Finally Finished Christmas

I was late in getting all my Christmas items finished for the ladies of the family, but now I am done. Quilting was something I wanted to try, but know now that I will continue to tie my quilts in the future rather than do actual quilting stitching.  My fingers have lost their dexterity to work such fine stitching and it is much too painful to do. I am quite happy with the look of the fronts of these wall quilts, but I'm glad they actually hang on a wall so as not to have to see the backs.  The stitches are much too large and uneven.  Some are too tiny and barely pierce the material, while others are very long. I guess it is the final results that count and the part that can be seen looks nice to me.

I showed this before in pieces, but this is how the Portuguese rooster quilt turned out.

This one is for my daughter, Cheryl. It is called Ham and Eggs. I could not get the quilting frame on this one because the animals are cut from felt and they simply were too thick to get the frame to hold.  That explains why there are puckers in the material. The checkered border was very difficult on this one because each square had to be sewed into place. It was very time consuming.

This Wooly Sheep one is for my daughter-in-law, Kim. The hardest part of this one was doing the applique around all those flowers on the border. Each stem and leaf needed to be cut, heat bonded, and then appliqued onto the quilt. The sheep were the easy part.

This was my first wood burning project. I made it for my friend, Nancy, who lives in Utah, but did not show it until now because she reads my blog and I didn't want her to see it until she got it for Christmas.  It certainly isn't perfect, but I did learn to do a lot of things with the wood burning tool while making it.  The first thing I learned is that you use black, not red, for tracing the picture onto the wood.  I thought the red would come off in the sanding, but it didn't.  With this picture, it kind of looked better anyway because it added color to the fruity arrangement in the basket. Sometimes mistakes turn out to improve your intended outcome and with this one, I call it a "happy accident."

I am now working on doing the shirts for my husband.  I made one for him, but it was too small.  I bought more material and wrapped it and told him I would finish the other shirts when I saw how the other one fit.  I have cut out two and will get them sewed for now.  I may not do the third but I bought the material so he could choose which he wanted. Once these are done, I may need to take a break until my hands heal.  I see a specialist in two weeks to see why my fingers are so numb.  Hopefully, I will be able to continue to do my crafting.  For now, knitting does not seem to affect them as much as does the needle work, so I will need to stick to that if I feel the need to work with my hands, and I am sure that will be the case.  I can never stay idle for too long.

CHRISTMAS THINGS

I have finished most of my Christmas, but this year I will need to finish some things after.  I thought I was going to have some time between Christmas and New Year's to finish the presents I was making for the ladies of the family, but plans have changed and we are having our celebrations by Christmas and so I ran short of time to complete them.  I did get one done because it has to go back to Maine with my son and he will be leaving on Christmas day.  The others live around here so I can do theirs after Christmas.  Since they are done from kits, I am wrapping the kits so they can see what they will be getting when I finish them.  I did get all the pajama bottoms done for the kids.  Since I bought regular shirts to go with the bottoms, I made the shirts look like part of the whole pajama set by adding a picture from the printed bottoms or by adding a iron on applique of something like the bottom, or in the case of the boys, with something they like (football).

This is the one wall quilt that I finished for Shana. I bought the kits in Penn Dutch last summer because
I wanted to learn to quilt. I have never made quilts with the quilting stitch but usually just tie my quilts.
I'm afraid I will have to stick to tying since my fingers are no longer able to do small stitching. The back doesn't look
that great, so I'm glad these quilts will be hanging on a wall.

This is what the top of my quilt for Kay is going to look like.  I designed hers from scratch and not from a kit.  She loves the Portuguese rooster and so when I went to the Azores this past fall, I bought a set of pot holders and an apron for her.  I used the material from the apron to cut out the different objects and appliqued them onto the front.  I actually turned the instruments so that they overlapped the yellow borders and put small dotted circles above them.  I finished the top only so that she could see what hers would look like after I finished it after Christmas.  I have actually sewed the top together but didn't take a picture of it after.  I took this one so that I could remember the layout once I picked it all up.

These are for baby Mabel, born 7/3/17

Lady bugs called "Love Bugs on pajamas makes a
nice print for little Annie age 3

These woodsy looking print bottoms fit Portia, age 6,
quite nicely. They are actually more purple than
shows and I put one owl on the shirt.

These are for Ellis, age 10. His has a football
helmet to go with the plaid bottoms.

These are for Nnenaya, age 14.  I bought her a
lady's top and didn't add a picture, of course.

Dawud, age 16, has the plaid bottoms with nothing
added to his shirt.

These cute little kitty print pajamas are perfect
for Lexi, age 7. I put one of the kitties on the shirt.

This is a flower print for Zoe, age 8.  The flowers
were too small of a print so I used and iron-on
flower that matched in color to the ones on the bottoms.

Fly me into outer space made a nice print for
Jackson, age 7.  I used one of the rockets and
planet sections of the print to put on his shirt.

Joey, age 8,  loves football, so he also gets a
football on his plaid bottoms.

Ezra, age 5, is all about outdoors, so these fox
print bottoms with a fox on the shirt are
perfect for him.

Lucy, age 7, is a love, so hearts made perfect sense
for her.  I just used an iron-on heart since the hearsts
in the print were too small.

Dot, age 8, loves owls and purple, so these pajamas are
perfect for her with one of the owls on the shirt.

2017 Festival Items Complete

I just finished my projects for the holiday festival table.  I am so done with them.  I don't think I can do another thing.  Here are the final things. It is an ocean play mat set.

This is the mat.  Took a long time to cut, heat bond, and applique all the things on it.

Cute little fish was difficult only because
the material I chose was so hard to sew.

Lobster is made from a shiny material with
bias tape legs. This was very difficult to
turn and stuff.

This sea star was hard to keep it's shape
because the material was too stretchy.
It is very soft and since sea stars are not
always really evenly shaped, he works.

My seahorse is made from felt so that I did
not have to turn him.  Each band of color
had to be heat bonded and then zigzagged
around to cover any spaces and to hold in
place permanently.

This little turtle is made from a very soft
fleece material that stretched a lot when
stuffing.  It was hard to make his
appendages look alike, He really looks
like he is swimming.

I love the way I finally found a way to make this little octopus' legs look right. In the
past he has had them along the side of the bottom of the head, but never looked
right.  This time, I sewed the three leg sections together and then sewed them into
the head and now they sit on the bottom. I love it.

This is the dolphin that holds all the animals inside.  I wanted to fit the mat, too, but he isn't big enough.  Instead, he can just be wrapped with the mat for storage.

Now that all this is done, I need to start working on the costumes and scenery things for the Christmas Pageant.  I have a lot to get done with that.  I still have Christmas presents to get finished, too, so there is a lot to work on.  Running out of time to get it all done, but I am sure that I will.  When I set my mind to something, I do it.

Almost Finished with Items for Holiday Festival

I am almost ready for the Holiday Festival which is going to be on Dec. 2nd.  I am still working on a machine sewn ocean play mat set.  I am done with knitting.  I am almost burned out on knitting. (Never thought I would ever say that, but for now, I am.)  I'm sure it won't be for long and I will be back at it.  Here are my latest.

This is actually a navy blue headband and cowl that feature the same twisted cable pattern not visible in this shot. The headband is very wide and is almost like a hat without a crown.  It features a large button. The cowl has a slot that allows it to be crossed.

This cowl is cranberry and is ribbed and also features
the large button for closure.

This is a wide headband which looks even wider on this small model head. It is a pretty dark purple in a laced stitch pattern. 

This 100% wool cowl is done in a simple garter stitch done with the
 largest needles I have ever worked with.

This cowl is made from 50% wool/50%acrylic and is also done in the garter stitch pattern. It is maroon.

This slate gray cowl is done in a variation of the garter stitch
with a slight ridge pattern.
It is also done in 50%wool/50% acrylic

This headband is quite true to color and is made from 100% washable wool and is done in a simple rib pattern and features the knitted flower with the wooden button center.

This is a pair of men's gloves and actually the only male thing
I made this year.  They are dark gray and made from
100% washable wool.

I absolutely love these fingerless gloves.  They look
quite green in this picture but are actually a pretty turquoise
where they look green. They are very easy to make and much
less work than fingered gloves.

This tote is made from cotton yarn and the pattern was very complicated to keep track of the stitch count.

I do love making toys and so I have made a few different ones this year. 

This red fox is from some realistic looking animal patterns.  I had a hard time finding the right colored yarn for what I wanted to use for my fox.  I ended up finding the color I wanted at the wool yarn shop where I had some very nice gift certificates for. I had not planned on making any toys out of wool, but since it was on sale and it is washable, I decided to go with it. It was very thin yarn and took a lot of yarn and time to make this toy fox which is approx. 24" from nose to tip of tail.  I had found some rusty red yarn that I was planning on using if I couldn't find anything else, but it was so scratchy that I didn't want to use it.  What I ended up doing was to use it for the tail so the tail would look bushier than the rest of the fox.  It doesn't match perfectly, but I like it anyway. It was also a very hard yarn to knit and was rough on the hands.

This poor creature is supposed to be a raccoon, but looks more like a lemur to me.  I feel better about it when my grandchildren say it is a cute raccoon and I didn't tell them that that is what it is supposed to be. He is also 24".

These little creatures are my latest creation. They are made
from a pattern that said Cute Little Bunnies.  I did think
they were cute, but after making the first one on the right,
which is as the pattern directed for a bunny, I decided to
make two others as different animals, thus the cat on
the left in this picture...

...and this adorable little mouse.  I designed the ears, faces,
and tails to resemble the different animals.  For all of them
I used a very soft yarn in different baby colors.  Love them!

This is actually a doll that I made before and planned to use as my donation item for the
raffle table at the festival. I had knitted the
clothes right into the doll, but was never
really happy with how it looked.  I ended up
tucking the head down into the shirt because
the neck looked too long and sewed the flower
on the front. The waist was too short so I made
a belt, but I was still not happy with it so I
knitted the dress and now I am quite pleased.
I will be satisfied now to donate it.

Halloween just happened to come while I have been working on these items for the festival.  I wasn't planning on making costumes this year, but I have two grandchildren who really wanted them, so I of course took the time to make them.

Chewbacca was made from two different colors of fur and made with a lion costume pattern.
His father bought him the mask.

 This is Moana,  a Polynesian princess.  I had to make everything from scratch on this costume. I streamed a picture online and copied it as best as I could.  I had to disassemble two grass baskets to make the grass skirt and then sew them in layered strips onto a light cotton material.  The lace for the outer skirt was also difficult to find, but I finally found something that sort of matched and looked good on the skirt.  There were large yellow flowers on the her outer skirt, so I had to paint them on this one. The top was supposed to be without shoulder straps, but her mother wanted it to have them and I felt it was necessary also.  There was a design in the top which I had to cut out and applique onto the shirt. Lexi is covering it with her arms so you cannot see it.  It was so hard to get the skirt small enough for her skinny waist, but it did feature a tie which is on her right side and not showing in this picture that helped to keep it up.  It took so long to make this costume.  She also had tassels for her ankles, but she must have not like how they felt because she took them off and ended up losing one of them.  Her mother put skin colored leotards and tights on her so it would be warmer for trick-or-treating.

I plan to finish the play mat set and then be done with the festival items. I have to get working on costumes and scenery for the Christmas Pageant that my church is putting on. I got volunteered to be in charge of the costumes and the animals.  I have everything planned in my head and now it is time to actually get to work on them.

Holiday Festival Crafts 2017

I have been busy making things for the holiday festival table.  I have finished a number of things which I want to show.

This cabled sweater is like one that I made for myself years ago.  It is a little small for me, but I modeled it anyway.  It is made of acrylic yarn which ended up being very heavy.  It is more like a jacket than a sweater.  I had used cotton yarn for the one I made for me and it was heavy, but not as thick as this one.  Probably because acrylic yarn knits tighter than the cotton.

This shows all the pattern repetitions that are in the sweater.  All together there are six stitch patterns with various numbers of repetitions.  It requires a lot of stitch count recordings.  The bands are twisted rib.  The edges are reverse stockinette.  Then it is slip stitch panel with an 8 row repetition. Next is the diamond panel with a 24 row repetition and includes the popcorn stitch. The center is the honeycomb panel of a 4 row repetition. Then it is the diamond panel, the slip stitch panel, and the reverse stockinette stitch edge repeated again.  It is a very difficult pattern, but I love it. It took about three weeks to complete the sweater.  This is the first year I have made an adult sweater for the festival. It is more costly to make so, I of course need to charge more for it.  It may be too much for the festival, but I thought I would try anyway.

I used the same yarn for this hat, scarf, and mittens that I used for the above sweater.  It just looks a different color in this photo.  The hat features a diamond cabled pattern like in the sweater but does not have the popcorn stitches.  The top of the hat is done in a two stitch rib. The scarf has the chain cable repeated three times across the scarf.  The mittens have an open chain look.  The mittens felt too large inside and not very soft, so I lined them with a soft fleece and now they feel wonderful.  They can be sold as a set, or separately.

This is my favorite hat that has been a very popular item in the past.  I love this green.  I also made a pair of gloves to match which, of course, can be sold separately if desired.

Headbands have also been a hot item in the past.  I have just started making several in various designs and colors.  I liked the diamond pattern that was with the hat above, so I just did the band part of the hat for the green band.  I used a very simple, but popular, twist pattern for the blue band.

Both of these bands feature cables and buttons.  The navy blue one on the left is a repeated 4 times twist 2 cable. It is very wide so could be used for the cold weather in place of a hat. I started making it with another cable added and I could see it would be way too wide, so I stopped and did the four cables.  If I have enough yarn, I will continue the five cable and make it into scarf or a cowl.  The gray one on the right is also a cabled pattern using a six stitch cable.  It is very pretty and has the front center tied in with a buttoned strap. It is also wide and could be used for cold weather.

These young ladies are missionaries from my church.  They came to help me harvest my grapes and make them into juice.  I let them choose from my headbands as a gift for their help.  They chose the green cable and the gray cable shown in the pictures above.

I have started working on some men's gloves out of the same dark gray as in the headband above.  I want to make a couple pairs of men's gloves and I may even make a man's hooded sweater.  I haven't decided if I should do that this year, or wait and see if the woman's cabled sweater sells.

I will need to take a break from my crafts for the festival and make a couple of Halloween costumes. I also need to make some costumes and scenery for the Christmas pageant that my church is putting on this year. Busy, busy, busy!  Loving it!