Zig and Zag...

and sometimes you hit your target!

My family and friends are often recipients of my handmade creations.  And some times it goes better than other times.  My sister is probably the hardest to sew for, but this year I got it right!

For her birthday, I started by knitting a button up cowl.  I couldn't decide on what buttons to use, and initially sewed on a set of shell buttons.  But something wasn't right about those buttons, and I reluctantly replaced them with a pair of buttons from my grandma's stash.  I had hoped to use these buttons for something for myself, but they really do look so nice alongside the cream bouclé yarn.

I brought my camera along to her birthday dinner, and then left it in the car!

I was worried that she wouldn't love the cowl, so I also made her a pillow.  Not just any pillow, but a pillow to match her Hope Valley quilt.  I followed this tutorial for creating the zigzags.  I also included some dense quilting, a pieced back and an invisible zipper.

She loved the pillow and the cowl, and I was super happy to surprise her with a few gifts that hit the mark!

Halloween craftiness

I'm going to attempt to mush all of my Halloween craftiness into one post. Here goes!

Table topper and mug rugs:

The fabric is Trick or Treat Street from last year, designed by Sherri Berry.

I added the prairie points to look like cat ears. :)

I had so much fun with these mug rugs!  I actually made 5 others that weren't pictured.  I sent those off to a few friends from Halloween, and forgot to take pics until everything was sealed up and in my car to go to the post office. A few of these also went to friends, and a few are staying home with me (the argyle one is for Matt!). I had a lot of fun with this fabric line. And the best part is that I got the fq pack from JoAnn's!

Candy Bucket!

This candy bucket was made from Sherri Berry's halloween line from this year, Costume Club. (Can you tell I love her fabric?  It's *so* my style!) The sides are squares from a panel, which I backed with peltex for body.  The green print is the green swirl from the same line.  I also have a large rectangular panel left to sew up, but I think I'm just going to add a backing and a few hanging tabs so that I can hang it on our front door next year.

Our pumpkins!

Addy chose a Tinkerbell design, which Matt carved.  Then she did some watercolor painting on it.

I did a paisley pattern.

Matt went with a cyclopes pumpkin.

And lastly, our Tinkerbell!

With her pumpkin.

Trick or treat!

I just wish her wings had stayed up better. I used peltex between 2 layers of the super cheap JoAnn's Haloween satin, and it wasn't enough body. Oh well, at least we weren't at risk of losing an eye from the wire style wings. ;)

And one last photo, because I never post family pics. Hurray, Matt is home!!

Handmade Gifts for Birthday Twins!

I can't believe it's been a year since our friends' twins were born!  When their older sister turned 3 in August I made her a Mermaiden, and my friend was so happy to receive a handmade gift.  So when we started talking about the twins' first birthday, I knew I had to make a few more things.

For Vivian, I made a soft doll from this Black Apple pattern.  (It's a freebie! Woo-hoo!)

I used kona for the doll's skin, wool felt for her hair and the flower in her hair, and 2 batiks for the body and stockings.  The face was hand embroidered.  I didn't embellish her too much, because I wanted to keep her safe for little ones!  This is a great little doll to sew up.  I first found this pattern when I made a few dolls for the Craft Hope project #2.  I keep the pattern in my stash for times like this. :)

And for Carson, I made (my first) sock monkey!

He turned out pretty cute!  Addy and I sat down to watch Finding Nemo last night and by then end I had only the hand embroidery left to do-I chose to hand embroider the eyes rather than using buttons to keep the toy safe for little ones.  I now have another idea on my  go-to list for children's gifts!

Baby Steps

My aunt recently asked me to create a baby girl quilt for her to give as a gift.  She's one of my favorite people to sew for, because she gives me so much freedom!
Just before she asked me to create the baby quilt, I purchased a charm pack of Origins by BasicGrey for Moda. I loved the look of the origins prints when combined with Kona in ash, so I pieced some 4-patches and played with them a bit.  I quilted this quilt with an all over meander and used Kona in buttercup for the binding as well as the backing.

I sent this quilt off to my aunt without a picture of the backing.  The backing was mostly Kona in buttercup with one 4-patch added in to break up the yellow a bit.
I love the floral prints paired with the soft grey.  A girl quilt that isn't pink!

Airing of the Quilts!

Join Dayle over at A Collection of This and That for a link up party!

November 5-6 Dayle is hosting "The Airing of the Quilts".  Stop on over at her blog and join in the fun!

Quick Trick Brick Stack Quilt

I sometimes joke that my love language is quilting.  I love to gift quilts for all of the times that we celebrate life, and also the times when we need a boost.  Whether it's news of a new baby or news that a friend is suffering, I'm often trying to think of the right handmade gift.

I made this quilt for our neighbor, Sarah, who was recently in a serious car accident.  She's only 16 years old, and she has a long recovery ahead of her.

I happened to have several precuts of Soiree in my stash, and I started by cutting my layer cake pieces in half to form 5"x10" bricks.  I wanted to stagger the bricks, so I used charm squares to fill in the gaps on the ends of the strips!  And there you have it, a quick trick brick stack. :)  (Once that name popped into my head, I was reciting Dr. Suess whenever I works on this quilt!)

For the back, I started by piecing together strips from a jelly roll.  To break up the patterned fabrics I added in a few kona strips (color is lagoon). The strips didn't give me a large enough backing so I added some pieced charm squares mixed with chunks of kona.

To finish this quilt, I meander quilted and bound it with a few jelly roll strips. For the quilt top and back I used 1 layer cake, 1 jelly roll, and 2 charm packs plus about a 1/2 yard of kona.  Finished size is about 61.5"x63".

It's all washed up and ready to be gifted!  I hope that it brings some cheer and warmth to Sarah's room as she continues to recover.

More Owls

I picked up this corduroy at JoAnn's a few weeks ago.  It wasn't actually the owl print that sucked me in, it was the coordinating polka dots!

Pattern: McCall's 5919, size 3
Pattern Description: 
Childrens' and Girls' Tops and Dresses
Pattern Sizing:
3-6 or 7-14
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
yep
Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yep, I had no issues.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I like the style-it allows for a lot of variation.  There is an optional ruffle around the yolk, optional pockets, binding around the sleeves.  All of these details can be done in contrasting fabrics, which would give the garment a fresh look!Fabric Used:
JoAnn Fabrics baby wale corduroy
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I used a coordinating fabric for the ruffle around the yolk.
Omitted all interfacing.
Top stitched and/or stitched in the ditch to avoid blind stitching by hand.
Lastly I sewed a piece of knit in the front so this can be worn without a top underneath.Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I might make this again in the dress length.  I wanted to add pockets in the coordinating polka dot, but I didn't allow enough length for them.
I would recommend this to others.

When I first completed this top, I thought Addy would just wear it over a t-shirt because of the deep slit opening in front.  Then  I remembered that I had some aqua knit!  I cut a piece of knit at 5"x6", hemmed the top edge, layed it over the slit and pinned it down.  Then I turned the shirt right side out and stitched in the ditch to attach the knit.  It worked like a charm!