Friday, November 25, 2011

Picnic Love

I wanted a traditional red gingham picnic quilt. I was planning this one in my head while I was working on the Tokyo Subway Map quilt. I really wanted to give this to Bethie-Sauce and Dave as a housewarming gift. I did start to get worried, though when she was pinning picnic baskets on pinterest. They would never match "Picnic Love"

I decided to just keep swimming because she would still love "Picnic Love" regardless of the colors.

It turns out, she did.

"Picnic Love" is cute and sturdy for a picnic. I made a drawstring backpack so it would be easy to carry with all picnic supplies.

"Picnic Love" is soft and snuggly for Beth and Dave to cuddle under during the winter.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Test from Phone

I haven't blogged in awhile since my laptop broke. My computer guru husband fixed it over and over...he either got annoyed with fixing it and doesn't want to fix it anymore, or it's just not fixable. Either way...it's done.

I have a desktop computer but I just don't like sitting at it.

Wenny told me that I have to update my blog anyway. My whole 7 followers are going through Dee's obsessive crafting withdrawals!!! Bwahahah I have been crafting obsessively. I just haven't shared so well.

So I downloaded an app for my phone and will give it a try for now.

So here is my first post from the phone. We'll call it a test.

Friday, June 24, 2011

It's DONE!

Tokyo Subway Map Quilt is done!
Isn't it beautiful?
The back is just as gorgeous!

The contrast between the back and the front

Goofballs LOVE IT

More goofballs.
It's sooooo cuddly!



I am so happy to have it finished. It's my first "real" quilt...I've never done machine quilting before. I've always been too lazy to do hand quilting (I hate hand sewing anything!). All other quilts I've done have just been tied. I had sooooooo much fun doing the boxy meandering free-motion quilting (again...first time doing it! Not bad for a newbie!).

I've already started the next quilt and I've already decided on the plan for the quilt after that.

Now, it's time to get some knitting done!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Hand Knit sweater anyone?

My laptop is broken. No - not "crashed'. It's broken. I broke it. My husband fixed it....like 4 times since I kept breaking it. I really shouldn't have anything nice. :(  He is either tired of fixing it or it's really not gonna work anymore. Oops?

Anyway, I figured I'd post a really quick picture of a hand knit that turned out GREAT!



Cody never asks for anything. Ever. He especially doesn't ask me to make him anything. He's a boy. Pfftttt


Soooo when he asked me to knit him a wool sweater, I was already buying yarn before he finished the sentence!


I decided to use Elizabeth Zimmerman's bottom-up raglan pattern. I designed the stitch pattern for the sweater myself. I was so worried that it would be too much for my "no frills/plain kid". I just couldn't stand the thought of stockinette stitch on the entire sweater. So, I did a checkerboard pattern in stockinette and seed stitch. It turned out fantastic and I'm pleased to say that Cody LOVED it. (phew).

I gave it to him for Christmas.

This is an in-progress picture.



It's difficult to be sure the size is right when the project is a surprise. So, I had Mickey try it on about every other day to be sure I wasn't screwing it up too bad.


Doesn't she look happy to help? :)

Here he is wearing it for the first time for the winter.


 Isn't it perfect? Isn't he the most handsome boy ..... EVER?

I was pleased when he went out of his way to find out the proper way to wash it....and then giving those instructions to my husband (since hubby kinda does the laundry in our house). He wants to take care of it!!!

For good measure (I know it's a blurry photo...but it's such a cute picture):

Friday, May 20, 2011

Quilt Top Done! Tokyo Subway Map

Dear Elizabeth Hartman,
My first draft of this letter was an apology for butchering your absolutely beautiful Tokyo Subway Map Quilt design. As I was going along, I messed up so much. Seams were uneven. Seams weren't straight. Fabric wasn't cut straight. I was going to invite you to Powell's the next time I'm in Portland for coffee to sing to you to make it up to you. Then, I started doubting my vocal talent because my sewing talent was clearly not as good as I thought it was all these years.

Luckily, some of my own experience and skills helped me repair a lot of it.  It's so far from perfect like yours. It is still absolutely beautiful and I'm proud to show it off.

Love always and forever,
Dee
P.S. We can still do coffee if you want...I'll bring a copy of your book and a sharpee for you to sign it.









Now, I just need to come up with the cash to buy the supplies to finish the quilt. I've figured out how I want the back and the binding. So excited to finish this!

Monday, May 16, 2011

I love Power Tools!

Give me a jigsaw, a dremel, and a sander and I'm in Heaven!

I've had a lot of fun building, refurbishing, and redoing many furniture items. One of my favorites is the upholstered stool.



I like to keep this at the foot of my bed. I had it for awhile when I was in Knoxville, but we lost our sweet dog on this very stool. My husband wanted to get rid of it but I put a lot of hard work into it and it was my pride and joy! PLUS, that just made it that much more endearing to me. So, instead of trashing this awesome piece of furniture, I decided to reupholster it. :)


How cute is this little model?

I also really enjoy buying old furniture from thrift stores and redoing them in fun fabrics. Here are a couple of reupholstered chairs that I've done.

Before
After



I forgot to take a picture of this chair before I covered it in this fun funky fabric.  It must be said that my husband seriously opposed this fabric from the very first time he saw it. It must also be said that while he was talking, all I heard was, "blah blah blah."




I've skyped and webcammed with people who always notice my awesome chair in the background! HA!

The cute animal-print chair was for my daughter's bedroom. When we moved from Knoxville to our current house, she went from the master bedroom with a LOT of space to a regular kid-size bedroom with no space. We ended up buying her a loft bed and put her computer desk underneath.

I made the desk, of course.

In process of painting Giraffe Print

Scrunchies in my hair!!!


Paint is drying

Here is is in her bedroom with all of her accessories:
 

Oh yes, I also painted her chest of drawers. I'm such an awesome Mommy!



I also have a refurbished item that took on a completely new life.  A good friend of mine had an old yucky chair hanging around her house. She hated it and only kept it around because it had a small amount of sentimental meaning to her: She made it in middle school shop class. She knew I liked playing with furniture and told me I could keep it and do anything I wanted to do with it.



That same friend found some old fabric that her grandmother had stashed away. She said she had no use for it. She only kept it because it was her grandmother's. There were even cute little matching buttons in the stash. Instead of making something for myself...I made something for that friend and gave it back to her!



It went from an ugly middle-school-shop project into a beautiful ottoman. Yes, I was pleased.



And finally, I leave you with this awesome lamp I made using a flower vase. It was actually the 3rd vase that I had tried because, even though I had a glass drill bit for my drill, it broke a couple times.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Friday, April 22, 2011

Blankies, afghans, and quilts

It's time to show off some more completed projects. I posted a picture of the hand-knit baby blankie Wennie's baby boy and also posted the hand-knit for Leslie's little one. They're not the first or the last baby blankie I've made for a baby.

I wish I could find the pink Sylvester the Cat blanket and window treatments I made for Mickey when she was a baby....I'm sure there's a picture floating out there somewhere.

In the meantime, I'll show off the crib set I made for Zachary. (Cody got shafted...poor boy was born when Philip and I were struggling financially...we even pawned my $500 camera and never got it back, so we don't even have many photos of him when he was a baby). Anyway, When I was pregnant with Zachary, I wanted a nice crib set. Between the farm animals, bugs, and cheesy animal themed sets...I was annoyed. Why couldn't I find neutral blue baby sets? I finally found a set that I fell in love with but it was $600! Ummm No thanks! I was inspired by the set I loved and decided to make my own.

This is the comforter before I tied the back to the front.






This is almost identical to the $600 comforter that I fell in love with. I made it with flannel fabrics. Here it is in the crib with the bumpers I made to match (and christmas lights on the crib. Zachey was a month old at Christmas time and we found he was mesmerized by the lights, so we put them on his crib to help calm him. It was brilliant).


Awesome, right? It was so awesome that Zachary slept beautifully in that blankie. He would NOT nap at the daycare. I would work all day and then get home and I would lose any time with him because he would go right to sleep. :( I didn't get to spend any time with my baby boy.  SOooooo....

I made him a duplicate blanket to stay at daycare. That's when he finally napped at daycare.

To this day, Zachary still sleeps with BOTH the flannel blankets.

I rule.

I also made Mia's crib set. The only pictures I have are closeups of the fabric.She still sleeps with it, so I guess I could snap a picture of it and post it.






Some of my favorite blankies are the handknit spiderman blankies. First one was made for Zachary and Mia kept trying to steal his, so I made her one.



Sunday, April 17, 2011

In other news....

Mickey and I started to glitterfy her shoes for Prom. So far so good! (I forgot to take "before" pictures of her shoes but they are just your regular plain-jane peep toe heels)






Tokyo Subway Map Quilt progress

4 out of 5 rows of blocks are complete (20 blocks)

I'm so excited to put this quilt together!!!!