Five Baht Elephant

my crafty home

Made: A Backpack That I Really Like

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This is the Range Backpack by Anna Graham (Noodlehead) and I’m still not exactly sure how I even got started or why I decided I needed to sew up this bag. For one, I kept seeing them pop up in my instagram feed. Two, I felt that a backpack would be nice to take on walks around the neighborhood, or bike rides to the farmers market. Three, I wanted to work with waxed canvas. I’m sure there are other reasons, but mostly I just really liked how it looked!

I bought the waxed canvas from AL Francis Textiles on Etsy and locally from Fancy Tiger and then the bag hardware from So You Need Hardware. The straps and interior fabric is Essex Linen that I also grabbed from Fancy Tiger. This came together way way easier than I could have thought. I cut the fabric and started stitching the straps on a Friday afternoon/evening and then had the whole thing finished by Saturday afternoon. Denver got some snow that weekend, and after a team workout at CrossFit Park Hill I holed myself up in my sewing room and finished it.

As with all of Anna’s patterns, the instructions were so clear. The waxed canvas was awesome to work with as well and was so easy to stitch. I did use a denim needle and polyester thread as recommended.

By Sunday, the sun came out and warmed up to the 60s. Miles and I had to get out of the house and I used this bad as intended – on a walk to the Botanic Gardens. It is perfect and I love it.

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This Morning I Planned Projects

I bought the Wayfinder Quilt Kit during a Craftsy sale (score!) and I honestly don’t know what I was thinking when I hit the ‘add to cart’ button. I haven’t been sewing much in the last year. I am pretty sure it will take me quite a long time to finish it.

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The box arrived this morning, and I’m actually really excited about working on it. I took a few minutes to identify and label the different fabrics. aaaaannnnndddd then I put it all back in the box it came in. I’ll get to working on it – maybe I’ll make a project schedule?

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The other project I planned were some new socks I want to knit. After finishing up my Talia’s I knew that I wanted to knit more colorwork socks. My local yarn shop, which is within walking distance (score!), has the book _200 Fair Isle Motifs_ and after thumbing through it, I scooped it up. It is such a good resource. I am using the Talia pattern, but I charted different fair isle motifs. I used Google Sheets to play around with colors and patterns until I settled on these. I made use of conditional formatting and then the ‘find and replace’ function to make changes fairly quickly. I’m sure there are easier ways to prototype fair isle, but I found this method easy for me.

FairIsle Chart

I have the gray, navy and hot pink already in my stash but no teal. Carol and I went to Fancy Tiger where I picked up a 50g ball of Sock Yeah! by CoopKnits in Topaz. I have some travel next week (Baltimore and then Austin) and then more travel the week after (California). It’ll be painful, but at least I’ll have some quality airport and plane knitting time.

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Made: Colorful HST Baby Quilt

HST Baby Quilt

Yeah, so I actually made this quilt quite awhile ago but never really shared it. Since my latest posts have mostly been knitting, I’d thought it was time to share this one.

My friend Nicole had a baby girl in July and this is the quilt I made for her. It’s made from 2 charm packs and I grouped like colors together. I also did not over think the piecing or the layout. The quilting pattern is a bunch of little rectangles just free motioned across the entire top.

Made: Flying Geese Tote

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… and of course it is another knitting project bag! Really, I don’t need anymore; I just like making them.

This is Noodlehead‘s Maker Tote. Love her patterns – I’ve made almost every one!

For the exterior, I had some leftover strips of Allison Glass fabric and I made lots and lots and lots of flying geese. I used a paper piece template (free over at Fresh Lemons) which made easy and accurate work.

I can’t decide which is my favorite – the sparkly gray used in the handles, binding or zipper tape or the hot pink wood grain lining or the cats I used for the pockets. I can’t decide.

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Made: Geeky Science Swap Mini

SciSwap
I’m so way late on posting this – I worked on this mini last fall!

My randomly assigned partner likes biology mostly, and warm-ish palette and submitted a favorite science-y quote. I settled on making a mini-quilt of the quote, using paper-pieced alphabet patterns I bought from the etsy shop From Blank Pages I still have most of the jelly roll from the baby girl quilt I made in August, which matched the warm-ish colors that my partner favors.

This. Took. Forever.

There are like a million pieces and a million seams in these little letters. Ok. I exaggerate. But it felt like a million.

My partner, who lives in Texas, also likes to receive things from where I’m from, so I included a Bronco’s Mystery Lego Figure (I’m hoping she got Payton!) and a Colorado sticker. I also included some fabric mini charms (2.5″ squares) and an adult coloring book. Not exactly the sciency-theme, but I think she liked what I sent!

In turn, a different partner made these for me! A LOST themed mini quilt – which is amazing! 2 fat quarters (18″ x 22″) of this awesome math-geeky fabric, elephant poo note paper, decals and a needle book that glows in the dark! AWESOME.

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Made: Reversible Sock Knitting Project Bag

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I’m a big fan of Shannon Cook. Even though she primarily designs knitting patterns, I’ve made more of her project bags than any of her knit stuff. (Like this but then I also made this.) I don’t exactly need anymore project bags, but I have fabric that needs to be used. The reversible project bag is a free tutorial on Shannon’s blog, and it came together pretty quickly.

I picked up this text fabric a few years ago and I probably had a bag in mind when I bought it. Who know what I was thinking when I bought it. Anyway, the tutorial recommends that you interface one layer. After putting this together, I think I used one that is a bit thicker than I should have. That’s why it looks kinda wrinkly in the photos.

Right now I’m using it to hold the knitted hexagons I started way back when.

MadeKnittingBag

And meet Bane. Our Bengal kitten. He’s been with us for a little over a month, and I am the primary caregiver. Well, I’m the only one home right now, so he only has me to hang out with. He follows me everywhere and it is adorable – until it is annoying, like when I’m trying to take photos.

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Made: Fancy Forest Baby Quilt

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In spite of all the snow hitting the metro DC area, this little package arrived at my friend’s house yesterday. Just in time, and not on account of the weather – she’s about to have that baby boy. We’re crossing our fingers (she’s crossing her legs) to keep that kid inside until at least Tuesday!

Somehow, at the ripe old age of 38, it seems as if all of my friends are having babies. Which just makes me so happy. One popped out late summer, another one is due to arrive next week and two more babies are coming later in July. And on the family front, I’ve got one brand new nephew and another one coming next month! And more babies, means more baby quilts. Which I’m always happy to make.

The quilt is the Fancy Forest pattern by Elizabeth Hartman – baby size. Truly, I’m not sure how anyone would have the patience to make the larger size. Because this one, while adorable and cute finished, was a total bitch to make. So. Many. Pieces. As far as the pattern, it is very well written and the cutting instructions were really helpful. If you decided to make this quilt, follow the pattern suggestions! Even the one about separating the cut fabric into bags!

FancyForestBabyQuilt

 

After making the first two blocks, I got smart and made pin labels to keep track of the different pieces. These are just cut up index cards scotch-taped to pins.

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Once I had the pin labels, the remaining forest friend blocks came together relatively quickly.

I was snapping photos of the completed top when Miles jumped in.

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I quilted a simple rectangular grid across the entire quilt to keep things simple and consistent with the geometric-ness of the blocks.

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There’s a story to the knitted hats included in the package I sent to my friend… which will be another post. That awesome boob card is made by Craft Boner and I picked it up at a local craft fair last summer.

 

Made: Caravan Tote

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I LOVE THIS BAG.

Its my favorite bag I’ve made so far. Intended as my new ‘sweater knitting bag’ I’ve yet to put my latest sweater project in it because I keep using it for other things!

What I like:

  • tote style – just throw my crap in it
  • the metal zipper – gives it a more professional-made look
  • leather straps and pull tab – see above comment + ease – making straps take time; I bought the leather from AllLeatherSupplies (etsy)
  • size – big enough without being too big
  • needle pocket – I sized one of the pockets to fit my phone and the ‘needle’ slots are just right for pens

What I would do different:

  • actually buy a snap setter for this particular snap – I bought these metal snaps from Springfieldleather (etsy) which are the same size as a snap setter that I already have, but the post length was too long for the setter. So… really these are decorative and not functional. oops!
  • install an interior zip pocket
  • add a key holder inside because my keys get lost in the bottom of the bag

caravan tote

The bag came together pretty quickly actually. Cutting the fabric and interfacing took the most time. I cut and interfaced the pieces in one afternoon – grouping and labeling the pieces as I went. However, when assembling the pieces, I got a little confused due to the pattern piece descriptions. I think next time I’ll number them and then mark up the pattern instructions with the numbers. I followed the pattern instructions including the type of interfacing. I omitted the grommets on the interior slip pocket; they’re intended as yarn guides, but I know that I won’t use them. However, grommets are pretty cool looking.

I was able to make this month’s Denver Metro Modern Quilt Guild meeting where I showed it off. I love being part of this guild (and the FRMQG for the same reasons), not only for the eye candy and inspiration, but for the suggestions and tips. While I was up there, the other ladies mentioned finding leather belts at Goodwill to re-purpose for bag handles and Stephanie mentioned looking in the climbing section of REI at the ropes and tie-downs for straps and handles.

I’ve already got fabric and leather purchased for my next one.

Pattern: Caravan Tote by Anna Graham (Noodlehead)

Made: Sew Together Bag #10(?)

Yeah, so I think this is #10 for me. Yikes.

Most of this one was cut and put together when I made the seven others back in March/April for my friends. The real motivation to finish this one for me was to move all my makeup from the random bags under my sink into one bag. Nothing really new to say about it, so here are the photos!

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Made: Divided Basket and WIP: Strokkur

I’ve been on a crafting kick – guess I’ve gotten my motivation to make things back.

We were in Telluride, CO this past weekend for little get away. JJ, Miles and I needed the time away from work, Denver and life in general. It was awesome. The drive to Telluride from Denver is over 6 hours, so I brought along two knitting projects. The one you see below is my Strokkur that I started back in January. I was having trouble keeping the entire project in my project bag, so when I came back I knew I wanted to make something bigger to hold it.

Divided Basket

The pattern is the Divided Basket by Noodlehead (Anna Graham). I’ve sewn plenty of her tutorial/patterns and they are really well done. Modifications I made to the written pattern were to use Pellon 72 – Peltex and batting to reinforce the exterior pieces. The Peltex and batting really give the basket structure. The sides of the bag do not fold in AT ALL – unlike my other project bags. Stitching all the layers was a bit tricky so I made sure I went slowly and didn’t force the fabric through the machine.

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One side of the basket has two pockets where I keep little knitting notions – stitch markers, scrap yarn, scissors.

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I dug through my fabric box and resurrected some pieces that I’ve had for an embarrassingly long time (i’m talking years here). The exterior is an Echino print that I’m pretty sure is out of production. The dotted fabric used in the lining is so old, I can’t remember where I bought it, let alone who makes it. The divider and trim on the handles are leftover shot cotton from another project.

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Here you can see the colorwork detail of the sweater yoke. Colorwork is fun – both the process and this particular pattern. The yarn is a traditional Icelandic wool – the yarn sticks to each other, so there is a lot of me stopping to untangle the yarn while knitting. The sweater sat in hibernation over most of the summer. This wool is quite warm, and just not particularly fun to knit when it is hot outside. But the cool mountain mornings in Telluride were perfect for hotel room deck knitting. And I’m just about finished with the sweater. I’m really excited to see the final result. More details can be found on my Ravelry project page: Strokkur.

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