more knitting

DONE!

not just 1, BOTH socks are done.

and they fit, which is always a bonus.

don't they look lovely?

RAINBOW BRIGHT

TADA!
aren't they SOOOO awesome!?!?!?!?

it's funny, I decided to do them after I saw these, but I don't have any pink, so I used yellow (the bean's other favorite color, and a color I don't particularly like, so I don't mind using up the skein), and they totally reminded me vaguely of Rainbow Brite, but I was too lazy to look her up to see if it was actually like her.... and then as I've worked on them, other people have mentioned the Rainbow Brite similarity, so I was a little bummed that I'd unknowingly copied Rainbow Bright, but then today I looked her up, and, dude, her pants aren't NEARLY as cool as these. so there.

I totally made up the skirt part, and I love it. The ruffles have a LOT of body, obvi, so they BOUNCE when she walks. it's so super cute.

I'll make the Dude get pics of her in them tomorrow. but I couldn't wait to post, because they're done, and they're cute.
(oh, and to give credit where credit is due, I sort of followed this tutorial to do a crocheted bobble border on the skirt, but I totally didn't really follow the directions, so I don't know exactly what I did, so... wow, I'm babbling.)

a silly bean...

I made my mom this apron... she likes aprons, and when I saw the fabric, I knew she HAD to have it...

it's a pretty simple apron, with a heart shaped pocket, and the waistband/ruffle/pocket are all with the red fabric I'm still working through...

when I tried to model it for a pic, The Bean INSISTED on wearing it too, so I put it on her...

she doesn't have any exposure to princesses of the disney variety, but MAN, she has the pose DOWN!

more stirings!

I love string quilts. they're sooooo sooooo pretty!
I think they're extra special because you make them from scraps (usually.... I bought the fabrics for the wedding quilt I made last summer), and to me, that's the best part of a quilt, having bits and pieces of memories all stitched together...
anyway, one of my Bees asked for a spiderweb string block for this month, so I whipped it out tonight.


I love her scraps, and can't wait to see the finished quilt!

finished embroidery

my husband's grandmother loves bunnies, and his grandfather loves DC-2 airplanes (he was a pilot, in the air force, and then a commercial pilot, for his whole career, even flying Air Force 2!)

so I made my super talented hubs draw this picture of a bunny flying a plane...

and then I embroidered it on linen, with DMC floss... I think I used 2 strands of floss for everything....

I'm in love.
I think I'm going to make it into a pillow case for a small round throw pillow, and it'll be a late xmas present...

christmasy goodness...

most of what I'm working on can't be shown till after a certain upcoming holiday...
but here's what I've made to decorate my own house this year...

a tree skirt (the Bean really liked this sparkly pinecone fabric, and I couldn't think of what else to do with it... we needed a treeskirt anyway... no. we didn't. but we didn't HAVE a tree skirt, so while being unneccessary in reality, it was a fun project...)
I cut all that gingham on the bias, and then ruffled it... thank GOODNESS for my ruffle foot, which made things relatively painless...

I also whipped out this string pillow, because we can never have enough pillowcases and throw pillows, right?

Bee block catch-up!

Flying Geese: this one is totally my favorite, because a) I'm a total dork, and came up with this mathmatically based block; do you know what it is?); and b) there wasnt' enough fabric, but I totally made it work....

a rectangle in a rectangle with Flee Market Fancy (my first time working with it, LOVE it wish there was more!!)

wonky christmas stars (this was soooooo fast and easy, I def see more of these in my future!)

"green crazy patchwork"

a little gnomy-gnome....

I stitched up this gnome for D a while ago, but he asked me for a blanket and pillow for his little gnomy.
LUCKILY, I won a small charm pack from the fabric designer right around the same time, so I sewed up all the little squares (perfect 25 of them), backed them with D's favorite print, bound them with wood grain print left over from C's quilt (that D stole), and then D and I quilted it together.


The Bean totally wants one too, but I don't have any more of this fabric, and I'm assuming that D will get bored of it rather quickly, and then she can have it. she covets it greatly... (she has a small gnome, the 2nd smallest of the panels, and she has multiple doll quilts and pillows already)

here's the back, you can see the binding, which he loves.

and here's the front... it was really hard to figure out how to quilt them, quickly, and not make it look super girly... I think the layout sort of makes the pink blend, instead of being as girly as it could be...
D drew all the quilting lines for me; I held the ruler for some of them, and he traced on either side, "to make a road for his cars to drive on," and he also drew a circle (sorta, I mean, come on, he's 4) all around it, so the cars would have a track...

so some of my "uh-oh, is it too girly" worry was CLEARLY unneccessary....

Driftwood collecting...

I want to make C a driftwood wreath for Xmas, so I coerced my dad to accompany us to the beach this afternoon. D was a great helper, finding lots of driftwood bits for me, while the Bean and grandpa explored the tide pools.
I haven been posting much lately, as I'm busy being one of Santa's elves, and I don't want to spoil the surprises, but I've got lots of pics ready for just after Xmas...

busy bee...

just playing with strips....