My Crop-A-Dile Died...

Originally, I bought this pretty little tool for scrapbooking. It will punch a hole in almost anything - paper, fabric, leather, metal, chipboard! And it sets eyelets, grommets and snaps, too. When I started making the book corsets, I realized it was the perfect tool for that. Unfortunately, in the middle of making some corsets last week, it suddenly stopped working. I can bare squeeze it and have to pry it open once it's closed. Even Mr. Kay couldn't fix it. I can't even tell what's broken on it! It just won't work.



Fortunately, I had its big brother in the cupboard, brand new and unopened. (I got a good deal on it at Walmart, but hadn't needed it yet.) So, now I'm back in business! Seriously, though, if you are a seamster, but not a scrapbooker, you should wander over to the scrapbooking department and pick up one of these guys. Either the original Crop-a-Dile or the Big Bite. Totally worth it!

Down & Dirty, Why Did I Buy This Fabric, Reusable Bags!

I have a lot of fabric. LOTS! Okay, not as much as some people, but it's still a lot. I was going through it this weekend and trying to assign jobs to each piece. And some of it made me stop and think, "What? What was I thinking when I bought that? And why did I buy so much of it?" It's not that it's really ugly fabric, just not really my style.

So then I started trying to think of ways to get rid of it fast. Trying to sell it off is a pain and could take a while. Reuseable shopping bags! Everyone needs those, right?

I found this tutorial which I really like, because it's EASY! And it looks pretty good, dontcha think?

I'm going to give these away with purchase at my crafts shows this year. Assuming, I can get enough made!

More Grannies!

I'm behind. Totally to be expected and actually planned. Yeah. Planned. That's what I'm going with.... Actually, I'm putting all my crocheting energies into another project at the moment. It's a gift, so I can't say more than that. But, these are the last 12 blocks that I did, and I think they're really pretty! The one with the purple flower is my favorite! I'm very happy with how that turned out.



This square turned out a bit bigger than I had hoped, so it won't work with my other squares, but I still love the pattern. I was experimenting to see if I could get the 8" block pattern down to 6 - 6 1/2 inches by using an E hook. Um, no. But I did find that the 7" block patterns work well with the E hook.

I tell you what! Using that E hook on this yarn is hard work! It makes my hand hurt a little, but it's getting me the size I want, so I'll keep using it. I should be getting back to my granny squares in a few weeks. I better be, otherwise it means my gift will be late!