handmade Archives - Page 4 of 21

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Karen Stewart

2 Crochet Baby Blankets

I seem to be on a roll these days crocheting baby blankets. I started this blue and white one before Christmas and then moved on to this grey one. They are both beautiful but I have to admit that I prefer the blue and white one. I have no idea why, well, it might be because I was using a new pattern with the grey one and had to frog it back 9 rows a couple of times.

I do like the almost houndstooth print of the this grey blanket. I also like that it could work with either a boy baby or a girl baby. This makes it a perfect gift for someone that doesn’t know which gender they are having. Â They are both crocheted out of soft acrylic yarn and will wash well. You will be able to find them at ChocolatesBabyShop on Friday of this week!

These are also crocheted out of my stash and will make items 16 and 17 for the Use Your Stash Challenge. So I did make progress last week and things are marching on with the challenge. I also spent some time carefully cutting out some quilt projects. I was being careful of my back so I didn’t get much sewing done but I am working on other projects.

I started a new baby blanket yesterday and I have made good progress. I hope to get it finished this week as well. It is in shades of purple. If you are following me on Instagram you have seen that it looks like this.

The colors are a bit off as I took this photo with my cell phone after dark. Which really changes how the colors look.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Baby Giraffe

I spent some time last week trying to figure out what I could crochet. I had hurt my back and I felt burned out crocheting baby blankets. I have recently finished two blankets and I was wanting to do something completely different. I ran across a really cute pattern on Pinterest. It seemed to hit the right chord and off I ran. I actually was able to use up some bits and pieces of yarn and I love the end result. These two cuties do fit with the Use Your Stash Challenge as I used up some small balls of stash yarn.

I showed you the arms and legs on Instagram and then quickly added the bodies.

Here they are together as they are already best buddies. The colors in the lower photo are a bit darker than they should be.

Perfect for babies or big sisters and brothers. The faces are embroidered on with yarn and the bodies are firmly sewn on. They sure are cute and were fun to make. You can make your own if you crochet. I will be adding these to ChocolatesBabyShop on Friday. The pattern is available on Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crochet-giraffe-2Â

So this would be 14 and 15 on my Use Your Stash Challenge! I love these and I will make some more Amigurumi. They are easier than I thought they would be.

The snow is continuing to fall today. It started looking like this at about 9 am this morning.

Â (I know that this isn’t much snow if you are further North than we are but it happens infrequently enough that it is a pretty big weather event for us!) I live in Colorado for several years when I was a child, so I know this isn’t much snow!

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Use Your Stash Challenge-2015 Numbers 8-13

It has been a really busy week, I have been working on the Use Your Stash Challenge-2015! I have gotten several projects done and I might even be out of the single digits.

#8 I have finished this scarf/shawl combo.#9 I made four of these for a friend. Since they used stash yarns I am counting them as one item.

#10 This crib springs recycle to wall storage. I know it looks half finished but it is ready to hang and painted bronze.

#11 I finished this baby blanket.Â #12 I also sewed up about 20 cup cozies but I am only counting them as one. I have tons to sew that are already cut out. I am going to call a group of 20 cup cozies as one item for the challenge. I will get them all sewn that way and I won’t have them sitting around as WIPS. Here they are at the half way point.

#13 I also sewed some child sized reversible superhero capes. These two are blue and silver. I have a ton more to sew and it is just a matter of time to sew and the willpower to see it through.

This is what is next on my list of things to do.

Â Baby bibs: 6 done, 2 in the photo and 1 in the mail and 3 others.

Â Baby blankets ready to iron and do the top stitching: 3 sewn and complete, 1 left

Â Finish quilting the striped quilt!
Â Put the binding on the stripe quilt
Â Cut out and sew Â more super hero capes
Â Sew cup cozies that take red thread
~~Â Deconstruct some jeans so they are ready for cutting.~~
~~Â Pack some orders~~
Clean the studio

I have some fun things planned this weekend and the weather is promising to be rainy. This is good, it will encourage me to get some serious sewing done. I have so much to do. I will need to get some more navy thread, but I can sew with other colors until I get a chance to pick some up.

This year the Use Your Stash Challenge seems to be more about finishing what I have started. I like it. It is encouraging me to actually complete some things that have been hanging around for ages. I hope I can keep up the momentum and my mojo for getting things done. Â I have some custom orders that are in different stages of waiting so I must get back to work.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Karen Stewart

10 Stash Busting Links to Read

I feel like I have a super slow start to the Use Your Stash Challenge – 2015. I needed some inspiration and I found these lovely links to challenge and encourage me to keep going. My stash just seems to keep growing and growing. I have completed some bit fabric and yarn busting projects but I need something for the little bits of yarn and little bits of fabric. This list is a great place to start when it comes to stash busting those little pieces of fabric and yarn.

1.A great stash busting article from Quilting daily!

2. This lovely blanket from Spincushions

10 Stash busting links — http://spincushions.com/ive-been-stash-busting/

3. Yarn Stash busting idea round up by Making it Home!

3. The cutest toddler sweater by Tricksy Knitter that I have ever seen!

4. A paper embellishments stash busting e-course from A Beautiful Mess Shop

5. Crazy Mom Quilts has some great fabric scrap busting ideas.

She has some great ideas so check out the rest of her blog. Here is another post full of wonderful scrap ideas. I really fell down the rabbit hole in her blog there are so many great ideas and I love her use of color!

6. This Groovy Gahn by JustbecauseIcan on Ravelry would be a great scrap blanket.

7. Â Then there is this beautiful woven fabric basket from MarshmallowsandPickles.

8. For the Knitters…I love this blanket. It is superb. The colors, the pattern, I just like everything about it! It is fromÂ https://cauchycomplete.wordpress.com.

9. Â For the Crocheters, there is this option! It is from Dream a little bigger.

10. A great stash busting quilt is the ticker tape quilt. There are so many options out there. I simply went to Pinterest and searched for ticker tape sewing and came up with so many different options. Here is a great ticker tape style doll quilt. This one is from Teaginnydesigns. She got the pattern from Amanda Jean Nyborg at crazymomquilts.

There 10 great stash busting projects to give you some inspiration for the Using Your Stash Challenge – 2015!

I am not sure what I am going to do right now. I have some blah projects to work on but they aren’t as beautiful as these stash projects. So, I am torn, should I start a new stash busting project or simply use the larger pieces of fabric for the more routine sewing.

Do you have any advice? I sure would love to hear it!

Do you have any stash busting projects or links to share with me? I would also love to see those!

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Karen Stewart

4 Blocks a Week Sampler Blanket- Week 5

This is week 5 but when I count the blocks for the sampler blanket there are only 18 in my bag. Two blocks have escaped. I need to take Â minute and find them. Here is the next installment in the 4 blocks a Week. These are a variety of different styles from 100 Colorful Granny Squares to Crochet.

I have included affiliate links to Amazon and I will receive a small percentage of the any purchase you make.

A flower block.An An An octagon that ends up square.

Another floral block

A texture block. I think I forgot to count this one and it looks wonky. I will need to go back and fix it. The problem is right at the beginning of the square, as always. I guess the tv was too interesting or was it when one of the kids had huge questions. I did count louder but it didn’t seem to help! :0)

You can find last weeks blocks here!

I am incredibly late crocheting these and I must head to bed.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Jam and Jelly Making

Last weekend we made jamÂ and jelly. The jam is cranberry cinnamon and the jelly is apple. It is a family job with pretty much everyone pitching in. I started the cranberries in the crockpot. Here the cranberries have just been added to the crockpot with brown sugar and cinnamon. The big lump in the middle is the rock hard brown sugar. I have to admit that I didn’t measure it out but just dumped it in.

We used our son and daughter in law’s juicer to skip the big long process of cooking the fruit down and then hanging the fruit in the jelly bag. It sure simplified the whole process. We bought a case of apples together and split the jelly and the leftover apples. It all worked out super easy. I was showing my daughter in law how to make jelly as this was her first or second time making jelly. She loves apple jelly so the first batch was apple. We had a leftover pomegranate that we juiced with the apples so that is the lovely rosy-yellow colored jelly.

Isnt’ it beautiful. The deep purpley red is the cranberry jelly. I tweaked a recipe to come up with it. The basic recipe is this one for cranberry butter. I doubled the recipe, sprinkled 2 tsp of cinnamon (instead of using a cinnamon stick) and then cooked it on high in the crock pot for 5 hours before we put it in the juicer. Then I prepped it just like any jelly. I added 6 cups of sugar and the sure jell. I’m pretty sure that next time I will leave out the sure gel as it is pretty firm but still good.

I don’t own a juicer but I am going to think about purchasing one. It simplified the jelly making and speeded it up by several hours. It is not the way my Grandma made jelly but I know she would approve as it sure saves a bunch of work. We didn’t have to peel the apples before we juiced them, or boil the apples until they produced juice. The flavor is fresher and tastes more like fresh apples.Where did we buy a case of apples in the middle of January? We bought it through Bountiful Baskets.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Karen Stewart

The New To Do List

This to do list has so much marked off as I have been super productive this week. It has been good to finish up or get so much done on several of my projects. I am pretty happy about following my to do list. I started work on several super hero capes that I am working on for a show this summer. It is on the To do list as it will use up a ton of satin that I bought two or three years ago.

I also finished these little Valentine envelopes that I crocheted for a friend. She has a booth at a craft/antique mall. So, it was a whole sale order for her booth. These are a perfect size for gift cards.

I finished up this shawl/scarf. The colors are wonderful. I am pleased that it is finished as it only lacked about three rows and the red border.

I have added 8 inches to this blanket and will probably finish it up later this week.

I am pleased that it is working up so quickly.

I still need to work on these items as I haven’t gotten to them yet.

Finish the quilt (there is probably only 2-3 more hours of work.)
Sew 3 coffee press cozies
Sew 20 coffee cup sleeves
sew 3 bibs (already cut just need to be sewn)
sew up 4 flannel blankets (already cut just need to be sewn)
sew 10 more paper pieced quilt squares

If I break this list down into easy to accomplish steps. I would rewrite the list like this.

~~Â Iron flannel blankets and pin~~
~~Iron satin~~
~~Iron quilt cottons~~
arrange sewing by color thread
sew items by thread color: blue, white, red, black and pink thread
cut out capes
~~cut out quilt cottons~~
Press all seams and completed projects for photography

I hope all of this helps. I tend to be easily discouraged by the mountain of work standing in front of me. I am still wishing for some snow. It would be nice to be snowed in for a day or two.

talk to you later,

Karen

You can visit my shop here:Â https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChocolateDogStudio

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Pink is finished!! #3 in the Use Your Stash – 2015

I finished Pink (the crochet afghan) this weekend. I am so pleased with it. It looks so cuddly and warm. I found some lovely yarn at the shop. It was soft and washable. It is variegated with a long color change in the yarn. It was really similar to a Lion Brand wool yarn that I love to use. It is primarily pink and red and the colors called to me.

I started it in the Linen stitch but it turned out horribly stiff and thick. It looked lovely.Â I was also having some problems seeing where to put the stitches. I may need new glasses. I have named this blanket Pink but you can see the other beautiful colors in the yarn. I love working with variegated yarn. You never have to change or sew in many ends. It makes a nice change from Granny Squares that change color every row.

I love the bobbleÂ border. It adds a little whimsy to the whole blanket. I added a nice gray border on either edge of the bobbles. It adds some definition to the edges. Pink is a bit larger afghan than I normally crochet. It is 51 x 62 inches long. The stripes run lengthwise. I think it will make a great Valentine’s Day gift to someone special. It is available in the ChocolateDogStudio shop!

I am also adding this to the Use Your Stash Challenge – 2015! This is #3 for me to have finished this week. It is a huge project and I spent a bunch of time on it. I am really pleased with the finished product. I just knew that yarn would make a beautiful blanket.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Using My Fabric Stash item #2

I finally did it! I did some sewing. I actually sewed clothing. I never sew clothing but here it is. My Mother in Law had some incredible fabric stash. She sewed all of her life and after she became a Grandma she sewed incredible dresses for the girls. I am sure that this fabric was intended to become a beautiful hand smocked dress. The girls grew up too quickly and the stash was never used.Â . I know she was disappointed when the girls grew too big for the hand made treasures. I have quite of few of them saved back. I just couldn’t get rid of the beautiful hand made dress. The hours of work that she put into each dress is just overwhelming to think about. She poured out her love into these Sunday dresses for the girls.

Here is what I made. The instructions were weird and I would totally put it together another way. I think my middle school home ec teacher would give me a C on this project. It isn’t perfect but fits the bill.

I think it came out quite nice. There are things I would change about it but I am still pleased with results. It is a little too big which is so much easier to fix. Here are its humble beginnings.

Isn’t the fabric beautiful. I just love the blue and green floral design. It is a very lightweight cotton fabric. I love the fact that the fabric stash is getting so much smaller.

This is #2 out of 200 in the Use Your Stash Challenge- 2015. I am excited, things are getting finished and plans are being made for future items. I am a great procrastinator and I needed this little push to make me finish some things up. 200 items feels like a goal I will never meet. I keep reminding myself of all of the supplies I have stashed away in my studio under the eaves. I know I can come up with a bunch of small items. I just hope that they will be worth the time. If you are wondering what I am doing with trying to make 200 items out of my stash you can find the first blog post here.

It has been a busy week with our homeschool co-op, church and other obligations. Our youngest son is writing a blog and I am helping him with the little bit that I know. He is filming You-tube videos about building with legos. They are funny and quirky just like he is. They are g rated videos for kids and quirky enough for adults to enjoy. If you would like to watch his first couple of videos you can see them here: lego-of.meÂ Send him a comment or two and let him know that you have stopped by. It is so encouraging to know that someone somewhere is reading what you write.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Burlap Dry Erase board – Use Your Stash Challenge – 2015 #1

I have finished a couple of Use Your Stash projects and here is number: 1 a burlap dry erase board! Remember when I was washing burlap. Â It looked like this in the washer. I washed it three times.

The lint was incredible for all three loads. I thought that the amount of lint would decrease. It didn’t, I think the burlap bags were so old that they were disintegrating in the wash cycle.

The bags did lose a lot of dust and dirt along with all the lint. I checked the lint trap twice during each load. I was scared that I was going to set the dryer on fired with all the extra lint.
I had seen great burlap dry erase boards on Pinterest.Â I like all the texture that burlapÂ dry erase boards have. I had an old inspirational photo in a pretty nice frame that we have had for years. The photo had something to do with diligence or hard work or something like that. I took the poster out and added the burlap. I glued the burlap down around the edges with something rather like tacky glue. I pushed the staples back down to hold all the cardboard, burlap and glass in. Then I glued brown paper across the back like a framing store does. It keeps it looking neat on the back.You can see the red and green stripes from the original burlap bag. So, this is my first stash project in the Use Your Stash – 2015. I am excited and it looks great! It didn’t cost a penny – if you don’t count all the energy used to wash and dry the burlap sacks. We will probably use this for messages, grocery lists, and reminders. It appears to be infinitely useful. It will probably hang in the laundry room. I am trying to get that room more organized and decorated.

talk to you later,

Karen

You can read my Use Your Stash Challenge – 2015 rules here.