Buttercup.

I decided to make the buttercup bag, that is sweeping crafty blogs. When I say "sweeping" I mean, written about by three of the blogs that I read.

I am amazing by people who can actually write a functional pattern. It is an extraordinary talent, and am even more amazed when they decide to share the pattern. For free! I find that in general, the crafty blogiverse is quite generous.

Anyhow, after a couple of failed attempts at making a gift for my mom, I decided upon the buttercup bag. I used an unused floral pillowcase and thrifted drapery fabric. It came out pretty cute, unfortunately, you will never know because I forgot to take a photo of it before I gave it to my mom.

Today, however, I whipped out another bag. And seriously, it's that easy that I can do it with a child asking me questions every 27.5 seconds. This bag is made from thrifted napkins and thrifted cotton fabric. I have been waiting for something to do with those napkins, and I finally found it. Happily, I only used one napkin too! Two more left...

For this particular bag, I skipped the pocket, because really, I see no purpose for it. I also used regular snaps, ya know, the kind you hammer in. I also lenghtend the strap. I think this bag could benefit from interfacing. (Oh, I also skipped the decorative buttons.)

Sadly, however, I will not use this bag because it's entirely too small for me. It would only hold my wallet & possibly my cellphone. I usually carry some books with me, wipes, tissues, lipgloss, and medicial items. And my camera, which would not fit in this bag. At all. I would love to make this make bigger because it's really pretty!

Would anyone like this bag? I mean, out of the 2 people who read this blog? Let me know...post a comment. :)

Sometimes Ya Just Gotta Laugh.

Back when knitty first put this up, I think it was in December, I *knew* I was going to make them for my mom for her birthday(3/16). It took me awhile to find the 32 gauge wire. I finally found it at Michael's on Wednesday. (They must've done a reset because it wasn't there before.) ANYHOW...I started them as soon as the child was in bed. ACK! Pain in the butt. Even though the wire was the correct gauge, I think it was the incorrect type of wire because it just looked horrible. I was so frustrated, I just threw the wire out. Immature, I know, but it's better than throwing it across the room and then stomping on it, which is what I wanted to do.

So, now what? What to make for my mom? I remembered that I bought a set of vintage cloche hat patterns from etsy. The patterns are written kind of strangely, but after reading and re-reading, they're pretty easy. Or so it seems. I thought the seam allowance was including in the pattern. Nope. Oh well, I thought, it'll just be a test-hat and Abby can wear it. The pattern is quite vague, however, and doesn't go step-by-step on how to do things, unlike today's patterns. You'd think that wouldn't be a big deal since really, the pattern is only 6 pieces. Ha! Ha! I put the brim on upside down. And, to top it all off, the hat doesn't even fit Abby! I'm pretty sure the actual pattern pieces are incorrect...it's not the original pattern, it's drawn by the seller. *sigh* Live and learn. And laugh. How can you not laugh!?

Painting: Part Two.

My mother said to me, "If you become a soldier, you'll be a general; if you become a monk, you'll end up as the Pope." Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.

~Pablo Picasso.

Picasso, I am not. I never will be, but I'm pretty sure that's the point of this quotation. Here are my paintings with my watercolor experimentation. I actually really enjoyed this. They're obviously not perfect, but not too bad considering I haven't seriously painted anything in oh, at least 10 years!

I wanted to paint more, but Abby was finished painting, and that meant I was too.

Painting: Part One.

Ever since watching this, I've been itching to paint, which is sort of weird since I haven't painted anything besides walls since college.

I have been fighting the urge to buy watercolors for a couple of reasons:
1. I don't really like water colors. I find the way they run annoying and the color saturation isn't strong enough for me. I'm more of an oil paint kind of girl.
2. Do I really need to spend more money of crafty things?

Rationalization of the two arguments:
1. You don't have your oil paints anymore (where'd they go, Dad?!), and watercolors are more preschooler-friendly.
3. Not really that expensive, at least not for the middle-of-the-road ones. Watercolor paper on sale for $1.50, water color set $4.99. SOLD!

OK, I'm getting ahead of myself. This blog is not about the watercolors, that's the "Part Two." Today is part one. My mom's birthday is coming up, and I prefer to give her handmade things, especially from Abby. We headed to Michael's in search of a terracotta pot and some paint. Got both, came home, and got to work. I had no intentions of painting my own pot, but couldn't resist the lure of the bold colors! I cleaned off a dirty terra cotta pot from my garage and got down to business.

True, I don't know when to say when, but oh well, it was fun!
(P.S. No picture of Abby's pot just in case Granma reads the blog!)

Sneak Preview!

On Sunday (and Saturday as well, but I'm not counting that since I was stuck in work from 9-5) we had glimpse of spring.

My parents have a big fenced in yard and within that garden, my grandfather has his own veggie garden. Abby helped Poppop turn soil to prep the ground for the fruits of summer: tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, herbs, cantaloupes, etc.

The soil smelled wonderful; earthy and damp. A few sacrificial seeds (obviously, they're not going to sprout since it's still a bit chilly at night) were planted by overly anxious hands.

Wallets.

I really like the idea of reusing something old to make it something new. Besides all the environment hoopla, it's just a good use in imagination. I am instantly drawn to anything that shows ingenuity; probably because that is something that I lack!
I mean sure, anyone can think of painting a mayonnaise jar and plopping some flowers in it. Cute idea, but not exactly deft.
This idea, however, is really clever. And practical. Gotta love that combination.

I don't even remember how I stumbled upon this tutorial, but I was really glad I did. And at a perfect time too! Two of my good friends both have birthdays in February.

One Saturday after work, I stopped by Impact!, a huge thrift store a few shops down from my employer. The paperbacks are only .35 (insert "cent" symbol here.) I looked through the table of paperback (the hardbacks are in the shelves) and quickly spotted the words, "Charlie Brown." I picked it immediately and was thrilled to see an excellent condition Charlie Brown comic book. The original price was .40 (again, insert "cent" symbol here.) That one was for Amber.

Finding something for Heather would prove to be more difficult. I decided to just go for a tacky romance novel since that's what the majority of the books were.

(I also picked up some original kitchen appliance manuals for myself that I will eventually mat and frame for my kitchen.)

ANYHOW, I this project is super simple and I really like the results. I'm not going to mention the issues I had with installing the snaps because I'll come off sounding like a total idiot because, well, apparently, I am.

Another Kimono.

My friend's daughter's birthday was on Saturday. I finally got a chance to give her the kimono (and matching pants) that I made.

The kimono pattern is so easy, and gets easier as you make them.
The pants were easy as well. (of course I can't find the pattern now.)

(Apologies for the poor photo...I almost forgot to take a picture; this was I was just about to wrap it.)