Wallet made

I ve been on the wallet hunt, I have a very large designer leather wallet. It is not really practical when you are thinking about camping and taking backpacking trips. I wanted something smaller and thinner. The ones that are typically that size are for boys or childish. I have been on the hunt with no luck in the retail world, so I decided to make one.
 I found this lovely bi-fold wallet tutorial by Modest Maven through a Pintrest rabbit trail search. I was super excited that it didnt require anything of me that I didnt have. I used velcro instead of the snap like the tutorial suggests. I did feel that the bill lining part was not quite the correct size. I ended up cutting a 1/2 off making it 4 x 9 and it still rolled over the edging. Otherwise the directions were super easy to follow and make a perfect size bi-fold.

I was able to make this one in about 1.5 hours (while eating lunch) I am sure I can do it faster if I wanted to churn them out. I know that one side of my card slots got out of line. This purple fabric I have had for ever and have 6+ yards that I got on clearance at Mary- Jo's. It is not a quilt weight cotton. Its very stiff but not very thick. Other than cotton, I am not sure how else to describe it.
The super awesome stripe fabric is a Kaffe (which I am unable to find on his website :-P ) the stripe is rather thin. I did use stabilizer on both pieces of it. I would like to make this again with a zipper coin side.
Can wait to start using this awesome wallet!

Birthday Bowl

I made this fabric crochet bowl recently for my friends birthday.  Happy Birthday Liz! I recently gave her the birthday bowl, so now I can share my creation. I make them out of strips of fabric. This one I used 1 inch pieces of fabric, so it looks chunkier. Now back to elfly duties.

Went faster than I thought!

I started putting my blocks together for the mountain fence rail quilt. I got my self set up really well and utilized the diagram I made back in the beginning.

This really made the process go super quickly. I think that I would have gotten myself really confused had I not done this. The colors on the diagram are very close to the colors on the blocks. I was able to keep track because I used the actual color. I was also able to visualize what the final product would be. As I put the blocks together I kept them in chains so I could match them up later on.

I got quite a few rows together. I really like my color combinations of teal, purple, green and yellow. I have placed in a few embroidery blocks in rows. I am trying to be very conscious of where I am putting them in the quilt. I am even marking them on the diagram. I started doing rows on the left side of the quilt, then I jumped over to the right side to make sure that the embroidery pieces are throughout the whole quilt.  Below are the two sides of the quilt. The long rows are folded up on themselves. I am super happy so far.

Hand Sewing

I am trying to finish up the embroidery on a handful of the blocks for the fence rail mountain king size quilt. (There has got to be a better way to describe that quilt, for consistency concerns I need to come up with something). I decided on using small flowers/ leaves in threes for the Mountain Quilt ;  )  . I seemed to balance on the block nicely. I was attempting to make it look like a crazy quilt. However, it has ended up being more refined. I just stitch whatever comes to mind. I have completed most of them while Hubby watches NBA finals. I do actually like all levels of basketball, though I do find it hard to watch 3 games tailed on to each other.
Meanwhile, I threw this hand pin cushion together very quickly. It was more out of necessity, I lost a quite a few needles and pins recently. I actually found one in my nightgown... while in bed... in a not so great spot... just waiting to stab me.

Ultimately, I will be putting the Mountain quilt with the crochet afghan above. I beginning to think that it might just be too many stripes. What do you think?

Crochet King Blanket

I finally finished this massive king-sized crocheted blanket. I took me 10 months to do but, I did it! Well, I did put it down in the 90-100 degree humid heat of the summer! Most of the yarn I had for years. I did end up buying a few skeins to get the color scheme that I was after. It is big and heavy and I worry about having to wash it. If you have any ideas please let me know. 

The corner and the binding worked out really well. I love all of the purply-blues that the color scheme that the stripes created. It reminds me of the mountains in the winter frost. I long to be in the mountains, I think that is why everything reminds me of it. I actually started with the darker center and worked my way out from both sides. I wanted it to have a very random color choice with thick and thin sections. Now looking at the picture, it looks like it was planned out. I get something that I want to do in my head I cant get it out until it is completed. I started the blanket with no real plan. I would not consider myself an accomplished crocheter, the whole entire blanket is single stitched. I became rather irritated with myself when I realized how much faster it could have gone. I also just simply knotted the yarn together and did not feed the tails through my stitches. I just cut them off! Very Bad! One edge is very lumpy and bumpy, hence the binding. Oh Well!

 I looooooovvvvvvvve it and finished it just in time for the cool weather.

Crochet Blanket in Purple

I have been crocheting this king sized blanket since the start of the new year. It will hopefully complement the quilt that I am making. I have enjoyed looking at many other blogger's images of their quilts and blankets. I think it is so wonderful to make something tangible that my family can use. I love working with fabric and yarn. I know that their is much invested time in making things this way. Other ladies at work asked me why I was going to all that trouble. I answered, 'because I enjoy it!' I have thought a lot about what she said. I think part of is the nurturing part of me to make something warm that will comfort others. The other part is making something and saying that it was all me.  I guess that is a bit self-serving, but aren't we all?
I have many different types of yarns in this blanket, I love purple! and blues too! Well no certain pattern. Just use what ever color I want. I didn't want to have too many chunky sections from using a skein of solid yarn. I have many partials from other projects. Some skeins I went out and purchased just for this project. I love that I can tell when I bought them by looking at the blanket. I am sure I will have to buy a few more  in order to make it a King, but right now I am trying to use up what I have. That is my motto for this year.