Alternative to indoor watering can- a teapot

I have a lot of indoor plants now and I don’t have an indoor watering can.  An outdoor watering can rains over a great area, while an indoor has a single spout to prevent a mess indoors.  I don’t have one, and have been using things that are less then satisfactory, either too small or they drip when pouring.  I started to wish that I had an indoor watering can, but I would rather not have to spend the money on it, or find a place to store it.  Then I thought about a tea pot- little spout, already have two, and have to store them, holds a lot of water- perfect!

Felting book in development

I hope you all enjoyed the free mitten pattern.  I have a felting book in development and hope that it can be found in a bookstore near you soon.  While I am working on the book doing research into other felt crafters I am churning out ideas a mile a minute.  Some of those won’t fit with the theme- a book for young people probably shouldn’t have a wine bottle holder – so some of these rejects will appear here, free for all to enjoy.  Check back often to see what develops.  While I love crafting, I probably love sharing crafting more.

If you like my blog and want to help, pin my projects to pintrest and share with your friends and family.

Crafting Theory

I love crafting, but I think the act of the craft is more important than the product of the craft.  If you can’t enjoy the process, what is the point? I am a free form crafter that purposely designs projects that don’t need a lot of precision.  I find that obsessing over perfection ruins the crafting experience.  Instead, beauty can be found in intentional imperfections. 

An example: I was quilting some bags as gifts.  I wanted to make spiral shape quilt patterns, but  couldn’t do it free hand and perfect enough.  A machine would be needed with algorithmic programing or a compass to make it perfect enough.  So instead of trying, and trying to reach perfection I decided to make the lines wavy circles.  This made the spirals look like flowers, and they were beautiful.  And easy, and delightful to do.  So, the lesson here- layer imperfect flowers cut out of felt and no one will notice you don’t have a perfect four petal flower. 

Go free form and enjoy, instead of ridge and obsess over perfection most of us can’t hope to achieve.

Frogged two sweaters

I have finished frogging – unraveling- two of the 69 cent sweaters.  One sweater that was worsted weight yielded 17 Oz of yarn, that is over a pound!  The real find was the bulky weight 100% wool in cream, so it can be dyed as desired.  That sweater yielded 38.5 OZ, over two pounds! I was finally able to find the fiber content on the third sweater- 50% wool, 50% acrylic, a high enough content of wool so that it is hard for me to tell by feel.  That sweater wasn’t in great condition so I ended up discarding it.  Even so, it is about $50 worth of yarn, maybe more, for under $3.00.

Tote bags out of reclaimed quilts

I love tote bags- they make great gifts (will one of these be for you?), they organize your stuff and you can cram them full.  Last year I made from scratch a bunch of totes for family.  This year, I am making them from tightly quilted quilts I have found at the thrift stores.

I found a paisely patterned throw that I got two totes out of- with pockets.  I used the scalloped edge to make a nice finished top and two belts from the thirft store (.33 each) for the handles.

Red tote

Red tote

I also found a beautiful baby quilt that made a perfect tote bag with a sunny disposition.

Pottery barn kids quilt- rmade

Pottery barn kids quilt- remade

I also found a baby room set (looked brand new) with ocean animal themes, with quilt, valence, bed skirt and diaper holder for $3.00- that is right- $3.00.  I made this into two tote bags with pockets, straps, and two shopping bags.

Ocean tote 1

Ocean tote 1

Ocean tote 2

These totes are a little on the small side, but how cute are they!