Don't Mind the Arrow

Day 7, Under the Wire

My project today is to-be-continued. Now that I've made a few books (and now that it's a week away from our trip), I felt ready to tackle my sketch journal for Germany. I had already cut, folded and pressed the signatures for it, so the first order of business today was punching the holes:

After that, I stitched it together using a different method than I've used for my previous books (the tutorial I was following can be found by following this link). I somehow forgot to take a picture of it after I'd stitched it up, but got one of the next stage of the process - gluing fabric to the spine.

Once that had dried, I added the endpapers (the design of which will remain a mystery till the next round of pictures) and glued the fabric to the cover.

And that's where it stands as of now. Tomorrow I'll glue the endpapers down (hopefully without any wrinkling, for once) and it'll be done. I'm so looking forward to using this!

30 Days of Creativity Kickoff

Here we are, June 1, and I'm starting a new daily project. We'll see if I can make it past the first two weeks. In any event, I've got my first day's contribution done. I started it a few days ago because handbound books take more than a day to complete, but I finished it today so I'm counting it.

I got the book at a thrift store (at the same time I got my corduroy laptop bag that I embellished). The title, All on a Summer's Day, is what drew me to it. Since I'm still practicing my bookbinding skills, its somewhat beat up exterior was perfect - I didn't have to be too afraid to mess it up. It was a discarded library book, so I used some green paper wrapped around the bottom section to cover up the ugly library sticker on the spine and add some visual interest to the cover.

Inside, I used scrapbooking paper for the endpapers and recycled brown paper for the signatures. I'm thinking I'll just use this one myself and see how it holds up. I'm getting to the point where I want to start working on the book I'm planning to take to Germany, and I want to make sure I'm not doing anything that will mean the book won't last through the experience.

 

Laptop Bag

It's a day early for the 30 Days of Creativity project, but I figured I might as well bank a project for one of those days when I might not find time to actually make something. And I'm well aware that it might seem odd to start this project after being a dropout from Everyday in May, but I'm hoping the wider range of possibilities will keep me going on this one.

A couple of days ago, Morgan and I went shopping at a couple of local thrift stores. I found a blue corduroy bag that he thought would fit my laptop. It was only a few bucks (and they were having a buy-one-get-one-free sale), so I picked it up. I gave it a good cleaning but there was still a small, slightly noticeable stain on the front flap. I decided to applique something over it, but wasn't entirely sure what  to choose. Flowers and butterflies would be pretty basic shapes, but I didn't want something that would look hippie-ish.

Thanks to Google, I found both a seahorse outline and the instructions on how to applique. After surprisingly little frustration, here's the result:

It's ready for our trip to Germany - I can't wait to use it!

23 Days to Finish

As I posted previously, I've been working on wedding-related projects. I just counted it up, and 23 days remain in which to finish my stole, among other things. *Gulp*

That's the middle part of the pattern. I'm enjoying working on it, but also a little worried about finishing it (and the other projects, and the things for my swaps ...). It's the first time I've done a project that incorporated beads.  Here's a closeup where you can see a few of them.

I chose light blue ones, and I think they're perfect - you can tell they're blue, but they don't draw attention away from the pattern at all by being too high-contrast. I'm trying to keep myself on track by working on other projects during the day and knitting at night while we watch tv or a movie. So far, so good! Watch this space for panic as the days dwindle, haha.

 

Wednesday Inspiration - Vintage Valentines

In the past couple of days, I've seen a couple of great sources for vintage valentines to use in projects for your own valentines.  One came from the Intimate Weddings blog: a Flickr set full of wonderful, brightly colored cards.

The other comes from the Happy Honeybee blog. These are special because they come from her husband's family. I love old treasures like these!

I wasn't planning on making any valentines this year, but these lovely images are tempting me just a little.

 

'Tis the Season

Winter, I mean. I know that the official first day of winter heralds when the days start getting longer again (how backwards does that seem?), but it's been cold here in Denver the last few days. My fiancé's gloves that I knit him a couple of years ago have seen better days, so it was time to make a new pair. Also, he's decided he sees the wisdom in gloves with full fingers. 

You can't see it here, except in the yarn trailing near the needles, but these are double-knit. I have a soft and fuzzy brown yarn I'm using for the inside to keep his fingers toasty.

A friend of Morgan's was here the other day when I was working on them. She asked what I was making, and when I responded, "gloves," she said, "Oh, so you really know how to knit!" It amused me a little. I really like to make gloves (and socks). They're actually incredibly simple. Just a tube, leaving a hole for the thumb, and then more tubes for the fingers and thumb. Perfect for working on in front of a TV show or movie.

Making Flowers

I've been busy crafting, but it's mostly been wedding-related. I've been trying to keep the wedding stuff from taking over every aspect of my life and online presence, but there are places where the crossover is appropriate. For instance, I'm doing the decorations myself.

I've been toying with various ways to make flowers, and have so far found a few methods I'm really enjoying. One of these is crochet.

I was a little skeptical about it at first because although I don't need lifelike flowers, I also didn't want them to just look vaguely flower-like. So it was with only mild anticipation that I tried crocheted carnations. At various points in the process, I stopped and squished it together, trying to see how it would end up. And it wasn't doing much to push aside my doubts. Somehow, when it was all done and put together though, it looked remarkably carnation-like.

So much so, in fact, that I made another one.

I'm going to make a few more, and then branch out (no pun intended!) to a couple of other types of flowers. Hopefully those experiments will be as successful.

Semi-Secret Project

How secret can it be if I'm posting about it, right?

When my wrists aren't bothering me (which has been entirely too often lately), I've been spending a lot of time creating crochet motifs. I love just picking up the needle and seeing what I can come up with. One of the recent sessions led to a motif that just lent itself beautifully to a being joined together into a block that I just love.

Here, it's pinned out a little but not really blocked. It gives a good idea of what I'm picturing, though. If I have the patience, wrists that can hold up, and can find the time, this is going to turn into something really lovely, I think.