All income (not profits: 100% of income) from January and February 2016 will be donated to Water Aid for Flint, MI, via the The Mission of Hope Shelter and Pastor Bobby Jackson, and the GoFundMe setup here: https://www.gofundme.com/rjp53vz8
Help me raise money to provide water to the kids of Flint, MI, where the water has dangerously elevated lead levels.
KnitSpinQuilt on Etsy.
Both of these bags are custom orders for my JHU CTY Scholars Fundraiser — in short, I donate 100% of proceeds (not profits, all money) from my Etsy shop, KnitSpinQuilt in September and October to the JHU CTY Scholars Program.
This bag has a top and lining that match the light green geckos:
This bag has a yellow lining to add a little visual pop — I chose a print in part because I’m out of bright yellow solids and in part because the orange matches the geckos on the outside.
Both bags are made using In Color Order‘s Lined Drawstring Bag pattern, which I adore.
More bags this weekend, for sure, and maybe even some quilt piecing for another Strip and Flip quilt. :)
Linking up with WIP Wednesday today.
Or, “my sewing space is a complete mess, but I find it hilarious and even slightly restful.”
My room has been transformed from a bedroom into a piecing factory. My bed provides nearly all the space I need to lay out cut fabrics in sets as I prepare for piece-work:
I’ve also spilled over onto the box that holds my blocking mats, which is right behind my sewing machine and a handy place to shove loose yardage:
Then there’s the actual sewing. My trusty Brother straight-stitch machine is set up on the sewing table, as seen here:
But it doesn’t like zippers much, so I’ve pulled out my old Euro-Pro machine, put the zipper foot on it, and set it up at a 90 degree angle on a folding table:
Why so much piece-work? Well, I’m churning out bags for my Etsy shop! After all, fundraising through sales only works if there are things to sell.
All sales from my Etsy shop in September and October go toward a donation to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth Scholars program, which sends bright kids to college classes, or to a summer 3-week academic program, as well as matching them up with mentors. It’s an excellent cause, focused on families who need the financial assistance, and I’m delighted to be able to help even a little bit.
Use code “KSQREADER” for a discount on anything you see in my Etsy shop — and feel free to message me, email me, or PM me on Ravelry (AlisaB) if there’s something I can make up custom for you!
I’m sure by now you’ve all heard about Ahmed Mohamed, the Irving, TX 9th-grader who took a home-made clock to school and was arrested for a bomb, then charged with making a hoax bomb — even though he only ever called it a clock.
Ahmed has received a huge outpouring of support on social media — just check out #IStandWithAhmed on Twitter — and invitations from the President, NASA, and too many other places and people to count.
But there are still far too many other children in the USA who face systemic inequalities and prejudices that get in the way of them making home-made clocks or learning about biology, or becoming engineers. Helping Ahmed is the first step: helping correct some of the educational barriers is another step.
So I’m running a fundraiser to raise money for STEM education. Here’s how it works:
-You buy something from my ETSY store, KnitSpinQuilt
-I mail it to you
-I donate the entire purchase price to charity
That’s it! You get stitch markers or a project bag or earrings or handspun yarn, and I donate the full amount you paid toward scholarships for low-income children to go to the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) summer program run by Johns Hopkins University.
So far, I’ve raised $133.00 – I’m hoping to hit $250. I’ll put an image in the sidebar, and together hopefully we can help send a kid to CTY to learn that there are lots of other geeky, talented, academically-minded kids just like them, regardless of their family’s income.
I’m going to the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool festival this weekend and decided to turn it into a long weekend out of town visiting friends.
And what do you do when you visit friends who knit? You bring them yarn they commissioned. (I sometimes spin for friends if they buy the fiber.)
First some Gotland handspun for a sweater:
Then some Abstract Fibers Targhee in the colorway Bandon. My cat had claimed it, but fortunately the friend to whom it is going also has cats.
I also brought them houseguest presents, as one does.
An Avengers knitting bag with a yellow lining for Iron Man:
Ladybird stitch markers:
[AVENGERS BAG]
Though my semester was really pretty crazy, I did manage to finish a couple of other projects either in snatches of borrowed time or in mid-December, once my papers were all in.
The one I’m going to talk about here today was another Mabel Messenger Bag, which I put together using Perk Me Up fabrics — I saw them over the summer and instantly knew they were made for a friend of mine who loves all things chocolate and coffee. This collection? Pretty much perfect for her. She asked for a bag she could use for her knitting, and liked the Mabel bag I made over the summer:
This bag is altered in a couple of ways. One side of the bag is a simple piece of Kona Chocolate, with a large print on it as an exterior pocket. The magnetic snap attaches inside the pocket, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but … well, I probably wouldn’t do it again.
The other side is a patchwork of the various different fabrics in the Perk Me Up collection.
One problem I had with my first Mabel bag is that the strap slides a lot. For this bag I made two changes to help it stay in place. I made it scrappy, with seams that add a little bit of body to the strap every few inches, and I made it just a smidge wider than the pattern called for.
The inside has a simple unzipped pocket, just the right size for knitting needles, scissors, crochet hooks, etc. It’s going to be used as a knitting bag, so I made sure it went to its new home with some yarn and a set of DPNs. (The green blob is a lace shawl, which will show up here as soon as I block it. Don’t hold your breath: I’m terrible about blocking things.)
I really enjoyed making this pattern for a second time: it makes for a very smart bag, and I think I managed a couple of the details like the snap and the bag’s strap a little better this time than I did last time. It was a lot of fun to revisit the pattern.
1. FinalWhole, 2. FQ-Close, 3. Front_garden, 4. Full_front, 5. BlueBlack-staggered, 6. Henrietta1, 7. Notebooks, 8. Sarah’s potholders (front), 9. Black bag 1
In 2012 I started quilting seriously, started blogging, met a whole bunch of really lovely people and learned tons from advice and tutorials and quilt-alongs, and finished a lot of small projects and several quilts, including one that isn’t featured in this mosaic.
In 2013, I’ll be joining the Inspire circle of do. Good Stitches (which I’m really looking forward to) and trying my best to keep up with the Pile O’Fabric Skill Builder Block of the Month in hopes of learning how to sew curves at the very least. And ideally, I’ll be a little bit better at keeping up with this blog during the spring semester than I was this fall.
The fall semester has been kicking up into gear, so I’ve had less time to work on projects recently. It’s also influenced what I’ve been working on to a certain extent. That said, I’ve still gotten some things done!
Finished:
I made three notebook covers for classes, following Rachel’s tutorial on Stitched in Color. I’m going to make one more in yellow and red, to match the Plantagenet colors, for my class on the Angevin Empire. And this time, I’ll (hopefully!) remember to add a pocket before I sew it all together!
HST BoM QAL: some progress! I made the second July block & and my first of two August blocks.
-finish second August block (cut and partially pieced)
-fix botched May block already!
-start thinking about how to arrange the blocks & what to back the quilt with.
Knitting lots of progress!
-monkey socks in Persia (Malabrigo sock):
The more time I spend on the subway going to and from work/class, the more knitting I get done — I may have to take up hand-stitching things, if the majority of my crafting time continues to be on the subway.
Perk Me Up Bag: some progress.
I finished one side of the bag, which is a patchwork of the various fabrics, and I quilted it, because it’s a lot sturdier that way: I didn’t want to risk knitting needles poking their way through the bag and stabbing someone.
-iron interfacing to back of bag exterior and/or quilt it, too.
-attach pocket to back of bag exterior
-cut strap extender, strap and closure strap, attaching appropriate hardware
-sew lining together with internal zippered pocket in place
-attach lining to exterior pieces
-finish strap and etc.
Simple Math: trimmed a few more blocks!
-finish trimming blocks to 6″ square
-find sashing fabric
-baste, quilt & bind
Baby K’s Quilt: no progress since last week. This one is what’s laid out on my WiP cart right now, but I keep putting things on top of it — I should just get it done! There’s a bit left to work on.
-sew together two more postage stamp panels
-construct pinwheels
-lay out & attach borders
-construct backing
-baste, quilt & bind
Kitchen Window: no progress since last week.
-sort out cut fabrics into groups for individual blocks
-cut black fabric for frames
-cut green fabric for background parts
-start constructing blocks
-fiddle with layout
-make back
-baste, quilt & bind
Spinning: no progress since last week.
-Merino/yak continues to entice me, but I’m not watching much TV, so not much spinning is getting done. Perhaps I’ll watch a move with friends/family one night this week, to give myself some time off before things get crazy. That might be fun.
Knit-Spin-Quilt 