Stitchy Stuff

Back of second quilt to be finished of the 7for7 Grandchildren Quilts.

All animal fabrics, since this one is for our animal whisperer. Most of these prints are from my quilty friends, those generous women who sent me lots of fabrics for these, and other quilts.

As you can see, I used the fabrics as whole as possible.

The snap tape I am using for the opening for these quilts, since they will be used as duvet covers....or not. Up to the child. They may be used for tents...should I tell them they can possibly crawl inside the quilt???

A patch. I came across this one in the black hole  foot stool. 

There is a 'plain' version posted on IG.

I have signed up for Jude Hills "last class". Patchwork in Perspective.

AND during the March Mending Mayhem on IG, some wanted to swap "patches" to be used as...patches on...well....anything. 

This is the debut patch, made by a fellow Scot, a thistle fancier, and an 

Overall's wearer, on the cover of my "Patchbook." 

Patchbook cover

Not sure if those pix will stay, I just copy/pasted pix of Overalls. 

click to enlarge

This is what I mailed off the my swap-pal. I laughed when I realized we BOTH used flamingos on our patches. I also gave her a xmas card I didn't send in 2018, because it's a little more 'arty' than many on my holiday list. AND I crocheted her a "thistle", that I made up as I went along. 

Anyway....the timing of the swap/mending event and Jude's class made me think about other bits I have made...and how much I enjoy making wallies, and after all, patches are just small wallies...right?  

So I am going to make weekly patches, and keep track of them in this 

re-purposed storybook. [not a favorite of mine, of course, just a blah one]

Patchbook inside flaps

This is the inside front cover, collage bits added, including the cover to a Spring Catalog from a wonderful seed company.  The bitty card came with the patch that is gracing the front of the book, for now. I pinned it to the cover. 

It may stay, it may change.

The next few pages are these, to give you an idea of how I will make this a "planner" style re-purposed book.  Blank stickers to cover stepsisters frowny faces, for writing on. The paint blobs are from another online class.  [I didn't get much further than that, I just don't handle a paintbrush like I do a needle.] 

The Women's March

Last Thursday, 2 of MY women went to our state capital, Olympia, on a class field trip. They got to meet 2 Women Elected last Nov., 

who represent the local areas.

This is my daughter, her daughter, and Senator Emily Randall. She heard there were some Kitsap Kids in the house, so she went out to greet them!

The other representative they met was Michelle Caldier, the Republican member of the house, but no picture with her, darn it, because we can be bi-partisan too!

I figure this is a good day to update my Women's March 2017 WIP 

[work-in-progress]  I am not done, but the Marches March on today!!

I crocheted teeny tiny PussyHats! 

Working with the 'yarn-strips-cut-from-leggin's' was so much fun!!  They aren't stitched down yet, just basted. But I am sooooo glad I took this pic, because I can now see my M is not quite right.

The 'bird's eye view of the Marching Women.

The whole piece. And yes it is wobbly, and will probably not lose that charming feature. The round blueish part?  Why that's our Big Blue Marble.

And because this little guy could not have been born without a Woman, my other daughter Steph.  He is really here to show him playing with the toy his Other Mother made for him. 

Other Mother?  All the eggs a woman has are made while in the womb of HER mother, so in essence, we are carrying our future grandchildren.

Another Completion, a Start, a Middle, a Puzzle

MonkeySquirrel click to enlarge

This. 

Well...it started out like the Bear I made for #6, something to teeth/chew/slobber on, and washable! Along the way I changed my mind and tried for a squirrel. Near the finish, it looked more like a monkey. 

This one is for Max, #7. His mama likes squirrels. 

His dad is into elephants, but I already made him one of those.

So who is into monkeys?

  I started this 'scene' in Nov. or Dec. 2018.

I have been adding bits to it as they came along. 

I just started stitching, so I consider it a 'start'.

The "Women's March 2017" needs working on. 

This is the "middle" part of this post. I think.

[Click on the label on the right side to see all the posts with this work in them.]

As I looked at the whole cloth, I figured it's time to add the words to it. Which led to an idea to try couching yarn to shape the letters. No pink yarn, but this pair of girls leggins' has pink in it. Since I had been given permission to 'do what you want with these, mom,' I cut them up!

As you can see, knit fabric, when pulled, curls up into nice tubes. 

Rather yarn looking, right?

Now to try it out.

Dan decided to finish the puzzle I had started. I sat in that chair in the background and crocheted. He used his phone to enlarge the picture, so he could find things, without taking a photo of it. No magnifying glass around here. Need to change that for sure.

I got puzzles for the families. This one is now done!

[we don't have children to interrupt, mess with, lose bits]

Stitchy Stitchy

Animal House. ⏫Added a few more bits to this, this week.

⏫More progress on Circles. Even a non-circular shape. ▲

△Found on my camera's memory..gasp...from 2013!!  # 4 and CollegeGirl Steph.

Dimensional crochet on Circles.

⏬A new one. The top one of the picture collage.

Digging through my footstool, looking for something else, I came across a bundle of scraps. I do that, as I go through my bits and bits. Get sidetracked by bits that want to be with other bits. So I bundle up those bits for another day, like this day. Took about 10 minutes to pair up these bits. 

The left bottom stitchy is being grounded to more fabric on the back. It got put to the side by the top pic, and the NEED to work on it, NOW.

The right one got new bits added. It is back on the wall for future stitchy stuff.

I love that I don't have to finish something right away. That it can be put on the wall to be looked at, thought about, un finished. 

There are stitchy things going on with the sewing machine too.  

Spring has sprung for sure,  inside my brain!!

Quilt Repairs and Crochet

A neighbor asked me to repair this quilt she purchased at an auction. The fabrics date back to the late 1960's. Maybe not all of them, but this one red print does, because my mother made a dress for me back then. 

Not that you can tell in the b/w photo.

We called it, the dress, Carnaby Street. I have no idea why.

I am only adding patches where I have to.  The quilt is to be re-sold at a flea market, so I am not putting the effort into it that I should.  If she were to keep this quilt, I would put more time into it.

Crochet!  Ole! 

For Ashley's giant dream[catcher].  And I did up a star[fish], purple star, and created a comet!  She may not use them, for this project, and that is ok.

Am still working on the mandala throw.  It may not turn out as well as I hope, but the circles sure have been fun to stitch up!

Oh yeah, another star.  This is the beginning of a pattern called 

"Rings Of Change", which I will be making for #7. I decided to give Ashley a part of the pattern too, after I noticed it was a star!

New Year, More Crochet

So. That is my first picture of 2018. I even left the date stamp on there. 

Date....snort.....So.  I was working on my calendar for the year, adding birthdays and such. The new calendar started with Dec of 2017 .... Jan 2018 ended up with Feb dates before I noticed what I was doing. 

Moving on...A fourth is started.  I admit I am having fun with these mandala's. 

I am old enough to remember them being called 'doily's'.  Though I don't remember seeing all these fancy ways of stitching, on all those old doily patterns.

I am still working on 'Bits' for our granddaughters.  I created the owl and the dog face, which isn't finished. Oh and the garland of Sun, Moon and Stars.

I have one more animal to create. Then I can finish these up.

[the turtle from my last post of part of this group too, 

and the kitty that started it all!]

Happy New Year everyone.

Holidays!

The Mermaid blanket. Complete with child #4 in it! 

[the one for whom it was made]

⏬My son spent the holidays remodeling his kitchen.

His wife was heard to say, "I will be so glad when this is done."😁

What you don't see is the awkward corner by the fridge, though you can see where the fridge would go...right? ⇓        

The wonderful, amazing island, goes all the way to the wall to 

help create that silly corner.

 Not any more!!!!   I love this arrangement!! 

The only problem they ran into was a beam over the sink that was hiding under the ceiling. That had to stay, so the cupboards they had to go there wouldn't fit.

New ones were ordered, and the booboo's will get used in the laundry room remod...when that gets done. Or so I was told. Good job Ben!

click to enlarge to see the sink!

 While I am still in yarn mode, I whipped up a mandala. I have been admiring all these on Pinterest, and Ravelry, and decided to take the plunge.  Way easier than I thought!  I have started another one, different pattern, same yarn colors. Not sure what they will end up as...blanket? pillow covers?  

My minimal Christmas decor for this year. I found a couple of Fisher Price little people...though one of them is way bigger than the other....among the toys in the playroom.  I decided Tim and his friend looked rather snow-person-able. 

Click to enlarge to see 'Tim' written by Meg, #1

It snowed here Christmas Eve. Very rare occurrence.

⏬I made an ornament for our Steph and her new spouse, house, and dog.

She had an eventful 2017, so I created a diorama for them.

They even told me it was perfect because they wanted one to mark the year, but couldn't find anything [store bought] that would work.

😙I forgot to tell them that I didn't put a 'front' on it because there may be something else they want to add. [I was going to use some clear plastic from some random packaging, that we would normally toss in the recycle.]

↧↧↧ Oh look...more crochet  ↧↧↧

A kitty face, and tail, mandala? dream catcher? for #5. I made the pink outside part as a separate ribbon type thing, then stitched it around the hoop, letting the blue threads show. It's not complete, yet. Needs some facial bits to show up the 'cat look' as opposed to the current 'piggy look.'

Since I was on a roll....I created a turtle for #3.  

I am thinking of attaching it to a piece of driftwood.

🔻And my daughters creations. One for a family member who will be getting married soon. The crochet feathers I posted last time, are in among the fun hanging stuff. And a kitty one for #5, that she got for Christmas.

Creating Continues

it really is this purple

One of the 6 pack has asked Santa for a Mermaid blanket. So Mrs. Claus asked me if I wanted to make it for her, my granddaughter. #4 knew what color she wanted, so that part was easy.  Picking the right pattern wasn't. Yes there are lots of patterns out there, but I was looking for something 

finger-toe-poke-um-through-the-hole proof.  If there is such a thing. This stitch pattern is called Arcade Stitch by Wool and the Gang.  I don't know if they designed it, but it was their instructions I used, and they were very clear to follow.  I made this a rectangle, like any afghan, added a border and then....

Well...the mermaid blanket is stitched together up part of the "back" for you to tuck your feet into. So I had to come up with a way to stitch it up.

So that is how I did it.  

But the pix came out blue..and somehow I have forgotten to photograph the damn tail!  Well I will get that when #4 is in this.

I used a yarn from Micheal's crafts. Not very soft or pleasant to work with. BUT it washed up soft and  cuddly! And when #4 is no longer interested in it as a mermaid, she can remover the tail and  open the back up to have a rectangle blanket.  Clever, huh??

This is a little thing. It's called the Tree of Life

from a 365 days of free crochet blog???  I found it on Pinterest, of course.

Now these little trees...I made them up myself. They go in Christmas cards. 

Then I looked for, and found, a simple bear pattern for #6

I stuffed her with cotton fabric scraps, so fibers don't leak out as she chews on this.

Next up.  Another tree ornament, but different, with a star on top. 

good thing it's not an elephant, cuz that is one fat trunk

My daughter needs feathers for a project she is doing, so I whipped these out. Seriously, they don't take long!

Even though the pattern instructions is in Spanish, I think. The ladies are in Peru, so I will not assume that they are speaking Spanish.

There is a you tube with English subtitles, but you can follow the video easily.

My grandmothers table.

Speaking of grandmothers, here is my #6. 

Because she will chew on it.

How awesome is this?  She says she loves you every time she sucks her fingers!

Not her thumb, her fingers!