Camera Bag 2 - Soft Shell Case

9x12 fabric

As previously seen, I've been working on some camera bags for the photography class at my school. This next post gives you the instructions for the soft camera bags.

24x5 fabric

You Will Need:

• a piece of fabric (either 9x12 or 24x5, approximately. There is room for adjustments.)
• quilt batting scraps
• spray basting (optional)
• velcro dots



Step 2



Step 1

• needle and thread

Directions: 9x12

• Iron out your piece of fabric and lay your quilt batting on top. Spray baste if desired.
• Fold your fabric in half and quilt across. Your new, quilted piece should measure 9x6.
• Fold this piece in half again and sew down the open side and bottom with 1/2" seam allowance. Leave the top (pre-folded section) open. This will measure 4.5x6.
• Tie off the ends and trim. Turn this case right-side out. You should have a case that measures 4x5.5.
• Add a velcro dot to the opening and use as desired!

Directions: 24x5

• Iron out your piece of fabric and lay your quilt batting on top. Spray baste if desired.
• Fold your fabric in half and quilt across. Your new, quilted piece should measure 12x5.
• Fold over the bottom of the open skinny end by about 1/2" and sew. Your new piece should measure 11.5x5.
• Fold this piece in half again and sew down the long sides with 1/2" seam allowance. Leave the top (pre-folded section) open. This will measure 5.25x5.
• Tie off the ends and trim. Turn this case right-side out. You should have a case that measures 5.25x4.
• Add a velcro dot to the opening and use as desired!
  
  
  
  
   As you can see, there's plenty of room for adjustments. Play with it and see what works for you and your camera!
  
  

Camera Bag 1 - Hard Shell Case

As I mentioned last week, there was a need for some camera bags at the school I work at, and I volunteered to make a few. This is the pattern for the blue bag, with hard foam core as filling.

This pattern leaves a space approximately 4 inches by 2 inches by .5 inches for the camera to sit in, so adjust accordingly if you choose to make one for a larger camera.

You will need:

• 1/2" foam core
• (2) 3x5 pieces
• (2) 3x1 pieces
• (2) 4x1 pieces
• Fabric scraps
• Needle and Thread
• Velcro dots

Directions:

• Cut two pieces of fabric 9" by 5.5" for the outer shell.

• Then, cut two small squares out of the lower two corners, each approximately 1" by 1".  Your fabric will look approximately like this, a picture I got from a Fiskars Beach Bag Pattern.
• Cut two pieces of fabric 7" by 4.5" for the liner.
• Then, cut two small squares out of the lower two corners, each approximately .5" by .5". All four pieces will look alike, just of different sizes.
• Place each set with the right sides together and sew down the sides and bottom of each set with a half-inch seam allowance, as seen in the picture above. Iron the seams open.
• In each bottom corner, seam the edges together to finish the box, again with a half-inch seam allowance. I mention how to do this is my Carry-On Bag Liner Tutorial.
• Take an extra piece of fabric, at least 5" wide, and longer, and fold it in half the long way, so that there's a 5" fold. Sew down each side. Turn it right-side out, press open, and sew the open end to one side of the bigger section, with a 1/4inch seam allowance, so that when it's folder over, the "lid" will pop out.
• Iron the open tops of both sections over toward the inside. Only iron in about a quarter-inch over.
• Turn the bigger set right-side out and fill it with the foam core. The biggest pieces go on the sides, and then line each end with a 3x1 piece. Put a 4x1 piece on the bottom of the set, leaving one 4x1 piece out.
• Place the liner inside the foam core and pin the two seams along the side and one pin in the middle of each side. With a needle and thread, hand sew across the top of the pressed sides. In each corner, sew over more fabric of the outside section in order to make sure they line up. See picture to the right.
• Atatch Velcro dots to lid and body, and place camera inside. You will need to place the last piece of foam across the top to keep it steady.

Kiddo Camera Bags

At the school I currently work at, the art-department recently added a photography class, and got a series of discount digital cameras for the kids to use. However, since the cameras travel from class to class in a cement school, the wonderful art teacher was looking for some camera bag donations. I volunteered to make a few with what scraps I had, and present two design options to her, both of which will have pattern write-ups in a few weeks.

In the mean time, here are the two results. One is made with a hard foam core, while the other has a double layer of quilt batting.

Upcycling Class

Last year, I did a class with my then-students on upcycling. Recently, I realized that I'd never posted on it, and I figured, why not?

There's a local store called the "Center for Creative Reuse," and most every Saturday during that six week class, I took a trip there or to Salvation Army to get some supplies.

We did a series of fantastic projects, and the kids really enjoyed it! I'll just show you a sampling of the results.

We made some t-shirt bowls and rugs...

And some candle holders and photo-holders from old CD cases and wrapping paper rolls...

I got about 30 frames from Salvation Army, and we made a series of real-cork-boards...

And as a finale, we made terrariums with old glasses, to throw some sustainability in the mix!

Here's a shout out to all those kiddos, who I miss dearly. I'm thinking of you!

Quilt Top #4 - Grayson

Well, I took a month off.

And it was wonderful.

I needed that.  I really needed that.  I remembered why I loved creating in the first place - the job of seeing something completed!  The texture between your hands!  I missed that.  Focusing so much on making things for Christmas and this blog really sucked a lot of the joy out of it these past few months, with everything else going on - knitting began to feel like a chore.

Alas, here I am, ready to return to the blog!  You must know that I still am mostly working on Christmas things, and so I'm still going to have trouble making my weekly post time because of that, but I feel much more ready to take on the challenge now.

The school year is underway and I'm back on my feet!

And so, without further ado, today I present you with my most recent quilt top, for one mister Grayson.  This is the final of the four quilts I'm planning to complete for the next generation, hopefully to present around Christmas, but since I know those little buggers won't see these posts, I'm gonna go ahead and show you!

I chose the "Jitterbug" pattern from another quilt book, also by Pam and Nicki Lintott, called "Layer Cake, Jelly Roll, and Charm Quilts."  This was my first non-scrappy style quilt, and though I like the way it came out, I still wish I had been able to find a good background color that wasn't white.

Well, hopefully I'll get to quilting these last two soon so they can be done in the next two months, but in the mean time, I'll be back to a mostly-regular Wednesday post! (This relaxation on the schedule is to keep my own peace of mind!)

PS: If I know you in real life, could you please comment on this post?  I'd like to know whose Christmas gifts I can post here and whose I can't!

Fall Hand Warmers!

Firstly, let me say that I'm sorry this is coming to you late.  Things have been a little crazy recently, what with it being the start of a new school year, working at a new school, and all that comes with the first year of teaching.

I've also been having a little problem coming up with things to post since the vast majority of the projects I'm completing are Christmas gifts - I'm running out of non-surprise completions!

So on that note, I'd like to ask - if I know you in real life, could you please comment below?  I'd like to know which sub-sets of gifts I can post!  My fingers aren't quite fast enough to make extra things right about now (though I do wish they were!).

With all of that said and done, I decided to give myself a grace week, so I will not be attempting to post a late entry from last week - I will just skip it and move on.  It feels good.

And on to the main event...

As some of you may know, particularly if you've seen me over the summer, I have been knitting away at a set of wrist warmers modeled after the changing colors of fall leaves.  These were a test knit project for my amazing friend Lea over at Leafcutter Designs, who recently published a book called Knit the Sky.  The book is filled with creative designs and patterns that show knitting in a whole new light, and once my Cold Sheep stash is mostly busted, I'm hoping to jump on several more of her delightful ideas!

In any event, these handwarmers were knit with her yarn choice, the same are you would receive in the kit if you were to purchase it from her, and they are perfect for their purpose!

As you can tell, I haven't blocked them yet, but right now they are touring the country with Lea and her book!  I encourage you to take a look at it, and I'm not getting paid to say that!  I really enjoyed reading it, and the perspective it gave me has really encouraged me to keep being passionate about my craft - it doesn't always have to be about getting through enough yards of yarn a day to make it to Christmastime!  And so, because of that new realization, and because everything has been so hectic at work for the past few months, I'm choosing to take a month off of this blog.  I want to focus on enjoying my knitting for a while.  See you in a month!

Ravelry Project

PS: Stay tuned; I also have another knit-kit from this book, but I'm not sure when exactly I'll get a chance to work on it!

Summer Sampler!

A few months ago, I discovered a local Needlepoint Store and dragged a few friends along.  In preparation, I asked around about nice wedding sampler patterns, and discovered one by Teresa Wentzler that I liked.  The colors were not quite as warm as I wanted.  That was okay, I figured, since I could just replace them with slightly different shades at the store.

As it turns out Theresa Wentzler has hundreds of shades in each project.  That replacement went poorly at best.  I decided to leave them alone and make one as is.  If it's really not my style, I'll make it for my cousin (I have to make one for her anyway, and she's always liked cooler colors), and then try to replace some of the colors now that I know how it works.

I didn't want to start on the Wedding Sampler, though, as my first foray into needlepoint in a matter of years, and have it end up warped; I purchased a set of Season Samplers to supplement.

Over the last few months, I have been working on and off on this Sampler, and I have finally finished it!  I am so ecstatic!

The longest part, by far, was the over-one plateau.  About halfway into the sampler, I figured I was almost done, because all I had left was the ribbons/bead (which I saved for last) and the over-one section.  Boy was I wrong!  That's when it hit me - the over-one won't take twice as long, it will take four times as long, since each stitch is one-fourth of the size of an over-two stitch.  Oft course I wasn't almost done!

As you can see there are small sparkly beads in the border, and the ribbon flowers repeat from the border as french knots in two separate places.

I am in love!

Grandma's Sweater Ornament

When I was about six years old, my grandmother decided that every year, she wanted each of her grandchildren to make her a Christmas ornament.  These ornaments were for a special tree dedicated to the grandchildren, which soon became overcrowded, of course.

Now, I was never the best at follow-through as a kid (which is why I started this blog, remember?), and so I always chose a DIY ornament and almost never finished them, resulting in a few interesting finds when I cleaned out my childhood bedroom.

Well, it's been at least a decade since I followed Grandma's wishes, and so this year, I decided to use up a little sock yarn (which qualifies it as Cold Sheep!) and make her a mini-sweater ornament!

This was also my first experience with a Raglan sweater construction, which you'll hear more about later.

Ravelry Project

Reverse the Curse Sox!

My brother is an avid Red Sox fan.  We were 7 and 13 when the Sox finally Reversed the Curse, beating out the Yankees for the pennant and going on to win the series (against the Cardinals) for the first time in 86 years.  We traded the Babe to the Yankees early in his career, and once there, he became an alcoholic with a failing marriage.  It was the curse of the Bambino (so the story goes), and we finally broke it in 2004.  What a year.

He couldn't have escaped, really.  There was no chance for him.

And so, as he runs off to college in chilly Michigan, I figured I would present him with some hand knit, warm, wool, reverse-Red-Sox socks.

(Note: I had this yarn already as part of a sock kit my parents got me for my birthday from Canada.  Hence to color reversal.)

This was a multi-layered project.  I first chose to use an afterthought heel in order to size them upon arrival.  I did a toe-up basic sock construction with corrugated ribbing for the cuff.  All I had to do was add a co-ordinating red heel.

And then he saw them.

He loved them, and thought they were soft and perfect.

Except the corrugated ribbing was way too tight and they ended up being much longer than I had intended.

I took them back with me to fix them up, and order more red yarn.  At which point I discovered they didn't do that color anymore.  Whoops.

Well, I figured that since I had to rip the ribbing out anyway and make the sock shorter, I would just make the ribbing the natural color and make the heel red.  I finished one up for him to try when we went back for the summer.

It was close, but not perfect, so I adjusted and copied.  The end results are in, and personally I think they look closer to the Red Sox logo than the originals!

Ravelry Project

Pillowcase Dresses from the kids!

About a year ago, I did a pillowcase dress tutorial series.

I went to pack the dresses off and send them to their destination, when someone at work mentioned that they would like to have a sewing class for the kids.  As you can guess, these were the results!

(I have taken only one picture of each - they are each double sided like the others, but don't contain pockets.)