Busy, busy, busy

I have done quite a few projects over the holidays. I made 4 scarves for the Moms (i.e. my Mom, Stepmom, Mother-in-law, and Sister). They were inspired by "Mommy" necklaces that have little people as charms. There is one for each child, and the girls have little triangle dresses, while the boys have rectangle or oval shaped bodies. I made the scarves with a Knifty Knitter, and crocheted the tassle children.

The ones for my Mom and Stepmom were the most time-consuming because they have 7 grandchildren - 6 girls and 1 boy each. Lots of little pink triangles. My sister's and MIL's didn't take quite as long as Nique' has 3 kids, and my MIL has 4 grandchildren. Like an idiot, I forgot to take pictures of my Mom's and my MIL's. Here are the ones of my Stepmom's and my sister's, though.

Then, scarves done I decided to knit a present for Adoxograph. I'm not posting a picture here, because I'll let her do that when it arrives. :)

I also made a few letters for little girls' bedroom doors as presents. Once again, the idiot factor kicked in and I forgot to take pictures before I gave the presents. I have the H still, so here is that:



Last,but not least, my little boy spotted me working on a hat, and asked me to make him one as well. I did that yesterday:

This looks interesting

A way to put our crafting obsessions to use to do some good:
Snuggles Project

New Year

I had a fantastic day yesterday, getting a tour of some of the better, more interesting and downright perplexing craft supply shops around Portland. I didn't get to have my own yarn spun at Yarnia but I did find some amazing insane old craft magazines at Knittn Kitten (expect vegetable bouquets to appear here in the near future), and some Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric at the Fabric Depot .

That's going to be my kitchen curtains. Seriously, it will be awesome.

But the most inspiring spot was Twisted. I invite all of you to visit me and we'll go there. There are couches, and tea, and wonderful people and they only have one (1!) yarn that has acrylic in it. I couldn't find it. They have patterns all over, books, you can sign up for lessons... and some sock yarn so stunning it made me want to conquer my fear of double pointed needles.

In between my new printer/scanner, my new camera, and the existence of Twisted, I am excited for what I can do this year. But here's the thing. I'm not going to assign myself anything. I'm not going to say now what I will and will not do this year. The only promise I'm going to try and keep is that I will finish the projects I start, in some form or fashion.

I have some old (1902) issues of Good Housekeeping magazine. So many articles and ads on how to keep busy with fabric and paint, home decorating and food. How lucky we are that these things we call "crafts" can be our comfort and solace, inspiration and meditation as they have been for generations before. I wonder if it isn't so much the finished project, but the work itself that is important. After all, how often is it that we keep the work for ourselves? But the time we spend in creation, that is ours, and ours alone.

Save some time for yourself everybody, and fill it with what you love. Happy New Year!

2 Christmas Quilts Finished, screw the 3rd

I finished my tree quilts today YEAH!!! There was a 3rd winter-themed quilt in the making, but time isn't on my side. Hubby reminded me Friday night he would be gaming all day long, thus sewing machine time was quite limited. Andrea will have to be happy with her Bath and Body Works gift basket.

I am really happy on how they turned out...the pictures don't quite do them justice. I am still trying to figure out the best way to photograph my finished quilts, any suggestions? These guys were just hung to a wall with 2 tacks. Fancy, I know.






I got the pattern online. The pattern was supposed to be for a rag-quilt, not too sure what that even is, but it gave me the information I wanted, specifically how many squares to cut to make a tree. I added the star to make it more festive. The pattern had the tree on a white/daytime background. I decided to make one quilt with that background and the other with blue/nighttime background. I like the darker colored one better. Feels cozier plus the little stars create a nice effect (see close-up).

The darker one also has a nicer/more labor intensive border. I took the same fabric I used for the tree and cut it into strips. Like I said, it is a lot more work, but I think it looks more complete. Though I like the fabric and pattern of the dark one best, the quilting on the light one is my favorite. You can see in the close-up of the dark one I quilted 1/4th inch from the seams. This made the tree flat. On the light one I quilted "in-the-ditch" (aka the seam), resulting in a puffier tree. Speaking on in-the-ditch...this is something I learned making these quilts. Well, I learned, what I thought was in-the-ditch wasn't in the ditch. I also learned how to apply the binding properly and how to sew without the presser foot and feeding teeth on my machine...go me!

These were a joy to make. I can't wait to see my mom's and mother-in-law's faces when they receive them this week.

Halloween Costumes!!

Okay, so I know this post is a little late, but I thought you might like to see the dinosaur costumes I made the kids for Halloween. Dallan's tail came out really nice, if a bit long.

One quilt down, almost

OK it has taken me 3 weeks to get this far. Only thing left is for me to apply the binding...yeah!!!!!
I am proud of this pattern, because I came up with it on my own.

I only have 2 more quilts to finish before next Monday. Will the the crafting gods be with me? I hope so. The quilt tops are done at least. The reason for my decrease in productivity is because I have come down with a horrible case of toddleritis. I thought felinitis was bad, but boy do opposable thumbs make a difference and not in a good way.

Skill to aspire to

My mother made this sweater for my daughter. I'm not sure how much detail you can see in this picture, but it is just amazing. The little pink parts around the edges are actually ruffled. This thing looks like something that you would buy at Children's Place for $40.

More to come later today. My current project...Scarves!