Tuesday Travels: Owen Rose Garden

When Dale and I were done at the Eugene Library last week, we decided to go for a stroll to see some flowers during a break in the raindrops and winds.

We drove a few blocks away to the Owen Rose Garden.

The ancient cherry tree was resplendent for Fall, covered in moss and snuggled into the dying brush.

Most of the rose blossoms were gone. Rosehips of various sizes and colors were features of the season.

Fragile roses remaining on the bushes were looking fairly bedraggled.

A couple hardy varieties were in bud

Silver Lining

But this Grandiflora About Face was in rich full bloom

We had an ideal Tuesday Travels outing, right in town!

As we crawled back into the car for the drive home, the rain began again. 

Bag Days - Day 8

This is the final purse I finished in October. My goal was to use up the blue/green variegated yarn. I figured I'd be a little cheeky by mixing it with turquoise blue and lime green. 

I used a navy blue button for the closure in hopes that it would blend into that top row of stitching. I enjoy the color combination on the flower with the two stacked buttons for the center. Those buttons match the turquoise and lime green perfectly.

This purse has an ivory and green striped lining.

That color combination kind of socks you in the eye, doesn't it!

Bag Days - Day 7

This is the second autumn-themed purse I crocheted for Bags of Love in October. 

This time I wanted to play with the button closure to see if I could incorporate it better than in the earlier purse. So I moved the big flower down to the bottom right corner of the purse and used a large flower-shaped orange button as the center. As I was digging through my button box, I found this one-off adorable small flower-shaped apricot button that was just right. 

I also wanted to use up the rust-colored yarn. I had just enough to make the center row of a 3-color handle. For the lining, I found this two-tone orange fabric in my stash.

It tickles my brain to continue to make variations of this purse pattern. This one is successful.

Tuesday Travels: Eugene Public Library

I Came for the Quilts

I heard about the quilt exhibit online and thought going to the library might be a good outing. Dale has been to this branch before, and thought I'd like it. He was right!

I stayed for the atmosphere

What a gorgeous library! Three stories. Tall windows, some with stained glass. The quilt display was in the reference / periodical room. One entire floor is for fiction. One floor for non-fiction. And the first floor for the youth. Young Adults have their very own closed off area - where there are even board games to play and soundproofing so the teens can make noise without getting shushed.

But when I walked into Children's Services ... I literally cried. It reminded me so much of the library I worked in as a young woman - only more grand - but still cozy and welcoming. A library like this is the reason I wanted to become a children's librarian.

A reminder of the seasonal murals
our resident artist made in Fullerton
[click for larger image]

Photo for granddaughter Melody
who constructs wonderful Lego creations

What an exquisite place for young minds to come and dream.

Or maybe even ... me.

Primitive Wood Pumpkins

Here's another of my "I saved this video for over 5 years, so maybe it's finally time to make this craft" projects. It's also another of the 24 Goals in 2024 projects where I use items already at hand to create my crafts.

These adorable pumpkins are made from the Tumbling Towers blocks from Dollar Tree's toy department. Tumbling Towers is a take-off on Jenga. Many crafters uses these small wood blocks in innovative ways for their crafts. The game I have on hand has two colors of blocks, the raw wood and the dark brown. 

The pumpkins also use 1/2 inch wood cubes from the Crafter's Square department at Dollar Tree. 

I first painted the wood blocks with acrylic paint. I made white, orange, raw, and brown pumpkins. I painted the 1/2 inch cubes green for the stems. I attempted a dry brush technique to add painted details, which was somewhat successful.

I used floral wire twisted around a pen to make the tendrils. Everything is held together with hot glue.

I didn't have any small leaves left in my floral supplies, so I made my own. I found a green cotton fabric with a small leaf pattern in my stash. Since the fabric was somewhat floppy, I backed it with fusible interfacing. Using a pumpkin leaf pattern I found online, I cut the leaf shape from the stiffened fabric.

Here you can see the fusible interfacing on the back of the leaf. 

I'm extremely pleased with the result. Now there are more pumpkins in my patch!

This is the video tutorial I used for inspiration:

Pro tip ... if you're going to use Excelsior to style your photo, don't put it on top of a felt or velvet backdrop. Holy cow! What a mess! 

After I picked up the big bits with my hands, I tried using a lint roller to get the small pieces. That didn't work well, so I turned to my hand-held vacuum. That did most of the job. To gather the tiny bits I swept them together with a fingernail bush, then resorted to tweezers to pick the straw out of the fabric nap and get them to the trash can.

Never again!  😮

Slinky Pumpkin

I added a new pumpkin to my collection! It's made from a mini orange plastic Slinky-like toy.

First, I gathered the materials. The spring toy, orange markers, twisties, a twig ...

some twine ...

and orange gingham ribbon.

I used a marker to color both sides of the twistie. Most of the orange on the plastic-covered side smeared off the twistie and onto my fingers. Welcome to crafting.

I cut the twistie in half.

Then I connected the two ends of the spring together in two spots. I trimmed the twisties down further to make them less conspicuous. 

I wrapped the twine around the twig. Then I folded the ribbon in half lengthwise to make it narrower while tying it around the stem. I made a bow, fluffed it out, then trimmed the ends of the ribbon.

The stem and bow are held in place with gravity, not with adhesive.

Here's what the pumpkin looks like in place!

Do you want to make your own? I got my inspiration from this blog post at Crafty Morning and this video from Chalk It Up Fancy:

Hooray for me! Yet another 24 Goals in 2024 project completed with stash on  hand.

Bag Days - Day 6

In October I finished three purses. Two of them have an autumn theme.

For this purse, I wanted to use up the dark brown ball of yarn.

The yellow flower has a double-button center. The brown lower/larger button lets the yellow button "pop." 

Then I crocheted another multi-color strap. Brown yarn? Used up!

When I submitted the September purses, I asked if they thought adding a closure might be a good improvement. The wonderful gal at the counter said yes, give it a try. So I added an identical brown button to the center of this purse. I tried to match the color of the button to the dark brown yarn so that it would be subtle rather than conflicting with the yellow flower.

I used a chain stitch loop to wrap around the button. I attached it to the purse back as shown in the highlighted oval. The closure chain is not too conspicuous. 

For the lining I found this vibrant red/rust/orange/black burst of color. I think it's an excellent enhancement.

I have three or four more purses to share, but may take a break in my next blog post to show a different kind of craft.