Crafting For Obama

Yes We Did!

Congratulations, America!

Crafting for Obama is not gone, just undergoing transition. Once it's worked out how this project can best serve the big picture, details will be shared.

Meanwhile, enjoy this, my fave picture of an Obama purse owner. I like it in no small part because the purse is just about 1/2 the size of her body!

I have a few other satisfied Obama purse owner picts which I will eventually get around to uploading.

Keep Hope Alive,

Pam

Confession!

See this?

It's the Ghana purple,*** completed. And that little bit on the bottom where it's not attached? That happened a few days after I completed it and then, after wrestling with ever so much GUILT, started disassembling it.

This was going to be a purse offering, just a bigger purse than normal, mainly because I wanted to see how the block for the skirt would look if in two colors instead of three. A standard purse block is the logo +18 hexes in one color. The skirt block is the logo +38 hexes in two different colors. The three color version looks pretty cool, but it's designed to be skirt panel or blanket large. So I made the Ghana purple purse to get a sense of what it would look like smaller, with one color removed.

And I really, really, really liked it.

A lot.

Because there are limited amounts of this particular cloth I never made a block of it for the skirt. What with the whole point of this project being a Not For Myself Alone type of thing, the thought never hit to do so.

You know, until I made this one. And liked it. Ever so much.

Which is why I'm keeping it for myself, to put it into the skirt. Thus the whole taking it back apart again, because I need only the logo and the inner ring for the skirt.

But! To deal with the GUILT and all, disassembling it means I'll have more solid linen available for a regular purse, just enough for one more! That will be offered in the third set. This purple linen is so very pretty. I love the way it feels and looks.

The second purse set goes up tomorrow starting at 6 a.m. They will all be up by 6:15, if the auto-post thing works.

Update! Okay, here's my attempt at clarity, without photoshopping the photo with a layer of numbers and arrows because I don't have time for that. The prime version of this block is three colors. The first two colors are the inner ring around the logo. In the photo, that's the circle of hexes in purple solid and Ghana purple of white w/purple splotches: color 1 is the solid purple, color 2 is the Ghana purple. The third color is the base color. In this example, all of the solid purple that's not part of the inner ring? That would be the third color. When it's in three colors, that inner ring makes a skewed diamond pattern that looks nifty and really pops when you lay the entire piece it out right.

blah blah blah. How about a picture? This is the inner ring, the only part I need for the skirt.

In the skirt I'm making (for myself because I am a terrible, selfish person), color 1 is pulled from old suits, shirts (including pieces of what remains of a Hawaiian shirt an uncle gave me off his back 12 years ago when I complimented it), Vintage Mom Cloth and the like. Color 2 is pulled from scraps of all sorts of things dating back many, many years, a lot of it experiments in dying or leftovers from projects. Color 3 is blue denim. So far I've gone through two pair of jeans and a denim skirt I no longer wear, one pair of jeans from an Ex and a denim jacket from another Ex. Yet I can tell I still need more! I"m not sure what to do once I hit the I Definitely Need More stage. I have a denim dress I've not touched because I still wear it. It may need to be sacrificed.

So the entire skirt piece (the one I'm selfishly making for myself) is comprised of recycled cloth from the house. Nothing new is consumed in its creation.  

Making this thing is an enormous amount of work & materials, even more than the Irish Double Chain block in mudcloth & cord. But once it's done it will be totally worth it! I am hoping to have that done by Nov. 4 2008, so I can wear it that day in either Triumph or Despair. I can't tell which because the polls are all over the place. 

I'll post pictures once it's done.

*** So named because the purple/white cloth is from Ghana, leftovers from a project I did a year or so ago.

Test

A collection of perfectly mitered corners to test Typepad's post fix-it functionality...

Yeah, so that took 1/2-hour to upload. Not surprised. Another tester tomorrow, maybe.

"One Day There Will Be Lemon Soaked Paper Napkins. Until Then, There Will Be A Short Delay."

Given the alarming news that this blog's provider is planning on taking sites down for maintenance on Friday, I'm going to delay posting the new items until after that's all over, in case the maintenance goes about as well as the alleged "upgrades" have. Which is fine because I still have three more straps to make. 

So! Monday maybe? Stay tuned!

When I do return, there will be a confession. I FEEL SO GUILTY.

OMG! I Think I Just Made A Coaster!

This alarmingly bright green block beneath the glass was one of the last Nearly There prototypes, constructed from leftovers of a giant project that took up most of last year. When making blocks it's not uncommon for something to happen to one or another of them that renders them useless. A random stain, an accidental bleaching, forgetting to backstitch because it's 3:30 a.m. and you've been up for 14 hours, cat jumps on the table and decides it's the perfect time to upchuck a hairball. Around here, some of the Something Happened To It blocks are tossed, while others were kept as things to experiment upon. This one got the experimental treatment. 

Two hours ago the cat ate my coaster (do not ask). I only had the one (do not ask). I've had it for years. Suddenly finding myself coaster-less, and not liking placing a glass on Fredi without a coaster, I reach into the discard bin &  a few rotary slices later, I've got a coaster. 

I continue about my business.

Just now the thought has hit that if I cut it nicer, and maybe bind it, I have coasters! Washable coasters! *Really* easy and quick to do coasters because it doesn't require so many supporting honeycombs! A perfect way to do something with the extra honeycombs and strips! There are always a few extra honeycombs from each item due to cutting a few more in case Something Happens.

I shall run experiments after I'm done with the current batch of items. If it works, coasters will be offered in sets of four. If it doesn't work, pretend I never said anything. 

(In the glass: Cabernet, a touch of of brandy, a hefty splash of raspberry lambic, a spoon full of blackberry sorbet.)

Next Up After The Current Next Ups

The sketch for the requested custom piece. 

The actual piece will look Almost But Not Quite like this, what with I've already changed two elements and all. 

More, later.

Here Are Some (but not all) Of The Items That Will Be Offered Up Late Next Week

There are more on the table out of the shot, one of them a shiny heavyweight gothy black satin! (Update: Someone who has seen that cloth would like the point made that it can also be classified as 'elegant', which he feels is a more appealing descriptor than 'goth'.)

The Mickey Mouse one on the far right has already been claimed.

Here's One of the Ghana Purple Being Built

Status Update

Okay! 

As of right now, all but the dual purple have been claimed from the first set of purses. 

On deck are purses in solid red cotton, solid blue cotton, solid purple linen and Ghana purple cotton. (For expediency I'm linking to an old picture because my camera guru is busy tonight and unavailable to take pictures of the new stuff for me.) Photos of these new items will be  will be shot &  uploaded soonish. I'm aiming to have them up by the middle or end of next week (week of Sept. 16).

Oh, and remember, if you want a block and not a purse, that's fine. Just click away above, and drop me a note after.

I also got a custom request, which was very interesting and a fun challenge! Will share build notes on this one as events unfold. The template has been drafted. 

Due to the gift of cloth from South Africa, I think a cool table runner is on the horizon. Will share build notes for that one, too. I think I'm going to try and do an open weave with that one...have no idea if such a thing is possible, but that's what the cloth wants.

Thanks so much to everyone so far!

More, later.

Straps Part 2

Straps were an issue from the beginning, all throughout the prototype stage. (For those keeping count, there were five prototypes before I got to the Beta, three of those block-only prototypes. Beta = the near final version where only minor fixes need to be made for the next step.)  I wanted flexibility for the end-user. In case for some reason that person hated the straps I chose, I wanted it to be easy to replace the straps. Then there's the issue of sizing. Some people like short purse straps, some like long. I lean toward long.  

Here's a shot of my purse, the lovely Beta, with the straps sewn in at the sides: 

Not a lot of end-user flexibility there. Also, took a bit of time to set the strap in properly. It wasn't until a week after running around town wearing the Beta for its test run that the solution hit. D-rings! They're easy and fast to install, and if you don't like the strap attached to the ring, snip it out and tie in another one. I also have quite a few in the house already, and if more are needed they can be obtained dirt cheap. Win all around! Below is a D-ring.