a cat and a hat

here are a couple of quick knits that made great christmas gifts.

first a squishy little kitty for esmé.  the easy pattern is from this book.  instead of the sleepy face the pattern suggests, i gave mine this funny awake expression. i also decided to do stripes for the body, which made it a little tricky to sew up the side seams, but it worked out okay…  oh, and at the last minute i couldn't resist adding a skinny little tail.  this is a great project for using up scraps (the mustard yarn is leftover from this sweater).    i think he turned out pretty sweet.





and i made a hat for david!  he chose the pattern and the yarn and they combined to make a pretty cool cap.  it's the wanderer cap from this book (also available on ravelry).  the yarn is madelinetosh vintage (color: whiskey barrel) which is superwash wool and is so soft.  it fits david perfectly and looks great.  the pattern was easier than i thought and i like how the zigzags on the sides spiral into the top point.






if you'd like you can find my knitting projects on ravelry.

handmade christmas gifts | sewn

even during the holiday hubbub i managed to document most of the gifts i made.  it's nice able to make gifts by hand, and i'm grateful for friends and family who appreciate how special it is to receive things that weren't store-bought.  here are some sewn items (i'll save the hand-knits for another day)...

first are a couple potholders i made using swatches of my tumbling teddy bears and happy cactus fabrics.  ok, so the teddy bear one i kept for myself, but the cactus one was happily received by my sister-in-law.  i sandwiched a couple layers of cotton batting between fun fabrics and machine stitched diagonally across for a quilted look (i used masking tape guides to keep my lines straight).  to finish i hand stitched the bias tape to keep things nice and neat.







next is a little collection of doll clothes made for my niece, selah.  she is extremely fond of her babies and usually has at least one or two tucked under her arms.  i got the measurements of her bitty baby and found a similar sized doll at a thrift store, so i could easily draft some simple little garments.



over the past few months i've had several requests from selah for "mittens for my baby…  so her hands aren't cold"...  so, of course i had to make this very small pair:



and here's an outfit for esmé, the littlest babe of the bunch.  the fabric for the top i've had for years, originally purchased from SR harris when i lived in minneapolis.  it's so soft with such a delicate and cute pattern.  the pants are made from this fabric.  i used brindille & twig patterns for both.

a gift + a mess

yesterday i attended a delightful bridal shower for my dear friend/cousin.  twas fun to assemble her gift which included a couple crocheted coasters (with loop) and a short conversation notepad (perfect for notes to her betrothed).

 

also, the (pretty) mess i left on my desk in the studio:

 

a birthday greeting

sent to my brother a month ago.  nothing personal is disclosed.  only cryptic updates on our everyday doings (plus many misspellings).  anyway, it made me giggle, so i thought i would share.

p.s. if you would like to receive mail art from us (mgdb) check out our new mail art subscription (i'll be doing a post about that soon).

valentine

i thought i would share the valentine i made for david with you, too.

happy day!

priceless

today is my cute nephew max's birthday.  2 years old! 

i had a bit of an internal laughing fit when i found this "priceless" fabric at a thrift shop a while ago...  it makes the perfect kid's t-shirt, no?  i happened to have just enough of of the right green ribbing (also thrifted) and some little silver snaps.

a few pictures of max from christmastime...  such a sweetie.

potato

i found this handmade potato magnet at a thrift store and decided to give it to my cousin for christmas.  she wasn't bad.  we once shared an apartment where we hung a ceramic potato high up on the wall.  we declared our residence "the house of the rising potato".  anyway, i'm just wondering who comes up with these things...  potatoes from pantyhose.  i don't think i'll buy this book, or this one.  but they'd be funny to flip through.

dolly

one of the gifts i made this year that i'm particularly proud of is this doll.  for our niece, ivy.  i couldn't find a pattern that i liked, so i made one up.  very simple, with a sweet embroidered face and soft yarn hair.  i made a tiny pair of pajamas out of ivy's own pajamas from when she was a little baby. 

i think she might like her!

 

give + thank

a little stack of cushions as a housewarming gift.

a postcard sent to susan to thank her for the tiny teeth.

a gift of wrist zips for someone i don't know.