Atlanta trip- the loot

Ali came up with the great idea to do a swap while we met in Atlanta.  Everyone was assigned a secret partner and make a little handmade treat for them.

My partner was Cara.  I am convinced that she and I are somehow linked in the constellations.  First off, we share the same birthday.  Secondly, her oldest daughter is the same age as my youngest, and they share the same name.  Thirdly, we both have funny embarrassing crap happen to us ALL THE TIME.  I could go on and on about all the things we have in common.  In addition, we both have 3 kids and careers and struggle to find the balance.  She has become a true friend and support to me, and I was so glad to have a chance to make her a little something special.

Cara's favorite color combination is pink, yellow and orange, and I had so much fun with that colorway! First off, I decided to knit her a fun pair of fingerless gloves in some soft squooshy yarn I had been saving!

The pattern is called Nalu mitts, free on Ravelry.  Nalu is Hawaiian for wave, and I loved the wave cable down the front.  You can read more details here.

My second gift had to do with her daughters.  When I was having a particularly bad parenting day last November, Cara not only gave me her ear, but also sent me a copy of her favorite parenting book!  So I decided to do the same.

I love having this book on hand, to record all the cRaZy things my kids are saying, the funny moments and such, so that I can remember and focus on those good moments when they are driving me around the bend.  I flip through it often to recall those moments!  So I knew I needed to give Cara a copy.  I then proceeded to make a patchwork hand quilted cover for the book!

 

The personalizing touch was to add the three little girls across the front to represent her daughters, using Heather Ross's pin people fabric from her Crafty Chloe collection.  I was fully inspired by this pouch made by Krista.

On the inside cover, I added an inscription on printable fabric.

Then, as a final treat, I made three little coin purses with the corresponding pin people sewn on, one for each of her daughters :)

I had so much fun making this package for Cara!!

In return, I had a gift made for my by Ali.  That girl is such a sweetheart, I love her.  And she could not have hit the nail right on the head any better than with these pouches!!

I love them so hard.  They are absolutely perfect for toting around my knitting projects.  I just love the hand embroidered touch!  And she used some of my favorite fabrics of all time, the Heather Ross roses from FFA2, including the pink roses, which I used the last of mine up for Cara's gift!  So now I have a little of my own to enjoy every day.  Thank you so much, Ali!!  I am already using it to tote along my latest project, a cabled cardigan all for me, using the same yarn that I used for The Middle Child's sweater.

Just love watching these cables take shape!

ALL of the swap gifts were just amazing!  There were minis, bags, and so much goodness, and all so perfectly matched to the recipient.  I wish I had a better photo to capture all of the amazing details.  We were a happy, screeching bunch!

(and a foot picture, just for giggles.....just because it is SO GROSS to see feet in quilt pictures, IMO!!)

In addition to Ali's amazing gift, some of the girls decided to bring packages for the whole gang!  Man, were we spoiled, get a load of this!

So many fun goodies.  Incidentally, if you want to make a beaded necklace like mine, Ali wrote up a tutorial here.

I showed you a peek at the bags I had packed before I left. Inside I had tucked in a couple Canadian goodies, since I was the only Canuck represented.  Some maple green tea and some Bernard Callebaut chocolate, along with some cute stitching tags I found at my favorite shop, Pine Ridge Hollow.

So fun to be spoiled!!

Next post- the quilt top finished!!!

ramblings of a crazy girl with cold toes.

Hello, friends!  Just grabbed myself a cup of tea and thought I would sit down for a chat and a catch-up.  How are you?  Here's what is going on over at our house.

Sunday marked the height of creativity by the girls of the OCD household. So many creations, it was a frenzy over here!

First, The Middle Child showed me the bed she made for her doll:

Yes, that is a Corona box.  Lucky we have a few of those on hand!  Next, Last But Not Last decided Kitty, too, needed a bed. Of course matching paper pillows and quilts were required.

Next, it was almost time for lunch, so why not play with our food and give the mangos a makeover?

The girls then discovers my scrap bin and found some pieces of minky and got to work hand stitching pillows for their favorite toys.

Next, a sweet note for mom using some more minky, cut into a heart shape.....

.....and another, left for me to discover next to a current knitting project.

I love my sweet girls!


As for me, I was busy too.....

They are more than meets the eye, but you will have to wait a bit for a full reveal and the story behind those!  In the meantime, if you are hankering to try a framed purse (which you SHOULD!! So fun!), don't forget I have an old step by step tutorial on how to do so over at Moda Bakeshop to see you through.

Also continuing to happily clickity clack along on Downton Abbey and my Downton Sweater.

My birthday came and went on the weekend, which I have been using as an excuse for several weeks now to do a lot of this:

You see, you NEED lots of pretty fabric and wool when the weather looks like this:

Lastly, I have a funny story to tell you (and that should get us girlfriends all caught up!).  On Friday, I was at the annual Manitoba Dental Association conference, and, well, truth be told, hiding in the back row of the lecture theatre, knitting on the sly (I was listening, too, I swear!).  Suddenly, my ball of yarn decided to jump out of my purse and rollllllll about three rows down before coming to a stop against the leg of a table!

(can you see it over there on the right??)

Luckily, it went unnoticed (I think), as I tried in vain to get it back, worrying if I pulled to hard on the string it would only come loose and continue to roll down until it landed at the lecturer's feet. I made it to the end of the lecture (the guy talked for THREE STRAIGHT HOURS, for pity's sake) and let most people leave before I went about the embarrassing business if crawling under tables to relieve it.  Yes, my life resembles a sitcom.

Hope you have a great week! I am wearing my herringbone cowl today to keep nice and toasty warm :)

for Amy

Everyone knows Amy from Diary of a Quilter, right? Well, she is one of my enablers of great fabric....have bought great fabric and quilt kits from her a few times! Well, recently she sent me a "bonus" package of some of the DS from Joann's as a surprise, for no particular reason, so I thought I would send her a little surprise package in return.

If you follow her blog, you will know she once lived in England and that the UK is close to her heart. So I made her up a little change purse with the Union Jack on it, for her to "save her pennies" for a trip to visit someday :)

Lined it with a red, her favorite color.

She also loves all things vintage and thrifted, so I included some vintage lace, a linen handkerchief, and shared some of my vintage buttons scored here. Included some cute sewing sticker labels as well.

Got an e-mail from Amy and the package has been received and enjoyed :)

Am sharing this with Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations and the gang at Sew Modern Monday.

Pretty little purses

Once again, in my journeys on the Purl Soho site, I spotted an absolutely gorgeous Japanese handbag. But there was no way in tarnation that I was spending $36 for the frame in their shop. So I moseyed on over to etsy, and along with the bobble frames I used for my coin purses, I found iDENTical frames for...drum roll.....$5.80. See? I am a freakin' economic genius. You gotta spend money to save money, as my BFF Samantha says ;)

Did I NEED another purse? Well, that is an entirely different question in the economics department....

Anyways, back to the crafty stuff. The frames I bought came with no instructions, so I popped back to the Purl Soho tutorial and just eyeballed a pattern, based on what they showed there. It's a wrinkly bag, so I figured exact dimensions were not critical, and that turned out to be true. Sew sew sew, and here you have it:

Aren't they cute? I used some home deco weight Joel Dewberry from his Ginseng collection that I la-la-love, happened to find on clearance at a local fabric shop, and have been waiting for the right project to put to use. I think they are perfect here.

Now, I want you all to remain impressed with my crafty prowess and all, but I have to say- these were quite easy. And super elegant. So cute dangling over the wrist just so. I highly recommend giving these a try!

For lining, I used some sweet soft Rowan shot cotton. Made use of my labels once again.



What's that inside the bags? Well, I thought it would be nice to have a coordinating wallet that fit nicely in the bags, so I whipped up a couple of those as well, incorporating a third fabric from the same line.



This was just a pattern I made up, inspired by this clutch at Keyka Lou (though not nearly as cute), smaller in size and with a full fold over.

I used a magnet snap closure for the flap (also bought on etsy here), which was an interesting experience as when I was doing my top stitching, the magnet would stick to the metal base plate by my bobbin at the most unexpected times and make my lines all wonky. Doh! How very Me of me.


As you can see, I made 2 sets- one for me and one for Samantha, who lives in Toronto :-) I am super stoked as I am heading out to T.O. for the weekend with my hubby. He has a conference and it is our anniversary so I am tagging along (maybe some romance??? nudge wink) and while he is occupied by day, I get to hang out with Sam, who I never get to see often enough!! You can bet she and I will find equal doses of shopping, chocolate and trouble! I promise a full report when I get back!

Japanese change purses

I have been crushing on coin purses ever since seeing a tutorial on the Purl Bee. While I splurged and bought some Liberty fabric, I could not bring myself to spend the $20-25 per frame to make their coin purse! Instead, I found some frames (with extra large colored bobbles) on etsy for under $3 a piece. Much better, thanks!

I also have been sitting on a set of Japanese charms for some time, waiting for the right project. When I saw the frames, I knew I had my match. A perfect pairing! There is a Cinderella, a Princess and the Frog, and my favorite childhood story, The Wizard of Oz :-)





Cute little linings from my stash:


But why stop there? Of course my daughters were all over this project. They are age 5 and 4, and nothing thrills them like a shiny penny! Could I make one for them? For their friend? Sure, why not?
For The Middle Child, who adores pink, I used some pre-made felt flowers and polka dots from Stampin' Up, and stitched them (with a ribbon stem) to linen. And of course a coordinating one for her BFF.

Polka dots on the back:Pretty pink floral lining:

I also hand embroidered her friend's name at my daughter's request- it will be filled with coins and given as a gift at her upcoming birthday party.

For Last But Not Least, orange is the go-to color, so orange bobbles and some sweet little Heather Ross goldfish where paired with some blue corduroy from my stash.

Some Amy Butler orange and blue Love dots for lining, and she was wearing one heck of a big smile!


I think these will be perfect for the little girls in my life. May need to make some more for the big girls? ;)

Linking up at Sew Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday.