Hero of Craftrule

I was complimented on the t-shirt I was wearing the other day by a Geek Squad agent. If you have read my previous posts, you know my husband is a part-time agent, so being complimented by one of them could be alright, but this was one of the real geeks. The shirt I was wearing said "Hero of Hyrule" on it which, for those of you not into the Nintendo scene, references the kingdom in the video game "The Legend of Zelda." I bought this shirt when I finally beat the "Ocarina of Time" on our N64 a *few* years ago. (I think Andy - I mean "we" - have upgraded three times since then...) It was the first video game I've ever beaten and (for a very not-hardcore gamer like myself) it was hard! I enjoyed the game very much and was proud of myself. I reckon I probably deserve to be complimented by a real geek since wearing the shirt probably makes me pretty geeky myself.
So by now you are probably wondering where I am going with this, since this is supposed to be my craft blog. Today I again feel proud like the Hero of Hyrule - or Craftrule, which is my new kingdom in the office/dining room where I have my station semi-permanently set up on the table. I knocked another item off my list before lunch today. I love having days off. I could really get used to this!
As promised here are some details of the recently completed projects!

Starling Handbag



I posted on the completion of the crochet part of this bag here. Since then, I sewed the liner and added some embellishments to the outside. Overall I am quite pleased with it! It was very fun to make and I can't wait to make more. Watch out - it is probably what everyone is getting for Christmas this year. I wonder if a brown one is manly enough for my dad.... kidding.



The embellishments were a new thing for me. It was the first time I've really tried embroidery and I think it turned out alright. I ended up going around the flower petals because I accidentally ripped off one of the petals on the left flower at the bottom. Can you find it? I felt more secure about the flowers once I did that and I kind of like the way it looks. My embroidery skills are a little clumsy, but I figure the more I do it, the better I'll get! I used these awesome tutorials to make the flowers, bag and liner.

Tooth Fairy Bag



I made this for my 5-year old niece who just lost her first tooth. I wish I had found this cute pattern before she'd lost that one, but I can't wait to show it to her! The tooth on the front is actually a tiny pocket to put the tooth in and the tooth fairy leaves the goods in the bag. Purple is her favorite color - and mine too! :D

Lanyards



I've been wanting to make Andy something for a while, and I am mostly a crocheter, which, let's be honest, isn't super manly. Now that I've taken up more sewing, I have a lot more options for him! Here is where the lanyard idea came from: After an incident of my keys falling off my lanyard while hiking way up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the following ordeal which involved no cell phone signal, my wallet in my locked truck and hitchhiking - and I'm just scratching the surface there - I decided to chunk that lanyard and get a new one. Then I decided not to buy one, but to make one. No problem, right? Well, actually it was no problem! I made one for myself and one for Andy. Yay crafts for Andy!



Other Crafts!
I also make a set of napkins for my sister. This was my first time trying mitered corners. I am such a novice sewer and its all been self-taught, which works for a lot of things. I feel like I would benefit from some tutoring, but these napkins ended up being alright. The corners were fine, but I am not quite there with pressing my seams evenly enough yet. I don't know if that is something I'm doing altogether wrong, or something that will just get better with more practice.




Lastly, I made a wallet out of the fused plastic that I made on a crafting play date a few weeks ago. It was my first time sewing on plastic and my first time using my zig-zag stitch on my machine - which is way cool!



This is the Summer of New Crafts in Craftrule!