FO-Embroidered Bird Bag!!!!

Ahhh! I'm so excited!

The embroidered bird bag is done! Here's a close up:

Even though I didn't intend to do this project, I am very happy I did. This is my first ever embroidery project, and I am super pleased with the result! Members of my household with no interest whatsoever in crafty things (yeah, men) were impressed, which is always a good sign! I think it will make a great gift.

Once I finished, I jumped right in to my next project, the cross stitch ornaments. After reading through the instructions on the kit (right, because I did that first.....) I determined I needed to draw 4x4 squares:

And cut them out:

Before starting. The first one is going to a cat lover, and luckily, there's one featuring a cat. Perfect! I'll probably start that some time this weekend.

Yesterday, I was feeling a little grumpy with my two WIPs (bird bag and M&M dishcloth) so I decided a brand new project would cure me of it. Instead of picking a pattern and making some kind of doodad that would cheer me up and put me back on track, I decided to go crazy and make my own thing. It didn't go well:

I actually just took this picture because I thought it looked like a little girl's apron.

I was trying to make a little pleated bag, but the opening was to small for the rest of the bag:

It has wings, for crying out loud!

So once I take it out of time-out, I will reshape it into a little pouch, and if I'm feeling generous, add a zipper. At this point, some kind of snap is more likely.

I have been in a super good mood today, because yesterday I bought the Star Trek soundtrack and put it on my iPod. It makes everything an adventure! :)

My Crafty Christmas To-Do List

• buy supplies for, and make, two etching projects
• buy yarn for, and make, a mohawk hat (I have a printed pattern, I just can't find the link right now)
• make two more (better) globe knot necklaces
• make four cross stitch ornaments
• finish the M&M dishcloth (this could take a while, since I have to mess with the pattern too)

Do Birds Eat M&Ms?

After I finished yesterday's post, my plan was to finish the dark blue thread on the bird bag, but I got bored, so I started designing an M&M dishcloth. It's a lot harder than it looks!

I started by printing out some knitting graph paper, which I found here. I wasn't exactly sure how to make a circle, so I started by shading in the M in the center. (I used this picture to get the shape right.) Then, I took a compass and lightly drew a circle around the M. After that, I just had to shade in the blocks the line passed through, to get the outline of the circle.

Once I had the basic shape, I decided that shaded was garter stitch, and blank was stockinette. I wanted the background and M to be stockinette, and the border and circle to be garter, so I just erased and shaded to get that right.

I've never worked from a chart, so I wanted to convert it into words. Unfortunately, I was having issues with getting it to work. Actually, I'm still having issues. I decided to just knit it up and hope for the best, because I need a place to start!

I'm just  switching between those two things: the bird bag, and this evil dishcloth. Wish me luck!

My Crafty Christmas To-Do List

• buy supplies for, and make, two etching projects
• buy yarn for, and make, a mohawk hat (I have a printed pattern, I just can't find the link right now)
• make two more (better) globe knot necklaces
• make two cross stitch ornaments (I have a kit with 30)
• finish the bird bag
• finish the M&M dishcloth (this could take a while, since I have to mess with the pattern too)

All About: Bird Bag

As the title suggests, this post will be all about the bird bag! First, a timeline:

After the pink flowers were done

After almost everything is done, except the leaves and a little bit of the bird

Two whole pictures. I know, it's impressive. This link has a picture of the finished product, except mine is bigger, and on a tote bag. I'm hoping to have this done in the next few days, maybe even before the week's over. The instructions actually say to do some parts with a backstitch, and some parts with a stem stitch. Stem stitch was giving me a headache (the tutorial was one of those pictures with numbers and the needle in three different places), so it's all backstitch!

Today I finished:

My Crafty Christmas To-Do List

• buy supplies for, and make, two etching projects
• buy yarn for, and make, a mohawk hat (I have a printed pattern, I just can't find the link right now)
• finish the embroidered bag
• find a pattern and yarn for an M&M dishcloth, then make it. I had a pattern I liked, but the blog disappeared! There's another one I have seen, but I don't like it. Hmmm, how hard would it be to make my own?
• make two more (better) globe knot necklaces
• make two cross stitch ornaments (I have a kit with 30)

Where to Now?

Hi guys! I had an awesome vacation, and I'm sure you're all sick of lists, but I have a few more for you.


First, just a few updates regarding things I mentioned last week:

• I threw away the wrap bracelet. It was ugly, and annoying, and it wasn't working right, so I set it up on a blind date with my trash can.
• I did a little bit on the bird bag, and I'll have a picture of that tomorrow. Most likely.
• I made a tiny globe knot necklace! (Confused? Go look here.)

I used a drawstring from a pair of shorts, and a random white marble I dug around for. Three problems: the cord is too thin, the marble is to big, and the obvious one involving cord length. The video didn't specify where in the cord to start, nor did it show it's full length, so I just started in the center and hoped for the best. It didn't work out so well, so I had to glue the two ends together:

OK, I swear I took a picture of it glued. Just take that picture, and imagine the two ends glued and twisted. That's right, twisted. I wore heavy garden gloves, and I actually didn't burn myself! (I was surprised too!) I am planning on putting a flower or other doodad over the spot I glued, and I'll be all done.

Now here is a project that is so crazy I should be locked up for even considering doing it:

It looks innocent enough, doesn't it? Doesn't really look like a project either.... How about some back story?

 This comes from me doing something I have never done before. This weekend my family stayed in a house owned by my aunt and uncle, along with many other assorted family members. My uncle took a few of my cousins and I garage-saling. It was quite the experience, but I did pick up this skirt. Let's take a closer look:

Do you see the project yet? I'm re-sewing all the sequins back on. Yes, I am completely insane. Here's why (about the sequins, not my insanity):

Can you see?

How about now? All the sequins are strung together! (Well not all of them; there is more than one piece of thread.) This means if one sequin goes, they all go. In fact, a whole bunch already have. So I'm going through and painstakingly unthreading and re-sewing Every. Single. Sequin. And there's a whole bunch. This will be one of the only things I will do, once I really get into it, so I'm thinking about keeping it packed away until I finish with Christmas. Speaking of which....

My Crafty Christmas To-Do List

• buy supplies for, and make, two etching projects
• buy yarn for, and make, a mohawk hat (I have a pattern, I just can't find the link right now)
• finish the embroidered bag
• find a pattern and yarn for an M&M dishcloth, then make it. I had a pattern I liked, but the blog disappeared! There's another one I have seen, but I don't like it. Hmmm, how hard would it be to make my own?
• make two more (better) globe knot necklaces
• come up with two more really great ideas, because there are two more people on my list!

That's it! Just a hat, a dishcloth, two fifteen minute necklaces, some etching, and some mysteries!

Paper Piecing? Oh, Ummm

Yeah, I didn't actually start a paper piecing project this weekend. I did start this embroidery project:

I was originally going to cross stitch something completely different on the bag, but I didn't know about the blue lines. Nowhere on the package does it say that it is printed with the picture to embroider! It's OK, though, because I have someone else I can give the bird bag to. This is my first embroidery project, so I am starting to love those little blue lines. They better come off, though!

I also started this cool bracelet (tutorial here). I am doing the biggest size, but I have small wrists, so it might be even more than five wraps! I kind of jumped in to doing this, so I used what I had, but I might want to go to Michaels to get better supplies for this. Right now, I think it's fine to practice with less awesome materials! :)

I'm going to be going on a short vacation this week (Thursday to Sunday) so I'm going to try to schedule posts for Thursday, Friday, and maybe Monday and Tuesday. If I don't, I should be back in full swing by Wednesday the 15th. have a great day!

Sorry for the bad pictures, by the way. I was kind of rushing when I wrote this!