Happy 4th of July

Is it really the 4th of July already?  Is it me or is this year flying by.  I know don't we say that every year as well?  I guess that's what happens as we get older.

We have had a crazy few weeks with travel and visitors of late so very little sewing has taken place, but lots of crocheting of plarn.  I have managed to collect a lot of Target bags so that continues to be my focus.  I plan to make this one on the small side but given my judgement of late in size, it will probably still be bigger than I plan, which I'm OK with.  It will just take me longer to finish and more trips to Target of course.  I'll keep plugging away and stop to take a few pictures a long the way over the holiday. 

I'm told that word is getting out about the plarn excitement.  I'm happy to make bags to fit your needs or even to teach you to do it yourself.  Let me know if there is a local interest and perhaps a fun evening can be set up to work on plarn!

Plarn Plarn Plarn Everywhere

The idea of plarn bags is catching on with circles I'm in, mostly due to people seeing my bag of course.  I usually use it mostly for pool and beach activities so it's exposure has been limited to those venues. 

Over the past 3 months I've began training for my first 5K in hopes of potentially becoming some kind of a runner.  This is a completely new adventure for me and has been surprisingly easy to get to the point where I am today.  Most of my hang ups over the years have been to knee problems and then fear of screwing up the then surgically reconstructed knee.  But I digress...

I have a run date every Wednesday with a friend near our daycare.  On the rare occasion that my girlfriend can't make it, or I decide to do a run just before I pick up the children, I stop in school, change and leave my "running bag" (plarn bag of course!) in the principal's office while I run.  I can't tell you the number of comments I get on the bag when I'm there.  People are amazed that it's made out of grocery store bags and that I've made it.  So much so that I'm contemplating creating a grocery bag recycling box there to collect new bags. 

With all this new interest I've been working very hard on the two I'm already working on.  The base of the all target one just about done thanks to my recent shopping trips.  The other bag is probably 4 or 5 ins in height now, so not quite there yet in terms of being proportional to the base, but soon!  I can't wait to share the finish products with you!

Now if only my cousin lived closer I could get her to practice her photography on my products!  You should check out her 30 Photography Challenge that she's doing right now.

Burp Cloth Blitz

I am in a cutting and pinning frenzy of late.  To keep things interesting I decided to do some prep work for my many sewing projects that are piling up on my sewing desk.  This week's activity, burp cloths! 

I always find it funny how long it takes me to actually cut my fabric down to size.  I swear I sit and stare at a piece of fabric for hours making sure the burp cloth dimensions are just right and that I'm minimizing the waste while maximizing the total burp cloths I am creating for a given yardage.

I have a nice stack of burp cloths, pillow cases, blankets, and boppy cover fabric now sitting next to my sewing machine.  Once this pinning it done, then it will be onto the sewing frenzy.  But that is another blitz all together.  Some days I wish I had little mice to help me do my work like Cinderella did, the pile is growing and growing! 

The good news is that I should have some new products I'm considering actually posting on my Etsy page in the near future.  That is if I can keep them stocked long enough to make it worth while.  I'm making things in both girl and boy fabric so chances are high that I'm making something that will fit your needs if you're interested. 

If you're looking for something specific, as always please contact me!  I'm always happy to answer sewing and knitting questions. 

Fear not, the plarn totes are still in the works, I'll be updating you on that progress next week so be sure to stop back then.

Something a Little Different

I mostly talk about my adventures sewing, knitting, or owning a small business here.  Kind of the purpose of having a blog/website linked to a business, right? 

Today I decided to switch it up a little and share a great find I found on Pinterest related to cooking.  I'm up a 4:45 every morning to get my day started.  It is way to early for me to even think about breakfast. So I usually keep bagels and cream cheese at work for my breakfast most mornings.  That can get boring after a while so I was looking for different options.  In comes Pinterest...

Why not make a large batch of breakfast burritos, freeze them, then nuke them when I'm ready to eat?  That's exactly what I did this week.  I bought some tortillas, ground breakfast sausage, and of course some cheese.  I had the other ingredients of potatoes and eggs.

This time around I added to many hash browns, so I think I'll use fewer or just leave them out all together on my next batch.  Other than too many potatoes it's a hit!  I've had them as my breakfast every morning this week and it's been a great change of pace.

I've seen a lot of recipes for a various breakfast burritos.  My theory is, find a list of ingredients you like mix 'em up wrap them and enjoy!  Then of course let me know how it goes!

Draft Post Craziness

I think I have about 400 blog posts in some sort of draft state.  I have been pulled in about 500 different directions of late and feel like I'm getting no where.  Of course, that's what happens when you try to multi-task too much!  To that vain, I'm trying to focus and knock one or two things off a day if possible.  The larger items will take a little longer than that to knock off, but there are several, just hit post type tasks I need to get out the door. 

Therefore, my six-month resolution is to focus a little more and complete a task before moving onto the next one.  So today's goal of letting you know I'm still alive and well on the internet it a goal of mine. 

HELLO HERE I AM!

Whew!  Got that out of the way!  Now if only the rest of my to do list were that easy to accomplish.  Off to try to knock of something else now. 

What's been keeping you busy of late?  Any new exciting patterns or projects on the horizon?

Work in Progress

I've been diligently working on 2 plarn projects of late.  The one I started a few months ago is still going strong.  It is a lot bigger than I had initially envisioned it, but that's ok, I'm sure my friend will enjoy a larger than planned plarn bag.  Now that I'm a few inches up the side of the bag, it is starting to take some serious shape.

As I bag started to get bigger, I was surprised at the softness of the bag feel.  As a result, I'm doing some experimenting with different bag material and plarn thicknesses.  Hence why I have two bags currently in the works.  The larger bag uses mostly my grocery store bags with an occasional other bag mixed in here and there.  For some reason my grocery store bags seem very soft when it comes to the type of plastic.  Yes, I said soft when referring to a plastic bag. 

I'm curious if by using different bags that are not as soft if the bag will be stiffer.  You can see from the larger, more complete bag that the overall look of the bag is more like canvas than a basket.  That's fine, I'm just trying to get a better feel of different textures with this medium.  There is a lot more experimenting here than say sewing a boppy cover. There I pretty much know what kind of fabric I want and why and then how to construct it.

The second bag I'm working on it going to be made only from Target bags.  It's already starting out much stiffer than the other bag.  I have a feeling it is the bag material, but I did also just switch the way I'm cutting my plarn in order to make it more uniform.  I'm curious if that will make any difference.  I suppose I will find out when I get to those strips on the larger bag.  Until then you will just have to enjoy my current stages.    

Pattern Pallooza - Beginners

This blog post has morphed slightly from it's original plan.  My original plan was to share some patterns with you, but I received the most wonderful email yesterday.  A friend just bought her very first sewing machine!  Wahoo for her a whole knew world now awaits her.  Now of course she has the all important task of deciding the the first project will be.  So instead of just haphazardly selecting some interesting patterns, but now I have a purpose to share with her and the rest of you some interesting first projects with your sewing machine.

This week I am focusing on patterns and projects that are perfect for the beginner sewer.  That means, the concept is relatively simple and there is lots of room for error if you do need to rip it out or don't sew in a straight line. 


 
Up first are these great bean bags I found from MADE.  They are adorable if you ask me and much more fun than a store bought bean bag.  This is a great first project to sink your teeth into.  I want to make some of these for the adults too, not just the kids!

42 pages internet pattern scare you?  No worries! How about some floor pillows instead?  You still get new comfy seating for the kids but it might be a little less intimidating to start.  Fido may think these are for her, but they help make a great reading nook for some much needed quiet time in the kids room.  This pattern and tutorial comes to us from oven lovin'. 







Finally, but potentially more importantly, you can find some beginner sewing tips over at Couturier Mommy.  No need for me to reinvent the wheel here when there are already so many how-to websites.  Hopefully I can at least help you centralize them. 

Please feel free to share your references for a beginner here and don't forget to stop back for more advanced patterns and resources.