PP6

Such beautiful, chocolatey, rich potholders!  These babies were made just for me by Val for the Potholder Pass 6 swap.  How fun are those!?!  I just love them and they are a great addition to my little kitchen!



Val also included a sweet treat that we don't have in the US.  I hope I won't get hooked since I can't get them here.  Thanks for the awesome package,Val!!

And here is a recent picture of my now two month old Baby M!  I can't believe how quickly the time has gone.

He's so precious!!  He's going to be the model in my next post.

On my needles...

A hat for J.

Shades of blue...

The other two hats belong to Baby M.

What are you knitting?

Java Time Potholders

These pretty potholders went to their new home today.  I made them for my SIL, Karen, who came for a visit today with my favorite brother.  Okay, so he's my only brother, but I'm sure he'd be my favorite if I had a choice!!  We live about three hours away from my family, so we don't get together enough.  It's always great to see them! Even the dog gets excited when they come!

I designed these on quilted muslin, so I did't do a lot of quilting.  I simply quilted with brown under the cup and saucer to represent a table.  I hand embroidered "coffee" and "decaf" on the coffee bags.  I also embroidered the steam.

Besides the corduroy I used for the cups, the other fabrics are all from Debbie Mumm.  I am also working on a simple table runner to match, but it isn't quite complete yet.

FNSI result

Unfortunately not much here to report.  I had a houseful of uncooperative children.  I did get to knit a few rounds on a hat that I am making for my middle son, J, but that's about it, unless you can count looking at some sewing books.  I always love looking at Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.  I have had a few problems with things turning out just right with the patterns provided, but with a few tweaks, major or minor, things usually turn out in the end like the Everything Tote that I showed you before.  And here is a sneak peek of something that I can't show you until tomorrow! 

Enjoy your Saturday!

Infant Carrier Tent

I finally decided that I was tired of toting Baby M around with a blanket all folded up over top of his infant carrier, which ultimately would always end up dragging all over as well. 

Solution: an infant carrier tent! 

And it was so simple to make.  I had seen one at Hippos and Dinosaurs a while back and had planned to use the tutorial that she had posted, but of course my son, B was using the computer at the time, so this is what I came up with.  

I used a yard of Hooty Hoot fabric and a yard of courdoroy that I had on hand to give it a little warmth and keep the wind from whipping right through it.  We tested it out yesterday when it was pretty windy and he didn't seem to notice the cold, so it must have been a success. 

I sewed the two pieces together, rounding the corners by tracing around the bottom of a formula can, leaving an opening for turning.  Then I topstitched around the whole piece.  I layed the cover over the carrier and marked the spots where I wanted to attach the straps. 

To make the straps, I cut four pieces of Hooty Hoot 1.5"  x 15".  Then I sewed 2 together and turned them.  Next, I topstitched the straps, turning under the raw ends and attatched them to the cover. 

And Voila!  An Infant Carrier Tent!

And when Baby M is no longer small enough for the carrier, I can take the straps off and he will have a great blankie for the car!

***I also have a dilema and I was hoping that some of you might be able to help.  I am scheduled to go back to work in about 3 weeks.  :(  Boo hoo!  My clothes with buttons and zippers still aren't my friends, and I was wondering if any of you know of some good elastic waste skirt tutorials.  I had forgotten how much fun it was getting rid of the baby fat! I would sure appreciate your suggestions!  Thank you!***

Quilts Galore!

So, have you checked out the quilts over at Gen X Quilters?  There are some really spectacular quilts from some very talented quilters all entered into a nice contest.  I went over and voted for my friend, Amy's quilt, Yellow and Grey Lady of the Lakes.  It is stunning!  Head on over and vote for your favorite (or my favorite hint, hint!) and be sure to click on the link to Amy's quilt to see just how truly beautiful it is!

Lucky!

Okay, so a long time ago while back I won some giveaways, but I didn't post about them.  It is definitely not that I was ungrateful, I did thank them personally, just not publicly.  It's been eating away at me recently now that my nonpregnant brain is functioning a lot better.  I have a memory!! :)

So the first thing I won was an It's a Hoot charm pack from Jamie at SunFlower Seeds.  Jamie is very talented and has even been featured at Moda Bake Shop.  Definitely check out her colorful and cheery blog.  You will come away with some inspiration!  I always do!

My second awesome win was from Kala at Vegancraftastic during the SMS giveaways.  I was so excited to win this prize, too!  I have a slight obsession with owls and both of my prizes included owls on fabric!  It doesn't get much better than that!  Kala has a cool Etsy store full of fun things.  I won this cute zippered pouch.  I LOVE it!  Kala can sew and she is also a fantastic knitter!  I really love her blog and seeing all of her creations.  She also posts some great recipes.  Head on over and check out Vegancraftastic and see what Kala's been up to!

Pinwheels!



Here are my completed potholders for the PP6 swap.  I like how thay turned out and I hope that my partner will, too.  The theme was monotone, thus all of the purple.  My partner let me pick the color.  I think it took me longer to decide what color to use than it did to actually make the potholders.  These are my first ever pinwheels which I mentioned here.  I also put a link to a really cool pinwheel tutorial in that post as well.  They were really quick to cut and piece.

Here is a close up of the quilting.  I love the center of each wheel.  It made a cool looking star! 

Boy pillow #2

Here is B, the proud new owner of his outdoor themed pillow.  The child is absolutely crazy for anything that deals with fishing and hunting! 

He chose the fabric and decided that he wanted all squares for his design.  He chose the layout of the blocks and even the decorative stitch on the back.  I was hoping that he would let me create the design, but he was pretty stubborn that it had to be squares.  As you can see, he won.

a green hat for Dad

Here is a simple hat that I just finished knitting for my daddy.  He had brain surgery last September and is undergoing chemo each month.  I made him a brown hat from the same pattern when we found out about his cancer and he has worn it ever since.  I thought it was time for a different color.  B was happy to model it for me, but after 15 takes, we just couldn't get one with his eyes open.

I had great plans for a cream colored stripe in the middle, but I grabbed it going out the door on my way to have Baby M, so I didn't have time to find the other yarn.  By the time I got home from the hospital I was past the point of striping.  I guess I'll have to try that next time.  I was hoping he'd let me put a pompom on top, but it was a definite NO.