Lesalicious

 

I got my Swap Swap Gals package from Lesa!  She made these amazing sewn bags with dragonfly and butterfly fabric.  The dragonfly bag is really roomy with an oval shape bottom. 

Book bag-size is actually my favorite size bag for everyday use.  I like the circle handles, too.  They’re big enough I can fit my arm through and carry the bag on my shoulder (a definite plus!)  On a side note, I wonder how she managed to cover the handles with matching fabric without it being loose.

The smaller butterfly bag has this great diamond shape sewn on with gold glitter added as an accent.  The style is great!  This is a really nice evening bag that can double for daytime.  The handles are black on the outside and butterfly-print on the inside. 

Both the butterfly and dragonfly print bags are lined with matching fabric and magnetic closures.  I’m so impressed with all the professional sewing!  Plus, I have not tried magnetic closures yet, so I really appreciate them!

Lesa also included this ruffle top crochet clutch with a gusset bottom.  The jewel-tone yarn feels like suede or chenille to me.  Whatever it is, the yarn is really soft and sturdy.

The clutch has a magnetic closure also.  With Lesa’s magnetic closure tutorial for crochet purses and a real life example, I think I might be brave enough to try it out on my next purse. 

 

Along with the purses, Lesa also sent me this light pink candle.  The scent is really mellow, but sweet.  The candle says strawberries, but I think it smells like strawberries and cream. 

Anyway, it smells wonderful and candles are always useful in this area since we get lots of blackouts with the summer storms.    

Along with the purses and candle, I got a nice card, a set of pens, and matching memo pads.  I love the colored patterns on each of the pens and the flower-shaped memo pads are so cute! 

Finally, Lesa sent me a skein of baby blue, light weight yarn.  I’ve never seen this brand before, but the yarn is really soft and the color is really pretty. 

Thanks again, Lesa for the fantastic purse swap package!  I’m so happy to be your recipient this time around; I hope to get you as my recipient in the future.  Swap Swap Gals is so much fun and I’m so glad that you started the group!

 

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Atre y pico award

         

Sue of Perpetualplum’s Weblog passed the Atre y Pico Award on to me! 

The rules read:

1) Pick 5 blogs who deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material and who also contribute to the blogging community no matter what language.

2) Each award must have the name of the author and also a link to their blog.

3) Each award winner must show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him the award.

4) The award winner and the one who has given the prize must show the link of the “Arte y pico” blog so everyone will know the origin of this award. 

I’m going to cheat and recognize six, not five, bloggers who I have previously never awarded/tagged.  The “Atre y pico”  award goes to these six bloggers who knit and/or crochet for their excellence in the following categories…

                             writing:  Bezzie of Random Meanderings

                      drawing:  Carina of Carina’s craftblog

amigurumi:  Mia of Owlishly

          sewing:  Lara of thornberry

        jewelry:  Jordana of Guaya

    photography:  Oiyi of Oiyi’s Crafts

 *That’s cool* a random fact

The first ever patent of a sewing machine was in 1790 by Thomas Saint. The machine used the chain stitch, made with a hook-ended needle and a single thread.

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Even buttonless

 

Ever try the Jacob’s ladder stitch?  I just learned how with the St Maurus Headwarmer by Christina.  Basically you make a bunch of chains across the piece as you crochet in rows.  Then you come back and pull through the loops consecutively.  Christina has a great tutorial along with the free pattern on her site. 

I remember seeing a rainbow blanket in Candi Jensen’s Candy Blankies: Cuddly Crochet for Babies & Toddlers that used the Jacob’s ladder stitch.  I think it was called Rainbow Bright.  There were multiple colors and coupled with the stitch it was really pretty.  I took that idea and tried different colors on my second attempt.  I’m not sure I like the color combo but it was interesting to see how the “V” of the ladder stitch looked next to another color. 

The Jacob’s ladder stitch is slanted on this multi-colored one.  This is probably because I didn’t turn the rows and just added the new color at the beginning of the row.  Also, I pulled the loops from the top to bottom instead of bottom to top.  See the upside-down single crochet stitches? 

I haven’t sewed the buttons on yet; I have a phobia of non-crochet assembly.  I swear I will dig out a needle and thread soon and plaster a button on these headwarmers!  In the meantime I have to say that even buttonless these headwarmers are great.  I tried the pink one outside last night when the wind was really strong.  I’m happy to report that my head was far from cold and my ears felt nice and cozy. 

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