More Christmas Crafting

We are enjoying true winter here right now. It is currently hovering around the 10 degree mark. Brrr!!!! What a great day to stay in and craft, huh?

I wanted to show a few more of my Christmas gifts. I actually did not do as much crafting this year for Christmas as I have in the past and very little of what I did do was knitting. I just think I have knitted something for everyone now and have no great ideas, except for the two items I did make.

The first you have already seen – well, at least a glimpse of it. I knit my mom a sweater. The sweater she picked was an easy knit and knit up fast. It had all that I love in a fast garment – almost non-existent sleeves, no seaming in the end, and a large gauge. The sweater is the Juliet pattern from Zephyr Style. The original calls for a bulky yarn or holding two strands together throughout, but Mom wanted a lighter weight sweater. I used one strand of worsted weight yarn knit on large needles to give me the correct gauge. The sweater was light and airy. My only issue with the finished garment was that it was that it didn’t have the fit I really wanted, but that was more due to a stubborn mother who refused to give me more measurements than she was a size medium. This was, of course, the sweater I messed up big time when I used the wrong yarn halfway through knitting it. I didn’t get a picture of it on Mom, but this is how it looked after blocking it (all pictures can be clicked to see larger):

I would have preferred to have a proper measurement for the length of the top section, but what could I do?

The second knitted item was a pair of socks for my sister. I hesitate to knit socks for people but only because I know how amazing hand knit socks are and they never want just one pair! But my sister asked! I used Knitpicks Stroll Tweed Sock yarn in Masala. It was my first time using it and I really liked it – which is good, since I bought some for myself! I used the Embossed Leaves pattern from “Favorite Socks” from Interweave. The pattern was pretty easy, but I found that I eventually did better if I turned the chart into written instructions – which is backwards from what I normally do! It just saved me counting the squares on the chart over and over.

I finished the first sock quickly. The second sock almost was the victim of SSS – Second Sock Syndrome – and wasn’t finished until about 3 AM Christmas morning! It was a fun, easy pattern, but other crafts sort of got in the way. So, here is the sock (and has any other fellow knitter noticed it is nearly impossible to take a sock-in-action shot without your ankle or foot looking HUGE?):

The second photo is a shot of the stitch pattern so you can see the leaves.

Finally, my big project! I had planned this one for some time, but didn’t know if I could pull it off to the degree I had hoped. I finally decided to just give it a go. I will say that I was highly inspired by Melissa Crowe (Checkout Girl) and her beautiful felt pictures. The first time I saw them I was in awe and so inspired, yet I also felt totally out of my league with her work. But, I gave it a go and I am very pleased with the results!

My mom got married in February to a man who hates to receive gifts. So we are always trying to come up with ways to give him gifts that he can’t complain about (usually by gifting them to the two of them.) My husband had taken many of their wedding photos and I was inspired by one in particular:

The happy couple! I actually had several similar shots so I sort of compiled them to get the best shot of each. I used craft felt and embroidery floss for the whole picture and sewed it onto linen. Here is the final result:

Details:

The roses – these are done in 3D.

Mr. & Mrs. B. (The blue you see above was a banner that was later removed due to framing issues.)

The whole picture turned out to be 8×10. I was able to frame it in an 11×13 frame, but I had to take the glass out because of the 3D roses. I am pretty proud of my work! I hope they like it, too. It took me quite a long time to do, but I enjoyed seeing the details emerge as I stitched.

I had several other things planned for Christmas that just didn’t get done. Hopefully they will be completed in the near future so I can have some blog posts for January!

Handmade Holidays 2009 – Post #1

Well, the Christmas celebrations are nearly over for our family, with the exception of a visit with my father-in-law after the New Year. It was an incredible Christmas, with Santa bringing us everything we wanted! I spent many hours preparing for the holidays, from decorating to baking to shopping to crafting gifts. I LOVE Christmas, but I was exhausted by the time Christmas evening came around!

I had big plans for Christmas crafting this year – as I do every year – but it didn’t all happen. And really, that was OK. The quilts for the kids are unfinished and my husband didn’t get his gloves. The felt food I have been working on wasn’t completed in time, either. So, it looks like there will be some other surprises in the near future and I am going to enjoy working on them in my own time frame, instead of with the Christmas deadline fast approaching.

I did get quite a bit done. My kids, my sister and my mom all were recipients of handmade gifts. I did a good mixture of knitting and sewing this year. I like the balance since it kept me from getting bored with one craft or another.

So, I thought I would show you one of the gifts I completed now, then come back for the others later, since it is getting quite late. My daughter LOVES dolls. This is apparent the moment you walk in our home. There are dolls of all shapes, sizes and abilities scattered through the house. She has dolls that talk, cry, sneeze, take medicine, drink from a bottle, pee, and numerous other things. But she also has – and loves – dolls that are simple and plain. They are the best for squeezing when you need a hug, for sleeping with at night and for carrying around with you. And while my son is all boy, he loves dolls, too. He has a few dolls that he loves and carries around with him as his security blanket. Being three, he hasn’t learned that dolls are for girls – and we don’t plan to teach him that, either! He is a pretty good “mommy” to his dolls, actually!

When I saw the pattern for Olive& Archie on the Wee Wonderfuls blog (one of my favorites!) I knew I had to make them! I purchased the pattern, which I thought was a great deal, and got to creating! The fun thing about Olive and Archie is that the materials can be really personalized and you can use your stash since most of it only uses smaller amounts. I think I bought a few fat quarters, some wool felt and some remnants to round out my stash and it really didn’t cost me much at all for these cuties! The pattern includes both dolls, sleeping bags, backpacks, snowsuits, felted sweater outwear, a cat, overalls, a jumper, a knitted jumper and kerchief, and a knitted sweater vest. I only got one cat made, so the kids haven’t received those yet and I didn’t get the sweaters to make the felted sweater outerwear, but they got everything else. I don’t have pictures of the accessories as of now, but plan to get them soon. But, here are the little cuties:

(Click to make the pictures bigger!)

You can see the backpacks, the knit outfits (yes, Archie’s vest is huge on him!) and the jumper and overalls. I am missing pictures of the sleeping bags and the snowsuits right now.

I am really proud of these two. The patterns were so easy to work with, you can print them on your home printer and they were fun to assemble. My daughter loved Olive. My son hasn’t warmed up to Archie just yet, but I am sure he will in a few weeks time. He usually ignores stuff like that for a time, then decides he can’t be separated from it for months!

I will be back with more Christmas gifts soon! I promise!

My Big Christmas Project

While I have numerous Christmas-themed projects going on this year, I had one large project during the month of November.

We never had an Advent Calendar growing up. For the last few years, we had a relative send us one of those paper ones with the doors that open and reveal some random Christmasy themed picture. It was fun for the first few days, until the kids got bored with it and it was forgotten for days or weeks at a time.

I had been browsing websites prior to the Christmas season and found numerous examples of amazing Advent calendars. I loved them all and they inspired me to finally make my own. I thought about making little stockings or mittens to hang across the mantle, but then I realized I did not want to mess with coming up with something to give the kids each and every day for 24 days! With two kids, that could potentially get expensive! I thought about using the activity idea – a slip of paper with an activity like taking a drive to see lights, visit Santa, read a Christmas book, etc – but really, my kids are just a bit too young to get excited about some of that stuff.

Finally I came up with the idea of a Christmas tree with ornaments. I had seen several Chrismtas tree Advent calendars (loved this one, particularly) so I decided to make my own. I had seen one somewhere (can’t find it now) I loved that used ornaments that hung on the tree with buttons to hold them on, so that is the direction I went. Over many evenings in November, I created the ornaments to go on our tree, then put together the tree, embroidered the numbers on the pockets and sewed them on. I decided to take the “easy way out” and used craft glue instead of sewing all of the ornaments, so that saves some time.

So, here is what I ended up with:

Undecorated. Sorry it is so blurry!

Decorated with all of the ornaments!

I think it may still feel a bit unfinished. I am thinking it may need a border of some sort, but I will worry about that after Christmas. I did assign the “lights” for pocket #1 and the star on the top will always be in pocket #24, but other than that, I will place the ornaments randombly. For now, the kids are loving pulling out another ornament and finding a spot on the tree.

Mystery Solved

Well, I hate to admit it, but the mystery stripe in my sweater has been solved. I was showing it to my husband tonight and touched the stripe. I noticed the yarn was rather rough compared to the softer yarn of the darker color. That was when it dawned on me.

When I ordered my yarn from Knitpicks, I also ordered yarn for my son’s new cardigan. His sweater will be in orange and brown. I ordered 7 skeins of Swish Worsted Superwash in Truffle for my mom’s sweater:

Along with 3 skeins of Chocolate Wool Of The Andes:

And while they look different in the pictures here, when you look at them in the box, in a darkened office lit only by the computer screen, it is easy to mix them up. And obviously that is exactly what I did!

So now I feel really dumb! It wasn’t an issue of non-matching dye-lots. It was the fact that I used a completely different yarn!!!

I think I will work on socks for a while. I can get a whole sock out of one skein of yarn, so at least this problem won’t occur with those!

Christmas Stress

In the past, I have planned way ahead and knitted many Christmas gifts for family and friends. This year, I decided to take it easy. I have been enjoying sewing more, especially since I got my new sewing machine, so I have notbeen knitting nearly as much. But, my mom wanted a sweater. I haven’t made her a sweater yet, so I agreed. And she wanted one that was short sleeved, so even better! My sister requested socks. Easy enough. And my husband found gloves that were missing the thumbs and forefingers so you can wear them and still use your iPhone or Touch. Not too difficult, either.

I bought the yarn for my projects and started on my mom’s sweater. We agreed on the lovely Juliet sweater from Zephyr Style. She wanted it in brown with one button at the waist. It is knitted top down with no seaming. And, even though I am not double stranding and using worsted weight yarn, it is knit on size 10 1/2 needles, so it knits up quickly. It took me a while to really get into it, but I am finally only about 6 rows from binding off! I was so excited and today I decided to spread it out and take a good look at it.

Today has been our first really sunny day in a while. And our lighting at home stinks. So seeing the true color of yarn can be tricky. But today? In the sunlight? What I saw made me want to cry!

No, that isn’t a trick of the light or my camera being crappy. That is what the sweater actually looks like. And it is not supposed to be striped, either! Somehow, I missed that one skein of my yarn was a different dye lot. Usually I don’t have an issue with that when I order from Knitpicks, so I didn’t even bother to check. I was in too much of a hurry. And look where it got me!  That section was about 2 skeins of yarn back. I started it on the second lace repeat and I am now on the 7th. While the pattern is easy and fairly quick, it will still take me a while to rip back and restart. Thankfully, I ordered an extra skein of yarn and they seem to match the main yarn perfectly. It is just that one rouge skein.

We have a Christmas party with my husband’s family tonight. I have been making food for that, plus baking Christmas cookies for cookie plates to give to friends and neighbors. I have more sewing to do. Not sure I will get it all finished in the three weeks left before Christmas, but I will try my hardest. I do have a few finished items to share, but will wait until I am over the sting of my latest setback.

It’s Been A While, Huh?

I’ve spent the last two months or so in a bit of a fog. Too much going on, not enough time. Getting my daughter used to school, adjusting to the new schedule, celebrating birthdays, a visit from an old friend, preparing for the holidays and being sick all took up most of my time and energy. But, I have made some time for a bit of crafting! There is always time for that!

I don’t have many pictures to share right now, but I will show one thing I am pretty proud of! I have decided that I want to make Halloween costumes for the kids as many years as possible. So, this year I asked the kids what they wanted to be. My dear son immediately said he wanted to be a puppy. He was a puppy last year! Thankfully, he was just fine with wearing the same costume and it still (barely) fit! So, that saved me some time. And that was a good thing!

My daughter could not decide what she wanted to be. First it was a butterfly. Then Snow White. Then a black cat. Finally it was Snow White again. It was three weeks before Halloween by the time she decided. I thought about taking the easy way out and buying a costume, but they were all cheap looking and at least $30! For that amount, I could buy the material and hopefully give her a quality costume!

Materials were purchased during the Columbus Day sale at JoAnn’s, saving me some money. And you can not beat their 99 cent pattern sales, either! I started on the costume slowly, figuring I had almost 3 weeks. And then the invitation to the Halloween party came in the mail – for that weekend! At that point, my sewing went into overdrive! I sewed as often as possible. There was some hand sewing involved, which was a great way to get stuff done after everyone was in bed. I sewed instead of cooked dinner. I sewed instead of doing laundry. And I even kept sewing after sewing through my finger! Yep, I managed to get my left pointer finger under the needle and the needle, still threaded, pierced my finger. Once I removed the needle from the machine, I figure out there was both and entry and an exit wound! Thankfully I was sewing on the red patches on the sleeve and the drop of blood I got on it didn’t show up!

Finally, right before the Halloween party, I finished the costume! And can I just say I think it was the best Snow White costume I have ever seen? My daughter has her hair cut short, so, with the headband (I covered it and added the bow) she was a perfect Snow White! We added some sparkly red shoes, a pair of tights and a turtleneck for the cool October weather and she was good to go!

The costume included the dress, a removable collar, a cape and the headband. This was my first experience with piping, which was pretty easy. I also used the invisible hem feature with the special foot on my machine for the first time! Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out. Here is a picture, including my little puppy in his costume from last year! It has held up pretty well! You can see it is a bit small on him, but he insisted!

I have been busy with Christmas crafting lately. I will be posting more as I finish up some items and take some photos. Lots to do and lots to come! Stay tuned!

New Crafting Content – Finally!!!

I recently changed my blog layout (regular readers may notice I do that often in my search for the perfect blog layout!) and the new layout included the little archive calendar in the sidebar. Oh, how sad that little calendar looked! I must admit that it spurred me to make this post so there was at least a few more numbers highlighted on it!

I have been crafting and I do have several finished objects, although I find myself feeling like I haven’t actually gotten much done. I think I get used to the cooler months when I am churning out project after project, so when I slow down, I feel less than productive. But really, I have stayed busy!

So, how about some recently completed stuff?

I made the kids more PJs. These are so easy and I like to make them for winter with long sleeve t-shirts and flannel bottoms. However, during the summer months, they need something, too. And we usually have the air conditioning on, so even nights can be a bit cool, so long pants and short sleeve shirts are perfect. I actually made each kid 2 pair of PJs, but when I took the pics, the other pairs were in the laundry, after being worn.

The girl had kitty cat print fabric for her bottoms and a purple shirt, along with a kitty appliqued on.

The boy is in love with dogs and chose his own fabric. He even specified that the dog on his shirt be one that had a bone!

My kitchen is tiny. It is a galley kitchen with limited storage space. I have managed to find places for most of my stuff, but one appliance always aludes a storage solution – my Kitchenaid stand mixer. I got it from my mom and I LOVE it, but it is heavy, huge and impossible to get it out of the way. So it sits on my kitchen counter. And unfortunately, although I do use it, it goes weeks sometimes without use. The bowl and the mixer get dusty and stuff like flour and other things fly into the bowl. And honestly, it just isn’t all that gorgeous. Then I remembered some fabric I bought a while back. I found it in the remnants at JoAnn’s and picked it up, planning to make some shopping bags out of it. I made one, but never got around to make the other. But the fabric matched my kitchen PERFECTLY! So, a mixer cover was created! This was simple and easy and took me longer to measure and cut than the sew!

Not to be outdone, my hard working sewing machine demanded a cover also! I got fancy on this one, though. I used my patchwork skills to create a cover that I love. I had purchased some fat quarters in coordinating colors, then threw in a few more pieces of fabric I already owned, rearranged them nicely and gave my machine a cover. It could have been longer, but it works well and looks nice. Now, just ignore the mess around my sewing area! It is still “under construction” and I am trying to get the husband to install a shelf to help get some of the extra stuff off the desk.

And I have been knitting! Well, some, anyway. Both kids need mittens for winter. The girl outgrew her mommy-made mittens and the boy never had any. So, I picked up some sock yarn in their favorite colors (she loves pink, he loves orange!) So far, he has a full pair, but she only has one. I will be returning to the second one very soon! Heck, with how cool it has been here lately, she will need them by the end of the September!

I am still working on knitting myself a scarf out of my hand-dyed hand-spun yarn. It is about half way done. It is moving slowly because I don’t work on it regularly. I also unraveled a mitten I had made for myself and plan to redo it for this winter. It didn’t fit correctly but I have since found a different pattern and plan to use that instead.

I am also working on sewing. I finally purchased the doll pattern I mentioned in the last post and I am working on those. Not sure how long it will take me to finish everything in the pattern (each doll has a sleeping bag, backpack, snowsuit, overalls, knitwear and a sweater made of a felted wool sweater.)

But, that hasn’t stopped me from finding another craft! LOL! I was inspired by another blogger who works in felt. When I first read Checkout Girl’s blog, I was stunned and left feeling rather inadequate, artistically and creatively! Melissa’s creations are absolutely divine! Thankfully, the stunned feeling and the feeling of inadequacy disappeared in a huge flash of inspiration! Now, this is just my first try and I know I have work to do. I even started researching embroidery to help improve future creations. But this is my first try – my house. This is all done in craft felt with embroidery thread.

This is just my first try. It was all hand-stitched, which I find to be very satisfying. I am really pleased with how this turned out. Too bad I don’t have a picture of my house to share with you so you can compare, but my sister and my husband both knew it was our home immediately when they saw it. I have another project of a similar nature in mind, but that is probably going to take a while to come into being. But stay tuned!

Well, I think that is it, for now! There is always something being created around here! I would love to go craft now, but I actually think I need to pick up some toys (OK – a ton of toys!) in the living room right now! My sister is visiting tomorrow and it would be nice if she could walk in the house and find a place to sit! After all, I have been busy creating! Who has time to clean?

Christmas Crafting

All year long, I have been making little items here and there to decorate our home for Christmas. I have wanted to redo our mantel at Christmas and this year, I plan to finally do it! It will be done in green, ivory and gold with some handmade items front and center. I am also tentatively planning to make some sort of Advent calendar for us to enjoy this year, but that is still in the early planning stages. I haven’t even decided on the craft I will use to make it!

Aside from decorating my home, I am finally getting down to planning my crafting for Christmas gifts. In years past, I have knitted and sewn for many of my family members. I usually start planning early on in the year and have my yarn or other supplies purchased as far out as June. But I am getting a slow start this year. I am having a hard time even deciding what to make for whom.

So far, my Christmas crafting list is pretty limited. The kids will each get a handmade doll from the Olive & Archie pattern from WeeWonderfuls. I just downloaded it and purchased some of the fabrics needed today and many of the fabrics will actually come from my stash. Both kids will get the traditional PJs from me – probably something Cars for the little guy and Princesses for the girl. I am also thinking of trying my hand at quilts for the kids, too.  My husband will be getting a pair of sleep pants. I also hope to finally tackle his sweater vest! I purchased the yarn for it two years ago! I am guessing he has given up all hopes of having that vest! LOL! We normally only give portraits to my grandparents, but I think this year I will be gifting them with some items. I am thinking Grandma will get some new knitted dishcloths (so she can have a set here and a set in Florida) and possibly even a quilted can cozy. Grandpa is getting one of my favorite items – a knit armadillo! (When they were in FL last, they visted a farm with lots of animals. They sat down to eat lunch at a picnic table and an armadillo walked up and rubbed it’s nose on his shoe!)  Now, my mom is a difficult one. I have made her hats, scarves, a wrap and mittens. She is pretty well decked out in hand knits. She did see a sweater she liked at our state fair and mentioned me making one (it is similar to this one) but I am not sure if that is the direction I will go our not. I have another idea floating around in my head that would be a gift to her and her husband. I am not quite ready to reveal that project to anyone just yet, simply because I have no clue if I can make it work.

So, planning is coming along. I just printed out the pattern for the dolls for the kids, so I am looking forward to getting moving on that. I want to make all of the accessories (sleepings bags, backpacks, snowsuits, overalls, knit items, etc) and place them in a nice shoebox (probably wrapped in fabric) to present them to the kids.

Do you have Christmas items planned out already?

Quietly Crafting

During the summer, I hit a lull in the crafting. The office where I sew is hot. It is too warm to have my hands in fiber or yarn for knitting and spinning. We stay busy during the day and I am exhausted by the evening when I normally do my crafting.

I don’t have pictures to share just yet – they will be coming, I promise. But I have been quietly crafting and things are starting to kick into gear as the weather is taking a premature turn into fall. With cooling temperatures, I find myself wanting to craft and create much more.

Tonight I finally finished up some sewing and mending that has been clogging up my sewing table. I bought fabric for PJ pants for the kids and t-shirts to applique to match and finally got them completed. Both kids are wearing a set tonight and I will snap a picture of them tomorrow morning, if I can wrangle them together long enough! I completed two pairs for each. My daughter got Disney Princesses and kitty cats and my son got Thomas The Train and dogs. Both are very happy kids! I made them out of lightweight cotton prints from JoAnn’s and used short sleeved shirts to wear in the air conditioned house in the summer and into fall.

I also did some mending. I am considering setting up a mending basket, actually, although we don’t have mending often. I do like mending clothing, though. Sewing a button on my husband’s dress shirt makes me feel good to have done something for him. And closing up a hole in the underarm of his favorite t-shirt also feels good because it saves the shirt from being thrown away. I am not yet ready to consider mending store-bought socks, but if we ever have holes in hand-knitted, I wouldn’t be too upset to mend those too!

I have been completing some knitting. I finished a pair of socks for me, a pair for my son and mittens for him, also. I have completed one mitten for my daughter, but I am not taking a bit of a break from knitting with the sock yarn on size 1 needles since my hands and elbow are starting to bother me. So, I moved to the opposite end of the spectrum and picked up some chunky yarn I handspun and dyed and I am knitting a “My So-Called Scarf”. I am hoping I have enough yarn for it to be long enough, but I love it so far!

I have some things I still need to work on sitting around the house. I have promised the kids I would make them aprons and I need to get them finished. I have an old shirt of mine I want to play around with to make into an art smock for my daughter. She starts kindergarten on the 27th! But beyond that, I am planning for fall and Christmas finally. I have plans for a sweater for my mom and handmade dolls for the kids for Christmas. And I still need to get yarn to make their fall sweaters. My daughter wants pink and my son wants orange – both choices were rather predictable!

So stay tuned! I promise to get some pictures soon. I am still kicking myself for not taking ANY pictures of the items I made for my cousin’s baby shower. I stenciled several onesies with animals, hand stitched a stuffed giraffe and made her two bibs from flannel and denim. I will see if she can snap pictures for me, perhaps, to share with the blog.

I shall return!

Summer Sewing

It is officially summer, both on the calendar and on the thermometer. We have been in the mid-80’s pretty consistently here in central Ohio and the humidity is going up and up, making it more and more uncomfortable to be outside. We have the air conditioner on in our home, but to save some energy and money, we have it set a bit high, so it is still pretty warm in the house. As a result, anything that requires a lap-full of fiber has been put away for now.

Instead of knitting or hand sewing items, I have turned to using my new sewing machine! I have been sewing up a storm lately and loving it! I thought I would share a few completed items with you!

I love sewing for my kids! So, I decided they needed some sun hats to keep the sun off their faces. I found a tutorial for a reversible sun hat on Craftstylish and thought it was just what they needed! I had a fat quarter that I knew would suit each kid, plus some other material already in my stash. These were fast and easy. I think I made both in the same night!

Here is my son’s. His was done first and I think I measured his head a bit wrong. I found that it was a bit snug when he put it on. I measured my daughter’s head a bit differently (instead of flat around the head right above the ears like I did with my son, I measured from the bottom of her hair line, over her ears and onto her forehead) and the fit was a bit better, but my son still likes his hat!

Bugs!!

Front view

Bugs!

I don’t have a decent picture of the inside of the hat. My daughter was a bit easier to photograph. Here they are together. The other side of my son’s hat is a dog print. My daughter has a pink floral print since she adores pink.

And the other side of my daughter’s hat. I decided to sew two pink buttons, one on each side of the hat at the top to help hold the hat together as it was flipped and also to give it a really cute touch. I also made her brim flare out a bit more and it gave it a very nice wavy look.

And I didn’t forget to sew for myself, either! Now, yes, I know these are both from the same material! But I had a TON of it (I hate to admit it, but I bought it for curtains and a bed-skirt for my room and had a ton left over! It is a nice linen blend, so it makes lovely clothing, too!) And yes, I know I also need to iron them!

A shirt for me. I used McCall’s 5388 and it turned out well. I would like to do this pattern again, possibly in the tank version (minus the ruffles) and in a lighter fabric. Please pardon the terrible shot. I am not good at self portraits and our mirror was a bit dirty!

And this is my new love! I would wear this every day if I could! I have since bought more fabric to make another. I used a tutorial for the wrap skirt at Home Grown. This was easy to understand and turned out great! Again, sorry for the crappy image! 

And then I did more sewing! Yep, I was busy! Several months ago, I saw a tutorial for cute fabric baskets on Pink Penguin. I happened to have a charm pack of fabric I bought last June and was still trying to decide what to do with it. I decided it would be perfect for the baskets! I didn’t want to waste much fabric, so I cut them in quarters, which made them a bit bigger than the tutorial called for. I ended up with a rectangular basket. Unfortunately, I didn’t have batting at the time, so I used several layers of flannel, but they aren’t all that stable when they are empty. But, I keep fabric and yarn in them currently and they are great! I plan to make some square ones eventually. I made two different baskets – one featuring the red fabrics and the other the pinks.

I LOVE these fabrics and wanted to showcase them somehow, and this was perfect. The bottom & lining was left over from the pillow I made my Mother-in-law for Christmas. It is a nice, sturdy fabric and helped give them some stability.

And finally, one of my favorite projects! I fell in love with this project when I saw it on the Sew, Mama, Sew blog. And it was a free download, too! I pulled out some fabrics from my stash and some fat quarters I had on hand and went to town. I LOVED the way it came out! I have a small pincushion I made some time ago that I keep with my hand sewing stuff, but didn’t have a decent pin cushion with my sewing machine. This is wonderful! The scrap bag actually can attach to the front of the cushion with a loop that hangs down, using the green button on the inside of the bag. There are also three pockets just right for a seam ripper, small sewing gauge, and fabric markers.
Well, I think that about brings me up to date on my sewing projects! I still have more to show, though! Next up, socks and pendants. Stay tuned!