Happy New Year!! How about some Plaid People?

I hope your new year is off to a fantastic start! My entire winter break has been quite wonderful. I have been spending the last couple weeks surrounded by family, friends, and festivities. I also got some wonderful gifts for Christmas, including a Zoom Loom, a weaving book, and an issue of Handwoven magazine.

When I was visiting my mother I had a great idea come to me about things to make to sell with the Zoom Loom. I came up with the idea for Plaid People:

I whipped up two woven squares each, my mother sewed on the faces/embellishments, and then I stuffed and seamed them together. After a quick consult with a friend's daughter, they are officially 4-year-old approved! I also plan to make some that look like dogs and cats. Cute!

In addition to the Plaid People I made many other multi-craftual projects this past month:

I finished this crocheted linen yoga bag:

I embroidered this picture for my brother and his wife:

I also embroidered little sayings on fabric, sewed a ribbon to the top, and then rolled them up and put them inside little glass jars for my sweetie, but I neglected to take a picture. :-( I'll try to take a picture some other time and get it up here.

I spent the last couple days of this month making a sock. I started the pair last spring, got one done, and promptly put it and the yarn away and forgot about it. It was time to get these things done! I actually finished the second sock today and took pictures, but as I finished it in January, you'll have to wait for pictures until next month's wrap-up.

My next task is to get back to work on my blue, gray, and white checkered afghan. I want to have it done by mid-February, so I'll keep you updated on its progress. I also have a bunch of other fun things in the works- check back in a month to see the cool things I've made!

Happy crafting!

I'm another year older

Happy Birthday to Me!

In honor of my birthday, I will gift myself the chance to finally post last month's wrap-up. How time flies when you're a music director and it's the winter holiday season!

So, November brought me:

This adorable bee cross-stitch picture, which will be a gift for my mother for Christmas.

This flower embroidery, which will also be a gift for my mother.

This crocheted Spiderman hat, which will be a Christmas gift for my nephew, Wyatt.

And this crocheted coffee cup cozy, which will be a Christmas gift for my father-in-law.

Can you tell November was all about gifts? This month has been so far, as well.

I am frantically trying to finish a crocheted yoga bag for a friend.

I am frantically trying to finish a series of embroidered "sayings" for my sweetie.

I also need to make an embroidery project for my brother and his wife and a sewed bag for a friend. 

I have too much to do and so little time! We'll see what gets accomplished, I guess. Stay tuned!

Looking forward to January, I am planning to spend the first couple months digging out my long-time WIPS (works-in-progress) and either finishing them or frogging (unraveling) them. It is time for a clean slate, craft-wise. I plan to finish crocheting a blanket and a shawl and finish knitting a bag for sure, plus I have a scarf and a curtain I want to frog, if I can find them. I would also like to finish a pair of socks (one down, one to go!) and a knitted scarf, plus I have a hand-quilting project and a machine quilting project to be working on. And let's not forget my nålbinding rug!

So yes, the new year will hopefully be a time of cleaning up and finishing things. Let's just see if I can make it to the new year, first. These last-minute presents might make me crazy!

October Wrap-Up

Happy November! T'is the season to start thinking about holiday gift-giving! I've got lists of plans for my loved ones, but we'll see if I get all the crafting done in time. I've pulled all-nights trying to finish Christmas presents in time before, and I certainly don't want to do it again.

Here are my completed October projects. Maybe they'll become gifts for one of you....

I made three baby hats for charity:

I made this pretty floral brooch from a kit, and I hope to make more:

I made this cute cherry brooch from a kit as well:

The rest of my time this month was spent working on my giant blue/white/gray afghan for Christmas. I really want to have it done by November 30, so I suspect I will spend A LOT of time on it this month. I'm a little less than 50% done, so, yeah. Much crocheting is in my future.

I also hope to do some embroidery, sewing, cross-stitching, quilting, and knitting. It's going to be a busy month. 

Happy crafting! Don't forget to check out our Etsy shop!

It's About Time for a Monthly Wrap-Up!

Real life is just getting me! Too much going on in too short an amount of time!

So, I'm sorry for the delay, but here, finally, is my monthly wrap-up for September, plus a preview of what's to come at the end of this month:

I made this cute little amigurumi (crochet or knit stuffed toy) cat for an online challenge:

My beautiful cat Gnat is modeling for me.

I finished this sun hat that I started back in June:

It's not as stiff as I had hoped for. I might try to starch it. If you have any experience with this, let me know in the comments, please!

I loom-knit these teeny baby socks for a co-worker's newborn:

I embroidered this cute little hamster in his hamster ball and then painted the craft-store frame a bright yellow to offset the design:

I used nålbinding to start this rag rug:

It's only about 30% done, but it's going to be great!

I also started this crochet afghan:

It's a Christmas present, so I hope to have it done by then. It's going to be enormous, so I hope I can pull it off!

I also spent time cutting out more pieces for our stitched boxes. 

This month so far I've made a hand-stitched flower brooch, a crocheted cherry brooch, I've cut the pieces for a bunch of stitched boxes, and I've cut the pieces for a sewn rooster pincushion. Stay tuned for pictures!

Do you have any ideas for cute things for our Etsy shop? Please let me know in the comments! I'd love to try something new and I'm always looking for suggestions. 

Our Shop is Open!

Our Etsy shop is open! Come check it out here.

I keep adding items whenever I get the chance, so check back often!

The monthly wrap-up is coming soon, so stay tuned for more crafty goodness.

August Wrap-Up

The crafting was very "varied" in August! I worked on so many different things. Here are my completed projects for August:


I finally finished this plastic canvas needlepoint coaster set after years of working on it off-and-on:

I distressed this frame and decorated it with some antique crocheted and tatted trims:

I loved the above project so much that I purchased a wooden letter, painted it multiple colors, and then distressed the wood to let the other colors peek through, then added crocheted/tatted trims:

I cross-stitched this whimsical sign:

And I made this woven basket out of yarn and cardboard:

I already have two crochet projects, a knitting project, and a nålbinding project in the works for this month! Plus I am busily photographing finished objects to put up on our Etsy site that will be live soon. I'll let you all know when we get it up and running. There will be a lot of handspun yarn, fabric boxes, quilting projects, and other fun items for purchase. There will even be fiber from our angora rabbits for sale! We're excited to finally get our products out there, so check back here soon for the announcement!!

Quilted Containers

After last week's craft "retreat" that Mom and I had, we had some great completed projects:

Our first project, a coaster that now lives on my sewing table.

Our second project, a butterfly coaster. We made twelve of them and Mom is sewing them together into a table centerpiece.

Our third project, a cute fabric box.

After diving into these we started thinking about the possibility of selling them. We really want to open an Etsy account and start selling some of our crafting wares, and these would be a great addition. We went out and bought a bunch of fat quarters and a bolt of the heavy duty stabilizer that goes between each piece and I started cutting and basting! Last week I cut out the fabric for nine different containers, including cubes like the one above, smaller cubes, and rectangle boxes. Today I basted them all to the stabilizer (using stitch witchery) and I now have them packed in a nice tin to go to Mom so she can sew them by hand (the technique is called English paper piecing). When we have more done, I'll be sure to show you pictures!

I've also completed a couple other crafting projects this month, but I'll save pictures for the monthly wrap-up. :-) Let's just say that I finished the plastic-canvas needlepoint, a woven basket, and I made a corkboard frame that I distressed and then glued on bits of crochet and tatting. It's very neat.

I've also purchased a couple of cross-stitch projects, a bunch of yarn for an afghan, and a book called Loom Knitting for Mommy and Me purely because it had a sock monkey pillow in it. Expect to see some lovely loom knitting projects in the future.