Sharing Some Crafts

These are two of my favorite Christmas crafts.

The first is the pair of lounge pants that I sort of made. I had some help from my mom and sis, but I started them and I finished them, so they were made by me. Right? Right! They were a gift for my SIL and she's worn them, so they must be OK.









The second is a craft made by my crafty friend, the Duchess. She's pretty darn good considering that her specialty is fiber arts. Aren't these the cutest magnets? They totally fit my design sensibility too. I just love them. Plus, they look fantastic on the message board that my sister crafted for me!

One Crafty Gal

I laugh a little because I like to think I'm crafty, but over the last few years it just hasn't been happening for me. I've made the baby blankets, but few other crafts or sewing projects. My excuse is that I don't have the time, but I seem to get through all the programs on the DVR, so it really can't be that. Whatever the reason, it's probably the same reason that I don't ge as many books read as I used to.

For the SIL's birthday, I wanted to something crafty. I ended up taking an extra five weeks to get it done and it's really something small that I should have been able to do in one or two evenings. Hopefully I can plan better for Christmas crafting. Those gifts need to be on time. So, last week I finally mailed out the SIL's birthday present (and her birthday was only July 29th). I thought it turned out super cute. The only issue was the timing.

The pattern is from Sublime Stitching. I love their old-is-new-is-old sensibility. This pattern was Kurt Halsey design that is so cute. I have several other patterns I picked up, too. They give you a discount if you buy three, so who can resist?

Mostly Finished Project

These are the two minky blankets that I made this weekend for a woman I work with who had twins four months ago. I know what you're thinking -- I was supposed to make these four months ago. I thought about it. I really did. But they just didn't get done.

I was worried about cutting the fabric, so my paralysis took over until I could take the fabric to my mom's house and cut it there. There, I had the huge table and the big cutting mat and the mom to supervise. It worked out quite nicely (except for the three squares I cut too small that had to be fixed because there wasn't enough extra fabric to just cut new ones).

You can even see the top-stitching I did on the close-up. I sewed very slowly and carefully and I didn't even panic when the bobin ran out half way through the second blanket.

Now I'm excited to give them away for the cute twins!