Chelmsford Earth Fair

Today I am starting to call possible vendors for Chelmsford, MA's Earth Fair.  It will be on Saturday, May 14th from 12 - 3 at the Senior Center.  If you live in or near Chelmsford, MA. and want to have a table at the fair, please let me know.  You can contact me through my website (look for "email me"  on the "about me" page).   Here is a link to my blog post on last year's Earth Fair.  So far I have a few confirmed vendors, a couple of maybes, and several more that I need to call.  A new addition to the fair this year is food and drinks.  I'm hoping that this year's fair will be bigger and better than last year's (which was a lot of fun).

Patriotic Scrubby & Make-Up Bags

Yesterday I made another scrubby, but this time in patriotic colors.  I really wanted to make this scrubby to match one of my favorite dishcloths that used the same yarn.  I used US 7 needles, Lily's Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn, and I doubled the pattern.

Today I finished sewing 5 more make-up / notion bags.  The inside of these bags is the same color blue as the zippers.  I have one more pre-quilted fabric left that I want to turn into these bags.  However I have a lot of quilting homework to do first (for my quilt guild).

Wordless Wednesday: Snow Day

Make-up Bag Tutorial

I won some pre-quilted fabric a few months ago during my quilt guild's auction.  Originally I thought that I was going to make oven mitts from it.  Then today I was inspired to make notions / make-up bags out of them.  The bags have an interesting shape to them.  The top lays flat and the bottom goes in the opposite direction (toward you).  For some reason this shape makes the bag roomier.  I bought one from my quilt guild a year ago, and I love it.  

This particular pre-quilted fabric was the reason I made several make-up bags today.  It is red on one side and has a pink floral print on the other side (Valentine's colors).  Of course you can quilt your own fabric instead.  I've done that before with this project.  This may sound a little backwards, but I first measure my zipper, and then I add an inch to that measurement.  Then I cut my fabric that length.  The width can be that same measurement or longer.  This isn't an exact science, so you can play around with the size.

Next pin your zipper face down on your fabric and pin.  I think that it is on top of the fabric that will go on the outside of your bag.  I have it pictured on both sides above, but they will be two different bags.

Then sew the zipper on.  I used what I like to call a hem stitch.  It is the same one used when sewing the bottom of t-shirts.  This is because there will be a raw edge of fabric exposed when it is finished.  I've tried to make it so that there wasn't that raw edge in the past, but it did not work out well.  

Do the same for the other side.

I took this picture after I took all the red fabric ones, because I improved on the original pattern a bit.  I'm telling you this, because you will not see the results of this step in the next few steps.  After sewing the zipper on, I sewed the raw edge flat against the fabric.  Make sure not to sew the bag closed by accidentally sewing the two sides of the bag together.  I found that this step gave the bag a cleaner look.  

Next sew the bottom side of the bag closed.  The bottom is the side with the bottom of the zipper.  In the picture above it is the right hand side.

Find the center of the bag on the top, place a pin there, and fold the sides to the center.  Pin them in place.  It will look a little weird, but it is correct.  I prefer to have my zipper open half way for this part.  Do not have it all the way open, because it might be harder to close later on.

Cut some ribbon for the loop at the top of the bag (so that it can hang from something).  Pin it so that the loop is inside of the bag (what will later be the outside of the bag).

Fold it to hide the raw edges, and sew along that edge (the width/top of the bag).

Next turn it right side out.  Now you have a cute little travel bag for your make-up, jewelry, or whatever.

I made 9 from the fabric that I had.  The lower left one was the first one that I made today.  I forgot all about the ribbon on it until it was to late.  Oh well.  These will make nice Valentine's gifts for some of my friends.  

There was a little bit of fabric left over that was to small for a make-up bag.   Instead I made a little pouch out of it.  It can hold change, cards, and other small things in it.

I find it funny that I keep saying "make-up bag,"  because I don't wear any make-up.  I have kept jewelry and small knitting and crochet projects in these bags.  I even made a large one to use as a craft bag.  I'm not sure how clear my instructions are.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Happy Crafting!

Pinwheel Blocks

I went to my local quilt shop today to turn in my December block and pick up the pattern for the January block.  I also got back my November block.  They like to display everyone's blocks (its optional) for others to see.  Mine is the green one in the 4th row, 2nd from the left.  You may notice that there are 3 different pinwheel blocks all together (if you look in both pictures).  One is from November, one is from December, and the 3rd one (the only one like it, in the bottom picture) is January's block.  

Its really great to see all the different color and fabric/pattern choices that everyone has made.

December's Pinwheel Block

In November I joined my local quilt shop's "stash party pinwheel" block of the month.  Every month for a year (November 2010 - October 2011) the quilt shop will give out a pinwheel pattern.  There are rules for getting the pattern, but I'm not going to get into that right now.  When I got December's pattern, I wasn't to happy.  I have never made a good flying geese block before.  So I put off making the black until last night.  I can't believe it, this is the best flying geese block that I have ever made.  All the triangle points are there and not cut off.  Now I need to make 4 more.  One is for the quilt pattern that the quilt shop will hand out in November, and the other 4 are for another quilt that I am making.  Tomorrow I am going to bring it into the quilt shop and get the January block.

Anytime that I make quilt blocks where I need to cut off triangles, I sew those triangles into half square triangles.  This block was made using all of the half square triangle scraps from the flying geese pinwheel block.  I love it.  Because of this block, I really want to make more of the other block.

Here is my blog post for November's pinwheel block.  It includes the 2 box exchange blocks that I made that month for my quilt guild.  I'm keeping with a color theme for the pinwheel blocks: green, black, white, and some grey.

Valentine's Wreath Ornaments

Over the weekend I crochet these small wreath ornaments for Valentine's Day.  The center of the wreaths are plastic bottle rings (the ring below the cap).  After crocheting them, I glued on some sequence hearts.

Pattern: Use whatever size hook that you think would work with your yarn.  I used a J hook.
- Chain 20 stitches
- Double crochet around the plastic bottle ring.  The more stitches that you can fit in, the more ruffly the wreath will be.
- Slip stitch into 1st stitch.
- Triple crochet into every stitch.  You can also triple crochet into the 1st stitch then triple crochet twice into the 2nd stitch, and repeat.  It is up to you.
- Slip stitch into the 1st stitch of the 2nd round.
- Chain 20 stitches, cut yarn, and tie the 2 chain lengths together.

For the small pink wreaths, I only crochet 1 round.

These can be hung from some decorative branches or plants, drawer and door knobs, hung on the wall, hung in front of a window, tied to a gift bag, put on the outside of a handmade card, etc.