my creative space

It took a long time for me to get my creative space in order. When T and I both worked from home, we shared this room together. Last year when we finished our basement, we built him an office. It was empty until this past summer—until my week of reading deprivation, actually. With no blogs or television, I went to work clearing out my space. I moved T’s things down into his office. He had a built-in desk, so we donated his to the Mission. I gave away fabric, recycled tons of paper and freecycled a bunch of stuff.

The dresser is T’s from when he was younger and it’s now for my fabric storage. The little wooden pantry is from our kitchen in Maryland. That’s where I keep all the little sewing supplies that can’t sit out with a toddler around. My sewing table is a granite table top that I’ve had since I moved into my first apartment on my own.

We’ve been thinking about getting some matching furniture for me—something inexpensive from Target or Office Depot. It would be nice to have everything match, but I’m really liking this eclectic look. I’m surrounded by lots of memories!

i made it myself: purl bee blankie

My aunt asked me if I would make a baby blanket for a friend of hers. I had been itching to make this Purl Bee blanket for awhile, so we decided on this pattern. The family is in Arizona, and we agreed flannel might be a better choice than fleece.

purl bee blanket

I followed the pattern exactly except that I basted the ric rac on before sewing everything together. It was my first time using ric rac, and I was a little nervous about getting everything to line up. The basting worked perfectly and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

purl bee blanket

The only thing left to do is give it a good ironing, but I’ll do that just before shipping. Right now it’s staying folded in a plastic bag. The flannel is like a magnet to all of the colored, loose thread bits I’ve got floating around!

Did you make something yourself? Post it here!

felted wool scarf :: gray and red

So I’ve been trying come up with an idea that makes use of the felted sweater sleeves from my totes and I figured it out. Scarves!

The beauty of these is that they give you all the warmth of wool without having to wear it next to your skin. (I know at least one person for whom this would be perfect.) I am going to make a bunch of these for my etsy shop and will try to keep some of them in neutral color schemes. Dads, brothers and husbands need hand-sewn crafty goodness in their lives, too! More photos over at etsy.

room with a view

Here’s the view I am facing as I sit at my desk and work today.

We haven’t had sun in almost a week. Seriously! Not since Monday, for sure. How am I supposed to take pictures of my projects for the blog without sun? Mother Nature, please do something!

holiday shopping online tonight!

Tonight, over at Etsy Labs, there is a Trunk Show featuring handmade items from all over the world. I belong to the Lincoln, Nebraska team, and we will be featured from 7-8 pm CT. All of the members of the Lincoln Handmade Team are so talented — from jewelry making and paper crafting to knitting, crochet, sewing and even soap! Check out all of the wonderful handmade gifts available and then head over to the Trunk Show at 7pm CT for special discounts and prizes. We’re in the “Teams” room!

crafty storage tutorial on whipup.net

During the month of November, whipup.net is featuring tutorials, ideas and stories for refashioning, re-using, up-cycling and recycling items made of paper, cloth, yarn or plastic. I submitted a tutorial for turning prescription bottles into useful storage containers and it was posted today! Go check it out!

i made it myself: custom laptop bag

I love this bag. It was a little challenging because it wasn’t felted. It was a custom order from an etsy member and the size she wanted was the exact size of the original sweater. I used every last bit of wool to complete it.

She sent me her own lining fabric, which was beautiful. I also used the hand-embroidered sleeve stripes as the strap.

This was another bag that was hard to let go. You can see all the pics over on etsy.

Next up on the handmade agenda: a custom baby blanket. In the meantime, did you make something yourself? Post it here!