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. ;)

A special request....

My brother messaged me a week ago to tell me that my niece had an "emergency" request.  They are going to GenCon next week, and she wanted to go as a Jedi and get a "special shirt" to wear.  My machines went into the shop when I was on vacation and weren't back yet, but how can I turn down a request like that?

She requested a pink or purple shirt, and, as luck would have it, I had a pink shirt already in my possession.  So I sent this pic to my brother and asked for my niece to pick which fabric she wanted, and which character or ship she wanted.

She made her pick, but she wanted a Luke Jedi design.  Hmmm....I haven't done a Luke so far....so I said I'd try but would have to look for a picture.  He promptly sent back a Lego Luke minifig picture but said she'd be fine with R2D2 or Darth Vader if it wasn't going to work.

So I punted to plan B to be safe, since I had a deadline.  But I also went to WM and bought a couple more shirts to play around with.  And then I decided she needed a new Tie Fighter, and then I realized that the post office was open an hour later than I thought, so I'd try a Luke (and that shirt is a light purple - I know it reads pink here).  In the end, the box is away and should get to her early next week, so in plenty of time.

New PJ shorts for ME

Back in December, I tested out two pairs of PJ shorts patterns for me, to see which I liked better, before doing some assembly line sewing.  I never blogged the results, which were this first picture.  Yep.  Made this pair from rainbow tie-dyed paw prints on black flannel, back in December.  And it's seen regular rotation once the weather warmed up.

I cut these other pairs at the same time, but then life happened, and I didn't finish them until I was sewing on the Fourth of July.  Now I have three more pairs of PJ shorts for the summer!  The monster flannel was from JAF once upon a time - and I used it for my boys as well.  The walrus flannel was left over from PJ pants I made for a friend.  And the license plate woven was from deep stash.  I'm pretty excited to try them out!

As usual.....

....I'm terrible about updating!  There's been some sewing and a lot of crocheting going on in the background, but I haven't updated the blog in six months.  Oops!

I sewed a Fourth of July outfit for my niece, with matching doll skirts.  This came about as a total impulse.  I had purchased fabric last year for two new twirly skirts, then never gotten around to them.  And I was in JAF and randomly found a patriotic tutti fruitti fabric in the clearance section, which sent me to the non-clearance section, where the sale price was actually cheaper than clearance.  That then made me look for coordinates, and I ended up with three fabrics that (mostly) went together.  (This of course also caused me to finally cut out the fabrics I previously bought, but those haven't been stitched yet.)

Since I bought these on impulse, I wasn't sure how much I'd need, which meant of course that I went back and bought another yard of the butterflies two days later.  (Plus more for another skirt....sigh....I have a problem.)  And then came the issue of my serger deciding not to do any gathering, and then my ruffler foot decided the same.  So between my ruffling issue and my fabric bought on impulse, I ended up not ruffling these *quite* as much as I might have otherwise.  (I had to hand gather the tiers.  I remember why I started using the serger, lol.)  And then, naturally, I stitched the trim onto the third tier the wrong way.  Sigh....

So after all my issues, it was sadly Sunday before I finished the outfit, which means that it did not reach my niece in time for today.  However, she'll get it tomorrow, and I'm sure a new outfit is fun even after the Fourth. ;)  In honor of the recent Solo movie, the applique on her tank top is a patriotic Millenium Falcon.  And the skirt was "based on" the Sophia Tiered Skirt from Funktional Threads.

The dolls of course need some love, as well.  These skirts are based on a free pattern, the Moo Skirt from The Sewing Geek.

Hopefully I'll be hearing in another day or two how much she likes her new outfit!

A couple of updates

So these have both been seen previously, but not in their final form.  This Dr Who cross stitch was seen on oatmeal and framed with a painted hoop, but I had made a second version on blue, and this was put into an IKEA frame.  I like how it turned out as well.

And the tiny Christmas stitch-a-long was last seen finished, but waiting on the embroidery hoop frame.  I finished painting it red, added coats of poly clear coat, and voila!  I love how it looks in the hoop, and it's ready to be hung next Christmas.

Another drawstring backpack

So....yet another drawstring backpack.  I have a friend who had seen one that I made (but apparently didn't blog!) and was astounded to learn that I'd made it, and immediately expressed interest in commissioning one.  Well, I remained noncommittal as to the commission, but I did make a mental note to make her one at some point.  This was supposed to be part of her baby shower gift (as in, part that was for HER), but I didn't have time to sew it up before the shower.  And so there the pieces sat for a long time.  But I'm hoping to see her soon, so it was time to finally finish this.

The outside is your basic black twill, which is kind of my go to.  (I don't know why my camera was acting up and having fuzzy edges, either.)  I used a purple zipper for some interest.  And the straps are the last of my black paracord from Lowe's....need to get some more of that.

Purple zipper with the lining of the front pocket peeking through.  I did like I've done on all of them - made the front pocket a full one, and lined it with the lining fabric.

And then I added a full inner pocket, which was lined with the lining fabric, as well.  And there I used a plum colored zipper, that almost perfectly matched a color in the sugar skulls.  I would rather have used a blue inside, but I didn't have one that matched any of the blues in the print.  And I didn't want to use black, because I wanted the zipper to stand out for ease of finding it.

She likes sugar skulls, so I thought this print was perfect when I spotted it.  Hopefully she'll love the bag!

Back to the scrub caps

It's been awhile since I've made any scrub caps.  The first one was a Christmas gift for a new colleague.  She liked the ones I made for other colleagues previously and asked for one for herself.  She chose the fabric, and I provided the labor as a gift.  She has a bigger head and a lot of hair, so she requested the "enlarged" size I made up from the Whale Watching pattern - the Dalmation prototype.

While I was at it on scrub caps, I decided to stitch up another pattern prototype - the Hummingbird pattern.  I've had the pieces cut for months but just never found the time/inclination to do anything further.  This wasn't difficult to make up, though there are a couple of fiddly steps.  Ultimately, I realized yet again that I have a big head and a lot of hair, so this one isn't going to work for me.

I have one more pattern prototype cut out.  Maybe I'll stitch it up sometime soon.  And I have my eye on a few more patterns to try at some point.

Final finish of 2017

My final finish of 2017!  Finished on New Year's Eve, in fact, while watching hockey.  This is a pattern from weelittlestitches on Etsy.  I used a Aida canvas from Loops & Threads (found at Michaels), because it's easier than getting around to framing stuff. :)

I liked the pattern overall - it worked up quickly.  Not much backstitching here.  I will say that's my quibble - not necessarily the lack of backstitching, but the fact the backstitching is hard to see on the pattern.  And the detail on the jackets is hard to see in real life.  I used three strands of floss just for those areas to try to make it more visible.  But that's my only issue.

Christmas Cross-stitch Sampler

Someone in one of my FB cross-stitch groups posted about a free tiny Christmas stitch-along early in December, and I thought it sounded like fun.  It began with the Christmas tree in the center, and then each day added to that. The patterns were sent daily, and they were designed to take half an hour to an hour at most.  The idea was to help get you in the mood for Christmas.

I kept up for awhile, but then had to abandon the stitch-along in favor of finishing Christmas gifts.  The week after Christmas, I picked it back up and got back to work.  And I finished it only a week "late," so I'm pretty happy!  I've got an embroidery hoop to frame this - just in the midst of painting it red right now.

Boxers everywhere

We know that boxers are a common gift for the males in my life.  (Although I'm surprised to not see any of the ones for my boys in there....did I seriously never blog them?  Let's see if I can find those pics....okay, here's one....These are some of the original boxers, after they got a prototype each in their stockings to test size....)

And more of the early ones....

Okay, back to this year.  These are for my husband, and both prints were from JAF.  He got the craft beer print in his stocking, and the dino skeletons are going into a box until Father's Day.

These are for Thing 1!  All fabrics again from JAF.  The superhero words print is the boys' XL, which is what he is currently wearing.  But the Mario, Zelda, and knockoff Minecraft are all men's size XS.  We'll see how those go.

These are for Thing 2!  The Chicago Blackhawks and bottle caps prints were from JAF.  The surfing skeletons, tools, and Marine Corps prints were from stash - I don't remember where.  These are all boys' size L.  (His previous ones were boys' M, and they're getting a bit tight.  He already had a Blackhawks print as seen above, but heaven forbid that he not have a Blackhawks pair that fits!)

These definitely went over well at Christmas!

More Christmas sewing

For colleagues, I always try to go for something small and preferably quick/easy to make, but useful.  This year, I had decided to go with zippered pouches.  They're useful for whatever you want to hide in there, but they're cute and easy to customize.  In this case, I had intended to mostly use the pawprint prints - on white and black.  But I had scraps from other projects that went well with certain people - The Walking Dead, tie-dyed peace signs, animals in carrier, dog yoga, and garden peppers.  All are lined with broadcloth in solid colors, and all have matching or coordinating zippers.  I also added a homemade granola bar (in a plastic bag) in each one.

These seemed to go over well, which is good!

Christmas sewing

Back in 2014, I made a set of Christmas stockings as a wedding gift for my sister and her new husband.  Since then, I made a Christmas stocking for my nephew - just realized that I never blogged it, so here it is.

And so this year I needed to make a new stocking for my new niece.  Kept to the same font, same simplicity.  But decided that purple would go well for a girl.

And then my nephew got a set of new PJs for his gift.  The pants are from KS SFT, and the shirt was embellished to tie it together with the pants.