weekend threads

here are 3 projects i started and finished over the weekend. i am a whirling dervish of craftitude. this crap is fun, challenging and so much more gratifying to be doing during an episode "biggest loser" than eating a block of cheese and planning out our strategy for the day that jesse and i are contestants...when not if, people, when not if.
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#1: my first (and last) utter failure:

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it was supposed to be a hand-quilted lunch tote, but once again i deviated from the instructions like a lunatic and messed it up. trust the books, keight, trust them.

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so to salvage the materials i turned it into a holder-basket deal for storing my sewing books and used patterns (quilted pocket!)
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those little purple scraps wave at me and beckon to me every night after judah goes to sleep.
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#2: a hand-made gift for miss madison del angel's first birthday party. this was awesome because the invitation said "no gifts" (which is so cool for many other reasons) so it was the perfect time to use some pink fabric that i impulse-bought without considering that i am a raging tom-boy (tom-man? ew. no.) to whip up something fun without spending any money or creating a new mess for tiff and jorge to clean up. i guess it was still a gift, but tiff said she was hoping i would make something... be still my heart!

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"leisure suit lapdog" it's a stuffed doggie they recommended be made with polyester, but i like natural fibers better (i'm so green, y'all) so i stuck with cotton. i could tell from the picture that if i actually accomplished it, it would be unbelievable so i took pictures of my pattern pieces beforehand for proof. the ragged stitches criss-crossing the finished dog would prove to be evidence enough of their own.
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i had to finish this in the car on the way (this was taken in their cul-de-sac) because i started it at noon and the party was at 2 (didn't get there until 3). the eyes and nose and mouth are hard to see on the pattern but they are hand-embroidered on there quite horribly.
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doggie profile. the tail has a pipe cleaner in it so his mood can change at madison's whim
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the birthday girl with her matching dog! (and an unprepared and still photogenic jorge)
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"what the hell is this?!"
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she was coerced into giving him a kiss. adorbs.

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and #3: perhaps my proudest accomplishment to date (the doggie is close but i wrecked some of the hand-details.

it is a travel jewelry case. i stuffed this one with my own jewelry to try it out. it has two zipper pouches and tie-able ribbon to thread through rings and pin earrings on.
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it looks SO hot all tied up! (kind of like jesse. ah, jokes)

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...so much so that i added a brooch of mine (OMG i own a brooch) to see how it might look as a little clutch wallet. not bad. call me vera!

i am all over this new hobby. i am not convinced that making these things saves me any money (it's not like i would have gone out and bought a jewelry tote), but i don't really do it to save money anyhow. it's more like i am paying money in supplies and equipment and getting useful, creative, un-wasted time out of it...plus a few cute little baubles. i feel so much more fulfilled at the end of a night spent sewing than i used to just whiling the time away in front of the tv rotting my soul. i still get to enjoy my tivo'ed shows, just in the background, so it doesn't count as soul-rotting.

my book has 101 projects and i have completed 4 so far and have 2 under construction right now. onward!