Knit hat

My third ever knit project. It has flaws, but the fact that I can see them makes me think I learned something. I feel pretty good about just getting the UFO finished. I had started the hat last winter. Too bad none of the kids like the colors.

Now that the hat is done, these cute little grannies will be my t.v. project. A make it up as I go along poncho for Myra. I don't know how much yarn there is to finish this project. I "borrowed" it from my mom's yarn basket back in June. This was my car project. But now that school started there are not many long trips in the car.

I found a few more socks for monkeys. But not the perfect pair of Halloween socks. It is really hard to find non-directional patterns. Myra says she wants a sock kitty so I will have to changed the ears and the mouth embroidery on hers.

I am cleaning out the Craft Room so over at the side is a Link for the Swap Box. Take a look I may have something you want trade for. I will consider any kind of trade it does not have to be a like Item. I will try to add more to the box as I clean.

New Blanky

Made to replace a Halloween bandanna That has been everywhere since last Halloween. The bandanna was starting to look a little ragged around the edges. The nine patches in the new blanky were original made to put on the Scooby Doo Quilt as a border. But what looked good with the computer generated design did not look quite right in reality. I think the blocks work much better as a mini quilt. Noah is super proud and excited about it. He is telling everyone the ghost on the backing fabric are the Boo Brothers! ( characters from a Scooby Doo cartoon. )

Friday already?

Thrifty find of the week!
A dragon for Halloween or just for rampaging around the house.

I made some Homemade stencils and quilting began.

Stencils are made from the front of a three ring binder that came apart.
The long pattern is a "feather" without the central circle. I did away with the circle in order to make the pattern more continuous.
The circle pattern is from the
motif book I mention in a previous post.

Works in progresss

Thanks to nap time, I was able to layout and pin-baste a quilt.

This quilt was made using Amy Butler's free pattern. It was mostly a use what I have project. I did purchase the border fabric. All other fabrics came from my stash.


Above is a crochet coaster, using the selvage edges of the fabrics in the quilt and a few scraps of light blue.

My WIP cross stitch is a clock.

Monkey face

I really like this monkey. All three kids want it. I will probably have to make a few more.
I am thinking of looking for some Halloween print socks.

$1 Store Socks...

....equal one cute monkey!

One pair of socks = one monkey.

Thrifty

A hand painted mug, made in japan. A nice bag which contained, assorted Linen for Cross Stitch, An Asian themed Cross stitch kit (good fortune), four oak leaf coasters, two skeins of chenille yarn, a sampler chart and a spool of red floral wire.
I Also found a black straw purse that has seen better days, which I took apart to reuse the handles and the lining.

More to come on the cardboard doll house.

Doll house in progress

Myra wanted a doll house for the Build a Bear Workshop Rabbit she got at McDonald's. I am using the box the bottom half of my new bathroom sink came in to build her a house.

After I finish covering all the cut edges I am going to papier mach'e the whole thing before painting it.

Do you believe in Magic?

I came across some instructions for making your own magic wand. I had to try it.
A sheet of paper, glue, hot glue, and paint are all I used.

Directions for making wand found here:

dadcando.

There are quite a few neat kids crafts here.

Unexpected Break

I was really ready for the kids to get back to school and get busy with all my projects. Summer is almost over and I still have not finished my quilt that I started eleven years ago. It was a goal I set myself for the summer. But I have not been doing much the last four weeks due to a migraine headache that refused to go away. I do pretty good as long as I don't move my head around a bunch and stay in out of the heat outside. So I have been reading.

What did I read?
The Belgariad, Vol. 1 & Vol 2. by David Eddings

Several different Greek Mythology books. (short stories)

The Doll People by Ann M. M. Martin. (Junior fiction, but fun)

Rowan of Rin by Emily Rhoda (books 1-4), Keeping up with what my 11 year old is reading.

I hope to be back to crafting soon.

More Felt Food

I made tiny pie and cake slices.

Lemon pie, and white cake with strawberry frosting.

Tiny sushi.

I also had a fortune cookie about the same size but forgot to take a picture of it

White cake.

The tiny ones will be magnets for the refrigerator.

Simsonized Family Portrait

Yes, I was really bored!

www.simpsonizeme.com

Folding Toys

There is not much crafting going on here lately.

I spent most of the weekend reading the New Harry Potter book, and most of the rest of the week getting the kids ready to begin school next week.

I folded the crane ring in the picture. It is supposed to be a dollar bill ring.


The Idea for the flexagon in the video from previous post was inspired by this post.

Flexagon

Cake and a penguin!

Chocolate Cake with Strawberry and Bannas.















A very tiny penguin.

Big Eyes

I think the picture says it all.

Craft Idea found here.

Thrify Storage!

I am happy to have found this file cabinet.

I have already emptied for smaller crate type boxes and put all the paper, leaflets, and magazines in their new storage unit. Now I need a magic fairy to come sort and label it. The previous owner even left behind a few legal size hanging file folders and tabs to label them.

Scooby Doo quilt finished!

Thanks grandma for quilting this on your Longarm machine!

















I designed a Scooby Doo continuous line pattern for borders and large open spaces. The outer border has a modified version or this pattern, that fits the dimensions better.

View of outer border from the back.















3 yards of flannel was used to make a small throw to match. Same fabric front and back (using a yard and a half for each side).

The Buzz!

A short home video of the Bees!

The busy bee

"Honey is sweet! but the bee stings" Proverbs

Two weeks ago I stepped on a bee. After always telling the kids to put their shoes on to go outside, I am the one who goes barefoot.

Today our neighbor came home to find a few bees in one of his trees.

Our neighbor called a local beekeeper and he brought a box for the bees.

The beekeeper brushed the bees into a small cardboard box with a small hand broom and dumped them into the wooden hive.

He managed to get the queen and the other bees began to migrate to the box. It was interesting to see the little bees sit on the edge of the box and fan their wings. I was told they were doing this to fan the scent of the queen, and let the other bees know she had moved.

The beekeeper gave the branch one good shake and knock the majority of the remaining bees off. Then he sprayed the tree branch with something that was really unpleasant. He said that most times when he sprays the stuff "people start looking at there shoes to see if they stepped in something."

The box was placed on the ground to allow all the bees a chance to move in. The beekeeper will return at night to get the box full of bees.

Applique and fun

The last of the road trips projects is this applique block.

My sister gave me some great Asian prints for Xmas and here is the first use of them. There will be three more blocks in this wall hanging. Two more butterflies and one to be chosen.

The patterns for all these butterflies are taken from The Handbook of Designs and Motifs I shared in an earlier post.

A new hobby for us! Geocaching.

Geocaching is a treasure hunting game where you use a GPS to hide and seek containers with other participants in the activity

Very Sneaky to hid the canister in the fence.

Make a Wish!

Pin Cushion

Myra sews at her new machine and modified table.

I cut six inches off the legs of one of my old sewing cabinets and covered it with a custom table cloth. The table is still just a tiny bit high, but this provides room to grow.

Myra's first project! It is a pin cushion made from random scraps. I helped a little, showing her how to sew on a button.

I tried to do this mini quilt. It is just a little lopsided. I mad a mistake in measuring the half triangle squares, so it did not line up well at all. I did not have enough fabric to cut new squares so I tried to make it work.

Vacation Stash

My mom let me raid the fabrics in her craft room and a few UFO projects.

1. A bag of 16 patches all in blues.

2. A box full of fat quarters.

3. A few star block mom found at a yard sale

and added a fancy machine stitch to.

4. Some flower appliques I started years ago and mom still had in a drawer.

5. Yo-yos! Bags of them! and sorted by color no less.

There is more stash but I still have not finished unpacking it all.

Thanks Mom for all the great Stash.

Myra's 7th Birthday

Myra recieved her very own Sewing Machine!
Thank You, Grandma and Papa.

Flowers

These are a few of my favorite flower photos from Vacation.

Sewing Lesson

While on Vacation, Grandma helped Myra make her first doll quilt.

Huzzah!

Road Trip Projects

I made this poncho in the car on the first two days of our vacation.

Part of the fun of vacationing at my parents is raiding my mom's craft room. Looking through all the fabrics and putting them together in unexpected combinations.
today I finished up this cute doggy bag.

Also great fun is taking pictures of all the beautiful flowers in the Garden. Which is where I found the tiny Mantis seen in the previous post.