Category Archives: UFO’s

What was in my craft basket last week?

After returning from vacation, I felt the need to get into my sewing room and create something.   I knew I couldn’t get a quilt finished in a week and I wanted to have something that I could say was “done”.   So I looked around for some UFO’s, gathered three together with the supplies needed to complete them and set to work.   The first thing I worked on was a wall hanging that my BFF in California and I worked on together while I was out there.  20190519_140909.jpg

I added the thimble borders to the top and bottom and a hanging sleeve on the back and it was  ready to hang on my wall.

Next I decided to finish a heart shaped potholder for another friend.  I needed to add the binding and the hanging loop and then this could be considered done too. 20190519_140849.jpg  Boy do I love those binder clips.  Sure saves a lot of pokes in my fingers when I was using pins.  They are especially helpful when you are trying to put binding on something with a lot of curves like this.

OK, two UFO’s down, one to go.   This one is actually a project gone wrong.  Someone, whose name I won’t mention,   was attempting to make a couple of microwave cozies but something happened with the placement of the darts or something and they came out more like little boxes with wings.  20190519_140702.jpg   She was going to just toss them but I said I’d take them and see what I could do with them.   So, here is what I decided to do:

First,  I stitched the sides a bit more closed, then I  grabbed my jar of buttons and picked out four buttons for each “cozy” to use to sew down the wings, pinned the wings down                                             and voila’!      20190528_214207.jpg   UFO #3 finished.

Maybe they could be binder clip cozies?      20190528_214334.jpg  Or maybe chocolate candy cozies?    Whatever they wind up being, I’m glad they made their way out of my UFO pile and into my basket last week.

And for now, my basket is empty      20190528_214444.jpg   I will let you know what I fill it up with.   I have so many things on my “to do” list.   Maybe it will be filled with the Christmas scraps for the scrappy Irish chain quilt.  Or maybe with the pieces for the log cabin quilt.  Or maybe with the two rag quilts I need to make.   Actually, maybe I just need more baskets.

Bye for now.  Be well.

Ginny

 

Advertisement

Crafters’ Dilemma

There comes a time in all crafters’ lives when decisions have to be made.   The craft room, if you are fortunate enough to have one, is overflowing with all the supplies needed for all of our different crafting interests.  I have done cross stitch, knitting and crocheting,  ceramics,  wood crafts, scrapbooking and cardmaking and sewing, quilting and machine embroidering.  I must confess that there is at least a small amount of supplies/unfinished projects left from each of those interests.  And I also must confess that those things are not in my “main” craft room, aka sewing room.  They have definitely overflowed into the other spare bedroom and I have been working on going through all the different bins and boxes.  A few years ago I did give away most of my wood craft supplies.   And I only have a few ceramic pieces in the “craft closet” waiting to be painted.  Of course, I don’t actually have the paint so until I get some, that’s where they will stay.   I have a lot of knitting needles and crochet hooks having inherited them from my grandmother and also a few of my aunt’s.  Add them to what I already had, and well, I guess I’ve got about any size I would need.  I donated any yarn that I wasn’t going to use to a charitable organization that makes afghan’s.   I still have my cross stitch floss and patterns.  They are taking up very little room on the shelf so I decided to keep them there until I can find someone who will use them.  I don’t want to just fill up the landfill with these things.

That brings us to the scrapbooking/cardmaking supplies and my sewing, etc. supplies.  Well, through all the aforementioned craft periods, the one constant was sewing of some kind.  Therefore, we know that the sewing room will remain untouched as far as getting rid of things, except of course the supplies I use to make things or extras I have to share with fellow sewists.   So that leaves the elephant in the room, the scrapbook supplies.  Sigh, so much!  I have made a start on going through it all.  Stamps, stamp pads (tossed them – the ink was all dried out), cardstock –  TONS of that, punches, stickers (stickers?  does anyone use stickers anymore? — I’m giving away how long ago I started on that craft) and, of course, books on cardmaking and scrapbooking.    Now I have a bff whose birthday is this week — well actually it isn’t because she is a leap year baby and doesn’t actually have a birthday this year but I’ll send her a card anyway.  🙂   If I had ink pads that weren’t dried out, I could have made her a card but since I don’t, well it is a store bought one.  But since she has the same “crafters’ dilemma” as I do,  she will understand.  I’d post a picture here of the card but I don’t want her to see it before she gets it just in case she is reading this post.  Wait, what am I saying?  “Just in case”?   Of course she is reading this post.  She is my bff!   If I had thought of it early enough, I would have asked my friend Johnna of Johnna’s Stampin’ Up! Crafters to make a special one for me.  She makes some beautiful cards.  Check out her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1968883040074855/

So to all you crafters out there who are dealing with whittling down all the “stuff”,  I say  be strong, be brave, be smart.   Try to find someone who can use the supplies and  don’t add to the landfills if possible.  But, if it really, really can’t be used, then bite the bullet and toss it.   Good luck to you all. And remember, baby steps are still steps so if you need to take things real slow, that’s fine.  Let me know how you are doing and I will do the same.

Bye for now.    See you soon.

Ginny

 

What’s in my craft basket?

I’ve been spending a lot more time with my embroidery machine the last couple of weeks and since it is springtime (although not quite feeling like it today), what else would I have in my basket but………

20170327_081909

  ….. a bunch of bunnies!

It’s been a lot of fun making the stuffie bunnies.   Next I will be attempting to embroider names onto the ears of the larger bunnies.   Wish me luck.

This is also in my basket:

20170327_082047

I will be adding the Chenille-It this week.   I was hoping to have it done already but things just kept pushing it to the back of my list.

So, that’s a couple things I’ll be up to.   What things are  in your craft baskets?

Have a good weekend.  See you soon.

Ginny

Snow Day = UFO Day

Yay!!!  A snow day!    This is what the view was from my sewing room window this morning. snow-day

So, I got to spend time inside in my sewing room.  I decided to make this a UFO day — UnFinished Object .   I went to the bin where I keep projects I have started but they aren’t yet completed.  Some have only been waiting for me to finish them for a short time and others, well, they have been waiting quite a while.    The first one I chose to work on was a Christmas Tree skirt that I made waaayyyy back in the ’90’s.  I came across it this last summer when we were going through things in the Brooklyn house before selling it.   I had made it out of 6 wedge pieces of material and I used it for a number of years but I never quilted it.   christmas-tree-skirt    I actually forgot that I had made a trim for it by braiding red and green ric rac together for around the edge.  braided-ric-rac   I decided to just use a serpentine stitch in rows on each wedge.  The batting inside had already begun to shift around but I figure maybe I can get a couple more years use from it with a bit of stitching.   I will now wash and dry it and pack it away for next Christmas.  I better put it someplace where I will remember that I have it so it doesn’t disappear for another decade.

Next I worked on a small quilt that I had begun a few months ago.  pink-green-charm-pack-quilt

I had sewn the charm squares into rows so I needed to sew the rows together.  Then I added my first border – pink.    I am going to add another border of green and I have some Chenille-It that I think I will add to it.  This isn’t going back into the UFO bin.  I’m keeping it out so that I will finish it.  I don’t have far to go.  I do have to pick my backing fabric for it yet though.

Lastly, since Valentine’s Day is only a few days away,  I pulled out a heart shaped potholder that I cut out about a year ago but never finished.                                                        heart-potholder     I just need to put the binding around the outside and the loop on and it is done!

All in all, a good day in the sewing room.   And I got to watch some old westerns on tv with hubby — Wyatt Earp and Wagon Train.  I enjoyed them even if they were in black and white. 🙂

We are very lucky to have some wonderful boys who live on our block that we call our Snow Elves.  They showed up when the snow flakes slowed down  and took care of the 11″ of snow that needed shoveling          snow-elves-gift

It snowed for a bit more after we went out to clear off our cars.  As soon as they saw us out there, they came back over and shoveled some more.   Great neighbors.

I will be finishing up the potholder and the quilt top this weekend and I also have rearranging the living room a bit on my To Do list.  I want to carve out a small space to set up my Featherweight down there so I can sometimes  do some stitching in the evenings while watching tv with the hubs.  Should be a fun weekend.  Wish me luck.

Have a good night all.  See you soon.

Ginny