My apologies for being absent for so long again! I have no excuse except that things have been so hectic at work and home the last few weeks. Not that it has slowed down a lot, but I missed my blog friends, so here I am! Creativity has also suffered greatly the last month. I seem to have plenty of WIP's, even more than before! And I keep starting new projects and not finishing them. Urgh. I think this is a sure sign that I am not feeling very creative at all.I did finish this gorgeous orange and black bag above. Love, love, love it! Just wish I can now sew the lining so I can use it! I just adore this bag. It was a pain to change colours the whole time and I tried several methods, but ended up with the old fashioned method of cutting the yarn and starting with a new color. This left me with hours of finishing work, but well worth it. The little belt and buckle is so cute. I plan to make leather handles but I am debating a new way of using them. I will share the finished bag once I get to it!
I did make a few knit jersey tops in the last few weeks and am already wearing them. This top I made with lovely black and white knit fabric I bought at Hobby Lobby this year in Chicago. This is from a new pattern I bought online.
This top I made from a very easy pattern and it only has two pattern parts. Quick to make!
This is my first attempt at sewing ruffles to my tops. Real easy and such fun to make. I really like the end result. Apologies for the shiny photo!
I have had this fabric for quite a while and cannot understand why I have not used it before. It is a lovely quality knit fabric. I just love the colors! This is another top from my favorite Bernina Inspiration magazine pattern.
I am experimenting with combining colors in my tops and this is the first one I made. Love the bright orange and black together. Not sure if this is what I really wanted, but I have worn it a few times already.Apart from these, I have a zillion new projects such as bags, scarfes, hats, tops, etc. that are halfway. Too embarrasing to share all of them! I hope to have some completed projects to share as soon as I can get myself inspired to finish something. Hope you all have a great week!
Unfortunately I picked up a horrible sinus-related flu two weekends ago and even if I wanted to, I could not even try to make anything. Between using tissues to wipe my nose every 2 seconds and then my runny eyes every 3 seconds, I did not have enough hands to sew or crochet! I am feeling a lot better this week and I am slowly getting back to creativity and productivity. I hope to share some new projects with you soon! Hope you are all having a great week so far.
Then I saw another bag where the entire bag was put together with crocheted circles. I used some O-rings to give the circles some strength and crocheted them together, then to the bottom part of the bag. Then I started to crochet the top part of the bag above the circles. Very easy and oh, so pretty! Took a few minutes to decide on colors, but I like the combination of colors I ended up with. The handles are my pride and joy! It is really difficult to find bag handles locally and if you do, they are almost always bamboo handles. I bought some cheap wooden bead necklaces a while back and had this idea to make my own handles with wire bought at the hardware store. Armed with some solid advice from my DH, I went off to the hardware last week and bought 2mm wire. I showed DH a picture of the handles I want and he twisted the wires while I added the beads. The orange bead handles were originally intended for another bag, mentioned in a recent post, but looked too good on this bag to not use it! Finally I used plain black cotton lining to show off the colored circles. Love the result!
This is a very plain bag because I wanted to show off this magnificent color. It is called Grape and the yarn is Elle Toy Story. A very thin, and inexpensive yarn. I used double strands for this bag in single stitch to make it firm. The little charms are from one of my Japanese Craft Books and really easy to make, stuffed with cotton wool.
Not easy to see the nice lining fabric, but it is a soft green with little purple flowers on. I have had this fabric for years.
Just need to cut out the lining, iron on the interfacing and sew it. Love how this bag came out. I changed my mind about the handles at the last moment and I am really pleased how this looks. A nice, sturdy bag with lots of room allowing for lots of pockets in the lining.
On Monday I popped into Arthur Bales, my favorite fabric and yarn store, to replace my crochet hook. I snapped it in half whilst crocheting the Multi-colored Spike bag above! They sell these sets of 3 plastic crochet hooks in 4mm, 5mm and 6mm sizes in one pack. Just love these hooks. I left with enough cotton yarn to make a pink top and the fleece fabric above. They were busy unpacking a new shipment as I walked past...Bad...All these gorgeous colors and soft, warm fabric for Winter, which has officially arrived in South Africa this past weekend.
My Burda Style magazine just arrived in the shops a few days ago and this flared coat caught my eye immediately. When I saw the cerise pink houndstooth fleece fabric, I knew I must make this coat! The matching plain pink fleece was in my stash from last Winter and a perfect match too! I see BIG buttons and a large collar. Now I just need to put my crochet bags down a bit so I can trace and cut the pattern from the magazine and start sewing!
Here is a sneek peek at the bag I am working on now. Started last night...
I used one of my favorite Amy Butler fabrics to line this bag. I attached the lining at the top with hadsewing, not my favorite way of doing things. I suck at handsewing, but I find that PATIENCE makes it better. Not a virtue of mine...The black heart brooch is from a top I bought years ago.
This little felted bag I must have made about 6 months ago. The lining was cut and ready about 2 months ago. Terrible, isn't it? Anyway, this bag was my first attempt at using Cascade 220 yarn and I was horrified at how much this yarn shrunk in the machine! It was so small I could not even fit my purse inside. The idea to make it bigger using fabric was born and Sunday night I finally sewed the bag. I am quite pleased that I managed to save this little bag!
This is a enlarged version of the Gelato Bag from Fibertrends. It is a mixture of wool and mohair. My what a lot of fluff this own gives off! Found this gorgeous large pink flower button at Arthur Bales last Saturday.
Now I have lined felted bags before, but never an odd shape like this. What a struggle the rounded edges at the top were! Can you see the creases in the corners from all my efforts? Well worth it though. Love the bag and wearing it today!
This bag I crocheted about two weeks ago, just a random bag with no pattern. Love the final effect. It just needed lining and handles sewn.
My hexagon bag all sewn together. LOTS of handsewing here! Took a whole evening with the black wool! Must admit, most of that time was spent trying to figure out the shape. I am not so pleased with the final result. I don't like tall bags, but I do like the overall look of it. The handles are not sewn on, neither is the black lining done yet. I am still deciding...
The bag I am busy with right now. I saw a picture of a bag with this pattern on a designer's website and worked out the pattern from the picture. Hopefully it will be finished this week. Love the grey and pink and the effect of the spike stitch. From far away it looks like little blocks.
Does that stop me from starting more new projects? No way! Soon my room will be dominated by WIP's. I have to do something fast. This is one of those new projects I started in the last week. I just love this bag! My first try at hexagons. Great fun and my bag is finished, just needs lining and handles now. Of course, I did not make it like the pattern. I changed the shape completely and I'm not sure if I am happy with the result. I'll share next week.
