thing a day 2009

i don't have anything creative to post but wanted to mention that registration for thing a day 2009 is now open. i'm planning to do it again this year and hope that others will join. yay! you have until the 31st to register... do it do it do it!

crochet hook case

I've been wanting to make a roll for my knitting needles for some time. So I dug through fabric scraps and pulled out a piece of grass green twill with embroidered flowers I got from a co-worker's de-stashing. It wasn't big enough for knitting needles but just right for crochet hooks. I was surprised how hard it was figuring how to put everything together in the right order. A lot of the design was driven by the fabric choice. I used basically all of the green twill. I had plenty of the lining fabric, so instead of sewing the two pieces together (and therefore losing some of the twill to the seam allowance), I used the lining fabric to create a border. My thread also didn't match that great, and I liked the solid green on the outside, so I had to figure out how to construct it so that the dividers between compartments were sewn only into the lining. The little tab is actually not very functional. I need to get some elastic or ribbon to tie it together... but it was a little leftover piece of the twill that happened to have a flower on it and I didn't want it to go to waste. I thought I might put a snap under it but then I'd always have to roll it up the same way which is sort of silly. There are some seams that could've been done better but overall I'm pleased with the result of my first non-flat, non-hemming sewing project :).

original hem

Okay, so this isn't very creative or anything but it was a revelation for me so I thought I'd share... I scored some jeans on sale but as usual the short lengths are too short and the regular lengths are too long so my only option is to ignore lengths and count on hemming. The first pair I did like a regular hem - snip it off and fold under twice and sew. It worked okay since the jeans didn't have a lot of built-in wear - the wash was a fairly even dark blue. The other two pairs had pre-worn hems, so I looked up original hems on google and followed these instructions. It actually seemed to work, and was shockingly a lot less hassle than regular hems. You don't notice too much from farther than 2 feet away, and since they're at my ankles I'm assuming most people won't notice. I just hope they don't hang weird or flip up...

sculpture for a show

This was the last sculpture I worked on in 2008. I put this one in the employee art show at our holiday party, so it's more "finished" than most of my sculptures. I think I overworked parts of it more than necessary, which often happens when I try to "finish" a sculpture.

amigumuri octopus

I made this little dude for a friend's birthday last month. I found the pattern online... it's a great beginner crochet pattern.