Finishing and Fixing II

Yes, I know it's been a hot minute since my last post.  Cut me some slack, I've been just a tad bit busy with commencement, getting my home office area ready for a more permanent situation, and of course, crafting.

50 for fifty

One of my 50 for fifty goals was to pick up plastic canvas crafts again.  When I moved to Colorado, I started completely over with my craft supplies (except my sewing machine and some of my books).  One that fell by the wayside was plastic canvas.  To be honest, I wasn't even sure that craft stores sold plastic canvas anymore (I can't get supplies or patterns for other crafts I used to do).  Fortunately both Hobby-Lobby and Wal-Mart carry plastic canvas, so I purchased a package of seven-count canvas and some yarn (those blankets and baby booties wiped me out).

The first thing I made was a plastic canvas version of this crochet pattern for a boutique-style tissue box cover: http://www.tissueboxbakery.com/2013/11/29/free-pattern-yellow-cake-with-chocolate-frosting-red-heart-soft-deborah-norville-everyday-worsted/. I made it as a present for a friend who likes to bake.  I made two unsuccessful attempts at this pattern.  Despite changing hook sizes and stitch counts, I could not get this pattern to come out right, so I decided to adapt it to plastic canvas.

I did use the instructions from the crochet pattern to make the piped frosting.  If I make this again, the only thing I would do differently is not use hot glue to attach the sprinkles and use tweezers to place them more accurately.  Other than that, I really enjoyed making this birthday present.  

Well, the bug has bitten, so I made a couple of covers for myself.

I used the stitch counts from a plastic canvas pattern in a needlework book in my stash (the pattern was ugly, but the stitch counts helped).  I found the tutorial for the crochet roses on YouTube:

I really enjoyed these and plan to make other projects in the future.

Here are some other projects I've finished since my last post:

This was for one of my neighbors.  It says "welcome" in Polish.

This is another chalk paint experiment.  I coated a salsa jar with chalk paint, painted the design in acrylic paint, then coated it with varnish.  As long as it's never harshly cleaned, it should work just fine as a flower vase.  I consider this a successful experiment.

 

 

Another Party

Misty came over for a "make it" party.  She did a great job on her wreath.

 

Apartment Decorating Projects

Finally figured out an aesthetically satisfying way to decorate this long narrow window in my bedroom

 

Found this fat quarter fabric at Wal-Mart and really liked it as an opposite side of the new sofa pillows I made.

 

Found a use for several torn canvases I had--photo/bulletin boards

Speaking of torn canvases...(yes it's another saga)

I'm a big fan of the Moriah Elizabeth YouTube channel.  If you've never seen it, It's a fun crafting channel.  She has a series called "Art Things to Do When Bored."  One of the suggestions is to re-do an old art project.  Enter exhibit A:

I painted this at Paintology 101 back in 2017.  There's not much to dislike about this painting except the front wheel that looks like it met a telephone pole.  I wanted to try redoing it using a compass to draw a properly round wheel.  Although a compass was required for school, I never learned to use one correctly.  So why not learn now?  I considered painting over the original, but thought it would be too complicated.  So, I made a new one from scratch.

The wheel turned out much better than the first one and I was happy with it...until I framed it, put it in the car to take to someone, took it out of the car only to realize that it had mysteriously gotten torn on something.

So, I went back to my original idea to paint over the old painting...which actually worked.

 

I got this delivered before any other nonsense happened.  At least I got practice using a compass.