WIP - Handspun Blanket

 So, I've been spinning and dying fiber for almost ten years now! Which means I've gather a whole lot of small skeins, leftover balls, and other sundry bits of handspun yarn. It's been given it's own special bin, and it was starting to overflow. Handspun is precious, yaknow?

 So I've been making granny squares with the leftovers! It's a perfect way to use it up - I can simply use different sized hooks for different weights of yarn, I make the largest square that I can from a given skein of yarn, and the extras become mixed color squares as granny intended.

 So far I have worked thru about half the bin. I have observed that I have a lot of purple, blue, and green yarns. I like nice chunky yarns, but some have been thin enough that I decided to ply them before crocheting! I've got a variety of sizes, and I'm looking forward to laying them all out to piece together...

Strangely enough, the bin is still over full... Hooray for "scrap" yarn!

WIP - Handsome and Handspun

My yarn stash, as always, overfloweth. After another year of spinzilla, my bin of handspun was getting rather tight! I have always sold the majority of my handspun yarns, but over the last few years there have been a number of small experimental skeins, special purchased fibers, and the leftover small skeins from a big batch that's been divvied up.

And so, I have decided to create a blanket using up all my handspun bits! Some are a true mini-skein or a wee ball, some are simply an orphaned skein with no other plans. All of them are being crocheted into the biggest square they will make (Well, no bigger than 12" or so, extras become little squares.) and will become a blanket! I've got two sizes of hook on hand, and anything too small gets doubled up to make a good thick fabric.

I'll update when I've got a big enough pile to lay out and begin piecing, in the meantime the bin of yarn is becoming a bin full of squares, and I'm realizing that I've got some favored colors...

Five Great Upcycling Projects for Denim

Upcycling Denim is kind of my thing, I have literal piles of old pants, bins of denim scraps, and loads of cut up pieces. Whenever I think I'm making progress, BAM  - someone brings be another box of torn-kneed denim. Seriously, some friends just leave it on my porch. So, for anyone who doesn't want to start a factory style assembly line of upcycled Denim Bags, here's some other project ideas!

One can, of course, simple cannibalize old pants for the fabric and sew any project you can imagine that involves some small pieces. I could not hope to make something so cute as this Adorable Whale, so I'll send you to it's creator!



Use the sturdiness of the material to your advantage! A long lasting rug can be made from even small scraps.

For the more ambitious, be inspired by the Scrap Lab. This chair is made from industrial scraps and suggest a plethora of furniture options. Perhaps with old chair frames that have lost their fabric bits?

 A sleek and simple choice - potholders from the pockets of old pants. (Be sure your machine can handle sewing thru that many denim layers!) Also, how crafty are the Finns!

If you want to turn those pockets into more spaces for holding things (as pockets are wont to do), consider an organizer. You might think it looks like overkill, and you don't have all that much stuff... you do. Unless your house looks like an IKEA catalog, you can totally find enough random things laying around to warrant wall pockets.

Picture Perfect

 After much dithering I finally shelled out the big bucks for some prints of my graduation photos, and when you've paid $30 a pop for a picture, it deserves a good frame! Let's ignore for a moment, the price of the actual college education...

Since I earned a fiber arts degree, it seems only fitting that the frame should reflect that. Plus, I wouldn't want it to look all stuffy and professional! So I got into the bowl of small scraps and warmed up the glue gun.

 

The tricky bits - I started each scrap by gluing down the inner edge where the glass will press against the frame, then I spread the rest with glue and smoothed it down. Also, I cut mitered corners in order to get a fairly neat look at each corner. Then, I trimmed all the excess fabric from the back edge of the frame.

After an hour and some brand new blisters, the first frame was ready to go. The base is a cheap IKEA frame, simply because my trip to the thrift store was fruitless.

Pow! Now doesn't that match the decor better than a plain old white or some stuffy wood-grain thing? Yep, that's what my college education got me, a desire to cover things in fabric using my glue gun...

I (Heart) Fabric Scraps

Guess what time of year it is?! That's right, time to pray on the romanticized views of romance and force couples to spend money on each other... I mean... uh. Time to celebrate the season of love! Hearts are starting to pop up just about everywhere.

I shy away from making items that are too specific to a holiday. Who wants to own something they only use one month of the year? Fortunately hearts are universal enough that one can carry a heart covered bag without looking "out-of-season".

And it's a great way to explore color groups and have fun with little bits of fabric. I can use even very small pieces so long as they are a good shape! And if anyone ask about the pile of hearts growing on my cutting table, I'm in love with life or something cheesy like that...

Do you have any special crafts for Valentine's? My heart collection is growing daily...

Progress on Quilt Squares

Every time I receive a new bag of fabric scraps, I go on a cutting frenzy! Making petals for flowers, leaves for trees, and exactly one square and one triangle for my quilt project.

After my usual sewing is done for the day I often sort squares and sew them into 4.5" squares of similar colors. I try to make the corners match up, but between the differing fabric types and my wonky cutting skills (clothes patterns are easy to cut, perfect squares are not. Who knew?) many squares are a little bit crazy quilt style.

I've made 103 squares, which puts me at about one third of the way done... good thing I'm not even close to running out of scraps!
I keep this rainbow of squares around to remind me that progress is not always fast, but the tower is growing!

Slipping Up

It's cold weather season. A cup of tea can warm hands and faces, but not do much for your feet. How about some fuzzy woolen slippers?
I happened to have a bag of sweaters which had met an unfortunate fate in a too-hot washing machine, and this child's sweater is a pathetic little blob of thick wool. Perfect for keeping toes cuddly!
I traced my feet a little big (these are for my boy, his feet are big!) onto faux suede then pinned that to the sweater as a template. I then cut the top front, slightly wider than the bottoms. The rest of the sweater yielded short strips to go around the back of the heel.
I cut a dart out of the top fronts, and sewed that up to make it three-dimensional. I then layered everything ("right" sides together) to start sewing! The suede is sitting in the middle because it will be the bottom. One could also use real leather, recycled denim, or any tough and not-too-slippery material for your base. I whip stitched all the way around joining the heel strips to the sides of my toe covers.
Turn them right side out and check your seams. I used quilting thread, and put a sturdy knot in every inch or so for longevity. Put them on and enjoy toasty feet!
Winter is a great time to upcycle any "oops I put that in a hot wash" wool goods. Have you made any warm things out of old sweaters?

Super Secret Quilt Blocks...

I've been doing a seriously clear out of fabric scraps, cutting them into leaves and flower petals left and right, using the tiniest leftovers to stuff turtles. And cutting little squares and triangles for a special quilt project... Why is it secret? Because if something goes horribly wrong I'll stuff it in to the back of the craft closet underneath the yarn stash and never speak of it again! (I don't think it'll come to that, but it's early so we'll see)