Huckle Cat

Huckle is finished! Here are the stats, if you are a sewing geek. :) I drafted the pattern myself using my trusty roll of medical tissue, you know...the stuff they cover the exam tables with. Its awesome for making or tracing patterns. For this project, I used wool felt which makes a world of difference! It is so nice to cut and sew with, and doesn't seem like it will pill like Lowly already is. His shirt is made from an old pair of jeans. The pants are corduroy and I made them using an infant bloomers pattern as a base. I basically only used the crotch curve from the pattern. Otherwise, they had to be made more narrow, longer, and a lot lower in the rise. In lieu of stuffing, I bought a $2.50 pillow from Walmart and cut it open. If you have checked the price of stuffing lately, you will know that this is a lot cheaper. For the face details, I used a dry brush with yellow, orange and red fabric paint.The facial features are stitched on with black thread, as I wanted to replicate the idea that he is a drawing from a book. I also used exposed seams with black thread for the arms and legs. I also made sure that his clothes are permanently attached so they don't get lost! :)

Owl Shirt

This shirt was made for my littlest boy as a Christmas gift (thus the reason he is not modeling it now). I found the fabric at fabric.com and couldn't resist it. The pattern was horrendous and I will not be using it again. I'd tell you all the pattern number but I threw it in the trash already. The facings don't line up by a long shot and the collar had to be tweaked to even fit on the shirt. Oh, well. The kid's two years old. He won't be complaining! I will, however, be ironing it before I give it to him, because I do have some self-respect! :)

Another Jewelry Roll by Mom

Mom has churned out another perfectly sewn jewelry roll. This one is also made of lovely vegetable fabric from Obi's in Lancaster county.

DIY Lowly Worm Doll

The Making of Lowly Worm

Ready to conquer the world, or at least Busytown!

My son loves Richard Scarry books, especially Lowly Worm and Huckle. I am going to make him Lowly and Huckle for Christmas. I've got one down, one to go. Lowly is made from felt (note to self: next time use wool felt) and various scrap materials. My husband contributed a length of electrical wiring (something pretty thick...it has three copper wires inside a plastic sheath) to make Lowly pose-able. Of course, letting a two year old run around with electrical wiring is not exactly advisable so I had to make it safe. (Well, the big cheeses somewhere would probably declare him unsafe for anyone under the age of 21, but I don't really care. I declare him kid-friendly!) I used duct tape to cover the ends of the wire and then sewed a little channel into a chunk of repurposed fleece blanket. After putting the cable in there, I rolled the fleece up very tightly and whip-stitched it closed. After scalping some stuffing from my son's dilapidated stick horse (shhh...don't tell him!!!) to stuff Lowly's foot, I carefully slid the fleece thingamajig into the felt body. I added some more stuffing for his head, embroidered his mouth and sewed on vintage buttons for his eyes. His hat is felt and complete with a feather from our very own chickens!

Saved Necklace

This is not a spectacular project from scratch. I bought this necklace and loved it but the string snapped after I wore it a few times.  It sat in my fix it pile for a year and I finally dug it out yesterday to make it wearable again.  After restringing it 3 times (the string snapped the first 2 times) and taking an extra trip to the craft store for a more sturdy medium (tiger wire), I got the thing finished.  I added the heart toggle clasp and am so glad I can wear it to work this week! I took beading classes when I was younger and it was fun to work back into it a little.  My sister-in-law actually made me a really beautiful beaded bracelet recently which inspired me to revisit this necklace again.  I think I could really get back into this type of crafting again... 

Christmas and Random Projects Coming Up

It may seem like I've disappeared.  Quite to the contrary actually.  I've been quietly and furiously crafting and mending things in my spare time.  The problem has been that my last three projects have all failed leaving me with nothing to post.  Sometimes that happens and it's really annoying. A necklace I was repurposing broke right as the last beads were about to be strung, a dress I was making wouldn't gather properly no matter how many times I ripped out the seams and lovingly tried to fix it and a top I was making just plain old didn't come together as planned. So to regroup, I've started gathering together a list of simple and beautiful projects for Christmas decorating and a few just because they're interesting. This year I've decided to go all out with the Christmas stuff because it's the first year ever that we've really been "home".

http://rhgarza.blogspot.com/2011/10/hoopla.html - Emroidery hoop storage
 http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/hanger-coats - Hanger covers
http://www.creativeinchicago.com/2011/07/diy-rope-vases.html - Rope Vases
http://2littlehooligans.blogspot.com/2011/08/round-nesting-baskets-tutorial.html - Round Nesting Baskets
http://anwjohnston.blogspot.com/2011/10/diy-no-sew-ruffle-christmas-tree-skirt.html - Ruffled Tree Skirt
http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2009/10/make-gift-bow-from-magazine-page.html - Magazine Gift Bows
http://knittygrittythoughts.typepad.com/knitty_gritty_thoughts/2009/11/my-entry.html - Pinecone Ball Ornaments
http://www.dsquilts.com/fabric_and_patterns.asp?PageID=214 - Christmas Stockings

Sew Mama Sew Handmade Holidays

If you haven't already, check out the Sew Mama Sew blog. Every day this month they are doing their Handmade Holidays series, where they post tons of tutorials for gifts of all kinds. It is worth checking out!

More With Amy Butler Fabric

Several months ago, I bought a kitchen table at the thrift shop. It happened to come with 4 new chairs that, while still covered in plastic, must have dropped out of the back of the truck since they are a little dinged up. The chair cushions were covered in a cream-colored upholstery fabric, just perfect for three small children. Not! As you can see on the left, it didn't take long for the chairs to take on a somewhat 'weathered' look. I browsed on fabric.com (my new fav place to fabric shop) and found some Amy Butler laminated cotton. I almost went for a more conservative print, then I figured I might as well go big, or go home. I spend all this time thinking I want more color in my house, so now I have some in my kitchen. The project was easy enough, just remove the seat, stretch the new fabric tightly around and staple it down. The laminated cotton is so nice because it can be wiped clean very easily. Yay!