Grocery Bags Number 1: When things go wrong

I've been wanting to make some fabric grocery bags for a while.  I want to be green but I can't bring myself to carry those unfashionable HEB green bags... Total YUCK! (Just kidding! - We actually have a few of those kinds of totes that we use)
Anyways, I picked up some khaki denim and cute fruity (as in apples and lemons) fabric. I didn't want to use a pattern for this because I figured I'd just cut up a plastic bag and base it off that.  I tried that and my project ended up sitting on the floor unfinished, like this for weeks.

 "I feel so unloved!"

This is what happens when I don't think my project all the way through before I start on it.  Once I got this far I realized that this was not going to come together the way I wanted it to.  The handles weren't going to be right, the lining was all weird and it just wasn't inspiring me to work on it anymore.  Poor grocery bag!  I did finally get back to it.  I told Stephen I'd have it ready for our next share of farm fresh veggies - and I did!  It was totally completed but we forgot to bring it...  Oops!

Anyways, there were several mishaps along the way making this darn bag.  For example, some people take the pins out of their fabric before they pass a pinned section through their sewing machine so the needle doesn't hit the pin, but my mom never taught me to do that, so I never do.  It was never a problem with my old machine, but I've hit a lot of pins with my new one and have a lot that end up "N" shaped from the impact.  However, what happened to me making this bag was something I didn't even know was possible.

Left: good,  Right: BAD!

The "pin" on the right started out just like the pin on the left, but after I sewed over it the metal part had mysteriously disappeared...  I assume it's lost inside my sewing machine somewhere, and since it hasn't caused any problems yet, I'm hoping it's not in a damaging spot.  I still don't take my pins out before I sew over them by the way.

That is really the most interesting thing that happened during this project.  I ended up finishing it off with a few visible seams (I hate that!) because I was just so sick of it sitting around unfinished.  All in all it ended up a useful bag and I've carried delicious groceries in it a couple of times.  Not my favorite project, but I guess it was a success in the end.  Maybe I should stick to baby stuff after all!!!

Lazy!   

 

Sloppy!!

Success!!

What did you do this weekend?

I cut up a purple garbage bag...

It seems weird right?  I have come across a few patterns lately for crocheting things out of recycled plastic bags that I wanted to try.  I was kind of bummed out that every store in Waco has white bags with red printing so everything I made would come out the same boring colors.  Lucky for me I had a beautiful garbage bag sized sack from one of my birthday presents. So I sliced it up and ended with this lovely pile!

You said we were going to sleep in a REAL PILE!

Anyways, all in all I ended up with about 70 yards of plastic "yarn" for a future project!  Hooray!  It wrapped up into a ball a little bigger than a softball.  Of course when I finished cutting it up I dropped the end into my pile and couldn't find it and had to sift through the whole darn thing to find an end to work from.  Hopefully we'll see some results from this soon - if not, at least the destruction was fun and satisfying!  I'm so totally GREEN!

Crayon Roll Up (Like a fruit roll up that only babies like to eat)

FYI:  I only make projects for ages 2 and under.   Just kidding!  It just happens that this is another project I made for a special little girl in my life.  I like to call it a crayon roll up, but you can call it whatever you like.  The point is that it is a totally cute and pretty easy project.  I didn't use a pattern for this one, but I had seen pictures of similar projects on etsy.com and other craft sites.  My little niece Josie is quite the little artist so I figured this was something she definitely needed.  I created myself a rough pattern of various sized fabric rectangles, batting and some rick-rack and ribbon for accents - blue and orange for my favorite Gators fans. It holds 24 fat crayolas (washable and non-toxic, she isn't even 2 after all) and wraps up and ties shut. If you'd like any more details about my "pattern" just let me know and I'll try to explain a little better. Judging from the picture below, it was a big big hit!

All Right!!

You're going down...

Maybe you found your way here from my husband's blog, The CSA Experiment.  Maybe you saw that we're having a little competition about who can keep up with a blog longer.  We've both failed at this in the past, but I'm hoping we can keep each other motivated :)  So far the opinion seems to be that I'm going to cream Stephen.  We shall see!!

Little Ladybug

I think it is appropriate that I start off this blog with the project that got me started crafting again!
Back in August we celebrated the second birthday of one of my favorite little girls, and I made this little ladybug wristlet for her.  I used a free crochet pattern I found at Erin Olivia Designs.  I love crocheting but I hadn't done anything for quite a while.  This pattern worked up so quick and easy!  I think I did it in two nights.  As far as I know the gift was a big hit!  I wish I had a need for some more crocheted afghans or scarves, so I could start on another project.  Unfortunately I already have 2 or 3 of each that aren't getting used, so with limited space in the house I'll have to put crochet on hold for a while!

I'm so bad at blogging!

I don't have anything to post for real yet, but here is a picture of little Josie enjoying her swinging!