Making Things

When talking to people, I am more likely to call myself a maker, than an artist. While artist is the goal, I'm still striving towards that. this week, I got a bit of a boost.

My quilt group had a challenge last month. We received a roughly six inch square of fabric and asked to create a sewing accessory from it. We could add more fabric from our stashes, but we were suppose to keep it small. It was suppose to be a quick and easy challenge.

This was the fabric.

It came with a clip and my brain wanted to do something with the clip as well.

After a couple of false starts, I ended up with this.

It is a hand sewing wallet. The stash fabric was a birthday gift from a friend, last year.

The challenge fabric became a zippered pocket, to hold the scissors, thimble, and other little notions.

There is a piece of wool felt for the needles and pins and a strap of fabric to hold the clips. The lining fabric is straight pins.

Entries were due last Monday. A total of 13 accessories returned, and there was a viewer's choice balloting. Everyone got to choose their 3 favourites. Sadly, nobody thought to take a picture of the whole group.

Surprise! I got the most votes! Not sure what the attraction was, but I did hear a lot of comments about the clip strap.

The prize...

Some fabric, and a needle threader. I needed  a needle threader for my wallet.

The threader is really cute, with a tiny cutter and a hook to grab the thread.

In the sock area, I finished the socks I started in May.

They have been my knitting project for appointments, meetings, anytime I need some easy mindless knitting. I have lost the ball band, so I have no idea what yarn it is, but someone will like them for Christmas.

A Baby Shower

When my oldest was in middle school, he introduced me to the family of his good friend. His friend was a young lady with interests and a personality much like his. Her mother and I became friends, as we tried to survive their preteen and teen years. Our friendship solidified when we both went to post graduate studies in our forties, and often shared bus rides to school together. We graduated at the same time (though from different faculties) and drifted apart when we both went back to full time employment. Since retirement, we have renewed our friendship.

Her daughter is having her first baby, and my friend will be joining the ranks of Grandmas. There was a baby shower on Saturday, and I made a collection of handmade goodies for the new babe.

While I was at retreat I made a couple of Bandana Bibs. I did fish, because Grandpa is an avid fisherman. I did ambulances because Mommie is a paramedic (as is my son, her buddy).

For the last couple of weeks, the push has been on to finish this chenille baby blanket. It is so soft a cuddly, perfect for a newborn.

I made a large flannel blanket, because they are so useful with a newborn. This one is about 1 metre square.

 I made a sock and hat set from leftover yarn from socks I made for my favourite paramedic.

Since they don't want to know the gender of the baby in advance, I went for "neutral" colours, like purple and rainbow.

I have a gift in mind for my friend, the new Grandma. It is on my to do list.