Hootie Owls

I had a request for a bag with an owl on it, so that motivated me to make these two cuties.  I really like the new design for an owl that is on the bag on the left.  It was inspired by a metal trivet that is in my kitchen:).  Gotta keep your eyes open, there are ideas everywhere!  The blue bag with the bow cinching it at the top is also something new for me.  A friend of mine sent me a picture of something like this, so I decided to try it. 

I have not been as much of a slacker in the last month as this blog would suggest.  I was a little surprised that my last post was so long ago, but I have still been keeping busy, just not doing as well at documenting it.  These two pillows I made a while back, and they both have a fun asian print on the back, and the blossoms pillow reflects the asian look.

Here's another hootie owl.  This is actually the original trivet inspired owl and his tummy feathers match the fabric on the back.  These are both in Ostara's.  

Branching out to Rugs

As I have said earlier, I (Barbara) have always been interested in making rugs. Well I have been experimenting this last month on some new techniques using my stash of wool blankets and sweaters. I have a friend who weaves rugs on a loom. I din't have a loom, but some rugs I looked at online seemed do-able without the actual loom. One source called them potholder rugs--after the little square thingie with the loops that you get for Christmas as a kid. I had a rug size frame (discarded side to my grandchildren's baby crib) to which I tied strips of a wool blanket. Then I began weaving strips of sweaters through these. In the first rug I tied all the edges, but on the second one, I ran a seam around the edge with my sewing machine. I could finish one in one or two days.

                                                                            


This is my second "potholder" rug with the sewn edges



My first "potholder" rug



A couple of years ago, I had made a penny rug by sewing layers of concentric circles to a woolen blanket base by hand. I liked the look of these rugs, but I did not like the hand sewing. I thought I could do something similar using my machine. The trick was not to go through too many layers--although I must say that my little, old Bernina is amazing in what it will sew through. If I can get it under the presser foot, it will sew! I wanted to try to only sew through two layers, so I began at the top and sewed a piece to a slighly larger piece. Then I sewed this to a larger one along its edge. I ended up sewing my pieces to a rug sized blanket (the hardest part, maneuvering the big rug) and ended up with 5-6 layer rugs. Plush!





 



My favorite "penny rug" mostly because I love the color combination



I made this for Grace and Emma's room. They helped choose and cut out the flowers from my stash of sweater scraps.









This one went together quickly, and is very soft!

My next project is to make a standing wool rug. This achieved by rolling up 3/4 inch strips into little cinnamon rolls and sewing thm together. You are actually standing on the edges of the fabric. It is pretty easy, and leaves room for loads of creative decisions as you go. I'm not sure how durable or washable it will end up being. It is still a work in progress.

flower crazy

I (Brynn) love making flowers and using them to embellish things and decorate my house.  I have mainly found these online at various blogs, but some of them are ones that I figured out how to make myself. 

These are super simple (which, for me, they would have to be to make so many!), and I made them out of some of mom's wool and also some regular sweaters.  Then I glued them onto a grapevine wreath and hung it on my door, for a warm and cosy fall decoration.

These flowers are made the same way as the wreath, but just with paper.  They were so cute I just had to try them. 

These are some projects that I made to take to Ostara's.  This one has a nice rustic, natural feel... since I just went out into the yard and found a bunch of twigs:). 

I love the calm restful colors on this one.  I made a whole variety of different flowers, and then just arranged and rearranged until I liked the result. 

I liked the one I made for my door so much that I made another very similar, with just a variation in the colors. 

These flower belts were fun to make, and wear!  A great accessory!

decorative pillows

I (Brynn) have been having a lot of fun lately with making flowers and so I thought I'd put a few on some pillows.  I like adding a little dimension. 

This is a happy sunflower, and the back has a sunflower print fabric.

 This is a bolster type pillow with a sweet ruffle.

The flowers on this pillow are actually a pin.  I thought that it would be a little more practical. 

I love making these satin flowers:). 

This is a cute little accent pillow with a couple of rows of corduroy ruffles. 

This pink flower is also a pin...

I love the colors on this one, they are so restful.    I saw flowers like these on a pillow at Target and so I had to figure out how to make them.  :)  Here's the result...

This dark chocolate brown and white are inspired by the fabric on the back of the pillow. 

 I really like the contrast. 

Bags for Christmas

So... one of the reasons that I (Brynn) have been working so hard on making bags lately is that in just a week or so some of our extended family will be leaving for China.  Then shortly after that the rest will be going, making a total of three sisters, and one brother and his family as our China family.  Last year when Christmas rolled around we packed a box with Christmas present and sent it off to China... and the shipping cost us more than the presents!!  I guess to make it worthwhile we need to send more expensive gifts!:)  So mom thought that this year we could send the gifts along with them in their suitcases when they travel back to China, and they could save the presents and open them at Christmas.   As strange as it seems to think about Christmas in August, that is why I have been making so many bags.  My sisters have said that they would like to have one, so I'll just let them choose and send it with them.  (I did tell them that if they want to save it for Christmas I could wrap it up and they could open it then:)). 

Here are the latest three...

Seven new bags

So here's the latest batch of bags.  These are the basic pattern without any closure, but they have a pocket on the inside and the outside on the back. 

random projects

I (Brynn) haven't posted for awhile and I have very little excuse...  We have been pretty busy with normal summer stuff, but I have -of course- still managed to get the itch to make something and found time to work on a few projects.  

Lately I have been inspired to give my living room a little bit of a "face-lift," so a couple of the projects are for my home.  

This is a "pouf" that I saw in one of my magazines, (Better Homes and Gardens) and it directed me to a pattern on their website.  You can find it a bhg.com.  The thing I like about it the most is that it is stuffed with my old scraps... jeans, crib bumper pads, towels etc!  I tend to stash things thinking I will use it for something, and then get irritated at myself for all my stuff that I never use, so it is really fun for me to feel like I'm using it for a purpose.:)  And I get a new piece of "furniture" for free!  My husband even likes it.  

  

Our old mini blinds have needed replaced for a looong time, so when my youngest hung on the cord and broke it, making it completely unusable, I had my motivation.  I thought about buying something new to block the sun, but I decided to give the Roman shades a try.  I made roman shades once about ten years ago, and they had some glaring flaws, but I thought that maybe I could remedy them with a little extra work.  My mom had this nice yellow upholstery fabric that was perfect, and I lined them with an old sheet.  I also sewed a line of stitching across where I intended for it to fold, and put a thin piece of wood in between the two layers.    I think dowels would have worked the best, but I used what I had.  Now when I pull up the shades they fold nicely instead of just bunching up.  I was happy with how they turned out.  

This is a pillow that I was experimenting with and liked it so much I decided to keep it.  I used linen for the flower petals, and I like the frayed look of the edges, hopefully they won't fray too much.  

I found a corduroy skirt and I thought it would make the cutest purse.  Here's the result.:)

After much "research" I finally decided to make myself a new purse.  Here's what I came up with.  I'm happy with it for now.... :)

I have been playing around with flowers some more lately, and this is the only one I managed to get a picture of.  I made it out of t-shirt knit fabric, and put it on a headband, and gave it to my girls.  

I'm trying my hand at wall-hangings, and here's the first try. 

Back to work...

Ostara's is back in business and I (Barbara)  need to get busy. Actually, I have been busy monograming over 200 T shirts for the Kansas Bible Camp. But the push for that is about over and I'm ready to create again. Summer is a hard time to work with wool, but the wool gathering has been in full swing. I must have competition because it isn't easy to find those wool sweaters at the thrift stores. Oh well. I have a pretty adequate stash for when the bug bites me this fall.
Renee, at Ostara's, has been encouraging me to do paintings of flowers. Now that, I can get excited about. The following are small (8x11) pictures of flowers from our garden. After that are three recently made purses, and then pictures of all the items I still have for sale at Ostara's.