What's on your hook?

Today, the yarn I ordered online came! I love getting packages in the mail-- it's like Christmas, only I paid for it and generally know what is inside...
I am pretty excited because I have been dying to try my hand at felting again.If you remember, I tried to make a felted candy corn bag back in October-- it didn't turn out quite right. One of my readers explained that I had probably used a wool-blend yarn. Well, this time I bought the 100% stuff so I hope all this itchiness in July pays off in the final product.

 I found this cute pattern on Lion Brand's site last week called a felted rose handbag. Pretty darling-- I bought different colors though. The hot pink-and-red look doesn't really suit me. I purchased Ranch Red as the overall color and Scarlet as the accent in the rose petals.

So what's on your hook?

Sent: Christmas in July

I would expect that by now, my swap-mates at Craftaholic's have received thier gifts.I didnt want to ruin the suprise by positing them too early but anyway--here are some pictures of what I sent out! I have patterns for most of what I sent out (Or I could write one if I don't). If anyone is interested, let me know.

I had a ton of fun making presents for this swap-- I love to swap!! If anyone hears of any other swaps coming up, please let me know. Getting and sending presents in the mail is the best.

I'll post a picture of what I recieved later tonight. I am still waiting on the international package to arrive from Italy.

Yay!

Christmas in July

I participated in a Christmas in July swap this month. I found this cute little tree ornament to make for my swap partner. It was a quick work up and fun to make in the off-season. The tree is made in one piece with the star and the snow garland added after the tree is made and stuffed.

Enjoy, my friends... and make one yourself! It only took a half hour, before adding decorations.

Stick a Needle in me... I'm Done!

I have been meaning to make a new pin cushion for myself as I have been doing more and more sewing. The idea to make a cactus pin cushion from crochet hit me several weeks ago so I set out to write up a pattern. Please let me know if you have any questions with the pattern I made. It is untested other than in my own wild-brained logic. 

Enjoy!

To make a Mr. Cactus pin cushion:

You will need:
Brown Yarn (B)
Dark Green yarn (DG)
Light Green yarn (LG)
Polyfill stuffing
Crochet hook 3.5 (E)
Terra Cotta pot or other small pot

Base (Dirt):
In B, make a magic ring
Round 1: 10 sc in loop
Round 2: *1sc in first st, 2sc in next st* Repeat (*) 5 times
Round 3: *1sc in first 2st, 2sc in next st* Repeat (*) 5 times
Round 4: *1sc in first 3st, 2sc in next st* Repeat (*) 5 times
Round 5: *1sc in first 4st, 2sc in next st* Repeat (*) 5 times
Rounds 6 - 9: 1sc in each sc (30 total)
Round 10: *1sc in first 4st, sc2tog * Repeat (*) 5 times
Round 11: *1sc in first 3st, sc2tog * Repeat (*) 5 times
Stuff
Round 12: *1sc in first 2st, sc2tog * Repeat (*) 5 times
Round 13: *1sc in first 1st, sc2tog * Repeat (*) 5 times
Cut yarn, leaving a long tail

Trunk:
In LG, Make a magic ring
Round 1: 8 sc in loop
Round 2: *1sc in first st, 2sc in next st* Repeat (*) 4 times
Round 3: *1sc in first 2st, 2sc in next st* Repeat (*) 4 times
Rounds 4 –13: 1sc in each sc (16 total)
Stuff
Round 14: *1sc in first 2st, sc2tog * Repeat (*) 5 times
Round 15: *1sc in first 1st, sc2tog * Repeat (*) 5 times
Cut yarn, leaving a long tail

In DG, Chain 52. Verify length fits around entire cactus prior to cutting yarn
At chain 26, attach yarn with a slip stitch and chain 25 (6 times)
Sew chain cluster to cactus trunk, leaving space for branches


Branches (Make 2)
In LG, Make a magic ring
Round 1: 8 sc in loop
Rounds 2-4: 1sc in each sc
Stuff
Cut yarn, leaving long tail to join with trunk

In DG, chain 30 (Make 2) and leave them aside

In DG, sew length of 9 chains to each branch side (in quarters)

Sew branches to trunk, sew remaining lengths of chain to the ends of the branches where they meet the trunk

Sew cactus to the dirt patch.

Secure in pot with hot glue, tacky glue, or your favorite adhesive

Help a Shanny Out?

Every year, my department at work holds a basket raffle. The proceeds go to our Adopt-A-Family fund. In December, we take the money we earned at various events and go shopping for a local family in need.
I usually make a basket on my own and also join at least one other team in making a basket (I like to give back, what can I say?).

This year, I was thinking this may be a good opportunity to de-stash my craft room considering how tight funds have been as of late and also the fact that I can barely walk around in there anymore. Would you mind taking a 3 question survey to help me figure out what theme the Craft Basket should have? I was thinking I'd throw in a little bit of everything but that doesn't sound like it would appeal to anyone but myself. Most people have one to three crafts they love and maybe a handful more that they dable in.

Take the survey, please?: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q88R6Q7

Starburst Hot Pads

I started making these little beauties and couldn't seem to make myself stop

At first, they appear complicated but in truth-- they are quite easy to work up. They are actually five separate granny squares that are seamed together via the surrounding single crochet row. It seems that there isn't such a thing as a bad color combination with this pattern.
I got the pattern here if you would like to make some of your own. Just remember-- use natural materials (preferably cotton) in making them if you intend to use them as pot holders. They have to be able to stand up to the heat!

Beta Testing

I was selected to test out SmoothFox's newest granny square pattern, Fox's Ripple Star Square, 12x12.

I had a good time working on the pattern was alot of fun. I really enjoyed how it worked up. I have never done a 12x12 pattern before. I think that I may have to make a few more in the future.

Take a few minutes and check out SmoothFox's site. There are a ton of patterns there-- afghans and squares for sale and for free.

Good stuff!

I Finished It!! -- But I Can't Show You :-(

So... a tornado (the second one in my lifetime) ripped thru my town yesterday. Trees and telephone poles are all over my (normally) quiet and shady street. We are fine-- no worries there. Aside from being too hot, the only real damage we took was my boyfriend's car window was blown out by a falling tree limb. The interior was soaked and the window is totally gone but we are healthy and that is what is important.

This, of course, means that I cannot upload my pictures to my computer to show you my beautiful, finished steering wheel cover. I will, though. I promise! I will include the two sites where I found instructions to make one plus my own personal changes to the pattern. As you can see above, I made a pieced top of pinks and blacks to match my car named Hansel. 

More on all of that later as well.

Almost Finished

I have been working on projects for swaps that I joined--- so I can't post any of them until people get their gifts. I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone but I am getting really antsy.

This past week I gave my final presentation for to get my second Master's degree. This one is a Masters of the Arts in Strategic Leadership at Neumann University. This coming Wesnesday is my exit interview and I will have graduated again for the 4th time!

I am excited to get back all that time I have been spending on presentations, papers, and research for crafting fun. Oh, what luxury time can be...

Back from the Hideaway

Just got back home from another cropper's weekend at the Hamburg Hideaway. It was a ton of fun, I hope to upload what I worked on when I was there... later.  I am so tired now I can barely type. I rarely sleep at the crops-- too much stuff to work on!

Sometimes I Fear I Am Overzealous

Cheers to the Great Owl Crochet Along!

It is not to late to join, people! If you want to be in the swap, you have to have your package in by June 30th. Trust me-- you have time. Each of these took me 2 hockey games to complete. :-) For "normal" people, you only have to crochet one to join the swap. Now I am trying to figure out what else I want to put in my swap package and get that puppy in the mail. Can you tell I am excited?

Christmas in July - Swap

Fantastic! I joined the Christmas in July swap at Craftaholics Anonymous... and you should too!! all of the rules are explained there on the blog but in short--
1. Sign up by June 9
2. Create a handmade gift for the preson you are joined with (does not have to have a Christmas theme)
3. Postmark your present by June 30th

So easy! Come on and join too-- there is still time left and it will be so fun to get some snail mail crafties!

Dropwaist Skirts - Not so hard!

Over the past two weeks, I took a class at the Viking Sewing club and learned how to make a tiered skirt and a dropwaist ruffled skirt. I then set out to make one for each of my sisters-- which sounds easy but was a bit challenging considering one was in her last month of pregnancy. Everything turned out really cute.

The basics are simple. First, you want to measure your waist. Cut your elastic to that size plus 4 inches. Cut your top fabric to your waist in length and 9 inches in width. Measure how long you want your skirt to be in total. Subtract 7 from that number and that is how wide you want your ruffle fabric to be. Leave that material as long as you can. You will end up piecing together two or three of these lengths to make the skirt in total. I used the gathering foot on my machine but there are other ruffling methods out there. After you create your ruffle and attach it to the top tier (or if you have the gathering foot, do both in the same step), you sew your bottom hem and sew in your waistband in a double folded fashion. I had each sister try on her skirt so I could cinch in the elastic before I finished the seams.

Land of Nod Floor Cushions

Today I made 3 floor cushions for my nephews-- one for my sister's house done in black and white and two for my mother's house in Americana theme. Why three and not four you may ask? Well, my younger sister said that she does not have space for something like this for her son in her apartment, so I only made Christopher one cushion to use at Nana's.

I found the tutorial at Living with Punks blog. There Susan, the author, refers to her 3 children as "punks" which I find completely darling.

Well, here are my cushions. My 4 year old nephew Dylan was very excited to have a special seat of his own.... 8 month old Christopher... well, let's just say they make great teething toys too!

Owl Crochet-Along, Sign Up!!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider is having a Crochet-Along (and optional owl swap) that is starting in June. If you sign up by May 30th, Karla will send you a copy of her owl pattern for free. (If you miss the cut off, you can purchase the pattern on Ravelry!)

Well what are you waiting for? Go ahead and sign up!

Hedgehogs on the Web

I have been doing a little research on plushie and softie making today. I want to make a humanoid one for a surprise I am making for my boyfriend.

While searching for ideas, I came across some really cute hedgehog patterns/tutorials that I would like to share with you!

Ruffled Hedgehog tutorial at Matsutake
Also, Lickin Lollipops used the same tutorial with some cute patterned fabric-- Too cute!



Hamie the Hedgie at LollyChops (in teal, of course!)


Sammy at Warm Fuzzies


Pinecone Hedgehog at Kiddley


Pom-pom Hedgehog at Zakka Life

What to do?

Looking for some suggestions-- my friend was remodeling his home and was pitching the scrap from the base boards and crown moldings. I snatched them up before he even knew what was happening (LOL). Any suggestions on what I can do with the pieces? I have some small ones and a few that are a pretty good size. I was going to cut one up and make a frame for the board I painted yesterday with magnetic paint but there is still a ton of material left here, people.

Google is failing me on inspiration! What do you think?

Recipe Swap!

They are having a Recipe Swap at Craftaholics Anonymous, so I wanted to join in the fun. Here is one of my favorites!

Cheeseburger Soup - Adapted from Sparkpeople.com
(Yields 6 servings)


1-1/2 cup water
2 cups peeled cubed potatoes
2 carrots, grated
1 small onion chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt
2 cubes beef bouillon, crumbled
1 lb lean ground beef
2 1/2 cups fat free milk
3 tbsp flour
1/2 lb 2% milkfat cheese, cubed


In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine water, potatoes, carrots, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and bouillon.
Bring to a boil and reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until potatoes are tender.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef; drain. Rinse with water and drain again.
Stir cooked beef and 1 1/4 cups milk into potato mixture and heat through.
Combine 1 1/4 cups milk with flour.
Stir until smooth. Stir into soup.
Bring to a low boil and cook stirring until thickened. Reduce heat to low. Stir in cheese until melted.

Happy Birthday, Little Sister!

I think that homemade gifts are the best kind-- don't you? I made her a case for her Nintendo DS and a little cupcake with flowers. I had the HARDEST time trying to attach a zipper to the case, though. It was my first experience with zippers. I clearly did not succeed.

Any advice? The problem I was having was once I sewed the zipper to both sides of the case, it didn't line up and wouldn't zipper. I took it off and reattached it three times. After the third removal, I added a velcro tab closure and called it a day.

Baby Gear for a Phillies Fan

You may remember that I was making Flyers baby gear for my sister's shower. Well, one of her several pregnant friends at her shower last week spent some time ohhing and ahhing at my creations. My sister asked me to make her some Phillies gear for their baby girl, due a week after my niece/nephew in June. I was happy to comply, especially since I know how much she liked the originals :)



Here is how they turned out. What do you think? The one burp cloth I made out of a rally towel I got when one of the Phillies pitchers came to my office for a charity event a few weeks ago. Great recycling, I think. What does someone actually do with a rally towel after the game they received it at anyway?