Current Mood : Craft happy.
Current Image Notes - Here's the crate cover I sewed ! Seems like Dearest Son's electronic EVE has already taken up residence !
I actually did get off my butt and into the Lab last night...and soon got back on my butt, although I was sewing ! Decided to try the crate cover design, and it worked out really nice, even though I made a couple errors. It didn't even hit me that I didn't have enough of the starry fabric until after I cut out the first of two pieces. So I patched the rest of the fabric, and there was enough, but that seam was really unfortunate. It kind of screwed up the measurements, so the Wall-e parts don't match up at the seams. And it puddles up a bit at the bottom. But it fits well, and Dearest loves it, so it all works out. I made my ‘embroider something and sew something' goal for the second week in a row, so I'm happy, too.
And now that I know how, I'll make a few more. Since I had to claim one of Dearest's crates - we have several, in slightly different sizes, so I measured the one I covered - to get the fabric dimensions, I ended up carrying it around to store fabric, cut pieces, the pattern, my notes... it really came in handy. So now, I want one. And Dearest is looking forward to picking out the fabrics himself for his second one.
I thought I posted a link directly to it, but I don't see it. Anyway, here's the link to the PDF to snag your own copy. I love freebies that work !
http://lauragunn.typepad.com/theundercovercrate.pdf
Oh, and before I forget - if I vanish for a few days, don't worry. My kernel fault a few days ago has gotten progressively worse every day. This morning, I thought my system was DOA for sure. We have new parts on order, and they should be here next week. I'm hoping my poor, sick ‘puter can hang in there a few more days ‘til we can get him fixed and upgraded, but if not, I'll try to post from Beloved Hubby's computer. If I can remember my password here !
We thought of just replacing the whole deal, but Best Buy is pretty much the only place that sells what we want, and they're waaaay overpriced, especially compared to Tiger Direct and other online sources. Plus they've started ‘optimizing' their systems - more crap and bloatware, I'm sure. No thanks.
One thing that was kind of amusing during yesterday's pseudo-shopping trip was that I couldn't really find anything to buy. Whenever I saw something I might like later, I soon figured out how to craft one m'self, using what I already had. One of my long-time whines is that you can never find the cute fabric used to make that $20. pincushion. Or $30. sewing box. Well, I have an embroidery machine. I can stitch up what I like, anytime. And if it's simple enough, I can even digitize what I want, if I don't already have it. So I doubt my next trip to Hancock Fabrics will cost much, either. Good-quality broadcloth's only $2. a yard, full price. It's still hard to believe I got out of there yesterday without buying anything at all.
And since I finished the crate, Dearest has put in a special request - a Nerf crate. It'd be perfect to hold and carry his new armory, and make easy, short work of projectile harvesting. Yup, you can still feel and use the handles through the fabric. So I spent a good hour cleaning up a Nerf logo, and another digitizing it five times before I thought it was acceptable.
Sometimes, I do feel a guilty twinge about appropriating copyrighted logos for my designs. But since I don't sell them, and use them strictly for Chez Insanity projects, it's not a huge stab. Plus, I figure I put in the time cleaning and digitizing it, so in a way, I've earned the use for one or two stitch-outs. And it's not like I can legally buy the designs, or I would. A commercially digitized design will always look better than my amateur efforts. Still, I get a kick out of doing it, and an even bigger one when they stitch out recognizable !
I posted today's entry early, so I could 'show and tell' the pattern creator, Laura Gunn, how well it worked up, and how much I enjoyed her sharing it. I like to pen a quick Thank You note when I get to use something awesome. She wrote back an hour later, saying she thought my version turned out cute. What a nice crafter !
Now, if I can get off my rumpus room again and update Somewhere That's Crafty with something cool...
