International Natural Hair Meetup Day

Saturday, May 18th was International Natural Hair Meetup Day. I am involved with the Dayton Gem City Naturals, and we all met up at Taste restaurant to eat, drink and be merry with our curl friends. I had a wonderful time, and I look forward to the next natural hair meetup.

I won a gift card from the restaurant.

Got the opportunity to meet CoilyHeadChick from YouTube.

All of my swag from the event!

All in all there were close to 50 people in attendance. Looking forward to next year!

Peace and blessings,
Michelle

 

Garter Snake Purse

I purchased a new pattern from Ravelry and decided to give it a whirl. It’s the Garter Snake Purse.

I fell in love with the purse immediately. So, I purchased some charcoal gray Lion’s Brand Thick and Quick yarn and got to work. It knit up really fast because the yarn is so thick.
I purchased some really cute fabric from Joann’s to line the bag with.

Once I finished knitting the base of the bag, I pinned up the fabric on the inside, and I am currently sewing the lining in. Once I finish lining it and choosing handles, I will post a final pic.

Make sure you check back for final pictures.

Peace and blessings,
Michelle

 

So Glad I Found You

About two weeks ago I found a picture of a knit tote bag that I really liked. I fell in love with the construction, the color, the whole bag! I knew I wanted to make it, but there was one problem…I could not find the pattern.

I had surgery on Tuesday, so as a result of that and some personal things going on in my life, I haven’t been sleeping well. So, on Friday night (Early Saturday morning, around 2:26 am) I found myself lying awake in bed. So, I picked up my phone and started looking up things online.

I thought about the bag after being up for about 30 minutes, so I started searching for it. After about 20 minutes of searching I had found it. I almost started yelling in bed. 😜

So, Saturday morning I got up, made breakfast, took a shower and hit the road (rather slowly since I just had surgery) on a quest to get the materials needed to make my bag.

I stopped by Joann’s where I found the yarn that I plan to use. The pattern calls for 2 or 3 skeins or yarn, so I picked up three to be on the safe side. Here is the yarn that I chose.

I knew from the start that I wanted to line the bag, so I searched Joann’s for fabric. They used to have a lot of really nice fabric there, but I was really hard pressed to find something that I liked. But, after 20 minutes of walking back and forth, I finally found it.

I wanted a fabric that had green in it, and this one matches perfectly. So, after getting the fabric cut, I sashayed over to the aisle where the needles are kept. The pattern calls for size 13 straight and circular needles. I use the bamboo needles because I love the smoothness. Well, to my surprise Joann’s had every size in stock but 13. I had planned to check Michael’s and Hobby Lobby, but after hitting the mall to find some work shoes, the fact that I had surgery a few days before caught up with me. So, I went home. I will pick up the needles this week. Although I am dying to start this project, I am currently working on another project, so I can wait.

I will swing by the thrift store to find a purse that I can cut the straps off of to use for this bag.
Pictures to one once I get the bag started.

Peace and blessings,
Michelle

 

Practice Makes Perfect

I came across some DIY tea towels over on No. 2 Pencil and I fell in love. So, this weekend I gathered up the materials do that I could make some for myself. I picked up a “Love” stencil to practice with.

You may ask why it’s necessary for me to practice. Well, my mother has always told me that I am “heavy handed”, meaning that I use a large amount when a small amount will do. This proved to be true when I did the first stencil. I put too much adhesive on the stencil and had to work hard to get it off the tea towel. 😳 I will work on the spacing on the next ones as well. But, other than that, I must say that they came out rather nicely. So, I am now on the prowl for that perfect stencil, and I will be ready to go.

Here are the pics of my tea towels. You can check out No. 2 Pencil if you would like a tutorial.

Now, it just needs to dry for 24 hours, then I can set it with the iron and its ready to go.

Peace and blessings,
Michelle

 

Joined in Another Knit A Long

I found another knit a long on Instagram, and I must say that it is another pattern that I am excited about. Once I finish the current shawl, I plan to make a fee more in different colors. My next one will probably be heather gray and red.

Here is a pic of the pattern picture.

Here is a picture of where I am currently. At first I was going to just knit the one color, but a couple of my Instagram friends suggested that I add the chocolate brown. I am so happy that I did.

I plan to buy this yarn from Madelinetosh. When I saw it I knew I wanted to make a shawl with it. The colors just speak to me!

I will post pics of the final projects once I am done.

Peace and blessings,
Michelle

 

It’s Getting In My System

I must say that I am super excited about learning to sew. You can always tell when I am excited about something because I talk about it constantly. I know my close friends wish I would just stop talking about it. Eventually the incessant talking will neutralize, but right now I am going to bask in my own excitement.

So, lately I have been putting my iPad to work overtime. I have been looking for things that I want to have made, and things that I would like to make when I learn to sew. I have some easy things that I would like to make, and then some things that will definitely be made down the road.

Here are some pictures of what will be my beginning projects.

I have seen and fallen in love with a lot of fabric in the past couple of weeks! All of the fabric in the following pics can be purchased from SewFineFabric on
Etsy.

In a future post I will share some of the more intricate things that I would like to learn.

Peace and blessings,
Michelle

 

Mama, I Want To Sew Part II

I am writing this post as a follow-up to my original Mama, I Want To Sew post. I fell in love with the corduroy coat made by Mimi G.

Well, I do not know how long it will take me to get up to coat making caliber, do I have decided to have the coat made by the lovely ladies from Sew Dayton. When I am finally up to snuff, then I will make the coat in another coat.

I have been looking at fabrics online, and here is what I like so far. I have chosen two colors in the corduroy fabric. Light gray and khaki.

I have chosen a few different fabrics for the color and sleeve cuffs. I will narrow it down at some point. In the first photo, I like the middle fabric.

Here are the two buttons that I like so far. One is two big, but I am going to contact the seller to see if she has the size that I need. I love the “Tree of Life” button.

So, which corduroy would you choose? Which collar and cuff fabric? Which buttons?

Peace and blessings,
Michelle