A Couple More Medicine Bags

It's like making pancakes. The first one out of the pan never comes out perfect and the last ones are usually just right. I worked through some design and construction details when making my first two medicine bags, so this one went together very easily. It has few embellishments because the intended recipient wanted it simple. Just some fringe, but not too much, and a couple beads.

This one was also a gift for someone who wanted it simple. There are no beads at all, just the arrowhead, but I did not spare on the fringe. Call it artist prerogative.  How can you have a medicine bag without a generous amount of fringe?!

The next medicine bag I make will be for myself. It will have beads, lots of them, and a generous amount of fringe, and most likely some other semi-precious gemstone embellishment.

Thanks for reading.
Aileen

A Medicine Bag and Other Little Things

I feel better now that I straightened up my craft room from the pre-Christmas crafting frenzy and can now move freely between the various stations I have set up in my hobby room. 

But I still have a couple leather projects sitting on my sewing table. This is the first of a couple of medicine bags I plan to make. I had never worked with leather before a couple months ago so this has been very much a trial-and-error exercise. Even the fringe I reattached four different ways because I didn't like how it was hanging. This wasn't the final version. After I took this photo I thought of another way to make the knots lie flat and in the same direction so I took all the fringe out and did it again.

This is another small leather journal but with a boo-boo. I cut a perfect cover for this little journal and it was laying on my work table when I accidentally clipped it with a scissors while cutting string. Yikes! Stupid me. I decided to use it anyway but with the added character of the extra repair stitches.

And another, improved crochet pouch for a mini leather journal. I love this yarn, it's a variegated cotton with wonderful colors. The pouch is all a tight single crochet except for some half-double and double stitches to form the curve on the flap.

 

And I did get the beads off my painting table so I have some collage work to get back to. I do have an area where I do bead and wire work but sometimes the thing I am currently working on temporarily encroaches into other areas. And once I get the leather projects off my sewing table I have some quilt projects I plan to work on. I guess my fantasy dream craft/hobby room is at least twice as big as the current one and has windows.

Thanks for reading.

Aileen

New Year, Old Projects

I'm still trying to get back to the projects I was working on before Christmas. This week I finally got all the Christmas decorations taken down, packed up and put away. At the beginning of every year I go through a process of writing a personal summary of the previous year and setting goals and milestones for the coming year. This often takes several days. I have been a journalist for decades.  I started journaling late in my 20's and each year since, I have strengthened that habit with more frequent and detailed writings, so at this point I am keeping a daily and several specific topic personal journals. As a result, a year end summary is not as simple as writing a couple sentences. It takes longer. 

So I still haven't done any crafts in the past two weeks to speak of. I did sit and free crochet this little pouch for a mini journal while watching tv. It's a prototype and I need to adjust the pattern some. The little flap is sort of wonky. But I added a bone button and its works the way I wanted it to. 

Thanks for reading. 

Aileen