Baby Blankets Galore

I've been on a bit of a baby blanket bender....  I've made 5 in the last couple months for friends at church having babies and people that Dan works with.  It was tons of fun - but I'm kinda glad to get a break from baby blankets now!!  

All of the yarn was Baby Bee from Hobby Lobby - I love the way the yarn works up and how it feels, but sometimes the number of knots and other issues with the yarn drive me a bit nuts...  

The patterns are from all over the place this first one is just an icicle stitch pattern with a simple striped border.  

I'm pretty sure this was a pattern I found online, but now I can't find where...  

This one is from an Annie's Attic Baby Blanket book

This pattern came from this website

This is another one I found online, and I also can't figure out where, but I think it was called a heirloom blanket pattern....

Taz Quilt

I made this quilt for my nephew - his name is Taz and so I thought this fabric was perfect for him!  It's a pattern from Perfect for Precuts Volume 1 and it's called "Flower Show" It was a really easy quilt - easy to cut, easy to piece.  It's a twin size quilt - but it's a very large twin size!   This first photo shows the binding and you can just barely catch a glimpse of the awesome tazmanian devil swirls in the quilting.  I got it machine quilted by Susan Bateman.  I also made a matching pillowcase.  

Most of the prints are a set of fat quarters - but the blue fabric I got online and the orange fabric and green polka dot fabric are from Hobby Lobby

This one shows the pattern a bit better - I hand stitched the binding while on our way down to Texas and barely remembered to take a picture of the blanket before I sent it with my sister!

Baby Blankets!!!

Well I have a lot of friends having babies - and since (for once) I'm NOT having one too - I am having fun making baby blankets for them! This is the first one I finished for one of my online scrapping buddies - she's having a little boy!

The pattern is from this book - I got it at JoAnn's but if you click the image it will take you to where you can get it at Annie's Attic.  It was a fun pattern to work and the edging was unique in the way it went together.  The only problem I had with it was in the first round of the edging (the round of single crochets that is the foundation for the rest) it has you do 2 more stitches than my math tells me is necessary for the edge - if you follow the directions, you will end up with 502 sc's around the outside - however to work with the rest of the edging (and to avoid pulling out a half finished round because it didn't work out right - and your hair along with it) you need 500 - once i figured that out and made marks all over my pattern to remind myself if I make this again - It was an easy and fun pattern.  Hopefully my friends little boy enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.  I used Bernat Baby Coordinates Yarn - the boucle type yarn - in blue green and white.  The blanket came out so soft and snuggly!  I think it took 3 skeins..... 

I've been working on lots of stuff and even finished some of it, and maybe I'll get around to getting some of it posted here.  :) 

Scarves

This pattern was part of another kit from the Hook and Needle club through Annie's Attic. The kit came with 3 different scarf patterns, but after making this scarf, I enjoyed it so much I wanted to make it again. This first picture is the scarf I made using (mostly) the yarn I was given and (mostly) the pattern I was given. I accidentally did the first couple rows different from the pattern, but ended up preferring it that way. The pattern asked me to do 2 rows of sc after the beginning ch and then no rows of sc on the other side. Instead I did mine with the chain right in the middle and a row of sc on either side. Also - I didn't worry about gauge since it was a scarf, but that ended up being a problem since I ran out of yarn.... So i found a fuzzy yarn that was the same color and did the border round with that.


I ended up liking the fuzzy yarn look a lot, so I found some spare yarn I had lying around and modified the pattern a bit and made this scarf. Both scarfs used a bit more than a skein of yarn total.


Ok here is how I made the second scarf - the first one wasn't my own pattern - though mine was heavily based off of it. Click on the image - then right click and choose "Save Image As"

Kindle Cover

When I saw this pattern in the 101 Patchwork Projects and Quilts I knew I had to make it for my friend. She is the Kindle Queen! I'm still firmly entrenched in the paper world as far as my reading, but if you or someone you know has gone digital this is a great quick and easy project. It pulls together in a couple hours tops (even if you are are rather slow moving like me)

The one suggestion I would make is to measure the kindle you are planning to cover first and adjust the pattern accordingly - lol - I didn't the first time and found that her kindle was larger than the case i made - so I now have 2 cases - that look just like this one, but one fits her kindle and one fits a smaller one. :) This project can be done (haha - in either size) with just a quarter yard of 2 different fabrics, a button, a hair elastic and some batting and fusible web. I got the fusible web off amazon, the fabric from a small quilt shop and the button from a different quilt shop. The pattern gives you the option to quilt the cover - I was too lazy the second time around, but I did quilt the first attempt. It looks nice - but doesn't really add much.

Fall Trivets

I have been working on a lot of different projects recently with the holidays coming, but I have been unsure as to whether I should post them now or wait until after the holidays.... I figure since there aren't a whole lot of avid readers of my blog, that as long as I don't mention who the gifts are for, it's not a big deal if I post picture of them here. :) Not that every post from now until Christmas will be gifts I am making, but some will be.

These are a couple of trivets that I just finished up. This is a pattern I got from Interweave. Here is a link to the pattern. The pattern was quick and easy (even for a not-so-advanced sewer) Fabric is just some fat quarters from JoAnn's. This project took no more than a couple hours to complete - and even then - the slowest part was getting the lavender buds into it, they didn't want to go in and I ended up using a crochet hook to shove them in through the funnel. I got the lavender from Lavender Fanatic. It has been making my house smell wonderful! The order came quickly and I would definitely buy from them again.

I do plan on using this pattern again - it was quick, easy and I really like the way it came out.

The one thing I will do more carefully is be more careful of my seams, I discovered that my seams were often larger than the requested 1/4 inch - which threw off the size - I will need to be more careful next time to make sure my seams are the right size so I don't spend as much time picking seams out.... :P

Tissue Holder

This is a fun little project that makes a great gift and is quick and easy to make. This was another piece that I made for my sisters diaper bag. The one I made for her was sized larger to hold plastic bags (which are very convenient for a mommy who doesn't want to carry around soiled clothes loose in the diaper bag or a stinky diaper loose when a garbage can is hard to find) The basic pattern is easy enough to alter to fit your purpose. The size as it is in the pattern is just the right size for a travel size package of kleenex. This keeps them from scattering all over your purse or diaper bag :)


I meant to get this picture posted with this pattern, but the moving and getting internet up took longer than we had hoped (since we both got sick) and was soon followed by sewage back up problems that we have had our hands full getting fixed.... but better late than never - this is what my finished project looked like and now I have a nice set for the baby shower I'm going to later this month. :)

Baby Accessories

So this bottle cozy is another pattern that is a great baby shower gift. It can be finished in a day and takes less than a skein of yarn. I made this one for an Avent bottle - which is one of the bigger bottles. It can easily be adjusted for smaller or taller bottles, and how to adjust it is included in the pattern. This could also be modified bigger to make a gift cozy for a bottle of wine or sparkling cider (lol - I don't drink) :)

As usual, if you have any problems with the pattern or questions about it, feel free to leave a comment here.
This is a close up of the top decorative edge of the holder.

You can download a pdf of this pattern here

Or you can click on this jpeg and then right click and choose 'save image as'

Diaper Bag and Accessories

I saw this diaper bag set shortly after I found out that my younger sister was pregnant with her first baby. I wanted to spoil her, and thought that a good gift would be this diaper bag, stuffed with all the things a new mom needs. This pattern was in the March 09 issue of Crochet!

The first thing that needed to be altered was the colors. I wasn't a huge fan of the bright colors. :) I found some of the instructions hard to understand - mostly when it came to putting the thing together, so I just kinda played around with it until I liked it. I also changed how I did the lining. I made it a bit more complicated, but I think a bit nicer looking too. The pattern suggests just taking a piece of fabric and folding it in half. I actually went to the effort of making the lining fit to the shape of the diaper bag. The pattern also included a changing pad which was a great quick and easy project.


In addition to the pieces of the pattern, I made a few other pieces to go with this set that would also make GREAT quick and easy baby shower gifts. Some of them are shown here in the picture - this was my finished set that I sent off to my sister. I love how it came out - I don't know that I would go to the trouble of the full set for anyone other than my sister, but I really like the finished product.


So I thought I would type out the patterns for the other pieces I made and make them available to you. LOL - this may take a bit of time, but here is the first. The first one is a diaper and wipes carrier. A friend of mine (with more sewing ability than I will ever have...) gave me something like this for a baby shower gift. I LOVED it. I loved having something with diapers and wipes together that I could just grab and take, without having to drag the full diaper bag along if I didn't want to. This carrier will fit a travel wipes case and 4-5 diapers up to size 6. I swear, the button matches better in person.... the flash of the camera seemed to make the greens totally different!



Snag the pattern here as a jpeg - just click on it - then right click and choose 'save image as'



I don't feel comfortable giving the diaper bag pattern out - it isn't my pattern. :( (though I wish it were - lol - but I'm not that clever!) The way I got the pattern from such an old magazine is by signing up for the digital subscription to Crochet! Magazine - it's very inexpensive for a year subscription - plus you can download the back issues too - for me it was SOO worth it - that ended up being over 25 magazines for only $16 - if you want to check it out click here

This pattern is now being offered for free - you can go download it here