There's a Monster Under My Tree!

I made these for the children of a friend as a Christmas surprise.  The pattern is out of Wee Wonderfuls; after seeing the ones my sister did I had to give it a try.

I bought the blue corduroy because I needed a fourth color, and the brown because the twill I had turned out to be too dark, but all the other fabrics came out of my scrap box.  Oh, except the printed felt.  I used sparkly felt for the teeth, and attached both the teeth and the spines with a blanket stitch.  I tried to match the decorative stitch around the belly with the critter, with varying degrees of success.  The gold buttons on the black monster came out of my button jar, the others from the W store.  After reading my sister's blog entry, I basically threw out the assembly instructions and put the little Kojis together in the way that seemed most reasonable to me.  It made turning the empty skins difficult, but far less difficult than the amount of hand sewing required in the original.

I hope the kids like them!

Further Proof I Am No Photographer

I have been busy playing video games and eating bonbons for the last while, instead of completing projects, and now I am in Christmas mode, so there will be fewer posts until after the holiday, so as to preserve the surprise.

I promised the younger of my goddaughters some pink overalls and finally managed to deliver.

I have absolute yards of dark pink fabric (it is either uncut corduroy or possibly velveteen, and 36" wide, so about 30 years old) that a friend of my MIL gave me when she was clearing out her stash. I made the garment (technically a jumpsuit) from Simplicity 8048, printed in 1998.  I could swear I first made it for my sister, but since the pattern is a size 7, she would have been far too old for it.  Hmm.
Anyway, I don't recommend corduroy for this pattern.  Turning the straps and the pockets was a nightmare.  Perhaps if I had used a cotton lining it would have worked better. The pockets are adorable - they have a little tie built in to the top that mimics the tie at the shoulders.  It took me the entire movie Despicable Me to turn the little buggers. If I had it to do again, I'd get a pink-and-white striped quilter's cotton to do the pocket and bodice lining. I bought a roll of daisy trim at "the W store" and attached it by simply running a line of stitches around the top and bottom.

Arrr! Make That Double-Yewwwww!

A friend was invited to a Renaissance Faire wedding and asked for a pirate blouse and vest for his costume.  I got the patterns, he bought the fabric.  Turned out well, I think.

Doesn't This Make You Want To Go Bowling?

I bought the last of this gorgeous print at a clearance sale (why can I never find this stuff in the regular bolts?!?), but it wasn't quite enough to make a shirt.  My Hawaiian father-in-law loves his aloha shirts, and yes, he's man enough to wear pink.  I got some solid sage material from a quilt shop - matched the sage color in the background print - for the sleeves and added the band.

All Wrapped Up

Another project for my goddaughters; this one for the eldest as a birthday present.  I fell in love with the fabric.  Something about seersucker, I guess.

I used an oriental fan button as the detail at the waist.

Twin Stars

This is the second time I've made this baby doll set (Butterick 4027, out of print), this time for my goddaughter.  It's criminally cute.
The first time I made it was for my then-stepniece.  We sent it to her for Christmas.  Apparently she was playing with it in her bedroom the day after, when her shrieks brought her mom and my brother running.  She'd discovered the extra clothes in the pocket.

How Much Is That Doggie In The Window

We draw names for our Christmas party every year; I drew one of our friends' girlfriend.  As I do not know her well, I asked for suggestions.  He recommended a purple stuffed animal.  Voila!

Simplicity 5310, for those interested.

A Very Dry Subject

My sister had decorated her bathroom in Hello Kitty, so I made her some towels as a house-warming present.

The picture I based the design on is from a sticker book.

Cat Lady

Sewing Machine cover and accessories pattern McCalls M5017, a birthday present for Mom.  You may get the idea she likes cats.

Berry Cute

After the experimental dresses, I made Strawberry Shortcake dresses for my goddaughters.  Dad bought me this length of fabric - unfortunately too "young" to use for myself - and I had enough for two little dresses.

That is their dad in the background.

Bridal Doll

I was asked to make a bridal doll for the niece of a co-worker.  This first picture is the bridal catalog photo I based the dress on.

They provided the doll (Tyler Wentworth) and paid me for the work.  It was an interesting project - I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

A Touch Of Spring

I bought two sizes of the same dress pattern to make dresses for my goddaughters.  I bought some inexpensive plain cotton to make "trial" versions and dressed them up with the embroidery machine.  Two years later, they're still wearing them.  ~Well, sort of, the older doesn't fit into hers any more, but she lets the younger borrow it. :-)

A Touch of Art

The Klimpt style cat was a less than successful effort with my embroidery machine.  I had not yet grasped the importance of stabilizer.

Old Blue Eyes

I barely remember this shirt!  I must have made it for my brother, it's his colors.

And I've Never Even Read Uncle Tom's Cabin

Ah, the Topsy-Turvey doll.  Made from a fabric craft panel (another of my weaknesses) that I bought on eBay, I did this for the daughter of one of my husband's co-workers.  They were having a baby, and I hoped that having her own baby would help the transition.

I glued the hair on - a horrible, HORRIBLE decision.  If I were doing it again, I'd make a "wig" and tack it on.  I also put an electronic music button in the chest of the sleeping side.  It plays Rock-a-Bye Baby, I think.  maybe it was Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

Kitties Galore

I sure got my money's worth out of the oriental blouse pattern.  This one was for Mom (Hi Mom!); again, don't know if she wore it.
The fabric was a perfect match for the ceramic cat buttons, though.  Did I mention I have a button problem?

The Reappearance of the Oriental Blouse

My poor sister gets the strangest presents from me.  I wonder if she ever wore it?

 I love the retro fish print.  Wish I'd bought more of the koi appliques when the Joann store across the street closed.  They have googly eyes.  GOOGLY EYES!!!!
The lily pads were one of my first projects on my embroidery machine.  I guess they turned out okay.

Interlude

This is not fabric.

Horrors!

There is this weird tree thing near the border between Utah and Nevada, out on the salt flats.  I took a picture of it once.  Look upon it and despair!

What's YOUR Favorite Christmas Carol?

I bought an excessive amount of Rudolph craft panels when they went on sale after Christmas.  I made this one up with a light up musical nose that plays Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, what else?  I got it from Sunshine Crafts online, but they don't seem to carry it any more.  It was a nightmare to put it!  I broke the wires connecting the nose to the music button; we had to buy a soldering iron and burn holes in my flexible cutting board (non-silicone) to fix it.  It turned out overwhelmingly cute.  Let's see if I can upload the Quicktime movie I took of it ...

Hey waddaya know.  I apologize for the quality.

Summer of Vine and Roses

More blouses for the (ex)s-i-l, alas.

Alice in Wonderland

Have you ever used pre-printed craft panels?  I get a kick out of them.  It's hard to find anything other than bags and aprons these days.  You may still be able to find this fairy tale doll panel on eBay, which is where I got her.  There are also Cinderella, Snow White, and Red Riding Hood.  I am a long-time Alice fan.

I have a couple to do for my goddaughters.  I ought to get around to it.

Hello, Kitty!

Remember those satin blouses?  This is the shoulder-opening knit version.

This is my sister wearing it.  Again, no faces, blah blah blah.

My sister and I are about 15 years apart in age and about 3% apart in personality.  We have our differences, of course - she's a tree hugger and I will always regret being too young to vote for Reagan - but we are remarkably similar.  It almost makes me feel sorry for my brother, who is a good man and a wonderful father but also often an real jerk.

Running the Brocade

Maybe that's why my mother-in-law never uses the wallet I made.  Maybe I am the only one who likes brocade.
Hmm.

 Eyeglasses and Tissue cases

 "Shoe Carrier" - one could put 

anything in there of course

 The infamous cosmetics case

Tri-fold wallet

The wallet is from a 70's era pattern book I got from Mom; the tissue case is of my own "design." (I cut a piece of brocade big enough to wrap around a small tissue pack, folded it over, and bound the edges.)  The others are Simplicity 5025 again.

I especially like the dragonfly beads on the zipper pulls.  You may guess that my mil likes dragonflies.