crapts

Year of crafting and sewing ...

CHRISTMAS PILLOWS (Pottery Barn knock off)

SOME CHRISTMAS CRAPTS

 The YW made these paper trees.  You just cut three sizes of circles out of paper, then cut a wedge out of the circle.  Glue it into a teepee.  Cut fringe in the bottom of the teepee and curl a little with a pencil.  This one isn't very curly.  Then string it on embroidery floss.  We had to tie knots to keep the papers where we wanted them, so they didn't just stack on top of each other.  The Young Women loved it and they did turn out so cute!

 We also made these ornaments as gifts.  They are glass balls and with sand and shells.  The poem says, "remember, remember try always to be as the One who walked the shores of Galilee".  BIG tip - glue the metal thingy on top onto the ornament because it WILL fall off and then you will have sand in your carpet.

I'm just sayin ...

I found these little felt people for a dollar at Target and I put them on a pillow.  Blogger is insisting they go on sideways.  What can you do?  It was a MAJOR pain to sew through the layers of felt and they were sticky backed which gummed up my needle big time.  Grr.  But now it is done and in storage to be enjoyed next year.  Haha!

 Also at Target, they had these felt trees, three for a dollar.  I was going to make mug rugs for my visit teachees with them, but that didn't work out.  Instead, I made these pillows.  They are the right size for my kids' heads.  I backed them with some snowflake flannel king size pillow cases that were still new.  I did wonder under these one, but at the last minute decided to sew around the edges.  I am glad that I did because the felt and the wonderunder were not good friends.

 I couldn't decided between the colors.

I think that I will send one to my daughter :).

Anyhoo ... that's a few of the things I've done.  I have more to put on here as soon as I get my act together.

Give Thanks banner

This is where I first saw this banner - it was made by Celestial's Creations for her week of So You Think You Are Crafty.  It didn't win (I think it should have and I waited a little while for her to post the tutorial anyway, but in the end, I just tried to emulate her genius.  So this is what I came up with.

In my town there is NO GOOD FELT.  It's rather frustrating.  But I did the best I could with the stuff I could find.  I used two of my Fiestaware plates to make the circles and a spool of thread as a pattern for the scallops.  Then I just freehand embroider some stitch whose name I can't remember - is it daisy chain maybe? - the letters on with that crochet thread stuff.  My turkey has special needs, but not to worry, he'll be dead in a few weeks.

So, this was fun and sort of fast - a few hours - and it's one of the few things I've made that I actually liked when I made it.  Crazy. Right?

SOME HOOKING

Oh, but first, the baby - out of a sock.  I made her in a bunting for the cutest little girl ever.

Do you remember back in the day - the little crocheted purses that were also a bassinet?  My friend asked me to make one for her adorable granddaughter.  I think she was remembering several years ago when I made this.

Anyway, this time I made it a bassinet, not a mushroom.  I also couldn't find the fairy pattern, so I looked around and finally copied a doll I saw on Pinterest.  You pull the straps and the bassinet becomes a little purse to carry your baby around in.

Here she is all nestled snug in her bed.  I made her a little mattress to firm up the bottom of the bed but it was just ehhhh so no pics.

Once I was hooking again, it was a slippery slope to more projects.  Especially when my oldest texted me a picture of some hats that a lady sells at her work and asked me which one she should buy.  I said, "Neither!  I will make you one."  So I did:

I pretty much winged it and I am not loving it, but my daughter assures me it is fabulous.  At one time I bought a newsboy pattern on Etsy.  I just need to find where I saved it so I can make it again.

Then I saw a "new" pattern everyone is raving about called Alligator or Crocodile Scales.  I think I remember this from about 30 years ago, but I had to make an ear warmer right away.  I call it sunflower, because with the dark hair on top, it looks like a sunflower. Right?

And then ...

Last but not least, I got a free pattern from Maybe Matilda for participating in the Cowl Along and I got this one - a basketweave earwarmer with a cute huge flower.  The flash blanked out the white basketweave, but you can sort of see it on the side.  I put a huge orange button in the middle of the flower.  I pretty much love it.  

mugrug madness

I LOVE to make mug rugs and I've had a few on my list.  The other day I sat down with my scraps and went to town!  Here they are:

The hexagon mug rug tutorial I got here.  It's my first time doing hexagons and they were fast and fun!  I like my mug rugs to be 6x9 -ish so I did things a little different - not to mention I printed a bunch of hexagons off the computer, I can't find the precut hexies anywhere.  I'm going to have my hubby make some patterns for me on my Silhouette.  It won't be my last hexagon mug rug! I loved it!

The zig zag mug rug tutorial here.  It's the same girl as the hexagon mug rug and I have the fabric and everything ready to go to make the very zigzag quilt she refers to!  I really need to get started on that - it's been waiting for me for ... well, crikey ... three or four years!

The wonky starburtst mug rug tutorial here.  My daughter calls this one Farm in the Rising Sun because it looks like rows of farm food and a rising sun rays.  When she pointed that out I got all kinds of inspired about colors and where to place them.  This tutorial stressed me out.  I am pretty cerebral when it comes to making things look random.  When sponge painting was in my walls were a mess - I had to do them all right handed.  But in the end, the randomness worked out okay and I love this mug rug most of all.  It already has a home (with a polka dotted mug) for my friend who is having surgery.

Now if only it would get cool enough down here to use a mug rug for something warm instead of a smoothie or a slushie ... which just doesn't sound right - slushie mug?  Definitely not!