Have Beer, Will Travel: Bike Six-Pack Holder Tutorial

Hello, hello, hello!  I know it’s been a little while…but I’m back with the long-ago-promised tutorial for a bike-safe six-pack holder (I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath, and quite frankly I can’t imagine how you’ve gotten along thus far without it!  My most sincere apologies from keeping you from this vital information.)  But hey! Enough chat.  Let’s get to it!

This 6-pack carrier has strips of Velcro on the inside, so that in addition to being a regular carrier, it opens flat so that it can be draped over a bicycle bar for easy transport. 

Hello, remember me?

Hey remember the time that I posted a bunch of new years resolutions (including one to post often and regularly) and then disappeared for three months? Me neither. Actually, the past few months have been a blur of finishing up my Master’s degree once and for all, making plans for the future, and hanging out with these guys.

 But the important thing is that I’m here now, and I’m chock-full of ideas that I can’t wait to put into action! First things first, though: I’ve got to get caught up on the past few months, starting with the Valentine’s Day gift I made for Sean this year. Since Valentine’s Day is right around the time that his all-time favorite beer comes out and he quite likes to ride his bike all over his sunny little town, I decided that the thing he needed for Valentine’s Day was a six-pack holder that he could strap right to his bike, and then take off and carry around if his little heart desired to do so. I did some poking around online and just couldn’t find what I was looking for, so I decided to make one of my own! I made it out of canvas and printed cotton, using some elastic to keep the bottles in their little cubbies, and velcro to fasten the undersides together.

 I’m working on a tutorial for this little beauty, so stay tuned! And oh, have I missed you. Glad to be back.

Better late than never

Today is just one of those days that no matter how much I try to organize things and make things go my way, the universe (more specifically, the weather forecast) seems to have other plans.  I have given up hope that my poor, snow-sodden street will ever be plowed, and the impending sub-zero temperatures are certainly a blow to my morale.  But never fear!  I'm going to stop complaining now.

When going over all of my past posted projects this weekend (have you checked out the new and improved tutorials and things i've made tabs??) I realized that this poor, poor bag I made last fall missed out on its blog debut.  So, to remedy the situation, here is a very belated post of a little book tote I put together last fall sometime.  I'm always in need of bags that are big enough to hold lots of music, and this amazing Anna Maria Horner print that I'd previously ordered was screaming to be put to use somehow.  I found the rest of the supplies I needed from my overflowing bookshelf of sewing disorder, and threw this together in just a day.  

I did some experimenting with details on this bag, so there is a lot going on, which suits me just fine.  I had originally intended to give the top edge scallops, but I cut them too small, and they looked like messy spikes once I assembled the bag.  So I took those off, and added some grey pleats to my now-flat-and-plain-top edge.  I added some peach lace to the sides (I just felt like the blue/grey pallete needed some kind of contrast.)  For the straps, I used some thick cord, covered with plain grey cotton, fastened with gold square rings.  I added a small inner zip pocket, and lined it the same grey cotton that I used for the sides and straps.

I still have every intention of making a scalloped-edge bag, so I plan to mount a second attempt soon.  I'm also beginning to dread the thought of moving my overflowing fabric collection when I finish my degree in May, so I've imposed a ban on buying, and have a good deal of sewing to do between now and then.  Any great project ideas you'd like to share?

Fabric Storage Bins Tutorial

Today, the temperature in Cleveland is somewhere in the -20's, and everything is covered in the grey slush of poorly plowed snow (which I'm sure is thoroughly frozen by now.)  So, I whipped up a little fabric bins tutorial for your sewing pleasure.  Please let me know if you have questions or run into any problems while making this project, and enjoy!

Click on the link below, and find the full tutorial after the jump.

Bins and Baking

Today was grey and snowy outside, so it was filled with baking and sewing inside.  Since it's only January and I'm still trying to stay true to my resolutions (just give it a few more weeks!) I finally finished a project that had been collecting dust on my ironing board (...and then on my bookshelf...and then on the floor of my closet...) since September.  I've been meaning to amp up my bathroom storage for a while (read: come up with some kind of storage system at all) and these little fabric bins were just the ticket.  They were pretty simple to put together, and certainly helped tidy up my bathroom shelves a bit.  I'm working on a start-to-finish tutorial, which will be posted soon, but here are my lovely new bins, in all of their organizational glory...

The rest of the day was spent baking bread and my favorite lavender cookies.  Not bad for a Monday, I say!

*The tutorial is now up!  Click here to see it and make a bin of your very own!

New Year, New Resolve

Hello, friends, and Happy New Year!  

Have you ever gotten so wrapped up in things that you just got so ridiculously behind with other things?  Please say yes.  Well, this little blog of mine has become one of those things I didn’t keep up with.  It just set up shop on my to-do list, and went on living there from early August until right about…now.  In true personal fashion, I’m starting out the new year with so many ideas for the future, and I thought I’d share some of them with you today (nothing like a little public accountably, eh?)

1.  Run a marathon

This one seems inevitably unavoidable, since I took the plunge and registered for the Cleveland Marathon in May.  Wish me luck!

2.  Work my way through my unfinished sewing projects before I start any new ones

This goal truly deserves a post of its own, seeing as my “unfinished projects” pile has slowly but certainly been taking over my bedroom annex for the past few months.  One bursting bookshelf turned into two, which promptly turned into many, many, many piles of overflow, which led to me vowing not to buy any more supplies, which turned into complete disorder and chaos.  It’s time for me to dig myself out of this hole!  

3.  Try at least one new recipe a week

Because I love food.  Also, I tend to get into “recipe ruts” where I end up eating the same, weird but convenient foods for all of my meals (read: when I get busy, I eat mostly cereal.)

4.  Go to bed early

This is a back-handed attempt at forcing myself into becoming a morning person; a goal that I set and break just about every year.  This is my year, guys!

5.  Take more pictures with people in them

So I have realized lately that the ratio of pictures in my phone is about 5:1; 5 being pictures of Oliver (of course) and 1 being…everything else.  Instead of trying to take less pictures of my beloved pooch (who are we kidding, anyway) I’m going to try to take more pictures of everything else in my life.  I swear, I do have human friends, too!

6.  No more hiatuses from blogging!

I’m sure you have been expecting this one since this post began, but I’m serious this time…I’m here to stay!

What are you resolving to accomplish this year?

DIY Washi Tape Planner

Call me old-fashioned, but I just can't seem to function without a real, I-can-write-things-down-with-a-pencil-and-flip-through-the-pages, paper planner.  I'm not sure if it's the technologies' fault or my own (I swear, sometimes my tech devices have minds of their own) but whenever I try to use electronic calendars I just end up missing Oliver's beauty appointments or showing up to my cello lessons on the wrong day or having some other catastrophic scheduling meltdown.  It's just such a comfort to be able to physically flip through my schedule and see everything laid out in front of me, and I can't seem to do it any other way.  

So this brings up the real dilemma: it's really, really hard to find a passably cute day planner that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  Most of the time when I need one I scour store after store, searching for the perfect planner (it's a bit like looking for the Holy Grail, if you ask me) and I end up having to pick one up at the last minute for much more than I wanted to pay just because it's becoming unacceptable for me to be missing so many appointments.  In order to preemptively avoid this with the start of the coming scholastic year, I just DIY'ed a little solution for myself, with a plain black day planner (it cost less than $4!) and some Washi tape that I picked up for about a dollar a roll.  Simplest solution ever.  Makes you wonder what else could be vastly improved by slapping on a couple of strips of Washi tape…Hope you enjoy this little project!