handmade birthday gift for a special friend

handmade birthday gift

Yesterday when I told you this pattern was addicting, I really meant it. I just finished one for myself today, which makes six total! (I’ll spare you the sixth picture.) I think I am finished for awhile — need to get back into a granny square groove.

I chose the colors because my friend is a UCLA alum. Of course, after having her second baby boy, she’s probably up to her eyeballs in blue. In hindsight, maybe I should have done something in pink! The blue and yellow coordinated nicely with the little drawstring bag I made. I included more soaps from yummy suds.

handmade birthday gift

stash: I am really putting a dent in my stash. It feels good. Just in time for garage sailing on Saturday!

thrifty find: zig zag quilt

I can’t believe it took so long for me to write about my daughter’s new quilt. I think it’s because I had a hard time getting a nice picture of it. Usually it’s covered in stuffed animals and books. I just recently took this pic while she was in school.

thrifted quilt

I’m not exactly sure when I found this, but it was still cold out. I remember having a conversation with my husband about our daughter’s new bed needing a comforter. I had looked for one that week, but nothing had seemed quite right. Once you eliminated licensed characters, it was slim pickings.

I also remember sharing this story with my friend. Less than two hours later we had discovered this brand new, handmade quilt. The lady said there’s a group of women in a Small Nebraska Town (I can’t remember the name) who make quilts and donate them to the store. Isn’t it beautiful?

thrifted quilt

thrifting: Sometimes all you have to do let the universe — and a friend with a good eye — know what you need. The rest takes care of itself.

did i mention i made a new purse?

poppy purse soule mama handmade home

Seriously, how could I forget to blog about this?! Last week I made the Mama’s Bag from Amanda Soule’s latest book with fabric to match my laptop bag. I absolutely love it. My only modification to the pattern was to add a divider on the inside. You can see it a little bit on the left here:

poppy purse soule mama handmade home

That’s mostly to keep knitting and crochet projects from getting tangled up in my other purse stuff. At first I thought it was a little small, but once I freed myself from carrying around so many of my three-year-old’s things* in my bag, I think it’s just perfect.

*It is a Mama’s Bag after all!

stash: Fabric came from this remnant sale. Book is from the library, but after checking it out twice, I think I should probably just buy it. There are so many things I want to make!

thrifty find: crochet blanket

handmade thrifted crochet blanket

I miss posting about my thrifty finds, but there aren’t as many during the winter months. Most of my great scores come from church and garage sales, which generally happen in the spring and summer. Last week I went to Goodwill’s 99 cent sale looking for clothing and never expected to come home with this handmade blanket. It matches our walls, couch and carpet perfectly. And it is so warm! Just in time for another snowstorm.

The wooden tray on the ottoman was also a thrifty find from a few months ago, still with the tag! We don’t have a coffee table in this room, so we use it to hold drinks (and popcorn!) when we snuggle in front of the television.

thrifting: Blanket cost $6. Kind of expensive for me, but it’s just so perfect. Tray was $2.

gift bag resolution

After my daughter was born, we had a huge supply of gift bags. Most of them were pink, but we had our fair share of gender neutral and holiday bags, too. It’s been over three years, but I’m almost finished using them for gifts.

Honestly, it felt like my stash would never be gone. When I got close to the end of my pile, I started thinking about how I would wrap presents in the future. I did a little bit of research on the web and found some startling statistics about gift wrap.

Wrapping paper, from an ecological point of view, is a pretty worthless use of trees. Each year in the United States, 4 million tons go from logs to landfills to make wrapping paper and holiday shopping bags, according to the Clean Air Council, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization.

Once I got past the shock of 4 MILLION TONS EACH YEAR I read something even more unsettling. You know how some people throw wrapping paper into their fireplace?

Decorative wrapping paper, much of which is made in countries such as China that have looser environmental regulations, can contain lead, synthetic inks, plastic film, chlorine or metal-based foils, which release toxic and carcinogenic compounds into the air when burned. Metallic paper may or may not have a greater environmental footprint than other types, but it’s certainly not meant to be inhaled. Who’s most vulnerable to this indoor pollution? Children, whose systems are still developing.

You may be able to recycle gift wrap depending on where you live, but metallic accents, glitter and too much tape can make them un-recyclable. Plus, if it’s unsafe to burn, is it really safe for your child to be tearing it apart?

handmade fabric gift bag

So, I’ve resolved to only use fabric gift bags and plain recyclable paper going forward. I really like how my first fabric birthday bag turned out. Does anyone want to make this resolution with me? There are some great ideas to inspire you over at That Little Bit Greener.

resource: Quotes taken from this Washington Post article.

new year pajamas

I finally got around to finishing up my daughter’s second pair of “Christmas” pajamas. We’re now calling them New Year Pajamas.

handmade pajamas

They are pink with little white flowers, but with the weather we’ve been having, my daughter has been calling them snowflakes. We’re supposed to get more snow tomorrow. I might let her were these all day long.

handmade pajamas

stash: I wish I could remember where I picked up this fabric. It’s so soft and thick. Nice and toasty for the chilly temps we’ve been having in The Heartland.

my first handmade tie

Happy New Year! Here’s my very last project of 2009 — a men’s tie!

handmade men's tie

I was surprised how easy it was to make. This project was mostly hand sewn using the blind stitch. If you’re not a big fan of either, it might not be for you. I love the blind stitch and had a lot of fun making this. I know I’ll be making more in 2010 for the guys in my life.

handmade men's tie

project notes: Stash-enhancement fabric. Purl Bee pattern. There’s a little boy’s version, too. How cute!

christmas pajamas

handmade christmas jammies

I was planning to make two pairs of pajamas. Only one pair got finished. When I showed them to my daughter, she said they were very cool, but she didn’t want to wear them to bed. I was a little crushed. Fast forward to today: they’ve been on for over 24 hours and she doesn’t want to take them off. Success?

handmade christmas jammies

The flannel was thrifted from somewhere—I’m starting to lose track of where I get these things! I was planning to use a Simplicity pattern, but didn’t have enough fabric. Instead, I used a pillow case pajama pants tutorial, and it worked out perfectly.

handmade christmas jammies

The top is just a plain t-shirt from Target. I added a little appliqué to help it coordinate with the pants.

handmade christmas jammies

I’m very happy with how these turned out. I’ll be making the other pair this weekend.

project notes: Making a pattern from measurements tutorial from Brandy over at Minivan Life. Very easy to follow. I highly recommend it!

what’s better than giving handmade gifts?

Receiving them!

When I pick up my daughter from preschool I always ask about her day. Did you learn a new song? Did you paint? Color? Draw? Did you sit still for story time? For the past few weeks she’s been telling me about her tree. “Today we painted our tree.” “Today we put ornaments on our tree.” “Today we put sparkles on our tree.”

handmade tree ornament

I honestly thought she was making some kind of giant tree painting the way she described it. Imagine my surprise when she came home with this little tree ornament! It was wrapped in a paper bag (or sack as they say in Nebraska)* decorated with holiday stickers. I waited for my husband to come home so we could open it together. It is the most beautiful ornament on our tree.

handmade tree ornament

*When I called it a paper bag, my daughter said, “NO MOM! Mrs. Tisdale said it’s a SACK!”

handmade gift: branching out scarf

branching out scarf

Remember this scarf? It’s finally finished! I gave it to my mom for her birthday and she loves it. It’s my first lace project and I’m very pleased with it.

lace knitting with acrylic yarn

I wanted to knit a lace scarf for my mom, but she can’t wear wool. It took awhile (and a lot of ripping and re-knitting) to find an appropriate acrylic yarn and a pattern that didn’t rely too heavily on blocking. Actually, this blocked better than I thought it would. The leaves opened up nicely.

blocking acrylic yarn

Eventually I’d like to try this pattern with some wool, but I need a little break from all these tiny leaves.

details: Pattern is Branching Out from Knitty. Yarn is Red Heart Luster Sheen. Bow tied with a re-purposed Nordstrom ribbon, which probably came on a gift from my mom.