Button Up Purse

Am designing away here! What do you think of this little crochet number?

 

Button up Purse

Beginner/Easy Intermediate

Materials

50g Aran weight yarn (80-100m approx.) I used Adriafil Stella Jacq (100m per 50g ball)

3.5mm crochet hook

2 buttons 10-15mm

Measurements 10 cm high x 8 cm wide x 8 cm deep

Notes

Magic loop or chain circle to start, instructions are given for both. There should be enough yarn left over to chain a strap or an inner division if desired. Work is carried out in rounds, with the end of the round slip-stitched to the beg chain.

Abbreviations

BEG – beginning: CH – chain; DC – double crochet; HTR – half treble; RD – round; SS – slip stitch; ST(s) – stitch(es)

Starting the purse:

EITHER:            chain 4, ss into first ch to close loop

OR:      magic loop

THEN:  ch1, 5dc into loop. Join to ch1 with a ss.

Rd 1:    ch1, 1dc into same space, 2dc into every dc to end (12 sts) ss to ch1.

Rd 2:    ch1, 1dc into same space, *1dc, 2dc into next st; repeat from * to last st, 1dc, ss to beg ch      (18 sts)           

Rd 3:    ch1, 1dc into same space, *2 dc, 2dc into next st; repeat from * to last 2 sts, 2dc, ss to beg ch (24 sts)

Rd 4:    ch1, 1dc into same space, *3dc, 2dc into next st; repeat from * to last 3 sts, 3dc. Ss to beg ch

            (30 sts)

Rd 5-8: Continue in this way, increasing as set until work reaches a round of 54 sts.

Shape Base:

Rd 9:    ch1, 1dc into each back loop only of previous round, ss to beg ch (54 sts)

Rd 10: ch1, dc into each st, ss to beg ch (54 sts)

Rd 11-25:        As Rd 10.

Create buttonholes:

Rd 26:             ch2, htr into next st, ch1, 5htr, ch1, 10htr, ch1, 5htr, ch1, 5htr, ch1, 18htr, ch1, htr3, ss to beg ch (54 sts)

Rd 27-28:        ch1, dc to end, ss to beg ch (54 sts)

Shape flap (worked back and forth):

Rd 29:             Turn work, ss 7, ch1, dc 15 (16 sts)

Rd 30:             Turn, ch1, dc15 (16 sts)

Rd last 2 rounds 3 more times.

Rd 37:             ch2, htr2, ch1, htr8, ch1, htr3, turn

Rd 38-41:        ch1, dc to end (16 sts)

Rd 42:             ss1, ch1, dc12, ss2, fasten off.

To make up:

Sew in ends.

With front of purse facing, count 5 htr in from the ch sp to the left of the flap, and place button here*.

*To sew button, fasten yarn to fabric, pinch thumb and finger between fabric and button, and use this gap as the measurement from the button to the fabric – the space is needed to cope with the folds of fabric when the purse sides are concertina’d together

Repeat with other button on other side of flap.

Fold fabric and close using ch sp as buttonholes until button appears on front of purse. Fold over flap and button closed.

Friday Finish - only 2 days late! :D

I know, I know, bit of a cheek really :D but I have been looking after a sick almost 6-year old, so couldn't really get anything done before now. She's a lot better, started arguing back today after a day of being sick (Friday) and a day of lying on the couch shattered (Saturday). Poor wee soul. Kids are at their most forlorn when they're ill.

Anyway.

I've been a busy bee today - the long weekend has been a fantastic aid to sewing. And the sun has meant a request for a sun hat for said almost 6 year old.
Thanks to Riley Blake and April Cobb, I have a fantastic pattern to work from. Kt chose the colours, and off I went...

First I fused interfacing to the fabric, and then cut out some shapes:

Two fabrics, as the hat is reversible. Three pieces for the brim, three for the sides and one piece for the crown from each fabric, and interfacing ironed behind each bit.

Quarter inch seams used to sew the pieces together, then topsewn with an eighth seam to secure. You can see that on the back of the red spot. Then comes the hard part - sewing the round shapes together. Not v good at this, but got better with practice - black one is better than the red one I did first :)

Spot the deliberate mistake? Yes, I had to unpin this one ... Just as well my hubby spotted this!

I put the two hat pieces together WS out and sewed them round the brim. All the curved seams and the brim were 1/2 inch, cut down to 1/4 to reduce bulk with notches cut into them to ease the curves.
Leave a 3" gap, turn right sides out, and topstitch around the edge. Et Voila!

One reversible hat. It's a teeny bit big, but better that than the alternative! Took me a few hours over the day but I am really pleased with how it turned out. I love the colours she chose too, they look amazing together. I'd like to say she gets it from me, but I reckon the wee smasher has her own style. I'd love to show you her modelling prowess but she was in a foul mood by the time I'd finished so this is the best shot I have:

 Hehehe :D

Extra strings to my bow

Working away - again - at my sewing machine, only slightly hampered by the remnants of my virulent cold attack Yay! Am trying something new this time for my craft stall, making cards with fabric.
I'm cutting out background shapes and sewing mostly hearts on top. So far they look very cute :D and am
hugely chuffed with how they're turning out. Proper photos tomorrow after I find the camera. And the camera battery...

This is my baby - Brother XL 5700. Pretty basic but a hard worker :)

Have fussy cut some wee motifs too - owls, children, with so far excellent effect. I've been raiding my scrap bins (which are full to overflowing) for these wee titbits, although not making much of a dent yet. I think the next step is going to the stash and choosing some lovely wee bits to fussy cut.
Looking forward to that tomorrow. As well as paying for the Blighter's next round of swimming lessons, gettting acupuncture, picking her up from school early and tidying the house after a family visit and before the first Book Group meeting at our house tomorrow night. Phew!

Here's to feeling better!

Making like a bee...

Busy, busy!

More later :D


PS 100th Post! Woohoo! Should have a giveaway.....

Blue Funk

I feel a bit sluggish of late. This is most likely a mixture of things - flu-type virus reappearance, looking after my hubby who is suffering another attack on his immune system, and my daughter who is being 5 and a half as well as she knows how. Thoughts of passed family members are weighing heavily too, especially poignant with Mother's Day tomorrow - well, today now. So have been a bit melancholy and low-spirited.

Surprisingly, there has been productivity despite this malaise. I finished knitting a pair of men's socks for a friend; made a cafetiere warmer for another friend (well, for her cafetiere technically) and finished the last square of a blanket I have been knitting for ever. It only needs sewing together and knitting a border round the edges. I am currently wrapped in a blanket I finished last year - a monster effort which took over a year to make, and no wonder: I used 3.25mm needles (that's old size 10, for the UK folk) to knit a single bed-sized blanket out of Rowan Felted Tweed. It was a labour of love, log-cabin stylee, and I really truly enjoyed it. I still havent taken a picture of this beauty, but now that I think of it, it deserves to be shown off for it's example of my fragile mental state testament to perseverance.

I'll get on it. And pics of all the other finishes.

It is nice to know that even in the midst of the lassitude there is comfort to be had in creation.

And I'm going for a cycle tomorrow.

too late for sensible navel-gazing

Do you know the trouble with reading on the interweb about all these fantastic creations? I am starting to feel like a total underachiever.

• I am not a mother of 5 who home schools, bakes cakes and cookies for the local church, and can bash out 12 charity quilts on a wet Tuesday afternoon while watching the entire series of Downton Abbey. 

• I don't run marathons or scuba dive; live in a fantastically dramatic climate involving snow shovels or tidal waves;  I don't have a farm with 1500 head of cattle, 4 llamas and a goat.

So what am I like?

Turns out I take aaages to do anything and even longer to decide what that anything is; I have the attention span of an ADHD goldfish, and hate to be told what to do, even by my own sorry self. 

I have one child, who is pretty darn good, and a lovely hubby who, despite some ill health over the last couple of years, is more than capable of washing up, filling the machine with dirty clothes and switching it on, and entertaining said child for a few hours while I snore my way through Saturday morning.

I don't have a job, other than looking after said family and house, and am not really actively looking for work just yet.

Hmmm.

Any redeeming features at all? 

1. I make a mean tray of shortbread; 
2. read like a demon; 
3. I can remember the words of about a gazillion songs; 
4. feed the birds in my garden regularly with lots of avian loveliness (even dried mealworms, yuk); 
5. keep my family warm with knitting and sewing, from head to toe....

 Does that sound like a good enough start?

Getting better every day

I have some sewing going on, despite feeling a bit rubbish - we had complete viral overload in our house for the last fortnight - and there is some sewing progress Yay! Simple stars and contrasting fabrics, am feeling the love on this commission :)

Chain piecing preparation :

There has also been knitting: Chunky wooly beanies and a couple of cowls and snoods, trying out stuff, and there has been selling: been to a couple of craft fairs, and sold a quilt, xmas decorations and wooly beanies. Photos of knitting soon, when I get myself organised...

It's getting better every day! Thanks Mama Cass.

Bluech.

Have a sore throat. And achy bones. Am still managing to get a bit of sewing done, though, have half the top of the arrows quilt done, and the rest all lined up ready to go. At least its a school holiday, and hubby has taken the day off, so no early morning to worry about, and he can entertain the Blighter for a while.
Bleuch, though,

It doesn't help my mood that I have hellish tennis elbow in my left arm, or that I walked into the metal frame of a chair the other day and have a possible broken toe. I don't think its entirely broken, because I have broken a toe walking into a bath before and that pain  made me almost vomit, and the toe has been hunchbacked ever since, whereas this one was just really feckin sore. At least the purple colour is fading and it looks ok really.

So not feeling 100% right now.

Ach it will pass. Will feel better soon. Just going to wallow in firelight and chocolate cake for a wee while first...

Mind the Gap!

Spaces appearing in my quilts to sell collection - Yay! Have sold this cute wee one:

(About 4 feet sq, fabric is Freebird by Momo)

And now I need to get on with making some more. Ideas yes but not been able to concentrate long enough so far. Hopefully now the household is back ion a routine again, I will feel the muse inspiring me and the mojo working. 

I wonder who the muse for quilting and patchwork would be?
Hmmm...

Failure to Launch

Hmmmm. Hard to get started in this weather. Trying to get into stuff, but lots of everyday life getting in the way of serious crafting. Not bad everyday life, I mean friends coming to visit, little'un starting school, hubby not feeling well, going out for an evening or two, is pretty good really. But am not getting my head together for some concentrated making. Ach well.

Plenty of time coming up for that. Have done a couple of wee things, coasters, hearts, some place mats. Pics? I think so.....

The Little'un wanted a gym bag with Hello Kitty so this is what I managed to rustle up with some IKEA fabric and ribbon. She liked it, and I think it turned out well. Not bad for some unpracticed sewing and bad interfacing hehe. You're not getting a close up thanks to the crap camera, but excellent from a distance :)

Shades of Grey

NOT the populist soft porn tosh 50 Shades of Grey, but the brilliant, thought-provoking, first-in-a-trilogy novel from Jasper Fforde.

Its a story about a young man in a future world where people's lives are dictated by what range of colour they can see, the politics of that world, the Grey underclass who are no better than skivvies to the Reds, Blues, Greens, etc. Its the little things I love about this book, the small throwaway details about coping with life, how they supply colour via pipes to the gardens, how if you don't pay for yellow you get grey custard, the moving Perpetualite is a revelation! but is just one part of the backdrop to the story.

The man is a genius.

Please, please Mr Fforde, write the next one!

In other news, there is cutting and slicing occurring on the cutting mat but the housework is sadly taking up too much of my time right now, and it does need to be done as we are wading knee deep in yuck in the sitting room rug. Gah. Hate housework. If it wasn't for my MP3 I would never get any of it done. Yay for music and fab comedy as we work! on the boring hellish housework (boo hiss).

Small things

I think after the drama and sheer size of the big quilt and bedspread, it is time to shrink my horizons and focus on a few small projects for a while. I have looked out some of my blue scraps - picking blue because my blue scrap box is fit to burst - and some odd pieces of white, and ironed them to perfection. I am gong to do more tomorrow, because returning this afternoon from our week long holiday and going to a friend's bbq has left me a little tired. Especially as I drove all the way home, then there and back. In the meantime, have some pics of my quilting space :)

As you can see, the room is in the eaves of the house, so I have to be careful when I iron that I don't bang my head on the roof! The fabric collection has expanded slightly, and the shelves to the left (just seen) are now full of backing fabrics, sheeting and various bits and pieces. And over a dozen wee turquoise boxes of scrap fabrics. Lots of floor space for laying out the blocks too. Love the brightness of it, although want to paint the walls a slightly cheerier colour. Now if only I could get the aeriel on the radio to work properly I'd be made - depending on where I am in the room the signal crackles! Who said digital was supposed to be better??