(sick) ambition

I've never been a fan of folks who go on and on about how crappy they feel. And, I feel like I've mentioned my ailments too much recently here. So all I'll say now is that I took a rare day off from work this week to try and rest up. And, I decided to get back to my crafting routine despite not being 100%. Too many ideas were clogging up my noggin.

I started by working on the little pleated clutch in the photo above. I had thought about working with pleats in linen for a while now, but couldn't find a good online tutorial for it. I finally just went into it blind. With mixed results. For one thing, the cute leopard is supposed to be all the way over on the very right hand side of the bag. How did I not notice that mistake until I was finished?! Rusty!

Next, I knocked out this fantastic dragon bag, a custom order for Carrie, that I am going to hate to part with! I came up with a new design that really complimented the Alexander Henry fabric. There's an outside pocket to the left of the dragon for her cell phone.


It also has two pockets inside. The bag is reversable, so Carrie can use this side if she wants a little less dragon.


My felting frenzy continued. I knocked out five more bowls, and am now trying to figure out how to embellish them. Beads? Cord? Embroidery? Who knows. I'll try something. I also started thinking about how to execute this idea I've had running around the noggin: knit fire.


We have a fireplace upstairs that we wanted to get operational this winter. But when the chimney guy showed up to inspect it, he called it a 'widow-maker'. Eek. Maybe not then. So, I've been thinking about a knitted/felted fire art installation in the hearth. We'll see. The to-do list is long.

I brought the bowls outside to dry a bit in the sun. I've always been happy that X and Q have an interest in my projects. They like helping me pick colors, sort zippers, fold fabric, whatever. I let them touch everything except for the needles, pins and blades. And they both really like the new felted bowls. So, I assumed when all of the bowls disappeared that they had been comendeared by one of the kiddos.


Yep. They were being used to feed Rody the horse. And the puppies. And the dinosaurs.

Finally, I recently checked out this new fabric shop on High Street called Sew to Speak. It's all goody-goody goodness. I did my best to restrain myself, but ended up walking out with four yards of black and grey canvas, and these two goodies:

:: Giraffes from Alexander Henry ::

:: The most amazing Japanese import linen/cotton blend from Echino ::

Ah. The love. The only down side is that I really can't start on anything new until I knock out some more of these custom orders. It's a nice problem to have.