Is She Picking Apples?

Same fabric, different bag. 

The back of the bag is a solid blue fabric that comes close to matching her gown. This image was partially cut off by the selvedge, but it still had her face and arms and the fruit. That's the only part I really need.

Miraculously, a zipper from my thrifted stash was exactly the right length for the pieces I'd cut -- and it was on top of all of the others. I regularly shorten zippers to make them work, but if one already happens to be the right size, I'll happily take advantage of that.

I really like how  this little bag turned out, and it's given me an idea for another possibility. The great thing about having a big hunk of fabric is that I don't have to worry as much about the opportunity cost that comes with my design choices. There's enough to try again and again with different techniques.

Just A Few More Stitches

I could happily abandon all of my other projects until this one is done. Even though all I'm stitching now is miles of the same color, it's still oddly satisfying. 

It looks like I've fallen in love with this project before. Look what I found while I was digging around out in the sewing room...

The picture I'm working on right now is 2480 stitches and calls for ten colors. This one is 45843 stitches and fifty-some colors. My first reaction when I pulled it out was "I only need one cross-stitched Mona Lisa in my life."  But the more I look at the front of the chart, the more I think I'm going to have to stitch her. Someday.

Stitchery Kits at Goodwill

On Halloween morning, we were shopping for costumes. I'd already told the boys that we couldn't go out and bought plenty of candy to compensate, but then Hubby came through and got the van fixed in the nick of time.

The last minute costume hunt ended in one son wearing his evil clown mask for the second year in a row (with the addition of a thrifted clown suit) and the other in zombie scars that were literally painful to look at. Most of the year, they don't care that their big sister is a beauty blogger, but on Halloween it pays off.

While they were searching the racks at Goodwill, I dug through the craft stuff and found a couple of old stocking kits that weren't even remotely exciting. Then I found this cross stitch box kit from Whiskey Creek.

I splurged on a different one when they came out years ago and haven't stitched it up yet, but when you find another one for ninety-nine cents, what else is there to do but add it to the stash.

Under that was this Crabapple Hill pattern. You already know how I feel about her designs, and about Halloween project in general, so that was also no brainer.

And then there was the biscornu pincushion pattern. I love those and I like The Sweetheart Tree. There's a little post it on the front that says complete, which puzzled me because how can a one page pattern not be complete?  Turned out that it's a kit with fabric and floss and beads and needles included.

I did hesitate over this one. There was no picture of the project, just a line drawing, but the buttons were pretty and I know that Just Another Button Company Buttons aren't cheap by any stretch of the imagination. I didn't realize until I got it home that the package also includes the overdyed floss and the linen. It took a lot of digging online, but I finally did find a picture of the finished project.

This is my favorite pattern of the bunch. Do I pick out the little bit of stitch that's been done already, or try to grid the fabric around it and trust that the last stitcher did her part right?

We went to three more thrift shops, but there was nothing fun in their craft sections. What I found at the first store was so well hidden that I think I'm going to have to get better at digging.

{Thrift Store Temptations} Do I Have to Care What a Cornucopia Is?

I do actually know what a cornucopia is, but the  woman standing next to us at the thrift shop last week apparently wasn't satisfied with the answer I gave my son and launched into a mini-lecture about symbols of the bountiful harvest.

My own explanation was more along the lines of "It's a basket for Thanksgiving and yes it does look like a plague mask if you hold it like that, but we're not buying it." I spend so much of my time either answering questions or helping to look up the answers that I think I can be forgiven for not being excited about thrift shop baskets at that exact second.

This week's reminder that I want to  learn to crochet so I can make a pretty afghan...

Possibly the first time that I've ever seen vintage sheets in their original packaging. I've got enough in my stash already, so I left that for someone else to find and love.

And I'm weirdly fascinated by this ugly little hutch...

Why are the chicken and rooster walking away from each other? Why does the chicken look so mad?

I'm sure someone with the right skills could repaint this piece and replace the plastic and make it absolutely adorable, but at the price they're asking I'm afraid that won't happen.

Also puzzling was this old cash register, which I think is the oldest I've ever seen...

I hope it finds a good home, and quickly. It doesn't seem like something that should be sitting out for everyone to poke at. (And believe me, it was tempting to try those levers to see how it  worked!)

How about you? Are you excited about cornucopias, beyond knowing what their name is? Find anything great at your local shops this week?

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {11/3/17}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

A Second Project

I was only going to work on one project at a time, but this one is little and only calls for ten colors and I really, really want to stitch it right now... 

Two cross-stitch projects at a time isn't bad. It's the three pairs of socks I've got on the needles and the countless quilts... Things add up quickly when life gets in the way and you forget what it was you were already working on.

And there are at least three other projects in my stash telling me that I want to be stitching on those too. I'm not sure it's a bad thing to be so excited about my existing stash.

Knit Mitts

Want to really learn how to knit mittens?  Knit Mitts --Your Hand-y Guide to Knitting Mittens & Gloves is the book for you. There are plenty of patterns for mittens and gloves and fingerless gloves that feature cables and colorwork and all of the things that make you want to knit them in the first place, but what really makes this book shine is the fact that it explains how they all work.

Have you ever seen the extremely complex discussions about how to make socks fit properly? This book does that, except it's how to fit your hands. I had no clue that there were so many parts to measure!

There are instructions for working to your own measurements, charts for different ages and hand sizes and stitch counts, recommendations for yarn types and techniques to keep your fingers extra warm...  Honestly, the only thing missing is discussion of traditional mitten styles -- and there are already tons of books out there that have that part of the craft covered.

If you want to do more than just follow the pattern, you'll love this book. And if you want to just follow the directions as written, you can use the included patterns and make the gorgeous projects shown on the cover.

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copy by the publisher. All opinions are my own. 

A Halloween Treat for My Readers

I was going to post this on Halloween, but then I decided that if you want to sew a spooky last minute project, you might appreciate the extra day. 

Because everyone (or maybe just me and my offspring)  needs a coffin-shaped pencil holder... 

If you have the materials handy, it won't take long at all to make. While I was putting mine together, I kept thinking of ways to make it more fun like adding a red lining or trapunto and free motion quilting. But Halloween is tomorrow.  The clock is ticking and now is the time for something quick and easy.

You'll need:

two 4 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles of coffin colored fabric
one 7" zipper
one 4 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangle of paper
matching thread

About that zipper -- These instructions don't explain how to install it. Let me know if you need a separate zipper tutorial and I'll put one together. The zipper I used was labeled 7" and measured the same as my 8 1/2" cut of fabric. You can always shorten a longer zipper from your stash. That's what I'd do if I hadn't gotten lucky with the one I grabbed!

Start by folding the piece of paper in half lengthwise with the fold on the left. Along the top and bottom edges, measure in 1 1/4" from the fold and make a dot. Measure 3" down from the top edge and make a third dot on the side that isn't folded.

Connect the dots and cut along the lines. When you unfold it, you'll have a coffin shape. Don't cut your fabric into that shape yet!

Using your rotary cutter and ruler, cut one of the fabric rectangles into two 8 1/2" x 2 1/4" rectangles.

Install the zipper and top stitch along either side.

Now's the time to cut the zippered rectangle and the plain rectangle into the coffin shape that we just created. Doing it this way means that even if the seam allowance on your zipper isn't perfect, both pieces will be the same size. (Or, if your seam allowances are perfect when it comes to zippers, it means I don't have to figure out how to make oddly shaped pattern pieces that will come out the proper size.)

With the zipper open, place both pieces right sides together and sew all the way around the outside edge. You'll be using the open zipper to turn it open.

Turn and press and fill with nice pens or yummy candy for your favorite little monsters.

Be sure to check out  my other free Halloween Tutorials -- Halloween Parlor Quilt , Haunted House Potholder, Potion Bottle Mug Rug, Pumpkin Carving Wall Quilt To be notified when new tutorials are added, follow my blog or like Michelle's Romantic Tangle on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube.

This post is linked to Bag It! and Crazy Mom Quilts. 

Early Morning Stitching

How early is too early to spend some time stitching the thatched roof of a little cottage? Depending on what else is going on in the house, my early mornings and late nights overlap a bit.

There's a smaller cottage off to the left and if I stitch the roof of that one, I'll be able to work on both chimneys at the same time. I'll save the flowers to the right of the big cottage for an evening when I feel like working with colors that aren't as obviously placed.

I've also spent some time out in the sewing room playing "What is this and why do I own it?" and "Where did I put that thing I haven't seen in years but suddenly need right now?" It's an interesting process. I didn't find what I wanted, but I did find a couple of things I wanted last month and almost immediately forgot about.

All the Crewel Kits!

Apparently I now collect vintage needlework kits. This would be getting ridiculous if it wasn't so much fun...

On the way to Coding Camp, we stopped at the thrift shop where I found all of those cross stitch kits a few weeks back. Those all obviously came from the came person and I wondered if she'd passed away or moved on to other hobbies.

This week, they had all of this, most of the kits unopened. It's all got to come from the same craft stash, but was it from the same person who owned  the first haul? And should I keep going back every week? These kits were ninety-nine cents each, and 25% off of that. So I spent less on my craft haul than I did on our lunch.

Did I tell you that I've got a sudden overwhelming need to learn how to do crewel?

And isn't it all pretty? (Or most of it. A couple of them are iffy, but I can always donate those back if I decide against them.)

This is my absolute favorite. I love the scissors and the journal and the flowers in jars.... But I also love the Wysocki houses and the one with the dollhouse.

And these could have belonged to Grandma and Great Grandma. I've never felt a need for napkin rings, or "jeweled" holiday napkin rings, but Grandma Walters would have totally made those. I do have a need for felt jungle animal Christmas ornaments. Grandma Wittenberg would've made those.

Everything is here in the pictures, but if you want a closer look check out the video.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {10/27/17}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

A Five Hundred and Two Piece Project Bag

Months ago, I was standing in line at the grocery store and caught a glimpse of a yellow and white quilt on a magazine cover. It was a home decor magazine and the quilt was barely visible, but the idea of yellow and white stuck with me. I thought I'd do something with that color combination once Bag It! rolled around.

By the time I was ready to get started, I had no idea what pattern that original quilt used. I knew I wanted a lot of blocks so that it would look like a quilt.  Nine patches and snowballs are easy to make, and I'd already worked out their measurements for this project, so I went with that. Each block finishes at 1 1/2".

The front and back of the bag are identical, with thirty-five blocks on each. My piecing and quilting are a disaster, but I really like the idea. And it's definitely good enough to haul a knitting project around in.

This project used up every last scrap of solid cheddar from my bow ties quilt. So in addition to being cute and sturdy, it's a happy reminder of one of my favorite scrap quilts.

If I had more solid cheddar, I'd think about making a strap and turning it into a purse....but I don't so I'll think about making something similar, but a little larger and with inner pockets. 

Want to make one of your own? I didn't have the time to photograph and write up the steps for a tutorial, but it's easy enough to figure out. Use the measurements and piecing instructions from my Full Blown Quilt Lust mini quilt to make thirty-six nine patch blocks and thirty-four snowball blocks. (The color placement in this one is reversed, but it'll look nice either way.) Each side of the bag is seven blocks by five blocks, with a two inch border. I quilted the front and back to a piece of scrap batting, then assembled them into a lined pouch. Easy -- as long as you don't mind piecing those seventy-five little blocks!

This post is linked to Bag It! and Crazy Mom Quilts. 

{Books and Yarn} Video Games are LOUD

The boys and I spent Saturday up at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. In case you couldn't guess by its name, that's pretty much the noisiest event of my year. 

I got a few rounds done on my sock while we spent two hours sitting in line for a panel.

One of the highlights of the expo, in addition to a chance to see the Unipiper, is the retro arcade. A group of local collectors brings in their arcade consoles, all set to play without quarters. While my oldest sons were  off doing their thing and the youngest was getting ridiculously good at something called Balloon Fight, I got the chance to play more Frogger than I did in my entire childhood (which honestly wasn't much at all.) And I learned that Baby Pac Man is half pinball machine, and got my annual dose of guilt for donating the Vic 20 and Intellivision to Good Will back in 1992. Who would have ever imagined that my own kids would want to play them?

Best-Laid Plants by Marty Wingate

I've been reading the Potting Shed mysteries since the first book came out and even though I have almost no desire to plant a garden myself , heroine Pru Parke makes working with plants look like a lot of fun. This time around, she's been hired to plan the restoration of a neglected Arts and Crafts style garden. I got completely caught up in the book's settings --  the bed and breakfast with its maze of rooms and puzzling light switches...and the garden itself, with overgrown walkways and limestone statues melting away after years of exposure to the weather. Those statues seem a little spooky even before one topples over onto the garden's original designer.  I really can't think of enough good things to say about this series. It gives you a vicarious glimpse into the character's lives and an interesting murder mystery, and no cliff-hangers to drive me nuts until the next book comes out. 

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copy by the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Village Serene Update

Village Serene is going much quicker than the lighthouse did. Having walls and windows and a roofline to use as landmarks makes all the difference in the world and even though I'm making tinier stitches, figuring out where to put them is faster. 

This is the kind of project I used to love so much, which probably explains why the kit was up in my sewing room. If it had an old house and was completely covered in stitches, I wanted to do it.

Borders!

I leave off borders whenever possible, but I was told that this quilt needs them....and I agree. Now that they're on, they make things more symmetrical.  

Should I not admit that the only reason I did get around to putting them on is because I needed to see how much of the blue fabric I had left to use in another project?

Ten Skeins of Embroidery Floss

You know how sometimes you see a project and need to start it right that second?  A couple of days ago, I stumbled across one of those. I've been limiting myself to one cross-stitch project at a time, but this one only uses ten colors and should be a quick stitch and I want to do it right now.  

The plan was to pick up the floss at Walmart so I could start working on it Wednesday night. I knew their selection of DMC was limited, but they didn't have a single one of the colors the pattern calls for. We got home and I dug through the sewing room. I've got hundreds of skeins of floss, but only five of the colors I needed.

This isn't a project that's going to allow for substitutions.

Friday, I made time to stop at Joann's and picked up the last of the colors. This whole thing was a lot more work than it should have been, just to pull the floss together. But I'm still excited about it.

The Quilting Helps

I'm not sure exactly how much the wobbly quilting helps draw attention away from the poorly matched corners, but at least the whole thing is more stable now that it's quilted. And I am still having fun with the process...

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {10/20/17}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

I'm Not a Fan of Fussy Cutting

Now that I've gotten more comfortable installing zippers, it's the fabric giving me fits. The piece of yardage I used for this bag was on the freebie table at our quilting group, deemed "not suitable for charity quilts." (On the same day that I picked up the fabric I used in my last bag.)  It was pretty, so it came home with me and I decided to make a project bag or two while I try to figure out why classical artwork isn't suitable for charity quilts. 

I wanted a bag that showcased one image without having chopped off bits of the others along the edges. That was easier said than done and involved too much fabric waste to make me happy. I'm not a fan of fussy cutting when it involves taking a hunk of the center of the fabric, but to get the ladies I wanted, I had no choice...

What would you do with this hunk of fabric? I could see using it as a quilt back, or maybe someone using it to make a skirt. Or apron? Whatever it is, it's going to require either a big stretch of uncut fabric or some seriously wasteful fussy cutting.

The other side of the bag has a different image. In my head, I wanted it to be bigger, but that wouldn't have looked right. Now I'm thinking of two different ways I could have worked with this fabric...happily I have two yards of the stuff so, even if I'm being wasteful, it'll go a long ways.

This post is linked to Bag It! and Crazy Mom Quilts. 

{Thrift Shop Temptations} Old Stereos

It wasn't a great week for thrifting -- except for the birthday boy who wanted to read Jurassic Park and had five different paperback editions to choose from, along with a copy of The Lost World. Sometimes gently used is better than new, especially when it means you can have it in your hands right away. 

The store that's had all of the great needlework stuff is rearranging everything. I can't tell if the new section is smaller, or if I'm just bugged that it's different. The other store's craft section was almost completely empty, like they'd cleared out everything that wasn't selling. 

But if you're in the market for an old record player, this was the right week. 

I'm guessing the three of them came in together. I don't know what my fascination  with these old things is, but to make room for one I'd have to part with a treadle machine and that's not going to happen. 

They're probably more fun to look at than to own, right? And it's not like I'd ever be able to settle on the perfect one to bring home with me, which would eliminate all of the future possibilities.