a few little things...

I know I've been silent a long while, but my craft room, (yes, I now have a whole room to myself at our new house!) has been bustling! I've now sewn three patterns from my new "little things to sew" book from Oliver and S. I love this book!

Both my kids have new hats, (they are admittedly flawed - a bit gathered in places), but they fit great. I will add straps the next time I sew this pattern though. Seems like every day we've worn them has been windy. I also want to size up the pattern for myself and my husband!

I've also sewn the adorable bear carrier. But I unfortunately gave it away before getting a good picture.

And the last thing I did was this bento box carrier. I had to adjust the dimensions to make it the right size for a standard rectangle gladware container, and it works great!

The next time I make one of these, (and there will be a next time - everyone who saw it today wants one), I'll make it even a bit bigger to allow for two containers stacked, and maybe an apple or two on top. This was a "three scissors" project and sure enough the curved edges were a bit beyond my skill level, but it still came out great, and I'm sure each additional one will be better! I used some flannel-backed vinyl I had on hand to make a splash mat for the wipeable inside instead of clear vinyl over regular fabric and it worked great. It probably took me 4 hours total including adjusting the pattern.

I can't wait to make some of the other projects in the book - there's a great vest for hiking that my little girl needs, and a messenger bag too. Check it out!

Baby Shower Gift

Almost every mom I know is pregnant with her second baby right now, so a bunch of us got together and did a group, secret Santa style baby shower. I drew a friend of mine who isn't finding out what she's having, but luckily loves the color green, which is pretty gender neutral, so I went with it.

I quilted her a quick, cotton-chenille-lined stroller blankie.
Knitted a tiny cotton hat, (my fave!)
And tried my hand at terrycloth-lined bibs,
and burp cloths.
Top the whole thing off with a cow, and it was quite a popular gift! Phew!
Now on to all my Christmas sewing and knitting!

Birthday Party favors

Natalie's birthday was last month, and in keeping with my handmade gifts goal for the year I made handmade party favors for her little friends.

The little crayon/paper holders ended up going together pretty quickly when done in bulk. And one would really take only about half an hour or so.
Sewing the slots probably took the longest, (after choosing the fabrics from my stash!)
I personalized each one which was actually pretty easy after getting the hang of it.
Pretty cute, huh? And perfect for little toddle hands I think!

quiet book page, G and H

I recently began the huge task of creating an alphabet "quiet book" for Natatlie. It should be done by the time she's out of college. Here she is playing with the first page: G-H, (H is on the other side). I have since put button holes on the flowers in the garden.

Some parts of this project are going very smoothly. The applique letter blocks for example are much easier than I expected and are improving my applique skills and my sewing machine confidence. Other things will change in future blocks; more raw edges and felt will make appearances for one thing!

travel sewing case

I wanted a little something to carry my needles and hooks for just a couple projects, so I made this little carrier. I used some hoarded Amy Butler fabric that I ad a very tough time cutting into. It came out very well, and though I used it for knitting projects on my last trip, in the future I think it will be more for crochet and embroidery/hand sewing that I plan on taking on. It will hold floss and thread very well in the elastics under the flap. And though it folds and is functional, it doesn't look quite right when the flap is folded over the longer knitting needles!

I've been quiet, but busy!

I'm going to try to get all these pictures organized so that I can share these projects with you! First I'm going to try to get all the various handmade Christmas gifts out of the way! We'll start with just a cute little tutu I made for my niece for Christmas! Nat is modeling it for me. And here is a reversible superhero cape I made my little nephew! My DH is modeling it for me.


So that's that! I've been wanting to share those for a while now. Theres more to come. Knitting and sewing galore.

felt finger puppets - bat, owl, and cat

I know I'm a bit late posting these Halloween themed finger puppet ideas, but I chose these guys because they are really just animals so would probably transcend the holiday.

These are really easy to make. I used little mini pompoms and beats for the eyes, and other than that this was all just felt and running stitch.
I tried to keep the faces simple and silly.
I sewed the faces and other extra parts on before sewing the puppets together... I tried to sew the wings on when I sandwiched the fronts and backs together, though I did reinforce with some extra stitching there a bit.

Here are the pieces I cut out for the craft playgroup I was hosting. The puppets were a hit!

I'd love to see any similar puppets you guys make... I think I'm going to have to start a little collection!

Hallowee costumes - Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood

I've had a couple late nights sewing this past week! My 19 month old dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood, so I had to make that up, (super quick project!), and then my husband wanted to be the big bad wolf to go with it. Not so quick.

He had a vision of the Muppet version of Big Bad. So I designed a version of the puppet that would fit over my husband's head, and he would look out through the mouth.

Here's the start of it. In a different fabric this could be another super easy knight costume!

After a bit, there were ears to go on that! I put them on by hand... there was a lot of hand work attaching pieces since my sewing machine isn't all that big.
I'm especially proud of the nice doggie nose. I think it came out really well. They Eyes are stuffed balls made from white fleece, and felt pupils - I think the fur eyelids really make them work. The teeth and tongue are felt.
There's also some pieces of old milk bottles in the nose for structure.
Just before we went out for the day I sewed the ribbon on Little Red's hood,
And made the wolf some mits.
Here they are checking out the snow leopards at the zoo.
And doing some trick or treating at grandma's house.

felt carrot tutorial and a birthday felt food feast

My daughter's best friend celebrated her second birthday today. I made her some delicious felt food. All healthy, with a couple sugar cookies for dessert.

Here's the quick and dirty method I used to make the carrots!

First I cut some rounded out triangles. Two equal sides. About 7" X 5".

I also cut a few narrow green rectangles... about 1/2" X 2. I folded these in half longways and sewed them up with a running stitch.

I sewed some lines in the carrot felt with embroidery floss.

I'm sorry but I didn't take pictures of the next steps. Then I folded the carrots, right sides facing, and sewed up the long edge with my machine. You end up with a narrow funnel. Turn it right-side-out. Stuff the carrot, and then string all three green stems on a thread, and then used the same thread to sew a running stitch along the open end of the carrot. Tuck the sewn ends of the stems in the top of the carrot and cinch it closed. Then just sew it together at the top for a sturdy finish.

Here are some close ups of the other veggies. Strawberries follow the same principle with a stubbier triangle to start, and different greens.

Guest Room Wall Hanging

The wall hanging/headboard I'd made for the guest room before just wasn't cutting it for me... the colors seemed way too bright for the room, and didn't work above the quilt that my great-grandma made so many years ago.

So before our guests arrived this weekend, I felt I really needed to make something a little more appropriate for the room.

I love the way this turned out... it's colors are nice and bright, but the tan in between works much better than the pure white did.

And it matches the bedspread perfectly.

Now this room ties together three generations of women's (counting me) needlework.

The pillows on the bed were stitched by my mom's mom, (the quilt was my dad's dad's mom).

And that other wall hanging? I put that into my bedroom, and it works very well on the sage green walls.... when I get around to decorating that room it will be all blue greens to match the crocheted hexagon afghan I made a couple of years ago!! I guess I'll have to post that one when I break it out again for the winter.

Getting things done!

Phew... I'm finally getting a few things done around here... I've pretty much taken the week off from sewing... I did do a bit of cutting, but that's all... 

But now I can cross a couple more things off my to do list!  Woo hoo!  

First off is this little house doorstop... it's actually quite a bit bigger than I think it needs to be, but I think that's okay for now... maybe I'll make another doorstop or two for some of the other doors that keep slamming around here.

This wall hanging has been done for a while, but I didn't have a piece of foam board to mount it on... until yesterday!  So now it's up!  I'd show it over the bed, except for the bed is covered in crafting stuff... and I don't want you to get any bad (though totally true) ideas about my tidiness!  I'm going to have to do another one of these I think... I'm liking these colors for my bedroom and think that the guest room needs something a little less white to go over my great-grandma's feedsack quilt... this one is just a bit too bright.  But I'm happy with the way it turned out other than that!

And I also got caught up with my squares again... and a few ahead... I have forty now!  So as of today, I think that's two ahead... 

And I finally started sewing the blocks together using the beautiful Amy Butler Daisy Chain squares I won from the Fabric Square Shop.   I've had these squares for months now, all cut out, but I keep working on other projects... I'm really excited about this... the squares I've put together are looking so cool!  I'll post about them when I have a few more.  

And I'll also post a picture of what I won on Giveaway Day!  :)  I'm so excited to get the mail!