a few of my stuffed animals

As I have been reminded by my mother I have not been posting any of the many great stuffed animals I have been making so I will start sharing some of them today and hopefully remember to add more in the weeks to come.

All of the ones I am sharing today are made from freshstitches patterns.  I just love her patterns as they are so adorable, and her customer service is fantastic.

First up is my Halloween Witch that I made using the Avery doll pattern.  I made her a shirt as well as skirt rather than the dress and of course gave her those cute halloweeny tights.  I also used the witches hat pattern from her Malabrigo Halloween ebook.

 

Next up is Mike from Monsters Inc.  I just love how he turned out.

This little guy (Spikey the Stegosaurus)  makes me smile every time I see him.  I loved making him rainbow and modified the pattern slightly to add the red scale so I had a full rainbow in stripes and scales.

 

Milton the Slowpoke Snail here came from Stacey's Crocheted Softies book.  I love that variegated yarn as his shell.

 

 

Ruffle Alien is from one of her craftsy classes. I have already made two of this one because he is just so fun.

Hannah is from one of Stacey's mini kits that I had purchased.  It is currently unavailable in kit form but you can still get the pattern.

Mal the Tiny Duck is another one that I got in kit form.  I have done him multiple times, one in the mini kit like the one above, two in regular worsted weight and one in doubled up worsted weight.  It goes so great with the Little Quack books and is one of my go to baby gifts.

 

And finally we have one that is definitely one of my favorites.  As soon as I saw this yarn I knew I had to make Nelson in it.  I have always had a thing for birds and I really think this yarn totally made the owl perfect.

 

Well, here are a few of the semi recent projects I have done.  I still have plenty more to share in the coming weeks.

nothing new (kind of)

Technically I have nothing new to share this week.  A few WIP's have been worked on this week but nothing finished up... however... I would like to share a project I finished a little less than a month ago because I am so very proud of it.

From Valentines day until March 29 there was a crochet along in progress that I was part of.  It was to make a Pineapples for Everyone shawl designed by Marie Segares.  I decided to go ahead and jump in even though I had never done anything like it.  I also decided to use a much lighter weight yarn that I had ever used before that I had picked up a while back because I just loved the colors.  I must say I am very glad I decided to make this and just love the shawl.  Now I just have to figure out what to wear it with and where!

Well, that's it for me this week.   Head on over to Tami's blog to check out some other fantastic FO Friday posts!

scrappy-ghan, some socks and a dog

Back for another WIP Wednesday!  I have a few things to share today.  One is an afghan that I started back in December.  I work on it here and there as I get either the desire or some scraps built up.  I have been making a push on it the last week or so because I want to use it on my bed this summer.  It would  be much lighter than the heavy comforter that we have used the last 5 or so years.  I am really enjoying using up some of the novelty yarns that I have picked up over the years for whatever crazy reason and never actually used.  I think its the perfect place for them, and they add some nice occasional texture changes.

I also started a pair of socks for me last night.  The only other socks I have ever done were for my Mom, in a worsted weight (at her request/insistence).  I am quite thrilled to be working on my first pair for me... and its also my first time actually using some of the ohhhh 30 or so skeins of sock yarn I have collected so far.  I like the pattern so far, although reading through other peoples project notes most don't like the style of heel in it so I am a bit nervous to get that far.

That pretty much wraps up my week's projects.  I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped since last Thursday we adopted a fantastic 5 year old dog out of the shelter.  Much of the week has been spent getting acquainted with him and him with us and our habits.  He is very well behaved and absolutely adores the boys.  Here is a photo of him napping on their blankets while they are at school. 

Well,  be sure to check in and see some other WIP Wed projects and I'll see you again on Friday!

And now my first FO Friday!

Well,  On Wednesday I posted my first ever WIP Wed so now I have my first FO (Finished Object) Friday!  I managed to get a couple things done this last week.  First up is my first ever amigurumi.  The guy I picked to start out with was probably not one of the best for a first one... those antennae sure made closing him up even more awkward!  My Zoink is made out of scraps, and even partially filled with scraps to go along with the freshstitches scrap-a-long that is going on right now.  I am quite pleased with how he turned out and am trying to decide what I want to make next.


The other finished object that I have for this week is a sleep mask that I made for myself.  I tend to sleep much better with one so when the other half gets up to go to the bathroom the light from the other rooms don't wake me up.  I used the Owl Eye Mask pattern and modified the colors a bit.  Actually the pattern itself was pretty vague so a lot of it was my interpretations based on the picture.  Rather than an around the head strap I made loops to hook over my ears, and the other major difference was that I made a cute little heart for the nose rather than a triangle like the photo.  It works very well and I just love the colors/cuteness of it.

I think that wraps me up for today.  To check out other FO Fridays around the web be sure to stop in at Tami's Amis.

my first WIP Wednesday

I'm going to try to start posting WIP's (Works in Progress) each Wednesday now.  Soon I hope to figure out the linking back to other WIP Wed posts around the web but for today mine is it as I am a little short on time.

Here is an afghan that I started last week.  I bought the yarn last fall, and even had the pattern I wanted to use it with picked out just had not started yet.  I am finding that its going nice and steady once I got started and I am so very pleased with it.

 

The only thing I am a bit unsure of as I look at it now is the colors.  While I love the colors and they make me think of fall leaves, when I was looking at it I realized it made me think of some old photos of me as a kid...

Bug's blanket

Last post I shared the start of my Bug's blanket.  I am proud to share that it is now finished.

He is enjoying making a taco out of himself and his only real complaint is that "the blanket sure is heavy".  A little mesmerizing isn't it?


I also promised to share more about the 2013 BAMCAL project.  And here is a shocker.... I did a layout about it! So I will share that layout because it is so nice and neat and tells the whole story. (Click on the picture to get a larger, easier to read version)

Then there is one more project that I am super proud of and could hardly wait to share.  But I had to... at least until my Dad had received it in the mail.  He sounded pretty impressed when I talked to him so I think it was a hit.  I know I giggled almost the entire time I was making it!

Hopefully I'll be back with some more next week. 

less scrap, more fiber

As is probably pretty obvious by now I have not been scrapping nearly as much lately.  I am still being crafty, but lately it has been yarn that I have been working with.

  Last fall I pulled out an old afghan that I had started over 20 years ago and decided to finish it.  Well, because it was in Ohio State colors my oldest quickly claimed it as his own... as you can see here.  That is him hiding under it reading.

Finishing that up just got me back in the mood to crochet more.  I have started many projects since then, finishing most of them.  

Here is the blanket (still in progress) for the youngest.  He picked out his own colors and the pattern.  I have quite a few more rows done since this photo was taken.  The tricky part of this one is that all 4 colors are all attached all the time.

I have also finished a blanket for the grandson.  When we saw him last weekend it wasn't quite finished yet, but that didn't stop him from grabbing it and taking off at a run with it!  It will be sent to him for his second birthday next week.

For Christmas I made an lap-ghan for Judy and a hat/scarf combo for D and her American Girl Doll.

Then in January I found fingerless gloves.  I am soooo very in love with them.  My hands were always cold and these are the perfect solution.  My hands stay nice and toasty warm while I still am able to do most everything I need to with them on.  So perfect.  And of course  just one pair is not enough.  I'm having a ball trying out different patterns for them and foresee me  making many more in the months to come! 

 

I have also been working on a large blocked afghan, but will save it for its own post.

So that is what I have been up to lately.  I will try to come back and share whatever craftiness I have been up to more regularly.

Long time... Back to school

Well, once again it has been a long time since my last post.  So much going on lately that I just haven't been in much of a mood to scrap.  At least until today.  Today I managed to get 2 layouts done.  One for each of the boys using their "back to school" pictures.  Let me tell you, they are night and day when it comes to taking pictures anymore.  I'll show you the layouts now and let them explain it for me.

For both layouts I used the same kit, by Jennifer Labre.  I didn't want them to be carbon copies of one another, but I did want them to flow so they would look good placed opposite one another in a photo book.

Lilacs

I have another one to share today.  This one is about what is probably my favorite flower.  I absolutely love Lilacs, but sadly they are only here with us for a week or two each year.  I wanted this one to be more about the journaling, but also to show some of those gorgeous flowers so I used them at the edges and softly blended into the background.  The photo was taken from my lilac bush out front, where I have spent quite a bit of time the last week sitting and enjoying the perfumed air.

Credits:
A day in Provence by Steph.designs
Dis-moi un secret by Steph.designs
Chatterbox templates by Little Green Frog Designs

Not doing so hot

Wow, I had all good intentions for being more active on the blog this year but I'm not doing so hot. I have one to share today, and will hopefully have even more in the days to come.

I have recently joined Steph.designs Creative Team as a guest and today I played some with one of here kits. The kit is Gameplay, and I can probably come up with a dozen or more layouts on that topic! I decided to start off with one that I took the pictures for last October, where Colin decided to be a bit sneaky. Here it is.
Hopefully I'll be back with more to share soon! Take care!