Woodland Fairy--Another Birthday Present

 Here's another birthday present for one of Clara's friends. This time a girl version of the woodland theme. 

Again, the fairy idea was from here,  the rabbit from here, the owl from here and the rose from here. She also got the 2 trees and a little fairy baby wrapped up in a 'leaf' and a silk square to set everything up on.

I've decided I really need to get a good stash of good wool felt. I'm kind of addicted to making these and need more colors. They are fast, fun and useful in a way. And they are hand work, which I always like to have something to work on while I'm waiting at dance or piano lessons. 

 Here's a close up of the fairy and a look at her wings...not exactly sure what fairy wings should look like, but I had fun coming up with this one.

Under the Sea

In the past week, Clara has been to 3 birthday parties (she's 5). I hate birthday parties, ugh! I guess what I really hate is that my budget for gifts is not that big and there isn't much to find in the stores for that price. Since we had 3 so close together, right after Christmas (read--I don't even want to go into a store let alone look for a present), I decided to make them instead.  Here's 2 out of the 3 presents (forgot to take pictures of the first one finished). The bendy woodland elf/gnome and mermaid idea came from here (I had actually seen these made before, but this is the tutorial that I used to refresh my mind). 

 The rabbit pattern and the idea for the whole "scene" came from my lovely friend Valerie. She's my crafty guru and a lover of wool, so she's really good at these kind of things. The other elf/gnome (not sure what to call him) was different as dictated by Clara. He had a little messenger bag with a little scarf in it, because her friend Andrew is always cold. This guy has pockets (on his pants and shirt) because her friend Shawn likes pockets.
(Excuse the rushing out the door to get to the party which made these a little crummy photos:)

So the other two parties were back to back over last weekend and the third is tomorrow, which means I had a little more time to work on this one...which was a lot of fun. 

 Each set was gifted in a little muslin bag, but for this one I added some embroidery (really just an excuse to stay up and finish a movie after the kids had gone to bed).

 Each set included some play cloths as well...this one had a couple more. All a little silky feeling except the cotton shell one in the front.

 Here's a close up of the mermaid. Again I used this little tutorial.

 Clara helped me pick out some shells from our collection to add to the scene and I made the little seaweed plant thing.

 The little critters were a lot of fun to make. Clara dictated the colors and the type of animals. The starfish pattern I made up, but I got the dolphin one from here.

And here is a little set up...I've had a hard time keeping Clara from playing with it, so I guess I'll be making a couple more for my girls to play with. Which is fine by me. I like this kind of little hand sewing projects. 

Christmas Crafting--Part 1

In case you were wondering what the whole clan looks like, here is our family picture from this year.

 Now on to half of the the Christmas crafting (I haven't gotten around to taking pictures of the other half:)

First up: Clara's Christmas Eve pajamas. I don't really do the whole holiday theme/color scheme because these are the pjs the wear all year round. I usually try and pick something that I think they will really like or a favorite color.  This year I found 3/4 of a yard of this adorably cute flannel in the remnant bin at JoAnn's. I snatched it up, planning on adding to it for a nightgown. I was just going to add white flannel where needed to make a full nightgown. I figured that way the cute fabric would really stand out...and I was trying to keep my purchases to a minimum.

But last minute I changed my plans and made pajama pants instead. The reason was that Sophia got these cool fabric markers and I kind of wanted to try them out. I just used a plain t-shirt for the top.

There wasn't quite enough fabric to get a full length of pants out of it, so I added the pink onto the bottom as well as the ric-rac for a little touch.

Don't mind the early Christmas morning 'I didn't brush' my hair look and focus on the cute fox I drew. The fabric markers were easy to use and so far have made it through one washing. I'd give them 2 thumbs up...we have lots of projects in mind for these.

And yes, she really really likes these pajamas.

 Every year I give my kids an ornament. Eventually when they go off and get married or move out on there own where they put up a Christmas tree, they'll get their box of ornaments. Some years they have some memory attached to them. If we take a family trip I usually try to find an ornament for that year then (score because the trips are usually in the summer and the ornaments are super cheap then). We have Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Promontory Point and Panama City beach represented. Some years I just grab the cute cheap ones from Target (we are partial to birds and some years they've had some good ones). Other years I make them.  That's what I ended up doing for this year...we didn't take any big trips and the store ones were kind of disappointing this year.

The girls got the little matryoshka dolls and the boys got the snowflake looking ones.

They are all made from wool felt and I kind of like how they turned out.

Keeping My Hands Busy

This is what I've been up to, in between sewing up 2 tutorials and life.  These little ornaments I send up to my mom and she sells them at the craft fairs that she goes to.  She sells quilts, so I'm not competition:)  I take these along when I have to sit and wait through ballet classes, piano lessons and the such.  I figure that way I'm accomplishing something.

Check back tomorrow to see where I've landed for the day.  I'm in good company and was honored to be a part of the series.

Resurrecting a Favorite

 I had to go and look for a picture of me tonight and ended up going through a lot of pictures.  Partially because I was just going down memory lane and was having fun remembering the memories that went with the pictures, but also because there aren't many pictures of me.  Sad, huh?  Why do we as the memory makers and recorders let ourselves out of those records?  Well that's a post for another day.  What I wanted to post, was this awesome jumper I had made for my then 9 month old little girl.  This was from back in 2009 and I hadn't ever really posted a how-to. 

 Probably one of the easiest projects I've ever done that got a ton of compliments. 

Here's what you do...first you have to hunt down a sweater that is at least 80% wool.  It can be any kind of wool, but it has to be that high of percentage so it will felt and shrink. This one was a pretty Pendelton wool sweater that someone had already accidently shrunk and then sent off to Goodwill.  So scour those second hand stores and don't forget to check the men's racks too.  You just need a neat looking sweater that is wool.

Second, throw it in the washing machine, put in a little soap and wash with HOT water.  I wouldn't put anything else in with it, because it sheds a lot.  Then you throw it in the dryer.  It should be good and felted by now and be a couple sizes smaller.

Third, find a jumper, dress or shirt to use as a guide when cutting it out.  Lay it out and cut, but don't forget you want a little overlap at the top of the shoulders.  I also used the bottom edge of the sweater so I didn't have to worry about hemming it or anything.

Fourth, sew up the sides.

Fifth, snip little button holes (because the wool is felted, you won't have to do anything else to your cuts), just make sure you measure the buttons and not cut too large of holes. Sew on the buttons. Part of the reason I loved this jumper so much are the vintage blue buttons I used on it.  I just wish I had better pictures of them.

Last, if you really want, blanket stitch around the neck and armholes.  You could use contrasting thread to make a statement.  I kind of wished I had used something that was a little more noticeable   But you don't have to do this step, it's just decorative   Since the wool is felted, it won't fray or anything like that, so you can consider the edge finished once you cut it.

Depending on how big of a sweater you find, is how big you would be able to make a jumper.  This was a women's medium sweater originally and I was able to get a jumper for my 9 month old little girl, who has always been in the 90% for height, so you might say this could fit a 12 month old.

Now's the perfect time for one of these though.  It was a cute outfit with a turtleneck onesie and cute tights or leggings.

January Crafting

Not much crafting going on here this past month. Not quite sure why. Maybe it's just that December was very full of crafting and I kind of got a little burnt out. I have done some mending and trying to tackle that pile of things. I've also been trying to organize my pictures and learn the ins and outs of Quicken. Nothing too exciting, really. However, I do have some Valentine's Day crafting lined up and am thinking about Easter Dresses already. Oh and I'm already thinking about this year's Christmas projects. One of the ones I have in mind requires seasonal fabric, so I have plans to catch the sales after each holiday/season. That being said, here is one of the projects I started/tried out and have plans to make a couple of more for the girls using these two patterns: flower clip and the rose clip (they are 2 different tutorials).

This one falls under the mending category. Clara tried out the stroller herself one too many times and the flimsy polyester just didn't hold up, so a repair was called for. I gave her the choice of paisley or stripes and she chose the paisley. I also made a little pocket to hang on the back, made out of the stripe.
I just unpicked the old one, making sure to put the binding and such in seperate piles for back and bottom, used the old pieces for a pattern, cut out the new one and used the same binding and all for the new one, this time reinforcing it a little bit more. I really like this one much better. It's much cuter, if I do say so myself.

Finally, here is a picture of the girls in their matching Christmas pajamas and the coordinating pjs for their dolls.

The Other Two

Now time to tell what I made for the other two. Jakob got the book cover and Sophia got the quilt. While those two projects were fun in their own way, these two were especially fun, because I was bringing something to life in my own way.

Clara has been sleeping and using one of Sophia's Magic Cabin dolls on loan for a couple of months now. It was decided way back in the summer that she would get one of these dolls for Christmas, so Sophia was happy to make a temporary loan. After finally deciding on the coloring of the doll, which went through many changes until I finally decided on something similar, but not quite the same as the one she was borrowing, I ordered it. The kit arrived and sat...funny that this is the one present that I knew I was going to make way back in July, but it was the last one I made. Baby Lily, as she has been named by the older 3 (all of the dolls have flower names...there's a story behind that) was made in a couple of late nights the week before Christmas. I went with the 'Anne of Green Gables' look. Clara loves her. Here she is opening her Christmas morning:

And here she is lying on the quilt that I made to go with her. Again I used some pieces from another embroidered pillow cases.
For Ethan I went with felt animals. He's been asking for some and I think he really liked these. He got a rabbit, squirrel, beaver, robin, cardinal, turtle and penguin. (The basic critter pattern was created by Valerie, the turtle pattern was from a book I checked out at the Nashville Public Library...I know I wrote the title down somewhere and just can't find it and the penguin pattern I think I got from Valerie as well, but I think she got this one from somewhere else)
Can you tell these are all from the same pattern? He's declared the squirrel his favorite.

Crafting for the Other Budge Brood

There is something about homemade gifts. I feel like I'm giving a piece of myself or in return, receiving a piece of someone else. I love that feeling and I find myself trying more and more to make homemade gifts. This wonderful family also got a manacala set from Togo, but I wanted to give them each something and stay in budget. Here is what I created for each of them: For the ever so talented mom and manager of 6--an apron made from the embroidered portion of a pillowcase my grandmother had embroidered (my oldest sister got one of these as well, I just forgot to take pictures of everything I made for their family). The pillowcase was beyond repair and I wanted to somehow use the embroidered part. I thought it made a nice apron bottom because the lace was already in tact. Plus she got two felt ornaments.

The oldest, who happens to be a boy, got a book cover. While my oldest put his to use right away, I'm not sure what the nephew thought of his.
Next comes 4 girls so I made them each a skirt and matching hair accessory. I had a bunch of tan poplin sitting around, but I wanted to make them each individualized as well and keep it simple, using up what I had around (successful, except the elastic--4 skirts uses a lot). I used the lazy day skirt idea in a couple of different ways and then added some fun embellishments. First up, elegant and refined meets up with a little girly--after all she is turning 12 this year. The bottom of hers is a black on white print, cut on the bias, trimmed with pinking shears (an early Christmas present to myself which I found many uses for during my holiday crafting crunch), and then gathered using 2 different runs of a gathering stitch. You just gather, pin, sew in between the 2 runs using the lazy day concept (treat the ruffle as the ribbon) and then pull out the gathering stitches. I ran the extra up the side of the skirt a little and put a black velvet bow on the top of it (lousy picture, I know). It also has another velvet bow on the upper right leg area. Her hair accessory is a length of brown bias tape with a flower on it made out of little circles pinched/gathered together and then tacked on(I got this idea from Valerie, so if she passes on the link I'll pass it on too). I used some more of the black on white fabric and plain black. I then added a little black button in the middle of the flower.
Second was for the very classy and stylish minded sister. She's usually the one out jumping on the trampoline with the boy cousins, but she's the one that likes to have her hair done and asks if things match. I think polka dots over flowers when I think of her, so polka dots it was. I just used the lazy day ribbon idea with 2 inch wide brown with pink polka dots gross grain ribbon and then made a bow to put on the upper right leg area. The hair thing is some of the extra pink polka dot ribbon turned into a head band. I just used one of the clear, rubber bands that get kind of stretchy and sewed it to the ends of the ribbon.
For the third I went with simple but elegant. This girl has one of those Audrey Hepburn faces and she is a simple kind of girl. I took purple lining fabric, cut out strips on the bias and did the same thing as I did for skirt #1. I then used smaller strips to make the rosettes. They turned out a little harder than I thought they would be, so they are a little wonky, but still pretty. Her hair thing is a purple flower glued to a ribbon covered clip with a glittering stone/brad stuck in the middle (scrap booking brads are great for this kind of thing).
Finally the youngest, something really girly. I used light green brocade trim instead of ribbon and then ran it up the side for the flowers stem. The petals are various pink and white scraps cut out with pinking shears and then sewn on to resemble a flower. I added a button in the middle and the hair clip is covered with the same green trim and a matching button attached.

Here's a close up of the flower.Finally for the youngest, a very active 2 year old boy. He got an eye spy beanbag with a lot of stuff to find. Hopefully that will keep him still for a couple of minutes.

Here's the list. I really liked the orange on grey look.

Pictures of Projects and avoiding more Projects

Here are some pictures of the finished mushroom book covers. I liked how this one turned out. I think Jakob is getting this one and his cousin the other. I'm not sure which one I like more though.
Here is the quilt top that is going to be Sophia's Christmas present. She already knows that hers won't be quite finished, but I'm still going to wrap it up with the fabric I'm going to use for the back. There are a couple places that bug me, but over all I love the scrappy look of it all. It doesn't really show up in the picture, but the different white on white prints look really scrappy too.
Here it is with the backing. It doesn't quite match, but I think she is going to love it. It's got butterflies and red and pink, some of her favorite things.
Finally, I finished one!!! That is, one of the jump rope dresses from Oliver&S. It was an amazingly fast sew, given how complicated it seemed. It was hard, but the directions were wonderfully written to make every step easy to understand. It did stretch my skills as well and I love the end result. What happened was my original idea for Sophia's Christmas dress went down the drain when I discovered the gray wool that I intended to use was full of moth eaten holes (it was going to be a jumper with kick plate pleats and embroidered snowflakes, my own creation) Plan B turned into this dress from some old purple and gold fabric from my mom's stash. Love the vintage look of the fabric and love the way it looks on her (she tried it on with her eyes closed for me, just so I could see how I did). My review of the pattern: Loved it! Easy to follow with great "hints" written into the directions Challenging, but worth it. My only negative thought is that it runs a little small. My experience with patterns so far has been that they run a little big, so when I measured Sophia and she fell under 'size 5' I went with it thinking she'll have a little room to grow into it. Not really the case. It's a little tight in the shoulders. Now I know.
Oh and Baby Violet gets a "matching" dress too.

Now back to the rest of the sewing I need to get done before Christmas...

Gift Idea for the Reader in Your Family

Here it is, my first ever tutorial. As my son gets older the dilemma of what to make him for Christmas (every year each of the kids gets a homemade gift from me) gets harder. What do you give an 11 year old boy when your talents lie in the sewing/crafting department? This year I came up with what I thought was a clever idea. Seeing as he is a precocious reader, who is always bringing a book to the table and always searching for something to use as a bookmark, I thought this fit the bill. We'll see what he thinks in a couple of weeks. My idea--a book cover that has a bookmark and some handy other things as well.

To start out you need to gather your supplies and measure 2 books, as the amount of felt you need is determined by how big you need to make it. I used the paperback version of 'My Side on the Mountain' and the hardback version of 'Mysterious Benedict Society'. You will also need a snap, a piece of ribbon, thread to match and interfacing.

1. Cut out your pieces. Your main pieces are: 1. The inner piece which is the size of your bigger book opened + 1/2 an inch. 2. Interfacing the same size as piece #1. 3. The outer piece which is the size of the inner piece + 2/3rds more (it will get folded in to make the 'pockets' to hold the bigger book...look ahead to see the finished product if this doesn't make sense). You will also cut 2 inner pockets which are about the size of the cover of the smaller book + 1/2 inch (lay the book open to measure), the pocket for the back which is a rectangle and a triangle-make sure it is not bigger than the cover of your big book. Cut your ribbon to go from the top to bottom of your inner cover + 2 inches. You can also cut out embellishments.

2. Fuse interfacing if needed and draw a line down the middle of the inner and outer pieces for reference.
3. Pin inner pocket pieces to inner piece and interfacing. Sew around 3 sides. For placement, open book and line binding up with middle line.
4. Sew snap onto back pocket. Then attach pocket to outer piece, with a piece of interfacing on the opposite side. To find placement place book in the middle and fold flap into book. The pocket should go on to what will be the middle of the back side.

5. Sew 3 lines down the middle of inner, interfacing and outer pieces.

6. Now is the time to add embellishments so the backside of the embroidery is hidden. Also pin the ribbon right next to the 3 lines of sewing on the right side. You can add an embellishment on the end of the ribbon or finish it with something to keep it from fraying.

7. Pin and then sew around the inner piece to secure. Fold in outer flaps to make the bigger pockets and pin. Sew around the entire thing again, following the seam from when you sewed around the inner piece but making sure to catch the upper and lower edge of the big 'pocket'.

8. Finish edge. I used pinking shears or you could use a blanket stitch.

I'll post a picture of the mushroom one as soon as I can. I think they turned out cute and I hope they get some use. The other one will be for my 12 year old nephew. So what do you think? Let me know if it didn't make any sense. And feel free to try it, just don't use this idea for profit.