Purging

I have been working on removing fabric and things from my stash.  I have way too much stuff and I'm not using a quarter of it.  I was able to give some fabric to my kid's classroom, because they are babies and they like different textures.  

I sent a box to my mom.  She wants to make tropical tunics, so I went through all my florals.  I think there were about five different prints in the box.  I tried to unravel some of the squirrel tail and I sent that to her, as well.  I had also been saving a bunch of broken dishes for a future mosaic project that will never happen,  but she makes things like that, so off they went.  I also a sent a few craft kits.  

The second box that I've been working on is filled with fabrics that I will never use.  I was going to donate to the Goodwill, but then I remembered that the Textle Center's annual garage sale is coming up, so that's where this next box will go.

I've been pricing everything, but didn't think to write down yardage.  Ugh.  I may have also written fifty cents on things and they want whole dollar amounts, so I have to fix that.  I suppose I should always read the instructions first.

Cape 2

When I asked my sister-in-law for suggestions for my niece's birthday, she immediately suggested something hooded.  I turned to the Oliver and S: Little Things to Sew book and used the Red Riding Hood pattern to make a red, hooded cape:

That looks a little purple for some reason.  Bah!  I lined it with a dark blue floral:

I gave it to Z to wear for a bit and it was absolutely adorable on her.  My intention was to make two capes, one for Zelda and one for her cousin.  They are the same size, so it is easy to do stuff like that.  However, Z didn't like the little arm holes and wouldn't put this on again.  What a stinker.

The arm holes are my favorite part.  I like the shiny button, too.

And to top it all off, I gave my niece a book to go with the cape:

I bought it at the Red Balloon Bookshop.

As for general construction issues -- there really were none.  The thing came together very easily. 

Cape 1

Z's grandmother made a reversible fleece cape for her birthday.  I have a sneaking suspicion that she made this without a pattern, because that lady has skills like that:

Thank you!  I promise to get some pictures of her in it when we get out and about this spring.

Scarf

Last year, I made a scarf and then gave it away to one of the gals in my book club.  I had saved the remainder of the sweater for a second scarf, but never got around to doing it.

Now, over a year later, I have made that second scarf.

I used some Japanese silk for the underside.  It's really cozy.  On the first scarf, I tacked down the loop, but didn't do it for this one and it slid right off after an hour or two, so that will be fixed.  

I love these Japanese fabrics.  My mom got them from someone and they are the oddest shape.  They are just long rectangles.  I haven't had many occasions to use them, though I did recover a lampshade with one.  I want to use some for linings in clutch bags or something, because they are the perfect size for that, but who uses clutch bags?  I never go anywhere and, if I do, I have a gazillion vintage bags to use.  I don't know.  I'm not purging them, so they'll just have to continue to live in stash purgatory.

New Tin Container

I found this at an antique store in Sioux Falls:

There's really nothing significant to the markings on the bottom, but it's so pretty.  I haven't decided what to put in it, so it's sitting empty on my shelf.

40 Year Old Geisha

Before I was born my mother worked on two Geisha embroidery samplers.  She finished one, but not the other.  They've both been in my craft room for years and I finally dug them out and decided to do something with them.  I brought the finished one to JoAnn's, because they had a 50% + 30% off coupon, but my stupid ass JoAnn's doesn't have a custom frame department.  Ugh.  Do you know how hard it was to find time to go to that one?  I would prefer to do it at a local frame shop, but that was a good deal!  The coupon has since expired, but I figure that maybe it is better to get them framed together after the other Geisha is finished.

 The trip was not in vain, however.  Before I left, I went through my embroidery thread and looked for matching colors.  What I didn't have, I was able to find at the store.  

Look at that stitching!  So tidy!

On the flip side, I found a strand of light green that was never finished off, so I used that to work on the front leaves and then I added some of the new green from the store.  Can you see the difference?

I don't have any of the original directions, so I can't decide if I'm supposed to add more of those pink split stitches next to the blue outline of the kimono.  I just can't decide.

Hello?

Hi!  Has it really been a month since I last posted?  I guess it has.  I have not been crafting very much.  My toddler's napping schedule has been erratic, so that has cut into my sewing time.  I am so far behind in making birthday gifts, that I am actually considering taking a day off from work to catch up on my hobby.  Is that wrong?

Anyway, last week I took a class in needle felting. My goal is to learn how to mend my wool sweaters.  One of my favorite sweaters has holes in its elbows, so I want to patch that up and I thought I saw something on pinterest about needle felted patches.  I could be wrong, but it was motivation (also used as justification when explaining the class to my husband) to take the class.

The class was offered at the Textile Center, which is where I also took that marbling class.

Those are all of the materials that we used in the class.  Our project was to copy a picture of a bird using the needle felting technique.  And here is my bird:

I wish the class had been just a tad longer.  I never did ask about how to patch my elbows.  Oh well.  At least now I have some needles and an idea about what to do.