We punched a bunch of hearts out of last year’s birthday cards… now what?

Here’ what I’ve put up so far:

Looking forward to some “out of the house” shots when my little girls are all better from random fevers. Winter. Ugh.

I also got to use my fancy grommet tool, yay! This thing has proved to be very handy indeed.

I used up a lot of fabric making these and it felt GOOD. Not to mention they are very quick. I could knock off four in an hour. Highly recommended!

The snowflakes are freestanding lace that I did on my embroidery machine. Very cool! I used Solvy heavyweight water soluble stabilizer, hooped tight and stitched with a size 11 needle. Each one took about a hour to stitch out–not the quickest when you are making groups, but not too bad in small batches.

Pattern: AntiFreeze by Jenna Adorno
Yarn: Cascade 220, i skein
Needles: sz 5 and sz6
Mods: I chose to rib around the face s it could be easily pulled down under the nose

Pattern: my own. cast on 80 and go go go in 2×2 rib.
Yarn: one 50g ball of something black with no label. It had some cashmere in it, but wasn’t Debbie Bliss. Sorry!
Needles: sz 6

I used the tutorial from Bored and Crafty. There were a couple of details omitted, but the bag produced is great! I took the extra step of basting the lining to the bottom of the bag so it won’t pop out when the mat is removed.

Details
Project: Yoga Mat Bag (via Bored and Crafty)
Dimensions: fabric cut to 29×17, circle for bottom cut to 5″. I would do more like 32 x 19 next time around. Measure circle via your own mat rolled up, then add 1/4″ all the way around for seam allowance. Stitch the liner to the inside of the seam allowance so it won’t show.
Fabric: Dogwood by Michelle Engel Bencsko. Desperately seeking more of this fabric!

The knitting:

The sewing:

The life:

*Grocery Bag Dispensers. Tutorial by Kim Kight, posted on Dioramarama.com in Dec 2006. 7 complete, 3 to go. There are SO FAST.

*Rice Heat Therapy Bag. I’ll be mixing it up a bit and doing some heat packs, some small “boo boo buddy” variety. Okay, this one is just not happening. I am hoping to get some boo boo buddies done for stocking stuffers.

*One princess dress for dress-up. I just passed this one on to my mother, who volunteered to take it off my list. HOORAY!

*Two or three aprons. I’ve had most success with the full apron from Lotta Jansdotter’s book Simple Sewing. Okay, I did these three and they took FOREVER. Mostly, it was the strings… I recommend twill tape for faster results!

*One yoga mat bag. I love the one Carrieoke made a while back and plan to follow the same tutorial. Done! And pretty quick. I made some adjustments to the tutorial. The most notable was to tack the lining to the outside so it doesn’t pop out whenever you can your mat out.

*Machine Embroidered Coasters. Did you see my post? I made 4!

*Some sort of ornament. Contenders thus far are 10-minute Santa or Martha’s latest snowflakes, which are like a fun science experiment.. Decided on freestanding lace snowflakes on the embroidery machine. They are turning out really pretty!

*Knit ski mask. By Jenna Adorno and found on Knitty.com Done!

*Black skull cap is also done…

*many framed photos of the girls’ school photos Easy! Thank you to Ikea for being attractive and reasonably priced.

See you after the holidays!

*Grocery Bag Dispensers. Tutorial by Kim Kight, posted on Dioramarama.com in Dec 2006.

*Rice Heat Therapy Bag. I’ll be mixing it up a bit and doing some heat packs, some small “boo boo buddy” variety.

*Embroidered Paper Dolls. Time to put that embroidery machine to work! I’m hoping this was a good buy and will be loved by all the little girls in our lives. And that it will only take one night to make a few. HA. I am crazy… way too many colors to change, details that could go wrong. Plus I don’t have all the colors I would need and don’t want to order and wait…

*One princess dress for dress-up.

*Two or three aprons. I’ve had most success with the full apron from Lotta Jansdotter’s book Simple Sewing.

*One yoga mat bag. I love the one Carrieoke made a while back and plan to follow the same tutorial. Simple Sewing does feature a mat bag, but it doesn’t have a round bottom and I like that idea.

*Machine Embroidered Coasters. More on that later…

*Some sort of ornament. Contenders thus far are 10-minute Santa or Martha’s latest snowflakes, which are like a fun science experiment.

*Knit ski mask. By Jenna Adorno and found on Knitty.com

Off to get started!

Okay, okay… i made two of the same thing and will gift one to my mother and keep one. You caught me.

As the calendar turns from 2009 to 2010, there will be some big changes in our household. And usually, big changes mean tightened belts. There will be a lot more MAKING this year. I usually say I won’t and then pull some things out in the end game. This year though, it’s going to be a lot more to fill in.

Here’s the list so far, with links to stash-busting tutorials…

*Grocery Bag Dispensers. Tutorial by Kim Kight, posted on Dioramarama.com in Dec 2006.

*Rice Heat Therapy Bag. I’ll be mixing it up a bit and doing some heat packs, some small “boo boo buddy” variety. Found this one on Sew, Mama, Sew last year and have been thinking about them ever since! I love that the bag is removable for washing.

*Embroidered Paper Dolls. Time to put that embroidery machine to work! I’m hoping this was a good buy and will be loved by all the little girls in our lives. And that it will only take one night to make a few. HA.

*One princess dress for dress-up. I’ve ordered the pattern and I hate myself for it. But, mothers put up with this princess crap precisely because of the HAPPY KID quotient. Two discarded bridesmaid dresses are standing by. If I play my cards right, this will also be next year’s Halloween costume. If I do not play my cards right, my kid will be the one in the silk robe and smeared makeup carrying half a bottle of bathtub gin. Next year’s choices are between Cinderella and Ms. Hannigan. I kid you not.

Okay, I’d better get to work! Keep you posted…