Who Let the Crows Out?

September is coming to a close which means Halloween is just around the corner. Once again the crows have been unearthed from their decoration tote and they are already causing havoc in the neighborhood. It looks like Barbie should be more careful next time she's cruising around the block.

In all seriousness this was my narrative project for my photography class. We were to tell a story with five photos. The story developed in part due to the imaginations of Thomas and Kate, but the initial idea was mine. I'm not sure what in world this says about me considering I could have come up with anything, but it definitely suggests I'm a little cuckoo.

The Yellow Sash

Fresh Cuts are my sewing projects that are made from patterns, adapted from patterns or are simply made up as I go along. (Mostly are the latter.) Some of the things I make are complete disasters, some are what I expected and others turn out better than I imagined.

Sewing something to wear is most gratifying and fills my soul with a whole lot of happy.

My most recent Fresh Cuts project is a striped jersey top with a hand dyed curry yellow sash.

Gourds

This project was about 10 months in the making. Really.

It started with a trip to the pumpkin patch along with Jack's preschool last October. The tour guide gave a brief explanation of what would happen if you left a gourd out to dry for several months. It turns rock hard that what happens. And that is exactly what happened to our two little oddly shaped gourds we bought at the pumpkin patch. Although several months was more like several months times two. Every so often Jack would give them a good shake to see if he could hear the seeds dancing inside. Each month the rumble of the seeds grew louder and louder as the inside guts dried out.

Finally when they were hard enough I cut off the tops to make them look more like pottery.

I could have left them in their natural state, which was quite beautiful actually (tear), but I could not resist the glossy epoxy spray paint I found in the garage.

And so out came the paint and it's partner in crime...."Makita." By the way you can not live with her. She one of my best crafty friends!

I love the super glossy look achieved with this appliance epoxy. Beware this is serious spray paint. It takes longer to dry and it's very hard to remove from your hands. One of these days I will wear gloves.

I like they way they look even before I sanded, but I hadn't seen "Makita" in a while and so together we ruffed them up a bit.

My gourds with well with the sign I managed to purloin from an old abandoned house several months back during a photo shoot.

Placemat Basket or Tote

There are many versions of this easy project of turning a placemat into a tote. The following tutorial is my version of this simple DYI project. To start with I used very sturdy placemats I found at World Market on sale for $1.49. A real steal! They worked perfectly for making little catch all baskets and little totes.

The following pictures shows a two added details. One is the monogram letter. If you are going to add any detail that would require sewing it's a good idea to attached it before you sew up the sides of the bags. I always learn the hard way.

I also showed how you can make little pockets for pencils by sewing along the edge of the seam.