Frog

Before Felting
And
After

You Kiss a Hundred Frogs Purse
Pattern from Interweave Knits Gifts Holiday 2009

Thrifted green yarn? and Lion brand wool (pink).

Baby Doll

(McCall's 5515)

This is one of my favorite doll patterns.
I made this with fabric left over from this Baby Quilt.

Avon Glassware

I found these while out at the thrift store yesterday. I am going to use the lidded one for a sugar bowl.
I am doing crafty stuff, but most of it is Christmas related and I don't want to ruin the surprise.

Angel

From another issue of Craft magazine. (Aug 1995)

Cute.
She is supposed to have a jingle bell in her hands.
I followed the instructions, except for the whit ruffle on her dress. it looked a little too stiff so I changed the second round to loops. It probably would have been fine if I had used the called for hook and not one one size smaller (it was already out.)

Turkey

I did not follow the instructions at all. But I think he looks okay.
I used the pattern pieces provided in the November 1987 Crafts magazine. I did not stuff each section of tail feathers, as if they were pillows. I used a double layer of batting instead.
I added the buttons holding the wings on and made the little hat. The original had a little store bought straw hat.

Just a few Matryoshka

This years homemade Christmas Cards. Idea and template found Here.
I made it a little more complex by making the dolls different colors. I cut the paper strips to the correct size rectangle for each doll size. I glued the rectangles down to the plain white card stock. Two cards to a page (because I like to get every inch of use from my paper). I cut out the template and traced around it for each card. I drew faces in the circles of the template and scanned it back in and touched them up a bit. I printed them out 8 sets per sheet. Myra helped by gluing the faces on, after I cut them out. Myra then colored their hair and put blush on there cheeks. I then drew the knots for their kerchiefs.
Noah proudly rubber stamped the back of each large doll, to say "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas."

UFO Friday

70 Santa Head Christmas tree ornaments
I started these a few years ago. I don't think I will cut out so many if I ever mass produce anything else. These added to the ones I had finished makes at least 105.
Edited to add: Today I sewed on 70 jingle bells and the cord loops to hang them. They had been sitting waiting just for those two things to finish them up.

Poison mushrooms

Mitts

I am taking an applique break, to knit mitts.
One is finished, one to go.
The second mitt may have a different Mushroom.
Pictured is a Poison Mushroom. (Super Mario)

Apple Tree

Buttons!

Costumes!

Thomas is store bought with a few modifications to make him hold his shape. (stuffed with plastic bags and a piece of plastic canvas to hold the face out.)

Princess Jasmine with her magic lamp is homemade. We have (after the photo) added a long sleeve green t-shirt for warmth tonight.

Happy Halloween

198?

Strawberries

Month five complete.

Getting caught up

I am little (okay a lot) behind on this BOM.
The above butterflies are month four. Her web site moved so she released the last two blocks early.

The extra bit.

The pattern had this cute purse too!
It is supposed to be quilted, but I used fleece so... I just sewed some x-mas trim to the quilting lines. Sequined ribbon form the clearance bin and a scrap of cording from a grab bag for the handles. and those sew on gems came off a headband from the everything is a dollar store.
I also only decorated one side.

Pants!

I am finished with the costume! There were four overlays for each leg. The pattern called for almost 18 yards of metallic trim for the overlays. I cheated and bought a third of a yard of tulle with gold metallic thread woven in. I cut the tulle in quarter inch strips with the rotary cutter and had all the trim I needed to give just a little sparkle.
Hardest part: the Zipper!

Top in blue and green

It is so pretty! YOU can not tell from the photo, but the fabric under the sheer gathered area at the top is a dark blue with gold sparkly print. The embroidered ribbon was something I have had for some time and had never found a use for. The pearl beads are left over from a Flower girl basket project. I had to sew them on by hand. The gold trim is a spool of left over trim from a pirate hat project. The blue and green beaded trim is the one we were lucky to find in the clearance bin, in the perfect colors. The green fabric is a Prom dress project remnant.

I really love it when I dig through what is on hand a the finished project looks so great. Like I spent hours at the store matching all the trims and buttons up.

Now to get the pants sewn up. The dark blue and the sheer fabric will show up better in the pants.

Halloween sewing

I am working on Myra's Costume, Princess Jasmine. It is turning out to be more complex than I had thought but it is super cute. Finishing up the top half today and will start the pants.

It is a nice mix of blue and green fabrics. I would share a picture, but the batteries are dead in the camera. I got really lucky and found some beaded fringe in the Clearance bin 90% off. We are really digging through my collection scraps of trims and finding some nice complementary stuff.

I think it will turn out really fancy. ( and hopefully not tacky)

Yes, it is a rock

The crochet was the easy part. The challenge is finding a place "in the Wild" to place and see if anyone notices. Made for a Mini challenge from the Ravelry Silly String group.

Knitted Yoke Sweatshirt

This is the Ribbed version with a rolled edge collar.
Bulky yarn with size 10.5 needles for the yoke and size 7 needles for the collar.

Time to get back to being crafty.

This weekend I finally got back sewing and all things needle arts. I Quickly did a couple of clothing repairs and that jumped started me back to action. I sewed on a patch and mended a seam. Then moved on to turn one of Myra's favorite pairs of Jeans (with a ripped knee) into a tote/purse for her. I also sewed up a little zippered box bag for her to keep her lip gloss and such in.



I found some great pattern booklet finds at the thrift store that have my fingers itching to get back to my Dear Jane. And to start new projects. I will try to resist the new project urge.

I found and interesting leaflet for knitting a new yoke on a sweatshirt to dress it up a bit. I am going to give that a go, even though it is a "new" project.

Now I am off to make up a list of which Dear Jane blocks I need to work on to get back with the group. Lets hope I am not 40 blocks behind like I was last time I took an unplanned break.

Up for Swap this entire box of pre-cut "tumblers".
Various fabrics, some vintage and all fabric types including cotton, linen, and flannel.

Doing a spring clean at the end of summer.

I have been cleaning like mad. The basement really needed a good de-clutter. But I am starting to feel the craft need to return. I have a lots of UFO's. I need to decide where to start to finish them up. Or maybe find a new home for a few of those projects.

First Day of School

All the Kids will be in school this year. sigh.

UFO of another kind

Noah wanted a flying saucer for his gumball machine aliens.

The hinged dome is the bottom of a Peanut Butter jar, attached to the lid from a box of oatmeal.

The saucer is made from wool felt and the lid from a party size tub of ice cream, with scraps of batting inside.

The base is the lid from the Peanut Butter jar.
and the Lights are the lids from the gumball machine containers.

An action shot.

From the Sky today!

From 2009-06-11 Hail

Ride 'em Cowboy

Honeysuckle, Red, Sunny Day, and Chaos.

From Horses

Summer Stampede....

...an art Project.

Twilight, Blue. Princess Garden, and Sleepy.

I was informed that Sleepy gets his name from The Legend of Sleepy Hallow.

Ann Wood, Thank you for the great Tutorial for these Here.

UFO No More!

I sent my mom a box with partially cut strips, partially sewn together strips, a few actually pieced blocks and all the un-cut fabric. She finished it all up. It is fabulous!

A Double Irish Chain.

A close up of the machine Quilting.

The Backing.

Now the awful truth.
I started this quilt over thirteen years ago before my oldest child was born.

Thank you, Mom!

Knit and sew

Myra is going to a Birthday party today. We Made the birthday girl a Doll. Myra picked out the fabrics and trims. She also did all the stuffing. I did the sewing and knitting.
My favorite part of this doll is the swirl fabric used for the hair.

From Scraps!

All the little strips are scraps, from the fabrics I have used in my Dear Jane.
The blue border came out of my stash.
This was a fun random project. I just picked the scraps at random chain pieced them together until I ended with the five strips. One ended much longer than the others but it was easily made smaller. This was a nice bit of easy sewing after all the Dear Jane blocks of the last month.

Book covers!

I am trying to use up scraps left over from my Dear Jane quilt. I think bookcovers are the going to be a good use for fat eighths. I also have a good start on a Stacked Coins quilt that will be a good baby sized quilt. I have bunches of 2.5 inch squares sorted out for a Nine patch of some sort. And I am thinking of Doing pinwheels with my 5 inch squares.

A dress up day at school!

Renaissance day at school next week. They have to dress up, they get a grade for it. It is an all day event with games and activities. The pants and shirt are previous Halloween Costume parts. The Tunic and Hat are New for this event. It is a little big, but I bet even back then they got hand-me-downs or clothes made a little big to allow longer wear.

A new doily started.

This is the begining of a medium sized doily. The next section has a spider web pattern, followed by tulips. The tulips are what got my fingers itching to start a new doily.

Happy Mother's Day!

My gift was this great new coffee mug from Starbucks.
I Also got some Hersey's Extra Dark Chocolates. Yum.

Doily and a Dolly

A sewing project with a little bit of crochet.

The Doily is supposed to have a ruffled edge. But after making the doll I decided it was a perfect shawl for her and stopped where I was.

(Sorry for the Blurry photos, I think I need nes batteries.)

Pincushion

(made with size 4 steel hook and no. 10 crochet cotton.)

While browsing new patterns on Ravelry today I cam across this pincushion.
I thought I would give making one a try. After translating the pattern I ended up with a mini pincushion, so I turned it into a ring.
I am working on another using the proper weight yarn and hook. If you don't have Ravely the pattern is here, in Danish.


Edited to add translated Instructions. (permission received from Liselotte Weller)

Left pincushion made with Noro, Right made with Bernat Hot Sox.
I used a Size E 3.5mm crochet hook.
(For her pincushions Liselotte used a size 3.0mm hook)

You can adjust hook size to your desired yarn. Just choose a hook which gives you stitches tight enough to prevent stuffing from showing through finished pincushion.

Crocheted hexagon

- Cast on a chain with 6 stitches, join with a slip stitch to form a ring.
- 2 single crochet (sc) in each sc around. 12 sc.

(In each round there are 6 increases)

– *Work two single crochet stitches in first stitch of previous round, then one single crochet in next stitch* repeat 5x. 18sc.

– *Work two single crochet stitches in first stitch of previous round, then two single crochet in next stitch* repeat 5x. 24sc.

– *Work two single crochet stitches in first stitch of previous round, then three single crochet in next stitch* repeat 5x. 30sc.

- *Work two single crochet stitches in first stitch of previous round, then four single crochet in next stitch* repeat 5x. 36sc.

- *Work two single crochet stitches in first stitch of previous round, then five single crochet in next stitch* repeat 5x. 42sc.

- *Work two single crochet stitches in first stitch of previous round, then six single crochet in next stitch* repeat 5x. 48sc.

- *Work two single crochet stitches in first stitch of previous round, then seven single crochet in next stitch* repeat 5x. 54sc.

- *Work two single crochet stitches in first stitch of previous round, then eight single crochet in next stitch* repeat 5x. 60sc.

{ For a larger pincushion work two more rounds. (Size is up to you.)

- *Work two single crochet stitches in first stitch of previous round, then nine single crochet in next stitch* repeat 5x. 66sc.

- *Work two single crochet stitches in first stitch of previous round, then ten single crochet in next stitch* repeat 5x. 60sc.}

At end of final round; join with slip stitch to first stitch of previous round and bind off.

If you need to, you can place a marker at first stitch in each round to help you.

Make two and join together (wrong sides together) with one round of single crochet. Stuff before closing last side.

Sew from center to each point of hexagon pulling as tight as you think looks nice. Add button to center. Notice in photo below that when stitching through point of hexagon the stitch was made just inside round of crochet made to join the hexagons together.

You can make pincushion larger by working more rounds In same pattern of increases.