projects to be

In the last post, the shot of the entire bed top, which is covered in projects; you may note that there is FORTY feet of folded pressed brown paper.  I plan to use that paper for tracing and making patterns for my sewing projects, namely the totes.  Now where did I get the forty friggen feet of brown paper?  Glad you asked!  When amazon.com sent us Sophie's pet~zoom {a grassy looking potty pad contraption}, they sent it in a huge box, cushioned by forty feet of brown paper.  Shipping was free, which is a good thing, because I doubt that it was necessary to pack a plastic tray that was nestled inside of another plastic tray which was inside of one inch high box...inside of a box that was several feet long and high and wide.  However, it was awesome that amazon.com sent me pattern~making paper!  Wadn't thet nice of them?!?

Also pictured here are three combinations of material with tote patterns.  Our local furniture plant, FlexxSteel, sells the remnants and remaining bolts of discontinued and discarded upholstery grade material at the warehouse on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.  So I got each one of these sixteen several~yard swatches of heavy and mid~weight fabric for less than fifty cents each {I paid about ten bucks plus tax}.

Some of these patterns are free online, which I converted to word~docs and printed.  Others are patterns that a friend let me borrow.  She taught a class a few years ago on making purses/totes.  So I recently got in touch with her so that I could have some refresher lessons on what to do, cuz I want to make some large totes with various compartments so that I can put each crochet project, skeins of yarn, hooks, etc in its own tote.  That way, I'm not continually rearranging things, tangling yarn, dropping and unraveling stitches, and forgetting which hook I was using with which project.

I love the combinations that I've picked with several materials.  Normally, I'm not a huge print person, but several of these are so gorgeous that I can't wait to see the finished product!   I especially like the prints that feature leaves, vines, and autumnal colors.