Crochet Flower Beanie

Today is Bella's 4th birthday, and I made this beanie just for her. Bella is the daughter of a good friend of mine from high school. I wish I had a picture of Bella to put on my blog so you could see how darling she is.


Even though it's like an inferno outside now, I hope this hat will come in handy over the winter months. Winter isn't too far away.


I love the addition of the flower to the hat. It makes it extra "girly."
Happy Birthday, Bella!!! You are such a big girl now!

Bitty Booties

My cousin and his wife had a baby girl back in February, and I made these little shoes for her. I've been enjoying hand embroidery lately, so I wanted to incorporate some of that in these shoes. I found a picture of a mama and baby bird online, so I embroidered them onto the felt. Drawing the mirror image for the matching shoe was a bit tricky, but I got the hang of it.
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the link to the Heather Bailey's website where you can get the pattern for these shoes.


First, I traced the patterns onto the felt. I also flipped these patterns over so there would be a left and right shoe.

Then I stitched a blanket stitch along the center of the top of the shoes and hand embroidered the bird patterns onto the front of the shoes.

The shoe was really starting to come together after I stitched the back together.

Attaching the bottom of the shoe to the top part was a little tricky, but once I finished pinning it together it was easy to stitch.


...And here is the shoe almost finished, turned inside-out. I know my stitching looks horrible from the inside.


So, here is the finished shoe... oh, wait! It needs something else...

A tiny bow on the back.

For a tutorial, visit Heather Bailey's website here.

Crochet Newsboy Hat

I've been on a crochet binge here lately. I made 3 hats last weekend, one hat this week, a flower, and I'm working on a pair of baby booties. It's very addicting. I made this particular hat for my cousin's baby that was born in November (I'm a little late on that one). I bought this pattern from adrienneengar's shop at etsy. I was really surprised at how fast this came together. I think it's because of the hook size and the thickness of the yarn.

I found myself dreaming about crochet a couple of nights ago. I woke up in the middle of the night for some reason and started dreaming of crochet stitches as I drifted back to sleep. It wasn't one of those frustrating dreams like you are taking a test and you can't figure out the answers to the questions to save your life (I still have those, too!). It was a dream that my head was lying on a pillow of soft yarn that I was making into crochet stitches.
I know I'm weird. You don't have to tell me. :)

Earflap Hat

I've been practicing my crocheting, and this is one of the projects I've been working on. I love the little earflaps on this hat. They sure will serve a good purpose keeping little ears warm in this cold weather.
I really learned a lot while working on this hat. I learned how important it is to count stitches. My first attempt was pitiful. It looked like a frisbee of some sort.... nothing like a hat. It killed me to have to unravel it, but who wants to wear a frisbee on their head!?!

I'm going to give this hat to my little nephew. I think it will be really cute on him. Hopefully I'll update this post with a picture of him wearing it. He doesn't live in the same city, but maybe I can get his parents to email me a picture. :)

Happy Valentine's Day

My hubby gave me a dozen of these beautiful lipstick pink roses. I've been enjoying the scent of them every time I walk by.

I've also been working on another tutu, so I played around and dressed my doggy up like a bride. I laughed so hard because I felt like a 2 year old torturing my male dog by playing dress-up. I'm so sorry, Charlie! I'll never do it again. :)



Look at those eyes begging me to take off the veil.

Fabric Flower

Last time I visited my family in Birmingham, my friend Meredith showed me how to make these precious little flowers. I was so excited when I learned how to make these because of the endless possibilities of colors combinations (or solids). There are also endless possibilities of things to attach them them to.... like this headband (although it wasn't really attached in this picture).


I actually sewed this flower to a barrette and wore it in my hair last night at a Mardi Gras ball. It was really cute with my ivory dress with black straps and sash. I didn't get a picture of it in my hair since we were rushing out the door to meet friends.
These flowers would be great for embellishing clothes, purses/bags, baby shoes (on a smaller scale).... you name it! I'm already thinking of more possibilities.

Cutsie Little Tutu

I made this tutu for a friend whose little girl, Reagan was turning 2. It looked so adorable on her, but she didn't know what to think when her mama put it on her. It wasn't until her mama put it on herself (just playing around) that Reagan really wanted to wear it. It was too cute!

I've made a couple of these so far. One with elastic and the other with a satin ribbon. My favorite one is with the ribbon. The knots tie much tighter on the ribbon, and I feel like it's more secure. I also like the pretty bow in the front (or back, if you choose)

If you want to make a tutu like this, you can find the tutorial here. Have fun!!

Felt Heart Wreath

Aubrey went hunting this weekend, so this was the perfect craft to keep me busy while he was gone. I stopped by JoAnn Fabrics and bought 3/4 yard of red felt, 12-inch styrofoam heart, and some straight pins. I cut out circles from the felt and pinned them on the wreath. It took a few hours to get everything finished, but I watched "27 Dresses" and "Definitely Maybe" while working on it. I was really happy with how it turned out.

I have a little felt left over, so I'm going to try to tackle another craft. Crafts are really great de-stressors for me. I only wish I had my crafting buddies a little closer by so we could exchange ideas more often.
I got this tutorial from The Idea Room. You should check out that blog and see other things she made with her felt. The Valentine's topiary is really cute!

Wooden Earrings

I've been meaning to post these earrings for quite some time now. My friends (Elisabeth and Meredith) made these for my birthday last year. I couldn't believe they had made them. They had all sorts of colors, shapes, and patterns that they had made. I have worn these many times, and every time I wear them, I get a new compliment on them.


My favorite thing about these earrings is that they aren't heavy at all. I don't do well with heavy earrings. It grosses me out to know that the hole in my ear is stretching. Eek!
I keep telling Elisabeth and Meredith that they need to start a shop on etsy. I'd totally shop there!

Argyle Ornaments

I wish I had enough time on my hands to give everyone a hand-made gift for Christmas. I guess I could if I started now for next year. I saw these ornaments on another blog, and I immediately knew who I wanted to make these for. I have a couple of friends that are starting a "craft tree." All of the ornaments on it will be hand-made. I know these will be so cute on their tree.


These are fairly easy to make, and I'm excited to start doing more hand embroidery in the future. I made an extra one to hang on my tree, and it looks really cute.

If you want to make one of your own, you can find the directions and patterns on the So September blog.

Pete, the Pumpkin Penguin

Meet Pete:

My brother-in-law's girlfriend absolutely loves penguins. Every time I see a penguin, I think of her. I was browsing blogs this past week, and I came across this penguin pumpkin... I knew right off the bat who I was going to make it for.

Making this little pumpkin was easy, and it sure was therapeutic after a hard week at work. If you get the urge to make one, the directions are on the Wyldhare's Hollow website.

Have fun, and Happy Halloween!

Camo Tag Blanket

It's been a little while since I've had time to sew. I had some leftover Mossy Oak hunting camo fabric from 2 years ago. I used it to drape over a gift that I gave Aubrey on our wedding day. It's doing no good just sitting, so I chopped it up and gave it a purpose.
I was thinking I could also do a blanket with hunters orange ribbons all around the blanket instead of alternating colors. Aubrey gave me the idea of doing sports colors like Alabama (crimson and white) and Auburn (blue and orange) around, too. Good idea!

Instead of sewing my tag on the front of the fabric, I sewed it into the blanket like one of the ribbons. Since this is a dark "boy-ish" fabric, I thought it would be an eye-sore if it were on the front. I think I like this idea. I may start incorporating it like this on all of the items I sew. We'll see.

Now the men have no excuse not to bring their babies hunting. Um, well, I guess being still and quiet may be a challenge.

Tailor-Made Tea Bags

Happy Mother's Day!

Wow! I haven't made a post since 2008... This is loooong overdue.
I saw this idea in the Martha Stewart magazine, and I knew it's what I wanted to make my mom for Mother's Day. She loves tea, especially mint.

I didn't use the embellishments that Martha used (yes, we're on a first name basis) because I really didn't want to spend money on tools that I probably wouldn't ever use again. I had some of these flowers left over from scrapbooking, and they worked out perfectly. However, I did buy the cotton string.

I wish I would have bought a larger tin so more tea bags would have fit, but I've promised the rest of the tea bags at a later time. I cut out some scrapbooking paper to fit the inside of the tin's top so the tea bags could be labeled.

Each flower represents a specific tea flavor

I used cheesecloth for the actual tea bag. I cut out a rectangle (8-in x 16-in) and put 2 TBSP loose tea at the center of the top. I rolled it up and folded both sides over and tied with the cotton string. Then I put a flower at the tip of the string and tied a knot so the flower wouldn't fall off.

Painted Herb Pots

Aren't these herb pots the cutest! I've seen them for sale in places, but it's MUCH cheaper to make. I bought these terracotta pots at a craft store and the black chalkboard paint at Lowes. I painted the rims of the pots as well as a rectangle in the center of the pot. I used tape to outline the rectangle so it would be clean and sharp.

When I got home yesterday, I found these herbs in my carport that my mother-in-law left for me. I got dirty today and transplanted them into my little pots. These are perfect to sit inside my kitchen window sill since it's too cold outside for them to live. It will save me lots of money because fresh herbs are pretty expensive in the grocery store, and I love cooking with fresh herbs.

Burpies

This is my first burp cloth to sew, and it's so cute. My sister's roommate wanted a burp cloth to go along with the bib (made with this same fabric) I made for her to give as a baby gift. I used the Alexander Henry 2-D Zoo fabric, and I think it's so cute for a boy. They look like little animal crackers on fabric. I bought the fabric from ebay because I can't find it in fabric stores where I live.


I used chenille on the back of the cotton fabric because it's very soft AND absorbent.... practical for it's use. It's about 8.5 x 15-inches.

While sewing this, I ran out of thread on my bobbin (bottom spool). Well, I spun the thread on the bobbin, and when I went back to sew, my needle went crazy. I took the whole bottom of the sewing machine apart only to find that I didn't thread it right. Mercy! Well, at least it was a quick fix. Whew.... thank you Lord!