After talking myself out of ironing (which wasn't hard to do) I went into my yarn closet and picked a royal purple bulky to try and do another ear warmer.  Switched up the flower a little and covered a button in bright yellow fabric for the center.  My camera absolutely REFUSES to get the color of purple correct.  Just know it is a very deep royalty kind of purple and just plain luscious.  Still don't know if these would sell, but they are kind of fun to make!
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In an effort to keep my hands from completely shutting down, the best way to fight the aches is to get them moving again.  So I picked up this project that was on the coffee table for a week....... and yes, folks, I finished yet ANOTHER thing today.  This idea came from a friend at work who had seen something like this and took a picture on her phone to show me - guess she thought I could do some of these.  Well, I guess I can!  Thank you, Jess!  And happy birthday today to you, also!  :)  You wear it with the flower kind of on the side of your head I guess, and the skinny part back under your hair.   Make any sense?
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So now what do I do with it?  I know I won't wear it - ever.  Do I sell it, make more of them, how much would I ask.....????  I could sure use some feedback and ideas, all you in the blogosphere!!!!!  HELP!
 
Grateful for the opportunity to earn some cash for our anniversary trip, but my hands are yelling at me this morning after completing this hat foursome.  Can't believe it, but it's even hard to type!  *sigh*  But I just wanted to show you the fun colors this lady in KC picked out and to also show that I actually completed something.  :)
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Had a super charged visit to Hobby Lobby yesterday and here's the goodies the came from a 20 minute turbo shop.........
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Mary Engelbreit, Asian flair and black giraffe...
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Decorator fabrics for one heck of a fall bag - bargain priced and gorgeous.
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Just something that caught my eye. Pretty, pretty, pretty!
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For travel sketch books for kids. LOVE Minnie Mouse! Wish I could have found more like that, but the other pieces here will be perfect.
And here are a couple things I listed in the shop this week...........
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There are 3 Poky Little Puppy art books listed, some with Twistables, and some with colored pencils.
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Michael Miller blue French postcard journal fabric portfolio. I absolutely ADORE this line of his fabrics. Ooo-La-La!
Thank you all for looking.  I'm trying to stay busy and out of trouble.  You know how I can get.  :)

So get out there, get creative and have a wonderful holiday weekend.
 
The Finale.........  This bag reminds me of a girls' strappy top, and it made me smile when it was complete and I set it up to photograph.  Thinking maybe the 10 hours of construction on this was honestly worth it!  
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Looks like a ladies strappy blouson top when sitting.
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The layers make it possible for four (4) HUGE pockets around the entire perimeter of the bag. Of course there's a zippy pocket on the inside.
So now it's time to get out some yarn and sit with Bill.  I wonder what we'll watch, Hitler or food?  I get the TV at 8 for the finale of Celebrity Apprentice.  It's a fair trade.

Have a wonderful evening everyone - and do something for someone - sure makes you feel good about life.
 
Weekend Rundown:

Australian Order accepted and shipped:  Check
Michael Miller Pink French Postcard Portfolio:  Done and Listed
Michael Miller Blue French Postcard Portfolio:  Done (not listed)
Poky Little Puppy fabric art portfolios:  3 completed (none listed)

All that brings me to this!  I think I've overdone it a little as I'm sure this is NOT what my co-worker really wants.........
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All the humongous pieces and parts....
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This is the SECOND layer of pleated material getting added to the base.
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Interior bottom (3rd layer) put on. But there's one more interior piece that needs to get sewn to this one yet! HOLY THICK BATMAN!
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Before handles and ties get put on.
OK, so you can see that this thing is as big as my CHAIR! I do believe I've overdone it.  But this is going to be one awesome tote bag when it's completed.  There are at least fourteen zillion pockets and cubbyholes inside of it.  Once it's completed, there will be a silk hydrangea flower stuck into one of the seams (I purposely left a 'buttonhole' in one area).
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The view from my sewing area. Just thought I'd throw that in here.
Anyhow, back to the sewing room for me, now that the 24 layers of that bag are now securely put together.  I will have to think of a different type of hobo for my friend.  How could I have been so off on what she wanted?  Oh, well.  Back to the drawing board.  But that's sometimes the most fun - the planning part.

Now go get creative already!  :)
 
This has really been a fairly productive day!  For an unexpected WHOLE day off (now I work Saturday though) there has been a ton of sewing going on.  Here is a large port that hopefully an Etsy client will pick up - if it meets up to what she ordered.
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My buyer is the boss, so I'm keeping my finners and toes crossed.  Let's hope this one is sold! 

Happy crafting and get creative out there.  :)
 
Remember a while back, I received a box of goodies in the mail from my blogging friend, Marcy.  Just wanted to give you the finale before I send the pieces and parts back to her this week.....
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The original package from Marcy
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Four items complete....
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3X5 card holder
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Amy Butler fabric journal cover
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Inside journal cover to fit Marcy's Bible journal inside.
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Quilt block pinwheel and sunflower portfolio cover.
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Open portfolio with mini decoupaged notebook.
It's not perfect by a long shot, not only because I'm not a good quilt block put-together-er, but I noticed the business card holder melted a little when I was doing the final pressing.  I COULD HAVE SCREAMED!!!  There's no turning back on that one, and it's the first time that's happened.   ARGHHHH

There is a lot of fleece left, but am not real sure what I could do with it.  I'm sure Marcy adn her daughter can figure out a better purpose for it than I'm coming up with.

It will get mailed this week, Marcy!  Hope it's all okay and happy blogging!!
 
Still working on getting my groove back and decided that I'd better take my husband's advice.  When things get a little too much he says, "Now Karen, how do you eat an elephant?"  To which we all know the answer is:  one bite at a time.  Yeah, yeah.  OK.
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I did finish the 2nd of the dishcloth trio.  The square one has soooooo much texture to it that it should be able to scrub a million germs off dishes, or bodies!  HA!  These are great projects for that quick, I need a little FAST gratification, since most things take more like days, weeks, or months to finish.

The Celebrity Apprentice is on tonight, so #3 should get started, if not finished.  Then to the PO they shall go.  :)

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Wanted to try my hand at putting quilt blocks together, and believe you me, I am NOT my mother!  Darn it anyway.  If she were alive to see what I did, she'd be horrified!  This block is way below my personal expectations of myself.  But the colors and theme were working, so I kept on going with it.  One day it will be a large portfolio journal cover for a blogging friend.  Really, who doesn't like sunflowers and pinwheels and bright yellows/greens?!?!  This is called Pinwheel #9, for what reason I have no idea, but pattern is free - just click.

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This journal 'vest' was a project I did last weekend when I decided to stay in the depths of the dungeon of the basement.  Watched old movies.  Mother's Day.  Just wanted to be alone I guess.  But anyway, this little purple tweed gem came out of that weekend and just needed to be sewn into a journal cover.   So that was accomplished and posted on Three Sisters' Marketplace for sale.

The back and insides are a pretty neat butterfly batik fabric that I'd, yes, been hoarding.  DO NOT MAKE A TV SHOW ABOUT MY HOARDING FABRICS!  I'm definitely not as bad as the fabric cutter at Joann's.  (yes, she spilled that little secret the last time I was there)

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And to end the weekend, this was the sunset that I got to enjoy last evening off our duplex deck.  If those houses weren't in the way across the road, it would have been perfect.  But still, it was very pretty.  The camera (as usual) didn't pick up all the colors that were really there.  But you get the point, right?  :)

 
Dealt with an elephant of a headache yesterday, but when it finally eased up my brain went into overload.  The ideas, thoughts, projects, time elements..... everything decided to dump into my head all at once.  Hence, no sleep until 3 this morning when I finally fell asleep on the couch watching a Law & Order show.  Thankfully.  :)  I even made a cup of tea - didn't work.

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So this is the crocheted dishcloth that got started and finished after midnight.  This morning was when I realized what will happen to a trio of these that are now on the planning deck.  When you struggle to sleep, can't hear the radio program you have on because your dear one snores through every other sentence of the story (giggle) a gal just picks up what is closest to her and that was the cone of natural colored cotton and a hook.   And this was the result.

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I haven't posted any photos on here yet of the scarves that will be a year long project.  Here are four of them that have been crocheted so far.  Two are complete and the other two needs ends woven in still.  After doing fringe on the one, that was the deciding factor in picking other designs that have NO fringe.  Hated it!  :) 

If anyone else is interest in doing scarves for the Winter Special Olympics, just click on over there to see the official colors of Red Heart Yarn and four designs that can help get you started:  2 knit and 2 crochet.  I didn't pick any of them, but that's just me.  After my original purchase of 3 red/3blue skeins, it still looks like I haven't made a dent in the yarn yet.

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The large hobo bag is finally cut out.  Nothing like picking a project that has about $40 worth of material to it.  This will be one awesome bag when it's done.  Vogue is not something I use often, but this was THE bag I wanted to do and after reading the instructions over and over and yes, OVER again, it has finally stuck in my head what this design is all about and WOW!  It is very very cool.  This is a commissioned job, but if she isn't happy with it, I'm not sweating it at all just because it really is that neat a design.  Someone will want it - maybe me!?!?!  HA

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And last but definitely not least is the decorator fabric I found while shopping with my daughter and grandson the other day - and HALF OFF!  This popped up out of the corner of my eye and knew I had to have it to do something with.  The picture doesn't do the color justice at all as it's really a brownish olive color.  As one of the pillows on my couch (where I finally slept) need recovering pretty badly, this will be WAY cool to use for the living room.  If there's any left over it sure could get put into a lining of a makeup bag or ditty bag.  Didn't even think about it being hard to sew with all the pleats, but that's okay. 

So now that my brain in back to functioning after nearly a month being on some sort of creative hiatus, let the creative life get back to where it was before.  Maybe now it will even be better!  Who knows!

So get up, get out, get creative - happy Saturday!  And be watching for more posts as the weekend progresses.