Merry Christmas!

Happy Script Christmas

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FP (Finished Project): Felt Penguin Keyring

I made this a while back, but just finally got a photo of it. Copied this from somewhere else on the web, but am super proud of how it came out. I added the "keyring" loop. Haven't used it as such yet.

Bib, Bailey, Bumbo

Here's Bailey in her Bumbo seat wearing her new bib that I stitched for her. Bib Kit from Sublime Stitching.

Eco-Tote!!!

I finished my eco-tote (okaaay, except for the "Paris" tag). I was dying to carry it around so I cheated and "finished" early. I'll get around to it.

I have to admit though, it was like getting a tattoo (or so I hear). I finished the pattern, but then looked and saw all the white space on the sides, and on the back...and want to do more to it!

But honestly, it's gotten hard enough to blog about anything now a days since Bailey is pretty much starting to crawl. So I'll probably be slower with the crafty projects.

FP (Finished Project): Apron

Here's my finished apron with food characters all from Sublime Stitching. For more pics of this, you can check out my Wordpress.com Food Related Stitches page.

WIP (Work in Progress) :: Pillow Case

I'm almost finished with this cute pillow case and design set from Sublime Stitching. There's a lady with a suitcase that goes in the middle.

Homemade Baby Burp Rags

I made a bunch of these for BB. They're nice soft flannel.

Bib for Bailey

Kit from Sublime Stitching.

Wordpress Page

I have been blogging on Wordpress.com about bento boxes and my lunches. Related to this blog is my page on "Food Related Stitches". You'll see.

Sewing Class #2

So for class #2 I had to sit near the annoying lady, I learned an extremely hard way to install elastic to only then be told "HA! there's an easier way I just wanted you all to learn the hard way first". My machine kept screwing up and the others in the class were so much faster (especially the one dude in class!) that I was always behind. But at least I learned alot.

I don't think I'm going to go to my last class 'cause I leave early the next day for my conference.

NY Giants patch.

In honor of their win tonight, I quickly sewed together a NY Giants patch.

gnome.

Here's my gnome pin. Kinda cute. Not as good as I thought it'd be.

Ninjas, and Red Robots and Eggs...Oh My!

So here's some of my latest stuff. A ninja key chain and pin, a red robot keychain and an egg.

Link-a-doo

I'm going to be taking a sewing class. It'll be at a quilting store in JC and I get to use their machines. It's three classes of three hours each (one a week) for $40 total. But I'll have to buy some stuff for the class, so it'll probably add up after that.

I'm supposed to let them know what kind of sewing I'd like to focus on so I guess I'll tell them that I'd like to be able to make accessories and maybe eventually some clothes. Maybe. Mostly purses and stuffed animals and etc. Sewing them with a machine would go so much faster.

Make up cases.

Here are some homemade makeup cases that I made. Working with zippers is extremely hard to me. Trying to get them to finish off at the ends etc. is tough. I'm sending the fleur de lis one to my co-worker Michele as a gift because she has a fleur de lis tattoo.

ipod pockets

So my husband bought me a new Nano Ipod and so I wanted to craft something to hold it in. Tried all sorts of different kinds of things and made a ton of waste, but came up with two that I like:

Mardi Gras is coming up so I bought some purple, yellow, and green felt in anticipation of making some Mardi Gras things.

I got my inspiration from Etsy.com posts like this and this. (Links may one day not work because Etsy.com is like Ebay for crafts. They may be sold and then the listing will be gone.)

Collection so far.

So here's my collection so far (including the one Ugly Doll that I have):

Mr. Frenchy Bear

So in between finishing the no-sew blanket (see prior two posts), I worked on the terry cloth bear pattern that I started before I left for Christmas.

So it's called a Towel Doll in this book and you can make either a rabbit or a bear. I had previously made a rabbit in another pattern, so I decided to go with the bear.

I hated working with the terry cloth. It kept wanting to unravel and my needle kept getting caught up in it's tiny loops.

So because the mouth part was too hard to cut out and have it look right, I just gave him a mustache for no reason. I tend to do that, I don't know why. And since I had been working on the no sew blanket, I used some scraps to give my Frenchman a scarf.

Voila!

Final Product.

Here's a weeks worth of work finally realized:

Getting side tracked with a new project.

So my husband and I went to Seattle for Christmas and in the airport on the returning trip home, I saw this really cute fringy, cuddly, warm blankets everywhere. All kinds of people had them. I saw this one young black woman with a white and polka dot pattern one with light blue backing and then two children with them in different shades. I finally asked the mother of the children where it came from since there were several in the airport. She said her mother made them and that they were called "No-Sew Blankets".

So as soon as I got home, I looked them up and sure enough I found a great blog entry about how to make one.

I went to Jo Ann Fabrics to find some fleece and found some amazing dark blue and white material that had apparently just come in that day. The clerks were all excited about it and were telling me what a great blanket they would make together:

Anyway, so I bought some new scissors and a few rulers of various lengths and tried to get to work. The hard part was that the fabric was so long that it was bigger than the table. So I cut off the rements and then had a hard time lining the two pieces together. (I got 2 1/2 yards of each). So eventually, I had to work on the empty guest bedroom floor.

I cut off 6 inch squares at each end. And start to make the one inch cuts around the entire thing.

That's as far as I've gotten really in two days of casually working on it. I'll keep updating. However, all I really have to do is to cut the rest of the strips and then tie them into knots so after that it'll be done. I think it'll be really cute.

HA HA Bunny

So last night I made a HA HA Bunny:

I actually used the book's pattern. I traced it with blue chalk and then cut out all the pieces.I bought this great tool at Jo Ann's Fabrics. It helps you to turn the little ears, tail, legs etc. inside out after you've sewn them together.

Again, since I'm handstitching, it's a daunting task ahead when you know you have all that sewing to do. I considered buying this really cheap handheld sewer, but the lady at the store swore that it wouldn't work for what I was trying to do. She kept telling me that I had to buy a sewing machine.

I just don't think I would use the sewing machine enough to warrant purchasing one, but you never know. We'll see how it goes. Cheap ones run around $115.

I think working with felt makes it hard to keep the right shape. This bunny looks a little funky. And sewing up the last bit of seam after stuffing keeps being hard. (I know bad grammar). But it is - it never looks right.

Anyway - here's the finished product:

Stuffleupagus

Man it's hard now-a-days to come up with a creative name for your stuff. I wanted stuffles or stuffies or something...but that name is definitely taken.

I've been interested in making some stuffed animal/monsters for awhile. I have seen them around and always felt like it was something I could possibly make myself. Recently I was reading Bust magazine and it really got me into it again.

I've been doing alot of embroidery lately and getting in the crafty mood, so this was just an extension of that. I don't have a sewing machine, so it's all hand stitching for me at this point.

So once I decided to start this, I bought this book called "Fun Dolls" that is adorable. Full of little how to cartoons and little characters that guide you in the process. It gives you patterns that you have to blow up with a copier and etc.

I started off by trying to find some great fabric. I went to AC Moore and little did I realize - they don't sell fabric. (I recently found out Walmart doesn't sell embroidery floss either). So I went to Walmart and they had a very limited supply of any decent fabric. So I went easy and bought a yard of black felt and a yard of white felt to get started. I decided to make a cat doll and I would fashion it after our cat Gobi.

I got home all excited and of course my husband was confused. I was going to make what?

So I started off by making my own pattern freehand. I took some chalk and traced the pattern onto the black felt and then cut the whole thing out. I decided to do one big pattern instead of separate ears, arms and legs like the book had. I figured it was my first try, so maybe that would make it easier.

Needless to say, it took approx. 4 hours for me to crank out the little guy. I had to hand stitch the entire doll and then stuff it, and try to sew up the giant hole that I left in order to turn the pattern inside out. That was the only really big mistake I made. Oh! And not doing the nose and mouth before sewing up the doll. But, the hole was the big problem. I should have left a much smaller gap in which to turn it inside out and then stuff it. I was nearly impossible to get a good clean seam on the doll since there was so much left to be sewn up.

So here are pictures of the final product. (I really should have tried to make a tail as well).