(6-Thing-0602) Giant Bruise

On Friday, I spent pretty much the whole day straightening the house and running around getting last minute supplies for a backpacking trip that I was suddenly invited on. So no Thing for that day :(

We hiked about two miles into Henry Coe State Park in the fog, and set up camp on the flattest ground we could find. In the morning, the fog had lifted, but it was raining. Our tent was gaining water, and our sleeping bags were getting wet. Once out of the tent, we realized we had set up in a valley, and the run off was running straight under our tent toward the nearby stream. After breakfast, we broke camp, walked about 50 feet and saw a glorious flat camping space on high ground with firm dirt. We were sad.

After filtering water for the days hike, I put a bandanna on my head, thinking I could make an awesome tie-dye project as the bandanna got soaked by the rain and mixed with the purple dye in my hair. As it turns out, my rain gear was way more rainproof than I had expected, and my project didnt work out.

Luckily, I fell crossing a tiny stream and made this amazingly large bruise!

Posted via email from summation's Thing-A-Day 2010

(5-Thing-0402) Nightshirt

Continuing on the "lounge wear" theme, I decided to make a nightshirt too. I'd bought the materials and pattern about 2 years ago, but wanted to alter the pattern to fit me better in the bust. I had no idea how to go about doing this and so it sat, unstarted, in one of my project bins. Luckily, I was able to get mnrsiat to teach me how to alter the pattern. She's a good teacher, and I was able to finish this project pretty quickly after the pattern had been redrawn. I'm supposed to hem the bottom, but I surged it instead and I'm thinking of leaving it that way.

Posted via email from summation's Thing-A-Day 2010

(4-Thing-0302) Pajama Pants

I've been excited about this gorilla flannel print since I got it. Wednesday I turned it into a pair of pajama pants. I'm getting pretty good at pj pants by now. They are super fun to make, and I even get to use my automatic buttonhole feature on my machine, which is really fascinating to watch. This is from McCall's 4320 pattern. I didnt follow the instructions for the waistband, because I like to make pj pants with elastic in the back and draw strings up front. So I take a piece of elastic about 14 inches long, sew the draw strings to each end, and then thread it through the waistband. Then I center and stretch the elastic and sew the two ends to the pants through the waistband. It makes it fit better in the seat (for me at least).

Posted via email from summation's Thing-A-Day 2010

(3-Thing-0202) Collapsible Hula Hoop

I'm a bit behind in posting, mostly because my camera battery died. But now its all charged up and ready to take pictures of my daily "things" once again!

I've been wanting to make a hula hoop for some time so I can start practicing hooping tricks. Tuesday I finally got down to the hardware store to pick up tubing, so I decided to experiment with making a standard and then a collapsible hoop.  Both are incredibly easy to make and fun to decorate.  Here's a picture of my collapsible hoop.  I've written an Instructable on it here.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from summation's Thing-A-Day 2010

(1-Thing-0102) Rolled Hem Vintage Scarf

After a few false starts (didnt have plastic cups for resin mixing, princess was in another castle) I decided to ease into the most creating-est month of 2010.  I just bought a rolled hem foot for my sewing machine and I have been wanting to make a pretty scarf out of a hideous vintage dress I picked up at a thrift shop.  I tore the fabric into a nice long rectangle (to make sure it was on the straight of grain) and then did a few test runs setting up the stitch length and figuring out how to feed the material into the fancy rolled part of the foot. 

I had to rip out the hem a few times and round the corners to make it easier to keep the material threaded through the foot in the turns.  But here it is. Now to wait for my hair to grow out some so I can wear it!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from summation's Thing-A-Day 2010

TAD prep 1/29

Last year, I was introduced to Thing-A-Day (thanks clamoring) but it was already in progress and too late for me to participate.  This year I am pleased and excited to be joining the fray that is TAD 2010!

Patience, while being a virtue, isnt one I possess. So I've been chomping at the bit for February to begin, and with it copious amounts of daily "crafting." What a great excuse to give life to some of my brain children! I'd been sipping on a zipfizz while daydreaming of possible projects that I could tackle, when I was inspired to dig through one of my (many) materials bins to see if I had a specific piece for one of the ideas id been tossing around.  My weakness for tangents and caffeine being what it is, I found myself 8 hours and 3 zipfizz later with a completely resorted work space, a list containing about 35 project ideas, and several WIPs completed.  I'll post a picture of my work space soon, because it is so clean and neatly labeled.

Here's a list of activities from 1/29 (because I'm boasting about my unusually productive day):
  * Bought fabric and pattern for several projects
  * Finished pajama pants for Mint Hoagie (my BF, MH for short)
  * Photographed recently finished projects (I always put this off for some reason)
  * Repaired hole in sweater
  * Patched hole in MH's burner costume
  * Added accumulated "inspiration" pictures into inspiration book
  * Ripped out botched strap from upcycled bag project
  * Sorted most bins and cleaned up work area

Plus a picture of the pajama pants, because I probably wont do an additional post on them.  if you have any questions though, I'll be happy to answer to the best of my ability.

tags: thingaday, craft

Posted via email from summation's Thing-A-Day 2010

Coffee Sleeve Transplant Pots

I had been playing idly with the coffee sleeve from my BF's morning joe on the train to Maker Faire, when I accidentally folded it in half the opposite way, giving it a more square appearance. Looking at it again, i realized it looked sort of like a plant pot. In the days following Maker Faire, I gathered more sleeves and came up with a simple way to fold four of them together into a transplant pot for gifting or using in the garden. Here's a link to the Instructable for this project.

UPDATE: This project has been Featured on Instructables.com! Thank you to the editors, for thinking this is neat.