Info

Home of the Organized Crafter.

Archive for November, 2010

I was lucky enough over the last 10 days to be able to go home to Southern Ontario and visit with my family and friends. Although I was back in the summer for my sister’s wedding, I didn’t have a lot of time to see everyone. This time around I saw all of my family, a bunch of old work colleagues, friends, and even got to spend several days with missbedora!

Recently missbedora moved into a really gorgeous new condo, so I wanted to take something home as a housewarming gift for her. And also just cause I love her.

Originally when I started making this quilt, I didn’t have a recipient in mind. But about three strips in I realized how great this would look on her couch, so I continued with her in mind. I tried to stitch in as many good vibes as possible.

The fabric is Hunky Dory by Chez Moi for Moda (from the shop). I love the contrast of the really graphic shapes with the pretty feminine colours in this line. The taupe is from the stash (no idea!)

The backing is pieced, but intentionally set so that it looks like one big piece. I loved this really soft neutral in the line, and I thought it was a good one both for appearance and for longevity, since missbedora has the world’s cutest dog.

The quilting is “Free Swirls” done on Laura’s machine. I washed the quilt after it was quilted (without prewashing any of the fabrics) so it has that super crinkly look that I think makes a quilt a quilt and not a blanket.

I tried something new for the label on the quilt, and made a tag with the info, which was then sewn in with the binding. I like this a lot more than a traditional label on the back. I think I will do more of these in the future. The binding is more fabric from the Hunky Dory line.

I think missbedora was surprised and pleased, which makes me happy!

Anyone that has met me knows that I love scarves. Recently I had to start using a sweater caddy in the hall closet to hold all of them. They had been neatly piled in the top of the closet, but the last scarf that went on caused the pile to collapse onto my head.

So, rather than stopping with the scarves, I thought I would make more! That seems logical, right?

I love all the flannel that is so hot right now, but I am not quite ready to dive back into flannel shirts (I survived “Grunge” once, not quite ready for it again). All you need to make this one is about two yards of flannel, cut down to 72″ x 22″ or so. Use a zig zag stitch on the long edges to keep it from fraying too much, and then use a felled seam to sew the short edges together. That’s it!

I liked how thick and fluffy this one was, but I wanted something that was a little thinner, so I made one with a piece 72″ x 10″ or so.


I know it doesn’t look much different, but trust me, it is a lot smaller. This was a really inexpensive project and very quick to complete.

While I was buying my flannel, I also picked up some purple jersey.

I made this scarf using this wonderful tutorial. This was the first time I have worked with elastic thread, and it was so much fun! I was a complete spazz while I was sewing this – just all over the place running it through the machine.

It was so quick, but it yielded just the best ruffly squishy soft scarf. I can see that I will be making more of these ones, maybe even as gifts.

The original reason I bought the jersey though was to make this poncho. I wish there was a more elegant word for it. Poncho reminds me of the little woven things I used to wear as a kid.

I loosely used this tutorial for this one, but I didn’t do any of the hemming with it. I just stitched the one side together and top stitched the neckline. I am looking forward to wearing this one because it feels so much like wearing a t-shirt but it is much more elegant.

The final thing I made is the one I think I like the most (click for a larger image)

Again, more flannel, but this one has a pink and brown houndstooth pattern. I used this tutorial for this one, which shows lots of different ways to wear it. I used some wooden buttons that I got years ago at a knitting show, and I used hair elastics rather than headbands (no cutting that way). I am planning on wearing this one to work tomorrow for the first time, so I will let you know how it handles the day.

I have some leftover scraps from these projects which I will probably use to make some more scarves. I am thinking of doing the elastic treatment to some of the leftover flannel, maybe the plaid one? We shall see. The leftover purple is going to be made into strips and then into a necklace, which is different than a scarf, right? I also have seen a couple of great tutorials lately for shirt refashions, so I might get into a bit of that. At least the shirts are definitely not another scarf!

The past two years we have had very few trick or treaters, so this year rather than buying store bought candy I thought I would make something a little more fun. (Some of you can already see where this is going, I know it).

I picked up some fruit roll ups, some fruit by the foot tape stuff, some gummy fish, worms, and licorice. I made up a couple of batches of Rice Krispy treats, and a few sticky hours later, Candy Sushi!

For the maki, I rolled out the fruit roll up, put a layer of rice treat down, leaving one end uncovered (about 1/2″). Then I put down a piece of licorice and a worm, rolled the whole thing up and stuck the uncovered end to the outside of the roll to keep it together. I let the whole thing cool and used a sharp serrated blade to cut them into little pieces.

For the nigiri, I made little treat logs, put a gummy fish on each one and wrapped it with green fruit by the foot (which happened to have sparkles in it…). Once those cooled, two pieces of each went into a tiny takeout box.

I was so proud of myself. The first year we were here we had about 15 kids. Last year we had about 12. So I made 20 boxes, and I would say I had about 20 other pieces of stuff to give out (leftover fruit roll ups, some other little chocolate bars from my stash). And what happens? Gone by 6:30. I am not kidding. I had to turn out the lights before it was even dark outside. And the kids were SO rude. Only one or two kids the whole night even said “trick or treat” let alone “thank you”. However, my next door neighbour’s kid did say both, quite nicely, and I even got an email the next day from his mom saying how the sushi was a huge hit, and could she know how I made it. Still, I am pretty sure next year I am going to pick up some bagged candy. :)