PeaPod

So this is the first finished craft for my new niece or nephew...hmm...well, I guess I should make an official announcement first.

I am gonna be an aunt!! For real an aunt!! My big brother and his wife (Chad and Kelly) are having a baby in March (sex undetermined until birth) and I am the proudest to be aunt in the world!!

So, I have started making things for this got-to-be-completley-spoiled-by-his-aunt-ALL-THE-TIME niece or nephew of mine (the list of things I want to make is soo long). But the first thing I have finished is this knit PeaPod pattern.


March in Chicago is still COLD and I thought this snuggly little wrap would be good (hat to follow) and I love the Araucania Aysen that I used for it. Its perfect 'gender nuetral' color and the oh-soo-softness is great! I can't wait for a newborn photo shoot in this cutie!

I knit the WHOLE thing in the car on the way to Charleston on Saturday (kinda trying to get back into knitting - sewing has been taking over my life! lol) and having my Addi Clicks right there to start helped! I found buttons last night at Hancock fabrics and finished it up. What do you think? Is the teal color okay? I really could use some feedback on the button selection - it is one of my weaknesses.



So - as fall approaches I venture back into knitting (yeah!) and manage to get crafting done even while on vacation (double yeah!!)

Addi Clicks...wrapped in love

Well, I thought I wasn't going to get much crafting done this weekend since we were going to be gone to Charleston shrimping, but in fact, I got quite a bit done. Friday night (after packing and getting everything ready of course) I managed to find time to finish my interchangeable knitting needle case for my treasured Addi Clicks.


I bought these knitting needles at Knit the last time I was there (which was unfortunately a looong time ago). They had ONE case left and it had my name all over it. I had to have them - I mean an addi for every occasion! Yes, please!



Problem being, I haven't used them (gasp!) b/c they didn't fit in my old knitting needle case so I never had them with me when I started projects - they always ended up on my old needles. Knowing we were going to be in the car this weekend gave me the kick in the butt I needed to go ahead and make a case to properly store these (and take them with me!!) I made this without a pattern and despite lessons learned (ie.. having to tear it apart two, okay three times) I am very happy with the results. Mostly the Lizzy House fabric makes me HAPPY (and its mixed with Michael Miller dots) - but I just LOVE it!



So sewing without a pattern, and making something crafty for my crafty stuff - what a way to start the weekend - AND there is more to come!!

As promised

Eye Candy... compliments of Anna Maria Horner... Love!


This is my sunlit spectrum fabric stack - yum! Here they are laid out so you can see them. This is what I am hoping to make with them (but bigger, and for me...all mine!)


and finally my new favorites (that I found a dress I might have to buy more fabric for and make - here). yeah! Now, if only I was going to be home to sew this weekend.


Sadly, I will be doing this instead (well not sadly - it WILL be alot of fun - but its certainly going to limit my crafting... but fresh shrimp and grits is certainly worth it!)


Hope ya'll have a great weekend too!

Its the Little Things

Well, not too many big things going on here - but I did make a checkbook cover this week and got a picture of the camera strap BK made for her SIL at our craft weekend.

Checkbook cover is Lizzy House Red Letter Day (coming in a verclose 2nd as my new favorite fabric) and Amy Butler on the inside.


(I did take my checkbook out so you can't deplete my checking account... lol - I need that money for my fabric/yarn stash!)

And the third (but probably NOT final) camera strap


Not only is it gorgeous - its also Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks - that IS my very favorite fabric right now - and if you like it - you need to come back tomorrow! Eye Candy folks!!

What I did make this weekend

Baby gifts. I am making ALOT of baby gifts. Its that season in my life I guess. We had been going to ~6-10 weddings a year, and now our friends are having 6-10 babies a year!! Holy Cow!! (literally for over the last year I have know about 8 people at a time to be preggers...) so there is alot of baby sewing going on.

This set was for a lady I work with whose son (and his wife) are having a little girl (the only grand-DAUGHTER in the whole family!) So pink, and I mean all PINK were in order.

I made a 'taggy' like snuggly blanket (with patchwork on the front - my first time doing this with patchwork involved)


and matching burp cloths (pinky pink again)



and tied it all up nice and pretty with my 'handmade by' tag



Its fun to make, and I liked the change to making a 'girlie' one. All of my friends so far have had boys! So I liked using up my pretty pink fabric. Hope you liked it too - there will CERTAINLY be more of these to come!

Flops...

Well in other crafting (not exactly)- maybe homemaking news... I tried to bake some cookies this weekend. I have been reading Smitten Kitchen and she must have read my mind b/c her latest posting when I looked was Snickerdoodle cookies (which I had been dreaming of) - and they looked just perfect. Crusty edges with ooey-gooey middles - just sorta underbaked - perfect!!
See- check out her cookies - YUM!!


Now, I just happened to have bought some cream of tartar too - (which I had never had before and always noticed you needed for snickerdoodle cookies). So... I decided to try it.
These are my cookies...



Not soo good looking...not soo ooey, gooey. Actually - they were tasteless and not ooey or gooey at all. I am generally a pretty good baker, I pride myself on that. And I was REALLY looking forward to these, so I was pretty upset. I tried to save them with more flour (when they were flat), more sugar and cinnamon (when they were tasteless) and more butter when they were taller but more tasteless (from the flour)...all to no avail.
I am gonna blame the weather (really humid rainy) and the fact that I realized AFTER the fact that I had light butter instead of regular butter (silly rabbit, cookies are SUPPOSED to be bad for you!) I plan to try this recipe again (and I still have to bake some GOOD cookies this week b/c there is still one 18 yr old little brother away at his first year of college who needs a care package, specifically a care package with ooey, gooey - yummy cookies. so this big sister HAS to succeed!)

That said, all I was left with from this round of baking was a mess of not yummy cookies (which are being eaten by co-workers as we speak) and just a mess in general...


I did make better things this weekend...I'll show you later!

And another one...

I couldn't help myself. I had to make another one. I think I might become obsessed with these. And the thing is - they attach themselves to $700 worth of equipment - its NOT like I need more than one!! I need to stop, or find more camera friends...or sell some. But I can't imagine parting with them.



They're just too darn cute!!

Craft Weekends

My best friend Brandy and I are quite a bit alike. There are a million things we agree upon and have in common, but sometimes one of the most fun ones is how much we like to craft and make things. The first time we had craft weekend it was about four years ago...


We crafted with our OLD hand-me down machines and in the living room at Brandy's first house (her mom is there helping us b/c after two days straight of sewing we needed some help!) lol! All is well that ends well though and we had ALOT to show for our three days of crafting...

BK and her finished rag quilt



Me and my finished rag quilt!


Well, we had a blast and vowed to do another one someday - but it took us four years to commit to another whole weekend with no boys (and no babies - oh how life can change!!) and just the two of us crafting! We also had a new and improved craft room (as seen below:) to use and now only one day instead of three! We had big (quilt-sized) ambitions again - but we ended up making smaller things - but still having just as much fun!!

BK enjoying the craft room


Our finished key fobs! (fun and VERY easy!! - can you say church bazaar?)


And my finished camera strap (Brandy's was a gift for her SIL so I wasn't allowed to show it!)


We ended the evening with sushi (yum!!) and then Brandy had to head back to her kiddos. We made promises again of another crafting weekend and I have high hopes the next one is not another four years away!!

Crafting Weekend Started with...

The arrival of my very fist Jelly Roll!!

This is the "Nest" fabric by Tula Pink for Moda. I am totally enamored with these pre-cut fabrics by Moda. I may have a quilt to show you soon with the Wonderland fabric that I already have started - but after seeing this quilt, I HAD to have the Nest jelly roll. I haven't decided if I am going to make something just like this or different - but seeing as how I learned the Moda fabrics are only printed once and then unavailable I couldn't take a chance.



Now... after all this yumminess, I just have to convince myself that I don't NEED to buy all the other Moda lines I am craving...

My Crafting Space

I had a pretty big crafting weekend, but I thought first I would show you WHERE I craft. My husband is a sweet sweet guy, and helped me to set up (and even encouraged me to have) a craft room.


This room is still multi-purpose (aka still a guest room too) b/c all my family is still up North, so I want to have a place for them when they come to stay. But the room works out well for my crafting still. It works for sewing (high cutting table that is adjustable), and big enough for scrapbooking. Although not very much of my knitting gets done here b/c that is my portable hobby (ie, the car, in front of the TV watching a movie etc). Although it does house my yarn stash...




The room's color scheme I found in a Pottery Barn catalog and FELL IN LOVE with! To me its very calming (the blue/green - I am a cool color fan) and crafty at the same time (the damask! I heart damask!!)


The clock was a crafty activity in itself. I wanted a big clock to take up that wall - but even at Target they were $100! So, I found a $19 center and bought the house numbers at Lowe's. In the end it took us almost a year to open it up, set up the laser level and get it put on the wall - AND I probably still spent $60 - but I like it alot more and I feel accomplishment when I look at it. Its definitely a conversation piece!

So there it is folks, my space. This isn't "Rate my Space" - but what do you think?!?

My First Quilted Thing...

Well, I guess I'll go ahead and show you my newest hobby.

History Lesson first:

I started my crafting career with scrapbooking (in high school) and then didn't really have much time and room for it in college. Scrapping to me is a very expensive, time consuming process that you don't seem to get enough out of in the end (ie... an hour of your work turns into ten seconds of someone scanning a page). I still do it occasionally and have entirely too many tools and paper and gadgets to give it up.

After college, I learned how to knit (this is what happens when you move to a new city and hardly know anyone - you find ways to amuse yourself). Despite my grandmother (Mama Sue) unsuccessfully trying to teach me to knit when I was little - I picked it up (with the help of Stitch-n-Bitch) fairly easily. Charleston has THE BEST knit shop and through strange circumstances I came across another friend (my age!) who knit. It became my obsession.
I still knit (alot) - but every summer I have a hard time knitting b/c who needs pounds of yarn on their lap when its 100+ degrees outside?!?

This summer I had a solution. I started sewing (this I had dabbled in before...but with 7 friends having babies -and not nearly enough time to knit for them all - and a brand spanking new sewing machine - thanks to my very BFF and all her family) I set to work sewing in the summer heat. I never could understand why people would sew and not quilt (b/c I have always loved handmade quilts) - so that was the next natural step in this (loooong) progression.

History lesson over - I am quilting. And to make sure I could do it (before jumping into it - two feet first!) I made a potholder - and quilted it - and binded it! And then I took it to my whole family to show off!! I am fairly proud of myself and very excited to say I am now fully immersed in this new world of quilting (and the blogs it has led me to!)

so here it is... my first quilted thing...



aren't you proud? :)

Moment in Time...

A very momentous time, if I do say so myself. Stepping out of the craft blog lurking shadows to show myself - and the world the crafting I am doing. It may not be much (or after starting another blog, working full time and taking classes it really really might not be much at all) but I figure I am ready to have a crafty space of my own to share.


(lurking Nikki - in a sweater I knit!)


So here I am, a small town girl - living down south in the sticks, looking to share my crafting. Knitting, Sewing, Growing, Canning, Scrapbooking - you name it. A Country Mouse Crafting :)