First, you may notice that I've changed the title of my blog. Now that I'm no longer a college sudent (I'm getting used to the 'alumni' thing), it doesn't make much sense to be 'Of College and Crafting.' Unfortunately, my clever wordplay ends there. Any thoughts?

On to the swap stuff!

A fabric thank-you from snacker. I crafted for her in the Friend of Craftster Swap, Round Three. I love the owls!

Spinning kit from hoxerice for the DIY Kit Swap, Round Five.

And a close up of the lovely colored fiber she sent. I can't wait to get started!

And last, but certainly not least, here is the lovely embroidery that I got from kittykill.

Not one, but *two* pieces! They're destined to be applied to tote bags for knitting and other crafty endeavors. Aren't they beautiful?

And a bonus! Two tea towels that she picked up at an estate sale. The blue one will be the center of some kind of quilted wall hanging, and the asian print is destined to become yet another purse. Purses, like shoes, are one thing a girl just can't have enough of.
One thing I forgot to take pictures of is my booty from the QUILT CONVENTION that I went to this weekend! Or, more accurately, the quilt convention that my BOYFRIEND took me to. He told me that I had to post about it here, to show my crafty friends what a fantastic and supportive better half he is. Well, I already knew that, but now you do, too. ;)

It was his idea, believe it or not. He patiently followed me around for hours looking at beautiful quilts on display, then acted as my 'enabler' at the merchant section. I mean, he had me try out a $3K long-arm quilting machine! I almost died. I got four patterns, which I'll post as soon as I get the chance.

You're the best, babe. :)

How I Spent My Summer Vacation, by Amanda

At a farm. In ten foot tall corn. Obviously. ;) Farm >> Sheep >> Wool >> Knitting, so of course this is a craft post.

Chicks dig me.

selfish crafting

ITEM ONE:

Love, Amy Butler's Weekender Bag is thy name.
Or, as Carrie Bradshaw would say, "Hello, lover!"
Okay, it was a major pain in the butt to match up all the patterns. And sewing that monstrosity together through eighty bajillion layers of fabric and interfacing and cording and Peltex tested the strength of my machine *and* myself. But, simply put, I LOVE IT.

I'm anal retentive, and glutton for punishment to boot. It took a lot of measuring, but the pattern is perfect all except for one spot...which my sewing buddy (Mom!) claims to not be able to see. But *I* know it's there.

Craftster user AriadnesThread made a backpack from this fabric, and I loved it so much I asked her where she got it, and bought some myself (FYI: 45" home decor section at JoAnn's, if you're interested).

The cording and (eventual) lining is cotton duck. It was a pain to sew through, but I couldn't find anything else that was the right shade of green. It's verrry sturdy, even without the lining. I cheaped out and used Peltex instead of Timtex. Hint: it's the same exact thing, only cheaper. The zipper is a 30" separating parka zipper that I 'modified' (read, 'almost killed my machine sewing over') to work. A.) I wanted big zipper teeth, and B) I wanted them to be plastic, not metal, and C) it was all JoAnn's had.

It isn't even 100% done yet (lining needs to go in), but I already have plans for a smaller bag, a makeup bag, sunglasses case (thanks, alwaysinmyroom ;)) and a shoe bag. A matched set, just in time for my beach trip in August! :-D

ITEM TWO:

Long story short: I've wanted to make a quilt very badly for a long time, but was intimidated by all the cutting out. So, for my birthday a few years ago, my mom (my sewing teacher since I was teeny tiny) cut out 12 different 12x12 squares for me to make. Each one was a different block, with a different color theme. Talk about a GREAT gift! I just finished the top last week (after adding three squares of my own), and here it is...(apologies for the wrinkles!)


Can you believe she only needed about 6 fat quarters of fabric to finish this? We had everything else. Yes, there are many, many large plastic totes of fabric in our household.

Cream baskets, purple card trick, pink pinwheels, yellow ?? (I forget), green flying geese, and med. brown bachelor's puzzle.

Lt. blue spools, grey fans, a yellow/orange star, purple patchwork hearts, green log cabin, red nine square, blue home sweet home, brown bear paw, and some cute black kimonos!

This quilt is not quite twin sized, so it's perfect as a snuggle-on-the-couch blanket! I'm adding a 5" border yet, and then it will be hand and machine quilted (hopefully sometime this decade). I'd like to have it done in time for my first apartment. We'll see how that goes. :)

Comments welcome!

swap update

After being flaked on in the DIY Kit Swap 4, I was very graciously swap angel-ed by Craftster user alwaysinmyroom. Well. She sent me the most AMAZING kanzashi kit. Kanzashi is the Japanese art of folding fabric into flowers for hair ornaments.

She included absolutely everything that I will need to make my own kanzashi...from a glue gun to pre-cut fabric, to barrettes, to a covered button kit, and so much more! And it was all packaged in the cutest tin.

I've wanted to learn for quite some time, but I've been frustrated by online directions. Alwaysinmyroom sent me the most awesome directions, complete with fabric examples. I finally think I can tackle these little beauties!

And some extra, really nice fabric for when I get good at it. ;) Thank you, alwaysinmyroom!

This one's a big oops...rosali sent me some wonderful Japanese fabric, and somehow it slipped through the picture-taking cracks. I'm so sorry!
I love them all, and I've got plans for all four already. Watch out for some FO's featuring these lovely prints...

This is the thank you gift that I sent to quincy134, my secret partner from the Friend of Craftster Swap 3. As you can see from my recent posts, she really spoiled me! I wanted to send her something really nice in return.
Look! A cute sheep tape measure, and a hobo bag that I made from the tinafish tutorial on Craftster.

!

My big projects for myself right now are a traditional quilt, and an Amy Butler Weekender Bag in a fantastic brown fabric with green flowers. Pictures tomorrow, I swear.

I'm in 5 swaps on Craftster.org right now...and having a blast. I have a ton of half-finished random things around the house. More when I've gotten some stuff done.

Very exciting news...I've been given permission to make a costume for the boy this Halloween. And I can keep it a surprise! It'a good thing he agreed to it, because I bought the pattern a week or so before I even asked him. :) His costume, in tandem with mine, should be verrry interesting.

Oh, and: I bought my own car. I'm a brunette now, for evah. I'm 22 (as of a month ago). And we got another dog. I'm not very good at this 'updating thing.' :-P

fabric overload

So, I wasn't going to buy any new fabric this summer, because I have more than enough to clothe a small army.

But, now that I have a big girl job -- and the paychecks to go along with it -- that lasted about a week. Here are some recent acquisitions:

I'm trying to decide if this unusual border print would be better utilized in a knee-length loosely pleated skirt, or a peasant top. Jury's still out.

This pretty fabric is so soft and drapey, I couldn't help but get some. I'm going to make a really pretty spaghetti-strap summer nightgown out of it.

This beautiful brocade will be the main fabric for my first-ever technically correct corset. I think I'm going to go for a sweetheart overbust, 3-4" reduction, with attached garters. We'll see how that goes :)

This, I think, will be made into a sundress. Very bright and cheery, and I love how big the scale of the pattern is!

This piece was given to me by the lovely tatoola on Craftster...she found it in a thrift store, and bought it because she remembered someone wanted kitchen fabric. And she sent it to me, without expecting anything in return. How sweet is that? (She definitely *won't* be getting nothing back from me :)) I love it...now all I need is a kitchen! :-D

Swing, swing...

Spent another wonderful weekend unwinding out west a bit...and got over my fear of roller coasters, for real this time. :)

The boy took a very cute picture of me while I was there, and I just had to share.


Would you believe that was taken at 10:00 at night?

Friend of Craftster Swap Revealed!

I've reached the (almost) end of the friend of craftster swap...and my partner is Gloria (quincy134)! She really, really spoiled me, as evidenced below.

Third package: cherry blossom t-shirt, flower hairpins, a cute white hat, and an AWESOME Shaun of the Dead T-shirt. It's pretty much my favorite movie of all time, and I was so excited to get something SOTD related!

Fourth (reveal) package: all the supplies to learn how to crochet a scarf. It's a really cute pattern, and I've wanted to learn how for ages. She also sent me Knit and Tonic's 'Something Red' sweater pattern, which has been on my wist for a long time.

THANK YOU, GLORIA!!!