In three short weeks...

The days will start getting longer again. Thank goodness because it's getting real dark, real early and I feel like I'm in hibernation mode. It's a struggle to stay awake when I get home from work because my body is telling me it's time to sleep, but my mind knows it's only 5:30. Shoot, even the little puff balls (Sparrows) are curled up and sleeping under the awning when I get home. It's crazy!

Okay, I know I can't really sleep the days away, but I can slip into my pajamas and enjoy the quiet and comfort of home, and that feels pretty luxurious. I have plenty of projects to keep me occupied and I continually look for little moments to bring joy and brightness to my evenings. And I keep reminding myself that without the shortened days I wouldn't get to see the stunning blooms from the Christmas cactus. Tell me this wouldn't brighten up even the gloomiest day. Dang these are gorgeous!


I do spend a fair amount of time in my office working on sewing or scrapbooking or knitting projects. Or painting, or felting, or writing, or reading, or...you get the idea. The picture below is a recent repurposed project from the leg of pajama pants. It has now become a bag to hold all my cookie cutters. Crazy easy and required just a little bit of imagination to make it something useful. I've got several more projects in the works, but not yet finished. Soon. 


This is another of the few good things about the shortened days. This is a sunrise and they're much easier to see when the sun doesn't come up until nearly 8 a.m. I went outside to put the recycling in the bin and saw this through the houses in the backyard. Just beautiful. I couldn't enjoy it for long because I was shivvering in my pajamas. You know, the ones I put on last night nearly the moment I walked in the door, just after feeding the cat. ~grins~

A 'packpack'.

The ever delightful Miss M is having a birthday soon and you know a Grandma gift is in order. It has to be the handmade, heartfelt type since I rebel against gifts of toys. The idea came together as a compilation of repurposed items and a bookmarked idea on Astrid's blog. And because I think it's way cool Miss M says packpack instead of backpack. hehehe....I'm just giddy with love for this!




The owl applique comes from a shirt she outgrew, but it was too cute to let go of. I know, I wrecked the shirt, but now she/we can enjoy her owl for many years. The fabric for the outside and the lining are both thrifted and repurposed and they go so well with the cute little applique. The color on the top photo is a little off due to the early morning lighting in spite of the fact that I used all of my lighting knowledge to get the best shot I could. It's tough, man. The next photo of the back is more accurate for colors.



Perks: an outside pocket, a drawstring closure and a magnetic clasp not to mention the cute factor.  Overall, I would say this was fairly easy, but not for a beginning sewer, mainly because it's an interpretation of a Japanese pattern and that always requires one to use their own knowledge of 'what's next'. Still, I thought the directions were pretty straightforward. However, you must remember that the pattern sizes are in cm and NOT in inches or you'll end up with a couple really big pieces. Trust me on that one.

Not just the bike.

I've been doing other things as well. Seriously, I've been crafting and journaling and gardening and petting the cat and arting and cleaning and purging and cooking and walking and knitting and felting and reading....and sewing. Yep, it's been a very productive summer.



I needed another storage bag so I made one out of the thrifted pillowcase. I didn't realize you could squeeze so many projects out of one pillowcase, and I still have another case.



Hot summer days require headbands, don't you think?. This one isn't my style, but I wanted to practice on material that I wouldn't mind if I ruined. After trying the pattern, I can tell you that there is no way to mess up the headband. It's too darned easy and the headband is done in about 30 minutes. Oooh, I think I'll make another out of pillowcase fabric too. That's more my style.



I put more of my Taiwan fabric to use. Funny how I made all those other pincushions, but gave them all away. Why do we do that? Why do we make cool things for everyone else, but not for ourselves? I'm worth it, I'm special, and I deserve a pincushion, dog gone it!



These burp cloths were fun! Made from prefolded cloth diapers and I stitched the dinosaur fabric right onto the middle. Oh, I know, you've probably all made them before, but I only saw them recently when a friend showed me some that she had made. And then I just happened to need a baby shower gift...



My lovely swift needed a lovely bag to protect it. Recognize the pillowcase fabric, again?



It's been so hot and humid that I've been reluctant to work outside...my cellar is nice and cool...woolens needed washing...knitting needed felting...so I spent a pleasant morning in the cellar working close to the washing machine. That's where some cleaning and purging took place.



I was in need of a bag for my winter walks to hold a second camera lens and extra batteries if need be. Love this bag. It's a mobius bag from Cat Bordhi and this one has an extra pocket knit in the side. Awesome!



These, my dear friends, are Christmas presents. They are now knitted, felted, blocked, dried, packaged and ready to be given to the recipients. They're coasters and I'm delighted to have these complete in July. I'm going to have a fabulous holiday season (she said with a big grin) because my gift giving is far ahead of schedule.

I heard someone say the summer was flying by. I would graciously like to disagree because I feel as if I've accomplished so much and there are still 5 more weeks left. Oh, what fun things shall I do next?

Just a tiny headstart.

Once I get in the routine of doing something it's really hard to stop, which is how I ended up with NEXT year's Christmas Eve presents completed for the little girls. It just sort of happened that I was in Pier I and saw these great linen napkins on sale for .48. How could I resist them when I couldn't buy material for that price. As soon as I saw them I knew they would make great aprons for the young ladies. And, since the sewing machine was already set up.....

From this:


To this:

The placemats with the bamboo dowels in the first picture are being turned into fabric baskets to hold all the treasures that accumulate in my craft room. The placemats were .48 as well. Come on! How could I not? The dowels? Hmmm, Lummi Sticks?