What's black, white and red all over?

My partner for the Dresden Dolls swap received yesterday, and says she likes everything. Yay! Now I can show off a little.

First we have the stenciled hoodie:


I made the stencil from this image, which my partner indicated she liked. Doing all the little stripes for the tights was tough! But I am so happy with the way it came out. I want to make one for me.

Here's another pic:


Next up, we have the item that gave me the most trouble, and with which (to be honest) I was the least satisfied.

For some reason, I just couldn't get my act together with the sewing, and the skirt ended up being a lot shorter than I intended. It's not bad, but it's not my favorite thing, either.

I also spun up a quick skein of bulky yarn:

This should end up sort of striping black/white, with a little bit of gray. I am having fun with the bulky yarns lately, trying to remember how to make them.

Although the swap was only meant to be for 3 things, as usual, I had way more ideas than that, and my partner had specifically asked for fingerless mittens, so I knit her some black and white striped ones.


And then crocheted a scarf to go with:


Overall, I am really happy with this stuff. And making the scarf rekindled my love of crochet, plus I have a bunch of that yarn left, so I may make more.

Now I can get to work on my stuffed animal for the Stuffie swap. :)

I saw this fuzzy, sparkly, PINK novelty yarn in the store and felt compelled to buy it, combine it with some other novelty yarns that I had in my stash and make this:





What on earth is wrong with me?

This has been a busy couple of weeks. A family visit, and having to work overtime prevented me from doing as much crafting as I would like. Nevertheless, I completed all the items for my Dresden Dolls Swap, and was able to put that package in the mail today. I am really happy with how most of the things came out (and totally wanted to keep one of them for myself), though there was one item that I was iffy on. Just have to wait to see if my partner likes it, I guess.

I also started work on my August challenge piece for the Big Damn Crafters (our theme this month is "Shindig" and I am doing a yarn inspired by Kaylee's dress.

And then, for some reason, I was in the mood for Halloween. Okay, it could be because I LOVE Halloween, and I had all these quilt squares sitting around in my stash, but in any case, I came up with this little quilted bag:

Mini Jayne Hats

'Cause I have been into making tiny things lately, I whipped up these cute little pins the other night:



Cute, no?

New yarn

I dyed the fiber for this yarn shortly after returning from my trip to Scotland. Originally the colors were chosen to be reminiscent of the Scottish landscape, but that was much more apparent in the roving form than in the finished product. In any case, I am super happy that I spun a bulky yarn. I've been doing mostly DK weight stuff and was worried that I had forgotten how to spin a bulkier yarn, but it came pretty easily and I am super happy with the result.

Check it out:

I call it "Staffa", because the boat ride out to that island was pretty much my favorite part of the whole trip.

Wee Bunny

I received an adorable bunny from my partner in the One Tiny Thing swap. I have actually had this Wee Wonderfuls wee bunny on my list of things to make for a while, but like so many things, haven't gotten around to making one. I just think he is the cutest thing ever:



I mean, look at his little pom pom tail:



And my partner seems to have liked her giraffe. Phew. Swapping can be so stressful sometimes I wonder why I do it, and then I get a package in the mail, and it is so worth it.

I recently completed this cute giraffe and am so in love with making mascots again. I miss having all of my toys at my desk. Am working on a few more mascots at the moment, either to keep for myself, or I am thinking about making them into a mobile...'cause how adorable would that be?

My magnet board was featured in a treasury picked by perkicreations.

Need magnets for your fridge? Check it out!

I am still taking a break from spinning. I can't wait for the weather to really cool off so I can spend some quality time with my wool. I've had autumn on my mind, and that's reflected in my most recent project:




This piece started out as a beach themed magnet board which I got on clearance more than a year ago at the craft store. The frame had a "weathered wood" finish and the magnet board was filled with scenes of lighthouses and the ocean, and it came with a set of seashell shaped magnets.

I took off the decorative glass knobs that lined the bottom of the frame, sanded the crap out of everything, painted the new design, and varnished it for a nice shiny finish. Then I bought some leaf shaped pieces of wood, painted them, and made them into magnets to finish off the piece.

Things for your hair

I recently started wearing my hair sticks again, in particular the pair I made for myself a few years ago, and a co-worker asked me to make her a pair. Which I totally forgot to take a picture of, though maybe I can get her to pose for an action shot sometime. But while I had the sticks and beads and everything out, I also put together another set.



I had to debate for a few days whether I was going to keep them for myself. But finally decided to put them up in the Etsy shop on the grounds that I already own about 2 dozen sets of hair sticks. Also, I can always make myself another pair.

Problematic

For July, the Big Damn Crafters Team chose "Ice Planets" as our theme. For those of you not familiar with the show Firefly, ice planets are a frozen treat suspended from a stick which make an appearance in the episode "The Message" and are most notably remembered by the following quote:

River: My food is problematic.
Jayne: The girl's a mind reading genius, can't even figure out how to eat an ice planet.

For me, ice planets embody the sense of fun and humor that I love about the show and I wanted to create something that captured that spirit, so I decided to make a mobile:





The 4 ice planets are made from paper mâché which has been painted white and coated with a generous helping of glitter. Each ice planet is hung on cotton cording, strung with painted wooden stars. In the center of the mobile, the colorful squares spell out "My food is problematic" and are finished with a set of silver toned bells.

Etsy Listing

Finished up this cute bag this week. I have been slowly overcoming my hatred of all things pink, and I actually really like this one.



The inside is lined with a peachy-pink fabric and has a pocket in the same material as the outside.

This month's EtsyFAST challenge is "destashing". The idea being to use up some supplies that you have on hand to create something new. This has inspired me to finally finish spinning the following yarns. I started spinning these in late April/early May and have worked on them in spurts over the last few months. That's a long time to have something on the bobbin...for me, anyway. Both started with the same green/blue fiber that I used a few months ago for my Dragon Skin yarn, only this time, I spun the singles much finer.

Secret Garden was then plied with gold thread, randomly strung with black glass beads.




Foliage was plied with black metallic thread



Speaking of finishing things, I have picked up my TW Winter Carousel cross stitch for the first time in about 5 years and am making good progress. This further inspired me to pull out some of my completed cross stitch pieces and try to figure out what to do with them. I am thinking about making some of them into fabric wall hanging type of things, but still have to take a closer look at them to decide what best to do.

I recently participated in the "I Love Ewe" swap on Craftster, which was expanded to include other farm animals. My partner made me some really cute items.

First, we have this pretty blue brocade purse, which has the symbol for Rabbit embroidered on it:

It is a really beautiful color and so shiny! Plus, I know how much of a pain working with that fabric is, so that makes me love it even more.

I also got these adorable ninja bunny hair clips:

Don't you just love them? I know I do.

And finally, I got teeny stitch markers:

A bunny, llama, sheep and goat. I stuck them on a current sock WIP so you can get an idea of the size. You all know how much I love getting stitch markers, and these are a great addition to my collection.

Thanks again to my great partner for making such wonderful things for me.

The theme for the Big Damn Crafters' June challenge is Inara, and I wanted to create a yarn that was luxurious and a bit mysterious, just like our favorite Companion...and I came up with this:





I think I finally figured out how to work with the bamboo fiber (my previous efforts were VERY overspun). And then I plied the bamboo single, which was mostly turquoise, with purple, green and copper accents with the turquoise metallic thread ('cause you know how I love the sparkly things).

I had an awesome vacation in England and Scotland. It was so beautiful there, that it was hard to have to come home again. Of course, one of the things that I liked best was that there were sheep and cows everywhere, and they were cute.





While I was away, my partner for the "I Love Ewe" swap on Craftster received the stuff I made, so now I get to show it off.


This is a tea wallet, made with some beautiful (and shiny) fabrics and embellished with a cute sheep button.


See? It holds tea.



Second item is a summer purse, made with green, leaf-patterned fabric on the outside and a peachy-pink fabric on the inside. There are lots of pockets, and a sheep made with dimensional fabric paint.



And last, but certainly not least, is an apron. This pattern was something my partner had specifically requested, and I thought it was cute. My first attempt went horribly, horribly wrong, and ended up in the trash. It was my first time using bias tape. What a pain! But I love the way it came out. And to keep the cute animal theme going, I added a felt alpaca or llama as an accent.


Isn't he cute? Whatever he is. This was absolutely my favorite thing that I made for this swap, and I will definitely be making more of these aprons, as once I got the hang of it, it wasn't too difficult, and the end result is totally worth it.

I bought this absolutely gorgeous 80/20 merino/angora fiber batt at the NH Sheep and Wool Festival last month, and couldn't wait to spin it up. In the batt, the primary color was teal, but as I spun it, the purples and whites became more prominent, which is always a fun part of spinning. I plied it with some metallic thread ended up with about 430 yards of yarn, which I have titled "Mermaid's Kiss"

I forget who I bought this "kitchen sink batt" from, but I've had it for a long time. Primarily a light yellow green, there is also a lot of grey, and a bit of pink, white, purple and other colors. It's also got some angelina for sparkle. As I started spinning it, it looked pretty hideous, but I loved it anyway. Plied together, the green became more prominent and the effect came out rather pretty, I think, though I wasn't sure anyone but me would like it.



But it's gotten a lot of views already, so either it's not too bad...or everyone else is as weirdly drawn to it as I am.

Thanks to lunaarcana, who has featured it in her treasury, I can kill you with my brain, which expires tomorrow night. Check it out. =)

EtsyFAST May Challenge: Flowers

In an attempt to prove to myself that my sewing mojo was not lost; I made this crochet hook case.



The outside is a soft sueded fabric, embellished with floral embroidery and shiny sequins.



The inside is a mix of black cotton and a black and gold brocade.

Look! It multi-tasks and holds double-pointed needles, too.



My fellow Big Damn Crafter, Siarh, featured the crochet hook case in the treasury, I Got Heathens Aplenty Right Here. I encourage you all to check out the shinies.

I completed my first upholstery project last weekend. The seat that goes with my sewing machine was in desperate need of a makeover:



Armed with a hammer, batting, fabric, and a staplegun, after about 2 hours of work, I had turned it into this:



I am pleased.