Hope everyone has a great turkey day!!!
This is the wool applique table runner I started working on last year. This is from one of the Need’l Love books that features fall patterns. I added acorns and oak leaves for that extra touch.
This guy wanted to have his picture on the blog too! He is the cousin to the other owl I made. My son has named this owl “Fancy” and the other owl is called “Sooder” (not sure how he came up with that one!).
My son and I have been having fun making some beaded christmas ornaments. I remember making ornaments like this when I was a kid and thought he was at the right age to have a lot of fun doing it. I started out with something simple – a wreath and a candy cane. These are simple and cheap to make, and you have the benefit of some great bonding time with your kids!
For the wreath you need:
Start by putting one green paddle bead on the pipe cleaner, then add a red faceted bead. Continue with this pattern until all the red and green beads are gone. One end of the pipe cleaner should have about 1 inch sticking out. Bend the beads into a circle and wrap the short end of the pipe cleaner around to secure the circle. Take the long end of the pipecleaner and twist it so it sticks up in the center of the wreath. String 10 tri beds on this end to create the candle (my son got creative and created a striped candle). Take the free end of the pipe cleaner and tuck the end into the top of the candle to create the flame.
You can finish this by tying a red bow out of narrow ribbon and gluing to the bottom of the wreath just under the candle. Loop clear thread through the top bead and tie into a loop to create a hanger.
For the Candy Can you need:
Start by stringing one red faceted bead on the pipe cleaner. Leave about one inch of pipe cleaner free on the end. Then string on 2 white tri beads and then 2 red tri beads. Once those beads are gone, string on the last red faceted bead. Tuck each end of the pipe cleaner into the top of the red beads. Bend into a candy cane shape.
Finish by tying a green ribbon around the middle of the candy cane and tying on a clear thread hanger at the top of the candy cane.
Have fun! I have an idea for little christmas trees, but I need to special order the paddle beads. I will post a picture when done.
I was hoping to get this posted yesterday, but I think today is fine – the sugar high has finally worn off! My son wanted to be a spider for Halloween this year. I was so proud of myself because we picked out the pattern and bought all the supplies in early September! I was going to get it down early, but of course I was sewing it at the last minute :). The costume is from McCall’s 6180, but with a few modifications.
I made legs longer and didn’t put the ruffle at the bottom. The ruffles were cute, but since he is a “big boy” now they didn’t suit him. I had a lot of trouble turning the tubes to make the legs (the fabric was very thick and it was a struggle), so I used black socks for the tubes instead. Since we wanted to have some bend in the legs, my husband taped up florist wire to create a frame, wrapped batting around it, and then we put the sock over it. It yield nice long and fat spider legs – but the costume was very heavy! My son was a real trooper and wore it to a party on Friday night, but we figured we could do something better for the legs for the BIG night.
For Spider 2.0, my husband taped together 6 dowels, and covered them with electrical wire. We then cut the legs off of Spider 1.0 and used the socks to cover the dowels. More electrical tape was used to tape around parts of the socks (which created a nice jointed leg effect). The legs were much lighter, but since they stuck out it was a bit harder to navigate. My husband rigged up a harness so the legs would slip over my son’s arms, and then we tied them down with a piece of ribbon. All in all, Spider 2.0 was a great success and he got a lot of compliments while trick or treating.
Hope you all had a great Halloween!
Here is another Fall item (started two years ago) that is finally finished. Last week it was plucked out of the UFO pile and given the finishing touches. This was another project from Create and Decorate that was a lot of fun to make. The feathers are cut out of wool, the veins are stitched on, and then they are treated with fabric stiffener (I used “Stiffy” – insert joke here 🙂 ). Once the feathers are dry, the directions called for you to glue them together and then glue onto the body. However, I had much better luck stitching everything with black perle cotten – it was much sturdier and you know it won’t come apart.
The whole thing is brushed with coffee to give it that “prim” luck. My husband keeps smelling coffee in the house although neither one of us drinks it (the coffee smell fades away after a few days). The original directions made one that was about 12 inches high (suitable for a table centerpiece). My is about half that size, since I thought a smaller one would be more versatile.
I really love Halloween crafts and I finished my first one this year – Bartleby the Pumpkin! The pattern was in the recent issue of Create and Decorate and I couldn’t resist his grinchy grin. The pattern had more of a party hat on him (made out of paper), so I opted to make a witch’s hat instead with a spider and spiderweb.
Of course, his name makes me think of that Herman Mellville story you read in school – Bartleby the Scrivener. Remember that one? It was about poor old Bartleby and all he ever said when asked a question was “I would prefer not to.” He drives his boss crazy, but instead of firing ol’ Bartleby the boss moves to a different building and leaves Bartleby behind! Such a strange story, and one I remember very vividly.
UPDATE: Just finished this one as well. This one is larger (if you can’t tell from the picture – it is probably twice as big). Not sure where they both will go yet….
Sharon Stewart of Liberty Rose scores again with another great pattern! I took a class from her to make these adorable snowmen! The original plan was to make three snowman with a top hat, but while I was in class I suggested we also create a Mama and a Little Boy snowman. Sharon whipped up some new ideas on the spot for the ladies’ red hat and the child’s ear muffs. I am very pleased with my snowman family! Now if there were only a way to create a pet dog snowman….
These will make great gifts and are so easy to make. I will probably make more with some different faces and hats. Christmas is only 6 months away, so it’s time to start planning!
Not much time to sew for the past few days. I went to Atlanta to celebrate my Grandmother’s 90th birthday! She is still going strong and even treated the whole family to dinner on her birthday. It’s hard to imagine how much change she’s witnessed in her 90 years. When she was born, cars were pretty rare and of course no TV or internet. How did they get by without internet back then??
My grandma sewed most of my clothes when I was younger and even attempted to teach me a few times. However, it never really stuck with me until I start sewing when I was pregnant. She made me the most beautiful party dresses for dances, and very dapper suits for my brother. I was lucky enough to get her old treadle sewing machine when she upgraded to an electric sewing machine a few years ago. She doesn’t sew as much anymore, but she does crochet and knit like crazy. I think everyone she’s ever known has received a crocheted afghan from her – we have three!
Happy Birthday Grandma!!
Happy mother’s day to all the mom’s out there. Someone sent this email to me and it was so funny I wanted to share it! Enjoy and have a great day.
Yesterday, it finally started to feel like Spring. The Winter has been lingering on way to long around here it’s nice to finally get to spend some time outside in warmer weather! For those of you who are up North, you probably think we are pretty wimpy down here because we complain when it gets below 40. But this has been a harsh winter for us – it snowed three times this year!!
In celebration of Spring, I make a basket of colorful peeps. The pattern is from Liberty Rose, and it was originally larger. I scaled it down to about 65% on the copy machine to make these small peeps (I got the idea for doing this from Sharon of Liberty Rose). They are so cute, but now my son wants me to make him a blue one too! Kids are never satisfied are they??
I also finished up this Wool Penny Mat that I started 2 years ago. It’s nice to finish up some project so I can start on new ones!
It’s time to announce the winner of the Christmas Stocking! I used the Random Number Generator at Random.org to select a number between 1 and 26 (since there were 26 comments). The number selected is 15 – which means the winner is…..
Suzanne Meiler!
Thanks to everyone who entered!
Here are a few holiday projects to tide you over until next year. Please check back in 2010 as I will be having other exciting giveaways and free patterns!
Keep it Thimble 