Making Christmas, Week 7

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

With all of the preparations and anticipation of today, I had very little time for crafting this past week.  I made some progress on one of the amigurumi birds that I am making as a Christmas present, and I will probably get to work on it some in the car as we drive up to visit family!

...so here are the (not so) updated lists:

The To-Do List:

     [X]  finish crocheting one scarf
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [X]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging
     [X]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds--PROGRESS!!
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags
     [X]  sew two six fish pencil cases
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween
     [X]  make a baby shower gift

Making Christmas, Week 6

I finally finished the scarf that I have been working on (off and on) for nearly a year now!  I tried a new technique called tunisian or afghan crochet.  It's kind of a melding between crochet and knitting... you use a super long crochet hook (called an afghan hook) and pick up stitches like in knitting... but then you pull through loops as you do in crochet.  The end result is a scarf that looks like it was knit in stockinette stitch, but it is much thicker and stretches differently.

Tunisian crochet is quite the interesting crafting technique and I think I will have to explore it some more!

I also finished this little guy:

This is Greep, the 3rd and final Rainbow Monster!  Don't let his annoyed expression fool you, Greep is really quite pleased to make your acquaintance!  His siblings Plurp and Orango are already available in my Craftsy Shop and he has now joined them there.  The Rainbow Monsters were originally sketched by my brother-in-law Elliot and I translated them into fabric.

...and finally, the updated lists!

The To-Do List:

     [X]  finish crocheting one scarf--DONE!!
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [X]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging
     [X]  finish one paper-pieced pattern--DONE!!
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags
     [X]  sew two six fish pencil cases
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween
     [X]  make a baby shower gift

Making Christmas, Week 5

After all of my productivity last week, I hit a lull this week!  I made some small progress on my crochet project, and I did sew up a gift for a friend's baby shower, but I can't show it to you yet!  Otherwise my time was eaten up by laundry and cleaning up after Buddy.  Oh well.

...so here are my lists, rather unchanged:

The To-Do List:

     [  ]  finish crocheting one scarf--PROGRESS!!
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [X]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging
     [  ]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags
     [X]  sew two six fish pencil cases
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween
     [X]  make a baby shower gift

A Thankful Heart is a Happy Heart

Now that Halloween is over it's time for Christmas, right?  That seems to be what all of the stores want us to believe anyway because they are playing Christmas songs and setting up their evergreen trees.

But wait!

There is another holiday that comes before Christmas!

...it's actually a unique American holiday... one that we should be very proud of.

Thanksgiving, anyone?

Thanksgiving was always a special holiday in our family.  First, we would be visited by the Great Turkey who would leave us a treasure hunt to follow in the morning.  Then we would all drive over to grandma's house for a huge meal.  After digesting we would then have a second meal... of desserts.  It was always a day of love and family and togetherness and I think it's a day that deserves a little more attention.

So this year I am going all out on the Thanksgiving decor!  Beginning with a new wall hanging!

I actually started this wall hanging last year by getting the top pieced together.  This year I just had to quilt and bind it!

The pumpkin and maple leaves are paper-pieced patterns designed by Jennifer of Sewhooked.  The "Thankful" block is a brand new paper-pieced pattern designed by me and available in my Craftsy shop!

It is a relatively simple block to piece, but it makes a bold statement!

What are you thankful for this season?

  Visit Doodle-ee-doo's Craftsy Pattern Store »

Making Christmas, Week 4

I managed to check not one, but TWO projects off my list this week!  I'm on a roll!

First, I finished half a dozen fish.

Then, I finished a wall hanging that I started working on last year.

I always get somewhat annoyed that Thanksgiving is practically ignored by our commercialized culture, so I decided to make an extra effort to decorate for the holiday!  I had finished the pieceing of the quilt top last year so I simply had to quilt, bind and finish it this year.  The pumpkin and maple leaves are paper-pieced patterns designed by Jennifer of Sewhooked and I designed the "Thankful" paper-pieced block myself.

I am super excited about this wall hanging and it's going to get its own proper post next week!

...and here are my updated lists:

The To-Do List:

     [  ]  finish crocheting one scarf--PROGRESS!!
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [X]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging--DONE!!
     [  ]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags--PROGRESS!!
     [X]  sew two six fish pencil cases--DONE!!
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween

Rainbow Fish

I finished half a dozen fishies!

Some of them will be Christmas gifts this year and some of them will be birthday gifts for this coming year.

These little guys proved to be a nice "stash busting" project!  I had a lot of fun finding coordinating fabric scraps for their fins.  I used the same pattern that I drafted up for the first fishie pencil case, which was inspired by minnebites' shark pencil cases.

Now who's hungry for sushi?

October Birthdays

During the summer I have a small break from making gifts and it's a great time to start planning my projects for the end of the year.  October marks the beginning of the birthday season in our family as both my dad and my sister both have birthdays during the month.

My dad wanted a new hat this year, so I crocheted him a nice warm one!

I used Nancy Smith's "Reversible Strands" pattern from Ravelry.  It's a lovely, simple pattern that uses a ribbing technique that adds just enough stretch and character.  I made my dad a hat with straight ribs and I made myself a hat with spiraling ribs!

With my sister off at college it's hard to think of good things that I can make her.  Since she is quite the extroverted, life-of-the-party type (unlike the introverted, stay-home-and-sew type like me) we decided to get her a restaurant gift card so that she can go out with some friends.  But instead of just putting the card in a boring envelope, I made her a fun zippered pouch.

I used the same tutorial by kelbysews as I did for my other sister's graduation gift.  This time I decided to use different fabric for each side to mix it up a little.

Fun times!

Making Christmas, Week 3

I was quite productive this week! ...or at least I felt productive.  I worked on a lot of projects but I still haven't finished many.

But I did end up making nearly 70 little "goodie ghosts" for halloween this week.  (...and they weren't enough!  I'm going to have to make even more next year!)

They helped me hand out candy while I went trick or treating with Buddy!

I also made good progress on the fish pencil cases.  I have all of their little fins ready to go!  (I made the first one over the summer and it was so cute and fun that I'm making more!)

...I got a little carried away and I'm now making six... Hopefully I can get them finished by next week!

So here it is...

The To-Do List:

     [  ]  finish crocheting one scarf--PROGRESS!!
     [X]  finish crocheting one pair of hand warmers
     [  ]  finish one embroidered ornament
     [  ]  finish one harvest-themed wall hanging--PROGRESS!!
     [  ]  finish one paper-pieced pattern
     [  ]  crochet two amigurumi birds
     [  ]  sew four messenger bags
     [  ]  sew two six fish pencil cases--PROGRESS!!
     [  ]  sew one stuffed aquatic invertebrate
     [  ]  sew a surprise for Buddy

Bonus Achievements:

     [X]  sew a small zippered bag
     [X]  decorate the porch for halloween
     [X]  make candy favors for halloween