Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood of Crafty Sanity tweeted and posted about these Jumbo Hexagon Granny squares yesterday and I just had to try one. Thanks Jennifer!  Jennifer said to head over to Attic24 to check out Lucy’s over -the-top easy tutorial that even a beginner like me could follow without frustration. Thanks Lucy!!

This was fun.  I’d have to get quite a bit more yarn if I wanted to make a quilt.  I really just like the dead simple meditative repetition of the stitches on this hexagon, and that it works up so quickly.  I’ll definitely be returning to this.

Another attempt at Amigurumi Crochet.  This time it’s a heart ( in case you couldn’t tell).  Ran out of pink yarn.  Hence, the two-tone effect.  Definitely want to revisit this technique once I get some smaller hooks.  It is quite fun.  I found this pattern over at http://www.roxycraft.com/crochet_hearts.htm Thank you Tamie Snow.

I must say, I am keeping up with the Thing A Day Challenge for February.  Pretty pleased with how that’s turning out.

One more heart. Learned a cool scalloping technique. It was easier than I thought. What would you use this for? I’m stumped with what to do with it. It measures 6″ x 5.5″

Obviously I’ve gotten bit by the crochet bug.  Dang, like I need another craft interest.  My only salvation from this rabbit hole is that I don’t have that much yarn in my stash.  Now, I wonder if I can find some crocheted Easter egg patterns.  HELP ME!!  I’m falling….

Still trying my hand at crochet. I’m starting to remember why I prefer knitting. Getting the hang of it though. Now I can use these flowers to cover up my mistake on the clutch I attempted recently.

My how time flies.  We all know that and we all experience days, weeks, months, even years slipping through our lives without us barely noticing.  Well, we usually notice the years.  If you’re not noticing those, maybe you’re somehow related to Rip Van Winkle.  I’ve done my share of procrastinating, of putting things off till tomorrow, of being absolutely positively stuck in my tracks with no motivation to move forward.  I want this year to be a little different.  I want to be as productive as possible (don’t we all?).  I want to complete more projects (don’t we all?).  Yes, that means start to finish.  Not start to “just need to put the clasp or the zipper or the button or the glaze on and then it’ll be finished.”  No, no, no.  Got enough of those lying around.  To kick start my year I’ve joined two challenges.  One is Creative Every Day (#CED2010 on twitter) which goes all year.  The other is Thing A Day which lasts through the month of February.

I know both these challenges will help me out.  I’ve already started thinking in terms of integrating creativity into my daily round instead of viewing it as something separate, detached from my life.  I’m also becoming more forgiving of myself.  I’ve got a lot of interests.  I’ve found out that’s not a bad thing.  I can jump from one thing to another without feeling guilty and still get things accomplished.

The pics above are just a sampling of what I worked on in January (in other words, what got finished).  There’s other bits and pieces, trials and errors lying around, but some things really aren’t ready for prime time.  Maybe they’ll make the cut this month.

Well, it’s far from a masterpiece.  In fact, I’ll be including this as one of my first craft fails for the  next Craft Social, co-hosted by Barbara Forbes-Lyons (@penguintrax on twitter) and Diane Gilleland (@sisterdiane on twitter).  These are great crafty ladies.  You should definitely plan on taking part if you’re at all inclined toward the handmade or just want to see what’s bubbling up in the Maker Movement explosion.  They’ll be hosting the next one Saturday, February 20 from 3 – 5 PM, EST.  Check for hashtag #craftsocial.

Now back to my handbag escapade.  I was “inspired” by this lovely little clutch on Pfaff’s site.  The tutorial was much more focused on bead placement and using Pfaff attachments than actual purse construction.  Being a beginner, I should have opted for a much more detailed tutorial.  The fabric is a lovely retro sample piece from Waverly with a coordinating broadcloth lining.  I made two major mistakes with this fabric.  First, I pre-washed it.  Since it’s technically home decor fabric, it probably should be dry cleaned.  The feel changed dramatically.  Second, I fused Pellon Peltex #70 stabilizer to this fairly light weight fabric.  Perhaps the pre-wash contributed to my folly, but the Peltex creased pretty badly, showing through the fabric.  I think a slightly lighter weight stabilizer would have worked better.

I’m satisfied with the general structure of the clutch.  I’m even impressed with how the contrasting side inserts turned out.  I’ve learned my lesson on installing magnetic closures though – find a tutorial and follow it.  Of course, the closure is not supposed to be showing through to the top flap.  I’ve since had the aha moment that the closure goes on BEFORE the bag and lining are sewn together.  Oh well, live and learn.  This has caused me to be on the look out for a retro pin, flower broach or something to cover up my mistake.

All and all, the project was fun, and it does LOOK like a clutch.  I’ve got several weights of stabilizer now, so I think it’ll be trial and error until I get a good feel for what weight goes well with what fabric.  It’s definitely a fail, but as soon as I find something to cover the obvious closure mistake I think I’ll take it out for a test run anyway.  Like I said, it does at least look like a clutch.

Ok, I’m not starting the new year off too well.  I haven’t posted since December 31st and here it is January 8th (ok, started this on the 8th, now it’s the 13th, jeez).  Not good, not good at all.  It’s not that I don’t have anything to post about.  I’ve got at least half a dozen drafts in the queue.  It’s that I’m not sure in what direction I’m going with this blog.  I think I made the mistake of asking for peoples’ opinions too early.  You know, as artists, we’re told to never reveal our work mid-stream.  People will steer us off course.  Not deliberately.  Tips and advise were given with the most sincere intentions.  And they helped.  They really did.  It’s just that I got to stewing in my juices over it.  Which is what I generally do in such situations.  Instead of politely taking the advice and continuing to move forward, I kind of got stuck and started questioning if I’m doing this right.  Is there a right way or wrong way to blog?  Will the Blog Police find me and flog me if I get it wrong?

I guess that’s where I’m at right now.  Still figuring out my purpose, my mission.  They seem to change daily, if not hourly.  Now I could wait until I have all this stuff figured out and then restart this blog.  But I think I’m just going to DO.  Yeah, Nike’s slogan never gets old does it?  I’m just going to do it.  Just post about what’s on my mind, what’s going on in my life, what I’m trying to figure out, what ticks me off, what I struggle with.  In this age of transparency and authenticity I think I’ve just got to be me, even if it is a mixed up me.  Maybe there will never be a direction, maybe I’ll never set any parameters or have a definable purpose for this blog.  Maybe I’ll just relax and enjoy the ride.  See where this thing takes me.  Sorry, I’m just not as structured and organized as some.  That’s not me.