Reversible Totebag

I made a reversible tote bag the other day but haven't taken pictures yet. I just found this pic on the internet. I'll make another for the tutorial later but for now...

I just cut a 13.5 x 14 in piece of fabric - two of each fabric. And two 2 x 30 inch pieces of fabric - I made on in each fabric. You can change the length for shorter or longer straps.

Then I took the first fabric and sewed them together with a 1/2 inch seam allowance around three sides. I did the same with the other.

I serged the seams because I like to be sure it won't come undone. If you don't have a serger just zig-zag stich around the edges. T

Then turn one piece inside out and place the other inside so the patterned sides face each other. I messed up the first time so when I pulled them apart they were inside out. Oopsies!

Next sew the strap sides together with the patterns facing in and then turn inside out. Then sew them on the bag.

And tada! You're finished.

Crochet Flower Bracelelts

I'm planning on making some of these soon but wanted to at least post something... It's been a while..... :)



Basically, you just take a hard bracelet, round works best, and single stich all the way around for the base. Then, for the petals (or whatever you call them) make seven chain stiches and skip five spaces, then make a singe stich and repeat.

I'll have my own pics soon!

Greeting the Day

I know it's not art but I wrote this recently and wanted to share. Please give me feedback!


Greeting the Day

Shadow. Killer. Lone wolf. All human ideas. We’re not killers or lone, but we are mysterious, and it’s that mystery that makes us an enigma. We are a symbol of the unknown, of darkness.

We prefer to stay together, as a group. I’ve seen packs of dozens of wolves and packs that only have four wolves. I don’t understand how humans got the idea that we are lonely creatures, but in truth, we love having a family. Every wolf has to be alone at some point, but we always return to our pack, to our home.

Every night at exactly the same time, you can hear a single howl ripple through the night. It can be heard all throughout our forest. Ares is calling us to the den, so the nighttime hunt can begin. At sundown we all wander our own way to scout the area, find food, mark our territory. When Ares howls though, we all return to the den. We decide where to hunt.

Then we run. Sprinting through the forest, Ares and Mary at point, Marco, Niki and I behind them, Bree and Shela at the back. Once a target is found, we fan out, circling our prey. Marco, Niki, Bree and Shela force it into a corner. Mary refuses to help with the killing, so that is left to Ares and I. Once it is done, we feast. The leftovers are taken to the den for later.

Running is exhilarating, breathtaking. I love the feeling of my legs moving back and forth, pushing me forward as I dodge past trees. The air rushes through my fur, fills my lungs. One foot hits the ground: thump. Another: thump. The pattern of steps works itself out as I race through the forest. The wind hits my eyes.

“Cori, slow down.” Ares orders me.

We run as a pack. Not individuals.

***

When shots are fired a boom echoes through the forest. Sometimes there is a cry from the dying animal. Humans take away so much life. And don’t give back.

A wolf in our pack was taken by hunters, before my lifetime. She had strayed away from the pack during day, wandering about in the nice weather. One shot and she was down, hit in the leg, and even though the other pack members ran to her, the hunters were already there, and it was too dangerous. The hardest thing you can do is leave behind another of your pack. But it would be better to have one life taken than many.



Marco, Niki and I are from the same litter. They look exactly the same, brownish fur with tints of red and black, clear brown eyes. I have grey fur with black streaks and my eyes are sky blue. But we have the same shaped faces- high set eyes, strong jaws, and soft noses, distinct from others because our mother was a red wolf.

Shela looks the way she acts. Her fur is always smooth and clean because she refuses to get it dirty while hunting. She walks with her head high in the air, nose stuck up. She thinks she’s too good to be in our pack.

Mary is the opposite. She loves to let go and enjoy playing in the snow. Her fur is always matted with sticks that Ares helps her remove later. Mary is the best of us all. She gives us her food if we don’t have enough. You can always find her helping to free animals we wouldn’t usually eat from traps hunters set.

Ares is also always giving to the rest of us, but he doesn’t have time to help other animals, instead he is figuring out how to get us more food and keep the hunters away. Also, he has to deal with other wolves trying to come into our forest.

Bree is beautiful. Her fur is golden with amber streaks. Her eyes are deep. If you stare into them too long you’ll get lost in those honey-tones and flecks of caramel. She keeps to herself. All we know about her past is that her mother was a domesticated dog. The rest is a mystery. But sometimes at sunrise, she sits on the ridge at the edge of our land, and from there you can see the rest of the forest spread out under you. In the summer, the trees make a green blanket over the land. Little of the ground shows through, but the birds bring color to the valley. But in the winter, the trees sparkle. Snow falls constantly, sometimes as lightly as a feather. Ice hangs from branches and the plants are bare. No animals can be seen, but sometimes there is the slightest sound of something moving. At night the sky is black with small spots of light that seem to dance. When the moon is gone, the sky is so empty and lonely. But when it’s full, there is another being watching us, protecting us. The snow reflects its light, making the whole forest visible. Day comes eventually, though.

On the jagged horizon, the sun rises up slowly and the snow-covered trees begin to shine in its light. The sky grows lighter and rays of red and orange flash across it. The black lightens to indigo and then a soft purple, changing into vibrant, coral colors. And the sun glows a bright yellow. The blue quickly returns and soon the vibrant colors dull to a soft grey. The sun hides behind the clouds. For just those few moments, you can forget the hunger and cold of winter. You forget the hard times. But reality returns with the dull colors of winter. She sits there, eyes set on sun, greeting the day.

Its strange how we can get along, because we’re so different. And yet, we function well together as a pack.

***

Shela was hiding food. It was no big secret, we all had our suspicions, but to discover that one of our own would hurt the pack like that, it was horrible to think we had trusted her. Mary had been eating half of what the rest of us eat because she didn’t want us to be hungry, and Shela was storing all the leftovers for herself. We had to confront her.

Shela was sitting by the frozen pond. In the spring, ducks and birds would return and live by the pond, drinking, swimming and fishing in it. But in the winter, it’s deserted. We circled around her so she couldn’t run.

“Hello, Shela,” Ares barked in a calm tone. He never likes to be harsh until necessary.

Shela just lifted her head the slightest bit to regard that he spoke.

“Have you been keeping food for yourself?" He is blunt though.

“How dare you even ask such a thing?” She could have tried a little harder to be convincing.

Ares hates diversions. “Answer the question,” he growled.

“ I will not be treated this way.”

She turned to face us, and as she moved, we did, to prevent her attempts to leave.

Bree might be shy, but she disliked Shela enough to get involved. “Just answer the question!”

“Fine,” Shela snarled, “I’ve been keeping food. Who cares, I need it more than you anyway.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Besides, why should I care about you?”

“We’re your pack!”

“So what? Besides, you don’t need food, you can go find your own, mutt.”

Bree stepped back as if Shela had bitten her. And it was stupid, I know, but I lunged, aiming for her throat. Shela saw me and moved. I ended up with her ear clamped between my teeth; she lay down on her stomach and I stood over her, refusing to let go.

Normally Ares would have told me release her, but it was different this time. She had betrayed her pack. Stealing food was bad, but calling Bree a mutt was crossing the line.

The others circled around her so if she managed to get out from my teeth she wouldn’t have been able to escape. Bree stayed behind though, still stunned.

Ares gave a sharp bark to quiet our growling. Shela stayed still but her eyes moved, glaring at all of us, especially me.

“Leave and don’t ever come back,” Ares snarled. He gave me the signal to release. I didn’t want to let her go, but I had to. It was an order.

The next time we saw Shela, she was on the other side of our territory, with Dominick’s pack. We have to share the forest with those mongrels. They waste food and chase hunters into our territory. They tend to panic under pressure and don’t know how to solve problems, they just cause them. They take the southern half of the cliff, because the valley is for bears, birds and cats. We clearly marked the border after a few fights over territory. Dominick is Ares’s brother though, so we are forced to leave them their territory and avoid fighting. And even though we dislike each other, when it’s important we stand together.

Shela always wanted to join their pack. There’re about twenty wolves, so she doesn’t have to work. Also, Dominick doesn’t have a mate.

***

We heard the hunters were on the move. They had begun on the eastern most edge of the forest and were working their way northwest, towards us. You could hear the gun shots right out in the distance. Then the sound would echo through the trees to our territory. We were cautious of where we hunted, avoiding unusual scents and tracks. Marco and Niki told us one night that they had found long straight tracks with repeated patterns in them that never lifted from the ground. We steered clear of that area, and were careful of where we hunted and ran. I stayed under the cover of trees and away from clearings and would continue to until we determined it was safe.

Now we worry less about the hunters than we do about food. We’ve always been careful not to waste because life is precios, but
we’re barley surviving. Sometimes, we resort to eating plants or chewing on bones, but we’re weakening. The days are growing longer with the promise of springtime. Just a little longer.

***

A howl rips the night air. The clear pain in it made my fur stand on end. It came from Dominick’s territory.

We ran as fast as we could, but stayed hidden, under the overhanging bushes and dead leaves, like shadows in the night. I could feel the vibrations in the ground from the others’ footsteps, but there was no noise to be heard other than the howling. We crossed the same kind of tracks that Marco and Niki found. The hunters went after them.

And then suddenly- a bang. We all stopped, hiding under the debris, noses in the air, ears alert. A shuffling sound. Then, a growling sound, but not like an animal. Probably a human device. It faded into the distance, taking the human smell with it. Silence. We slowly revealed ourselves and begin to move together, ears in every direction listening for even the slightest sound and smelling for anything. Ares led us carefully to Dominick’s pack. We all slowly made our way towards where the noises were.

It was a small, empty clearing, surrounded by trees that hung over and block out the moonlight. There was a pile of leaves in the middle though. We crept closer and slowly, carefully moved them away. It was small, smooth and shined in the specks of moonlight showing through the leaves. A trap. With two rows of sharp, menacing teeth. There was a space in between the two sets of fangs, big enough for a wolf’s leg to fit in.

“Get a stick,” Ares growled to us.

A member of Dominick’s pack fetches it and hands it to Ares. Holding it from the far end, he stuck the other side of it in the whole. There’s a loud clang as the teeth slammed down around it. The stick bent into the teeth, but didn’t break.

Shocked, wolves began moving backwards, away from the devilish trap. Even Ares moved away, dropping the stick.

“Where’s Shela?” someone barked.

The others in Dominick’s pack joined in.

“The hunters! They’ve got her!”

“What if she’s just hiding though?”

“She’s the only one missing!”

“Couldn’t it be another wolf, one not in our pack?”

“No other wolves have been here!”

“What if they come after the rest of us next?"

The pack was getting into frenzy. The air filled with their whines and barks. We separated ourselves, looking to Ares for orders.

A snarl ripped its way through Ares, booming out over the noise of Dominick’s pack. Silence falls over all of us. Even we were startled to see him like that.

“Panic is death, for anyone who panics will likely die.” No one moved, watching Ares intently. “You cannot go after Shela. You will all need to learn to defend yourselves. Stay to the shadows, do not approach suspicious things, stay alert. For now, let’s get somewhere safe,” and with that he led us away.

We walked together- watching out for any signs of danger- to a cave with an entrance hidden by branches. Ares told us that we would take turns sleeping. I found a small space to lie down alone by the wall. I nod off, but didn’t sleep fully.

After a little while, I felt someone coming. Bree. She lay next to me and shivers. I move over and curl up around her.



Late in the day, just before sunset, a whimper woke me. It’s Mary. I begin to jump up, but then I hear Ares comforting her. She was safe and it wasn’t my place to step in.

“What will we do? We won’t be able to take care of all of them.”

“I will do what I can to train them to avoid danger, but it is Dominick’s job to care for his pack and we must protect ourselves.”

“Bree and Niki are getting so thin. And Cori is so weak. He gives most of his food to the others and refuses to take mine.”

Slowly, I got up, careful not to move Bree. Ares and Mary looked over to me. “I’m not weak.”

Mary walked over to me and said to relax. “You are weak, but you’re just to kind to say anything.”

“She’s right,” Ares added. “You need to nurture yourself, not just the others.”

“I’m fine.” I’ve always been good at hiding pain, weakness.

“Please, just be mindful,” Mary sooths.

I just nodded.

“Now get some rest, we’ll be going hunting later, and we need you.”


In the evening, everyone went out in separate hunting groups. We hunt near the stream. They hunt on the outskirts of the valley.

We had to find enough food for almost thirty wolves. We got a rabbit, two ducks, a couple fish, and a moose. They killed three birds, a deer and a boar. Everyone got something, but it still wasn’t a lot. When we finished there was nothing but a pile of chewed bones. We spent the rest of the night scouting out the area, searching for traps and other animals, places we can sleep and good places to hunt.

I missed the sounds of spring. The birds chirping, the streams flowing, leaves rustling in the breeze. In spring we can lie on our backs in the feathery grass, letting the sun warm us. We can relax and don’t have to worry about food and hunters.

***

Rain fell over the forest. When it hit the leaves it sounded like small feet running through the forest- pitter-patter. I weaved through the sleeping bodies around me to the cave entrance. The rain brings a clean, fresh smell. Like it’s cleaning the forest.

There’s a flash of light, illuminating the lone figure standing above me on a rock. Nose raised to the air, she’s sniffs the fresh rain and her ears stay erect, as she listens to the pounding. Bree stands tall even when the thunder claps. Her fur sticks to her sides and drips fall from her chest. I moved, slowly and carefully towards her. She just swished her tail in acknowledgement of me. I sat down next to her and look up. Grey rain rips through the black sky. A crescent of the moon shined through between the clouds and the trees.

“Beautiful,” I murmur.

“Yes.” Her voice was soft, her eyes fixed on the sliver of moon, watching the rainfall around it.

“Are you alright?” I asked looking from the trees to her.

She pulled her gaze from the moon to me, “Yes.”

“Do you need anything?”

She just leaned against me, and looked back up at the clouds. And we sat together, not moving, drenched in rain, eyes to the sky.

A rustling sound from the bushes made us turn, suddenly standing, ready to bark for the others. A small, mangy pup emerged from the underbrush. He was alone. We ran to him. He just whined and shivered.

Once the others were up we got him inside, cleaned him, fed him- we had to go find a bird- and put him down to sleep among the others for heat. Mary, Ares, Dominick, Bree and I went outside the cave to talk privately.

Dominick wanted to question him. Mary thought we should wait until he was rested. He demanded answers now.

“He needs to rest,” Mary said firmly.

“Well we need to know why he’s here.”

“Not now.”

“The sooner the better.”

They continued to go on like that until Bree got frustrated with there bickering. “He will sleep until he is better and I will question him.”

Dominick stared at her. Mary, Ares and I were surprised at her firmness.

“This is not you’re place to step in,” Dominick growled.

“She has a right to be heard,” Ares said sternly. “And I agree with her.”

“Fine, do what you want with him. He’s not my problem though.”

He woke up midday. Mary gave him some more to eat. Then Bree and I went over to him and sat down facing him. “Hello, sweetie, sleep well?” Bree asks.

He nodded, keeping his head low and looked at us from the tops of his eyes but didn’t making eye contact.

“I’m Bree and this is Cori,” she gestured to me, “What’s your name?”

He looked at us timidly for a few moments then raised his head a bit and said, “Sage.”

“Hello, Sage. Can you tell us what happened to you?”

He shivered slightly. “The humans. They came after us with these pieces of wood that were shiny and made loud noises. They killed all the others, until it was only me, my mother and the leader of our pack. He went to try and stop them so my mother and I could live. We heard a bang and a yelp. There was another bang. And then silence. My mother told me that when she said to I needed to run as fast as I could, and not stop until I found other wolves that were in a large group. She left the bushes we were hiding in and I heard a grunt, then she barked for me to run. I ran out but-“

“It’s ok, you’re safe here. We’ll protect you.” Bree moved next to him and he leaned into her.

“There were bodies- everywhere- the bodies of my family. The men were putting them in a big thing that smelled funny and made smooth tracks in the ground. My mom bit one of them. And he- he hit her and kicked her,” Sage sobbed, “and then they got one of the pieces of wood and aimed it at her and there was a bang and she was gone.”

Bree’s eyes began to water, but she hid it from him, murmuring to him that he was safe and we would keep the bad humans away from him. I couldn’t move. I felt like I should do something, but I was at a loss. I was so young when my mother died I didn’t even know her. Only Ares and Mary knew her, and they didn’t tell us about her, we had never asked.

I couldn’t take it. I left.

Bree came up next to me and sat down. Sage was with Mary and Ares. I refused to look at her though. It was wrong of me to have abandoned that poor pup.

“Cori, look at me,” she said softly, but in commanding way. When I finally looked she continued. “I know this is hard for you, but Sage needs someone to look up to. Don’t show him your sadness; you don’t even have to talk about what happened, I can do that. But he needs someone strong, someone he can learn from. He needs you.”




Over the next few weeks things got better. The hunters were said to have moved on to the next forest. We returned to our territory. I had been keeping Sage in safe places, but was letting him come out hunting more. He still wasn’t allowed to scout the area with us. He and I had become close though, he followed me and behaved as I did. He would ask me about everything.

“Why does it rain?” Sage asked while we were walking under the moon.

“Because the forest needs water, and where else will it get it?” I had to find ways to explain things I didn’t understand at all to him.

“Why does the moon shine?” Why questions were the hardest to answer.

“We are awake at night, so we the moon shines to give wolves light.”

“When will it be warm again?”

“When a flower, even the tiniest, shows through the snow, it will bring color to the forest, and with the color will come the animals who were sleeping, the chirping birds, and warmth.”

“Why do you look at Bree strangely?”

I stopped. Sage looked back at me. I sat down and thought a moment of what to say. “Do you know what love is?” He shook his head. “Love is the thing that brings two wolves together and makes them want to join a pack. Then it makes them want to have pups, and later grow old together.”

“So you and Bree have love?”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean your going to have pups?”

“I’m not sure.”

“If you have pups does that mean you won’t have time to be with me any more?”

“Of coarse not, Bree and I will take care of you forever.”

He smiled. We stopped at the edge of the cliff watching the forest. Bree came out of the trees and stood next to me, catching my eye before returning her gaze to the sky. Sage stood tall with his nose to the wind, looking out at the horizon as the sun rose over the trees.

Greeting the day.

Hobo Sack

I found this toutorial on my new favirote blog - Made - and just had to make one!

I was too lazy to take pictures of all the steps and my final bag so I'm just stealing hers. Maybe I'll make on later on...