giveaway

psst...i'm having a giveaway over @ The Vintage Sheet Blog starting today. i made the needle book and pin cushion mostly from a pretty blue, green and white vintage sheet. the giveaway is open until March 23rd, so if you're so inclined, stop over to enter and have a look-see.

my boss made me do it

yep, if it weren't for my boss, i wouldn't have picked up those needles, re-taught myself knitting and abandoned everything else. i taught myself to knit about five years ago and had resisted re-learning because i knew that i just didn't need to have ANOTHER craft in the mix. but noooo, my boss had to ask me if i would help her and her daughter with a knitting kit they had bought- to make sure they were doing it right. so, i 'reluctantly' took it home to make sure i knew what i was doing and that i was teaching them the right way. that was the beginning of the end of all things not knitting for a while. here are a couple of by-products...

Kittyhawk Cowl: Pattern by Katy Osterwald

Sock pattern found here

i really have had a lot of fun making these things but i had forgotten how time consuming knitting can be! this is my first pair of socks i've knitted ever and good golly are they slow going [Courtney, i'm looking for your feedback here!]. but, i'm a sock fanatic and so i am really excited to finish up the second one...besides winter is almost over and i don't think wool socks will be very practical when it gets warmer out.

have you picked up a new or forgotten craft lately?

love

i'm really loving orange and aqua together...here's what i've found on etsy lately

 

1. Modern Stripe Bottle Vase by dahlhaus
2. Instant Collection of Garden Water Faucet Knobs by sushipotparts
3. ALPencil Print by teconlene
4. Beach Day Quilt by sugarcubed

orange

i just love the color orange, don't you? i recently purchased this canister set at a flea market here in town... 

my original intention was to buy them to sell in my Etsy shop, but once they made their way into my kitchen, i could not part with their orange-y goodness!

i'm guessing there is one size missing from the set that would fit in between the largest and the next smallest, but i really don't care :)


and the canisters served as a bit of inspiration for helping me decide my color choices for a little spontaneous crochet/recycling project. 

the can held peanuts and is much like a crescent roll package - paper on the outside, metallic inside and metal bottom. so, i carefully washed out the inside of the can and hooked up a cozy for it. and here is the final result...

it's pretty tall which makes it perfect for holding longer items and looks nice sitting next to the canisters.


what spontaneous projects have you finished lately?

mail

remember my recent post on some favorite cuffs i found on etsy? well, i loved that leather arrow cuff soooo much, i put in a request to Batwings & Battleaxes to see if i could order one half the width and to fit around my wrist. Kyle was a treat to work with... he even sent drawings in our convo conversation to make sure we had the same vision. 
and boy, did he deliver the goods!

it is exactly what i hoped for in both look and fit. and it came super fast...i placed the order on friday and he sent it out the next monday!

 so, if you find yourself in the market for a leather bracelet or cuff, for a man or woman, go see Kyle... if he doesn't have exactly what you're looking for, he's wonderful to work with on custom pieces. 

thanks, kyle!

weekend

hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

mine was pretty good even though i was sick most of last week [cold, cough, yuck] and am still trying to shake it. so, let's see what did i get accomplished?

-worked friday night at my day job [a contradiction i know but i have have to work one friday night about every other month] during which time it snowed a bit

puppy prints

-took some pics for Etsy vintage listings..here's a sample of what's to come

peacock napkin holder

-went through a box from an auction last summer full of vintage fabrics and quilt pieces. i LOVE going through the box and seeing exactly what goodies i ended up with, all the while picturing what i'm going to sew the already cut squares or sewn blocks into. but i HATE the soaking, washing and ironing that it all requires. i know, i know, it's a necessity but to me it's the worst part. however, almost the whole box was worth all the work...here's a few pics that shows about 1/4 of what was in the box total [and you have my sincere apologies for these dark, flash bombed photos, but it was dark outside. what are you going to do?]

oh, and did i mention there were four full feedsacks in the stash! mwahahaha! [can you tell i love feedsacks? :D ] three are the same pattern but the one on top is wonderful and still vibrant!

 AND there was  a couple of good-sized pieces of bark cloth in the mix too!

one last thing: Rachel from One Pretty Thing so very kindly included my crocheted wrist warmer pattern in her Crochet Roundup yesterday! thanks soooo much, Rachel, i really appreciate the mention!!


well, those are the highlights of my weekend. i need to go swap out a load of fabric...


what exciting things and projects did you work on this weekend?

changes

well, i finally got around to making a new blog banner [see up there ^^] AND a new Etsy banner....

they go together without being the same and run in the same theme as my business cards...

oh, and in you case you missed it on my new Etsy banner, i'm going to start adding a few handmade things to my shop. i've been waiting for Etsy to have their system set up to allow multiple shops under one ID/email, but i figure if i just work things in and see how it goes... i'll let you all know when i've started adding handmade items to my shop, but here's a peek at the first items i will be listing...

 it's almost the weekend! hooray!!