How Many Crafts Can One Do?

I've recently taken up crochet. Why? I dunno. Keep my mind and brain occupied. Idle hands, ya know. I ordered a set of crochet hooks and they came in this fancy pantsy bag...

Yeah. That big is not really my bag, man. Know what I mean? The contents of the bag suited my needs, but the cheap flowery bag had to go. I wanted something more my style and a little bigger to also hold a small ball of yarn. I pulled out some fabric that I've held onto for a couple of years now.

Now that's more my style! Everyday is Halloween (if I had my way anyway). I dug out a coordinating orange solid for the top and for the lining, along with some batting to give it some bulk. I wanted this to be a quicker project and didn't want to deal with any quilting, so I sewed the top and back to the batting as I went.

Soon enough, it was zipper time. I dislike sewing zippers. Intensely. Immensely. I don't find it especially difficult, but I do find it tedious. I'm also on the edge of my seat hoping I don't break a needle. And I did today. Twice. It makes me jump. Maybe I need to learn how to do it better (or properly?), but it did turn out nicely once I added the top stitching.

Once that was done, the rest was a relative breeze. I sewed the sides together, boxed the bottom corners and Bob's yer uncle! I little bag for some doodads.

Isn't it just the most precious thing you've ever seen? No? Well, me either, but it's serving its purpose.

It's Dusty Up in Here

It's been...quite a while since I've visited my own blog. Laziness? Not really. Still working away on all things quilty. I'm just not a good blogger, and no matter the strength of any resolution to change that, it may not happen. Nonetheless, a couple of things that have taken up my time recently.

I've been a fan of The Golden Girls since it first aired, so this was a really fun project. I used a cross stitch pattern by weelittlestitches and converted it to a quilt top, converting each cross stitch to one inch of fabric. I used Lori Holt's Spelling Bee for the lettering. It'll be quilted in the next few weeks and then I'll add embellishments - buttons for jewelry. Riley Blake's beautiful line of solids, Confetti Cottons, made up the entire quilt. I have no idea where the Girls will end up when they're completed, but I'll be sad to see them go.

This is my current project. Well, one of several I'm working on at the moment. It's a Fons & Porter pattern called Diamonds and Pearls. The pattern suggested batiks, but I'm partial to prints so I used a two Riley Blakes basics lines - Kisses and Shades - for the blocks. Next up for this is the pieced border, using smaller diamond shapes. Borders are typically my least favorite part of any project. Needless to say, I'm not looking forward to it, but it'll complete the project nicely. I love the harlequin look created by the diamonds and squares.

Susan Ache's fun, colorful book Start with Strips has lots of fun projects using 2.5" strips and this one was my favorite. I was on Christmas break when I got the book and managed to piece the whole quilt in a few days. Amazing what a little inspiration and a lot of OCD can produce! This one will be quilted in the next few weeks, because I have way too many UFO's to finish!

That's the haps right now. I'll be back with more next week!