Zelda-inspired

My two oldest have been enjoying the Legend of Zelda games we have here. My oldest, who is 7, has his own DSi, and has finished both Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. My daughter, who is 4, loves watching him play. We also have an old school Nintendo 64 that the kids can play on. And, my husband kept all his games, so they have Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask, so they play those too.

Anyhoo, you ask, "what's this got to do with crafting?" well, dear reader, the kids want to be Link and Princess Zelda for Halloween. So, being that it's 2010 and not 1985, I had to get busy making some things. For Link, R will get a large golf shirt to put over a turtleneck and we'll add a shield (no swords at school ya know). For Zelda, I searched the pattern books several times and found a pattern that looks sort of like Zelda's dress in Spirit Tracks. I decided to do the dress all in white, giving it an ethereal, ghost-like quality, since the game ends when Zelda is no longer a ghost. I picked Simplicity pattern 3902. So far, after several hours of sewing, I have the basic dress done. I just need to add sleeves and trim...and it's not even September.

My view...askew

Knitting socks keeps my mind happy, and I love to try new ways to knit them up. To date I've tried knitting with double-pointed needles, magic loop, two on two circulars top down, and two on two circulars toe up. When I saw the Skew pattern on knitty.com, I knew I had to make these too...

After one false start when I cast on and knit about 2 inches using my Knit Picks Imagination sock weight yarn in Wicked Witch colorway and didn't like the way the short color repeats looked, I went out and bought Joann Sensations Bamboo and Ewe yarn with it's much longer color repeats and got busy.

Now, to be fair, I love, love, love, Knit Picks' yarns. It just wasn't the right yarn for the job. And, I'm sure I'll be blogging about it soon as I've recently cast on a pair of socks (two on two circs., toe up), but for now...I will keep you in suspense.

Back to the Skew socks. They were pretty easy to whip up. I only get to knit (or do any other crafting) when my kids are occupied or sleeping, so figure I knit maybe two or three hours tops a day, and not even every day. I was able to finish these cool socks in about 5 days apiece.

Without further ado...here are some shots of my recent project:

Pretty cool, ay?!

2 hour tote

When, less than 2 hours after a fast-paced game of Boggle with my husband, I walked back into the family room with this tote, my husband was in awe...but really it's very simple, and as I've already made several of these, they just get quicker and quicker. Try for yourself though, the tutorial is great and is right here.

The only change I've made to it, is that I used cloth napkins for the outside fabric, so instead of just jumping in and sewing things together, I had to first cut and sew my napkins together. Before I did that though, I stuck the handles in so that they would be tightly sewn to the center of the bottom of the tote and then I was ready to continue on. An hour and 25 minutes later, all I have to complete is sewing the lining seam where I turned the bag right side out. And, viola, a beautiful birthday gift for a friend (shhhhhh, don't tell).

End of Year Projects

This year I decided to create wall-hangings for each of the kids' classrooms. L, goes to preschool and R, just finished 1st grade. Last year, I created two quilts for his teacher, a large crib sized quilt for her new baby (born on the final day of school), and a wall-hanging for her classroom. Both of those quilts had the students' handprints in a simple 6" square pattern. Here, you can see them:
Baby Quilt Teacher's Wall-hanging.

Anyway, this year, I tried my hand at applique. I made two of these wall-hangings, one for each classroom. Sure, I'll have to outdo myself if any of my children repeat older siblings' teachers-which in a school that only has 2 or 3 teachers per grade is fairly likely, but, I liked doing it...plus, who knows what craft I'll be obsessed with in a few years....
The pattern for this is "All the Children of This World" by Barbara Skjonberg. It's listed in the free patterns section.

My First Twin

-sized quilt that is...

My daughter is turning four this summer. Currently she is in a toddler bed, but this year, we decided it's time for a big-girl bed. L is tall, so nearly hangs off. She's been using my childhood quilt from a relative as her blanket, but I'd like it back. It needs some TLC and it's just special to me. It's one of the few things I still have from my childhood, so, it was time to put my quilting skills to good use.

L is very girlie, so after searching for princess and fairy patterns, I settled on using girlie fabric on a much simpler quilt composed of rectangles and squares. It was the right choice, I think. I'm pretty sure she'll love it.

So far, I've finished piecing it, and it has been quilted...stitch in the ditch and some Xs across the 6" squares. I just need to bind it and label it, oh, and get her an actual twin sized bed.


This is the book I got the pattern in.

This is the pattern.














Pieced and draped nicely over the queen-sized bed....It's big.

Quilted.












The backing.

My First Tutorial-Coloring Book and Crayon Tote

Hopefully this is the first of many crafty tutorials I do.

This one...after visiting my stitchers group and getting a lot of great feedback, I decided to share my creation with the world...

This tote will easily hold a full size coloring book and 24 crayons if you follow these direction. You may even be able to include a pen or pencil for your budding artist. I hope you enjoy!

Oh, and lest you think I'm lying about my measurements due to my photo here...this way my prototype and ended up a bit too small. The subsequent bags were made slightly larger and are really 9 3/4 by 11 3/4.



Coloring Book and Crayon Tote
Designed by Melanie Fleming
Finished Measurement approximately 9 ¾ x 11 ¾

PDF Here