Cupcake Swap

I joined another swap on Craftster. This time the Cupcake Swap. I find is so easy to come up with ideas for this swap. Cupcakes are cute and easy to draw out and I don't have to be a fabulous artist. And cupcake designs seem to be all the rage right now so you see ideas everywhere. I finished one item for my partner yesterday and it started out as a small quickly finished project. However I kept thinking what if I added this or did this and I ended up making what Craftster would consider a large project. But I love the way it turned out. I know my partner reads my blog so I don't want to spoil anything for her with pictures yet. Lets just say it invoves Shrink-It and beads. I don't think that will give to much away but just get you wondering what it is. I have something else in the plans for today.

Swap Angel Package Finished

I finished the package for my angel partner for the Frugal Living Swap. I wanted to make her a nice package because I know how it feels to get flaked on. If you join a swap on Craftster and your partner doesn't send you anything in return the organizer tries to find an angel for you. So I volunteered and was glad when I got to be her angel.

I just wanted to share what I made for her. My partner likes to hitchhike and wanted some things that would be good for traveling. This lingerie laundry bag was something I made for her.

The royal blue bag in the back is a bag for her toilet paper. She asked for something to carry toilet paper in her questionnaire. So I came up with this. The front part that you can see in the picture is a little zippered bag for some hand sanitizer or something like that. There is a drawstring at the top so you can easily get the tissue inside. There is also a zipper on the back side so that you can pull the paper out when needed without having to take anything out of the bag. She said she likes pretty things that are useful so I prettied it up by adding some lace.

The patchwork head scarf is made from a patchwork piece I made from drapery samples about 20 years ago or more. I found this in the back of a closet during a recent closet cleaning. The piece was a bout 36 inches square so I could make a few more head scarves with it. I plan to make myself one I think it would be good for working in the yard. With the eyelet ruffle around the edge it sort of look like something Laura Ingals would wear on the prairie.

I made her a water bottle sling and two reusable sandwich bags. The sandwich bags are lined with recycled potato chip bags. The fabric I used this was something I have had for a long time. It has several of her favorite colors in it. I also knitted her a cotton wash cloth.

The last thing I made were two linen tea towels. I used eyelet lace trim and some patchwork strips along the top and bottom edges. I realized that I used a lot of patchwork in this package. My partner didn't really say she liked patchwork so I hope she likes it. I didn't really plan to make a lot of patchwork things for her but that is the way things turned out.

Some Vintage Patterns

I recently scored a bunch of vintage patterns from Shop Goodwill. They didn't show much of what I was bidding on in the pictures. But I saw a glimpse of some old hot iron transfers so I thought I would take a change and bid on them. I'm so glad I did because I got some adorable and unique patterns and a few hot iron transfers too. They are from the late 40's and early 50's. Most of them are Anne Adams patterns. I got patterns for women's dresses and some cute little girls dresses and a few toys.

My favorites are the apron patterns and this swim suit. and it is even in my size. There are a few patterns that are cut out of news paper that I am not sure what they are. Most don't have anything written on them to identify them. One did identify it as an apron but there are really no directions except to cut 14 pieces. I think it looks like the one where you use a stripe fabric and cut the fabric on the diagonal so when you sew them together it forms a herringbone pattern. I found the perfect stripe in my stash so I may have to try this out.

This Butterick has 3 apron views. The full coverage one view A is truly full coverage. It has a zipper in the front and it is fitted and covers both front and back. It is more like a jumper than an apron. The pattern also suggest that you use the waistband from the half aprons as a sash around the waist.

View B is a gardening apron with a padded pocket on the front that can be a kneeling pad for working in the garden. I think this is very clever. However I am not sure how it is attached or how it forms a pocket as the guide sheet is missing. I may play around with it sometime and see if I can figure it out. View C is a traditional gathered waistband apron. The picture looks like it has two rows of ribbons attached to the front with some bows.

Isn't this swim suit cute. I know now it would be considered a dress. There is even a zipper in the back. The pattern envelope suggest using wool jersey for what they call the under-trunks and the lining of the bra. I think that sounds a bit hot and itchy. I love the style though and I may try making it with swim suit knit and eliminate the zipper in the back. Or maybe I will make it with seersucker and wear it as a sun dress. I will be sharing the results if I ever get any finished.

Latest Project

I picked the latest issue of Stitch Magazine the other day. I was able to use a 50% off coupon from JoAnn Fabrics. There are several projects inside that I want to try out. I volunteered to be a swap angel for this Frugal Swap over on Craftster. So when I saw this Travel Lingerie Bag I knew it would be perfect for my partner. She asked for a wet bag to put her unmentionables in while traveling. While I like the project I made a few changes to the idea in the magazine. Because I wanted to make it a wet bag I used waterproof fabric for the lining and ripstop nylon for the cover because I wanted it to be lightweight. For some reason I had both of these fabrics in my stash it just took me a while to remember where I put them.

The bag has a side for the clean things and a side for the dirty things. And it folds in the middle between the two sides and closes with Velcro. You could put your slippers in this center section. I love the way this turned out so I hope my partner does too.

I didn't want to do the hand embroidery that the pattern called for so I used a machine satin stitch for the clothesline and the words. After using fusible web to position the cloths appliques I just top stitched them around with a strait stitch to secure them. This was a fun project and not meant to be an heirloom or anything. It is meant to be used and functional. My partner said she liked useful thing that are pretty too. I like that philosophy although I love to make things that are just pretty as well. And I know I make plenty of things that I don't need. But I do need to make them. I guess you could say crafting is a kind of therapy for me.

Frugal Swap

I recently took part in The Frugal Living Swap. I received my package a few days ago. My partner was Jodi from Texas. She sent me 3 shopping bags made out of vintage pillowcases and ribbon handles, a sturdy fabric basket, and a utensel roll. For her I designed a couple of green projects that I tried to write a tutorial for. One was the sewn washcloth from a few post ago. The other tutorial I am working on is for what I call Snap on Kitchen Towels on a Roll. I am going to make myself some and finish up a tutorial for a post in the future. Now I am committed to it since I wrote about it here.

Mizuhiki Jewelry

I stop by my local Goodwill Store from time to time just to see if they have anything I can't live without. LOL Well the last time I was there I found this product I had never seen or heard of before. Mizuhiki Colorful Paper Cords. They are tiny cords made out of paper. They don't really look or feel like paper. They feel kind of like they are some kind of pliable metal. I was intrigued so I bought them. The directions for three project are on the back of the package.

I decided to try the Josephine Knot Bracelet. It looked simple enough. I did a lot of macrame years ago so it didn't take long to reaquaint myself with a few knots. They only tricky part was the bracelet used ten strands of this cord so it was hard to keep everything in the right order while making the knots. This cord was very forgiving though. It didn't kink up but stayed smooth even if I had to redo a knot.

After making the bracelet with the instructions on the back I decided to make a pair of earring to match. I was able to figure out the knot for the earrings by looking at the picture on the front of the package. The back didn't have instructions for this project. I ended up making two pairs of earrings with the cord that was leftover from making the bracelet. I have enough cords leftover to make the coil necklace so I may try that next. Since I have never seen this product before I doubt that I would be able to find any more. It is easy and fun to work with and I do like my new jewelry.