Saturday, February 14, 2009

This Week In The Use Me Up Challenge

Well, i thought I would show you what I've been up to this week when I'm not obessessing over the state of Maya's crate and her anxiety and what not. One thing that has been surprising me this week is what all I have just sitting here waiting to be made into something. It says to me that this challenge is long overdue. It also is sort of scary in the amount of times I have been able to say to myself, "SEE! I KNEW there was a reason I kept this!"

Here's what I did on Monday. These little pillows are actually place mats that I bought for 50 cents each at the Habitat for Humanity thrift store. I bought them a while back, but just never did anything with them till now. And look at how well they go with the chair! I'm glad I started this challenge, because these things have been on my to-do list forever, like since I bought these.


This isn't anything too special, but I sure am enjoying it. Since I bought the dried lavender for this little eye pillow a while ago, I was finally able to get around to spending the 10 minutes that this took. I think it took me longer to choose the fabric. It's just a little pouch full of dried lavender and (uncooked) rice and it stays in the freezer. I take it out when my eyes feel tired and the hint of lavender is awesome. As a matter of fact, I used it last night while laying on the couch after my walk with the dog, and woke up 9 hours later with it laying on my chest. That's a pretty powerful eye pillow. Tuesday's effort:
On Wednesday I knitted. I worked on the scarf I showed you last week. Someone, make it stop. I'm tired of it. I just want to be done with it. but it just goes on and on and on and on and on an- you get it.

This is what I worked on Thursday AND Friday. And I am still only to the point of having the fabric cut and pinned. It is a knitting needle case from the book Warm Fuzzies and I think it's awfully clever. It took a while to choose all the peices, figure out where I wanted them, and cut them to as close to Just Right as I could get. I swear, cutting fabric is my favorite part of sewing, but I will be damned if I can cut a straight line, or actually cut the measurement I mean to cut. I use a ruler, a tape measure, a fabric soluble marker, a rotary cutter, and god knows what else, and I still cant seem to get it right. I swear, I thought i was going to have to call in NASA to cut some fucking sweaters. Nonetheless it's all ready to sew. I hope that my sewing machine is prepared to cope with sewing through three layers of felt. I hope that I am ready for it. Sewing on stretchy fabrics is still sort of tricky for me.

And here's today's effort. It's a little pouch made from the sleeve of the sweater that is the outside of the needle case. The back is the big band you see above with all the orange stripes. I thought it would be good to toss in the knitting bag too and hold all the little things that HAVE to come along with you when you take a knitting or stitching project somewhere. The fun thing of all this knitting accessorization is that both of these things match the bag that has just been designated my knitting bag. Amazing, huh? It's a wool camel colored tote with orange lining, and I love it. It was my Designated Carry On for a while, but now i have a bag I like better for that. I think that no matter how hard I try to quit them, bags just find a way into my life. I have loved them since I was a little girl, and I guess I just always will. I try to fight it once in a while and donate a box or two (!!!) of them, but if five leave the house, seven more show up in their place. It's maddening.


You know, I will tell you something else that is sort of amazing about this Use Me Up Challenge: my office and particularly sewing table are cleaner than ever now. Every day after I am done in here with what I am working on, I set a (imaginary) timer for 15 minutes and pick up. Huh. who would have thought- it doesn't even take 15 minutes to pick up after a small sewing project, so I just keep cleaning for the rest of the time. And then, when I come back the next day, I just grab my materials and get to work. Huh. Is this how other people make stuff? Is this how they actually find time to make things, cleaning up and getting ready for the next go round? If so, this Picking Up After Yourself and the people that do it are Visionaries. I'd like to meet such a person, that is, if they are even real.

1 comment:

anna maria said...

All your projects are great. It's such a wonderful feeling to finish a long-sitting unfinished project and to use up supplies you already have!

I love the look of your sofa: part sofa cover part not. I had 3 dogs up until September, and now just two, so I buy a new sofa cover about 3 times a year, but your idea is much prettier - I'm going to ponder it for a bit.