done and out of the door before my surgery. I have had it for several weeks just couldn't decide what to do on it. I added the water, figured the bird flew over water to land. Its on its way to Texas now.

I made this little bag to hold my kindle today.  I am so lucky that I know how to sew so I can make things like this.  Thanks to my mom who taught me to sew as a child.














The only art I have to share is a work in progress.  This was an old canvas that I didn't like.  I slathered on molding paste and collaged some papers, added more paint papers and stamping.  I saw the figure on the right and then added a friend on the right. I hope to work on this some more today so stay tuned for further developments.

Domestic Goddess Apron

Here is the apron I made, I really like how it turned out. The fabric is really wonderful and it looks great too. I was amazed how long it took to actually make it though. I guess I am out of sewing practice. I now have fabric for another apron that looks totally different. I will show when its finished. I am falling in love with sewing again. I have 3 projects planned waiting their turn. I finished a new strap for my water bottle and am now sewing fun fabrics into my stenciled book. I am finding it fun to add different kinds of things to it.

I hope you had some time to be creative today.....

Amy Butler patterns and more

When I was in Missoula a few weeks ago I found this fantastic fabric store called Selvedge Studio. They had the most amazing fabrics like nothing I had seen before. I discovered Amy Butler patterns and decided to get this one.













Then I fell in love with this fabric from japan to make the bag out of. The fabric is linen and then has these beautiful flowers and birds imprinted on them.














Today my friend Kate and I went to a fabric store in Rigby and I fell in love with this apron. So here is the fabric I brought to make it. Why I need an apron is anyones guess but I just loved this.



















At another quilt store I found this utility apron. I tried the model in the store on and it felt great. So I am going to make myself one of these too. I haven't sewn much in years and now I have fabric for three projects. I am not sure what is really going on here but I decided to just go with the flow.


















Then I found these circle pendants. I loved the messages on them. I think they will be fun to make necklaces out of.

Moo Cards









These are the images from my moo cards that came into today's mail. I had printed my esty store name on the back so I need to get that going before I can give these out. If you are not familiar with moo cards, what they are is a 1/2 size business card. You can have your artwork printed on them. They are fun to give away when doing swaps or as a calling card or whatever way you choose. I also got a discount card for 15% off on your first order. If any of you are interested send me an email.