weekend project

The ladies of the "crochet club" (yes, we're dorks) and I have been trying to learn how to crochet a hat. This is especially difficult since we do not know the crochet lingo or how to read a pattern. No worries, that is what youtube and ehow are for! However, after three attempts to make a hat from a tutorial Bonita found on youtube (I did everything right, but the hat was clearly made to fit an elephant not a human), I decided to make my own hybrid from the crochet stitch I learned on the tutorial and from counting the number of stitches on a crocheted hat that I already own. Fortunately, this hat did turn out because after crocheting the same hat three times and each time unraveling what I had done, I was ready to give up and just buy a hat and say I had done it. Luckily, there is an easy to follow tutorial for making the crochet flower that adorns the hat: slinky crochet flower. I did not have to repeatedly rework the flower....thank goodness!

I'm smiling because I am glad it is over. I think I will finish the scarf and pot holder that I started prior to making this hat...I could use a simpler project!

mom is spooky crafty!

Check out these cute Halloween cake plates that my mother made. You just take a black or Halloween-inspired plate (like the ones she found at Target), score a candle stick for a bargain at a yard sale and glue them together with some E6000. She even added some spiders for fun.

The spider web plate was my favorite and I was able to take it home with me, but not before she filled it with fresh baked cookies. Spooky and yummy!

craft update

Brannon and I just returned from a very relaxing, and much deserved (if I may say so myself) trip to the beach courtesy of my awesome in-laws. It was nice to sleep in and not have to get up and go sand something or hear nail guns and air compressors! We played some frisbee, ate a LOT of seafood, did some Christmas shopping and I spent some time crafting. I sat on the beach and crocheted potholders for our family members that flooded. I also completed a soft and cuddly crocheted scarf (see the green one below).

I also crocheted the gray scarf and made a ruffly scarf from flannel-I will be making another soon and will include instructions on how to make the ruffly scarf.

Prior to going on vacation. I completed some long overdue embroidery projects. My mother and three other ladies cook dinner for the youth group at White Bluff Church of Christ on Wednesday evenings during the school year. A local grocer donated black aprons to the ladies and I put their names on them for some pizazz.

I also embroidered a Built NY neoprene lunch bag that I scored at Wal-Mart for $4. I was just curious to see if my machine could even sew through something that thick and to see if my hoop would hold it. It was a challenge to hoop and I had to obsessively hover over my machine to repeat stitches for full coverage. So, even though I may not ever want to do it again, at least I know if I wanted to, I could.

Hope to post some more projects soon since my vacation continues with a day off from work on Monday-thanks to good ole Columbus for sailing that ocean blue!

newest hobby: crocheting!

My friends at work have started crocheting during our lunch break. Thanks to Julie, one of my crafting mentors and go-to trouble shooters, we learned how to crochet potholders. So far, I have made 6 potholders and only one was really odd looking-not too bad! I really like crocheting-and all the gorgeous colored yarns! I have another crafty friend at work who will be bringing her knitting needles to work pretty soon. I can't wait, but Brannon is concerned that I may have too many hobbies. Hmmmm...is there really such a thing?!?!

a few additions

In the last blog, I had technically only made a small pouch (for makeup or something like that). So the next time I sat down at my Singer, I decided to try the credit card pockets and I also added a strap (which is not included in the free tutorial) to officially make the gathered clutch featured in the Noodlehead blog. 

love this sewing thing!

I have not yet taken that sewing class, but I couldn't help myself, I had to try the gathered clutch from Noodlehead. I also really wanted to give it to my brother's girlfriend for her birthday, so sewing class or not, I was determined to make that clutch. The main area of difficulty for me is sewing up to the top of the clutch where it meets with the zipper end pieces. It took a couple of redos to get it close to right. 

So, I did have to use the seam ripper multiple times, and I do have room for improvement, that's for sure! Hopefully the next one that I make will be much easier now that I know more about what I am doing.

it's kinda like crafting...

Sorry it has been so long, but Brannon and I have been BUSY (but who isn't these days)!! Under Brannon's direction, our families have been rebuilding two of the three grandparents' homes that flooded. We do this in our free time, so there isn't much time for sewing and embroidering, but if you think about it, rebuilding a house is pretty crafty. You have to piece trim work together, make it aesthetically pleasing and cover up your mistakes (I'm getting good at that last one-wood filler and drywall mud are my friends!). I can't wait to show you the final masterpiece, but here is a sneak peak of one of the homes:

 

It is starting to look like a home. However, we have a long way to go at the other home-it is still studs and little else, but hopefully we will have all our many family members back in their homes soon.

That, in a nutshell, is what has been keeping me busy recently. I do have a project I want to tackle soon, so I did spend just a few minutes at my sewing machine tonight to see if I can figure out how to do the gathering stitch that is required for my project...and we have success!

For those of you who find that sewing a gathering stitch is a super-simple process...try not to laugh at my excitement. For me it is the small accomplishments that make my new sewing machine so much fun!

Until next time...whenever that is!

tote-ally excited!

If you haven't noticed yet, I have only been featuring embroidery projects. This is because I have been too terrified to try to use the sewing machine. As soon as I can, I will be signing up for a Sewing 101 class at JoAnn's. However, last weekend, I did finally overcome my fear, attached the sewing arm and started sewing. With some instructions from Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts, I started my first project, a tote. This, ladies and gents, is my homemade tote:

Feeling pretty good about my first project and armed with a selection of remnant fabrics that I have been hoarding, I decided to reduce the dimensions of this tote down to 75% and make a purse for myself and my mom (because even if it turns out looking pitiful, my mother still has to tell me it is wonderful...because she is my mother).

 

I also decided to get a little crazy and I lined these totes:

And yes, I had to go one step further and not just make the totes, but monogram everything. Did you really expect anything else based on the preceding blogs?!?!?

I went on a shopping adventure with my mom this weekend which led to a trip to JoAnn's where more remnant fabric hoarding could occur. I also purchased fusible interface and zippers for my next project, the gathered clutch by noodlehead. Check it out: gathered clutch tutorial. I have been dying to make this, but don't expect to see it anytime soon, I should probably get around to taking that sewing class first!

oh, the possibilities...

After book club on Wednesday night, I had to run to JoAnn's to pick up a few things. What was intended to be just a quick errand turned into an hour and a half of aimless browsing. Which isn't such a bad thing since my aimless browsing lead me to Gutermann thread at 40% off (plus a 20% coupon on top of that - oh yeah)! I couldn't resist the temptation of all the gorgeous colors! Since I already own an assortment of pink threads, I decided to focus on growing my blues. There are just so many possibilities with all the colors that I can't wait to see them in action. And I'm sure it won't take long for me to find an excuse to use them all. In fact, my machine is buzzing away with one of the pretty teal threads as I speak...music to my ears!

graduation gifties

My mother-in-law, Joni, and I were talking and she asked if I knew anyone who did monogramming. I sheepishly said, "Um, I do." I was, of course, eager to have another project (read: an excuse to use my new toy), but nervous because this is the first person, besides my mom, for whom I would do some monogramming-yikes! She had the super-cute idea to monogram laundry bags (guess you know what I will be giving all high school grads from now on)! Excited to have another project, but with no guarantees of how this would turn out, I took her bags and went to embroidering. Here are the results:

I finished the last one on Monday night:

 What do you think? Does anyone else have any cute ideas?

art appreciation

I walked down to the first floor of my office building to make a deposit and noticed some new art hanging in the office. Two special edition prints have been created by Anderson Design Group to raise funds for the Nashville flood relief. Here is the link so you can check them out yourselves: Spirit of Nashville. I fell in love with the guitar one-which surprised me, because as you will see, I am most likely going to hang flowery things on my wall, not guitars. Since the proceeds were going to a good cause, I ordered it that day. For those of you who live in Nashville, you can avoid pesky shipping charges and just pick the print up yourself, like I did. I immediately went to Micheal's and much to my surprise, found a frame with the exact dimensions of the print-on sale of course! Here is my new art, proudly displayed in my living room to remind me of the time that I realized that I live in the most amazing city!

The artwork hanging didn't stop there. Since Brannon had everything out, we went ahead and hung some personal artwork that I have been dying to get on the walls. After two visits to Paint Along in Brentwood, my breakfast nook is bursting with color!

Ever since I moved into the downtown Pinnacle office, I have appreciated the artwork that is displayed everywhere in the office. This inspired me to put more emphasis on placing art in my own home. We still have two prints that need to be framed and one canvas to hang, but this is a pretty good start for now!

adventures in embroidery

I have recently realized that I love getting Better Homes & Gardens magazine and that I love to peruse craft blogs. However, I really did not have an avenue for allowing my inner craftiness out. So, I decided I wanted not just a sewing machine, but a sewing and embroidery machine. And my wonderful husband did not so much as bat an eyelash when I informed him that I wanted said machine. So one HSN video later, and I fell in love with the Singer SES 1000 (kinda sounds like a car)! With some moral support from my mom, I went straight to embroidering:

 So I started with burp cloths...

 

Then tried bibs...

Next was towels, totes and onesies after that...

Beach bags for my sis-n-laws.

This was a graduation present for Erica's sister.

Onesies for a few baby showers/late baby gifts (I'm a little behind on my gift giving)

 

 

So, after one botched bib and two botched onesies and some help from my friend Julie, I think I am getting the hang of this!