sewing & knitting

Just a few peeks of what I'm working on. :)

what I did this afternoon:

(I love that it's time to play in dirt again..)

love this guy...

have a great weekend :)

gratitude wrap

Over the weekend I made this cute little "gratitude wrap." You can download a free PDF with directions to make one on the SouleMama blog (over on the left side under "For you!"). Isn't the fabric adorable? I got it from good-ness but unfortunately I'm not seeing it in her shop now.

I think it's the perfect house for my Gwen Frostic cards. :)

socks 'n stuff

I have a few things to share today. First, more socks:

These will be a Christmas gift for my mom. I used the same pattern as before, except this time I made them a little longer and I grafted the toe with 10 stitches on each needle instead of the 8 the directions call for. They fit me perfectly, so I think they'll fit my mom perfectly as well. I used Red Heart sock yarn.

Second, I got an award from The Ordinary Housewife (Thank you so much!!):
This award is pretty cool because you only give it to one person. I'm going to pass it on to Rural Mamma. Her blog is great... her little ones are adorable, she takes great photos, I love the quotes and poems she posts, and she makes butter. How awesome is that? That's totally on my list of things to try because of her blog. And her Etsy shop is super cute too. :)

And finally, Grosgrain is having a giveaway for this fabulous refashioned frock:

Did you know I don't own a single dress? It's true. So I hope I win this one because we have a number of showers/rehearsals/weddings to attend this coming up summer and I'm not too fond of clothes shopping... :) Plus I just love it.

what we're listening to

Some of the quilt stitching over the weekend was done while listening to the new album by The Decemberists (you can download it here from iTunes). Brian and I are both really loving it. And I'm also loving the album art.. isn't it great?

finished

Over the weekend I finished the orange quilt. I ended up machine stitching it and I think it's ok. Nothing like the look of hand quilting but definitely faster. I got the pattern and directions from this book, which is one of my favorites!

This may be odd, but my favorite step of the quilt making process is hand sewing the back of the binding. I love it. Maybe that will be my motivation to get Brian's quilt finished. :)

hello spring...

... I'm so glad you're here.

(have a wonderful weekend...)

i love this

(photo by Jamaica)

I found this pillow on Jamaica's blog the other day and I fell in love. The pillow is to die for but what I really love is how she did it. She scanned vintage papers and then printed the images out onto inkjet fabric sheets.

This is one of those wonderful ideas that just overwhelms me with all of the creative possibilities... I'm thinking.. old maps, dictionary pages, paint-by-numbers, vintage magazines.. so many things would be perfect for this. Even vintage fabric scraps maybe?

banana pudding

I don't know why, but every spring I start thinking about banana pudding. I really love banana pudding. I looked online for a recipe but they all called for things I didn't have, like sweetened condensed milk or cream cheese. Plus it seems like it would be way too rich (has anyone tried it with stuff like that in it? is it good?). So I didn't follow a recipe. It's so simple.. I don't know why I looked for a recipe in the first place or why I don't make it more often. I feel sort of silly posting this as a "recipe" because it's so stinking easy but it's soooooo good. :)

Here's what you need:
- 1 big box of vanilla instant pudding mix
- cool whip (I used about 1/2 of a 12oz tub)
- box of Nilla Wafers (I used about 1/2 of the box. maybe a little less)
- bananas, sliced. I used three

Make the pudding following the directions on the box and put in in the fridge for a few minutes. You can mix the pudding and the cool whip together if you want.. I didn't but I think it might be easier/faster if you do. Then just layer the nilla wafers, bananas, pudding and cool whip until you've used up all the pudding. Let it sit in the fridge for a while so the cookies get all soft and yummy and enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a few fun things to make or print. :)

Saint Patrick's Day Cupcakes from Martha (pictured above)

Shamrock pin how-to by Stitcher Scribbler

Crochet a Four Leaf Clover from Crochet Spot

Make a rainbow cake at Omnomicon

Bake some Irish Soda Bread from All Recipes

Download and print a Shamrock party kit at HP

Saint Patrick's Day Pins from Martha

get crafty

This past weekend we went to a little boy's first birthday party. I had made this little stuffed elephant ages ago just for fun and I thought it would be great for him (Um, I actually forgot all about it until I cleaned my closet a couple weeks ago and discovered it again!). I'm sure he'll love it more than I have. :) The pattern and directions are from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts.

(Look at his cute little tail!)

Now that we're (sort of) on the topic of craft books, omg there are a ton out right now that I want. But I got a few for Christmas that I haven't made anything from yet, and I have some older ones (like the one I mentioned above) that I only made one or two things from so far. I can't really justify getting new books when I haven't utilized the ones I already have, you know?

So I came up with an idea. A craft book challenge. I'm going to make at least four things from all of my older craft books and two from my newer ones before I can buy anything new. If there isn't four things I want to make, I'm going to sell the book on eBay. Sounds like a good plan right? But, I am going to separate the knitting books and the sewing books because I only have two knitting books and I really, really want more. Play along if you'd like! I'll post more on what I'm making soon..

colorful

This past week, whenever I had some extra time, I was busy working on a few things for my shop, including the bookmarks in the photo. I'll be listing them over the next few days. I wanted some colorful ones and I really like how they turned out. I'm also working on a couple other fun things but they're not ready for their close-ups yet. :)And I have something free (and colorful) for you all : labels you can download and print. You can print them out on sticker paper, or print them on cardstock and make tags. I also made a sheet of all red labels and one of all black. :)

Download the colorful label sheet here

Download the red label sheet here

Download the black label sheet here

Hope you like them.. Have a great weekend!

no more crazy

Brian bought me a couple sets of knitting needles for Christmas and until now I had no way to keep them all tidy and organized and it was driving me a little bit crazy. Enter the knitting needle rolls. To make them, I loosely followed the directions for the colored pencil roll in Last-Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts, modifying the sizes to fit the needles.

This is the one for the single-pointed needles. I made it out of a beautiful vintage table cloth. There is no way I'd be able to cut into something like this normally but when I got it it already had a big strip cut off. :( It still took me months to muster up enough courage to pick up the scissors.

I included a little flap at the top so the needles won't slip out. As I'm looking at these pictures I realize that I could have just made the entire roll taller and then just fold that over. I made it separately. heh. duh!

And here's the one for the dp needles. I made the pockets different sizes to fit the different sized needles. Some ended up a bit too big and others are a little snug but overall I'm happy with it.

the sun...

... is back to shining in the kitchen in the evenings. I love that.

more thrifted finds

Last week I found this cute little Polish doll:
And a box full of vintage ribbons. I really love some of them. Others, not so much. :)

I love it when I find paintings at the thrift store

Have a great weekend!

spring greens

I tried getting a treasury to feature these pretty green items I found on Etsy but I missed it by two minutes! So I made a poster sketch instead. Aren't they lovely? I love the bunnies. Have I ever posted a photo of my rabbit Charlie? I'll have to 'cause he's just about the cutest thing you'll ever see. :)

Here are the links:

1. Madeline Ivory Chrysanthemum Necklace 2. New Growth Green- handspun handdyed 2-ply yarn 3. Landscape 285 (I just realized this is sold, sorry!) 4. Avocado Jar

5. Original Oil painting Bunny Peeks In 6. Layered Circles Felt Flower Brooch Pin in Avocado Green 7. Heart Serving Bowl 8. Elements of Craft Eco Bangle Bracelet Set of 3

9. Vintage Button Ring--Spring is Here 10. MOSSY STONE in Superwash Wool and Nylon Yarn 11. Pretty Vintage Buttons - Lime Bright Green 12. vintage mint celadon green bunny rabbit with carrot

randoms

I know I've mentioned this before, but Brian and I have annual passes to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn. I really (really!) love the village, but it's closed this time of year, so in the winter we go to the Museum. I like it when it gets later in the day and all the kids on their field trips go home so I can do things like this and not feel completely ridiculous (just a little ridiculous):


Yep, that's me. A hot dog. A Wienermobile was right next to this little ingenious photo-op, but silly me didn't get a shot of it.

One of my favorite things at the museum is the Dymaxion House. It's crazy to think how different the suburbs might look if these houses had actually gotten manufactured.

Other randoms:

- Check out this yarn. Yum!
- And check out this etsy shop, Thrush. It's full of fabulous vintage clothing and other goodies. I love how she names the items.

- I love this rag rug tutorial from Moda Bake Shop.

- Oh! An update on the cloth pads: Awesome. They worked really well and were super absorbent and really comfy. I had no issues with bunching or sliding around. At first I was rinsing them out in the shower, but it took a while and the cold water was torture, so I started filling up the sink with cold water and letting them soak for a while in there first, which helped a lot. Once rinsed, I put them in a glass jar filled with water until all of them were used so I could wash them all together. When I buy/make more I think I'll rig something else up for storage. I felt pretty weird saving them, which is normal I guess when you start saving something you're used to throwing away.

My favorite one was the "medium" size from gogreengirl. It fit really well. The liners seemed a bit overkill, a little too thick for me. I think I'll try making my own liners. Anyone know where I can find organic, undyed/unbleached cotton flannel?