Nov 1 2011

Sneak Peek at Blue Skies

Since the Double Diamond came off the needles this last weekend, another had to go on the needles to take its place. There were many colors to pick from in inventory, and decided on the blue. It reminds me of the beautiful Nebraska sky that we love. Just a little sneak peek on its progress.

Light Blue - will be a larger felted wool bag upon completion

I am learning some new techniques from the Japanese book I ordered. Some are a bit different, especially in how to make bobbles. But I went back to my own way of doing them to make the little flowering buds you see. The design is the same on the back of bag also. There is always room to learn more technique and give new things a try.

We were happy to see that the creative blog received 979 hits in October which is a new record for TygerLily. We are most thankful for each and every one of you that stop by.

Enjoy your day and get a little creative – it’s good for the soul. :)

Oct 29 2011

Double Diamond Prairie Cable Bag – SIXTH in Series

The gray cable ‘wine koozie’ is now completed. It came out somewhat smaller than anticipated, but it’s a good size and I’m happy with how it came out. It is listed over on Etsy (which I did first for a change). Check it out, leave me some feedback. I love to hear from each and every one of you!

Front of Double Diamond showing black shadow felting

Inside of bag - showing off its argyle innards

Cherry Blossom bag is all that’s left to line – but I feel the need to knit something horrible. Do I pick up the ice blue, the orange, or WHAT??? It’ll be a surprise.

Thanks for checking in over here – we love having you. :)

Oct 29 2011

Houndstooth Professional (with some bling)

In every effort to get things that have been started, completed, this was the first on my list this morning. Ms. Houndstooth is complete and ready to photo at some point for the shop. These are pics of the handle process, of which you all need to remind me NEVER TO DO AGAIN! I think I have bruising on my ribs from turning those doggone things. :) Anyhow, here ya go…..

The WORST job I ever had to do.....

Securing handles with German glue and casing.

To this gem that sparkled on the deck for us this morning……

Business Glam!

The sequin rosette was the absolute perfect accent after struggling trying to decide if it should be a bow, a knot, or even detachable. The bow looked hideous, but that’s just my opinion. It went in the trash and I salvaged part of it and added the rosette. And yes, these babies are drying with that awesome German glue that never gives up.

Let me know what ya think, and thanks for stopping by! And remember to ‘like’ TygerLily over on Facebook. We are striving for those 100 fans and really want to reward someone with a gift.

Happy Saturday and onward we go to the next project that’s incomplete, and git-r-dun. :)

Oct 28 2011

3-1/2 Hr Vacation And Pretzel Logic

OK, so I am taking 3-1/2 hours of my vacation time this morning to regroup and get back on track.

1. October is about over – forgot to get tags for the car, so THAT line will be uber pleasant this morning. But that’s my own fault.

2. Funny how basic items DON’T make it on the shopping list until they’re gone! Yep, Sam’s Club here I come. Blechhh

3. DID get the fabrics ordered for two commissioned orders for kids art books this morning. Should be super cute. And while I was on Fabric.com I found this FANTASTIC corduroy fabric which is going to line one of the Prairie Bags coming up….

Over-The-Top Orange Corduroy

…….and this beauty – embroidered corduroy! Think I’m in love with this one.

Brown Embroidered Corduroy

And there’s still a color of Brown Sheep Company’s Burly Spun yarn that’s not worked up into a bag yet, but THIS was the perfect find for the lining to the future handbag….

Prairie Handbag #? corduroy lining CAN WE ALL SAY WOW!!!!

Aren’t those fabrics absolutely wonderful? They are all ordered and I even was able to use a little coupon on my cord fabrics – YIPEEEEE!! I’ll take it!

After my mini-vacation this morning (ha) I hope to get the Barbed Wire Cable Handbag completely off the needles, get the fun little adornments attached that I found yesterday in my “Inspiration In A Bag” and get that baby in the machine to be felted – YET TODAY! :) There is a closure treatment that I want to test on this bag, hopefully to include a little bling, a little leather, some surprises. Have to keep testing to find the absolute best way.

And look what I found when I was digging through some things – the Pretzel Logic Handbag that I never lined. It was done back in 2008, but then things started falling apart and we had to move. So this baby needs to get lined and in the shop soon. It’s rather a bizarre looking kind of thing, isn’t it.

Pretzel Logic Handbag

And I realized I didn’t actually save the Cherry Blossom Handbag photo yesterday to the computer. That explains a lot. But here it is in a messy heap. This needs to get completed today also if possible. Well, maybe this weekend. :)

Cherry Blossom Handbag

OK, my mini vaca starts in a half hour. So here we go! Let’s tackle the day and have a little fun while we do it, okay?

Love to see you all stopping by – you make my day. :)

Oct 27 2011

Houndstooth To Japanese

The duldrums (sp) hit this week quite unexpectedly. Not a lot of enthusiasm about coming home after work and doing much if anything creative. So this blog is for ME as much as it is for anyone reading. It’s time to recharge – just like my camera.

The houndstooth suiting fabric purchased last week is meandering its way into a handbag. I’ve started out using a basic pattern, but I wanted to switch up the top/handles a little, so now I’m rather stuck until I can figure how to actually DO what’s in my head. It’s at a stop until that’s figured out…..

Feminine Houndstooth - Waiting for Handle Treatment

Then as I went to take a couple extra photos this morning, I see the Cherry Blossom handbag still waiting to be sewn up into a bag – it’s knitted – just needs seams, lining and pink handles…….. (now I can’t find where I put the photo)

Then on to a great grab bag of vintage fabrics a friend at work brought in! This puppy weighs a ton and the fabrics inside are incredibly fun and will make great hobo bags, linings and whatnot….

Gift Bag of Vintage Fabrics

And here is an update on the two bags on the needles:

Barbed Wire Prairie Bag #6

Reynolds Lopi "Brick Streets" Prairie Bag #7

More on the Reynolds Lopi yarn later – becoming not such a big fan. But felting may change my mind, so I’ll try to keep that (my mind) open. :)

And my Japanese inspiration book came this week with MUCH taunting from my husband! He didn’t understand why I’d buy a book written in a foreign language. I told him that it’s the ‘study’ of the graphing done – not the words! And the pictures speak millions of words to me…..

A TREASURY of INSPIRATION!

I need to fly – meetings and work are calling………..

Drop me a line – let me know your thoughts. We can ALL use inspiration and some days a good kick in the keester. :) Happy crafting!

Oct 22 2011

Billy’s Sweater Re-Do is COMPLETE!

Men's Sweaters

This was sooooo much fun to do. And I should have really been doing a ton of other things, but I really needed to just have a little fun. Remember the sweater of Bill’s I scored earlier today? Well, it has now been totally reworked into a snap-shut handbag. There’s nothing special about it, no embroidered TygerLily on the inside, no pockets, no nothing. Just a plain jane upcycled sweater purse. Plain and simple. Here’s how the process went…..

Laying on the ironing board - just waiting for that first cut...

Sweater cut, interfaced, zigzagged around and inside fabric picked....

Tubing around top, and nice belly at the bottom.....

Fall type 'tree' cotton for the lining that's now sewn in.....

One side of 'snap' closure pulled through fabric tube....

Opening done and chain handle clamped on....

All finished and ready for a nice fall trip somewhere..... hmmmm

Now that it’s done, I’m not sure what to do with it. It’s different. It’s something that’s been recycled. I like it, but not sure I want to keep it……. Best thing is to sleep on it. But it sure is a different kind of bag. There’s a Budweiser sweater still sitting in the recycle pile… wonder how that would look in this style? hmmmmmm

Nightie Night Everyone! Thanks for stopping by. zzzzzzzzz

Oct 22 2011

Firebush Cable Handbag – Complete and Listed

As I am still waiting on an okay from a possible buyer on another item, I decided to tackle the finishing touches to the Firebush Cable Handbag. It’s listed over on Etsy now, after taking it over to the abandoned farmland to take its picture once or twice. So here she is, in all her red and cabled glory………

Firebush Handbag

Smiling Pretty

Now I’m off to see what kind of trouble I can get into down in the sewing room. I may have to start cutting into Bill’s sweater and see what kind of purse I can derive out of it. :)

Happy creating!

Oct 22 2011

Score!

While getting my ducks in a row this morning I noticed my husband’s sweater shelf had been cleaned and straightened. Hmmmm. So I asked him what he did with them, and he proceeded to say he put some aside for me to make purses out of if I wanted. What a guy!!!! So I dig through the pile and pick one out. He said, no, don’t use that one….yet. I picked another one and got the same response. In other words, he isn’t quite ready to give them all up to me yet. LOL. But I did get permission to take THIS one to the sewing room and I LOVE it. And when it’s done I may keep it for myself.

Can you just picture this completed? Add a fabric flower or leather something and it will be a knockout.

Keep watching for updates. You never know what’s going to pop up around here.

Oct 21 2011

Houndstooth, Tweed, Leather and a YoYo

Yes, a yoyo. A new rendition to an old classic. The red heart object you see in the photo is a squishy rubber heart on an elastic string – a YOYO! This is the gadget that my husband brought home after working his Business To Business booth on Wednesday. Have to say, the guy is pretty good at making it work, too.

But I really wanted to show you the beautiful suiting fabrics that Joann‘s had at 50% off yesterday on my quick trip over there. There will be some very classic and professional type handbags that will come from these. The fabric on the far right is actually a dark brown and will be the lining to the Red Bush Cable Handbag this weekend. It feels like wool, but it’s not. Should be an excellent lining that will take lots of wear.

Suiting Fabrics and a YoYo

The fabric on the left isn’t real leather, but a ‘pleather’ fabric. It’s fairly lightweight and hopefully it will sew up into some great purse handles and even a bow or two. That remains to be seen. But at half off, I purchased two yards to keep in my stash for future projects.

Shipment of fabrics should be here by the time I get home from work. And that just means more orders to fulfill and 48 (almost) hours of TygerLily craft room time. And yes, the TEAM Tygerlily is well aware that half the team will be holed up and working on product. :)

Oct 20 2011

Thursday Updates From a Slow Week

The Headache

It’s been a quiet week here on the blog which is not like me. But when headaches hit and won’t split, the computer is the last place these eyes want to be. And yes, the head is better this morning, so I wanted to share another challenge that has my interest piqued.

My supervisor said she found a handbag at The Dressbarn and thought it could be something I could duplicate. OK. The challenge is on, and she hasn’t purchased it yet. So I looked on the Dressbarn website this morning and found two bags I would love to try at some point using suiting and leather fabrics. These are just too cute:

Dressbarn Handbag #1

Dressbarn Handbag #2

I thought first about going to Goodwill and finding a suitcoat, either men’s or women’s style, to upcycle for this project. But then I pulled out the Joann’s flyer for this week and they have their suitings on sale for HALF OFF! And with all the other coupons I have, I am hoping for a very successful trip to Joann’s after my meeting this morning.

As far as the Prairie Cable Bags, there are still 2 on the needles with no progress this week whatsoever. I guess that makes me a headache weenie, right? :) Hopefully this coming weekend there will be a lot of challenges and orders completed.

btw – I ordered a book in Japanese off of Etsy. I don’t read or speak Japanese. But there was some charting for knitting in this book that I know I CAN read. :) The book should be here this weekend, so hopefully some new inspiration will arrive with it. There are wool yarns that are begging to get made into something unique!