Tiger Shirt

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

 

Daughter Socks (x4)

All my girls got handmade socks for Christmas this year too!  With some planning, and a good hiding place, I managed to knit a pair for each of them without them knowing.  There were the Packers socks, the Badgers socks, a plain blue tweed and a multi-colored pair.  (The pair my husband is wearing were a Christmas gift from last year.)

All the socks have been worn and washed and worn again (and again, and again) which makes me one happy knitting mama.

Handmade Halloween

This years Halloween was pretty fun.  I returned to my favorite mask designer, Oxeyedaisey, on Etsy and purchased her fox and skull mask patterns and went to town.  I made all the masks from wool felt this year, and purchased pieces from Prairie Woolens - what an amazing selection they provide!

I stayed with a traditional skull for my husband but worked embroidery into my mask and turned it into a Catrina theme with flowers and a veil.

The pirate designed and developed her own costume from the (sadly) increasingly neglected dress-up box.  My three woodland creatures took a bit of help from me.

The fox was straightforward and we added an improvised tail from flannel and fake fur.  The hedgehog mask was purchased from on The Masked Menagerie on Etsy.  I self-designed the body suit with lots of inspiration and a tutorial from Alida Makes.  The whitetail deer was improvised off the base pattern from the fox, with inspiration for coloration and details from Magical Attic on Etsy.

Overall the costumes turned out great and the masks will be heirlooms in our costume closet.  Indeed, this holiday I loaned out our wolf, rooster and hen masks to friends for Halloween fun!

"Who" knows what next year will bring...maybe a family of wise owls?!

Socks for my Niece

Last spring and over the summer my knitting/sewing/crafting went on the back burner.  No particular reason, just other things happening (like, we planned and took an epic RV trip out west!)  But my needles are humming again and I made a couple pair or socks for my nieces.  One pair is shown here, unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the other pair, but maybe one day this winter if I can catch her with them on.

I also recently went to the WI Sheep and Wool Festival and was newly inspired.  I picked up the yarn below to make a pair for my Packers and Badgers loving girls.  I think the socks are crazy looking - but in the perfect sports-crazed, pre-teen sort of way!  With any luck there will be four surprise pair complete by Christmas for their stockings!  The other two pair are not sport inspired, but will suit each girl well I think.

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!

FO: Socks

Another pair for me off the needles.  I love the coziness of this pair.  It can stay winter here as long as it likes - my toes will be warm!

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).