Placemats

Another Christmas gift, for a gift exchange that required the gifts be home made. I have since eaten meals off these, and they're nice! It's a nice touch to the table.

Had a little difficulty with the darker yellow ones, as the fabric was warped when it was printed on- the pattern doesn't run with the grain, but it also doesn't really run quite at a single angle either. Somehow I managed to scrap four of those out. The lighter yellow ones were the originally intended fabric, but since it was a thrift-shop pillowcase, I only managed to get three of that pattern. However, the colors are similar enough, and in the same family as the table, that mixing and matching the placemats isn't a problem.

An Accounting Joke

For my coworker's baby girl, due in February. I took care to make a good, solid, and dark stamp of our stamp, scanned it into the computer, reversed it and printed out on to iron-on transfer paper. The transfer paper insists on using a board with a pillowcase over it- I got a little bit of the dark brown transferring through the pillowcase from my table leaf's ancient painting or staining (the underside); I'm *hoping* the yellowing effect will come out in the wash. There was also a fourth onesie, that I only ironed for the recommended 20 seconds... it came out very faded and light, so I tried to put the paper back and continue ironing, but of course that did not work out so well. I'm hoping that stamp can come out entirely in the wash, or at least enough to do something else to the onesie.

Medium-Size Afghan

In pink with two grey boucle stripes (with pink incorporated in the grey yarn). Came out square-ish, which was not my intention, but I didn't have any more of the grey yarn to keep going with. Grey yarn came to me second-hand, and I'm pretty sure it was from Big Lots (which does not have any locations near me)- it didn't have any brand on the label, it didn't even say what size hook or needles to use. Just "try this yarn for all your craft needs". Whatever. I did.

Pillows from Grandma (and Me)

Going through my late grandma's house, we've come across any number of unfinished craft projects. There were several projects that were embroidered for, but left unfinished- some needed to be framed to be hung on the wall, some were intended to be pillows that were never ruffled or backed.

For Christmas this year, for my family, I decided to finish some of those projects as pillows. The two that I decided to give my parents were originally intended to be framed and hung, but that's really not my parents' decorating style, so I made them into "charm pillows" (their term) for their couch. For theirs, I found some green-edged ruffle trim in my 'Trims' bucket, and I bought green (Mom) and yellow (Dad) fabric to finish them off- for the sides of the embroidered piece, and the backing.

The two that I picked out for my siblings were originally intended to be pillows- and they both came with their trims. The one that went to my sister ("little seeds of kindness...") also came with the fabric for the back. I did hers first, and without thinking, sewed the lace-ruffle on flat to the fabric, making it stretch around the edges, and pull and twist at the corners, and making me have to rip the stitches out and re-do. I planned better with the second one, and the trim I used for my parents' came pre-basted into itty-bitty tucks.

So for this project- my grandma did all of the embroidery, and she did the quilting for the top of my brother's pillow (far right). I attached the ruffles, and the pillow backing, and bought pillow forms for all. She definitely did all the hard work, I just finished them off.

Tablecloth

The hardest part of this project was dealing with the size of the tablecloth. I used one fabric for the top, and lined it with a plain peach colored fabric on the back, and neither was big enough alone to cover the whole table with anything hanging off the sides. Both fabrics had to be cut on the end, and supplemented on the sides, and then matched up just right around the edges. I also tucked two layers of 100% cotton batting in the center of the tablecloth, and attached them at regular intervals, making 4 lines perpendicular to the direction of the batting- this allows the table cloth to be used without hot pads. I used one of the few decorative stitches my sewing machine offers to topstitch the edges.

Dragons!!

This quilt is finally done!

Well, it's running through the wash for the last time now, and then I'll clip the yarn ties. I've found that if I clip them before washing, they end up with virtually no tail, and I like to give them about a 3/4" tail.

The quilt is NOT finished in this last picture (you can, ahem, see the quilt guts), I just realized a little late that there were no pictures that showed the fabric on the back of the blanket.

So basically, it's not "finished" in any of these photos, but I'm too excited, and also too done with it to take more. Maybe Rainy Pinni will offer up a picture of her little niece with the blanket once it's really finished.

For Baby McCarter

Finished this yellow crocheted baby blanket this afternoon. A new stitch pattern for me, it was surprisingly easy- you use the exact same pattern on both sides, and flipping the blanket when turning makes it so there really isn't a true front or back to this blanket. Which is perfect for a baby blanket! I'm pretty pleased with how the pattern turned out. I also had an orange/yellow gradient colored yarn that I was going to trim the edge of the blanket with, but it was too chunky, and looked awkward next to the baby-weight yarn pattern, so I scrapped that idea. This one goes to a coworker of mine who is expecting early next year.