Hobo/Sling bags

My latest craft project is making Hobo or Sling bags from X large t-shirts. This first one I made for myself. I've laid a ruler beside it to give an idea of how large these bags are...

These bags are reversible. This is the inside of my bag...

Following are two others that I have made, inside and out...

Front and back of the inside. I had to piece this material together....

Now I need to get things picked up in my studio and get it ready for the 4th of July!

T-shirt Totes - Recycling T's

One of the items that I have that belonged to my Aunt Leta is her serger. In her younger years Aunt Leta was a top-notch seamstress. She could sew up ANYTHING from scratch. In her later years her serger was her pride and joy. I had never used a serger before and by the time it got to my house the threads were tangled and I wasn't sure of the threading. The other night my son sat down and got it all straightened out for me and I gave it a try on some old t-shirts that I had saved for crafting. Here's the first tote that I made.
To make a tote any t-shirt will work. One with something printed on it is what I prefer.

I start by stitching across the bottom however deep I want the bag with the shirt inside out. Then I cut off the sleeves and cut a large opening for the top.

To stitch around the openings I turn it back right side out. I turn it inside out again and stitch up the sides making the bag narrower and eliminating the underarm curve of the shirt. The picture below is three shots of one shirt. The front, the back and then hanging loosely.

These are four more totes that I've made. The Garfield has glow in the dark paw prints on it.

I think of my Aunt Leta every time I use her serger.

What a Busy, Cold, Saturday

Saturday morning stated with the younger grandson's (in town) having a soccer game. I had started to put on my long heavy coat and changed my mind because I was going to be sitting in the dil's car to watch. Our soccer field has no bleachers. I put on my sweater coat instead, it WAS 5o degrees. You can see in the picture below how dark the western sky was. The kids were feeling pretty comfortable at this point.
The grandson is in blue and pretty much in the center of both of these pictures.

Here's a picture of his sister, PK, watching the game. Note the blue sky with white clouds behind her to the south.

The grandson had a good game. It ended in a tie, 1 to 1.

You can see all the pictures that were taken Here

Next on the field was the Princess and her team. She's the one in the pink stockings.

Just the Princess and the ball...

...you GO, Girl! She has her own new pink soccer ball that she's been practicing with.

During her game it started getting really cold. Below you see her trying to warm up while sitting on the bench.

To see all the pictures from her game click HERE

After the Princess' game the three came to my house and at 2pm the grandson had a birthday party to go to downtown. They were going to have the party in the park, but with it turning so cold and windy they changed it to inside the fire station.

At 3pm we took PK to the park for the annual city Easter Egg Hunt. It was windy cold. The Easter bunny was there for photo ops.

Here she got her friend to get in on the picture.

Santa has his sleigh and reindeer, ever wonder how the Easter Bunny gets around?

Let the hunt begin! Here's the dil doing a double point...

It doesn't take long for mom to get in the way of picking up candy foil wrapped chocolate eggs.

They're everywhere...

...both girls have no problem with picking these up, now if only picking up toys were done so eagerly.

A nice little bucket of eggs.

For all the Easter Egg Hunt pictures click HERE

Since their mom had to work and their dad was already at work the girls stayed with me. It was the perfect opportunity to get into the string bracelet kit that my mom sent out for them. First I showed them how to cut the strings...

...then I showed them how to do the weaving.

At 4pm I went and picked up the grandson from his party and at 6pm the dil came to pick them up. The girls had already decided that they were going to stay the night so the grandson was the only one that went home with the dil. At bedtime the girls asked for ice cream so I got out all the syrups and sprinkles and they wanted them ALL!

I thought the colors were pretty so I had to get a picture before they added the colored marshmallows and whipped cream.

This was only a part of my busy day, there were meals and other things too, but this was all that I took pictures of. Hope all of you had busy, wonderful weekends with family.

It's Here! It's HERE!!

Do you remember the area in my yard marked off with yellow string? Well at 7am this morning there was a knock on my front door and outside were two carpenters from All Size Sheds with their trucks and trailers filled with lumber and tools asking for directions as to where to get to work. I directed them out back and showed them the marked off area then went back inside to get my camera.
They didn't take long at all to get plugged in and start sawing and constructing.

A couple hours later I went back out to document their progress. They were wasting no time.

A few more hours and it was really taking shape.

Here the rafters are up...

...and the windows are in.

Below the roof is on and they're getting ready to shingle.

It struck me that from the backside of the property the shed looks nearly as big as the house. So I walked back across the alley to get a picture of this perspective...

...on the way back I stepped in a very deep hole that was overgrown with grass and landed on my knee. Now my knee is swollen and very sore.

By 4:30pm the carpenters were finished, packed up and gone.

The picture below is looking in the open door from in front of the shed.

This is looking to the front from the far back corner. There is storage areas all around the top inside. Now we just have to finish with wiring and insulation and run power out to it. Then I can start moving my craft supplies out.

I'm planning on having my son put in a back door on the side where the showerhouse is.

Now some pictures of the lily that bloomed today. It rained lightly as the carpenters were finishing up, but nothing that really was a problem.

Another shot with the rain droplets all over it.

This little guy was hopping around the front yard as I was heading inside. I was trying to get a closer picture and he hopped on up on my old cultivator.

And this must be the little one's parent because it was awful upset about me being so close.

He swooped at me several times but didn't get really close like you see that bird on TV do.

Can't wait to get started on my crafts, but I've got lots of work to do (and a bum knee) till I get to that point.