Out of the crafting closet

More projects got finished today as I stayed home sick, unable to talk. I realize how much I talk to the little gang of cats and felt funny not talking to them. It hurts to talk. We all hate being sick. So to relieve the boredom I pulled down a few project that needed just a bit of finishing. This plaid snowman had all of the parts stitched, cord twisted and backing covered. The back got sewn to the front, the cording attached and plaid snow guy is ready to back to my mom's house, finished at last.

It's my mom's birthday next month so I cut out this pull up card and glued it together. It's from the canon paper crafts website. You have the choice of candles or numbers to glue on top of the cake. I decided just candles was fine for an all round birthday greeting. Again easy to do and quite the card.

This little snowme was an Alan Dart pattern that I had started a few months ago. I had knitted the body, arms, legs and nose and had even started putting him together. Some stuffing, careful stitching and he started looking really cute. I raided my yarn stash and his matching scarf and hat ensemble followed quickly. I chose the seated pose for him as an easy to display position. The yarn is super soft but you use purl side to add even more texture. I have 1.5 balls of the white snow yarn left so I'm sure another snowme is in the future.

Who'll stop the snow

A snowy day in New England left to world as we know it closed for duration. I shoveled snow, then slush then rain but left time for crafting. By the end of the day I had completed two projects from the closet. The first is this table runner from printed fabric. It's extremely, lightly quilted but has nice hand sewn binding. It's a nice 'church fair' project for someone in the future.

Snow cook or snow baker was a 'bucilla' felt kit that I bought I few months ago. I started it but was unhappy with the white felt. I pulled him/her out today and just went to town sewing all of the accessories. These kits are lots of fun to display when they are finished. The instructions though, are in multiple languages and can be a little confusing. I'd really like to make the 'lighthouse' or 'santa in an antique car' in the future. I've only seen those on the web but maybe someday I'll get lucky and spot them in the local crafts store. Lots of work but extremely cute. I even managed to get some knitting in on the prayer shawl today. A few more rows and it's on to the second skein of yarn.

Pet additions

Introducing little Foo Foo, the newest pet in the family. Foo Foo is a white cuddly furball who loves to play with her toys.

This is Bun. She's been a member of the family for a while now and is the same breed a Foo Foo. She tosses her toys around and loves to cuddle. They are both members of the lionhead bunny family but look so different.

Craft updates are as follows: Prayer shawl knitting and knitting. I bought new yarn this weekend and have knitted about a foot on the new shawl last nite. It's a boucle yarn that is very bumpy so I'm only doing garter stitch. I need to get cracking on it because there is a backlog on recipients. So a little fun stuff and then lots of garter stitch.

Craft afternoon

I had the afternoon off today and instead of doing housework, which I should have been doing I crafted and watched the 'prisoner' on dvd. I'd never seen the classic show but it is interesting and is fun to watch 30 years after it was made.

Back to craft updates. The pop-up card is from the canon website. Fun , tricky to cut out but goes together easily is a cute card and will be given out soon to a lucky birthday someone.

This little 1.5 inch pendant is my first attempt at knotwork. It went well but there is so much backround that the bee design is somewhat obscured overall. I enjoyed making this tiny project but would not do a miniature rug or larger project.

This little yo-yo bunny is the newest creation. I seem to remember these from long ago but have made a resurgance of late with the 'clover' yo-yo maker. It makes them all equal sizes and does cut down the work in getting them done faster. I tried use scraps of prints but I think the one I saw made up used coordinating prints all in one color family for a harmonius look. This little bunny will go live with my mom and could go to a good home from the local church fair. The yo-yo maker is put away for now.

Topsy Turvey Doll

Here is the newest member of the knitted toy family. It's a topsy turvy doll. She's very clever because she wears two different colored gowns and stands on her own quite nicely. I've made her arms posable with chenille stems and all of her clothes are sewn on for playability. Her two skirst are not joined together but each forms the under hem for the other. Very clever styling and look. I enjoyed knitting her but I think one is enough of this form. On to another project. I've got some meetings this week so my sock project is coming with me.

Lots of projects

This week I've been knitting away on the double sided doll. She's tiny, only about 7-8 inches tall when finished but there is a lot of knitting in her many parts. I still need to knit two tiny wigs of hair before assembling her. The brown yarn is ready along with the needles. A fun project to get along with.

This bug bag is a project from my mom's stash of stuff. It is really adorable and would make a great knitting, project or decorator bag. It worked up fast and the patten could be adapted to make just the bag with out any appliques.

This was a project almost all finished but needed applique work, machine quilting and binding. All got done this afternoon and it makes a lovely table quilt or smallish wall hanging. I've had the cats helping me by just sitting in a basket and looking adorable. Just having a little helper by your side is encouraging. Thinking about all of the project still to do in the closet is a little bit daunting.

Another day another craft

These two tiny keychain, bunny and dog charmers are finished and join the kitty. My son or his girlfriend is receiving the bunny and the dog is going to a puppy lover. I got them at 'webs beads' in Northampton. They aren't the easiest to bead but are adorable and I want to do others from this company. Great instructions.

Can you tell I had a meeting to attend this week? I needed a project and the little elephant sailor boy needed a friend to play with. She was very fast to knit up and is quite the charmer. I've put chenille stems in her trunk and arms so she can pose a little. In looking at all my patterns I'm leaning towards a topsy turvy doll next.

In the practical knitting department, I rush knitted and finished a prayer shawl I had started months ago. With my new needles it went so much faster but the yarn just tugged and tried to stick together at every stitch. I came out very soft and elegant looking. It's desperately needed so it will get blessed tomorrow and go right out to someone in need of comforting. This weekend it's either attic shopping or Michaels for me in order to start right in on the next shawl.

Snowday

Another day in new england and that means another day of snow. To celebrate I've been cleaning the house and ignoring all the snow outside. It looks beautiful but I've got to go out and shovel it again. Since a snow day is for fun I decided to finish up some projects. Here is the needlework I finished a month or two ago. It turned into a needle case, pin cushion and scissor fob. I goes into a case to hold all of your sewing goodies. This is going to be a gift for some good sewer in the family, and there are lots of those.

The best thing that got finished today was mr snowguy. I've been knitting on him all this week and finished his hat and scarf on friday. After a lot of assembly he had some facial surgery today and had a nose, eyes and smile attached. After a some buttons were sewn in place he was all set for his glamour shot. As you can see he's very tall and extremely cuddly and squishably soft. I purposely under stuffed him so when you hold him you just have to hug him tight. His scarf is a nice 4 row repeat pattern that is reversible. I didn't attach his hat on to his head because as a snowman he might want to go for a different look in the future. Lot's of fun to knit and the results are well worth it.

Let it snow

The snowman in this picture called out of the closet and leaped to the top of the knitting pile. I bought the yarn and pattern for him early this summer. I knitted one leg and started the second and got sidetracked by the sock extravaganza. Right now I'm knitting the body with the legs attached and he's about 7'' tall so far. The yarn is the super cuddly 'Sirdir snowflake chunky" that is a little tricky to knit with. You can't see the stitches so you have to be careful none get lost. We'll see how he turns out. Right now he's jsut a ball of white warm fluff.

Can't wait for fall

It's been a snowy new year this week in this part of New England. I've been hunkering down and just stitching away on my leaf table cover. It's not quite large enough to be a table cloth unless it was a tiny table but a table center piece most definitely. I had loads of fun stitching it. One should never count how many pieces or elements there are still left to go when doing a project such as this. I miscounted thinking I only had about 10 more to go, but after stitching and stitching still had 8 or more left. It went upstairs to get a glamour shot but will go in the finished project drawer for possible distribution later this year. That drawer is mighty empty after this holiday season. Not a sock to find anywhere.

After the leaves were done falling I went to my project stash looking for the next one to work on. I know I wanted to knit with my new needles and a snowman called out but when I went to look for him I found the hat I had started for my daughter. I was using some nice circular bamboo needles but every stitch caught on the joint and was driving my crazy. I got out my new set and was soon knitting like the needles were on fire. The joint is smooth and the knitting goes so much easier. The hat is knitted to the pattern but I think it might be a bit too large. It's 100% wool so it can be shrunk in the wash with no problem. I have some other creamy white wool of about the same gauge so I'm going to knit it again but take off about 10 stitches and see if that works for a better fit. It was an easy pattern with a nice fold under neath so your ears will stay toasty warm. I'll wait for feedback from the recipient. Now to my stash closet to select the next project to finish. Just where is that snowman.