Flannel Quilt - quilted and bound

This one is going to be a favorite for the girls, I just know it. It's warm, and just heavy enough to get your cozy on in front of the fireplace (or reruns of Parks and Rec).

This is the Marcus Fabrics Blue Boxes Flannel Quilt Kit by Craftsy, quilted by Heather of Blue Turtle Quilting.

Mittens

This sweet pair of mittens is off to a fourth grade friend. I have made a couple pairs for her mom over the years and she always takes them during our cold winter months to warm her hands. So her mom asked if I would make a pair just for her.

These are slightly different - they don't have the rolled cuff - but they are buttery soft with purple lambswool on the palms and polar fleece linings. I used the ribbed edges of the sweaters for all the pieces so they were already nicely finished at the lower edges.

I used upcycled silver buttons from the original thrifted vest to keep the two layers together. They add a nice surprise and fancy touch I think.

Sewing + Beading

This summer I managed to get a bit of time behind the sewing machine.  Currently we are remodeling so everything is mostly packed away, but I had two kits to use and a couple of free days over the summer when I could set up my machine at the dining room table and go to town.

The quilt is Geese on the Prairie by One Canoe Two.  I purchased the kit from Caftsy.  The table runner was a kit (although I did not purchase the online classes) from Craftsy too, this one is True Colors.

Both the table runner and living room quilt are with a quilter at the moment, and I am excitedly awaiting their return to me for finishing.  I am excited to see what Heather of Blue Turtle Quilting will do with these two projects.  Per my request she will quilt and trim the projects.  She will also attach the binding strips (which I made in advance), but I will hand finish them at home.  I also get the joy and excitement of washing and drying them for the final reveal.

I have another kit in the works from Missouri Star Quilts - Merrily Christmas quilt by Gingiber for Moda.  I have many of the pieces cut and a few blocks made, but the rest will likely have to wait until Christmas 2018.  This remodeling project (which we are doing ourselves at this point) will take many more months to complete.

My other summer creative project was the necklace below.  One of my daughters loves pottery and beading and luckily we have the absolutely best pottery and beading studio just down the street from us.  My daughter took a one-week day camp at Fine Earth Studio and Gallery, and I got to come along to play, design, and make for an afternoon.  What a treat.

More Hats...

By my count, I am about three years into about 8 years of helping to sew hats as a fundraiser for our elementary schools.  The fleece selection this winter is exceptionally colorful!

Pussy Hat

My Mom really reprsented for our family this winter as we embarked on the solidarity women's march in Madison, WI.  Over 100,000 people gathered to demonstrate their commitment to opposing the new administration.  She sewed pink pussy hats for all of us - and family friends.  Craftivism at its finest. 

As a knitter I did feel pulled to knit a hat, but was unable to find any pink yarn in Madison or online with enough time to actually knit one.  My yarn is on backorder and should arrive sometime in February.  I have a feeling that we'll be wearing pussy hats for a couple more years yet, so there's still plenty of time to knit one up!

Tiger Shirt

All this girl wanted for Christmas was a tiger shirt.  My mom made it happen!

 

The Hat Ladies

I think that we are up to 9 by now.  That is 9 fleece hats that have been custom sewn for our girls through a school fundraiser by The Hat Ladies.

I am a proud member of The Hat Ladies team for Franklin and Randall school and have likely sewn close to 100 hats - for other kids - by now.  Each one is so unique and fun and it is great to see them worn around Madison in the winter months.  Our team sews hats at two of our community building/fundraising events each year - the school dance and the school carnival.  There is an entire team of parent volunteers that supports this effort - fabric cutters, sewers, table volunteers and people that help kids choose their panels and pieces.

I love that the kids get to select their own colors and patterns and they always pick exactly what they want -- and the hats turn out great no matter the combinations.

One of these days I will line up all the fleece hats in our house to share - but until then if you are interested in kicking off a hat fundraiser of your own you can check out this link.

This entire Hat Lady project was started by my former preschool teacher Nancy Daly - what an amazingly small world that I now get to spend time with her again at the sewing table making hats for kids in our own public school community.  Her program volunteers in multiple schools, community organizations and all over Dane County.  They are making a difference for so many kids!

A few more...

I was amazed to find a few more hours before the holidays to squeeze in a couple more presents.  Pure fun for me.

I finally got around to framing the cross stitch (above) that I completed for a special little baby boy and sent it out to him in the mail.  In case you can't tell, I am a big fan of Alicia Paulson's work.

The next gift was a second taggie blanket for special friends that just welcomed their second baby girl.  I made two for their first daughter (she needed a second one because she loved through the first!) and I really wanted to send out another for their new addition.  These owls are too cute and paired with a bumpy purple minky should be fun for the baby to explore.  I sent the blanket along with a crocheted turquoise crown - I called it the 'big sister crown' - made by a friend for the older daughter.

The last few presents came from a burst of sewing for my own three oldest daughters.  They all learned to knit in the week before Christmas so I sewed them each a knitting project bag and filled it with a skein of yarn and some needles.  They love then and I love seeing the bags and their knitting float around the house: the couch, the bed, the dining room table and their locker.  I first made the fox bag below to match the needle case for my niece.

Then I made three more.  I am really happy with the construction of these bags.  My serger makes such a professional finish and the satin cording for the drawstrings work perfectly.  I modeled these bags on the small della Q bag that I have for myself and they turned out great - perfectly sized and perfectly useful (I did skip the interior pocket this time around).

Handmade Holidays

The first handmade gift of the holiday season is for myself - a new double-pointed knitting needle roll.  Using fabrics from our trip to Japan last February I put this sweet little roll together in about an hour.  It replaces my much larger needle case crafted in 2008.  That one was made to accommodate 10 to 14-inch straight needles.  In the years since I made that case I have gravitated towards using circular needles and my little double points kept falling out of the over sized roll. 

I am just in love with this little case - it is perfectly sized and the fabrics make me so happy.

This next gift is a whimsical tree ornament from the Posie Gets Cozy collection that I have been working through.  When I was working the most recent set of three ornaments I made a rookie mistake by crafting two identical trees when I should have made mirror images!  I even make this mistake TWICE - on the snowflake ornament too - just goes to show that crafting and mothering at the same time don't always work out the way that you expect.  Yikes.  At first I was disappointed/frustrated by my silly error, but quickly realized that with a little more effort I could turn it into a second ornament.  This second tree will go to my Mother-in-Law for Christmas.

The kit was actually sold out for this set of ornaments so I purchased the pattern and then ordered felt and matching floss from Prairie Woolens.    

This cowl, completed a couple months ago, will head to my Sister-in-Law.

This next needle case will go to my niece who has recently learned to knit.  I purchased sets of aluminum straight needles (which she seems to prefer) from Ebay and crafted the case to fit them.  Paired with some skeins of yarn it will make a great starter knitting kit for her.  And since I am partial to them, I put in a couple circular needles and double-points to round out the collection for her too.

Speaking of knitting, we have THREE new knitters under our roof!  This past month I taught my three older daughters to knit and they just took off.  The scarves they are creating are incredible and they couldn't be more excited to watch their own progress.  Abby (below) is wearing the first thing she ever knit - a red scarf for her favorite 5th grade teacher.  We had to google 'average length for a men's scarf' which came back about about 6 feet.  Abby decided to cut this one off at 5 feet.

My eight year old is part of a Girl Scout Troop that is focused heavily on the arts.  This past month they went to a local pottery studio that also carries a great selection of beads.  She was so into it!  In that short afternoon she made earrings for her older sisters.

The following week she and I took a separate trip to a local beading store and made more earrings for older sisters and a necklace for her younger sister.

I am so excited the crafting and creating is becoming a part of what we can do together as a family and that they are all excited to make things for others.  While I didn't 'make' as much this year as I have in years past I am finding so much joy in seeing my girls make for others.

Just before Thanksgiving

On the day before our Thanksgiving the house is humming - the sound of the washing machine, dishwasher, vacuum cleaner, the hot oven, kids laughing/arguing and dog barking.  I swear the house is vibrating in its foundation.

I have to humbly admit that these are the years that I have been yearning for - no more infants or diapers, just a few little kid tantrums and no teenage angst (just yet).  I can actually bake a pie from scratch without interruption.

This humming is the sound of what I am thankful for this day, and every day.

pumpkin waiting to be baked, pureed and turned into pie

I also realized that the winter holidays are just around the corner and I pulled out the unfinished ornament kits from Alicia Paulson that I stowed last year.  I surprised myself by re-discovering that I had cut out all the pattern pieces and felt last winter for the remaining ornaments - this fall I spent time assembling and detailing them.  Here is the next set of 5 that I finished.  You can see the first six here.  I just have to complete the snowflake and I will have completed all the kits that I have. (I admit, however, that I just ordered a pattern and one more kit...that will complete everything that she has available.)  I just adore her designs - they fit in our home really well.  All told I will have 18 ornaments when I finish.

I know that might seem intense or over-the-top - but I am practical.  With four daughters that will one day have their own homes and families it will mean that I will, eventually, only get to keep two or three anyway.

 

This is Halloween...

This year we had a whole ensemble of characters for Halloween.  A witch, a wolf, little red riding hood, a bunny, a hen and a rooster.  All the costumes came together really well and I had a lot of fun - most especially with felt mask making!

 I found a pattern for the hen and rooster masks on Etsy from oxeyedaisy - they are incredibly detailed and came together relatively easily.  I love them - and with a feather boa they finish off beautifully.

I think the pattern is one size, and they do fit our faces, but if I were to re-make them I might extend them slightly down the cheek and towards the ears for an adult. 

She has so many incredible designs that I am going to try to convince the kids to do a full family next year - maybe a herd of unicorns, flock of wise owls or family of bears?!

The little red riding hood costume was courtesy of Martha Stewart - she had a set of costumes based on hoodies which seemed to make more sense this year instead of sewing custom full body suits.  Arn't those yarn braids the best?!  The mask for the big 'good' wolf was from a website, Oh My Handmade, found here.  I went for the stripped down version and only cut and glued this mask - not too many stitching details for this first one.  We finished it off with fake fur wraps for the neck, wrists and ankles.

The bunny costume was an upcycle from last year - I was able to re-use the snowy owl body suit from last year and just glue on a tail!  I made a new hood from the left over fabric and some pink from the stash, and reused the same pattern from McCall's.

The witch is an oldie but goodie from the dress-up bin paired with a mask from the thrift store.

Overall another great holiday.  I am really happy that we have been able to continue in the making/assembling of our costumes as the years roll by..

A New Bag

Last summer I set out to sew some clothes for myself.  I thought I might also tackle that project again this summer, but time got away from me - there was a lot of travel and just not the right combination of factors to allow the space and time to sew more clothes.

Instead I picked out a new bag pattern and sewed myself this fantastic summer bag with some stash fabric.  I love this bag so much!!  The strap and exterior pockets are dark brown linen, the tree fabric is Amy Butler and the birds are a heavyweight Echino that I picked up from The Sewcial Lounge in early summer.  I picked up both the lining fabric and pattern from Stitcher's Crossing.

The bag came together very easily and is a perfect size for wallet, phone, keys and book.  A nice alternative to the large leather "momma bag" that I had been dragging around for the past year.  With no more kids in diapers I think that it is finally time to downsize.

The pattern is the 241 Tote from a local WI designer, Noodlehead.  She has many other great bags and patterns - and her blog is lovely too - check it out!