2010 Projects in Review

Umm...I really don't think I can top 2010's productivity ever again (nor do I want to). This is definitely proof that shopping for craft supplies and engrossing myself in projects are major stress relievers for me. I'm hoping to remedy this by working with only my stash (for real!) this year.

So, here's to a 2011 filled with relaxation, great books, and a handful of knitting and quilting projects!

For other year end recaps see: 2007 2008 2009

ornaments

I attended the SE Michigan Crafters Meetup, hosted by Rae of Made-By-Rae last Thursday night. It was so much fun to meet up with other local crafters and work on things with company, rather than in solidtude (I miss my weekly craft nights with Catherine now that she's living in Germany).


Photo by Rae (more photos can be found on her post here)

Every year, around November, I find myself signing up for some sort of holiday ornament/craft swap (2006, 2007, 2009). I always imagine myself having tons of free time to make cute little gifts to swap and it always turns into a time crunch to get everything completed in time. This year, I was determined to have things turn out differently and give myself extra time to prepare.

I brought an ornament project with me to work on for the evening and I spent lots of time with my trusty seam ripper because I could not get sew the ornaments perfectly in line with the template. Trust me...there were lots of very oddly shaped skate boot attempts. Fortunately, I finally got into the groove of things, though, by the end of the night.


After making a trip to Joann to get Pearl Cotton and pom pom trim, I was able to put the finishing touches on these ornaments (pattern and directions here). These little skates are finished ahead of time (yay!) and I'm hoping they reach their destination of the Second Annual Small Fox Ornament Swap safely.

sewing room update

As soon as we were back from vacation, I started fall cleaning the house. (anything to conquer jet lag, right?)

It feels so good to clean each room from top to bottom and get rid of clutter. And, I finally paid someone to clean our wooden blinds for us (best *investment* ever!).

I also got around to cleaning out my craft room (see the original post about this room here). It was fun to go through my old treasures and find some long forgotten purchases. It was also a great reminder that I don't need to buy more craft supplies any time soon!


I rearranged my bookshelf to fit more fabric and more yarn and hung up the two doll quilts from DQS7 and DQS9.


Here is my room again going counterclockwise around from the door.


I added these pegs a few years ago and they have been great for organizing my bags of projects. I couldn't find a long board, so I bought two and painted them white (from Michaels). I like having the bins of yarn out in the open now so I have a visible reminder not to buy more yarn! The quilt hanging on the door was made by Jessica for DQS7 - I love the bright, citrusy colors she used! I love having something not made by me hanging in here for inspiration.


I painted this dresser green to add some color to the room. If I had to do it over again, I would probably go with teal instead, but it's too late now. I store office supplies, computer supplies and random cables and chargers in here.


I rearranged the cubes in my expedit shelf and got rid of the wooden storage boxes on top leftover from my scrapbooking ephemera days. Now I've dedicated a few more cubes in the shelf to yarn and fabric. Above the bookshelf is my new doll quilt from Emma. It matches my room perfectly and I just love it. You can read more about her process here.


Here's my sewing/computer desk area. If I had more space in here, I would have added a taller cutting table for rotary cutting, but there's just no room for another table so I will have to make due by hunching over while I rotary cut. The mini bookshelf came from our kitchen after we added the pantry shelf and stores my stationery collection, pen collection and more books.


On the final wall I hung a set of pictures from Iceland and an Icelandic sheep poster above my weaving loom. Jon thought I was crazy for wanting to hang a picture of sheep butts on my wall, but the sheep butts crack me up, so they're on the wall to stay!

Emily's baby gifts

My college roommate, Emily, is expecting her first kid in September, and I've been planning on things to make for this this baby girl ever since I first found out she was expecting. After all, making baby stuff means getting to work with cute prints and small projects, so it's easy to go a little bit overboard.


...I made some bibs and burp rags. The bibs are backed with white flannel and the burp rags are quilting cotton backed with chenille and are 12"x18". I used the same fabrics that I used for Chikage's baby gifts, and was able to get one bib and one burp rag out of a fat quarter (with a small scrap left over).


...I sewed a nursing cover (tutorial here). My fabulous male nursing cover model is back in action! I finished 20 minutes before Emily stopped by for a little visit. Thank goodness I had the fabric cut out in advance or I never would have finished it in time.


...and I made this quilt/blanket. The fabric for this is the Porcelina line by Michelle D'Amore from Marcus Fabrics. I actually purchased this before Emily found out that she was having a girl because it totally screamed "Emily's daughter," so I was really happy that she found out she was having a girl so I'd have a chance to use it.


I stalled making the quilt because I was trying to come up with the perfect pattern to use for the quilt. I had toyed with using a raw edge circle applique pattern, but raw edge circles are a bit too unfinished for Emily. I was going to do a simple charm square patchwork, but wanted to step up the patchwork for this. Then I narrowed down the piecing options to a disappearing nine patch or a box in a box, which I ended up using. I went with the box in a box because the dimensions in this tutorial created the right size square for the size backing I was using.


For the backing, I used a 32" x 35" piece of minky fabric. This is my first time working with minky and I was afraid that it would pucker or bunch weird when quilting because it is so stretchy. Based on the recommendation of the quilt store employee, I stretched it out on the floor, taped it down and applied a generous amount of spray baste. Then, I laid the patchwork top on the minky and pressed it down with my hands. I quilted it with a walking foot in the same way that I quilt normal quilts with batting and a fabric backing. I tried to minimize the amount of quilting I did, because I didn't want to pull on the backing too much.


I made a scrappy patchwork binding with each of the fabrics included in the quilt and attached the binding using this technique.

The finished blanket has a really light drape to it and the backing is so soft and cuddly. Now I want to make a grown up sized blanket with a minky backing like this.

another 365 days around the sun

In an attemp to relax and enjoy life more this year I will refrain from creating a list of 29 things to do before I'm 30. It's killing me not to make a list though!


This morning Jon treated me with a Nook and chocolate chip waffles. I hadn't ever considered getting an eReader until I realized that with the Nook you can borrow ebooks for free from your local library if they participate in the Overdrive program. I've checked out The Lacuna, Going Bovine, and American Taliban and hopefully I'll be able to finish all three before they're due in 21 days.


My friend, Harriet (find her on ravelry here), treated me with this amazing handspun skein of yarn (details here) that was such a fun surprise in the mail. Can you believe she's only been spinning for a few months? We met back in high school band and are very good at enabling each other with supplies crafty hobbies (I didn't think I was a band geek until I realized that I met all of my friends in marching band...busted!). If we follow our track record, she will be weaving and I will be spinning by the end of this year.


I treated myself with this adorable pouch made by Sarah at Hip To Piece Squares (picked up at the I-Art Festival in Redford today)

And, the best treat of all was finishing my urgent crafting to do list. That's right, I finished all 5 of my bee blocks, my Paper Bag Challenge Project for the Brighton Modern Quilters meeting tomorrow night, and my Doll Quilt for DQS9. It was a busy sewing day yesterday and this afternoon! I'll be sharing everything later this week.

Spring to Finish - recap

Jacquie's Spring to Finish challenge ended on Monday and even though I didn't finish everything on my list, I'm happy with everything that I accomplished.

I was distracted by lots of other projects, so in addition to finishing what I started months ago, I also started a handful of other projects...

1. testing out my new weaving loom (a graduation gift to myself!)


2. Casting on for an Icelandic sweater and my first time using steeking and colorwork in a garment...


(pattern is Hela cardign and I'm using this speckled white and magenta for the yolk colorwork)


3. A May start and finish...this Eternity Scarf made out of Pigeonroof Studios superwash worsted yarn. The yarn is gorgeous and was a joy to work with. It's just too bad that I finished this just in time for 80 degree summertime weather!

(I should have staggered yarn from each ball in this project as there is a big variation in colors. Fortunately the color change isn't too noticeable when I'm wearing it).

potholder swap

Malka at a Stich in Dye hosted a potholder swap last month and she paired Susan at iamchickenfoot and I together.

Here's what I made for Susan:





Susan requested red and aqua potholders, so I dug through my stash to find fabrics that fit the bill. I quilted the log cabin and batting together and then sewed the front to the back pillowcase style.
Susan made me this cute hexagon trivet. It matches our kitchen and dishes perfectly.



Now I just need some fresh flowers to throw into that pitcher.

She even sent an adorable little log cabin pin cushion. Isn't it darling?

You can check out the rest of the projects for the swap in the flickr group here.

baby shower

I've had requests left and right from family and friends to update this blog, so here goes.

I spent this past week recovering from school and crafty commitments and now I'm wondering how in the world I got everything done that I got done while I was in school. It feels really nice to come home and read a book on the couch instead of working on a project. Now I'm wondering if I'll be able to finish my list of projects to finish by the end of May. It's starting to look doubtful.

I spent most of last week throwing a baby shower for my friend, Chikage. She's expecting a baby girl in the next few weeks, so I...

...made some bibs and burp rags. The bibs are backed with white flannel and the burp rags are quilting cotton backed with chenille and are 12"x18".


...sewed a nursing cover (tutorial here)


and knitted a Berry Baby hat (ravelry link here).

For the shower, my mom decorated the cutest cake ever...

And, she also decorated these sugar cutout cookies for shower gifts. (Jon and I helped, but my mom did all of the detail work on these).


The shower turned out so well and we were able to get everything finished within 2 hours because Chikage kept everyone on track with her super fast/turbo speed gift opening.


Now we just have to wait a few more weeks to see the new baby. I can't wait!

Spring to Finish

I joined Jacquie's annual Spring to Finish challenge last week and I got off to a great start so far thanks to a productive weekend...

1. Quilt and bind hedgehog quilt (see here)
2. Bind maverick star quilt (see here)
3. Bind owl quilt (see here)
4. Quilt and bind vintage quilt
5. Noro striped scarf
6. Knit purple baby blanket
7. Kandinsky art quilt (see here)
8. Bee Beautiful quilt
9. Pajama pants (x4)
10. Milkweed Shawl
11. Audrie's Block
12. Wendy's Block
13. Amanda's Block

I'm hoping to clear my "craft closet" of projects to do in the next few months so that I can pare down and use what I have.

My reward, should I finish everything by May 31, is two skeins of Pigeonroof Studio TLS Washed baby alpaca/cashmere/silk yarn. This is, by far, the nicest and softest yarn I have ever knit with and it will be the perfect reward!

putting idea books to use: your projects

It's been a month since I posted about the "putting idea books to use" challenge. Lots of you have joined in and posted some beautiful pictures of your projects to the flickr group. Thanks so much for participating with me! The group on flickr will continue to be open because there are lots more projects and lots more project books out there waiting to be used.


I'll be posting the projects that I made with my idea books later on this week, but in the meantime, go ahead an link up your projects in the widget below. Make sure that your flickr link or blog link includes the name of the book and project that you used.

I'll select a winner at random to win the above tote bag, made from Weekend Sewing, and I'll also include some yarn or fabric and other goodies based on the winner's crafting interests. I'll leave the drawing open until Friday at 3:00PM EST so that everyone gets a chance to enter (and finish up those last minute projects).

pottery painting

Jon joined my mom, sister and I for Ladies night* at a paint your own pottery place in the area. Let's just say that Jon was a bit traumatized by the table of new moms painting next to us. They were celebrating their night of freedom from their kids and husbands with wine and very rowdy talk about all aspects of life after babies, poopy diapers, and potty training. Jon is very happy that he and his friends don't have similar conversations together and he is finally able empathize with me about my general disdain for potty talk at baby showers.

Rachel and I picked out cute little cupcakes to paint, my mom free handed her monogram on a flat tile and Jon picked out an adorable little cat bank to work on. We spent most of the night freaking out that we weren't going to be able to finish our painting before the store closed, but we all finished in time with minutes to spare.

We only had to wait a week until our projects were fired and ready...here's the after photos:

my cupcake dish


Rachel's cupcake plate (she didn't want her face in the picture)


Jon's kitty bank (modeled after our original kitty, Nuku Nuku, shown in the background). With Jon's new cat bank, we finally have come to the point where it's no longer acceptable for us to bring any new cat figurines into our house. The count right now is at 4 and any more would make us labeled as crazy cat figurine collectors.**

*we didn't realize it was ladies night before dropping into the place...thank goodness Jon is a good sport.
**the label crazy cat people is fine with us