Key ring

I experimented with makinf a few key rings this week. A while ago I made two of the rectangular wristlet type, using the hardware from Dritz, 

I used some ribbon that I had on hand that was an inch wide, just the right size to fit the clamp.

I also had some narrower ribbon and some large split rings on hand, 

so I made this other style...

the. decorative part is made from two layers of felt, with a fabric hexagon topstitched on to one of the layers of felt, (before it is assembled)

This shows how I made the connector part, 

I just topstitched the ribbon on to some wool felt, trimmed it so that the edges were neat, and then folded it around a ring and stitched throught the layers close to the metal.

the two on the left I used for the key rings below, and the one with the longer ribbon part I just left as is.

I finished them off with some simple embroidered embellishments.  I made some others that aren't embroidered yet, but they are nice to work on in the evening while we are watching t.v.-- currently we are going through the British series, Inspector Lewis.

I guess that I will be ready for Christmas with a bunch of stocking stuffers on hand.

Odds and Ends

That's a funny expression when you think about it -- odds and ends.  Odd things that don't belong in a set, and ends to finish off things started.
Well. over the past several months, I've been a pinterest user, and have noted many little projects that I wanted to try.  This week I determined to do some of those little odd projects.

1. Paper piecing hexagon project.  

 I did a table runner last month using the paper hexagons, and enjoyed doing that project.  I wanted to try another project using another less common arrangement of the hexagons.
In this block, I just made 12 hexagons, sewed them together in a diamond shape, and appliqued the whole piece over a little bit of toile,

 then I appliqued the unit to the orange dot fabric, and after trimming it to echo the diamond shape, appliqued that to the blue flowered background.  I'm not sure what to do with this block now.

2.  Another thing I wanted to try was a Union Jack block.  

 It was harder to make than I thought it would be.  Partly this is because I thought I would paper piece the corner rectangle parts, but then I was having a little problem remembering how to do paper piecing.  Rather than apply my mind to remembering, I just used templates and pieced the thing. 

Union Jack quilt block

 I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  I sewed on a border and quilted it, and sewed it into a cushion!

3.  I wanted to knit a boxy basket shape out of wool on really big needles and felt it.  So I did.  However, the top edge didn't shrink up as much as the bottom of the box, and it was really floppy.  So I just folded over the wall to make it half as tall, and it is sort of rounded.  Whatever, it seems to work okay to hold stuff on the coffee table 

4.  Little key chain rings.  Pretty easy.  Just some free motion stitching holding the layers together, and the little loop to go over the ring part. 

 wouldn't mind trying a few more of these with some hand stitching on them sometime. 

 5. Little knitted Christmas trees.  The idea is to sew buttons on to the trees to make them look decorated.

 I might make them into Christmas tree ornaments, or something.  I'll see if they show up against the tree when we get it.

6.  When I got back to my sewing room here in Savannah last week, I saw that I had left these Sampler blocks up on my design wall.  So I decided to sew setting blocks and put them together into a top. 

 My plan is to use 21 sampler blocks and 21 log cabin blocks, set together in a "Straight Furrows" setting,

so, I have started sewing the log cabins. they will be half white and half assorted colors.  I like to cut out all the pieces before I start sewing.  I was somewhat surprised that after cutting out all the pieces I had made hardly a dent on my stack of 1930 reproduction fabrics.
Well, that's today's round-up on what I've been doing.  Except for one other project, which I will make another post on later.

On another note, I'm glad that many people are finding the coupon for 40% off an item at the store.   If you haven't used it yet, you can print off a copy of the coupon   here  .  It is good up until December 24th.  Also, Miriam sent me a photo of the Kaffe Fassett shot cottons that arrived!!!

they are wonderful!

Mini Bag with Ribbon Handles

I've started making these little bags to slip things in for gifts-- they are so easy to make, and only take about 10 minutes each.  I think that they are so fast because I'm using felted wool, and so I don't have to worry about finishing the edges or turning them under, plus the felt is thick enough to have enough body for a nice feel to the bag.
So here is the step by step description of how to!:
  gather supplies:
     a rectangle of felted wool, mine is 6" x 13"
     about 45 inches of ribbon for handles
     about 12-1/2" of ribbon for decoration
     optional applique or button to embellish the bag

  place your ribbon about an inch in from one long edge

 lay the ribbon down as a loop, making sure not to get any twists in it

 make sure the handles are equal in size, and then pin down the ribbon

top stitch the ribbon down to the base rectangle, it will look like this on the back

 fold the bag in half and stitch one of the side seams with a 1/4" seam allowance, press it open,
 top-stitch the other ribbon across the place where the raw edges of the handle ribbon meet

 sew the other side seam and press it open
"box" the bottom corners of the bag by stitching a short seam perpendicular to the side seam.  Don't stitch into the ribbon area,

 turn it inside out!
this one shows that I didn't use a second ribbon, but I just sewed a little applique over the raw ends of the handle ribbon.

Now that I've made about 8 of these, I want to try some other sizes, and maybe use a quilted rectangle.... isn't sewing fun?!!!

(update, another good size is: rectangle, 7-1/2" x 17", ribbon handle, 60")

Embroidering on Felted Bag

Over the last couple of days I have been working on a knitted felted bag.  It is similar in style and size to the striped one I made last week. 
However, the yarn is more of a mix, and I tried a different style of handle:

I think the handle is a bit too large, or thick for this size of bag.  I also felted it more lightly than usual.  It is actually quite thick, because the striped pattern is knit with two strands of yarn, and the yarn that doesn't show on the front makes "floats" on the inside.  I thought if I felted it a lot, then it would be really really dense.

 To me, the stripe are sort of an optical illusion.  They look light and dark, but really the grey on the top section is the same as the grey on the bottom section, but offset, so it isn't that noticeable.

 I embroidered some simple flowers on it, with french knots in the center.  I tried to embroider leaves, but that didn't work very well, so I sewed on some felt leaves with perle cotton down the center instead. 

I also had the idea of possible using a crocheted chain to use in braided rugs.   This is my test strip, below.

 I chained a 12 foot section and loosely tied it so that it won't get hopelessly tangled in the washing machine.  I've washed it once so far, dried it, and now it's in the washing machine for it's second wash.
I did wash up the rectangular rug that I was working on last week, but something went very wrong, and it is bundled up in the back of my closet.  I might be able to cut it up to use for smaller projects. Maybe.

I've also got this bowl in the washer as well:

 I made this one a bit larger than the ones I made last week, it is about 12 inches across and 4 or 5 inches tall.  I also thought that I would try to see what an added ring around the base would do...

we shall see....
I also got an idea from Regina about turning the bowl shapes upside down.  They might be able to be used as a tea cozy or something if I refined the shape and added a sort of ball at the top.
 Finally for now, this is the little skein of yarn that was the result of the introduction to felting workshop from the other day. 

I think that I need to do bit of quilting after all this wool stuff, but I am quite immersed in the latest mystery novel from Val McDermid, so I don't know when that will be.  Plus, I hit a bit of a block in the quilting.  I think because I don't really want to start anything new until I finish something off, but I don't feel too excited about the last project I started with the dresden plates.  I think this is because I am using the fabric left over from the last quilt I made in Saskatoon a couple of weeks ago.  I should have used some totally different fabrics. 
However, I am stocked up again on Steam a seam fusible web, so maybe I should do some applique.
Well, I can see that I am descending into indecision, so I'd better just Stop!

the Felting Continues, plus my Art to Heart quilt

 Alongside the crocheting I was doing, I also keep a knitting project going.  I have been making a tote bag using 6mm needles and two strands of Cascade220 in this striped pattern.  I had started it from a book I have,

  



But when I started it the first time, It had said to cast on 150 stitches. I did this, as you can see above, and I knit about 5 inches before ripping it out.  When I took the needles out, the circumference was about 60 inches!! So, I took it down to 80 stitches and started again.
 This time, things went a bit more quickly.

unfelted

felted

 

 

I washed it up and was quite pleased with the end result!  It measured about 14 inches wide and 19 inches tall when it was unfelted, and now it is still about the same width, but it is quite a bit shorter. 
What I particularly like is the way that the handles curled over to make a nice rounded piece to hold onto.

 And on the sewing front, lest you think that I have forgotten my quilting--
Yesterday I worked on the border for my Sampler with blocks and applique:

 I had finished all the buttonhole stitching around the appliques, but realize that some of my birds have no legs. :-(

 I decided to do quite a simple border.  I had sewn a whole bunch of the squares, because I thought I would put on 2 rows of them in a little running four-patches border.  When I put them next to the quilt they were a bit too heavy, so I dropped it back to one row.

 I got it basted as well, so hopefully I'll get to some quilting on it today!

 Have a great day!

More Explorations in Felted Crochet

These are some observations I have on felting crochet:
Although I have another floor mat in progress, below, I wanted to make a few smaller items using this technique.  (The "technique" is a single crochet stitch using multiple strands of shrinkable wool yarn, and then felting it in the washing machine)
So I crocheted several little bowls.  Before felting they looked like caps.  Basically they are flat bottoms with short sides.

I washed them once, dried them in the dryer, washed them a second time, and pushed them into the shape and allowed them to air dry.

I crocheted them as a spiral, and so there is a bit of a lump where the stitches end on some of them.

 They really do shrink up into quite a pleasing thickness.  And there is no problem with the walls flopping inwards.
I will need to do a larger one now! 

This is the mat that I am currently working on:

 I started with a section of back and forth rows for the center.  Then I started to go in rounds around it.  It became a little too squarish, and so I added a few extra rows in yellow at either end.

 I am still using my 15mm hook!  and I'm holding many strands together.  I like the blue.

I started to wonder what would happen if I added in accent colors with thinner thread pulled up in the spaces using a smaller hook and a chain stitch.  So.....
 
I decided to make a little test swatch (what? just now after making several projects?)

this shows the back of the chain stitch

this shows the front of the chain stitch

this shows the swatch washed once.

I really like how the chain stitch blends in so well when it is felted, so I will pretty surely add it to the mat.  You can also see on the swatch how some combinations shrink quite a bit more than others.  The green is a lot bigger than the yellow, although it might have more strands to start with.   This is not a particularly scientific process, (but the intention is to use the yarns productively)