Paper Dragon

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Heather

One of the fabulous things about having a small child (besides the endless entertainment from the funny things he says) is that I now get to play with toys and do other fun things that I haven’t done in about thirty years (wha!?!). Yesterday afternoon, the little man and I spent about an hour putting together a Lego set, and it was wonderful. (Don’t worry, I didn’t pay anywhere near that price. Would you believe I found it for CAN$20 at our local dollar/junk shop.)

This morning we worked on a little papercraft project. Due to the need to use sharp things, I did most of the work. But, the little man did try to help stick everything together with the world’s least sticky glue stick.  He told me he thought it was broken. I told him it was crap. (I’m already imagining the letters the teacher will send home when he starts school…)

Spring Dragon Calendar from Scout Creative

This cute guy is one of Scout Creative’s free monthly papercraft calendars. All you need is a colour printer, some scissors, a glue stick (that actually works) and some patience. They are really easy to put together, even though they look terribly complicated. And each one features a little calendar, so they are useful too.

The calendar part of the Spring Dragon calendar

These projects work better on heavier paper, but all we’ve got in the house right now is copy paper and really heavy card stock. So, our dragon is a bit whimpy. She (he?) is still really cute, though.

Three simple pieces!

I think this cute monitor monster just might be our next papercraft project.

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A Pair of Socks?

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Heather

When I posted yesterday, I had a hard time remembering what I had worked on in March. It’s funny how going on vacation can actually cause you to be more scatterbrained when you return then you where when you left. (I actually forgot how to use my washing machine for a few minutes…)

I was very concerned about which projects I was going to take away. I wanted to make sure I had things I would enjoy working on, that wouldn’t be too easy or too complicated, and that I had enough so that if I got mad at one or made a major mistake, I’d still have something to do. I ultimately decided on a pair of socks knit from Cascade Fixation, the Skywalker Shawl from the Craftsy class I signed up for, and Chatelaine’s Friendly Full Moon Witch.

I got a surprising amount done on the shawl, given that delicate lace is a bit difficult to work on when the ship is pitching and rolling. But once I got to the plasma stitch section, I just had to put it away. It was too hard to keep track of all the yarn overs that I had to drop, and I didn’t want to risk making a mistake.

Skywalker Shawl - WIP

Unfortunately, Friendly Full Moon Witch only saw the light of day once. And, I quickly learned that cross stitch on dark fabric in a moving vehicle just doesn’t work well. My stitching finger itched from lack of activity all week, but it wasn’t worth the struggle to try.

I found quite a bit of time on the plane, on the ship and at Half Moon Cay, to work on my purple socks. In fact, I actually managed to finish one, right down to closing up the toe with the Kitchener stitch. (I remembered to bring the instructions for that with me, since I can never remember how to do the darn thing.) The pattern is Herringbone Eyelet Fixation Socks by Anna of Finally Waking Up.

Herringbone Eyelet Fixation Sock

So, if you’ve been keeping track, you’ll have noticed I finished two socks in March. Given that I’ve worn through two pairs of socks recently, I’m very happy to have new socks. Unfortunately, they doesn’t exactly make a handsome pair, do they?

A Pair of Socks...

I’d like to apologize for the quality of the pictures today. I am using a very nice new camera, but I was editing them on the laptop, on which it is hard to judge the true appearance of the image.

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Catching Up – TUSAL and Theme-a-licious

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Heather

Thank you all very much for the lovely comments about the teddy bear. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I wasn’t able to finish him before I left for my vacation. Thankfully the little man wasn’t too upset. The plethora of Lego and Matchbox toys that I left for my mom to dole out to him as gifts to keep him amused surely helped a lot. Now that we are home, he is expecting me to get it done yesterday. Unfortunately, I’m still recovering from seven days on a ship, and the world is swaying way too much for me to try working with a sharp needle.

I missed the posting date for the TUSAL because I was too busy packing for the trip, and worrying if we we actually going to be able to go. (We were originally booked to fly out on Air Canada, but they are having labour issues, which have caused a lot of problems. Luckily, we were able to rebook on Sunwing at the last minute.)

This past month I worked mainly on 12 Days of Christmas, and added a bunch of red threads to my jar. There is also some yarn from the Wee Gol Pullover I knitted for the little man. (He has yet to wear it. 🙁 ) Everything in the jar is jumbled, though, since the little man likes to root around in it for long “ends” to use when making race tracks.

 

TUSAL - jar of bits

Yesterday was a Theme-a-licious post day, and I missed that too. Terrible! So, this month is Amazon April, where we are supposed to work on our largest projects. I bet you can guess what I will be working on. Yep, more stitching on 12 Days of Christmas. I’m also thinking of possibly starting either Eclipse by Fire Wing Designs (using a purple silk on a hand-dyed fabric from Enchanting Lair) or Glendon Place’s new design Plum Pudding (also on a hand-dyed from Enchanting Lair).

12 Days of Christmas - WIP

I’ll leave you with a picture from our vacation. We took a cruise on the Holland America ship Eurodam and had an absolutely fabulous time. You can see the ship in the distance, below. The beach is at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, a private island that was beyond amazing. I can’t wait to go back.

Half Moon Cay

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Little Brown Bear

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Heather

When the little man was very small I decided that I wanted to make him a teddy bear. I bought a kit from Bears and Bedtime at the Creativ Festival, and then promptly forgot all about it. A year or so later, I bought another kit. This time, I bought one where all the pieces were precut, giving myself one less reason to procrastinate. And, you guessed it, it quickly got lost in the back of the closet.

Now, though, the little man is growing up really fast. He is starting school in September (late, because of when his birthday falls); he is getting his own mail (from school and the good folks at Lego); and he is just becoming all ’round more independent. So, I decided I needed to make him his bear before he totally outgrows that sort of thing.

Meet Freddie, a 12″ full-jointed bear, hand-made by me.

Freddie the Bear

Okay, Freddie isn’t done just yet. He still needs some stuffing, and to have the gaps sewn up. But isn’t he as sweet as can be?

I made a few changes, switching out the black safety eyes for green hand-painted ones from Sun Catcher Eyes. I also decided to use a safety nose instead of embroidering on a nose. I’ll be leaving his face furry (not trimming his muzzle), but I will be embroidering on a mouth once he is stuffed.

Sweet, green-eyed bear

I am so in love with Freddie. He turned out so much better than I could have hoped. And I think I might just give the other kit a try sooner rather than later. But first, doesn’t Freddie look like he needs to have a sweater knit for him?

 

 

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Heather

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Theme-a-licious – March Madness – Part 2

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Heather

Thinking I could get much accomplished in March was clearly madness. I have been working away on my sock for Sock Madness on Ravelry, but I ran out of yarn before I could make it long enough (there are very strict rules to make sure everyone is knitting the same thing), and I couldn’t bring myself to use another yarn to make up the difference. Sure, I could have ripped it out afterward, but that would be, well, madness!

Dicey

The yarn is Crystal Palace Panda Cotton which I dyed myself. (It was originally an awful bright blue, and had a couple of coffee stains. :/ ) The pattern is Dicey. Essentially, it is a purl2, knit2 rib, but every four rows you roll a die for each column. Depending on the number that comes up, you either knit it straight or do a cable.

Cable Close-Up

I really enjoyed working on this sock, but there were times when the pure randomness of the dice rolls nearly killed me. And I will admit that occasionally I threw in a cable even when the die roll came up as a straight row.

I’ve cast on for the second sock, but there is no way I will make the deadline for the first round of Sock Madness. But, you know, I’m okay with that.

What sort of madness do I have planned for the rest of the month? How about sewing a teddy bear for the little man, or attempting to make some meaningful progress on a shawl while away on vacation. I think that will be madness enough for me.

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String Blocks

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Heather

I’m still motoring along happily with the Craftsy Quilt Block of the Month class. Although, I did learn last month to hold off a week or so and let any of the problems with the printed pattern be sorted out before I get started. 😉

This month’s blocks used the string piecing method, which is essentially sewing fabrics strips over a base fabric in a specific way, and then trimming all the over-hanging fabric to get your pieces. Here’s a picture of the Broken Spider Web block in progress:

Piecing the Broken Spider Web Block

This time I went for the green and blue fabrics in my fat quarter pack, as you can see. I’m still really loving how they all look with the black.

Trimmed Broken Spider Web Block

The above picture is what a segment of the block looks like once all the strips have been sewn on and it has been trimmed. Pretty neat, eh?

And, the finished block:

Broken Spider Web Block

As always, the colours are off. I am using a better camera now, but the strange light I had when I took these pictures yesterday morning has washed out the colours, and made them seem much more pastel.

The other block for the month is a simple String Block. I picked pink and purple prints for it.

String Block

Overall, my points are improving, and so is my ability to sew a straight-ish 1/4″ seam. (I do use a 1/4″ foot, but even still…) I can’t wait for next months blocks, which is be paper piecing, which I have done before and thoroughly enjoyed.

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