Cross Stitched Ornaments!

A few months back, I found a delightful cross-stitch shop on Etsy - Canadian Stitchery! They have wooden blanks that you cross stitch designs onto. Most of the ones I bought were ugly Christmas sweaters, but I also found a few other cute ones.

This one made its way into The Husband's stocking this year - seemed the most fitting for him.

The sheep was a birthday gift for a friend, so that it would be there in time to put on her tree. She loves sheep, so it was perfect. (This was actually in the Easter ornament section, but who cares?)

My grandma is a quilter, so I figured she'd appreciate the quilted star.

This dinosaur was for ME! I just thought it was hilarious.

For Thing 1, who loves penguins.

 And for Thing 2, because it was just funny. Everyone seemed to enjoy the ornaments in their stockings.

It's Been Awhile.....

So I haven't been sewing for awhile, and it's been even longer since I blogged. Here is the first set of out-of-town Christmas gifts that I am sending out. 

 

The snowman afghan is what I've been doing a lot of lately - prep a piece of fleece, then crochet an edging on it. This works out well for portable projects at the hockey rink. The White Sox fleece pants were done much earlier in the year (and saved for Christmas!), and the pillowcases were just finished up today. At least I realized that I had only sat on that fabric for almost a year and not 2 years like I was thinking? 

Isn't the fabric cute? My friend is going to love these. I used the burrito method and french seams, so they're totally clean inside. I really should make pillowcases as gifts more often.

More afghan repetition

This is another afghan that I had mentioned but not posted, as it was a gift for a friend who hadn't yet received it.  And then I forgot.  The original blog posting is here - mentioning two others from this pattern.  I think the ombre here is antique, and I don't remember what main color I used.  It turned out really pretty, though, and my friend liked it!

I have another in (slow) progress, because this is an excellent portable project.

More snowflakes - very ,much after the fact

I apparently never blogged this one.  I had blogged about my blue version and even mentioned that I'd started one in dark red, but that was it.  Well, I did finish this in time to give it as a gift last Christmas.  Once again, it was very portable and worked up quickly.  I still think it would look good in a dark green, also.

Zombie hat

So I'm in multiple FB groups, and several are for crochet.  And someone posted a pic of her son modeling a hilarious zombie hat she'd made, so of course I had to immediately ask for the pattern source.  Naturally.  This is a pattern by Semi Sweet Crafter, and it's available for free on her blog.  Alternately, you can buy a pdf version from her Etsy shop, which is what I did.  I planned to make more than one, and I figured a pdf was more streamlined and easy to keep on my phone for portable reference.  (Also, it was only $1.50.  That seemed ridiculously cheap and I wanted to support her efforts.)

So, first finished hat was for my niece.  I love this pattern, but I don't like how you make the brains.  I am terrible at winging it, and that's basically what the directions call for.  However, I was on a deadline and wanted to get this done in time to give it to her father to avoid mailing.  So I sucked it up and did something passable.  This is the child size.

Next one was started because I finished the part of my son's that I could work on at a baseball game before the game ended, and I needed something else to do.  One of my colleagues loves weird stuff like this and has a baby, so I figured the baby needed a zombie hat.  Because why not?  This is the 12 month size.

And then there's my kid's hat, which was the first one started and the last one finished.  Go figure.  This is the teen size (he's 12).  I had made all of it except the tassels and the brains, because I started the brains the way the pattern directed and really didn't like it.  Trying to do several rows of slipstitching for the brain ridges was awkward and didn't look as raised in my hands than it did in the picture.  Ultimately, I went looking for other ways to do it and settled on crocheted i-Cord.  I found the instructions easy to follow, though it felt clumsy and awkward as I began my cord.  However, I got used to it and was able to finish making the cord during a baseball game.  I then stitched it down in my semi-desired patttern.  (I will say that it was easier to arrange and stitch when I stuffed the hat with a rolled up towel to hold its shape during the sewing.)

Thing 2 is delighted, and I'm reasonably happy with those brains.

I would highly recommend this pattern if a crocheted zombie hat is a need like it was in my life. ;)

Cross stitch finishes

So some of these have been seen already, but not once totally finished.

The poop emoji stitch was put into a wooden hoop that I painted myself.  Yep, looked for something that resembled "poop brown."  She loved it!

This is a frame from IKEA that fortunately was the perfect size and included a mat.  If I'd been thinking ahead, I might have looked for a mat in pink, but....nah....

This was my favorite.  I went looking at IKEA for frames, but didn't really see any the perfect size.  Well, I take that back.  I found one with a silver frame and white mat, but I wasn't sure how that would be with the oatmeal fabric.  So instead I decided to do the painted hoop finish.  And I'm really happy with how it turned out! 

I looked up how best to frame in a hoop and found this website.  (Used it for the poop emoji, too, but didn't have time/inclination to get felt for the back.)  I was skeptical that the felt would do much, because the fabric was sticking out a fair bit once gathered.  But I was impressed with how much it compressed the bulk without really any effort.  This went over very well, and I'm already planning to use it again.

The Project that Will Not End

So titled, because that's what I called it during construction.  

My friend is a martial artist.  I was looking for crochet graphs for potential fund-raising projects, and I ran across the martial artist graph.  That graph is intended for filet crochet, and I knew I wanted to use all single crochet stitches.  So I rewrote the graph so that each X on the graph became a 2x2 square on my graph.  Then I started stitching.  This has taken countless hours - mainly because I wanted it to be perfect.  I got almost halfway through the graph and realized I'd lost two stitches somewhere, so I ripped it back almost to the beginning and became much more obsessive about counting stitches.  I ripped the borders off and redid them three times, because I wasn't happy with how they were lying.  Ultimately, there's a lot of work in this afghan.  (It's covering my queen-size bed in this picture - I don't know why it looks so square, because it's definitely a rectangle.)  But it turned out amazing, and she loves it, so....well-worth the headache. 

Snowflakes in {Whenever that's not Winter}

I was on Pinterest a few months back, which is always dangerous.  I was thinking about what to work on after finishing the current afghan, and this snowflake afghan pattern popped up!  It's the free, it's worked in blocks, it's beautiful, and it's got some interest to the blocks - looked like a total winner!  Unfortunately, the pattern is written to sew the blocks together rather than crocheting them in place, but I figured I'd just crochet them together and see how things went.

I loved the dark blue/white combination, so I went with the Peacock blue and plain white Red Heart with Love yarns.  I don't remember exactly when I started it, but it seemed to work up pretty quickly.  An added bonus was that each block had only 4 yarn ends to weave in, instead of the 8 in the stained glass afghan.  And this afghan takes only 59 blocks instead of 82.  Also, it worked great to crochet the blocks together, so that's what I'll do again.  And the second row of the border gives some additional visual interest - almost looks like popcorn.

I really like how this turned out, and hopefully the recipient will, as well.  In the meantime, I've started the second version - this time with a dark red.

Color therapy

So this blanket begins with a story.  Once upon a time, long long ago (we're talking 14-15 years ago), I started a random baby afghan.  Normal baby colors and all.  This is the "Lollipops" pattern, created by Diana Sippel of Diana Lynn's Designs, and was found in the book Afghan Splendor, put out by The Needlecraft Shop.

I finished all the "lollipop" strips and started adding the white edging, and then I either lost interest or ran out of time or something.  No idea.  But I put the pieces into a plastic bag and stuffed it into a box of UFOs.  Somehow this passed the purge test when I got rid of a lot of yarn UFOs on freecycle six years ago before our move.  I think at the time I thought I'd finish it for a baby gift?  At any rate, Thing 2 dumped out the UFOs to take the box last year around this time, and I needed a mindless project for a day-long CE meeting.  So the stars aligned, and I got to work on finishing the afghan.  I did run into some trouble, as it was not wide enough, and I wanted to add another strip (or two?  I don't remember now).  But I couldn't match the blue I'd used - apparently Red Heart discontinued it at some point.  That started a frantic search, and I ultimately matched it to a blue in a baby yarn (that really seemed worsted weight) in another brand, and I finished the afghan, with no idea who it would go to.  Then a month ago, I gave it to an expecting colleague - who just happened to be sitting next to me when I had worked on it last year.  Full circle, eh?

After all that, I sadly have to say that apparently I never took a picture.  Oh, well...but it did spawn an interesting next project.  So the pattern calls for 5 colors, and you make 4 repeats in each strip.  Finished size should be 30x38".  I had used 6 colors and 3 repeats in my baby version, and I don't think I ever measured it.  Anyway, I was in the fabric store, looking at yarn one day.  And I had had a bad day at work and just wanted some color therapy.  And I was drawn to the Red Heart blacklight yarn.  So I painstakingly picked out the five main colors that were in it, and I bought those and black to make myself an afghan.  I thought it would be neat to do the lollipops a little bigger for a grownup sized afghan.  And then I decided to rotate the strips so that the colors went diagonally across the afghan instead of straight across.  Ultimately it ended up almost the size of the top of my queen-sized mattress.  The Husband thinks it's weird that it's black, but I love it!

Ultimately, this is a great portable project, because it is fairly mindless in each phase and easy to remember what to do.  Also, until you're putting the strips together, everything is small and easily carried.  Worked out great for what I needed!  I have also since made a smaller, baby-sized version of the black light afghan - no pic yet, but it's for a friend who loves the colors and is hoping for a baby.

Shawl frenzy

I believe it's been previously mentioned that I don't sit still terribly well, and that I do better with a hand project to distract me from fidgeting.  When my grandma was in the hospital last year after a broken hip, I thought of crocheting her a shawl as a gift.  I'm familiar with the concept of a prayer shawl, where basically the idea is that you're thinking of/praying for the person as you work on the shawl, and then they are given a gift of warmth and positivity.  So I found a (naturally) free pattern online that would allow the yarn shades to be the star - bonus points that it was a mindless pattern, allowing me to work without paying much attention.  That's important when one is crocheting while attending continuing education meetings or church!

This one was given to my grandma.  The yarn I used is Red Heart with Love, which is softer than the regular acrylic.

This one became my mom's Christmas present.  She loves yellow.

This one, which didn't photograph well, was for a friend for Christmas.  I thought she'd enjoy the cheery colors!  It is the Fruit Punch shade.

Coworker gifts

So when you have a lot of coworkers, gift season can be difficult.  You want something that can be personalized, doesn't cost a lot, is quick/easy to finish, and I prefer that it be practical if possible.  Enter the plastic bag holder.  Since I'm in the veterinary profession, almost everyone I work with has animals, and plastic grocery bags are awesome for poop scooping, as well as trash can liners, etc.  So I made a whole bunch of plastic grocery bag holders to hand out.  Most of them are shown in this pic, but there's a few more that sadly didn't get photographed.  I tried to semi-customize the print to the person, but almost all were animal related.  Mine were based off of this pattern, though I didn't follow it exactly.  All my holders have loops made from self-fabric, for example.  I really like these - I actually have one in each of my bathrooms, plus in the closet (for the dog bags) and near the cat box.  Great assembly line gift if you need one.

A colleague had asked me about making scrub caps quite a few months ago, and I had said sure, but don't know when.  Good thing I said that, since it took months to get around to it!  She gave me the paw print fabric to use, plus another one that apparently never made it into the photo, and I found a free pattern online.  I made four out of the paw print fabric.  The monster print was leftover from my scrub shirt, and that will eventually be a gift for a colleague's birthday.

My original prototype was the bug print on the left - I had a bunch of that in stash.  Not sure why the monster one showed up in a second pic, but there it is.  And the Walking Dead cap on the right became a Christmas gift for another colleague who is hugely into that TV show.

Now that I have the pattern down, I figure caps may become popular gifts for coworker's birthdays....

And now for a little yarn fun....

I have a colleague at work who is obsessed with Bigfoot.  Seriously.  So when I saw this crocheted bigfoot/yeti pattern, I knew that I had to make it for her.  These little guys are pretty hilariously adorable, and I'm sure I'll be making more.  I did the yeti first and decided to go down a hook size on the next attempt, just to keep stuffing from showing through the stitching.  I like the bigfoot better, so I'll be sure to go with the smaller size in the future.

And my colleague who is expecting a baby fell in love with combat booties that she found on etsy.  Because I'm a kind soul, I offered to make them for her, if she bought the pattern and the yarn she wanted.  I think these newborn size are pretty stinking cute, and she loved them!  (They were also much too tiny, so more sizes will be coming her way in the future.)

Speaking of more sizes, my nephew's daddy is a soldier, so I thought he might need some for Christmas.  I made two sizes to send, just because I wasn't sure of sizing.  I think they turned out pretty nice!  Hopefully they get used.

New baby onesies - paw prints!

Somebody at work is having a baby, so I thought that baby onesies would be a great gift, of course.  So I did one with the baby's initial, but then I thought, we're a vet clinic.  Paw prints!  And my new obsession was born....

These are for baby Jay - each one is a different size.

And since it was a great idea, I made one for my nephew, too!  Along with his initial....

I'm thinking these would be great for a vet-related fundraiser item, too....Must ponder this....

Still in cross-stitch....

Might as well finish up all the cross-stitch posts at once, right?  So doing the Blackhawks logo and Blues logo made me decide that cross-stitch was a good project to take to work for lunchtime and down time, and I looked through my old stash to see what I might have on hand.  I found a barely started Thomas Kinkade kit - my mom's a huge fan, and I must have started this for her fifteen to twenty years ago.  I actually found two of them - this was the smaller one, and I hadn't started the other one yet.  So I decided to go ahead and finish this.  And then I realized why I'd put it away...

This is one of those cursed cross-stitch projects that has the background printed onto the cloth, and you're supposed to add stitching to embellish it.  Sounds great, until you realize that the background and what's printed on the chart don't quite match up.  And I have crafting OCD.  Oy!  This became a horror to work on, because I don't do well at winging my projects.  I was thrilled to finish, and I went ahead and paid JoAnn's to frame it so that I didn't have to spend another minute on the project.  I have to say that the final product does look really nice, and the framing employee made suggestions for framing that make it look amazing!  I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I'm pretty sure I'll never do another of those "printed background" projects.

And then awhile later, after completing the Cardinals logo, I decided that a small cross-stitch project would be a good palate cleanser.  This was a little kit I picked up on a whim at Hobby Lobby.  My aunt likes cows, and I haven't done anything cow-related for her in awhile, so I figured it'd be a good Christmas gift.  I found the frame and mat at JoAnn's, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

More cross-stitch!

So I got hooked on having a hand project to take to work for breaks, and I really liked how the Blackhawks and Blues logos went.  And the executive director for one of the non-profit organizations I work with saw both of them, and she suggested that something like that would make a great auction item for their big fundraising dinner, maybe paired with donated game tickets.  

Well, I had no interest in doing another Blues logo, and I wasn't sure how popular the Rams would be.  (Good thing, right, now that they're relocating to LA?  Sooo glad I didn't pick that one!)  I figured that the Cardinals would probably be the most popular choice, anyway, and I really like how this one turned out!  

The pattern was once again full stitches only, which is nice.  It stitched up really well, and I got a LOT of comments/compliments while I was working on it (including at one continuing education meeting - I promise I really was listening, too!).  I chose to do this one on a grey background, and I really like how the colors look against it.  Then I had it framed at my local JoAnn's store - wanted this to look as good as possible since it's a fundraising item.  Here's hoping they raise a lot of money with it!

Other fun

 I used to do cross-stitch a lot, before I really got into sewing.  I liked the graphical nature of it, and I had a lot of fun with putting small designs on clothing.  I had quite a few big pictures that I started, but not so many that I finished - oops!  And most that I finished were given away.  I'll have to dig up the few that are still here and photograph them.

Anyway, there are certain times that you need a project and can't lug your sewing machine along.  (As evidenced by last Christmas' slipper production....)  But I eventually got tired of slippers...even though I have a pair that need to be finished....so when I knew that I had a long day out with not much to do, I turned back to cross-stitch.  At this point, my favored Blackhawks were starting the Stanley Cup finals, so I bought a logo pattern on etsy and picked up the few needed supplies.  Nearly a month later, I finished it while en route to the United Center for a U2 concert. 

It's actually still not done - the logo is complete, and I do really like the pattern.  All full stitches, and it stitched up nicely.  I will say that I changed the color of the face - that was originally the same yellow as the feathers, and that was just not right.  The other colors perfectly matched the logo on my sweatshirt from the Winter Classic 2015, so I just took the sweatshirt to the store and matched the floss to the face that way.  (If anyone wants to know, I used DMC 783 for the face.)  Now I just need to decide what font I'm using to add the years of Stanley Cup wins around it, and whether I'm going to add "Chicago Blackhawks" or "Stanley Cup champions" to it.  Decisions, decisions.....

However, this one is finished!  I have a misguided friend, so I bought this pattern and made it for her.  I added her name and "#1 fan" below the logo.  It turned out really well (except for being the wrong team....)!  I love the colors in it, too.  That electric blue is one of my favorites.

As an aside, this is also the first cross-stitch picture that I've framed myself *the right way*.  I looked up online how to do this properly.  It's mounted over a piece of acid-free foam-core mat board, and it is laced in the back instead of taped or anything crass. ;)  I didn't add a back over the opening, because I want her to be able to remove the mat in case an autograph opportunity presents itself.  And I included an acid-free pen in the box, for use in such an opportunity.  She was really thrilled with it, and I'm delighted with how well it turned out!  Now I need to figure out how I want to finish mine so that it can get into a frame!

And more PJs....

Another belated birthday gift here - I have a friend who loves foxes.  Last year, I gave her a pair of fox flannel PJ pants.  This year, the pants are a lighter cotton.  I found the fabric on clearance at HF and had to snatch it up for her.

And for my ninja friend, I made a pair of lounge/PJ pants from a striped thrifted sheet.  As soon as I saw it, I thought it would make some fun PJ pants.  I hope that she likes it.  Sadly, I noticed after I made the pants and washed them, that there is some pilling in places.  (Didn't notice that when I'd washed the sheet before cutting.)  So I may make another pair of pants to go along with this, in case this pair doesn't last long.

And the set together with the ninjabread shirt.

Both PJ pants were made with M3006, my TNT PJ pant pattern.

PJs

The son of one of my friends had a birthday recently.  Though it was of course cold out, I made him a pair of more summery PJs, as a sign of hope that spring will come.  :)  Plus, if he's anything like my boys, they like to wear summer PJs and burrow into so many blankets that they're sweating.  Goofy boys!

This is a Transformers fabric found at WM on clearance and a tie-dye flannel from JAF on Black Friday.  I like bringing the neckline to the front when I'm using the contrasting color - I think it helps tie the set together better.  This is KS 3042, my TNT woven kiddo PJ pattern.

And for another friend, I'm working on a PJ/lounge set for her.  The pants will be shown later, but I appliqued ninjabread shapes to the front of a purchased shirt to go with it.  I hope that she loves them!

Back to boxers.....

I can never get too far away from boxers as gifts for men in my life....though of course this is a pretty small group of men that I can sew boxers for. :)  My dad's birthday was in January, and when I saw this tool flannel, I thought it would be great for boxers for him during the very cold months.  Because it's flannel, I don't expect that he'll wear them throughout the year, but they might be very welcome when it's really cold.

And these are for my brother - probably for his birthday later this year.  I had cut them out several months before sewing them, as part of an assembly line process.  So when I worked on my dad's boxers, I figured I'd grab these and sew them up, too.  This fabric was from JAF, and I found it on red tag clearance one day.  There's some glitter in the fabric, too, which makes it even more hilarious for boxers.

As always, this is S9958 - my TNT boxer pattern.

More box bags!

I think these are the last of the Christmas gifts.....

I made a set of box bags for one friend who loves to travel.  I thought these would be useful for separating her toiletries or whatever when she's traveling, and I was able to make it to match the sling bag I made for her two Christmases ago....The outer fabric is a pleather that came from a thrift store.  These metal zippers came from a garage sale, I think.  They look great but were a pain in the butt to work with - I think only because I had to shorten them, and I had to be really careful sewing over the ends.  If they were exactly the right length, they might have been no problem.  Oh, well.

The lining is a fun rock-n-roll disco print that had originally been intended for a scrub shirt for her, before her hospital stopped allowing random printed scrubs.  So it got new life as first a sling bag and now some box bags.

This one is for a friend who's into martial arts.  This is the same fabric that I used to make her a scrub shirt (which I sadly apparently never took a picture of and thus never blogged about) and then a stocking.  I managed to get these two box bags out of the leftovers.  The linings are a sturdy red twill.

This may be it for box bags for awhile.....but you never know!