A Little Bit of Everything...

I went to Darien Lake the other day with some friends, and the night before, I decided I needed a tiny purse, just big enough to hold my phone and some money, but small enough that I could keep it with me on rollercoasters, here's what I ended up with. It zippers open and closed on the back


My first attempt at quilting. It's a little bit confusing, but I like how its turning out so far.



A bunch of colored pencils that have been sitting in our basement for years, need an idea of how to put them to good use.

And finally, another skirt, completed with the help of shirring.
(Kinda hard to see the pattern on the fabric in the picture unfortunatly :\

Summer!

Finally done with school completely! No more physics class ever!
Now I have plenty of time for projects, such as....
A Skirt I made for my best friend using shirring, which I just learned how to use (suprisingly easy to do) and a top I made for myself, which Im not completely satisfied witht the result, but I like it well enough.

Also, I found this cute purse made from a jeans pocket that I made at a friends birthday party when I was like five years old or so.

Skirt Pattern

This is one of my first patterns that I've written (besides a pair of handwarmers)
I was really happy with the outcome. Basically the whole thing is very customizable. I'm made it in small size, but it would be easy to alter. As long as you get the waist band to be the right size, the rest of it you wont need to worry about that.

~Winter Skirt Pattern~
1. CO 100 sts(or more depending on the size desired, sorry im not exactly sure how many more, might have to play around with it) on 10.5 US needles.
2. Work in *K2,P2* rib for 5.5cm.
3. Work in stockinette for 4cm.
4. (Beginning of increases)At beginning of row, place a marker (use a color here so you know its the beginning), K1, Place second marker. K24, Place marker, K1, place marker, K23, place marker, K1, place marker, K25, place marker, K1, place marker,K23.
5.ODD ROWS: Knit entire round
6.EVEN ROWS: between each set of markers, increase once on both edge stitches (the ones right next to the markers) SO, two increases per round between each set of stitch markers. and 8 total increases per round.
7.Continue steps 5 and 6 until skirt flares out to enough to be to your like liking (you may need to put it on a peice of scrap yarn and try it on) the increases create a pleated effect with out the bulk of actual pleats.
8. Once youre satisfied with your "pleats", just knit stockinette until desired lenght. You may want to switch to a row or two of garter stitch at the end if you do not want your hem curling up a bit. I however, happen to like that look with the skirt, so I let it curl. ( Well actually I just knit it and forgot about the fact that this would happen, but it was a happy accident because I like the result.)
9.Finishing- measure a peice of elastic that fits comfortably around your waist. cut this lenght, and then sew together at the ends, creating a circle. Put aside for now....and mean while. Pick up and knit, 100 stitches from top edge (waistband edge) of skirt. Work in stockinette for 5 cm. This will be folded to the inside creating a double layer waist band.
10. Using same yarn, sew in elastic making sure your sewing zigzags (to allow stretch) then fold second layer of the waistband to the inside and stitch down (still using same yarn and zigzag stitch)
11. Wear it! This skirt looks cute with winter stockings and tights.

(questions on any of the instructions? let me know)

Une Histoire Francais

A paragraph from St Exupery's "Le Petit Prince" that's kind of sweet

"Vous êtes belles mais vous êtes vides, leur dit-il encore. On ne peut pas mourir pour vous. Bien sûr, ma rose à moi, un passant ordinaire croirait qu'elle vous ressemble. Mais à elle seule elle est plus importante que vous toutes, puisque c'est elle que j'ai arrosée. Puisque c'est elle que j'ai abritée par le paravent. Puisque c'est elle dont j'ai tué les chenilles (sauf les deux ou trois pour les papillons). Puisque c'est elle que j'ai écoutée se plaindre, ou se vanter, ou même quelquefois se taire. Puisque c'est ma rose."

Cutesy Heart Purse

So I had this cute little beaded heart pouch with a zip closure, and I was thinking of how I could use a purse for when all I need to carry is a little money or something. So... a little embroidery floss and crocheting later, I now have a cute little purse.




Also, cute knitted ipod case I made....


...and socks I'm making for my mom,I've finished quite a bit more than this, just haven't taken the picture yet.

The finished dress

I love it, its both cute and comfy =)

more dresses

Its amazing how quickly you can make a simple summer dress when you have access to a serger. Im borrowing one from my neighboor. Theyre great because they finish everything so cleanly, but theyre also ridiculously easy to make a mistake with. And finding the right tension can be a pain as well, but otherwise, very helpful. It only took me a couple hours to make a cute stretch dress, that I plan on wearing to school tomorow. Just adding the finishing touches with the belt.



I sewed the sleeve hems and then entire bottom hem by hand, because I dont have a special walking foot for my machine, so I didnt want it to be pulled funny. It took for ever sewing a blind hem all along the bottom by hand. Not sure whether thats dedication, or insanity. Maybe a little bit of both.


And also on my to do list for today, putting the ends on a bunch of seed bead woven braclets that I made with my mom and my sister. Now we just have to find a place to sell them.

Right about now, way to many projects going on, which is clearly shown by my desk that just about looks like something exploded on it.

My best friend's birthday was the other day, so I made her a cute little journal using a tutorial I found, http://boygirlparty.livejournal.com/217584.html anyways, the inside is a mix of plain and graph paper, and the outside is decorated with felt appliqued flowers. Its actually really easy to make which is nice, because other book binding techniques I've tried have failed miserably. If I do this again, I want to make the cover out of some really cool scrapbooking paper. Maybe something metallic.
Here's a view of some inside pages...

and here's view of the inside cover....

And now that I'm done with that, the next project is a cute summer dress, and skirt, and still want to start a quilt. Too many projects, too little time.

shopping bags

so the other day, i went to the middle school to sell a cute reusable, fold up shopping bag to a teacher there who had asked me for one. while waiting for her, i ran into my old home-ec teacher who decided to buy one for her daughter. so following her into the home-ec room, so she could get money, there were students staying after there and two of them bought one. it was a nice suprise that i ended up selling all four, which was all i had left. now that i have a serger for the mean time, they'll be really quick to make, and i can look into finding a store to sell in.

Prom Dress

For the past couple of weeks I've been working on making my dress for prom. At this point Im not to excited about it,just because its been a pain with all the planning and whatnot (which resturant, whos driving, etc etc etc). However, I did get to make a pretty dress, so that was fun.

The main dress fabric is yellow satin, and the overlay on the skirt is organza. I added a lace trim along the bottom, and beading along the neck edges. Im happy with how it turned out, only a few minor details that I would've done differently.
It reminds me of Belle's dress from Beauty and the Beast.(Mostly just because of the color)



And outside, its finally starting to be warm and sunny. I really love all the flowering trees.

a various assortment of stuff i've made

Knitting

So, i've been doing alot of knitting lately. Just recently a local yarn store closed down, which is quite unfortunate, however worked out well for me. because of the sale they were having, i was able to buy 22 different knitting needles, 9 different kinds of yarn and two pattern books all for about 30 dollars, so that means i've got alot more knitting to do. i'll have more time with summer coming up. also this summer i'd like to learn to quilt, theyre so cozy looking and i love all the different patterned fabrics. so thats on the to do list.

soo....

Starting a blog isnt exactly something I wouldve thought I'd do, in fact, I really dislike the word 'blog', it's kind of unpleasant sounding I think. But I figure it could be fun, so might as well give it a try.
Anyways, basically I like making things. Sewing, knitting, beading, all kinds of crafts. Any that I don't do, I'll try to learn at some point