Coin Block Piggy Bank and New Projects!

Last night I finished the piggy bank I was working on, after I worked up the nerve to cut up the fabric I was working with - got it right on the right try. :)

I would have posted last night, but it was the pay-per-view wrestling and I decided to watch that, instead, then I went straight to bed. And while I was watching wrestling, I was working on my scarf, as well, and somehow managed to mess up there a few more times. I got really upset and just put it down again. I don't know how I feel messing up, but I do. It's stupid. And annoying.

But, anyway, here is the finished project!

I scrounged up whatever change we had lying around the house and put it inside, just to be able to say I used it!

I really like the way it turned out as a whole, even if my sewing skills suck. I had thought of making more of these, but I decided I probably won't, unless someone requests one. :)

Anyway, having put the scarf down for a bit - probably a few more days - I decided it was time to start using up the last of my cotton yarn. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to use the nautical twist cotton yarn for, then I found a pretty simple pattern that I thought would make it look cool. I was right.

I really like how this is starting to look. I'm about a fifth of the way done, I'm only on row 8, the pattern - which can be found here: http://stitcheryprojects.com/2010/08/15/the-best-crocheted-potholder/ - calls for 43 rows. I am hoping that I will be finished it by tomorrow.

In other news, today is the day that we decided to start packing, only ten days left until the move! So, I figured it would be a good idea to go through my bins of yarn and really organize them - I rummage through them without care more times and a but of balls got tangled. After spending about an hour organizing and reballing some of my yarn I finished. And in the process I found some Bernat Softee Chunky yarn - with the patterns still attached to them! 

I really want to make this:

I read over the pattern quickly and it seems simple enough to make, like, super simple. So, I think after I finish the Nautical Potholder, I'm going to start working on a baby blanket, it will be perfect for when my little bundle of joy arrives!! <3

I was thinking of using these two colours - as they are currently the only bulky yarn colours I own.

Though, I'm not too sure how I feel about using the green. But, I think it's a light enough colour that it will work out in the end, besides, I can't think of anything else to really use it for. So, a blanket for the baby would be perfect.

Let me know what you all think! Remember, just feel free to comment with any tips, criticism, advice and what-have-you. I love feedback of any sort!

Thank you all, and hopefully I will be back tomorrow with more things to post about!

Piggy Bank Progress

Today I spent the day working diligently on my piggy bank. And it paid off, mostly.

First, I would just like to show off how neatly this panel turned out.

I think it's made all the better by the fact that I wasn't paying too much attention to what I was doing - I was kind of focusing on a horribly great documentary on Bigfoot. I really love watching/listening to documentaries of mostly any kind.

Anyway, I managed to get the bottom of the piggy bank together, having spent most of the day getting to this point.

When I finally finished the box, I realised that I needed to devise a way to keep it closed - I really didn't think this project through before starting it, but it's worth it. I decided Velcro would be a good idea. I managed to find something around the house that I wasn't using that had Velcro on it I could salvage, I didn't need much.

You can see here where I attached the Velcro to the little white squares. On top of sewing them on, I ensured they stayed securely in place by adding a bit of crafting glue I had kicking around underneath. 

I crocheted these little guys to attach to the top, they were quick work. Again, I sewed and glued on the Velcro pieces for added security before I attached it to the top piece.

Now, all I have left to do is line the top panel, I've been procrastinating on that because I'm a bit nervous about trying to cut out the coin slot in the material and, sadly, I don't have anything in the place that would rub off on the fabric as a guide. :(

From there, all I have to do is touch up the plastic canvas edges and attach it to the rest of the box, then I'll be finished! I'm so excited, I think it's going to be awesome when it's finished. 

Anyway, it's very late and I'm about ready to go to bed. I decided to write out this blog tonight because I know myself well enough that I'll end up lying awake thinking about posting until I actual do it, might as well skip a step and make everything easier for me.

Hopefully I will finish the top tomorrow and won't procrastinate. Then, I can get back to working on my friends scarf, I've finally stopped being upset over my major mess up.

Anyway, good night, everyone. :)

Mario Block and Good News!

Hey, all. Just a quick post on what I've been up to today. It may not seem like much, but I've spent a large portion of the day working on these things.

First is this:

I decided to make this piece into a regular old coaster, so nothing special there. It was a quick job.

However, I have finished all six panels of the piggy bank. Trying to figure out the top piece was tricky. But, I managed it smoothly and quickly.
 

Not bad, eh?

Anyway, after I finished making all the panel pieces, I realized that I should probably line the inside of the box so that none of those awkward stitches on the back show. Luckily, I had some fabric kicking around - a bunch of friends keep trying to convince me to learn sewing, but it's just not my thing - and so I started to use that. This is how far I've gotten - not very!

As you can see, my sewing skills are quite below par. But, oh well, I get by doing what I can, I'll learn to see properly when I absolutely need to.

This is probably as far as I'm going to get tonight - as much as I wanted to try and finish it, I was dragged away from it by my boyfriend.

Tonight is the first draft of the new set of Magic: the Gathering - even if it is just a core set. We haven't been to draft in almost two and a half months, with good reason.

And now for the big reveal. About two and a half months ago, my lovely boyfriend and I found out the most exciting news ever - I am with child. :) We're not sure if it's a boy or girl yet - I'm only 14 and a half weeks along, they don't check for gender until about twenty weeks.

But, anyway, this is why we haven't been to draft in a while and - if you've been following me on DeviantArt before this blog - why I become inactive for a while.

So, I shall leave off on this happy note and hopefully I will be done the piggy bank for tomorrow!

Coin Blocks and Failures

I'm going to start this post of with the good news, which will hopefully cheer me up as I write this out.

Yesterday I started on making the squares for the Mario Coin Block piggy bank that I want to make. Now, here is the reason I didn't end up post about it last night. On top of having a rather busy day, I decided I wanted to try difference plastic canvas stitches - not that I know too many, but I'll be learning more soon! - which took up a fair amount of my free time yesterday. Mostly doing it hole by hole.

Here is the comparison photo between the two:

 

I really like how the one on the left turned out. A lot.

I made the first one by following this pattern:

 
I can't remember where I found it, or how designed the pattern. But, I can say it's not mine. At all. However, for the second one, I decided it would be easier to draw out the pattern that I wanted to use - basically just a longer stitch version of this one that I copied on to graph paper. See:

So, I'm not entirely sure if I can claim that pattern as my own, seeing as I just modified a pattern.

Anyway, I'm thinking that my piggy bank will be done in the style of longer stitches - it's faster and it looks much better, it makes the question mark pop out a lot more. However, now I just have to figure out how I'm going to make the slit in the top for coins to go in to. Also, I have to figure out if I want to have a trap bottom opening, or just make the top so it can open and close. Decisions, decisions. Any suggestions on this one?

And now, I shall move on to what has irritated me - though, it has diminished quite a bit. So, I was working on that scarf for my friend, when something went horribly wrong. I'm not even sure how, but one of the knitting needles slipped and I lost a couple of stitches. I mean, I tried to fix it the best I could, but I still ended up with these unsightly holes and I have no idea what to do about it. It's slightly upsetting.

So, I decided to just finish my row and put it aside for now - I know better than to work on something when I'm feeling agitated and upset. I may or may not attempt to work on it some more later in the day. However, I did message my friend and show her this picture, she said she liked it, and that made me feel a bit better. But, I still feel bad for messing it up in the first place. So, if anyone has any tips on how to rectify this mistake, please, please let me know. :)