Thursday, July 23, 2015

Busy crafting


 This month the craft along theme over at Yarnigras Swapper Spot is independence or in other words, doing something you've wanted to do. My list of projects that I want to do is massive and my collection of projects I have started but have not completed . . . well that is way to long to talk about! Since it's summer my craft room and I have been spending some time together getting reaquainted. I seem to forget how much I enjoy time spent in my craft room until I start crafting again. Now I'm back in my craft room creating and finishing up some projects. Just look at what I've made.


 A few years ago I went to a workshop in Boston, one of the other workshop participants had an amazing scarf made from neckties. I loved it! I found the designer through a little research online but at $70 the scarves were too expensive for me. (I should have bought one, I looked them up again today, they're $150 now.) Granted they are unique and beautiful creations but I just couldn't bring myself to buy one for that price so I found a couple scarves at a thrift shop and thought I'd see what I could create.




Creating necktie scarves was harder than I thought it would be. I created the black one but I wasn't totally happy with it. I had pinned together a second necktie scarf but gave up on it after I didn't like the first. I stuck them in a drawer, pins and all, and forgot about them. I pulled the yellow and blue one out of my craft stash earlier this week determined to pull all of the pins out of it. On a whim I decided to take a few minutes to sew it together before removing the pins. I also re-finished the end of the black tie that I didn't like. Here's the finished product. They're nothing like the amazing creations the orignial designer makes but I like how they turned out and I completed an unfinished project that sat in a drawer for two years. . . yay for me!


I also pulled out a stitchery that I had finished a couple of years but hadn't done anything with. I loved the stitchery but couldn't decide what to do with it so it sat forgotten for years. Not any more, using some scrap fabric I sewed it into a little pillow.  Another unfinished project done.  :)  I feel so accomplished!


This is my favorite bag pattern, it's reversible. I have several of these bags and often give them as gifts. I even use one as my school bag, it's the perfect size. I decided to cut out a few of these bags using fabrics from my stash. I finished this one and another one this week and I have a crafting date with a friend next week to sew up the rest.


Lastly, I made a carbage bag for my neighbor. As moms, we always end up with trash and wrappers in the car when we're transporting kids around, so a carbabge bag is a necessity. I started lining these with some black plastic sheeting I found at Home Depot. It works perfectly to keep the fabric from getting wet or stained from the trash.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Summer Fun


Summer vacation is a great time for school teachers. It's a time to recharge, create and just enjoy some time at home. Every summer since my daughter was little we've created a summer fun list. It's the list of the fun things we want to do over summer vacation. Years ago we created one list for the two of us but a few years ago we started creating our own lists. Here's my 2015 summer fun list. I make my list pretty generic because it's meant to be fun. I've printed it out so I can check off items as I complete them but it's not a have to do list, so there's no guilt if things don't get checked off.
Now it's time to have some summer fun! Yay for summer!