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 5 2011

Watch out! It’s Barbed Wire Coming Your Way

A lot got done while Season’s Royal Messenger Bag was getting a good start at drying to shape this afternoon. There is a golden poppy wool that went into my hands first, and almost made it to the couch arm to work with. And then an idea came into my head. Barbed wire. My husband makes fun of the word and has from the day I met him. He likes to pronounce it Bob wire, just to irk me I’m sure. Plus, what type of fencing do you see the most out on the highways of the heartland? Yep, good old barbed wire. Keeps what needs to be safe, safe…. And keeps harm away. Perfect theory behind a handbag, don’t you think? So the gold poppy got put away and some gray 100% wool bulky Ironstone from Las Vegas, New Mexico, got pulled out. This will end up being a smaller bag, and there’s going to be some surprises at the top, I hope.

Extremely excited with this start. I have never used this brand of wool before, so the felting process is unfamiliar. But we are going to go with the flow here. Things happen for a reason and it’s good to try new elements.

Keep watching! Surprises may be in store.

Oct 3 2011

Monday Teaser

As I was taking a break from working on Season’s Royal Messenger Bag yesterday…. getting some ice water with lemon, taking the dog outside…….. sitting looking around at what’s out our back door….. something came to mind. Coming in, I told Bill the idea for the next bag had been born. And he proceeded to say, “Well, you’d better get on that right now before you forget exactly what it is!” No kidding, that’s what he said. So here’s a little teaser of what’s coming up next……….

Brown Sheep Company's 100% wool Lanaloft

Lanaloft wool

Isn’t he the best in making me sit and get this started? He’s my biggest motivator and supporter. It almost looks like a crown!

This will be the FIFTH in the Prairie Cable Series of handbags – and just a little bit smaller than the previous ones. Keep watching!

Sep 30 2011

Shop Etsy for These Originals!

A hugely busy and productive day, both at work and here in the TygerLily “lab”. A photo shoot for the first two Prairie Bags was first to get done after work, and there is a beautiful little spot on my way home where there used to be a farmhouse, but the trees still stand. Plus it’s right across the street from our back porch. Had it on our minds for days that it could honestly work, and it did. The colors in the photos really do speak of who we are…..

Prairie Land Cable Handbag (click pic to go directly to Etsy)

Moonlit Prairie Trails Handbag (click pic to go directly to Etsy)

Wanted to share that now we are real. We are recognized by someone other than ourselves. TygerLily’s first piece of REAL mail!

LOOK MA!! REAL MAIL!

And as I posted on Facebook last night, I really thought I could get the knitted shawl completed. Little did I know that the bind off is very VERY lacy and…. did I mention VERY? Oh, yeah. It got worked on for only an hour and only about 16″ of the edge was completely off the needles.

Lacy Bind Off on Shawl

This is a LONG edged shawl! I’m looking at many hours yet to complete it, but it’s a good start, right? Once this baby is blocked it should be fantastic – well, we can hope right?

Thank you for looking and get ready for a wildly fun and FULL time working in the TygerLily Lab.

Sep 25 2011

Good Ending to A Productive Weekend

Sorry for posting yet again, but it may be a week before you see anything from me again. It is going to be a packed week at work, and when I get home after work, the game is pretty much over. Crafting is last on my list on ‘school’ nights. :) So this is the finale’ to a pretty productive weekend. There were many things that didn’t get touched, but there’s been progress. Commissioned orders (two at this point) will wait until next weekend. Another possible commissioned job awaits my design – praise the Lord! But Team TygerLily has discussed it and we think it’s possible. So keep your eyes out on the Journal Junction side also – there may be some nice surprises coming your way. The male half of the team has also requested a specialty item – one he has pictured in his head – I will certainly do my best. I NEED A MAID!!!! Any offers out there in blog land??? Seriously!!! I can’t keep up with all his cooking around here – and he uses most EVERY kitchen device known to man when he cooks. I sure don’t complain about WHAT he cooks though. :)

Wanted to give you one last peek at the Steeples bag. It’s at a total halt now until the leather handles get shipped in. But it’s wearing a pretty nice piece of ‘shine’ on the flap and the fabric lining is waiting it’s turn at the end.

Steeples on the Plains - awaiting special handles to arrive

Again, thank you for taking time to look at what’s happening around here. There’s always something going on it seems, but that’s a good thing! It keeps me out of lots and lots of trouble. :)

Get a little creative – give yourself a chance!

Sep 24 2011

Moonlit Prairie Trails Cable Handbag – TOTALLY Complete!

Introducing the “Moonlit Prairie Trails Cable Handbag” – the 2nd in the Prairie Series of original knitted handbags. It’s complete and ready for the store. Well, at least it will be after a write up is done and some decent pictures (yet again). This one is a little bigger than the “Prairie Land” bag. It also offers up a little different take on a zipper closure. Just big enough to get items in and out easily, yet secure. Yes, it’s a little different, but so are we. :) Here she is…..

Front pose......

Smiling Pretty...... all done up in Lamb's Pride Bulky

The lining is a pinwale corduroy in a steel gray. The zippered section was actually sewn on to the knitted bag by machine, but the lining itself was all hand stitched in place. There’s pockets on both sides. The one you don’t see is a double pocket so a cell phone would fit comfortably in it. The handles are satin and were purchased at Joann’s. The silver ‘moon’ flower was a bonus find somewhere else.

Thank goodness there is football on TV or I may not have gotten this far with it today! As I’m writing this it is halftime for the Cornhuskers and pizza rolls are being nuked. Now I can find some fun during the 2nd half starting the 4th bag in the Prairie Series….. But which color? They are ALL so beautiful! We’ll let that be a surprise.

Thank you for checking in – we love seeing you here.

Sep 24 2011

Steeples On the Plains Handbag – Update on the 3rd Bag in Prairie Series

Team TygerLily had one LONG meeting last night. It was overdue. Do you ever have those times when you know you just need a good swift kick in the keester to get you back on the right track? I truly believe that’s why we make one fantastic team.

So to get things started on this bright sunny Saturday, the turquoise knitting just HAD to get worked on. As I said in an earlier post, when the yarn is gone, the piece has to be finished. There is no other way! Decided to take a pic of it outdoors since it’s SO gorgeous outside to get it’s ‘before’ picture.

Steeples on the Plains - The Before Pic

I wanted to try a new top edge to see how the felting would work, so hopefully you can see the last few rounds were a basic K2 P2 ribbing. Being careful not to run out of yarn on the bag itself, there was enough left to do a flip-over closure. I was absolutely going crazy with excitement over the way just the basic knitted piece came out – and the felting was about to begin. So after about 20 minutes of some hot agitation, the bag came to rest back on the WII box covered with a garbage bag. And out on to the porch for it to dry and take on the perfect boxy shape we wanted.

Steeples On the Plains - Felted and Drying on the Deck

Yeah, I know our furniture needs a facelift, but that’s a project for next spring – maybe. :) Anyway, there she sits, upside down and her tongue hanging out, soaking wet. But not for long. The K2 P2 ribbing was the perfect top edge and the flip over closure could NOT have worked out better. There is a very richly colored paisley pinwale corduroy just waiting for the gal to dry so it can become the perfect lining for what we believe to be a perfect bag.

At some point, and maybe not this weekend, we will be welcoming our 3rd in the Prairie Series: Steeples On The Plains Handbag. Excited? You better believe it! Made from 100% wool from the outlet shop at The Brown Sheep Company in Mitchell, Nebraska.

Go get a little creative yourself – and enjoy the journey.

Sep 11 2011

Prairie Cable Handbag, Part 3 (and other stuff)

Wanted to update quickly on the progress of the Prairie cable bag. It’s time to work on the lining and when I woke up this morning I knew why it hadn’t been started yet. An idea came to mind on how to incorporate a zippered pocket in the lining that will be very durable. But first we needed to get the logo sewn on the fabric first. On a trip to Hobby Lobby yesterday I found this great fabric that had just the right feel for the prairie theme.

Here is the process to get the logo sewn on:

I started with three layers: fabric, batting, and tear away stabilizer.

Loaded the trio into the hoop and sent the logo from computer to sewing machine. Here is what it looks like from behind:

….and from the front finished off.

Now it will be time to get the leather handles sewn on securely and build the lining to fit perfectly. Lots of other little pockets inside will be added.

On another note, all the materials were gathered for my commissioned job. From computer….

….to printed photos on fabric! This order will be a lot of fun to sew now.

All these fabric photos need is to be set with a hot iron and stabilized with interfacing. Then sew, sew, sew!

Remember the pink knitting project from a day or two ago?

There was about five inches completed when a revelation hit me this morning! It got frogged quick and some planning went underway to make this project more TygerLily style. Team TygerLily approved the update and a pattern will get written along with the progress. It is so wonderful to see that God lets us put things on hold, and for good reason. He wasn’t finished putting ideas in my head!!

Happy Sunday and give your creativeness a chance, let it bloom! You never know what lies at the end of a thought.

Sep 1 2011

Autumn and a FREE Scarf Pattern

Woke up and realized that today is the first day of September – the beginning to my favorite season of the year. Autumn. Fall. An Indian Summer. It’s just another great excuse to get those fall and winter projects in order and get your supplies all put in place.

One of the things the TygerLily has on her plate will include this sensational Burly Spun Wool by Brown Sheep that I was able to nearly steal over on Ravelry. It’s color is called Amethyst.

Brown Sheep "Burly Spun" Amethyst purchased from a member of Ravelry

The camera never EVER takes a good picture of this color, and this is just a great example of what the color is NOT. It appears in the photo that it leans more towards hot pink, but it is a deep rich royal purple and it’s perfect. This yarn will get made into another bag in the Prairie series, and dedicated to our first daughter Season, and her birthstone color. I looked hard for this color and was rewarded in the end with this fantastic shipment of lusciousness.

There are many things on the needles this week, but no pics (there just hasn’t been time). So let’s have a little fun and look at this pattern for a knitted scarf. The pattern is free, and like I mentioned before, fall is coming!

TIGER EYE LACE SCARF

Click on Photo for FREE Downloadable Knitting Pattern

This would be extraordinarily pretty in some hand painted silk, or a cashmere. Oh, how I love cashmere. The name of this scarf really caught my eye. Just CLICK on the photo and you’ll be taken directly to the scarf’s pdf pattern. It’s just sitting there ready for you to download and start knitting! Thank you, Barbara Walker.

Are you thinking Christmas gifts yet?

Aug 29 2011

English Garden Bag – FREE Pattern

For the garden lovers in your life, here is a fun felted bag pattern that’s free for the taking! Found this hanging over at Crystal Palace Yarns and if this isn’t exactly what you were looking for, what is it INSPIRING you to do??? Just think of the possibilities. This bag could be the host of some incredible embelishments all made by YOU! How about Christmas? Spring? Fall? Halloween? Get inspired, get creative…….