Wednesday Worktable.

It must be Easter...

Getting ready to paint some Easter eggs.

Wednesday Worktable.

Daughter and I had a chat the other day about becoming more productive. She shared an idea about assigning a different type of craft for each day of the week. For example, crochet on Monday, quilting on Tuesday, knitting on Wednesday...

You get the idea.

I let that idea percolate through my little brain for a while. Last night while watching TV, the idea finished "brewing". Today's worktable is the result.

Now, I really enjoy crafting. What I don't enjoy is cutting stuff out. It has to happen though. Like many unpleasant chores, the easiest way to get through it is simply to get through it.

Fast forward to the worktable.

Between getting a haircut and having a wisdom tooth removed (ouch!), I only had time to cut out ten owl ornaments and four elephants before chores called me back to reality. However, two additional patterns - a bunny and a giraffe - were also cut out. Perhaps tomorrow will yield more fabric cut and ready for sewing.

Until then...

May you find happiness in the simple joys of life.

Sweet dreams, my friend.

Wednesday Worktable. Elephants.

This was my morning worktable. I had such high hopes to complete a few of these today. All the supplies ready and waiting.

Looked up how to do the blanket stitch on YouTube to make sure I'm doing it correctly.

Usually, the first time you make (or do) something is the hardest. Knowing that, the first elephant was cut out.

Eye placement marked. Safety eyes attached. Right sides pinned together.

The first problem reared its ugly head at the sewing machine. The eyes did not allow the fabric to move freely around the presser foot. Easily rectified by raising the needle and moving on. The area around the eyes was seamed by hand.

The second problem came when turning the cloth right-side-out. Thank goodness there were some bamboo kabob skewers in the cupboard.

Once it was right-side out, it was apparent that the eyes were too large for the toy.

Nonetheless, stuffing proceeded... and proceeded... and proceeded... It would have taken forever without that bamboo skewer!

The tail was attached. The last opening closed.

Ears pinned to the body. Crud. They're a bit large.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

This was the first effort. It took about an hour and a half - yes, ninety minutes! - to complete this little thing to this almost finished stage. Simply couldn't bring myself to do BOTH ears. What is most upsetting was that I had wasted this pretty fabric... it's almost gone!

Switched gears for a while and took the bonehead for a walk. Didn't even make a mile, but the simple act of walking cleared my head. The snowdrifts are bad enough (and the terrain uneven enough) that I had to concentrate on walking. Thankfully, that allowed me to focus on the beauty of the drifts and the blue sky. The wind was howling through the trees kicking up little 'snow devils' in the fields. No other tracks on the trail besides ours and the oil maintenance truck.

Birds have been at the feeders. I feel bad for the Robins; hard to feed with eight inches of snow on the ground.

Once back in the house the project was viewed with different eyes. It was such a pain to sew on the machine, that I decided to try hand-sewing.

Here's the result... Much better.

Yup. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Y'all have a great evening, folks.

p.s. (Good news. There was just enough of that pretty fabric to make one more elephant. Shown below in progress. The smaller eyes work much better, eh?)

Wednesday Worktable. Denim.

After looking on Pinterest for denim quilt designs, I decided to adapt one of the stained glass quilts for my purposes.

Here's the design I came up with. The denim needs to be sorted into like shades of blue and then cut, but once both the denim and the black fabric are cut the work should proceed rather quickly.

Until next time...

Y'all have a great evening!

Wednesday Worktable. Spring Cleaning: Closet Number One.

This Spring-like weather led to Spring Cleaning. One closet at a time. *sigh*

The first thing closet number one yielded was a huge bag of soft, worn bluejeans.

Four hours were spent cutting the jeans below the crotch (jeans purses) and ripping out side seams, into the washer it all went. Once clean and dry, the pieces were sorted by size.

While the fabric was being laundered, I logged into the rabbit hole many call Pinterest and searched for Denim Quilts to see what everyone else is making these days.

Which design was picked? That's a post for another day.

Here's hoping you have a great evening and an even better tomorrow!

Wednesday Worktable. The Little Stinker.

I came across this pattern book while looking for something else.

Even though I have several projects waiting completion (as always), I decided to take a break and make something different.

I purchased this book several years ago for the hedgehog pattern and made a few of them before becoming bored with the pattern.

All of the patterns in this book are very easy. Single crochet in rounds for the most part. Increase and decreases as well. Nothing more complicated than counting.

This week I chose to make the skunk. It's just very cute.

Being an experienced crocheter, when the pattern increased for the nose I placed some crochet thread across the stitches to mark where the nose should be embroidered.

This is how he turned out.

I'm undecided on whether to make another, but if I do I'll make the arms and legs bigger.

Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

What do you think?