The Sun Came Out!

It had been raining for a couple days, so I decided to do up another Handmade Highlight, focusing on sunny works by my fellow artists at the Handmade Artists Forum.  So I bring you... The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow!

You can see the actual Highlight here, and from there check out each piece in its artist's shop.  Trust me, it's worth it!

Ooooooooooh, Dangerous. But Useful!

JoAnn's.  Oh, man, JoAnn's has become so dangerous for me.  I've always been a fan of craft-type stores, The Rag Shop (defunct now), Michael's, and A.C. Moore.

Since I started sewing, I've discovered JoAnn Fabrics.  The nearest one to me was in Ramsey, over 20 miles away.  With traffic.  It was in a strip mall, small and crowded.  Narrow aisles, tough to really see and find what you need.  Still an addiction, of course.  But I could walk out of there with just one or two fabrics easily.

And then one day in July, Eric and I were coming back from the mall and there it was.  A new one.  10.6 miles from our house, a stand-alone store.  We went, and found it to be bright and spacious, with wide aisles and tons more inventory.  Yikes.

We went in, planning to spend $50... and left having spent $100, with coupons.  Oops.  But look what I got!

How adorable are those dinosaurs?  I love that they say what they are in them!  And then there are these smiley monkeys.

Aren't they great?

And these sharks a nod to my sister's first love - she wanted to be a marine biologist and study sharks when she was a kid.  I'll have to make something for my nephew.  Any ideas?

I've got these pawprints too, just 'cause I couldn't leave without them.

I got some stuff for me, too, not just the kids.  This colorful one is for a sewing machine cover.

With this great green on the reverse side.

I love this great yellow batik, which I figured for the interior of a knitting tote or bag for myself.

With this great blue and yellow batik for the outside of the bag.

I have this duffel bag pattern I want to make, and Eric wants me to use these great penguins.

I also got this great purple knit to make a denim/knit skirt for myself from an old pair of jeans.

I don't have any specific plans for this green felt, but figured it'd be handy to have around.  Same for this pretty olive green fabric.

I got this amazingly soft, fluffy yarn with the intent of knitting finger puppets.

And this purple canvas remnant will be perfect for part of the "quiet" books I want to make for the nephews.

Then I also got some generally useful things...

And today?  Today I finally used some of the fabric!  I followed this tutorial and made a holder for all of our supermarket bags!  It was pretty quick and let me remove the smashed-in pile of bags from the shelf of the baker's rack.  Awesome!