Liquid Paper

my pointy kitty

I now know what can bring me out of a creative rut... Hillary of Wee Wonderfuls and her adorable Pointy Kitty pattern! As soon as I saw the image of her kitty on flickr I hopped over to her blog and downloaded the free pattern. (And downloaded it again after I discovered the "C" mystery. haha)

I have to confess that in a very weird way, following instructions I can actually read was "foreign" to me because all of the other ones I've made came with instructions in Japanese. (It should be the other way around right?) Thankfully her pattern was super easy to follow and I loved making it. I probably could have added more stuffing to the head. I followed her advice and really stuffed the body and it does stand up great. I'm already planning to make another one out of a soft flannel fabric. Thanks again Hillary, I can't wait for you to complete your pattern book!

jill's birthday gift revealed

My sister is so funny! She said that when she visited my blog and saw a post titled "jill's birthday" she didn't want to ruin the surprise and wouldn't read it. Even though it was only a sneak peek. (hehe) Jilly, I'm so glad that you loved your gift and will use it. Happy Birthday little sister! I love you. ♥

Before we get to the goodies I thought I'd show you a picture of me + my sister the birthday girl. (My feet are not that odd looking normally. I cropped this out from an old photo that was discolored and couldn't salvage everything - so a few of my toes are missing.) I can hardly believe that this little girl is now the mommy of seven wee (and some not-so-wee) ones.

j is for Jill

Here is the bag that I made for my sister's brithday. In this photo there is a better view of our grandmother's vintage yellow velvet ribbon.

Here's a close-up of the mother hen pin that I added to her bag.

jill's birthday

Next week is my little sister Jill's birthday. I'm just 18 months older than her - exactly, to the day! This year I wanted to make something fun for her that she can use as well as incorporating some of her favorite colors. I also added some velvet ribbon to this - one of my favorite keepsakes from our paternal grandmother, Orpha. (No, not Oprah.) I have three rolls of this particular ribbon: one lima bean green, one muted red/orange and one golden yellow color. I've been holding onto them for almost fifteen years, waiting for just the right project. I love how it looks on this! I can't show you the entire finished project or I'll ruin the surprise for Jill. So here is a little sneek peek.

This shot includes most of the fabrics and you can just barely make out a sliver of the ribbon. From left to right there is a vintage fabric I received from Hillary (from an old tablecloth I think?), a polka dot IKEA pillow case circa 1999 I found at a thrift store, the velvet ribbon, aqua gingham and a fuzzy teal/aqua yarn.

Here's a close-up of the tags and a vintage button:

And one of grandma Orpha's ribbon: (I love that it still has the pin in it from when she last used it.)

fool for love

I've been working hard to get everything ready for the shop udate at Noon today. *phew* And just to prove it to you I have pictures! Here are the three different heart-shaped pincushions that you can choose from when you order a Teensy Valentine a.k.a. Love. Dangerously.

p.s. This special set is just 8.00 USD and will only be available through February 14th. ♥

Pink felt w/ red embroidery.

White felt w/ red embroidery.

Red felt w/ white embroidery.

Crazy Crochet

Oh, so it’s cozy crochet?

Yes. What did you think I was saying?

I thought it was crazy crochet.

That’s the conversation Mark and I had in the car on the way to my mom’s house two days ago. I’d been lugging around my yarn and new Cozy Crochet Kit for almost a week now before he figured out the name. It isn’t his fault though. I think it’s because I had a rough start (gargantuan understatement) trying to figure out how to crochet. I couldn’t hold the yarn + the hook + the in progress work. I couldn’t decide if I had too many fingers or not enough and I kept trying to half knit, half crochet the silly thing. So… I suppose that I can see how he may have thought that it was crazy. The really crazy thing is that technically i already knew how to crochet. When I was in 9th grade my grandma Shirley taught me how - but I guess I was too far out of practice to rely on my forgotton skills.

Fortunately, I got the hang of it just in time to add a flower to the scarf I knitted for my mom:

I made basket bags for all of the women in the family this year. Here’s a picture of the one that I made for my sister-in-law Natalie.

Here’s the view from the top.

Each bag also included a mini sewing kit with Mod Dots pin cushion and personalized "made by..." labels.

THE TAGS
Thanks to everyone who commented on my new Mod Dots tags. They were so easy to make – I couldn’t believe that I’d put it off for as long as I did. I created the design for the tags in InDesign. I chose white ½” twill tape to put them onto and voila! I have tags. I’m sure that iron-on isn't the best for durability - but the colors and design came out really good so I’m happy.

tag it

We're still celebrating Christmas here. In fact, I have one more family gathering to get to before we're officially finished with the festivites. While making gifts this year I finally went ahead and made some logo tags for the Mod Dots shop... and went a little tag crazy in the process. For instance, did the bean bags for my youngest niece need the logo treatment?

I made sewing kits in little baket bags for the older nieces (7, 7, and 9). Each one included thread, buttons, felt, a pin cushion, sicissors and a roll of "made by..." tags with their names printed on them. Click here for more pictures of the sewing kit.

e is for ella

My niece Ella turns 1 this week and I wanted to make something special for her. The packaging for her gift is a drawstring bag made from two different vintage fabrics (front & back panels) and a sweet little floral flannel fabric that I picked up in Dallas.

Here's the other side.

We've been enjoying a nice cold spell here (nice for me at least) so I decided to knit her up a little baby scarf. I picked out some lovely blue/aqua yarn to match her eyes and made up my own simple scarf pattern. After I added vintage pompons at each end and made the bag to put it into, I decided that it was missing something. Even though Ella’s scarf is only the second thing I've ever knitted - I knew that the gift wouldn't be complete without a little coordinating hat. I found a free pattern online and adapted it to baby-size hat. What in the world made me think that I could make my own pattern when I barely even know how to follow someone else’s? Fortunately that thought never crossed my mind. I knew that I could "see" it in my mind and that's usually a good sign for me when I'm creating something.

The scarf is 3" wide by 35" long. The hat is 6" tall by 7 1/2" wide (laying flat) and it just fit her little head. Phew!

Here's a closeup of the scarf and pompons.

And one of the little fabric covered gift tag.

Quick Totes

Last night I went to a small party of friends where we exchanged $5 white elephant gifts. Usually the kind of pressure that finding a gift for one of these things causes me is pretty bad. I can never come up with anything good and always resort to looking in the candle aisle. Ahh… but not this time! I had a tiny brainstorm when I found these really inexpensive knitting needles and some yarn that looked quite nice. I snapped them up and to complete the gift I made a larger version of the puppy pouch as a knitting bag to hold everything. I used fabric from my own stash, added some basic knitting instructions printed off of the Internet and made a "Super Easy Scarf Pattern" to put into the bag. I even cast on and knitted a few rows of the scarf - so that the recipient could jump right in and start!

Drawstring bag 14" x 15"

Knitting bag side a

Knitting bag side b

I was so pleased with how the bag turned out and my friend Chara, who chose the gift, already knew how to knit and had nearly two feet done before we left the party!

This next bag was for my friend Jenny (who also hosted the party last minute because poor Katheryn got sick). About six months ago I designed some mod-inspired return address labels for her - but I never remembered to print them out and give them to her. So I printed them out and put them into this drawstring bag made with some mod fabric that I think came from a swap with Katey.

Drawstring bag 8 3/4" x 13"

It was so nice to see my friends - everyone is so busy these days that we have to plan ahead and don't get to see each other as often as we used to. Plus, I've finally finished two successful projects - something that I'd almost given up on these days! Maybe now I'll have the courage tackle the Christmas decorating in my poor ornament-less house.

Me Too!

I can't believe I waited so long to try this:

I love making these fabric cards! Duh. Now I understand why I saw people going crazy making them when this book first came out.

The card pictured above is one of several I'm making and will be sold at the craft market this weekend. I was so happy to see how the colors worked together. Particularly after I took all afternoon to choose just the right ones. (Yes, I'm addicted to the process.)

Well, I've made a huge list of all the things that I still need to make so no more chatting here... must get to work!

Back-Tack II Finished

I’m so pleased to be finished with everything for my secret Back-Tack II partner. Phew! I decided to keep up the anonymity so she won’t know who she is, um… who I am, until she receives her package. (Yes, I’m felling a little tired.) I had to take the photos outside because it was too dark in the house - so the light is a little bright.

This first picture is a shot of everything minus a few extra goodies I included just for her.

I made a quilted tote bag from vintage fabrics. It is quilted on both sides and the lining is the aqua fabric. I found the pattern in “Quilted Bags in a Weekend.” In addition to not getting done in a weekend (no fault of the book), I had a problem with the straps (fault of the book). The measurements were way too narrow and I didn’t realized it until after I had sewn two long, skinny half inch noodles. A bit of a frustration, but I finally figured it out and added an inch to the width.

For more photos click here.