The Giving Flower

Well, here is my new spindle bag, Shawna. She’s a real sweetheart. Do you see those big innocent eyes?

I wanted to make her all white, but t I don’t like things looking dirty fast so I thought better of it and put some brown on the bottom. She’s sat in the mud! I tried to make a splash coming up but I’m not sure if it’s that obvious. Green would also be good as she also likes to sit on the grass and chew her cud.

She’s made of very sturdy white jeans fabric and has a bottom section to help her stand up a bit better. I think the next one would be made without it.  I made her very long so I have plenty of room for roving and up to three spindles if I need them. I also made two pockets on her, one is her tail in the back and one is her face in the front covered by her ‘hair’.

The ears have no function, they’re just cute.
I found almost all the fabric I used to make her in my stash (I had to buy the brown) and many of the fabrics have some kind of meaning, so Shawna is really special to me. It took me all of Sunday to make her and I’m glad she turned out pretty much the way I imagined. Just to prove I can’t draw here is the picture I drew to work from. Well, I’ll post the picture as soon as I get my scanner to work. Ugh
I think she would be cuter if she were shorter and rounder but she wouldn’t be a good spindle bag with those dimensions.

On Friday I managed to finish my skort which was almost two sizes too big after finishing it the first time last week. I revamped it quite a bit and although it’s still a bit big I just love how it turned out. Hey, this could mean extra room for ice cream this summer.

Now, I know skorts are a bit 90′s (or where they 80′s?) but I love them. Could they please come back in style??? From the front they are a skirt and from the back they are shorts.

No, you can’t click this picture to make it bigger, my butt does not need to be any bigger than it really is.
Notice the shower curtain in the background? There is something to say for spring cleaning. When I cleaned out my closet to find room for my summer clothes, I found this old shower curtain from my single days in Utah. I had gotten this Waverly fabric from my sorority (don’t hold that against me!) and decided I needed to have flowers in my bathroom. Because I was one of the only girls in the sorority who sewed (and admitted it) I got a ton of fabric that they were trying to get rid of. Martin has kindly agreed to let me hang it in our bathroom to give it a bit of color. I love having it up, it brings back great memories.
Two years ago I splurged and invested in some professional hair cutting scissors because I’m the hair dresser in the family, which is a lot of fun for me and saves us quite a bit of money. Well, I didn’t want to put the scissors on just any shelf or drawer so I made this roll for them out of my sorority Waverly.

I’ve also made a new button for Bagaholics Anonymous.

I like this one a bit better. I wish I had more time to play around but until then this will have to do. Go on over there, the bags are great, we have some really talented members. Send me an email if you feel you have a problem and need to share it with the rest of us!!
There’s more to show but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Thursday was a holiday here which meant Martin stayed home from work both Thursday and Friday. This gave me a bit of time to do the things that make me happy.
First of all I made these hungry fish.

The one on the right is for Dianna. The one on the left is for my mom.
I think I’m blue fished out. It seems everyone likes the blue and green combination, except my mom who loves the first pink one that I made. My next bag design is in the works, stay tuned.
After finally finishing these two and making the last few adjustments to my fish pattern, which will soon be up for sale-my two helpers are busy testing it, I made these two travel needle cases.

Actually they are a bit big for travel but I like to take lots with me. I saw these over at Dave‘s blog and thought it was a great idea to have a case that’s just a bit smaller than the one I use for all my needles. I adore the fabric he used but seeing that I don’t have any gingerbread men missing appendages in my stash, I opted for flowers and stripes. I’m more than happy at how they turned out.
Sorry about the horrible pictures, it’s been raining here which makes it quite tough to get good ones. I wish you could see the colors, they really are pretty, happy colors.

I might be doing this.

I hope to anyway, I think it’s a fun idea.
It goes like this, you sign up if your birthday happens to fall in August, as mine does, and you are assigned a yarn swap partner. Cool idea! What fun would it be to do some yarn swappage. Can you tell I’m bored and have nothing to do but sign up to everything that’s out there in blogworld. *wink* I’m a follower, I guess. Lead on!

Seeing that Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors and I’ve read her books and watched her movies a zillion times, I decided to take this quiz.

You scored as Elizabeth Bennet. As one of Austen’s most beloved characters, Elizabeth Bennet represents what most women would like to become: strong, independent, and loyal. Of course, she has her faults including a stubborn will of iron and a clinging to first impressions. Overall, Lizzie is bright and lovable…something to admire and aspire to. Elizabeth Bennet 81% Emma Woodhouse 75% Marianne Dashwood 66% Jane Bennet 56% Lady Catherine 38% Charlotte Lucas 34% Elinor Dashwood 25% Which Jane Austen Character are You? (For Females) Long Quiz!!! created with QuizFarm.com

One more thing is this story for all of you chocolate lovers, me included. You’ve got to read this article: Chocolate may boost brain power. Need I say more?

Sometimes I have so many things that need to get finished that it can be quite daunting. The thought of having all my projects done and nothing left on my to-do list is really appealing, which was a motivating force behind my Lentalong. Then why is it that as soon as one project is done, and I can feel the deadline stress lifting, 5 new projects start flying around my head that need to get done as well? Jogging really isn’t helping, it’s a time to be all by myself to think of all the things I’d like to do.

I have more to show but tomorrow is another day. I’m off to watch Pride and Prejudice and eat some chocolate, heaven knows I need all the help I can get.

Over the last few days I’ve managed to make a few more little stitch markers.
Anyone up for a beer?
I also made two beach bags out of my favorite flip flop material, one is for my mom and one for me. We need more bags, right?

I put a tape measure in the picture so you can see the size of these monsters. Click for bigness (I like that word). If you look closely you’ll see my little sewing helper Alida’s hand and two paws and a nose from Pip, the tape-measure-chasing cat.

I made a large pocket for the inside and sewed down the middle of it which makes two great deep pockets for the little things I have to tote around with me. The handles are long, 40 inches long to be exact, which is the way I love them. I just hope my mom likes them too. I’m pretty sure she will.

Would anyone be interested in swapping a set of stitch markers for a copy of Interweave Knits Summer issue 2006? I love some of the patterns in it but my mom can’t get her hands on one. Leave me an email or a comment if you’re interested and which stitch markers you’d like. Thanks!