A few Dala Horse Designs

Swedish Dala Horse Carver Bag
by dalahorse

Blue and White Horse Tote Bag
by dalahorse

Blue and White Horse Tote Bag
by dalahorse

project updates

Sharing the table yesterday was helpful. After we did as much as we could with the computer repairs there was enough of the table clear to have dinner before getting back to other projects.

This morning we're sorting keys and trying to find one that's "gone missing" It's funny how you loose track of things that you don't use often so we thought we'd take advantage of the extra space to get organized. As much as I hate to admit it some of these go back to the 1970's which was 3 houses ago so many of these that don't belong to anything will become art supplies and part of other projects too.

As you can see I've got a number of wooden horses in various stages of carving and sanding. There are an assortment of paints out but I'll be putting away the ones that don't get used for this project.

There are papers to sort and bills to pay and some days I just don't know what to do first. The bills are
are the most important but there won't be any money for them until next week so I might as well get back to my painting or the horses.

I did have a couple of borrowed books from a friend on tracing your Swedish ancestry but realized while looking through them that I haven't got enough information to pursue that anyway so those are packed up and ready to return.

When it comes to painting I haven't decided whether to let loose and start something new or get back to one of the canvases in progress around here...of course I've given away all but one of those big tote bags that I had made so I'm tempted to finish the one I'd been embroidering so that I can use it for one of my other projects.(The bag I have now is full of the projects that go back and forth to crochet group.) Yes, it's a toss up today between painting, sewing or woodworking. Come back later to find out which one got my attention first.

Recycling Upholstery Scraps

For me the first step is always to take a look at what I've got and then begin cutting and sewing fabrics together until I get a random patchwork piece that I like the looks of. Once I'm satisfied with that I'll fold it into sections large enough to make tote bags.
You can never go wrong by making more things to store or carry things in. I give many of these away and always keep one to store the materials in for the next project.

There's no pattern or anything, I just fold, cut and flip then sew again. Repeating the process over and over again.

 A few pins now and then keep things from shifting too much while cutting or sewing.

I enjoy this process and am thinking about adding some buttons and embroidery to it when I finish with the patchwork. I'm in no hurry to finish this one so I might as well indulge my creativity a bit-don't you think so?

Still deep in the mess-sew what?

There's just a bit of top stitching to do on the bag I made yesterday and I'm putting another one together today. The good thing about making bags is that it gives you somewhere else to put things as you're sorting things out.
I'm re arranging the storage bins and gotten down to just one that holds both fabric and patterns now. The other bins I have are small, semi clear boxes the next size up from shoe boxes. They're easy move and stack and are my favorite way to round up supplies for individual projects in progress. You can see what you've got and keep things going instead of just sitting around.

Scrap Happy

I'm still working my way through that pile of tapestry fabrics and so far it looks like I will get 2 or 3 new tote bags by the time I've finished with it. I've been so busy sewing that I haven't gotten around to taking any more pictures yet.
Meanwhile the paints and pencils are pulling at me, I can't wait to get back at it again! The only drawing that I got done today was an iris on the corner of an outgoing letter.
Having tried portraits in both acrylics and watercolors I'm eager to make an attempt in pencil.
It's surprising what you can accomplish in a small space, it just looks a little terrifying while you're doing it. My sewing things are spread all of the way through the living and dining room. Thank goodness my hubby is the sort that doesn't mind the chaos. Perhaps as a photographer he finds the composition interesting...maybe he should shoot some pictures for you until I've got time for it.

Making the Best of whatever you can find

STORAGE TO GO: I'll bet you wonder why I sew up so many bags to carry things in. There are a lot of reasons: I give a lot of them away, I sell some but The most important reason is that I can take some odd bits of fabric that were in the way (I don't have much space here) and I can turn them into storage for other items. Sometimes the type or the color of the fabrics used will help me stay organized and remember what's inside them and they're always ready to go whenever I need them.

MAKING THE BEST OF THINGS: This lily didn't look like much among the weeds but as you can tell by some of the photos it will have a big impact when used to base some drawings and photos on. I may even cut them to have something pretty in the house or just at my table outside.

SPEAKING OF PAINTING: I continue to be inspire by the sunflowers I grew here a couple of years ago so I keep painting them on rainy days and it seems to cheer me up.

Catheter Bag Cover

I made these today and you may know of people and places that need them too. I found a free pattern on the internet from Northwest Wings of Love and want to thank them so much for providing it. Here's the link that comes with the pattern:  http://www.nwwingsoflove.org . We found the pattern at http://mysite.ncnetwork.net/res0u8ym/patterns/catheter_bag_cover.htm  

As any of you that follow this blog know I'm always making some sort of bag for people and I'm pleased to say that when I went to my crochet group this morning EVERY person in the room was carrying their  yarn and things in a tote bag that I had made for them. It just maded me feel SO good that I'm STILL smiling and hope you are too.

In and Out of the Front Yard



As I've mentioned on many occasions I have a very tiny house so whenever the sun comes out, I do too. I do a lot of painting in the yard...probably a lot more than I should because the weeds are taking over!

When it rains you'll find me indoors doing some more sewing and even a bit of housework from time to time. One of the gals at the senior center gave me a bunch of fabric and I made 13 tote bags, gave away a dozen and have started on another batch. What I decide to make depends on the sizes of the pieces of fabric I get, The width of a lot of these was just perfect for bags so I went with it.

There's still a lot of work to do on that tree painting so I'll post progress on it as I go along. You won't see much of the blue and yellow bags because  I'll just keep putting them together until I hit the end of the strips of fabric so they'll be more or less the same unless I run out of that dark blue webbing for the handles...unless of course you'd like to see a picture of them in a pile to see how many I made this time.

Results of the Recycle Challenge

Here's another stack of materials in the latest recycle challenge. So far I've finished 4 place mats and have 10 small tote or gift bags in progress. The small bags will come in handy for making up little kits when I teach people to crochet or work on other projects.

There were a lot of quilt blocks cut out in that last batch so it made coming up with project ideas easy. I'm sure that there are still several things that can be made from the rest of this so I'll keep you posted on any further results.