Work in Progress

I've been diligently working on 2 plarn projects of late.  The one I started a few months ago is still going strong.  It is a lot bigger than I had initially envisioned it, but that's ok, I'm sure my friend will enjoy a larger than planned plarn bag.  Now that I'm a few inches up the side of the bag, it is starting to take some serious shape.

As I bag started to get bigger, I was surprised at the softness of the bag feel.  As a result, I'm doing some experimenting with different bag material and plarn thicknesses.  Hence why I have two bags currently in the works.  The larger bag uses mostly my grocery store bags with an occasional other bag mixed in here and there.  For some reason my grocery store bags seem very soft when it comes to the type of plastic.  Yes, I said soft when referring to a plastic bag. 

I'm curious if by using different bags that are not as soft if the bag will be stiffer.  You can see from the larger, more complete bag that the overall look of the bag is more like canvas than a basket.  That's fine, I'm just trying to get a better feel of different textures with this medium.  There is a lot more experimenting here than say sewing a boppy cover. There I pretty much know what kind of fabric I want and why and then how to construct it.

The second bag I'm working on it going to be made only from Target bags.  It's already starting out much stiffer than the other bag.  I have a feeling it is the bag material, but I did also just switch the way I'm cutting my plarn in order to make it more uniform.  I'm curious if that will make any difference.  I suppose I will find out when I get to those strips on the larger bag.  Until then you will just have to enjoy my current stages.    

Pattern Pallooza - Beginners

This blog post has morphed slightly from it's original plan.  My original plan was to share some patterns with you, but I received the most wonderful email yesterday.  A friend just bought her very first sewing machine!  Wahoo for her a whole knew world now awaits her.  Now of course she has the all important task of deciding the the first project will be.  So instead of just haphazardly selecting some interesting patterns, but now I have a purpose to share with her and the rest of you some interesting first projects with your sewing machine.

This week I am focusing on patterns and projects that are perfect for the beginner sewer.  That means, the concept is relatively simple and there is lots of room for error if you do need to rip it out or don't sew in a straight line. 


 
Up first are these great bean bags I found from MADE.  They are adorable if you ask me and much more fun than a store bought bean bag.  This is a great first project to sink your teeth into.  I want to make some of these for the adults too, not just the kids!

42 pages internet pattern scare you?  No worries! How about some floor pillows instead?  You still get new comfy seating for the kids but it might be a little less intimidating to start.  Fido may think these are for her, but they help make a great reading nook for some much needed quiet time in the kids room.  This pattern and tutorial comes to us from oven lovin'. 







Finally, but potentially more importantly, you can find some beginner sewing tips over at Couturier Mommy.  No need for me to reinvent the wheel here when there are already so many how-to websites.  Hopefully I can at least help you centralize them. 

Please feel free to share your references for a beginner here and don't forget to stop back for more advanced patterns and resources. 

Comments

I must be making the rounds on the Russian internet recently, my only comments seem to be coming in the form of spam that appears to be from Russia or at least one of the Eastern European countries and they are not real comments.  At least not in my definition of posting to old posts and not relevant to the post.

As a result, I'm playing around with my commenting settings in hopes it will curb fake/spam comments and encourage my readers to actually comment.  Of course, I'm assuming that I do have real readers out there and my visit count isn't just from web crawlers running all over the internet. 

If you feel your comment may be been deleted in error, please let me know.  I do monitor the comments and if something seems out of place, I do tend to delete them and you may have gotten caught up in a delete frenzy.

If I am just talking to myself, I'm OK with that, but if not, feel free to say, "Hi" occasionally.  I don't bite, honestly! 

In the mean time, stop back later this week, I have a new feature I'm starting that I'm sure you'll love.  At least I've enjoyed the research for it!

Let's Celebrate!

It's really time to celebrate.  Stitch Silly is turning 2!  I can't believe that I've been at this for 2 years now.  It really has been a great journey so far.  Thank you all for putting up with my ramblings!  What's next for Stitch Silly you ask?

Well, for one you may notice, Stitch Silly has a new look.  We finally were able to get a decent logo pulled together.  I'd love to hear your feedback on the new logo.

Other than the new logo I'm hoping to push out a few new projects this year.  I know what my local customers are looking for, but I'm very interested to understanding what you my internet readers would be interested in seeing as either a product or a new topic to discuss. 

What keeps you coming back, the business topics, tips and tricks, new product ideas, or something different all together?  Bring it on, I want to keep you engaged and unless you tell me what you want, you will continue getting my brain dumps as I see fit. 

Crazy Times

From Hollie & Harrie

Whoa, what a crazy few weeks!  We had some unexpected craziness at our home that has really sucked me away from work.  We are slowly getting back on track, so I am also slowing getting back to blogging, sewing, and crocheting.  I finally broke open my new fabric purchase.  Initially I was disappointed when I looked at the aqua I selected to compliment my chevron fabric.  Of course as luck would have it, the two colors are just off enough that it was bothering me.  I almost returned it, but then quickly realized wait this isn't going to be a solid piece of fabric.  I've started laying out the fabric to start sewing it, part of the joy of having the lines already drawn out for you.  Fingers crossed this blanket will not take me as long as the previous one.

While I'm busy getting back on my feet, here are a few great finds that I recently found on Pinterest.  This was such a great idea to keep out of the sun at the beach this summer.  I don't think we are going to be making a beach trip this summer, but I will be looking into this as an option next summer when we head to the beach. 

Another great project I found that I think will be great to make sometime in the future are these giant floor pillows I saw over at ovenlovinblog. It's such a great idea of a kids reading nook as mine get older. Her description is great that people with any ability should be able to actually pull it together.  Be sure to stop over to see her description.

Spring Cleaning

My lastest fabric arrived!  I'm super excited to get started with me new projects.  One of the fabrics I picked out was sold out by the time they went to cut mine so I will eventually need to make another order for that one, but my current fabric should entertain me for a while.  At least we can hope!

This weekend my community is having their bi-annual community yard sale.  That has been taking up most of my time this week preparing.  I've been going through baby cloths that are going to sold off.  It's a sad day, but it will be nice to clear up some room in the house, slowly but surely.  It feels good to have some spring cleaning in the house, even if it means sewing is put aside for now. 

This is the first time I'm participating in my community yard sale so it should be a fun experience.  Hopefully the kids corporate!  Why am I bringing up the community yard sale you ask?  Well other than preparing for it occupying my time, I'm also looking at it as a marketing/sales avenue.  As part of my wares that I am putting out for sale, I am also going to put out a small sampling of some of my current inventory for people to see.  Perhaps I'll get a sale or two out of the deal.  You never know unless you try!

One other part of spring cleaning I've been working on.  As you've probably noticed, there have been some changes to the website recently.  I'm in the process of reworking a few things on the site and behind the scenes.  One of them being the Stitch Silly logo.  I had a great idea that hasn't really panned out to what I had envisioned so I'm now working on a plan B.  We'll see how this iteration goes! 

I'm curious, am I the only one caught up in the spring cleaning bug or are there others of you out there too getting miscellaneous things in order that you were putting off doing in the cold winter months.  

Thank You

Wow, I am in complete shock right now and feeling very blessed.  As March winds to a close I am happy to announce that we are winding down not only our best quarter in sales, but also our best quarter in website views.  I can't believe the progress that Stitch Silly has suddenly made, and I couldn't have done it without you, my loyal readers and customers so thank you!

Because of the great successes, I am actually moving up my planned fabric order, so I should have some new burp cloths and receiving blankets soon.  And thanks to your feedback last week I was able to choose at least a chevron blanket, the blue one (sorry Gina!).  I think for now I am going to hold off on the rag quilt, but it is something that I will keep in mind as I fabric search!

While I wait for my new fabric to come in, I'm giving my sewing machine a bit of a break and working on some crocheting, with plarn of course!  Especially with a long road trip ahead of us for Easter.  I am almost done with the bottom of the current bag I am crocheting so with the trip, I hope to be able to start working up the sides and make some interesting progress.  Not near the kind of progress my mom has made of late. 

She has temporarily retired (long story and she's a bit crazy - in a good way) and spent the last 5 weeks in Florida visiting family and friends.  My parents had a great time.  I laugh because they just arrived home this past weekend only to be hit with 8 inches of snow.  In her down time in the car and visiting she kept her hands busy.  She crocheted, I believe 3 if not 4, bags while she was down there to give as gifts to everyone she encountered.  There is no way I can keep up with her speed, but I will at least try this weekend. 

I'll be sure to report back next week, until then, have a Happy East and wonderful Passover!