My first felting adventure

As I referenced in my last post, I was mid-project with my very first attempt at felting. I followed the "Chocolate Felted Tote" pattern from Mary Jane Hall's Positively Crochet. The bag stitched up quickly, using a double strand of worsted wool and a large hook.

the bag - before felting

Then came the adventure -- actually felting it, without ruining the work I'd done! I threw it ina pillowcase and tossed that in the washer with my dryer balls and set the washer to warm...and then let it go. I checked on it about every 20 minutes to make sure it wasn't sticking to itself where I didn't want it to. I have a front loader, so progress was relatively slow. Even still, each time I checked I could see it shrinking down and getting more solid. By the end of 3 full wash cycles, it was perfect! I draped it over a cereal box to dry, and then it and the straps sat abandoned for another week before I finally put them together.

bag after felting

Completely finished!

The straps stitched on pretty easily, and I think the project turned out really well! The pattern includes instructions for adding a fabric lining, which I may do eventually. But for now, I love it and am so excited to use my bright purple bag (color is most true in the second picture), so I'll see if I feel the need to add a lining later.

Little Miss has been in the hospital this week, so I've not had a chance to sew anything, but I've made some big progress on my top secret gift (which is a Christmas present, so I still have 6 months to tease you all :) ), and a couple of other crochet projects. Looking forward to get back home so I can sew!



And the winner is...

ME! The last week or so has been yet another exciting one in my crafty world :)

Last week was Ellen Gormley's virtual launch party for her book on Ravelry...and she had random drawings throughout the party. All told, she gave away 2 full afghan kits and a signed copy of her book (she blogged about the party here) and I won one of the afghan kits! So I have lots and lots of yarn coming my way soon to play with and make one of her beautiful creations for myself!

Also last week, I found a new blog, as the author had posted about a giveaway she was hosting. So I checked it out, and figured, why not try? Then today she posted that I was the winner! So I get 2 of her sewing patterns for free :) I chose her pack-up backpack and rock collecting skirt, so I'll soon have a couple additions to my to-do list! Please go check out her blog and patterns for yourself!!

As for actually making things...I've been pretty busy! I'm experimenting with felting for the first time...I have a bag all stitched up and ready to felt, but haven't been able to keep the washing machine empty of regular laundry long enough to get my project in! Once I see how that goes, I hope to make some felted bowls for my sewing space, to catch odds and ends. I intend for at least one bowl to be my intro to knitting...since the final work will be felted, it allows room for error in the stitching process! I have lots of diaper stuff in the plans for my sewing machine -- I have one diaper about 1/2 way done, and plan to make another small wetbag for the diaper bag (and hopefully do better on the zipper this time!) and a large hanging wetbag to replace my diaper pail. I also have a few different fabrics ready to make some pj's and pants for both kiddos....so it looks like I better get busy!