Category Archives: Crochet

03

Sep. ’13

Crochet Hook Case – easy finish for #LDSI!

For the Labor Day Sew In #LDSI, I made some progress on Easy Street, Raining Cats and Dogs, and a bit on the hand quilt.  As I said in a previous post, I saw this Crochet Hook Case on another blog and I thought it was such a cool idea.  And since I wanted a quick finish I tried to do it.  Here’s the link for the free tutorial I followed:

http://craftyghoul.com/2013/01/31/free-tutorial-for-sewn-crochet-hook-case/

And here is the one I made:

Crochet Hook Case - Closed

Crochet Hook Case – Closed

Crochet Hook Case Open but the Lid is closed

Crochet Hook Case
Open but the Lid is closed

Crochet Hook Case Open with the hooks in

Crochet Hook Case
Open with the hooks in

So some things I’d do differently:

#1 – put the yarn handle under the Needles spot.  The tutorial wasn’t very clear so I placed it above the needles spot and now it’s more at the top of the case when it is closed instead of in the middle of it.  I’m not sure if I’d use yarn next time either.

#2 – make sure to use the same color thread in the bobbin.  I didn’t have any extra empty bobbins so I just used regular white thread in the bobbin and a dark blue thread on top.  I was able to sew and make sure the dark blue was showing where I wanted it to but I think it would look better if the top thread and bottom thread were the same color. I’ve been in the habit of pre-winding my bobbins so that it’s easier to switch out when I’m in the middle of a project that I didn’t think about what to do if I needed an empty bobbin.  Also – how do you know how much to wind on there?  I’d hate to fill it up because I know I wouldn’t need all of it but at the same time I don’t want to run out in the middle of a project.  I guess I should just have a bunch of bobbins on hand.

#3 – When I went to sew the top and bottom pieces together I forgot to keep an opening at the bottom of the case so my opening was at the top.  It looks okay but I’d prefer to put it at the bottom.

#4 – remember to use a regular foot rather than my quarter inch foot with the side bar (Bernina Foot #57).  It’s easier to sew straight through (with no quarter inch seam) without the side bar.

#5 – one of the last steps was to sew 2 1/4 inch below the top to help the case fold over.  So if I want to keep that in I would first put the hooks in and folder over the top and measure to make sure it’s enough room. Mine barely fit once I put the hooks in and folded the top over.  Another option would be to leave that step out entirely.  The tutorial said that the sewed line helps with the fold but I wonder if ironing that spot would do the same thing?  I don’t know though so if I make this again I may try it.

I think in addition to a crochet hook case, this could easily be modified for a make up brush case or anything else you want to hold like knitting needles, paint brushes, etc.  I love it so I may just make it for my make up brushes.  My current make up brush case doesn’t fit all my brushes so I’ve had to carry multiple bags of stuff every time I travel.

Happy Quilting!

Melanie

Posted by . Categories: Crochet. 2 Comments

02

Sep. ’13

Design Wall – September 2, 2013

Design Wall on 9/2/13 Block 9 Raining Cats and Dogs

Design Wall on 9/2/13
Block 9
Raining Cats and Dogs

 

I must say that I’ve been slow out of the gate and scrambling to get anything done today.  It’s the last day before I’ve actually got to work again and it’s already 2pm!  🙁  This morning I didn’t have anything up on my wall.  Of course I’ve got a table full of Easy Street pieces from yesterday but I specifically wanted to get something done on Raining Cats and Dogs and up on the wall for this post.  So, I went to get Block 9 and couldn’t find it.  I had my little project bag yesterday where I put everything together in preparing for today.  But I couldn’t find it this morning.  Which meant I had to clean up my desk, my shelves, and my office, in general.  I finally found it between two boxes of stuff that I’ve got to go through at some point.  I guess it fell there out of my curio yesterday when I went back and forth retrieving items for whatever I needed.  But now I’ve got the first two steps of the block done.  I’ve got my background pieced and all the pieces drawn out.  I’ll be basting next and then will proceed with the applique.

See more design walls at Patchwork Times.

Posted by . Categories: Crochet, Design Wall, Quilting. Tags: . 2 Comments

01

Sep. ’13

Stash Report – 9/1/13

Nothing finished this week but a lot of work done on my current WIPs.  Nothing added so we’re at a net zero! 🙂 At least for this week.  I purchased a bunch of fabric to take advantage of the Labor Day Sales so we’ll be adding a lot next week.  Hopefully I can get something finished soon to bring that down.

I’ve been meaning to count my current fabric and I may do that when my purchased items come in.  I do not have a whole lot but they’re stashed away in bins so it’s hard to tell.  How do we count kits? I don’t want to go through kits and stuff to figure it out so I guess if it really matters to me I’ll check to see if the kit says how much yardage is actually in the kit.  I know it is sometimes mentioned when I buy the kit, but I’m not sure if it’s listed there.

Also, other crafty bugs are starting to nip at me… Crochet and Scrapbooking… Scrapbooking is way too hard right now with all my pictures and stuff just all over the place. That’s going to take all day just to sort through so while I want to do some scrapbooking – I’m just not in the mood to go through all that stuff.  Crochet is smaller and more doable.  I still have the little hat that is almost finished for Kayla to finish up so I may try to finish that today.  I’m just not sure I know how to finish it up. 🙂  We’ll see.  I was looking at the crochet classes on Craftsy = there are a few on sale this weekend and I almost purchased one along with the skeins of yarn that you can buy with it.  If I hadn’t already purchased a bunch of fabric and registered for PIQF, I probably would have done it with very little hesitation.  As it is I’ve spent way too much this weekend with the kids’ back to school supplies and my visit to the Craft store yesterday and the online quilt shops last night and PIQF – so I’ll have to pass this time around. I guess I’ll just pull out the yarn that I’ve got and finish up that project if I MUST crochet.  There is a cute little project I saw posted on a blog awhile ago that I may want to whip up this weekend: http://craftyghoul.com/2013/01/31/free-tutorial-for-sewn-crochet-hook-case/  It looks easy and I’d love to put all my crochet hooks in one cute case. And it will use fabric! 🙂

Stash count:  **I started counting 5/23/13…

Used this week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 15.5 yards
Added this Weeks: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 99.75 yards
Net Added for 2013: 84.25 yards

see more stash reports at Patchwork Times.

 

Posted by . Categories: Crochet, Quilting. Tags: . 2 Comments

10

Jul. ’13

Settling in…Finally!

I’m happy to report that the floors are finally done!  I moved out of the den and into a real bedroom.  The kids are no longer sleeping on recliners in the living room and are now on real beds in their room.  My “office” has moved from the living room into the den and I am still loving my desk.  My phone is working, the hubby’s computer arrived from the tech guy and he’s enjoying playing his games on a faster, cleaner computer.  K and J love it because now they can play on the laptop and only have to contend with each other instead of their dad.  I’m back working a lot which means my quilting and crafting is back to limited time only.  Even so I was able to attend another class at the big box craft store.  As much as I want to support small crafty businesses I can’t afford to every time I want to learn something new.  So I took a crochet class.  I used to crochet as a child with my grandma but never got more than a few rows done on a scarf or blanket.  Those projects took way too long for me – I do not have the patience for it.  The class I took was for a simple project that would allow me to finish it within the timeframe of the class (about 3 hours) and I enjoyed it.  We made a salmon pink beanie with a flower on it.  At the class, we ran out of time to learn how to do the flower so I had to figure it out.  I didn’t do it right as you can see – but I’ll try it again since Kayla now wants me to make her one.  Unfortunately the pattern only gives direction for 6-12 month olds and 12-24 month olds.  And that is way too small for my almost 12 year old.  I’m giving the one pictured below to my niece, Ammabelle. It is perfect for her  at 8 months.  I’m making the 12-24 month old one now to see if I can figure out how to make it bigger and I’ll just keep making it and increasing the stitch count until I get one that fits Kayla.  I guess I’ll keep Ammabelle supplied until then. 🙂

Ammabelle's beanie

Ammabelle’s beanie

On Sunday’s post I mentioned that I couldn’t find my hand project that I wanted to work on on Tuesday.  I was so upset that day as I wanted to get it ready and I couldn’t find it with everything stashed away in boxes and bins.  Well I found it on Monday on the front passenger seat of my car.  :0  I remember now not wanting to lose it so I put it there.  I figured that it was away from the boxes and bins and it wouldn’t get lost.    This project is the start of the next block of Raining Cat’s and Dogs  from Ann Sutton of Bunny Hills Designs.  I started this project in November, 2011 as a BOM with my LA Quilt Shop, Quilt Emporium.  At the time I started the project, my applique skills were not very good.  Up until then, my only applique experience was with my first hand quilting class in 2006 and I didn’t enjoy it much.  I guess my brain was processing how to do everything else that I couldn’t get the applique part of it.  It was always something I wanted to touch up on and get more experience with so when the quilt shop offered this BOM I quickly signed up for it.  It was much harder than I thought but my applique has definitely improved.  I just have to remind myself that I do not need to finish this quickly and to relish in the process of learning rather than rush the project.  I’ve finished about 4 or 5 blocks so far.  I only have pictures of these two because the others are packed up somewhere.

Raining Cats and Dogs

Raining Cats & Dogs made from Ann Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs pattern

Raining Cats and Dogs

A block from Raining Cats & Dogs made from Ann Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs pattern

 

So I was able to do a little bit on Tuesday while I took Kayla to Cheer practice.

~Happy Quilting!

Melanie

Posted by . Categories: Crochet, Quilting, Raining Cats and Dogs. Tags: . Leave a comment