felted wool animals

I'd been saving up some old wool sweaters for just this very thing...felting them (washing and drying on hot) and making this cute little wooly lamb I'd seen awhile back in one of my holiday Martha magazines.  This year was finally the year to try it out and I have to say that I love sewing up old sweaters.  It's really fun!  They don't look like much as you're going, but once you turn them right-side out at the very end, its like magic!!!  After I made my first periwinkle cable knit lamb, I altered the pattern to try to make a little deer just by switching up the tail and ears. (That pattern could still use some tweaking!)  Then I added some french knots made out of yarn to the deer and a tiny hand knitted scarf to the lamb.  With lots of babies in our family and friends having babies, I can't wait to make up more of these cute little creatures to have on hand for gifts.  I have so many more ideas and sweaters waiting to be sewn!  Happy crafting!  :)

first owl, first ornament...

In recent spare little moments of free time, which are so few lately, I wanted to do something silly and simple...so I tried my hand at making a little fabric owl ornament pieced together with various fabrics, wool scraps, bits of gold thread, vintage buttons, and pretty winter blue rick rack.

Just as I was adding the final finishing stitches on it, it popped in my mind that I would give it to little baby bub, for his very first Christmas, his first ornament, his first owl. :)

waiting and sewing...

This week I've been sewing lots of little things, despite my numb/tingling/painful right hand. I couldn't help myself...I needed to create and help take my mind off of waiting for baby to arrive. This is just one of the little things I made: My first attempt at a hotpad/potholder (or "pothad" as I can't help calling them). I got a bundle of some lovely fabrics recently for my birthday that had just been waiting to be put to use in some form.

And I've been trying to do a bit of gardening too, yet it's getting more difficult to bend down so low. But Hub has been a big help too as I point out where to plant what, what needs to be trimmed back, or sprayed to prevent the deer/bunnies from munching on. Bleeding Hearts...when they were just beginning to bloom, but are much larger now!Tiarella or Foam Flower...with a new little gnome. Anemone...so sweet, this is the first year they've actually thrived in my garden! I love these little purple-ish/blue wildflowers that appear in our woods each Spring...although I still can't identify them! I've searched through all of my wildflower books and even googled "bluebell-like flowers" and still no luck! I'm not sure why but I really would like to know what to call these dainty blue flowers. So the mystery continues...

...as does the waiting!

hello again...

I have no idea where February went...and the first week of March. Well, I sort of do. But it's been so long since I blogged that I had to really think about what my password was. I think I've just been waiting for Spring, almost holding my breath for it really. And enjoying this quiet time before the baby arrives, trying to finish projects, and imagining how much our life is going to change in just about 3 short months! Can one really prepare themself for a baby? I'm trying to accomplish everything and anything before the baby comes. As if I won't ever be able to do anything again after. I know that really isn't the case. But I sure would like to have as much done and organized and squared away as is humanly possible. Is that what they refer to as "nesting?"

Like with this quilt for instance. I just finished it this weekend. When I first started making it and telling someone about it...Hub said that he never thought he'd hear those words come out of my mouth...that I was making a baby quilt. I said that I had no idea they would either! Is there some "quilt-making pregnancy hormone" that switches on? All I know for sure is that this is likely to be the one and only quilt I'll ever make. Potholders seem more up my alley. Maybe even pillows, yes. But another quilt?...don't think so. It's not that I didn't enjoy making it. I did, for the most part. But I learned that working on my sewing machine on bigger things like this makes me very, very nervous and tense. It involved a lot of grumbling with my sewing machine. For me it is not a relaxing hobby. My favorite part was cutting the squares and blindstitching the border on by hand. Perhaps because I had more control over those things. But working with my sewing machine left me a little stressed...although it was mostly due to user error (incompetence) I'm sure. Hub kept me rooted in reality while making it, trying to make me feel better by saying that the baby is just going to leak on it anyway. He's so helpful like that. ;)

I've also been working on a knitted mobile (can't wait to share some photos once done), knitting lots of little socks and bootie things...we (mostly Hub) revamped our laundry/mud room by installing a laundry sink...and I've still been going through heaps of stuff...try to get rid of it.

Far too much time has been spent looking at baby things online, reading reviews, and getting swayed by those reviews only to end up feeling so overwhelmed that I needed to step away from the computer for awhile. So, that's where I've been lately. Knitting and sewing. And waiting for the snow to leave. We are going on our 5th month of snow-covered ground now after all. It's about time, right?

.....
P.S. Thanks, Mum, for all the quilt-making insight.

P.P.S. I learned the hard way that you do not wash the quilt batting prior to assembling your quilt. Even though the package says its "machine-washable." Just don't do it.

surrounded by...

...fabric...lots of pretty fabrics!

I just love all the possibilities that a piece of fabric holds.

Although I'm still not entirely sure what I'm doing here, I think I'm making progress towards...something! ;)

at my sunny window...

...a simple curtain now hangs!

The sun comes into this side of the house so gloriously in the afternoons. But a little privacy is a good thing...especially in a bathroom!I finished my curtain last week (my very first "real" sewing project) after much consideration of lace or no lace on the bottom. Did it make it look a little granny-ish or add character? Well, after my parents visited a couple weekends ago, I was able to get my mum's opinion too. Lace it was! Mum gave me a pile of vintage lace pieces awhile back that I've been finding some new uses for in sometimes unexpected places. And this piece of sturdy lace was the perfect length for my curtain!Now, all I need are those Anthropologie towels I saw that I think would go perfectly with my curtain as well! I love their towels...

One thing always seems to lead to another, no?

.....

Happy Monday!

~L

(*towels pictured found here)

"real" sewing

I went to the fabric store Friday night. And discovered how much fun it is to pick out fabric, even on a Friday night. Or perhaps especially on a Friday night as it was so nice and quiet there. And I got excited at all the possibilities a pretty piece of fabric holds. For quite some time now, I've been wanting to make a simple curtain for a little bathroom window. I finally dug in and did it this weekend...my first "real" sewing project.

I've used my sewing machine for tiny tiny little things, mostly sewing on paper, so I was quite intimidated to begin a project like this. Sure, I made a hideous, royal blue sweatshirt in 7th grade Home Ec class. But I've long since lost any sewing skills I may have had at one time.

So I began with the fun part...picking out the fabric: a pretty pale robin egg's blue sort of color fabric with a white design. (Of course I couldn't help but buy some other sweet fabrics too...not sure for what exactly...maybe a pillow?)

And after only 14 calls or so to my mum over the course of 2 days with various sewing/curtain-related questions...I almost, almost have a finished curtain! I just can't decide if I want it to have a lace trim along the bottom or not. Once I do, expect a finished curtain photo to follow soon!

P.S. Our pale pink roses are enjoying their second bloom, their final hurrah of summer...so I keep cutting more & more to bring inside to enjoy them while I can...and I love how they look in this pale pink glass vase. Its always the little things...

~xo, L