My first scarves

I just completed my first two scarves. The purple scarf was done on the small loom (blue) and the gray striped scarf was done on the next smallest loom (red). Both were done with only one strand of yarn. The scarves feel a little fragile, but "two-ply" makes them really heavy.

Both are about 6 feet long. It seems really long until you complete it and put it on.

The fringe is made from yarn cut in 9-10" sections. You don't have to be super precise in cutting, because the fringe becomes a little uneven just from putting it on. This part doesn't have to be perfect. The fringe from the purple scarf was made with 2 strands of yarn together, and the fringe for the striped scarf was made with 3 strands of yarn together. I would recomment 3 strands, partricularly for a wider scarf, and especially if you use 2-ply (to give balance). The pictures below will hopefully give an idea of the process.

I would suggest attaching the fringe to two strands of the scarf to give it more stability.

Place one knot of fringe every space. For the striped scarf I decided it needed striped fringe. I like the effect it gives.

Note for halloween: I think the shiny silver yarn looks like chain maille!

Stockings

I've been meaning to make stockings for years! I found an outline for a boot online and printed it out in the size I was looking for. I cut out the front material of each half (mirror images) with about half an inch seam allowance around the entire thing. Then I layered the front with some cotton batting and some scrap material (the stars) and (machine) quilted each half separately. Then I sewed (half inch seam allowance) the two halves together (wrong sides together). I folded the material for the cuff in half and ironed it. I sewed the rough edges flush to the top of the inside of the stocking so the material could fold around it and to the outside to hide the edges.

I made a little loop for hanging for each out of the material for the body.


The red stocking is quilted in a grid, and the cuff of that stocking is quilted along the edges of the print. The blue stocking is quilted along the edges of the print, and the cuff isn't quilted, because the grid looked odd, and I couldn't come up with a different pattern to try.

I'm pretty pleased with my results!

Diaper Cake

I made my first diaper cake (for a baby shower) this winter. I got the idea from http://www.creative-baby-shower-ideas.com/diaper-cake.html . It has tons of pictures for inspirations and some really helpul tips. They make a great centerpiece and give you an opportunity to be creative!

I used a plastic cake base (from a crafts store in the cake aisle with the cake decoration items) to give it a solid base. Each diaper is wrapped individually with small rubber bands to give it stability. The cake is anchored around a bottle to also give it stability. As decoration there is a bib, baby booties, sunglasses, baby spoons (to look like candles), and the topper is a blanket with the teddy bear attached.

Cross stitch

These are two cross stitch projects I did a few summers ago. Both were done without patterns, and the martini was done without planning at all. So, I'm pretty proud of them. I always meant to frame them, but they're awkward sizes and don't have much border. (Maybe that's why you're supposed to plan....)

If anyone is interested I could create patterns for either of them.

Pardon the blurry pictures...I've never figured out how to take pictures close-up and have them come out clear. Any suggestions?

Machine applique

I took a class at my local quilt shop to learn a technique for machine applique. The top thread is a clear nylon thread, and the bobbin is a thread that can matches the background material, so if the tension is a little off and some bobbin thread shows through the front.

I can't share the pattern, because it's proprietary, but wax paper is used to cut out each shape and give stability while the shape is sewn down. You then cut the back out of each piece to remove the wax paper and get rid of the bulk of the extra fabric layer.

I'll take a hand applique class in a few weeks, and hopefully that product will be worth sharing!

My first crocheting project

This is my first crack at crocheting. It's a little baby hat. I was amazed how easy it is to pick up and how quick it goes. It's my first one, and it probably took about an hour.

I picked finer yarn, so I used two at once. It's the crinkly yarn, so it has a little more elasticity.

I made it for a friend's baby who will be about 9 months by the time it's cold enough to wear, so I used the smallest loom of my multi-pack (blue), but made each loop as loose as possible.

My next attempt will probably be a scarf. You can use the round looms by doing one row, stopping at the last empty pin, and starting the new row by going the opposite direction. There are also multi-packs of straight looms for scarves if you want to go that route.

At some point I'll try to figure out how to crochet without cheating with a loom!

T-Shirt Quilt

This t-shirt quilt is actually the reason I decided to learn how to quilt. I saw my first one when I was finishing my senior year in high school. At that point I decided to start saving t-shirts from college, which I did religiously. I took the intro course to prepare me for this and then signed up for the t-shirt quilt class at my local quilting store.


The teacher gave instructions for two-blocks and four-blocks, so you can combine multiple t-shirts into one block if they smaller images.


The towel block was a little trickier for me. I didn't want to leave the fringe showing, because I was afraid it would fray, so I had to shift the towel down, putting the detail off-center. A classmate suggested I add ribbon. I'm still working on sewing in straight lines and I found ribbon a little tricky to sew on, but I was pretty happy with the result.



I still need to add an inner and outer border, put on a backing, and quilt it. The teacher suggested quilting diagonally through each block (one large X in each block).

This style (regular grid) is one of the two ways I've seen t-shirt quilts done. The other I found at http://www.toocooltshirtquilts.com/ . I have never interacted with them, so I can't vouch for them, but the website is very informative, and the pictures look pretty good.