Instagram Roundup

Here's a little peek at what I've been working on lately. Sewing, knitting, hand carved stamps and even melty beads!

The photos are from Instagram (yes, I joined that bandwagon. Who knew low-res images could be so fun?) and put together with another app called Frametastic. While my Instagram account is private I am sharing the crafty pics on twitter, flickr, and now here.

Hopefully I'll have some bigger finished stuff to share soon!

Swap Round Up

Recently I completed a couple of swaps and I wanted to post some pictures of what I sent and received.

First, for round 3 of the Scrappy Mug Rug swap group on flickr, I made this Dresden mug rug for my partner (with Innocent Crush, of course):

  

I also added in a pincushion made from hand-stitched hexagons, and a few shrinky dink pins!

And this is the mug rug package I received. Isn't the embroidery great?

 

I also shared in the {Urban} HOME Goods swap.

 

One of the things on my partner's wishlist was a Kitchenaid mixer cover. I was nervous to make it since I don't have one myself to test it on, but I found this tutorial and went from there and it seems to fit! I used my partner's favorite green and gray colorscheme with some stripes for fun.

 
 

I also included a couple of potholders, another partner request.

  

What I was really hoping to get was something I've been meaning to make myself but haven't gotten around to, and the sewing machine cover I received really fit that bill! I love the Hope Valley fabric and colors. And the inside is corduroy! I also got this super cute raccoon needle book. So sweet!

 

Here's the cover on my machine in my teeny-tiny sewing corner.

Swapping can be a lot of fun: getting inspired seeing what everyone is creating in a group, trying to guess what you will be getting, stalking your partner and trying to come up with something perfect for them. But it's also a bit stressful: working on a deadline, hoping your partner will be happy with what you create, hoping you'll like what you get. While I think my swaps have gone pretty well, I think I'm taking a little break from swaps for a bit. Maybe it was just doing two at once wearing me out, or the nagging feeling that I should be working on my project list first!

What about ya'll, do you swap? I'd love to hear your best (or worst) swap stories!

Mug Rugs Sent and Received

Round 2 of the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap has been completed! (For me and my partners, anyway.) Just wanted to post pics of the completed mug rugs, sent and received.

This is what I came up with for my partner. From her inspiration mosaic and her emailed information, I knew she loved bright colors, coffee, and Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy. (A word on FMF: I had not really used it before, and I ended up doing a little splurge and getting some to use for my partner to be sure she'd like her mug rug. AND I ended up a FMF fan as well. Look out!)

The mug in the middle is from some Heidi Kenney Spoonflower fabric which I think is just too cute! I also added in a FMF coffee cozy (and I love how my partner yarntini is using it!) and some bonus recipe cards.

And check out what I got! This was made by grant_and_kelly. I love the Far Far Away fabric she chose and how it looks almost like you are peeking through a window at the owl and the pussycat. The big hexes are great and I love the quilting too.

Know what else is cool? The mug rug is totally reversible, with a cute Rapunzel on the back (and what looks to me like another window). (Am I window obsessed?)

She sent some great extras, too. Those cookies are like Thin Mints on steroids. Yum.

This swap was a lot of fun, maybe I'll try and get in for round 3, too! 

Recently

...I've been all of content and dreaming. Working on lots of little projects instead of big ones lately. Here's some recently finished things.

 Mini hexagons sewn onto a Moleskine cahier notebook.

Inspired by this and using this tutorial: a super easy, super cute Nicey Jane pincushion.

And some granny squares. Just cause I was in the mood for them.

What have you been working on recently?

Projects, Finished and Un-

You know what I'm really good at? Starting projects. You know what I'm really bad at? Finishing them. I keep picking up more stuff to do when I have many things undone. This is not always a bad thing, as I tend to do small projects in between bigger ones, maybe to prove to myself that I can finish the big ones. Here's a few of my current projects, finished and not:

Just learned some amigurumi thanks to the super cute book Amigurumi World.

(Nowhere near as fancy as this guy does, but really fast and fun to do.)

Dishcloths are another fast project. Here's a geeky one I call the Tardishcloth (Time and Relative Dimensions in Suds).

Got the pattern on Ravelry.

Here's two more projects I'm determined to finish. My entrelac scarf with Noro yarn, started in the fall, hopefully done to wear sometime this winter! (I'm on my last skein, anyway.)

And a super-secret mystery project inspired by the hexes I was making. (No, it's not for the flower garden quilt that I am still working on. It's something else.)

Any guesses what it will turn out to be?

Weekend Sewing Project... with frogs

The other weekend I had a burst of sewing energy and decided to make a dress for my niece. (Not the one with the birdie sling. A littler one.) So I whipped up this smocked sundress from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.


It was the first time I tried smocking and I loved it. There was something so fun about watching the fabric shrink up! The pattern is really easy and fast to do, to. And my niece looks really cute in it! I love how versatile it is: sundress now, wear a long sleeve top under it when it gets colder, summer shirt and/or skirt next year (or more?)

The fabric is also by Heather Ross, from her Far Far Away collection. It's SO soft! I only had about a half yard of it (good thing my niece is small), but I wish I had bolts and bolts to make lots of comfy pajamas. Or just to spread out and sleep on. Ah, double gauze.


What I had left of the fabric was barely enough to make a hex flower for my English paper piecing project. As a result of being so short on scraps, my stitches around the frog hex are not very perfect. :-( I'm hoping it won't be noticeable in a finished quilt, because I really want to include this fabric and memory of my niece's dress in there.

What's keeping me busy...

More gifts for friends, like this wallet/checkbook cover.

Fabrics: Alexander Henry Apples & Pears and Joel Dewberry Rose Damask. Label: my design printed by Etsy seller BitsyCreations.



Making progress on my hexes:


Decided I should do something about fabric for the middles so I could get to sewing the hexagon flowers together. Sometimes I think I am clever, like when I picked this Wonderland by MoMo fabric. I can use the fun circles for centers and may use the plain parts for flower borders. I really like how this gives me some variety while tying things together.


Also excited about the Amy Butler Mid Mod contest. I've got an idea in mind and have been working on some prototypes as I wait to get some Midwest Modern fabric. Want to try the contest, or just want some of that gorgeous fabric? Jenna Lou Designs is having a Midwest Modern fabric giveaway!


What's keeping you busy?

I've got a basket full o' hexagons

So I've got another new obsession: making hexagons per the English paper piecing quilting method! It's really fun and easy to do. You carefully cut out a hexagon of paper (I'm using card stock because it's a little heftier), pin a slightly larger piece of fabric to it, fold over the edges and baste. You can find instructions and a template here. (Don't you just love online tutorials?)


Pretty soon you will have a growing stack of hexes! Because I love to keep busy, I find that these are a lot of fun to do while relaxing and watching TV. My husband even thinks they are cool. (That is, he thought they were cool as a great way to use up scrap fabric. He didn't seem to think it was quite so cool when I told him I'd like to get more fabric to make matching centers and borders to tie everything together into a quilt.)


I'm loving making new designs out of my fabric scraps, like this big flower made from a lot of little flowers on some Amy Butler daisy chain fabric. I only wish I had a larger fabric stash... but if you've been sewing a long time, I imagine it would be great fun to put all your scraps into hexes and quilt them. What a nice collection of memories of past projects that would be!

Finishing this quilt may take me a while, but for now I'm happily occupied sewing lots of little hexes.