Zipper Pouch

I finally made a zipper pouch! Months ago our dear friend Emma of Hello Beautiful taught a wonderful class on how to make these pouches. She was so clear in her instructions that, months later, I was successful on my first try.



This will be a gift for B's first-grade teacher on her birthday.

Pipecleaner People

These are the Halloween gifts for the kids, in exchange for their remaining candy.



I found a very helpful tutorial at Duckyknits, and the felt clothes were loosely inspired by some similar dolls I had bought from Dreamchild Studio on Etsy.

Oven mitts

So here's the inspiration (so to speak). Pretty appalling. I used Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing book as further inspiration, but followed my own pattern.

I had this great vintage thrifted cafe curtain from which I removed the trim.

I then cut insulation from an old felted wool sweater.  Next time I'll use two layers, because as Frank puts it, the one layer merely delays the painful burn :)

An old sheet as the inner lining.

And the finished product.  Aren't they cute?  Even if not completely effective.  

Hopscotch and Horses

This is the Hopscotch top from Oliver + S, made with their City Weekend fabric. I'm happy with how it turned out, and she likes wearing it--an added bonus.

My new sewing box

Vintage 70's from my former Girl Scout leader's yard sale. Isn't it
great?

Came with two uncompleted sewing projects - a green jumper and a
floral Barbie doll skirt. I'm tempted to finish them for her.

Made in China

We spent a month in China this summer and I had quite a lot of travel
time to fill with knitting. I brought all my leftover bits of yarn and
made stripy hats. Based on the "hive hat" pattern on ravelry.com.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hive-hat

I really enjoyed coming up with fun color combinations because I have
a bizarre assortment of hand-me-down, thrifted, and yard sale yarn. I
really didn't enjoy weaving in all the loose ends.

Reversible totes

Long Beach has banned plastic bags at grocery stores (yippee!). Its so
much easier to remember your cloth bag if you know you'll get charged
ten cents for a paper one. In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd use
up some of my scraps on fabric totes.

These are reversible, and made from vintage sheets. From a great
tutorial at:
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/07/17/how-to-make-a-simple-reversible-totebag/

Nature Walk Pullover

B was emphatic that he was next in line. He had chosen the fabrics months ago. I worried a bit about his choices, but once he makes a decision, there's no going back. The pattern was great to sew, and I love the final look. He loves it, too.

Portfolio Dress

I finished it! I even wore it. Here is the Portfolio Dress by Lisette (and the same designer behind Oliver + S).



I freaked out a little with the pockets, as I couldn't understand how to assemble them. I found a useful tutorial, and afterward it made perfect sense. I'm looking forward to sewing more...but the kids have pointed out that they are next in line.

Next Quilt, Done

Finished! And only four months late. B suggested that next time perhaps I should start four months earlier. Right.

Bluebird Dress

This was a pretty simple project. We were given all the pieces in a kit, and the costume designer even posted a tutorial with step--by-step pictures on Facebook. The biggest challenge was fitting a size 5 to my size 6 daughter. Teeny tiny seams! The dress held up through both costume check rehearsal and full dress rehearsal, before splitting at the seam as soon as she walked in the door of the theater. Thankfully the Wardrobe Mistress had her sewing machine on site for quick repairs! We just had to throw her matching tulle wings on her and away she flew.

Sweater sleeve bunny

I think it came out cute. Not sure if it'll appeal to a Justin-Beeber-
loving 6 year old...

Dress

The dress she ordered is finished, but now she says she'll wear her "very nice" new pocket shirt to the wedding instead.

It's the Ice Cream Social dress from Oliver + S. It went pretty easily, but I couldn't have done it so calmly without the tutorial from Badskirt.

A Dad Shirt

Here she is in her "Dad shirt" (otherwise known as a pocket tee).



I've been working on a dress she can wear to a wedding, and she wanted to sew something. Herself. So she decided to make a pocket, and sewed it (mostly) by herself. Then she wanted me to attach it to the dress I'm making, and we came to a disagreement. The dress she "ordered" is orange, and the pocket is purple. Eventually she decided to attach it to a t-shirt to make it a "Dad shirt."

MacGyver'd knitting needle

Didn't get home before crafting night to pick up supplies, but since I
had bought the yarn that day figured I'd be OK if I could borrow some
needles.

Texted Cheryl to see if she had size 11 I could borrow. She did.

Perhaps I didn't specify needleS. Turns out a pencil is a perfectly
serviceable US size 11 :)

Quilt Squares

I was worried about lining up the quilt squares. I've had some successes:



And some disappointments:



It turns out that a lot just depends on how carefully I cut the squares to begin with. I thought I was very careful when I cut, but apparently not careful enough. I've sewed fairly consistent 1/4" seams, so that hasn't been the issue. And, as I've read, the fabric can be stretched a little when necessary. Emma's patchworking mum told me to pin the meeting points, but I'm regrettably too lazy to do that, so I'll live with the disappointments. In general I'm pleased.

Impromptu Rocket Shirt

She was feeling left out with all the quilting, so she asked for a "rocket shirt." I found an old pink t-shirt, cut out some felt pieces from my stash, and sewed them on. (The rocket was inspired by an old Tinyprints birthday invitation.) I've washed it once, and the felt looks ok so far. She was happy enough to let me sew a few more rows.

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Next Quilt, Part I

B. decided he also wanted a quilt for his birthday. Knowing that I am usually late with handmade gifts, he wrote a note telling me to start the quilt on December 30. Needless to say, I did not. His birthday is on Valentine's Day, and unless the fairies give me a hand, it will be late.

But in early January, I did take him to the fabric store to let him choose the fabrics for his orange and blue quilt (his favorite colors). Instead he chose something very different. The fabrics are all his, except that I added the black and green print, and I convinced him to omit the red fabric he liked. The purple surprised me, but it works.



We are placing the squares fairly randomly. He draws from seven pieces of paper to determine the next fabric square, but we've agreed that we don't want two identical squares next to each other. I am sewing strips of 9 squares to allow us to rearrange as we want (each row will be 18 squares across). This is my (legitimate?) excuse for not chain piecing.

wallets

I decided to make a wallet with some great upholstery fabric remnants I had. I went searching around for ideas online and then remembered seeing one I loved while shopping patchwork last year. I found the woman's business card in my stash and looked at her shop on etsy - amdcustomdesign but she no longer is selling. I hope she'd be flattered by the copy...

I made two. The first is a billfold with room for a few credit cards. The second a coin purse to replace one Cheryl had stolen at the farmer's market. Moments after these photos were taken, the coin purse disappeared. I'm not kidding.

Patchwork Tooth Fairy Pillow

Our friend Christie made this great pillow--I hope to make one as well. I'd better get on it, as I hear that B's teeth are just the slightest bit wiggly.

She said she was hanging on to a stack of baby clothes, so she searched the Web for crafting ideas and found a photo of a beautiful little blanket made from squares of baby clothes sewn together.

Two years later, with news of her firstborn's wiggly tooth, she pulled out the nine finished squares of the baby "blanket" and decided on a tooth pillow instead.

To make the pillow, she sorted through the clothes and pulled out favorites, especially those with embellishments or pockets. She cut 3.5" squares of fabric to accommodate the largest pocket. She backed each square with plain white cotton and stitched just inside each patch. She says she sewed it all by hand so she could be in the same room as the kids. She then backed the nine patches with cotton and stuffed it with organic cotton balls.



I might have enough saved baby clothes to make a queen-sized quilt, but I love this idea. I just hope B's teeth stay put until after his 6th birthday, as I need to finish (and start) working on his birthday present first.

Albatross Scarf

The Albatross Scarf is done.



This was a Mother's Day gift to my mother...last Mother's Day. It became a combined Mother's Day / birthday gift (her birthday is in January). At least I didn't promise it for Christmas. I didn't think it would be so difficult, but I was unable to follow a simple set of directions for odd rows and then simply knit on even rows. I have, however, learned a great deal about frogging and getting everything back on the needles.

I found the pattern on Purlbee.

Easy slipcover

How to recover a pillow in 2 minutes...

Field trip

Went treasure hunting at Trash for Teaching in LA. Came home with 17
pounds of manufacturing castoffs to reuse. Can't wait!