Welcome back, me!

Wow, it has been a long time since I last posted! Sometimes, you know, life gets in the way...and for the past few months I have been working on a big big big project that I will share here soon. It has kept me from working on much else, but today I would like to share one of my favorite things about our new house: my craft room!

Here's our lovely house:

And here's what the room looked like before:

Until we discovered that the carpet was hiding hardwood floors! So now, it looks like this:

And, it has a closet! Someday, it will have a door on it. Maybe.

It is soooooooooooo nice to have a little space to work in...and when I leave a project half-finished, I can just close the door! I haven't been working on much, but I have been playing around with some chevrons, inspired by these ones:

Source: hyacinthquiltdesigns.blogspot.com via Erica on Pinterest

and this

Source: beesquarefabrics.blogspot.com via Erica on Pinterest

but I didn't really think the whole project through before starting. So, I made something like this:

 but it only makes a smallish rectangle. So, I figured I could make two from the jelly roll I had, and then went out and bought another one...so I will have two rectangles that I am currently thinking I will piece together into a quilt top. To be continued.

Amigurumi Knits

I mentioned in my last post that I received several excellent knitting books for Christmas. The creations in this next one are not quite as tiny, but equally awesome.

There are sea creatures (knitted nautilus!), imaginary creatures (a jackalope!) and, among other things, a pattern for a basket of knitted vegetables. I still need to add the cucumber and the carrot, but here's what I've got so far:

Eggplant (my personal favorite), a tomato, garlic, and a peapod. There's also a pattern for an open peapod so you can see the peas!

The construction techniques on these are excellent - the increases and decreases are so smooth, you don't have any of the little tiny holes you sometimes see in those areas.

Teeny-Tiny MochiMochi!

I mentioned in my last post that tinier = cuter, which is why I was so excited to receive this book for Christmas:

My sister-in-law knows me so well :)

These little guys knit up really quickly - I have finished most in an hour or two in front of the TV. I've also learned a lot of new little knitting tips and tricks, because when you're making something this small, the little details REALLY matter - so I have been paying more attention to the slant direction of increases and decreases and so forth. There are also virtually NO seams - including for those little tiny legs and arms and wings, which makes for really simple finishing.

Tiny chicken in a tiny basket :)

Tiny fried eggs, by request for Chrissy

Tiny ghost for Halloween!

Tiny cactus...just because.

Tiny cupcake!

AIRPLANE!!!

Tiny gnome, by request for the hubs :)

Why? Because I can. And who doesn't want a tiny creature for their desk? Or anywhere else, for that matter?

Go Pats!

Because tiny is always cuter.

We moved! The new house is wonderful, but we are still in the process of painting and sanding and spackle-ing and whatnot. That's why I haven't even touched my sewing machine since before Christmas - too much to unpack and put away and organize!

However, I have been doing some knitting. I got some AMAZING knitting books for Christmas, including this one:

This book is so full of knitted adorableness it is almost unbelievable. I am not quite ready to share my tiny creations yet, but knitting tiny things has inspired me to look for adorable tiny things everywhere. So I put together a little list of some of my favorites :)

Le Frog Peridot Totem by le ... leanimale $40.00	sterling brontosaurus dinosa... cravejewelryde... $28.00
Rabbit origami Pin hugaporcupine $29.00	blue jay figurine totem ani... HandyMaiden $32.00
Tiny Bunny Charm Necklace in... BLACKSWANJEWEL... $22.00	Tiny bumble bee ornament dec... CraftsByKeri $8.00
Chilly Penguins Stitch Marke... weeones $14.00	Red Fox Clay Animal Totem - ... RoxyStudio $25.00
A tiny Valentine koala LoveableTreasu... $25.00	Extreme Micro Snail - Mini T... suami $18.00
two tiny hedgehogs HandmadeByNove... $10.00	Little needle felt owl, tiny... Lybo $20.00
Baby Elephant Figurine, Tiny... efiwarsh $18.00	Tiny fairy, mushroom house a... MijbilCreature... $38.00
Fawn Pug Dog with Pink Bow -... suami $22.00	Lovely Tiny Silver Whale Stu... YQYJewelry $19.99

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio. 

 

Happy Groundhog Day!

Christmas Recap, Part 2

Another Christmas project I enjoyed was this simple scarf. You need a TON of stitches on the needle, but they work up pretty quickly and they are pretty! I have already gotten requests for the pattern, which is a free one from Lion brand yarn! 

With this blue one (for my Nana, she loves this color), I followed the directions exactly, and used just a little bit more than one ball of yarn. That annoyed me, since it meant I had to buy two! I made a second one, in red, and just reduced the number of stitches (I think by 20 or so) and then it took exactly one ball. I think a little bit shorter looked fine - maybe better, since it was a little less bulky.

Not the best picture I've ever had taken of me...but I was in a hurry to get things photographed and wrapped!

Christmas Recap, Part 1

My brother is in the process of becoming an adult. This year, he bought his first condo...and the first time I visited, I felt like it was missing something. It was lacking a certain sophistication. And people were drinking wine out of coffee mugs.

So, of course, I bought him wine glasses for Christmas. But I felt like he needed something to go with them - cocktail napkins!

But of course, plain white wouldn't do. So I sought out this tutorial for a basic napkin, and then looked for some embroidery patterns to spice them up. I found the perfect patterns here.

And, voila!

Grownup (because they are cloth napkins) and still ridiculous. Perfect for my brother.

I love the way these turned out. I will definitely make more!

Back from neverneverland...

Dearly devoted blog readers (few though you may be...)...sorry for my recent absence :)

However, I have a good reason.

We bought a house!

This has been a long time in the making. I don't want to go into all the details...but to give the short version of the story, we put our first offer in last may and close on December 30th.

So, we have been busy painting and plastering and having the floors refinished. Be prepared for before and after pics!

I want to show you all some of the things I was working on for Christmas and couldn't post before the holidays for fear that the recipients would see their gifts. So, although the posts may be a little sparser in the weeks to come - stay tuned!