for the birds

Here I am. Wow! A month goes by fast these days. I've actually been a little reluctant posting because I use an old computer that has reached its max and I don't like to put any new photos on to it. Probably time to back up iphoto and clean things up a bit.

I've been working on a few crafts. First was this pair of wool needle felted birds and nest. I made them for Jim for his birthday a few weeks ago. I had thought they would be a Valentines gift, but they ended up being rather time consuming. Needle felting is fun but it might be hard to appreciate how much time goes into them. It might be hard to see, but the boy is wearing a bow-tie and the girl has a flower in her head feathers and a pearl necklace. They're dressed for an evening out I guess. The nest is made of fabric strips and pipe cleaners. I like the sturdy feel the wires give to the nest.

I've also been doing some knitting. After a lot of time spent trying to learn to continental knit, I've finally figured out something similar. Many years ago in college I went to the library and checked out a few books to teach myself how to knit. I figured out how to do it, but I was not really doing it the way everyone else does. I should say that I had no idea I was doing anything wrong. I came out with the same results, but it was slow. So when I tried to learn the faster continental way, things got really mixed up because I didn't have a proper technique to begin with. Despite looking at a million "learn-to-knit" videos on the web, I could never get the hang of holding the yarn in my left hand. My stitches would always get very twisted. Finally when I was at the end of my rope (or should I say yarn) I decided to try to copy exactly what I was doing in my old (wrong) way and just hold the yarn in my left hand. What I've ended up with is the absolutely BEST way to knit ever. Trust me, I've seen all the videos and nobody does it quite like I do and my way is great! Speedy, perfect stitches, perfect tension, most minimal hand/finger movement. I can do it without looking, switch from knit to purl without letting go of the yarn, switch to a new row without letting go of the yarn. Truly! Crazy! Now I can knit without it taking me forever. I made this cute vest for Tess. The pattern is here. I just cast on more stitches (100?) at the beginning to make it a little bigger to fit Tess. Here she is modeling. I know it is not the best view of the vest, but I picked to photo for other reasons:)

Valentines Day bookmarks

Things are always busy around here, so I've been doing a lot of starting and stopping on various crafts. I've been trying to teach myself a new and hopefully faster way of knitting, but old habits die hard. I want to start a new quilt, but need to finish one first. The past few weekends have been more about crafting with the kids.

We/I did Valentine bookmarks this year. I thought this would be a fun sewing project to do with the kids. The kids helped with the sewing and then made cards out of construction paper to tie on with ribbon. Joann Fabrics really came through with some great prints. It took a little digging, but both prints I ended up choosing were Alexander Henry. Cute stuff.

Happy New Year 2009!

One last peek at a big project from the end of 2008. I made 9 of these wreaths for all the families on my Christmas list. While they did take a lot of time to complete, I really liked not having to figure out many different gifts for many different people. I think everyone liked them, I sure thought they were cute.
In my spare moments before Christmas, I also worked on another house for my advent village. Since, there was no way I was going to be able to finish the whole thing before Christmas, I think I will just aim for having it done before Christmas 2009. That will give me plenty of time for all the details.
My brother is expecting a new baby soon and the shower is today. I'm not able to go, but I wanted to have a gift there for the special day. I made this baby quilt for the upcoming bundle of joy in this really simple snowball pattern. I went through all my fabric and pulled out only the stuff that I LOVE. I have so many wonderful novelty fabrics and I'm always looking for a reason to use them up.


Taking a good photo of a quilt is next to impossible, especially when the "help" is not so cooperative.

Here is my little helper on one of her favorite Christmas presents from Grandma. In the background is Maria's big present, a Hello Kitty sewing machine. It is so stinkin cute and works great. I found that cute little desk and the consignment shop and painted it red so it would look new. It's her own little work station. Excatly what a busy girl like Maria needs.
Ah! I'm so glad I put this post together. I had been feeling all out of sorts and unproductive for awhile now. Thinking I wasn't making use of my time and not completing anything that I start. Nine wreaths, 3 coats of paint on the red desk and chair, one quilted house, one baby quilts, and a handknit cotton washcloth I didn't even take a photo of is not so bad for one month of crafting. That's why I do this. No time to spellcheck, I gotta go.

Piano recital

Among all the making, baking, planning, and prepping, we have enjoyed a steady soundtrack of practicing. On a very snowy night, just days before Christmas we gathered in a beautiful church to enjoy over thirty children perform their holiday songs. It was such a treat. My two performers were well prepared and took the stage with such confidence and grace it nearly made my heart break. So without further ado, I give you...

What I'm Makin'

Leaving behind some slow moving projects, I've jumped into some new Christmas crafts. So much more fun. First is the wreath. The idea came from the pomander tutorial of Betz White. She really comes up with the best ideas for using felted sweaters.

My really big great idea, though, is an advent village. I'm so excited about this idea. I can't say I've ever seen something like this before, but I'm sure there must be something like it somewhere. It will be made up of 3D patchwork houses with numbered windows and doors that have pockets behind them with things in them. I've made the first and biggest house already. It took a lot of brain twisting to figure it all out, but I love the way it looks so far. In the picture you can see one of the pockets on the roof. That will have a chimney over it and a Santa will come out on the 24th. Ha Ha! I think the snowman will come out of this house also. So will a Christmas tree and decorations and more. Do you see the apple pie cuties looking out the windows and doors? I had to make the whole house scaled to their size to make that look right. I've had that fabric forever, and never knew what to do with it. Another house will be a rustic cottage and out of that will come the squirrel and garden gnome and more. I had to learn a whole new craft, needle felting, in order to execute all the ideas for this village. There will also be a church with the Holy family in the pockets and a barn with reindeer and other seasonal animal and barn stuff. Wooo!

OK there are a lot more ideas as far as this project goes and I really have to get a grip on my Christmas shopping and stuff, so there is no way it will be done before Christmas. I'll just add it to the rotation of large long term projects I'm working on like the quilted chair, and the hand quilted twin quilt for Maria and the log cabin quilt. They are all more done than not. Really and truly these will all be in their completed glory one day real soon. I just need to stop adding to the list.

Everything all in one post

The camera-napper was apprehended lurking in some neighborhood bushes, but not before he sold off my camera. In any case, I'm glad he's off the streets for now.

Firstly, I dressed up Maria and Tess and tried to reenact Halloween. Maria was Little Red Riding Hood.Between the cape(red corduroy), the lining(Marcus Bros. fairytale), the pinafore(light green wool) and the petticoat(white linen) this outfit used some serious yardage. Trying to catch Maria in a still pose is seriously hard.
And not to be outdone in the difficult to photograph department, here is Tess letting it be known that she will NOT be a happy Strawberry Fairy again.
Unless she can ride on the trike.
Another major project I've had going on is this vanity that my mother-in-law gave us this summer. It was old and the finish was in pretty rough shape, so I thought I would either paint it or strip it before setting it up in the house. Never having refinished anything before, naturally that's what I decided to do. I'm glad I made the effort. It certainly wasn't as hard or time consuming as making a quilt. I'm very happy with the results.

A little bit of good luck was found at the thrift shop this week. A lovely wool granny square afghan. Absolutely perfect condition and only $16. I know this is the going price for these, but I've tried making one before and these blankets are a LOT of work. Yet another example of how handmade things are under-appreciated.

Phew!

Wow! I'm so happy Obama won. I've been smitten since his keynote address in 2004 and I'm so proud that so many Americans came out and supported him for President. I don't just think he will be a good President, I think he will be a great one. I could go on all day, but I won't.

So I made a very sweet little red riding hood costume for Maria for Halloween. I'd love to put some of the beautiful photos of her wearing it right here. I would write about the lovely, soft blue wool I got for a song on E-bay (that never happens anymore). I'd show another photo of the darling fairy tale fabric I used to line the red cape. I'd even love to upload some cute photos of Tess as a Strawberry fairy and Betsy as a Princess. It would be the photo fantastic post I've been working towards for weeks! But I can't do that because somebody stole my camera out of our car in the driveway last night. Very creepy.