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#90 out of 100 Items!

2014-03-26 12.36.59It has been a frustrating week and I tend to hit one of these fairly frequently. My creativity seems to hit a slump and my ability does well. I  have been working on using up my stash and part of that was to finish a crochet blanket I started about 10 years ago. I thought I had finished it way back when. It is a lovely green, white, yellow and blue blanket that I use in the studio when I wake up too early. It was not big enough to be warm and cozy. So, I have started adding to it with my stash yarns. I finished it once and the ends were definitely not the same width by about 12 inches.This is a  huge difference, and it looks gathered. I changed crochet hook sizes and went up to my largest hook, and it is still not even. Now I will need to count stitches and see if I have dropped stitches off the ends of the blanket. It is only about 4 inches difference now so dropping stitches might be the answer. Turns out I had dropped about ten stitches so I added those back in and the width turned out just right. I used up a bunch of little balls of yarn and some larger ones as well. It isn’t the most beautiful blanket I have ever made but it is incredibly soft which more than makes up for it’s homely appearance.

See you later,

Karen

 

 

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#77- 83 on the 100 Items in 100 Days Challenge!

Here are items 77- 83!

Two pillowcases in pink and purple. I love these as I was learning how to do French seams. They are great, but I think we will use them at home instead of putting them in the shop. I also made a  pillowcase in a brown stripe fabric but it has already been used. So these will be numbers 77, 78, 79

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I crocheted four pot holders with a fifth in the works.

2014-03-025The blue and yellow one and the blue, red and yellow stripe are both crocheted out of wool. The pink multicolor is crocheted out of acrylic yarn.

So these are numbers… 80, 81, 82, 83

There are only 17 items left to create. I have some more coffee press cozies in the works along with more quilted pot holders. These items all use stash fabrics so I can’t wait to show them to you and get them marked off the list.
I have been fighting a cold all week and the weekend looks really full so It may still be a week or two before I am finished with this challenge.

I have had some requests for crochet patterns, and help on some granny squares. I will see what I can do on those. It has been and will be an incredibly busy spring. We are preparing for a graduation and the college girl moving back home and probably back out as she heads off on a summer job.

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Confession

I have a huge confession to make!

I bought fabric this week and bias tape and lace and other supplies.

What caused me to fall off the Challenge Wagon? An business opportunity and my birthday. First, my birthday purchases were really bought by my Mom. I have never really sewn clothes for myself because I was too rushed and did an awful job as children kept interrupting. Well, they are much older now and don’t interrupt as much. I found some beautiful fabrics that will work well as a tops for me and I LOVE the fabric. It is soft, comfortable and 100% cotton which is needed in Oklahoma heat and humidity. I also blame my daughter’s sewing class as it kept throwing temptation in my path day after day. So I was quite comfortable buying the birthday fabric.

Second, I have a business opportunity that happened serendipitously. I am super excited and can’t share very much about it. So I bought fabric for the business opportunity.

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I am not counting these items toward the challenge. I am still committed to working hard on my challenge pieces. I have basted the quilt and just need to do the quilting. I am crocheting up a storm of pot holders out of the scrap washable wool yarns. I have made several pillow cases and just need to get them photographed. So, really I am down to about 16 items. Yay. The thing to remember about the challenge is that it is a challenge to use up my supplies for my business or crafting and not keep me from building my business. So, if you have an opportunity for your crafty business and you need to buy supplies: TAKE IT!

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talk to you later,

Karen

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71- 76 of the 100 items in 100 days

Here are the other brooches that I have been working on.

Some Kandinsky inspired circle brooches. 2014-03-15 22.39.35

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And some Spring Tulips!

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This is #71 – 76.

They were fun to make and something new for the shop. I still have a ton of felt left, though the bead supply is getting low. I started the challenge with this.

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So, I am using up my bead supply with these pins. It is hard to imagine that I am only 24 items from being finished with the challenge. I started on January 17 and it is only March 17 now.  So if you count the days;15 days in January, 28 days in February, and 16 days in March, for a total of 59 days! I am super motivated as I really need to buy some critical supplies for the shop! : )

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

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A New Wool Blanket!

This week I drive our daughter to sewing lessons at a local sewing machine shop all week. I am going to be fighting temptation all week as this shop is located near a major fabric/craft store and also near some other fun stores that I never get to browse. The sewing class is three hours long, not quite long enough for me to drive home and get anything done. The drive is just long enough to make me think twice about the drive in addition to the spending money on gas. I do need some supplies in the worst way. While I could, should and probably will wait this week is going to be a huge test of my will power.

I am only 24 items from the end of the challenge and I am wondering if I can really make it that long without some critical supplies. I do have 6 additional items completed and four partially completed. If I add that to what I have already finished it brings me down to 14 items! I am ready for the challenge to be finished. The four partially completed include some crochet blankets, and a quilt.

 

I started this as an exercise in procrastination. I have several blankets started and this one just jumped out for me to work on. I don’t normally work with wool at this time of year but the large skeins of yarn were calling to me. So I started this great scrap blanket.

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2014-03-16 12.32.56  Here is the other thing I was procrastinating on, basting this quilt. I am now about 1/2 way done. Oh, and the shopping thing, today I passed with flying colors. I didn’t buy anything at all! Yeah!

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Felt Brooches in the Works

I had so much fun sewing the felt brooches that I thought I would show you a bit of the process. I just love all of these pretty wooden beads. They came from my stash of beads left over from my daughters’ jewelry making.

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I cut out the felt and decided on the design.2014-03-14 14.12.37

Then the stitching and beading began. It was so much fun to create something from start to finish in one day! I have some more in the works and I hope to show them to you later this week.

This is all that I have left of these particular beads, though there is a bunch of felt left!

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See you later,

Karen

Karen

 

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70 of 100 Items!

70 items out of 100 in the 100 items in 100 days Challenge! Whew, I never realized that it would be this easy. Yes, easy to create 70 items out of supplies I already have on hand. I almost hit a road block yesterday when I ran out of pins for the felt brooches. I found a bunch more this morning and I am started on some different style of brooches using different beads. I can’t wait to show them to you. Here they all are in random order. There are some items that I am not thrilled about but I promised to show you the good, the bad and the ugly.

I’m off to sew and bead some more!

See you later,

Karen

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Felt Brooches

I have an over abundance of felt in black, pink, red and lime green. I also have a ton of beads slightly larger than seed beads. I thought I could combine them into these brooches. I know that I am going to make more today as the mood has hit and the hands are commanding a prolonged rest.

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I have seven brooches sewn and beaded! These would be #64 – 70!

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

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March Roars In

Here are some photos of our March as it roared in with ice and snow storm.

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I took several photos over the course of the day for the college girl. It is always so amazing to me that it was snowing on Sunday and the very next Friday it is supposed to be 60 degrees plus!  This was Sunday morning as the ice and snow started.

2014-03-02 14.14.30About noon it was really snowing pretty hard.

2014-03-02 15.35.43Then we got another layer of ice.

2014-03-03 11.59.33Here is the next morning. Which is really nothing to those of you that live North of us, but quite amazing to us. March snowstorms are not unusual for Oklahoma. My tulips are sprouting and the daffodils are up but not blooming yet. Spring is on the way.

I have been sewing, crocheting and working on more 100 items in 100 day stash projects! This week has been busy with a trip to a college for a couple of scholarship interviews. It was nice to spend one on one time with DS and to think that he graduates in a couple of short months. Our home seems to be getting quieter and quieter, but this week will be busy with our daughter’s college friends visiting here for parts of Spring Break. It will be fun and crazy with a lot of food and laughter.

Talk to you later,

Karen