A Cross-stitch Finish!

Once I finished the Antarctica Snow Globe, I needed a new portable project for the hockey rink. I had bought this pattern by Lady Stitchicorn as soon as it was available, but I hadn't stitched it yet. And it was time....I used one of these Aida frames to stitch it. And I love the finished result! It's hilarious.

 

Harry Potter pants!

I'm still working on late Christmas/early birthday gifts. One of my besties is a huge Harry Potter fan. When I was recently on a browsing trip at JAF, I spotted the Marauder's Map fleece and thought it would be perfect for some lounge pants. Unfortunately, it was "on sale" for $15/yd, and I'd need two yards. Instead, I bought the same pattern at WM for $7.42/yd. 

I used Butterick 6887, in a size that I had altered for my SIL and used once before to make walrus pants for my friend. This worked out perfectly, and left enough in scraps to make a pair of pants for a friend's daughter using KS SFT. That friend is also HP-obsessed, so this works out all around!

 

A close-up of the print.

 

"Clean mask" bags

I've been saying for awhile now that I needed to make myself a cloth bag to hold my clean masks, so that they won't smell of the plastic ziploc bag that I was using. And it hadn't happened yet. But my immediate motivation was to make ones for my kids to use in their backpacks - to hold 1-2 clean masks in case of unforeseen disaster at school. And since I was doing theirs, I also did a large one for myself. 

I use this zippered pouch tutorial, but I just change the dimensions to suit my needs. In this case, the smaller pouches were cut 12 inches wide by 6.5 inches high. They are fully lined - these two have dark green broadcloth for linings. And the large pouch is 12.5x12.5 inches - the size of one of my quilting rulers. That one uses a red broadcloth lining. 

 

Zippered mesh laundry/storage bags

How to contain face masks pre-laundry and during laundry......well, it depends. We've experimented with the kids putting their dirty face masks on a particular shelf (which is unfortunately easily missed or forgotten), taking them to the laundry room (let's be honest - doesn't happen), and putting them into their hampers (for some reason they almost never do). Nothing has been consistently working. I wash them all in zippered mesh laundry bags - the kind they sell for delicates. They go through both the washer and dryer like that to keep them contained. 

So I came upon the idea of making some with different fabrics for each person, and hanging them from their doorknobs. This way the masks can stay in the bag to keep them easily differentiated - they don't have a lot of same fabric masks, but they definitely have some overlap. I've intended to do this for quite some time but finally got motivated.

I used the easy tutorial from Dog Under my Desk patterns. My only modification was to add a hanging loop in the upper right corner. Here's hoping the masks stay contained now!

 

Where the Streets Have No Name - U2 cross stitch

Catching up on blogging some of my cross-stitch finishes on the last post made me think that I should put more of them on here.

When we went on our first big vacation a few years ago, I decided to start a new project. Cross-stitch is very portable, as there's not a lot of big bulky supplies (like a few/many skeins of yarn, for example), so it works out well to take on an airplane flight. I decided that I wanted this to be something for me, so that I would be potentially reminded of our vacation when I saw it. Or at least, that was the theory. 

I saw the U2 design by Pixel Power and knew that I needed to stitch it. U2 is my favorite band and has been since I was a teenager. And I enjoyed thinking about what lyrics I would what to add when I finished. In the end, it had to be Where the Streets Have No Name. I mean, that was just a no brainer.

I had this framed professionally at my local Joann's, and I was thrilled to see how it turned out. One of my favorite workers there helped come up with the matting and framing for it, and I couldn't be happier.

New cross stitch finish!

I have made a few cross-stitch pieces from Climbing Goat Designs. Apparently I never blogged them, so here we go. 

This is the cat heart pattern. I made it for a friend who lost her cat.

This is the paw print heart pattern. I changed the colors to be bright instead of pastel, and I've made it twice now. Once was for an animal organization's fundraising auction, and the other (shown below) was to memorialize my own pets.

And then I've had quite a few more on my list. The Antartica snow globe has been one, and it was the one I chose to stitch at Christmas time. I've spent quite a few hockey games stitching this, and it's finally done! And I love it! I think I'm going to frame it in a painted hoop, like the cat heart above. I haven't decided for sure, but isn't it lovely?

 

Catching up on Cardigans

Posting about my latest Star Wars cardigan made me realize that I never blogged this version, either. This is another Cocoon Cardigan - my second, in fact, even though I am blogging about it much later. I found this fabric at JAF as well, but it is one of their Doodles line. I had heard that the fabric didn't have the best recovery, and it definitely doesn't when compared to the cotton-lycra fabrics. But who can resist Christmas paw prints and snowflakes???

It's definitely not my favorite of these cardigans, but I do enjoy wearing it in December/January. And it's nice and cozy, but I don't get too hot when I wear the 3/4 sleeves.