Random crafts

Oh, I have been crafting a bit, but posting pretty much none. So here's a little catch up post to get a few things I've made this month up. So in no particular order;

I made a chevron cozy for my cuppow jar

A perler/hama bead rendition of Duck Hunt

Tried my hand at painting bread (it's supposed to be a Stargate)

I made a reversible cape for my nephew (being modeled by my wooshing husband)

And last but not least we made another doll bed. This one red and yellow by request

Homemade Halloween Costumes

The one dependable post every year. Our Halloween costumes were a bit more subdued this year, but still lots of fun. The kids helped a lot more and I didn't freak over perfection as much.


Here are the Homemade 2011 Costumes


My youngest was Gordon Freeman from Half Life. The base was underarmor style black thermal underwear. The vest type thing was Grey fun foam painted, and glued. Old shin guards that were painted and put on with black elastic. The "gravity gun" was made with an Ice Tea gallon and a two liter soda bottle. We used gift wrap cellophane on the inside of the 2 liter and some battery LED Christmas lights. Then duct tape and electrical tape. My husband and my son did ALL the work on this one!


My middle son was a sparkly unicorn. We used thermal undies and the white base. We made the hooves out of fabric covered tag board that I put some snaps on so they could be taken on and off. I also stapled some elastic on the bottom of the feet hooves so they wouldn't spin on him. (They even made a clomping sound when he walked which was an unexpected bonus!) The horn is made out of Crayola model magic and glitter paint, attached with clear flat elastic. It broke the first night he wore it, but we put a big blob of hot glue under it, and let it dry and it worked great. We used a feather boa for his main and tail. (There is an inside story to his costume, and it was wonderful!)


My niece was Mary Poppins. I designed and made her skirt (black fleece) and her jacket (blue and black fleece with black frogs for fasteners). I also crocheted her hat. The umbrella my mom made by cutting the head off of a parrot beanie baby (it was in rough shape on the bottom, so it was ok,) and attaching it to the umbrella handle. My mom found a lovely Victorian style shirt and we used red ribbon for the tie. My niece's carpet bag is actually my sister's carry-on that she got when she graduated. It meant a lot to all of us that my niece was able to carry a small part of her mom with her while celebrating Halloween.

So that's it. Another year done. Clean up is taking quite a bit though. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!

Working On

Portal Turret Sneak Peak, a photo by ezri_b on Flickr.

Here is a sneak peek at what I'm working on for my husband.
Like many households, Portal 2 has become huge in our house. Even though I do not play, I have seen my fair share.
It was meant to be a surprise for my husband, but my nosey youngest boy found it and showed him before I could stop him. So cat's out of the bag, and now he gives lots of input!

Halloween Come and Gone

We do love Halloween in our house. The most consistant posting on this blog is Halloween costumes. My husband and my anniversary is Halloween. It just holds a really special place in our hearts. Here are the boys' costumes this year.


My middle son is a Piranha Plant from Mario Bros. Made primarily out of fleece, fiberfil, & plastic canvas


My eldest as Luigi (he did have a mustache, but there aren't any decent pics with him wearing it) Again primarily fleece (gotta love Wisconsin Falls!)


My youngest as Dark Helmet from Spaceballs. He LOVED this costume!


Hope you had a great Halloween too!

Liam's Quilt Top

Well, I have been working with Liam to make him the "perfect" quilt. He found this dragon fabric a few years ago, and knew he wanted it in his quilt. I have had a really hard time figuring out how to make it what he wanted.

Well, we finally decided we would just do it!

So we drew, we talked, we hunted for fabrics. He decided he didn't really want me cutting up his precious dragon fabric, so it will be used on the back. I cut and sewed, and FINALLY I have the top done! Now I have to figure out how I'm going to quilt it, and if I'm going to add some embroidery.

Decisions are what take me so long! The sewing went quickly as did the cutting. Well, it's a huge milestone, I'm over the hump at least. Hopefully I will have a chance to finish it next week!

PS The picture is before it was pressed, and I added a bit more black to the outside. It's a super twin size, all the men in my husband and my family are at least 6' tall, so I wanted this to last my Liam for awhile.

Piggy Pajama Pants- say that three times fast

Well, I am hoping that my little blogging hiatus is over for now, and I thought I should jump in on some of the craftiness that has been done here (albeit, not alot.)

A little bit ago, we had a family reunion. I was asked to make a pinata of my great uncle Bob. So here is what I came up with.

This week 2 of my nieces are staying with us. The oldest just turned 12, and part of her gift was to make pj pants with me. She loves pigs and blue, so I was delighted when I found blue flannel pig fabric. She did a great job!

That's about it right now, I hope to blog more often and do more crafty stuff worth blogging about more too.

Row Robin Quilt Signups!!--CLOSED

Sign-ups will be until Feb 28th 2009
Your first row with your Theme will be mailed out by April 1st 2009
We will be making a quilt row by row. You will have 6 weeks to finish each row. The first month you will make your own row. After that you will be adding a row to another member’s quilt each month. At the end you will have enough rows to put together a quilt. Each row will be made by a different member of the group (one by you.) The goal of this is to combine the skills of different quilters in different areas with different skill levels together to make one beautiful quilt for each of us. I want everyone in this swap to have fun and expand your creativity. The swap guidelines are specific to ensure that no one is disappointed in the end.

The Rules:
-Use only 100% quality cotton fabrics. Nothing with a loose weave and please pre-wash and press all fabrics.
-This is a commitment! This is a big swap, and no one wants to let anyone else down. Communication is key! If something happens let us know. We can always pass on the package to the next person, or come back to you. We understand, but don’t go missing, keep talking to us!
I would like every week to have some sort of communication. Either a picture on the flickr group, posting to the flickr group, or an email directly to me (faerydaydreams @ gmail.com). Something to let me know you are still with us.
-Each row should be unique. Try not to repeat what other rows have done. We want variety.
-Fabric & Rows must be placed in zip top bags. Please don’t use the slide zipper style bags as this adds quite a bit to shipping.
-Everyone must put a note/card in with their first row. On it should be the owner's name, email address, mail address, likes/dislikes. this will stay with the quilt rows the whole swap.
-Do not attach your row to the next row! This will be done by the quilt owner. They will be able to decide if they want sashing and what order they want the rows to be in
-Treat each quilt with respect, keeping it in a clean, dry and safe place.
-You will always pass the quilt to the next person on the list following your name. The last person always sends to the first person on the list.
-When you send you must email the organizer, owner, & person you’re sending it to.
When you receive you must email the organizer, owner, & person who sent it to you.
You must get delivery confirmation!
-Follow the Golden Rule of Quilting "work on another’s quilt like you would your own!"

Theme
We will be doing a mystery block row quilt. You will decide on a broad theme or colors for your quilt (ex: all purple, stars, Christmas, etc). The other swappers will decide on the blocks to use, thus the mystery!
Everyone must put a note/card in with their first row. On it should be the owner’s name, email address, mail address, likes/dislikes. Everyone will do their best to make a row they believe you will like. You should not try to dictate what is on your quilt. You can suggest or make requests, but they may not be followed exactly as you had hoped. Feel free to list colors/color schemes that you prefer. Feel free to give it a “theme,” but remember to keep it simple.
(Example 1: Colors- green, red, white, Dislike- orange, Theme- Christmas, Dislike- please no angels. [This is fairly detailed, but totally do-able by everyone]
Example 2: Colors- I only want red, teal, and yellow, Theme- I want only pinup girls in Cowgirl outfits. They all must have blond hair. [This would be really limiting, if you want a quilt like that, go for it, (I'd love to see it!) but this isn’t that type of swap])

Rows
You will make your own first row. That row will set the tone, colors, length, and orientation of the rows. We will make rows for a quilt that is either 48" to 60" long. You decide what the length of rows should be for your top. One swapper may want a top no larger than 48" and another swapper may need their top to be 60". (please note: these are 'finished' row lengths, a 60" top will actually measure 60.5" with the seam allowance etc)You may make your top Vertical or Horizontal. Do not attach your row to the previous row. Place your row in the bag with the other rows and pass it on to the next name on the list. The owner will decide what order they want the rows in and if they want to add any additional sashing, rows or borders.
You must make your rows to the length and orientation (vertical/horizontal) requested by the owner. All rows need to be between 5" & 16" wide (this is up to you.) Remember there will be a seam allowance, keep that in mind when you make your rows.
**Edited To Add- You will be supplying the fabric for each row that you make. You can use from stash and/or go buy, but please use fabric that the owner will like and use 100% cotton fabrics. If you have a fabric or two that you really would like the other rows to have you may include that when you mail your row. Put a note on your card that you would really like if they would be able to include that fabric in your row somehow.

Block Pattern & Size
You will decide each month which block pattern would be best for a quilt as it comes to you. All blocks in a row do not have to be the same pattern or even the same size. Blocks don’t have to be square. Please do not repeat blocks used in a previous row for that quilt. We want you to use your creativity and this is all part of the challenge. Be sure to use whole blocks … no half blocks, please. Keep with the theme of the quilt using your own fabric and any fabrics that may have been mailed. Traditional piecing, paper piecing, or finished applique, make the row special for the owner.

Mailing Information
The deadline to pass the quilt on will be either the 1st of the month or the 15th. The deadline to mail your first row and any theme / background fabrics is April 1st. If you finish a row early, then please send it on. When you mail out each package, please use a label and put the next person’s mailing address on the outside of the Ziploc bag that contains all the rows! If the package becomes damaged en route, then the postal people have a name and address to forward it to. *If you are mailing in the US please buy a tracking number. If you are mailing the rows to a different country than yours, please make sure the rows are sent airmail. Please be aware that there may be International swappers in your group. The earlier you can get the rows mailed if they are going out of the country the better. Do not mail your rows if you know the person you are mailing to has more than two sets of rows already, please contact your hostess for further information. Please post weekly, whenever you mail and receive a package of rows. Communication is vital to the success of this swap!

Mail dates for these rows will be;
April 1st (Your starter row)
May 15th
July 1st
August 15th
October 1st
November 15th

If you have any troubles, questions, or comments anytime during or before the swap, please ask, you probably aren't the only one. You can email me at faerydaydreams @ gmail (dot) com, or leave a comment here.

To Sign Up
Send me an email at faerydaydreams @ gmail.com (take the spaces away from around the @ symbol before sending.)In that email please include the following;
Real name
Mailing address (include zipcode & country)
email address
your flickr account (if you have one)
blog address (if you have one)
Do you mind sending outside of the USA ?
If you know already, what your color/theme preferences would be. (If you don't know yet that's ok)
Any questions or comments you may have, or anything else you want people to know

*There has been some interest from people outside the US, so I thought if enough people don't mind sending outside the States, we could include them. If not we'll do that on another round or maybe one group will have international senders and one won't.

PS. I am looking to have a button pic made up. If anyone is interested let me know!

Participants (so far)
Tab (Me)
Bobbi
Sudi-Laura
Harley
Melissa
Tracey
Valerie
Darlene
Carrie
Natasha
Lori
Angela
Robin
Marty
Margaret
Jessica
Dianne
Susan

Costumes

We usually go nuts with costumes. This year we sort of took it easy.


Lore wanted to be the Doctor from Doctor Who, so I made his suit, he had his sonic screwdriver, he wore his shoes for trick or treating, but still had on his gym shoes in this picture. He wasn't cooperative at all, I call this "young doctor after a hard day of school on Gallifrey." I'm going to try to make him dress up and get a better pick, but I'm not going to hold my breath, he's been a little difficult to photograph lately.




Liam wanted to be Mario. We bought the bibs, had a red sweatshirt, we got some white stretch gloves and put little cartoon lines on them. I made the mustache out of interfacing, flannel, clear elastic and thread. I made the hat out of fleece.



Levi I don't even have pictures of (bad mommy!) but he recycled a simple black cloak and skellie mask and went as a reaper again.


Tim and I had plans to recycle one or our fav quickie costumes, that has never been photographed, but when we got them out of storage, there was a bit of mildew on it, so we scrapped that. I'm sure we'll resurrect them again, but I need to take it apart and see if it's able to be saved. So we went as Little House on the Whatever.... last minute we had it in the house from Ye Olde School House field trips and off we went. It was nice not being up until 3-4 am quick finishing it the night before. But we will have to up it next year.

Swaps Received

I've received some lovely swaps lately, and thought I should quick share


My dishcloths from Kimtastic on craftster.org


My mini quilt from taylynnsbean on flickr


and this one I made for taylynnsbean on flickr the theme was "out of the box" mini quilts. I have always wanted to do hexes, but they seem so daunting on a big quilt. I have been obsessed with wanting a beehive lately, so they sort of went together. I really like this, and may have to make one for myself. The bee was hand embroidered.

Christmas Craft List

Ok, I did this last year and it helped keep me on track to getting all the holiday gifts finished. I'd love to hear what you are all planning or have started crafting for the holidays that are coming quickly upon us.

"Baby" Cousin's Baby Girl
*Quilt

"Toddler" 1 niece, 1 nephew, 1 little cousins (1, 2, 1, )-
*will be making a fabric name book. or felt houses

"Little Girls" 2 nieces (4&5)-
*Tutus (Birthdays are right before Christmas)
*PJ Pants/Felt Houses
*I'd like to make them each their own personalized doll quilt
*Cranium Activity Books (Purchased)

"Bigger Girls" 2 nieces (11 & 8 )- Again not quite sure yet.
*PJs
*Cranium Activity Book (Purchased)
*a personalized doll quilt?

"My Boys" 3 boys (8, 9, & 12)-
*Stockings
*pj pants w/matching shirts
*?

husband (35)-
*Dr who underpants (I already started these, so he may get them for b-day instead, cuz they're cute)
*Dr. Who quilt?
*Checkbook Cover

"Old Ladies" Mother IN Law, Step MIL, Mother, Step Mother, 3 Grandmas, Aunt
*Basket With a crocheted dishtowel, embroidered tea towel, and homemade vanilla
*Pic of the kids

Dad, DIL, Grandpas-
*Not sure yet

teachers and crossing guards-
*Not sure yet

That's everyone I can think of. I'll update this as I think of or start other things.

Stuff I've Been Working On

Ok, here's 2 of the things I've done recently. First is the tea towel for the tea towel tour. She requested our state or something that represents it and the year it was established. So here's what I did.

And here is the doll quilt I made for the Doll Quilt Swap I was in. She's received it, so I can show it now.

Sketch #2

Ok, so I fiddled around with the picture, and I took some suggestions, and this is my second try.

I got rid of much of the bench. Put in a bat and ball, and added his water bottle. What do you think?

Baseball- Embroidery

To a point baseball has consumed our lives. Funny thing is, only one of my boys is playing this year. Lore loves baseball, he especially loves being catcher. I think all of that gear gives him a sense of power!

I love baseball too. Mine is far more selfish than it should be. Practices and games for kids around 7 years old, is a lot of waiting. Not a whole lot of action much of the time. But we're outside in the lovely fresh air just sitting... or not. I have a hard time sitting still. Especially as the controlling person I truly am inside. So I need something to distract me. In comes embroidery.

Oh, Embroidery, how I love thee!

My doodles (and the patterns of others,) look so lovely stitched out. Far better than mine do on paper!

I have been on a doll quilt kick, and I have another one in the works now. I will work on this as I watch my little Lore running, catching, batting, making sandcastles, leaping onto home then doing a pirouette because he made a run and all of the other fun things he does while playing baseball.

I am fairly happy with it, but I feel it is missing something. I tried a chain link fence, but it didn't look right, and it made it too busy. I was considering some birds or something flying/sitting above the bench. Any other suggestions?

PS The mohawk was much more difficult to draw than I had anticipated.

Picnic Quilt WIP

I know I posted this before, but I am in a quilt square swap on craftster.org. We sent out our fabrics to everyone, they made a square and sent it back to us. (They are signing up for another round if you're interested.)

Anyway, here are the squares I've received so far.

I am planning on making a picnic quilt out of them. I can't decide what color sashing/borders/binding to do. My gut says white sashing, then blue border and red binding, but it's a picnic quilt, and I'm afraid the white sashing may be a bad idea. I'm open to suggestions. I also want to put something in the middle, but I'm not quite sure what. I don't want it too "picnic-y" but I think it needs something other than a plain pannel.

I really love it, the picture doesn't do it justice as I had to quick run out during a spot of sun, and before the rain cloud hit which was right behind the sunlight. I did get wet, but I wanted a sunny picture.

Winding down

The school year is winding down right now. There is less than a week left. I have had a field trip to chaperone every week for the last month or so. It's quite fun to see the different ages interact. Quite a difference 2 years can make between what friendships entail and how important some things are.
On Friday we had our talent show. Honestly I barely even knew we had a talent show. There'd be a little blurb in some newsletter saying it's coming up, but never anything after that. Well, this year my little Lore decided he MUST be in the talent show. The conversation went something like this;
L: Mom, I have to be in the talent show, what's my talent?
M: Honey you have lots of talents, I'm not sure what you'd like to show off in front of the school though. There's singing, dancing, you are pretty good at the splits and cartwheels, you could somehow work those into an act.
L: No, I don't want to sing, or dance, and the whole school has already seen me do the splits. I am a great arm farter!
M: Yes, you are quite good at arm farting, I'm not sure the teachers want to hear you arm fart for 3 minutes though.
L: Yeah, they get weird about that. Maybe I could do something with my brothers.
M: That could be fun, it'll have to be something they like too though.
L: Well, then it'll have to be a comedy act, they probably are afraid that someone will laugh at them, but they can't get upset if someone laughs if it's a comedy right!?!

Oh, 7 year olds can be so wise! That was about a month and a half ago. They narrowed some things down, and came up with an act. Tried out, got in. I made them hats. They practiced, and it was performed on Friday. Here's what they did.


The shakiness on the camera is from me laughing. The woman next to me was literally in tears laughing so hard, I couldn't stop laughing myself.
I made the hats out of a thin lining fabric, so they could see through them. It has wire for the brim and the top to hold it's shape. Levi changed how he wanted his hands, that's why his eyes are covered too much.
They did such a great job, I am so proud of them. And they are sort of rock stars at school right now.

Another Square finished

I have another quilt square finished.

Quilt Square Swap

I am participating in a quilt square swap on craftster. The details of this swap are we send our fabrics out to 12 different people. They do the same. Every person makes one square for each participant out of their own fabrics, so we'll have a cohesive quilt when it's finished. I sent some blues, whites, and reds, and a little mixed color fabrics. I am hoping to make a picnic blanket with mine. Here are some of the squares I have finished already.

mimw- this is for a man


critterpants- I really like the simplicity of this square.

Swaps and more sickies

Ok, first sickies. This has been a rough winter with sickies here.Tim and I have seemed to have gotten the worst of it. I think I may have had a nasty allergic reaction, but exactly to what we aren't sure. I swelled up like a balloon and had a hard time breathing. Things are looking better now, but I really still don't feel like myself yet.





On a much more positive note. I have been finishing up swaps. I mentioned a gnome swap earlier, well, Canadian post has come through, and it was received. Here's my not so great quality pic that I quick snapped before sending it.

It's an embroidered gnome corduroy messenger bag that I made for my male swap partner. I got the image from a David the Gnome coloring page that I modified a bit. I also carved him a rubber stamp, and I made him a shrinky dink bookmark. Those are all pictured. The one item I made that isn't pictured is a zip pouch. I completely forgot to snap a pic of it. But it's coordinating corduroy.

I also finished up my lunchbox swap from Oh Fransson. My partner hasn't received (that I know of) yet, but it's a blind swap, so she won't know it's hers anyway. So I may as well post it right!


Made with Oh Fransson's Vintage Pillow case pattern out of Moda's Swell fabric and a satin bow. I used Insulbrite batting. I made my own place mat and a little napkin tucked in the pocket. I am quite happy with how it turned out.

Tea Towel Tour

I finished another towel today. I did Bluesparkie's towel and her theme was fallen women and mushrooms. So this is what I came up with.

Also, I'm very happy to announce that a secret has been unveiled. Jenny of Sublime Stitching had begun the Tea Towel Tour in an attempt to received feedback on a new towel she was developing. Well the original disappeared during the tour and hasn't been found. So a few of us on Craftster.org got together to make her a replacement. Well, it is finally competed and it has been delivered to Jenny. So we are not keeping it a secret any longer. Here's a link to pictures of the towel being given to Jenny. Here's a picture of just the thing I embroidered.

Easter

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, and those who celebrate had a wonderful Easter. My boys were absolutely spoiled. We had 4 Easter celebrations to go to which unfortunately means that my family's really misses out. We had a little bunny search at 6 in the morning on Easter Sunday. I make my husband and children hop around the house looking for their things. It's quite entertaining, and they don't bug me while I finish getting ready for church.


I teased this in the last post, I made my nieces "Snuggle bunnies" for easter. I then also gave them 2 Smencils each. The boys are selling them for a fundraiser at school, and I thought they'd be fun. I gave Clover a hat instead of the Smencils as she's a bit young for writting. The girls all loved the bunnies and the Smencils. Clover especially loved the bunny, she definitely got the point of them being called "Snuggle bunnies". I wish I would have had my camera that day. She was just loving it up! Here they are all finished.


And because my niece Jo insists on getting her picture taken, and posing in this exact pose. I figured I'd induldge. So here's Jo after she suckered Grandpa into buying her every Easter accessory possible.