Spring Table Runner

I had fun making this table runner. I found a jelly roll that I really liked - I supplemented the roll with some coordinating solids and made a lavender trivet (see this post) to go with it. Now I just need to figure out what to make with the rest of the fabric!


Here's more of a close up - and a better view of the trivet.


And here is the pattern - I really don't know much about writing up quilting and sewing patterns, so if this is lacking - let me know and I will try to do better :) I used patterns from my scrap kit "Spring Tweets" to make the pretty pattern :) Just click on the image and then right click and choose "Save Image As" to grab this free pattern.

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.

Picnic Quilt

This quilt is something that we have been working on for a while now. (And by we I mean me and my hubby) It was my hubby's idea - he said he would do everything if I would agree to doing the binding. As you can imagine, that's not quite how it worked out. :) While my husband is perfectly able to handle a sewing machine, he also travels - A LOT - which means that while his intentions were good, I ended up doing all the sewing. He was thankfully sensitive to my massive prego belly and the inability to get up and down from the floor easily, and did all the cutting, and laying out and tying. We finally managed to get it finished.

A quick disclaimer - my husband picked the fabric. They are each cute by them selves, but I don't know that I would have chosen to put them together - but it is a picnic blanket, so I guess funky and sporadic works.

The quilt has 24 squares that are each made up of 9 - 5" squares. They are separated by 2" wide stripes and 2" squares at the corners. The quilt ended up being made so that it was 6 squares by 4 squares, because the backing fabric wasn't as wide as they told my hubby it was at the store. We had planned on making it 5x5. The quilt will have grommets in the corners to put stakes through and hold it down with. We tied it with brown red heart yarn.

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. :)

Moving

Hey Awesome People! We have just closed on our new house and will be spending the next few days moving!! Because we will be moving the server that hosts all my downloads - and will not have internet until some time next week, the download links will not work until next Wednesday or later. The hopefully not too long after, I will be able to get this new pattern up for you - it's almost ready - but organizing my new crafting room is taking precedence!! :)

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

Baby Booties and Hat

A friend of mine signed up for the Hook and Needle club through Annie's Attic. She found herself unable to do some of the kits and let me have a few. One of the kits I got was this set of baby booties and hat. Now, the kit comes with instructions for both knit and crochet, but I don't knit well, so I chose crochet. :)

I wasn't crazy about the yarn they sent with the kit - but I don't think I would have minded it so much if the gauge had required a smaller stitch. I like my baby booties to be a tighter and firmer stitch than the patter and gauge allowed - this might have been less noticeable with different yarn, but the combination wasn't my favorite. Despite this, I think they came out cute!

I did do some adjustments to the pattern. The center of the Mary Jane booties was a bit off, so I changed the counting a bit to keep the center of the sock in line with the center of the toe. I also changed the way I did the hat. The pattern had it worked in rows as a flat piece, then had it sewn together to make the round. I worked the piece in rounds - didn't want to make more work for myself than necessary.... I think it worked just fine. I really liked the way the moccasins came out and almost wish I could make myself a pair... :)

I didn't include the moccasins in the picture because I had already given them to a friend with a new baby - I barely remembered to take this pic before I sent the rest off to another friend!

This pattern is only available through the Hook and Needle club and can't be bought on it's own. (At least not as far as I could find!)

I think that if I attempt these again, I will use different yarn, and try a double sole for more stability.

Ripple Throw

This was a project for my mother-in-law. I started out by looking at a bunch of ripple patterns, but was unable to find anything I liked. Most of the ones I saw were really ornate, and we had picked out this beautiful boucle yarn that didn't need a fancy stitch. I ended up just making up my own pattern as I went and really liked the way it turned out.

I am perfectionist when it comes to my crocheting, which can mean a LOT of stitches taken out :) What I found about working with the boucle yarn is that it is much more forgiving of accidents. I ended up leaving a lot of mistakes in there because the boucle yarn made them invisible. If you have never worked with these fancy yarns before (and are maybe a bit scared by them) give them a try! They take some getting used to - but are fun once you get going.

I have tried to type the pattern up for you - however I am inexperienced as a pattern writer - so if you give it a try and find problems, or have questions - feel free to leave a comment here and let me know!

The finished size was about 52" x 70" and I used a bit more than 2 Skeins of Sensations Rainbow Boucle Patterns Yarn - The Skeins are 11 oz each - I would say I used less than 30 oz of the yarn.

The pattern is a PDF file - you can download it here

And if the download is giving you trouble - here is the jpeg. Just right click the image and select "save image as"

Floral Stripes 18-inch Doll Outfit

Ok - First up is this outfit which I made for my daughter for her birthday. The one I made was one pattern in a set of 3. I made the one on the left. Overall - I really liked the way the pattern worked. It was easy to understand, mostly simple stitches and turned out looking good. I got the pattern at Annie's Attic and used yarn that I got from Jo Ann's, Hobby Lobby and Walmart. My main gripe is that the printed version they sent me smudged when it got a bit damp (courtesy of one of my kids....)

I also added a lining to the purse. I basically took the purse pattern and made it again, but on the row where you stitch in back look only, I stitched in the front loop only, to put the pretty side on the inside :) I really like how the purse turned out with the lining

I also made a little bracelet which you can't see in the picture, because the purse is covering it.... I just made a chain as long as her wrist then joined it to make a circle. Then i sc in each stitch around. I made a small flower and attached it with a button. If I get around to it, I might even make a larger one for my daughter to match it.... :)

So here is how my attempt came out. I dressed up my daughters doll in the outfit and we had a little photo shoot :P The variegated yarn I used created a totally different look - but I still like it. I might even make this again in different colors for my next daughter... Oooo the joy of girls and making doll clothes!

My Crafting Blog

Well - I have decided to start this blog dedicated to my crafting - mostly to Crochet and Sewing. My plan is to show off stuff I've made, let you know what pattern I used, how well I liked the pattern, any adjustments I made to it, and how well I liked the finished product, and if I remember - where I got the pattern. :) And maybe someday, if I ever finish one of my patterns, I will share those too. :)

Anyway, don't know if anyone will read this, but either way, it will be a record for me. :)