Randomness

Has it really been almost 3 months since my last post?! Oops! Well rather than make some lame excuses I'll just share some finished projects.

This hat was a birthday gift for my sister. Pattern is the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret (Ravelry link). The picture isn't the best but it's the best I could manage using a crappy bathroom mirror.

This bag is intended for one of the ladies in my knitting group. She mentioned that she liked all the project bags that everyone had so I told her I could whip one up for her. It measure 11"x 14" is lined and has a zipper at the top. I also made the bottom a little wider so it can accommodate skeins of yarn a little easier.

This fabric has been laying in my stash just waiting for the perfect project. I seem to have a fair amount of unfinished knitting projects laying around and not nearly enough time to finish them. So this baby should at least help keep everything together.

Next up, more bags for my shop. I know, I know. I still haven't opened my shop. I've been a little insecure about the process so I've decided to do a trial run. My mom and sister participated in a craft fair last year and this year it just so happens to fall in the two week period that I will be back in Iowa before our move to Florida. So I'm going to go in on a booth with them and "test" the market to see which bags sell the best.

This is my favorite bag so far. I absolutely love this print. Anytime I find a yard or two on Etsy I grab it. I was so nervous actually cutting into it the first time. The pattern can be found here.

I love this blue print too. It's probably a good thing that I don't have much use for a small purse these days (with diapers, sippy cups, and all that comes with a little one) otherwise this little guy would be mine! Pattern here.

Last but not least is this beauty. I originally bought this fabric to use as a Christmas gift but ended up using something else. Boy am I glad I did because I just love the way this bag turned out. Same pattern as above.

Ok that wraps up the FINISHED items. I'm working on finishing up all my "in progress" items before the big move so hopefully I'll have more FOs to share soon. Thanks for stopping by.

Assembly Line

I made a few mini clutches. I thought that making the same pattern from multiple fabrics at the same time would speed things up. You know like an assembly line. Great idea, in theory.

Just one problem. When I made a mistake on one, I systematically made the same mistake on several others before I noticed. So I also systematically used my seam ripper.

In the end I had to scrap two clutches and have two that had to be ripped back to square one and are still waiting to be reassembled. But I did end up with six new mini clutches destined for the shop.

Pattern is the easy envelope clutch from my favorite pattern shop, keykalou.

Wedding Crafts

I'm finally getting around to posting about the projects for my sister's wedding.

First up are the mustaches on a stick. We didn't make nearly as many as originally planned and in fact the whole idea was almost scrapped. But Mom and I had already put in too much time cutting them out to let them be scrapped all together. They sure made a good photo prop for the wedding party in the end. Plus the kids still play with them.

The most daunting task was the cake. I can't complain because I totally brought this upon myself. My sister had originally planned to make the cake but decided to order a cake from the local Hy-Vee. I asked her if I could give it a go and after many You Tube videos, articles on cakecentral.com, and a failed attempt at taking a class at Michaels, this is the result.

I had planned on a butter cream frosting but unfortunately on the day of the wedding my frosting decided to rebel, despite my many practice cakes. Fortunately I had a couple boxes of fondant on hand, just in case. I wasn't as practiced with the fondant so it wasn't as flat as I would have liked but what can you do.

The fondant was so thick that they had to stab the cake. :) Good think there was a sheet cake.

The vest for my son turned out really well.

It was hard to get a good full length shot because he was on the go the whole time.

He was not interested in wearing his hat and although I didn't make it I'm glad we at least got one picture with him in it.

(Just ignore my horrible hair please)

Although I didn't have anything to do with it I had to include a picture of my sister's dress. My Mom made it! Maya, the flower girl, is wearing the dress that my niece, Emma, wore at my wedding! Maya was only a couple of weeks old at my wedding and I can't believe how well the timing worked out and that if fit her.

Congrats Meg and Adam!

Bounty of bags

I love making bags. They are so quick and satisfying. I am so close to having a large enough inventory built up for my etsy shop. Over the holidays I cranked out a few more while I had access to my mom's machine which is so much smoother than my own. So here's what I managed to make.

This zebra number was a gift for my niece who loves zebra print. The lining is bright pink.

This red clutch is headed for my etsy shop (once I get that up I'm going to have to go back through my blog and make a ton of links).


The pattern is from my favorite shop, keykalou and the fabric is from Moda's Wonderland collection.



I made this green clutch using the same pattern.
I will definitely have to take better pictures for the shop.



This pattern is also from keykalou along with the pattern for the matching wallet.

In hind sight I should have made the pockets on the inside with the floral print and used the dots for the lining.

Well that's it for now. I have a ton of fabric waiting to become more clutches and coin purses but I have to make (another) run to Joann's before that can happen.

It won't be long now!

Handmade Holiday

Every year I try to make as many gifts as possible for Christmas. Unfortunately, time (and ideas) usually runs out and I end up buying stuff for half of the people on my list. This year was no exception but I do feel as though while the quantity of handmade gifts didn't go up the quality did IMHO (in my humble opinion).

First up are three jewelry organizers that I made for two nieces and a cousin. Each organizer has four zipper pouches for the girls to store what ever treasures they may desire. These things were pretty big (11x24) and very time consuming but I really like how they turned out. To add to the gift my husband (!!!) made bracelets and necklaces for the girls. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of those.

I found this pattern in a magazine and for the life of me I cannot remember the name and the magazine is back in Iowa so I can't go look.

This blue and brown combo was my first attempt. In hind sight I should have chosen a different fabric for the tie.


This green and white organizer was made of mostly fat quarters which weren't quite big enough for the measurements in the pattern so I had to do a little adapting but it still turned out nice.

This one is by far my favorite. Were I not so crunched for time I probably would have made a second organizer with these fabrics for myself. :)

I also made two tutus, a flower hair accessory, a coin purse, and a purse (which I will post later). I also managed to get a few more bags for my Etsy shop which is getting closer and closer to becoming a reality. I'll share more about those in the next post.

Maybe I should start sewing now for next Christmas.....

To Do List

My sister is getting married soon and like any good big sister I'm helping with some of the crafts and food. So as a way to manage my to-do list I'm using my blog and putting it all out there in cyber-space.

First on the list are these pom-poms to be hung something like this.

Then there are these mustache on a stick favors.

Next there is this vest in a grey plaid for my son, the ring bearer. Who will be the cutest ring bearer ever. :)

Finally is the cake. I'm going to attempt to make and decorate my sister's cake. I promised her that if it didn't turn out well I would buy her a cake instead.

After all of the wedding projects are finished begins the rush to make as many hand crafted Christmas gifts as possible and maybe even finish enough projects to finally officially open my Etsy shop.

I'll be updating my blog with updates as I go and to make up for the lack up pictures in this post here is a dose of cute to tide you over. :)

Halloween

The first of (hopefully) many homemade costumes.

He was supposed to be a muskateer but ended up looking more like a little prince or knight. Since we only made two trick-or-treat stops I guess it really doesn't matter. The important part is that the costume had a cape because of this....

He kept bringing the blanket to his daddy and whinning. Finally Mr. Gnome wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and sure enough that made him happy. We safety pinned the blanet and he ran around like that for the rest of the night.

Mr. Gnomes and I didn't have costumes this year but we did carve a couple pumpkins.

I found the Hello Kitty pattern here. It was fun hearing the trick-or-treaters outside our window talking about my pumpkin. Mr. Gnome's pumpkin had a couple fans too.

Another bag

Just a quick post to share my latest completed sewing project.

More of the black and white fabric. I like to use it for trial runs so I don't have to cut into my precious (more expensive) fabric.

The pattern is the zip clutch available here and here through my favorite pattern shop
Keyka Lou (she has two shops).

Gotta run. My little gnome and my crazy cat are demanding my attention.

The three year socks

About three years ago I decided to make a plain jane pair of socks. I thought a pair of socks with no pattern to concentrate on would just fly off of the needles. I thought wrong. I have never been so bored with a project in my knitting life. Now don't get me wrong, the yarn was nice enough and I love the way they turned out. I just don't see myself making another pair of plain socks again. I apparently need a pattern to keep me entertained.

So with out further ado, here are my Just Sucks (no that is not a typo).

That is all. I refuse to spend another second working on these in any way shape or form.

Fabric Stash and Plans

I've been stock piling my fabric here in California in preparation for my new Etsy shop and Christmas crafting. This post is more for my reference and that of my family (so they can make requests) so I apologize for the lack of content but perhaps you are a fabric collector and will enjoy the pretty pictures. On with it then..

This is my Etsy collection (this is what I plan to use for my shop and it was all purchased on Etsy). These fabrics were purchased from The Sprout Store . I also bought a few coordinating fabrics from Cotton Thread Fabrics but haven't taken pictures of those yet.



Top center: Freebird by Momo for Moda - Garden in the sky ( I also have this print in geranium aka red)
Left column top to bottom: 1Woodland by Momo for Moda - Wonderland Tweedle Dee in Sugar, 2Woodland by Momo for Moda - Tweedle Dum in Tomato (I also have this print in sugar just not photoed), 3Woodland by Momo for Moda - Tweedle Dee in Tomato
Right column top to bottom: 1Freebird by Momo for Moda - balls in ivory, 2Freebird by Momo for Moda - Butterflies in Vanilla, 3 Freebird by Momo for Moda - Garden in Grass

These are intended for a couple of aprons. I honestly don't remember what the names or who the designer(s) are but I picked this set up at Joann's.

I love this Japanese inspired print. I had intended to make a purse with it but I'm not sure about that anymore. Purchased at Joann's.

These are intended to make a tutu petti skirt for my niece, Maya.

These are scraps left over from other projects, a couple of random fat quarters, a few random pieces of fabric that don't really belong in any other group, and a couple of tea towels that I bought to make a tote bag with.

These fabrics are also intended for my Etsy shop but will also be used for Christmas projects. All were purchased at Joann's.

Last but not least is my Ikea big score. I was browsing through the "as is" section and found a bag of scraps for just $5!! If you're familiar with Ikea fabric it usually runs $7.99 a yard for the prints. There is about ten yards total here. The largest piece is 2 yards and the smallest is 1/4 yard, not what I would call "scraps" but definitely a bargain.

The bottom right is actually grey but the sun was shining on it and washed out the color in the photo.

Ok that's my stash, minus the fabric mentioned at the beginning, a few yard of solid colors intended for lining, and a one other home decor print that just wouldn't photograph properly.