Layered Petal Pillow Tutorial

I made this pillow inspired by a duvet I would love to have but will never buy from Anthropologie.

I'll be sewing its mate and doing some serious thinking about whether I want to tackle the matching duvet cover, which would be a huge but entirely doable undertaking.

I'm placing a tutorial for this pillow under the cut.

Mini Lamb Hoodie

It is safe to say that knitting miniature sweaters has become a sickness.  The hands in the pockets thing? Is killing me with cute.

Knit Baby Lamb

Baby lamb is redundant is it not?  Like baby kitten?  

Anyway, this lamb is a free knit pattern designed by Barbara Prime, and available on Ravelry.  The sweater pattern is also free, you can find it here.

I have become madly in love with knitting miniature sweaters.  I see more of this happening in my future. 

Fuzzy Spring Bunny

I am falling in love with knitting miniature sweaters.  The toys are really just becoming an excuse to knit wee sweaters.

Fishtail Lace Socks

I finished knitting these socks over the weekend.

I am definitely going to take the time to learn to knit toe-up socks because I have yarn left over which could have been used to knit longer cuffs.  At $32 a hank, I really don't like having yarn left over that can't be used to knit anything useful.

Framed Silver Heart Locket

I saw this idea somewhere around the blogosphere and put together one of my own. I would link up and give credit to the person who thought it up but I've lost track of where I tripped over it. 

Dried Rose Hearth Wreath

Instead of throwing away wilted roses, I dried them by hanging them upside down and decided to make this wreath.

I took apart a wire hanger and shaped it into a heart, then wrapped it with florist's tape.  I trimmed the rose stems to about an inch and a half, wrapped them with florist's tape, and then continued wrapping them onto the wreath on a slight angle, one by one.

Ruffled Tote

I made a ruffled tote today.

This is a gift for a friend and while it was easy to make, it was time consuming.  I might sew another for myself when I've forgotten about how fiddly ruffles are.

Lavender Sachets

Here's some simple lavender sachets I made using a big fat bee image from the Graphics Fairy.

We have one of the largest producers of lavender here in The Eastern Townships of Quebec, but it was cheaper for me to order lavender from Provence, France. 

I don't know how that makes any sense whatsoever.

Vintage Rooster Apron

A friend recently redecorated her kitchen with vintage rooster accents so I've made her a sweet lined apron using Citra-Solv transfers. 

I didn't have a pattern for this, I drew one out on wrapping paper and winged it. I found the rooster image doing a random image search and the fancy French writing came from The Graphics Fairy.



For those of you who would like to learn how to do Citra-Solv transfers, I put a tutorial here.

Gender Neutral Gift Wrapping

I needed a gift wrap idea that wasn't frilly or flowery or feminine, and in line with my love of using kraft paper and keeping it cheap, simple and rustic, I came up with this.

The long strips are cut from newspaper columns and the letter was cut from a large book page and then glued on card stock.

Cabled Nantucket Jacket

I finished knitting this cardigan last night, I am so jazzed about this one.

I could not be more thrilled with how this turned out after being very worried about how it would fit, and what my modifications would look like.  The fit is fabulous, the drape is wonderful, and the modifications turned out better than I could have imagined.

Pattern: Nantucket Jacket by Nora Gaughan
Yarn: Berroco Love It in Sage - dyed by hand to a darker green

Needle: Circular 4.5mm and 4mm

More detailed information can be found on my Ravelry project page.Did I mention how much I love this sweater?

Laptop Sleeve

I made this laptop sleeve for Justin because his laptop is an irregular size, and let me just say that it kicked my butt every step of the way.  It's a wonder I have a finished product.

There were measurement issues that taunted me and forced me to put everything away that I had just hauled out because the laptop was with the kid who was in class.  Then there was a matter of pattern measurements being wrong which meant ripping out work and making me feel like I needed to stab things.

When I got all that sorted out I realized that I had no clue which side of the fabric was up since I don't read Chinese and that forced another delay while I took a photo, sent it to the kid by email, and sat around waiting for a reply so that I wouldn't have to put away everything I had just hauled out again. Augh!

I am pretty sure I would have died inside a little bit if I just went ahead and sewed it up only to find out it was upside down later on. 


I finally got my answer via a return email in which he said it took him a while to get back to me because he had been in class, learning Chinese, which is only going to be funny to me when I've forgotten my angst over sewing this thing. 


It turned out that my guess was right about the writing, so I'm not that much of a cretin after all.

I am still twitching over this thing because I'm pretty sure that I need to do boxed corners before the world goes spinning off its axis. 

Anyway.

The tutorial for this sleeve is here.

I ended up doing boxed corners on the bottom edge.

 

Shabby Flower Pillow

I made this pillow a while ago and put a tutorial for it here.

General Gift Wrapping

I very much like to make a nice presentation when I give a gift, and I have come to love simple rustic wrapping.  Using general kraft paper and jute from the dollar store is inexpensive, gender neutral, and gifts can be decorated for just about any occasion.

I wrapped this gift today for my young niece's birthday, using an idea found on Pinterest.  The bird was cut from card stock with a page of a book glued down using a glue stick, and the twig was compliments of my lilac tree.

Canadian Maple Leaf Mittens

I knit a pair of these mittens for myself when they became all the rage during the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics.  The Bay is still selling them in acrylic but they look shabby after a few wears. My niece asked for a pair so I knit them again in pure wool.

 

Bunny Slippers

I knit these yesterday and hand felted them.  One of them is still drying but I thought I'd put up a post showing the one that's finished.

You start out knitting a piece shaped like this. Your cat will most likely want to supervise you.

 

You sew your seams together and end up with this.

 You wet your piece and felt the heck out of it for about an hour and end up with this.

You can buy the pattern, Hopsalots for $5.50 at Tiny Owl Knits

I used one hank of Plymouth Homestead yarn and 8mm needles.

More Rustic Gift Wrapping

After running out of baked dough snowflakes to decorate presents, I switched over to making bows out of jute burlap and adding greenery, red berries, and pine cones.  I like the burst of colour it gives amidst the monochromatic look of the other gifts that were wrapped with the snowflakes.

I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn't have picked this little tree.

I put together Charlie Brown's Christmas tree yesterday.

I've been wanting to make one for years.  I found the perfect 'tree' at a dollar store and made the base from two paint sticks glued together.  The tree was tipping too easily (I have cats, they are bad.) so I had to glue on a 1/2 inch wood block which I drilled a hole into the center of.  The ball is glass, so I wired it on, see earlier explanation of bad cats.

I may wrap a blue cloth around the base the way Linus did, but I haven't decided yet.

Rustic Christmas Gift Wrapping

I had planned to make a snowflake wreath from homemade modelling clay and a cookie cutter and they failed after baking.  They came out puffy and uneven which was the opposite of what I was going for.  I put them aside figuring I would think of something to do with them later.

When I decided I wanted my gifts wrapped very simply this year, I realized these were the (im)perfect things to decorate with. 

After wrapping the gifts with brown postal paper, I cut strips out of very loosely woven burlap - the kind used to wrap small evergreens for the winter.  I glued the strips around the boxes and then tied jute twine over them, then glued on the snowflakes.

Here's the recipe for basic modelling clay:

1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups salt
3/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Knead the dough and mold into shapes, baking in a 350 degree oven until lightly browned for up to an hour. Store unused dough in an airtight container and knead again before using, adding a bit of oil if needed.