handmade gift exchange

A couple of weeks ago, before Thanksgiving, I participated in a Handmade Gift Exchange.  Twice a year, Craftaholics Anonymous hosts this exchange for readers and crafters everywhere. Participants make a handmade gift for another crafter with whom they are paired.  

This was my second time participating.  It's a lot of fun.  I mean, who doesn't love getting mail?!

This time around, my swap partner was in Austin, TX.  Knowing this, I couldn't do anything for cold weather.  So, I decided to make her a scarf that she could wear right now.  Well, year-round, really.

This picture was taken with my iphone, right before mailing the package... not a lot of modeling choices.

The fabric was slightly sheer, hemmed on all sides, with 3 rows of elastic thread.  This was my first time sewing with elastic thread.  It was cool.  I don't know why I waited so long.  It was easy.  I NEED to make Hazel something smocked... soon.

Try to imagine the cuteness of this in real life.

I added to it a cute little wristlet.  There's no picture of the lining, but it was a cute red and white design.  And chevrons?  What's not to love!  You can find the tutorial for this wristlet here.

So much fun.

And here's what I received...

A couple of brown paper packages tied-up with string, er, a, twine.  The excitement grows...

Check out how cool this is.  Vintage flatware that she has stamped.  LOVE it!  

How fun will this be to use?!

Mmmm.  Ice Cream.

I Am Sew Happy!  Clever.

I'm thinking this could be a really cool gift for someone who's maybe a little hard to shop for?  You should check out her shop:  For Such A Time Designs.  Thanks Aly.  LOVE IT!

rumplestiltskin report

I'm REALLY late this time... and I'm not really expecting to get much better. Is that setting myself up for failure?

I've lost track of what I've done when, so this will be a random summary of the last two weeks.

This little pink doll (Ruby Lou Doll Pattern, found here), I actually made a long time ago. She's just been patiently waiting for a "sister". I don't think I ever posted a picture of her though, so here she is:



And here's the "sister", in purple. I was curious to see how she would turn out. It's actually the same pink dot, sheer fabric on top, but the pink one is backed with a plain pink, and the purple is backed with purple, obviously. I wasn't sure that it would turn out LOOKING purple, but it's fun that it did. Two little sisters are going to love these "sisters", I hope. I just have a few little somethings to add, and then they'll be off in the mail.



This has been a project long in the works. Like, forever. I originally made this skirt years ago. It's linen, basic A-line, elastic waist. It was my favorite go-to pattern for a quick, cute skirt, for a long time. Anyway, the pattern is for a just-below-the knee skirt, but I made this one long... probably close to ankle length. I wore it and really liked it for a long time, but the linen was such a light color that I almost felt like it was white. I already have a white linen skirt. Lame. So I decided to dye it.



The first time I dyed it, (no picture, sorry), it was too light. Guess I didn't leave it in long enough. So I dyed it again a couple of months ago. I cut the bottom off, and was deciding what to do, when I had an idea of putting a pleated ruffle on the bottom.

So, using the bottom of the skirt that I had cut off, (I actually cut it off twice, so I had two pieces), I sewed them together, and began pleating. It took a while... but looked kind-of cool, I thought.



And then sewed it onto the bottom of the skirt. I think I like the outcome, but now the problem is that the skirt is dyed unevenly... and I'm not sure that it looks intentional enough. So, it has yet to be worn in it's new form, until I buy some more dye and re-dye it, yet again. I'm just hoping that it will turn out uniform, that you won't be able to tell the previous lighter/darker areas. Guess we'll see.



And lastly, I spent time cutting up a bunch of rectangles of various types of fabric for more Cozy Car Caddy projects. Sometimes I have really GREAT ideas.

bad blogger

I have been such an awful blogger lately... too much summer fun. WE just got back from Utah - what a great time we had with family and friends. I had never really thought of Salt Lake as that large of a city, but after getting used to living in a smaller town/city, it really seemed quite large. Funny how persepective changes.

Before our trip to Utah, Sadie had a birthday party to go to. A little girl that was in her class this last year. I love making homemade gifts - there's something fun and personal about it, so we decided to do a Buttercup bag, and a notebook holder. My idea for the notebook holder came from Michelle's blog.

Here's the inside. Two large pockets. One for the notebook, and the other could be for used sheets of paper or other bits of treasure. With a small pocket space for a pen. (Sorry about the picture, it was the other direction before I imported it.)

Here's the outside shot... check out the cute appliqued flower.

Here's the Buttercup bag.

And a close up of the appliques on the bag... pink on one side...

and blue on the other. I love the messiness of the stitching around the flowers. Those were just free-handed.

Sadie said that it was a hit. All the little girls loved it. But what girl wouldn't?

gifts

Before leaving for Palmyra, NY on 9 May, I had some gifts to finish up and take along with us. Since Arlo and Kara were going to be at my parents' for a bit during our visit, it turned out to be a perfect savings of postage. I made myself a needle case, for knitting/crochet needles, a while back, and made a couple more at the same time. One was for Kara, who is an amazing knitter, and the other is for Michelle, who is also a fantastic knitter, and who actually taught me to knit. I still haven't mailed Michelle's yet... so if you're reading this, the secret is out!

Anyway, wouldn't you know it - I waited too long to mail Kara's, she had just recently made herself one - so, now she can gift the one I made to another knitting friend, or just have more spaces that she needs to fill with needles. (I hope I haven't waited too long for Michelle.)

Arlo had also mentioned that Kara had liked the Buttercup Bag I posted a while ago, so I decided it would be fun to surprise her with one. Here's her bag in a cute green fabric, with brown ric-a-rac, and cute striped pink/green lining. Turned out really cute, and she loved it.

Our trip was perfect, since we arrived in Palmyra on Mother's Day. So here's the bag I made for my mom...

Mom's is a blue toile, with a dark blue lining with roses on it. This one is actually 30% bigger than the original pattern. I thought mom might appreciate it just a little larger.

Then, the week after we got back my sister Lynette and her husband, Anthony were stopping by on their way to Corpus Christi, (yeah! Someone closer... a meger 11 hours away!) Lynette was one of the people from my pay it forward post, so for her handmade gift, I made her a buttercup bag as well. Here's was also green (kind-of an apple green), with brown ric-a-rac, but her's had a blue inside.

What can I say... I LOVE making bags!!! So who knows, myabe if you leave a comment, requesting a buttercup bag - I may just make one for you!

teacher appreciation 2009

Last year for teacher appreciation we did this. It was a big hit, with a few teachers asking to purchase some as gifts for daughters, etc... but since we had a repeat in one teacher this year, I couldn't do the same thing. So here's what we ended up with this year...
Slice of paper cake, filled with chocolate.

"You take the CAKE, Teach!"

Too cute, and so easy! You can find the pattern here. And you just print the largest size cake slice (bottom slice) onto the back of your pattern paper, and then cut and score and fill. The flowers on top I embossed and sanded - they really add something. The possibilities are endless. Wouldn't these be cute as party favors from a baby or wedding shower? So cute!

And then each teacher got a bag... Sadie's teacher got this one.

This one was for Phebe's teacher. It ended up a little smaller than the one for Sadie's teacher, but the same basic pattern.

And here's the one that Isaac's teacher got. This one was a little different, a little deeper - she has little kids, so we thought she might appreciate this one.

We have really loved all of these teachers, they've all done so well with our kids. It's been a really good year!

felt food

Around the first of the year, the girls were invited to a birthday party. I love giving homemade gifts, especially if I know it's something the person will really use/love. This little friend has a fun wooden kitchen, and the girls often play with it when they go to play. So, here's the gift they gave...
Bacon and eggs for breakfast.

Pita sandwich and chips for lunch.

And pizza for dinner.
And don't forget the dessert... frosted sugar cookies,

doughnuts,

and chocolate chunk cookies. Then doing the packaging was almost as much fun...

(obviously you can't tell from this picture, but these were packaged inside a cute "lunch sack").

The finished gift all packaged up and ready to gift.

The birthday girl loved them, and the rest of the birthday guests had fun playing with them... score! So, the food was so fun to make and play with, I made another two rounds (minus the pizza) for a neice and one for Phebe too, for her birthday.

The doughnuts came from a pattern that I found online here. The rest came from my head, after looking at lots of fun food from etsy, or other random places. So fun. Now I want to add to the start of a fun collection. Amazing what you can to with felt!

In case you're interested, here are the directions for the packages... I think they could be used in so many different ways.

Here are the directions for the "lunch sack". I think I actually made it from two 12" x 12" sheets of scrapbook paper, to make it large enough for the pita and chips.

And then here's the box pattern I used for the doughnuts. I think I actually made it a little larger, I think I just increased the dimensions and made it fit a 12" x 12" piece of cardstock. Then I cut the window and taped some clear cellophane over it. Fun, fun!

pay it forward

I saw this on Candice's blog and thought it would be fun...

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me (yeah for handmade!).
2. Winners must post this challenge on their own blog, meaning that you will pay it forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember it’s the spirit and the thought that count!
4. When you receive your gift, blog about it! If you are not one of the first three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! It's all about paying it forward.

hats off...

to babies!!! Every baby deserves a one-of-a-kind hand knit hat at least once in their life. A number of years ago my younger sister Michelle, (who is an amazing knitter), taught me how to knit baby hats. It was a late night of slowly figuring it all out, but so memorable. Anyway, thanks to Michelle's sharing of her talent, I've been making some hats to prepare for a plethora of births that are coming up from various ladies in our ward. So far only one of them will be a girl, the rest are all boys... here are the finished products.

Here's the one for the baby girl, obviously. Originally I wanted the whole thing to be the varigated pink yarn, but when I was almost finished with it, I realized that I probably wouldn't have enough to finish. Since I didn't want to scrap the whole thing, I decided to finish the top with the white yarn. Then to help it along, I added the flowers around the whole pink part of the hat. Turned out kind-a fun. The flowers were really fun to make actually, oh, they're crocheted. As I was crocheting the flowers I thought that they might be fun to add to the tops of presents or something. We'll see if this ever actually happens, but it's fun to imagine.

This one is for a new family that just moved in. She's due really soon, and this will be their 3rd boy. I don't know them as well, so I decided just to keep it simple and basic. Can't go too wrong with a standard tan/blue/white motif.

I thought this one turned out really well. This family are HUGE razorback fans. Both parents have graduated from the U of A, so I knew their baby's hat had to be red and white. I think they'll love it.

Last but not least... this is actually the first of the 4 hats posted that I made. It's also the only one that has already been gifted, and it is my very favorite! I want to make the same pattern in a little bigger size for Silas. I wish this were a better picture so that you could truly appreciate it's beauty. The basic color is an army green, then it has a bunch of colored stripes in it - yellow, orange, navy blue, tan, white. Anyway, I really love it... and although I don't know this family really very well either, I just knew that this would be the perfect hat for their baby. Some people are just like that.

I'm working on a few other fun knit or crochet items. I've really been into this stuff lately... it's tons o' fun. If you don't know how to knit or crochet, come on over, I'd love to share the small amount of knowledge that I have. Or, contact my sister Michelle, she'd love to share too!