BUY MY WALLETS!

These are images of one of the wallets I've made using the tutorial found here. I'm making many more in order to supplement our not-quite-enough income. When they're finished I'll post pictures, but I can describe them for now. I have more like this one, ones with the orange daisy fabric inside and plain blue outside, ones that are Care Bear print with blue inside, and ones that are in bright African prints, mainly green, black, and gold. I'm not exactly sure what I'm charging for them yet, I'm hoping to generate some interest!

Oh, and I have permission from the tutorial-maker to use her pattern to make money :)

White tree I painted on a long-sleeved t-shirt last weekend. I have a t-shirt with this on the front, but it's crooked and the paint cracked badly, plus the stencil leaked a bit. On this one I used freezer paper (so wonderful for stencils!), and instead of a brush I used a little sponge roller to put the paint on. Plus I mixed the paint and fabric medium in a more balanced ratio. This means that although it cracked (since it's a knit fabric) it doesn't stay split and looks all pretty.


Woot! I took a break from term paper 1/term paper 2/presentation/studying and made this recon (reconstruction). It's my Shinerama (for Cystic Fibrosis) t-shirt from University of Alberta. However, it was an XL, as all free t-shirts seem to be. I drew around the body and armscye of a t-shirt that fit well, then cut it and resewed it up the sides and across the bottom (salvaging the collar and part of the shoulder seams). Then I copied the shape of the cap sleeves of the well-fitting shirt, and cut new sleeves (again, salvaging most of the "cuff" seam) and sewed those in too. Woohoo! So much fun. Now I wish I had more free t-shirts to mess with - Value Village here I come!


Another t-shirt I reconned last summer. It was a little too big, since this was bought before Sean's Mom met me and she insisted to Sean I couldn't be so small I'd need a Youth M instead of a Youth L. This didn't require as much reconstruction since it was much smaller, but now it fits me perfect.

In terms of presents, I got a wonderful package from Angela containing presents from Europe, pictures very promptly. And speaking of Angela, as long as you're not her :) you can click here: NOT ANGELA to see one of the things I've done for Christmas for her so far.

Wow another Karlie spelled my way, that's amazing! My parents always say how it never occured to them to use a C or Y (and I prefer my spelling anyway) but there are very few people with the name! Anyway, here's some updates:

1) I don't have celiac disease, which is very exciting. I can eat wheat again! It also means that I have some (expensive) cookbooks to sell, since they were sooooo certain I had celiac and it's pretty much impossible to go gluten-free without cookbooks. Anyone know anyone who could use some gluten-free cookbooks?

2) This means that we have don't have a good idea why I'm exhausted, losing weight, and have a persistant cough. I think my Plagues and People class is getting to me, because I'd laugh if it turned out to be TB.
NOTE: I'm not being paranoid I have TB :) The website is just for interest's sake because I thought the topic was really fascinating

3) I made this:



The shirt, that is. It was a little miserable to sew, partially because it's brocade so I had to stitch around every edge to stop it fraying as I was sewing, and because the collar didn't fit, so I had to do a whole bunch of fiddling around. However, not only did I make the shirt, I made the buttons myself out of soutache braid, using a knot-button pattern.

4) I made a new blog: A Long Yarn (Christmas) where I'm going to post all my Christmas gifts as I make them. I'm hoping that this way I can use links to the posts, so that people who don't want to peek at the progress can choose not to.

5) That said, here are some peeks:
NOT Heather or Chad
NOT Dad
NOT Mary
NOT Becky


Other gifts will be forthcoming, once I've started them.

Thanks for the tip Misty, although the knitting class isn't going to run - Boo-urns. They didn't have anyone else sign up, I'm guessing because of the price. Campus Rec has lots of neat stuff but it's VERY expensive.

I finished my cabled handwarmers (no pictures, maybe tomorrow) and made a black fleece headband since I can't find my earbags. However, I did complete one VERY pretty piece of sewing, although the picture I have is somewhat mediocre:



I kind of look like I'm smirking in the picture, not exactly sure why! I also STILL need to post a picture of the ring, I know. You can kinda see it in the above picture, on my left hand...but I'll post a better one. This weekend is going to be spent visitng Mom and Becky tomorrow, since they're coming up, doing my structure homework (and some research for my Gemology term paper), and sewing at least 3 things: a corduroy skirt, a chinese brocade shirt, and a fleece for Sean. If I have time, I'm also making up a nice futon cover, but it's Sean's turn to clean up the living room and until that's done I can't cut out the Futon cover ;)

Finally...

Pictures of stuff I've finished. Minus the panta I just made (don't you wanna, wanna panta), since it's buried in my backpack and I don't feel like digging it out.


The pencil case I made to hold all my structural geology gear: a navigational protractor, erasable pencil crayons, TI-83+ graphing calculator, 0.5mm mechanical pencil and leads, Staedtler MARS eraser, and geometery set. It's made from fabric I got at Value Village which is quite heavy (like upholstery weight canvas) and lined with scarlet stretch twill. The button is also from Value Village.


My finished Scandi mitts. Unfortunately you can see that the second/third right (since I screwed up the first) is smaller than the left. I think thought that some blocking will help take care of that. Nonetheless, I love them.

Oh, and to the anonymous poster who said "What wedding dress?" you see, wedding dresses are a special gown typically worn by the bride when she's getting married. Since Sean and I are getting married in the somewhat near future, I have started keeping a tentative eye out for styles I like.

Sockapaloooza, Haversack, and Grad

I finally recovered from the pinched nerve/sciatica/whatever-it-was enough to return to work and get pictures of things I'd promised.


My sockapaloooza socks from Dorothee! As I said, I was wonderfully lucky enough to get TWO pairs of socks (my own will be mailed out tomorrow, FINALLY. Please forgive me Lisa! You already know who I am because gmail isn't anonymous, to my dismay). I just love the first pair, they look a lot like Pomatomus socks. I adore the colour of both socks, and the blue-green pair is Regia Canadian Colors! (Really, if they're "Canadian" shouldn't it be colours, not colors?). Thanks so, so, so much Dorothee. I would have taken a picture of the chocolate, but it's already all gone, minus one last block (urp!).


This is the haversack I'm making at the Fort. It's completely handstitched using real wool and cotton thread on melton cloth. The leaves aren't stitched down yet, but will be stitched down with overcast stitch like the turtles. The fringe is made of czech glass seed beads in a pattern I came up with on the fly. The handle is braided leather with a navy polyester satin ribbon (sorry, no silk satin. I wish it was all natural fibre). I'm very, very proud of this haversack, and I think it's absolutely beautiful.


My cousin Chris, our Grandma, and I after grad. I adore this picture, and it's one of the best that turned out of that day. My grad portraits turned out gorgeous as well, but I have to wait for them. I thought they'd be in on June 5 for some reason, but oh well. I think I might call them just to get the date again.


My family, quite a good picture I think. Dad, Becky, me, and Mom. I do really like this one!


Sean and I. Although he insists this is a good picture, I don't think it's great. My eyes are partly closed, and I'm leaning forward since we were facing up a steep slope and I had heels on. Heels + hills + soft ground = funny angles in pictures. I made the dress myself, and I think it turned out pretty well. It was slightly tight, but a size up would have been too big. If the fabric hadn't been so delicate I would have basted it together first, then I could have used slightly less seam allowance. oh well. It was still pretty!