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little sweater ornaments

sweater ornament

I’ve wanted to make these ornaments for a long time. The pattern is from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. The inspiration for the Husker “N” came from my friend Christy, who has made a gazillion of these. The pattern suggests making a hanger out of a pipe cleaner and I think it’s absolutely adorable.

I’m having a hard time blogging because a lot of what I’ve been making hasn’t been gifted yet. I don’t think the recipients read my blog, but if you get one of these from me, just act surprised, ok?

stash: Red wool from the 2010 East Campus garage sale. White wool from the 2009 East Campus garage sale. Fabric for gift bag from here. Crazy that I remember all of that!

p.s. Congratulations to giveaway winner Shana Putnam!

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my creative space

peppermint bark

In my creative space today I’m making peppermint bark gifts, inspired by Amanda’s “elving” post on Monday. What you see in the pic above are all the little edge bits.

Oh my, do they taste amazing. Just as yummy as the big chunks of bark. I have a little container of them hidden in the back of the fridge — my little secret treat. They taste especially yummy with a hot cup of coffee or tea.

What kinds of yummy treats are you making this holiday?

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fave crafts blog hop: reindeer puppet

reindeer puppet

Last week I got this great book out of the library called Crafts to Make in the Winter. The first one we tried was the Reindeer Puppet. The instructions were clear and it was really simple to make. We’ll definitely be making more projects out of this book and checking out the other seasons, too.

reindeer puppet

I didn’t anticipate how much love this little guy would get, though, and silk ties are kind of slippery. He kept losing his eyes and once is ears slipped out! I wound up tacking down everything with a few stitches so he would hold up. Now he can join in all the reindeer games at our house and not feel self-conscious.

reindeer puppet

thrifted: I bought two ties at the thrift store last week so my daughter could make one with her friend. All of the other supplies were from my stash.

Have you been working on any seasonal crafts? Share in the comments!

Don’t forget to check out other finished projects over at the Fave Crafts blog.

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sew, mama, sew! giveaway day

crochet recycled vase

* * * * * Congratulations to the giveaway winner Shana Putnam! * * * * *

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day is one of my favorite times of year. I love participating: both in the giving away part and the entering for giveaways part.

If you are new to my blog, let me tell you a little bit about this vase. I love to use recycled goods in my work. I’ve made a few of these. The plastic container has been rescued from my very own recycle bin. The yarn is from the big spool of wool. I talk about it a lot. It’s a big spool.

You don’t have to do anything fancy to enter my giveaway — just leave a comment on this post. I’d love it if you follow my rss feed or follow me over on my facebook page. I’d also love to hear about your handmade holiday plans. Are you making anything special?

Don’t forget to visit Sew, Mama, Sew! for tons of other great giveaways. (They’ll be posted on Monday morning.)

Mine will close Midnight, Central Time, December 17th. I’ll ship internationally, so everyone is welcome to enter!

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thanksgiving surprise

My husband had this crazy idea to fly home on the “busiest travel day” and surprise our families for Thanksgiving. It was a fast trip, but we squeezed in an amazing amount of quality family time. We also debunked the myth that the day before Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year. As for the media hype regarding security, there was not a body scanner nor pat down in sight.

thanksgiving surprise

Wednesday afternoon at the Lincoln Airport. You could hear a pin drop!

thanksgiving surprise

Bella with the Kundhi family.

thanksgiving surprise

Kundhi men fixing the ladies Thanksgiving dinner.

thanksgiving surprise

Bella with the Tamburello family.

thanksgiving surprise

Bella giving her great grandmom an hug and kiss.

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finished: rollie pollie bean bag chair

rollie pollie bean bag chair

The Rollie Pollie bean bag chair that I started sewing at the craft retreat is finished! Here are all of the nitty gritty details:

I used the tutorial from Dana posted on the So You Think You’re Crafty site. Dana has a pattern available for sale on her website. You don’t need the pattern, but I saw a copy at the retreat and it’s very comprehensive.

I only enlarged and printed a quarter of the pattern to save paper and ink. I folded my lining fabric in quarters, traced and cut. Then I used the lining pieces as my pattern for the cover fabric.

rollie pollie bean bag chair

Dana recommends sewing the seam and then going back and adding a serged seam for durability. I couldn’t think of a reason to finish the raw edges, so I just sewed a double seam: one at 1/2 inch and one at 1/4 inch from the edge.

I was planning on adding the handle, but as I was sewing up the cover, my daughter lifted the bag up over her head and carried it to her bedroom, so I skipped it.

The fabric and zipper were thrifted. The outside is upholstery fabric and the lining is cotton muslin.

The stuffing is new. I had been looking for a thrifted bean bag on craigslist and they were all pretty grungy. Then I read that even Goodwill doesn’t accept beanbags, so I decided repurposed stuffing wasn’t going to happen. I wound up buying two bags of bean bag pellets from here. Shipping is almost as expensive as the pellets, but I bought a few other things on my gift list and got free shipping. (The have a nice selection of Melissa and Doug items.)

When I started this project, I didn’t realize it would be so expensive. I also had no idea that bean bags were so pricey! I’m glad I made the large size so my daughter can get lots of use out of it. It currently resides in her “reading corner” next to her basket of library books. It was a fun project and has brought my daughter a lot of joy. I definitely give it two thumbs up!

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my creative space

In my creative space today I am blocking little wool stars. Can we talk about the miracle of blocking for a minute? With just a few pins and a spray bottle of water, I can make flowery-looking granny stars all pretty and pointy.

crochet granny star bookmark

crochet granny star bookmark

project notes: Yarn from the Big Spool of Wool, pattern from the The Royal Sisters.

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julie-k: the early years

weaving potholders

Yesterday, I mentioned that I was back in Baltimore for Thanksgiving. While I was there, my mom gave me a couple potholders that I had made when I was a kid. Not only was I excited to see them, but look at how well-used they are! That’s the best gift you could give any crafter!

Did you make potholders when you were little? I can’t wait to get my daughter started with a little loom of her own.

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ikea fabric

fabric from ikea

Until I started reading crafty blogs, I had no idea Ikea sold fabric. I grew up with an Ikea practically in my backyard. I got my college furniture there. I accessorized my first apartment from there. Fabric? Never knew it existed.

We went home for a few days over the Thanksgiving holiday and I found myself sitting in my parents’ livingroom less than two miles from the big blue and yellow store. I decided it was time to check out the textiles.

I loved the prints, although the pattern repeats are so large, I can’t imagine how I’d use some of them. I purchased three yards of the red and white fabric just because I loved it, there was only three yards left, and at $2.49 a yard (!) my husband insisted. (Seriously. He made me buy it all up!)

I also had fun remnant diving. The striped fabric is flannel. At first I thought blanket, but now I’m thinking jammies for my daughter. The orange will be sewn into pillow covers for our livingroom. I think they’ll look lovely with my thrifted afghan.

So there you have it. I’ve had the cinnamon rolls, put together furniture with an allen wrench and have bought fabric. My Ikea experience is now complete.

remnants: Did you know there are huge bins of fabric in the “as is” section down by the checkout? It was super fun digging through it all.

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tiny crochet ornament bookmark pattern

tiny ornament bookmark crochet pattern

I’m sorry my pictures aren’t the greatest for this post. The sun went down too early today. I can’t wait for the winter solstice. I just can’t get my photo-taking act together before dinnertime. I might try and retake the photos over the weekend.

This is the same pattern I used for the tiny baseball bookmarks, without the little top of course. If you want to do baseballs, I recommend marking the curves with a disappearing ink pen before embroidering the red stitches. It really helps!

tiny ornament bookmark crochet pattern

Tiny Crochet Ornament Bookmark Pattern
worsted weight yarn (I used Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece)
size F/5 (3.75mm) and D/3 (3.25mm) crochet hooks
tapestry needle for weaving ends
small bead

sl st: slip stitch
sc: single crochet
inc: 2 sc in one stitch

gauge: not important, but mine is about 1 1/2 inches wide

ornament
With larger hook, make a magic ring.
R1: 6 sc into ring
Ornament worked as a spiral. Place marker to keep track of rounds.
R2: inc in each stitch around
R3: *inc, sc* around
R4: *2 sc, inc* around until last two stitches. Sl st in last two stitches.
R5: sc in first stitch, change to smaller hook, chain 55, add bead, chain 5
Finishing: cut yarn, tie knot, thread end back through bead, tie double knot, trim close to knot.

ornament top
R1: pick up stitches at top of ornament as follows: pick up and chain 1, *pick up and sc* three times, turn work
R2: chain 1, sc 3
Finishing: cut yarn, add a little loop between middle two stitches while weaving in ends

These work up really fast and add a nice handmade touch to book gifts this holiday season. I’ve got a lot of books on my list for Santa — better make a few more just for myself. Enjoy!

stash: These only take a tiny bit of yarn. You can definitely go stash diving for this project!