Mini-Swapped

With delays for illnesses and vacations and all kinds of things we are finally able to call this round of miniswap complete. Katrina and Tristan were paired with Caroline who loves puppies, kittens, playing with dolls, etc. We decided for Katie and Tristan to each direct a project where they could help participate. Tristan’s project was a coloring set. I made the bag and sketchbook and the urchins helped with the crayons.

After looking through The Cute Book Katrina decided we should make a kitty for Caroline. We used the basic shapes included in the book but made some adjustments and made a mama cat too. Then we decided to make some toys and other things a la Lyn and include them in an old wooden box that originally held olive oil and balsamic vinegar. So Mama Kitty and her baby have a fish and a mouse as well as a pillow and some milk bottles in case they get tired or thirsty. Mama’s apron comes off for when she’s not chasing Baby Kitty’s messes.

We also included a rice pillow that matches Katie’s — fabric choices made entirely by her — and some other purchased things that we thought Caroline might enjoy. Caroline and her mama, Amber, spoiled us and you can see what they sent here, here, and here . Thank you Caroline and Amber, and thanks Molly for another great round of miniswap.

A Little Lovin’ for the Boys

So these are the gifts Katrina and I gave our Valentines. First, from Katrina, a pillow (about 6″ diameter) for her Daddy. We did the letters on my sewing machine — it has this one basic font — on a piece of red wool felt. We then sewed that to a piece of tool fabric which we then made into a heart. She stuffed it and then we machine sewed it shut.

I gave Papa a rice pillow, a la Blair. He’s been complaining about cold feet in bed so her post was perfectly timed. The outside cover is made of flannel so it’s soft as well as warm.

And for my little valentine I made one of Hillary‘s robots from Put-Together Book No. 2. The best part of this guy was making his control panel. Definitely look through the flickr group before you make one for inspiration. The fabric for the body is Robomatic by Jennifer Sampou — such a great little boy print — and the arms/legs and antenna are from Peas & Carrots by Sandy Klop.

Progress

I’ve been feeling like I’ve been trudging along crafting away and don’t have much to show for it. I decided to stack it all up and see if it made it seem like more. Not really…

The only really completed thing is those pillows and they’ve been almost done for a long time. I just needed the zippers — an afterthought, I’m amazed they turned out — and I picked them up this week. The yo-yo flowers are a label for my Virtual Quilting Bee quilt. The mitten is actually looking like a mitten now but still, there’s only one, and the big seamless hybrid has a long way until it lives up to it’s name.

So, how was your week, did you get anything done?

When In Doubt, Give Them What They Want

This gift is a birthday gift for my sister-in-law. When I gave my sister her pleated beauty bag last Autumn my sister-in-law dropped some serious hints that she might also like a similar gift. Her favorite color is pink so the choice of fabric was easy and the denim makes it a little more durable. Her style is a little bit preppy so I’m hopeful this will suit her. The N was hand embroidered — those are french knots people, a whole lot of them — and I am so happy with how it turned out.

2007 – Let’s Review

So, 2007 was a pretty good year on the crafting front. There are 84 photos in my Finished – 2007 set on flickr. Even I’m a little impressed by that. I’m particularly happy with how many new things I learned in 2007. Let’s review, shall we?

First, in knitting, thanks to Larissa I learned to knit socks. All in all I finished six pairs of socks plus two pairs of baby booties this year. Ten sweaters came off the needles and while all but one were child sized I’m still very happy about that. I made my first Elizabeth Zimmerman sweater and my first colorworked yoke sweater both for urchin number two. Katrina didn’t get quite as many sweaters but she was definitely the main beneficiary of my newfound sewing skills…

I think 2007 might just be remembered as the year I learned to sew. Wow, I’m so happy I finally conquered my fear. There have been a lot of pajamas and quite a few dresses. I even made my sister a bag. I also made my first quilt in 2007 and my second, third, fourth, and fifth as well. They were all doll quilts but I have full-sized quilt love for them all.

There was plenty of food in 2007 although not too much of it made it onto the blog. I’m glad that some jam made into some of your homes though. Lots of paper stuff happened as well including garlands, folders, and altered bottles. And let’s not forget the altered tin for Father’s Day — one of my favorite projects from the whole year.

We played games, we gave gifts, we swapped, we had two great birthday parties, and took about a million photos. So 2008 has some big shoes to fill. What do I have planned? Knitting wise I’d like to make more socks using a variety of techniques. I’d like to conquer a lace project and I am going to knit a sweater for Papa. At the sewing machine I want to continue to improve my garment-making skills and conquer my fear of knits. I also want to make a bed-sized quilt top — I’ll probably send it out to be quilted. I want to tell you more about some of the great food we’re eating and I really want to try to compost less of our CSA share each week. Thank you guys for being such a great inspiration to me, and not just when it comes to being crafty. Your talent in knitting, sewing, mommy-ing — making in all regards — inspires me everyday. And that you take the time to tell me you enjoy what I make is really wonderful to me. Ready or not 2008, here we come.

Are You Ready for Some More Quilts?

I’ve got two to show today. First up is the quilt I sent to Jhoanna as part of the Doll Quilt Swap II. She left it up to me as to what to send her. I found these fabrics designed by Joel Dewberry and then was inspired by a post on Amy Karol‘s blog. I loved making all those french knots.

Quilt number two is the gorgeous doll quilt I received from Jenni as part of the same swap:

I think she was worried I wouldn’t like it but I love it. I am always amazed with triangles in quilts — they are really finicky to do — and all of Jenni’s are lined up beautifully. I love the civil war reproduction feel of it and I can’t get over the little touch of lavender in the fabrics. For some reason that just makes it for me.

WIP Friday

After finishing sweaters for both kids I was feeling like doing something besides knitting for a little while. So I decided to take a look at some unfinished cross-stitch projects. I had given them up a while ago because I needed a better light and possibly a magnifier to finish them. About a year ago I got an OTT-LITE and I have reading glasses — not needed for reading but good for fine stitching — so I decided to pick one of the projects back up.

This band sampler pattern is by The Drawn Thread and is called Wildflower Garden. I have three other garden patterns too — Alpine, Prairie, and Cloister. I stitched Woodland Walk for my sister-in-law years ago and really liked the style. Their patterns contain a lot of cross-stitch but also a number of other stitches like eyelets, smyrna crosses, and lazy daisies. It makes for a fun stitch, which is a good thing since it’s done over two threads on 32 count belfast linen. For a little perspective on what that means:

Small, huh?

Corner of My Home

I told you guys before how I cross-stitched a bunch of these samplers and switch them out all year. Here’s the current one for Easter. The bunny softie was made by my one grandmother and the little ceramic chick was made by my other grandmother. I hadn’t really thought about that until just now, how nice. Anyway, the cross-stitch sampler pattern is by Bent Creek and is called the Hip Hop Sampler.

See more Corners.

Corner of My Home

I figure for my first Corners of My Home post I’d share what you’d see if I was ever lucky enough to have you pop in for a visit. This is our foyer, Welcome. I like to decorate this cabinet seasonally so I have a lot of these cross-stitch samplers that I rotate through. The one there now is for Valentine’s Day.

See more Corners.

Five Things

As if telling you six weird things about me wasn’t enough now you are being subjected to five things about me I haven’t told you before. I’ve been tagged by Kelly for this one and I figure I’ll change it up a bit and tell you five craft-related things. So, here goes:

1. Aside from macramé, latch hook, and potholder looms my first creative pursuits were drawing and cross-stitch. I was even in the honors art class when I was in eighth grade.
2. I was super into cross-stitch when Stefan and I first married until he mentioned that he wasn’t super into having the house decorated entirely in stitched linen.
3. I like scrapbooking and stamping — both from major direct selling companies. The scrapbooks are of the kids and vacations and the stamps I use to make cards.
4. In our garden we have plants that are the descendants of plants on my grandfather’s childhood farm — and almost every house in between. This makes me very happy
5. My go-to meal is chile con carne. We eat this all the time — even in the summer — and it’s requested often by Katrina. Such a super easy meal but oh so yummy.