a little something i'm working on

i haven't been crafting as much as i would like to, because i haven't really had a place to put my sewing machine and the rest of my crafting things. however, i recently was inspired (by a gift from martha to amy) to make homemade banners for birthdays/holidays for gifts. i thought, "i can do that, and i have a lot of friends/family that would love these."

inspiration:

so, i made a stencil and started cutting out these triangles using various fabric that i already had. oh, i must mention that i use pinking shears to cut out the fabric so it doesn't fray. after brainstorming for the best way to apply the letters to each triangle, i decided that painting them on will be the most efficient way for me. obviously appliqueing the letters would be the most beautiful, but i think it would take me about 30 hours per banner. so i painted on the letters for my first happy birthday banner. i plan on using twill tape (notice the brown twill tape in the 2nd photo) to connect all the triangles and complete the banner. i will post a completed picture, but i just thought i would share my progress so far.

i think i'm going to give this first happy birthday banner to my friend ali who is having a baby in december. see the happy birthday letters at the top of the photo! notice the halloween colors of the triangles at the bottom of the photo. those will be made into a happy halloween banner for my friend megan who has an october birthday and wedding coming up. shhh, don't tell her.

while i'm already posting pictures of things i have made/am making, i thought i would take this time to showcase my sewing bag that i made last summer. i really impressed myself with this thing, but believe me i almost pulled my hair out while making it. it's probably the thing i'm most proud of creating.

this pattern is one from lotta jansdotter. see the handles and all the pockets on the outside for all my sewing paraphernalia. it makes me very happy.