Saturday, August 20, 2011

6am sewing adventure

     As of late my health has been questionable which has confined me to my crochet chair or bed, leaving me ample time to get crafty. So this morning when I awoke at 6 am feeling like I was hit by a truck the natural thing for me to do was make some tea and get sewing.  Of course, being that early, Gurr, my affectionate kitty, was wide awake and ready to play.  By 7am we were having an adorable sewing adventure!

     First he was good and just lay on the opposite side of the sewing machine and glared at me through the hole of the machine, then he decided that wasn't getting enough of my attention so he decided to continually flop on what ever fabric made it onto his side!  This was quite challenging as he was far too adorable to move; I know, I'm a cat-loving wuss.
     Luckily he soon decided that wasn't good enough and needed to lay on my lap, and as awkward as it was, I did still manage to get some work done.  

     Not long after that he became super hyper and decided to cause mischief (or at the very least what he considered to be mischief).  He sat on a chair and stared at me, then when I got sewing he started picking scraps off the table and batting them to the floor. Then, grabbing them in his mouth like prey, he quickly ran to another room to play with his seemingly sneaky kill. This was far too adorable. He would then return several minutes later to hunt another scrap.  Before long there were no more scraps to be found on the table.... they were scattered all over the house!  So he came back up onto the chair, laid down and attempted to grab the handles off the bag I was sewing.  Then he rolled around on the chair being all cute like, jumped back up on my lap, ran a couple more laps around the house then, tuckered out climbed back onto the table and contented himself to lazily napping and gazing outside at traffic.

Laying on fabric that is clearly on HIS side of the sewing machine

Playing with scraps

"No mommy, this isn't one of your scraps at my feet!"


     On second thought, having gotten up early and feeling rotten doesn't seem so bad... at least not when you have a sewing partner who's so adorable and makes you smile the whole time :).  For more pics of this morning's sewing adventure, click here.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Peter's Birthday Blanket

     A couple years back when I was living in Ottawa, I asked my brother, Peter, if he'd like me to make him a blanket.  He flipped through my pattern books and picked out one he liked.  I marked it and waited for a time when I had enough money to buy new materials to make it.  Well things always tend to happen and the project fell to the side.

     Several months ago I had remembered the project and had some extra cash to put towards it so I bought the needed materials.  Unfortunately I just didn't have the time to dedicate to it.  So it sat in the corner in a bag waiting for me to find the time to pick it up and make it.  Well on Aug 6th 2011 I said to myself enough is enough and I got to it hoping to have it done by his birthday on the 17th.  So I got started that day and a miraculous thing happened: I finished a project!! Start to finished I touched only that blanket (aside for some occasional bag sewing), I worked tirelessly on it, early in the morning, throughout the afternoon and late at night. I finished the blanket in one week flat! That's right! I finished it on Friday the 12th.  Needless to say here, I'm quite proud of myself.  Even though it's wasn't one of my older dresser projects being finished off or even one that I get to keep and put in my pile, I'm still happy I got a project started and finished. (Not to mention AMAZED that I got it done THAT quickly!)

     The original pattern to this afghan is found in "(Leisure Arts Presents) Vanna's Favorite Crochet Gifts" on page 19 : Ebony & Ivory.  For more pics of the blanket click here. This blanket is now available to order (custom made to order in any desired colours) on my etsy site here.



     So Happy Birthday Peter!  I hope you enjoy the blueberry muffins and your new afghan!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Weekend in Sudbury

     Last weekend a most wonderful thing happened: my good friends Becky and Jake got married!!  Both being from Sudbury, they had a fantastic outdoor backyard ceremony in Sudbury on a beautiful sunny day.  Of course this meant I got the opportunity to travel out of Fort Frances for a bit of a vacation and spend some time with my crafty friend. And despite it being her wedding weekend, she found ample time to get crafty!

     I got to see some of her more recent projects, one of them being a nifty handbag and another some heavy duty slippers, and help out with a new one;  all on the day before her wedding.  One of the great things about spending time with a Becky, or any crafting buddy, is all the new ideas that come up.  Of course with Becky's energy level, and all the projects she's done the ideas are 10 fold!  Needless to say I came back right full of motivation and teeming to the brim with new ideas!


Becky's lap blankets
     One of the neat projects I got to see was a some really cute little lap blankets Becky put together as gifts for family.  She made them by sewing a layer of linen to a layer of fleece.  They turned out quite nice.

Helping Becky out with a new bathing suit
  Becky's project that day was a new bathing suit.  Since she couldn't find the pattern she had previously purchased she decided to just put something together and see how it would turn out.  The great thing about creating this way (without a pattern) is that you almost always stumble upon something new and great!  The resulting design was very cute, though the seems were off and there was no time to fix them, the bathing suit did not get to make it's debut that weekend.  After all, it was the day before her wedding, and as much as crafting is awesome, there were other duties to tend to. :) (For more photos of crafting in Sudbury and a the wedding click here)

Becky's kitchen sewing mess
          So my weekend in Sudbury was really great!  I got to spend time with good friends, make new ones, get crafty and be part of a wonderful and beautiful wedding.  What more could one ask for?