Crochet Edge Skirt

Hello!!! I am still here.
I have been sewing quite a bit over the past weeks, but do not always feel like taking and editing the pictures.
Today, I just want to show a few pictures of a new set of skirts I made for the girls. They are made from pinwheel corduroy that I found in my stash.
The things, that are different and special about these skirts are the exposed zipper and crochet border around the bottom edge.

I purchased the zippers here. They have a ton of different colors and shipping took only about 10 days. Considering the store is located in Hong Kong, not too bad.

The edge is two rows of single crochet stitches. To get a row of loops to start with, I simply used embroidery thread and used a running stitch all the way around. I made sure to make it rather loose, so it wouldn't bunch up later. The fluffy yarn was left over from these Hello Kitty hats.

Hello Kitty Hat

Hello and Happy New Year!
It has been a while. Also, there has not been much sewing going on over the past two months. But, I did get my machine serviced. So, it's all ready for me, whenever I find the time.

I have been sitting at Gymnastics classes a lot lately: 1.5 hours at a time;

w-a-i-t-i-n-g.

So, I needed something to do. New hats for the girls it was.

Anika requested a Hello Kitty hat. Here it is. It's super soft and warm, as I lined it with fleece. The white is a cotton blend and the pink a super soft baby yarn. The Kitty's eyes and nose are cut from woolfelt and stitched on to the hat.

Number 2 will get started tonight. Kordula said, she wanted an Angry Bird hat.... Uhm, I don't think so.... ;-)

Crochettop Dress Tutorial

I just remembered that I never got around to posting again about the crochet-top dresses I made earlier this season. Reason being, I have no model shots.... ;-).

Anyway, I have put together a little pattern for you to use, if you wish to make a dress just like it. Simply click on this link and download via the free version.

Enjoy.

Fall Dresses

It's been a while. Again!

I have finally managed to finish one of the fall dresses I have planned for the girls. The second one will hopefully be done this weekend. The dress has a crochet top with an a-line skirt attached to it.

 Different corduroy prints in the front and cute ruffles on the bottom

 Simple back.

And cute polymer clay button closure on the side.

I will post more pictures and some how-toos once the other dress is done and I can get some "model-pics" of them.

Crochet Hats

Unfortunately, Fall is coming in strides in our part of the country. No more 90-degree weather and some of the leaves are starting to turn colors already. Soon, we will be engulfed in grey skies for the next 6 months. So, what's better than wearing some bright colors?!

I made these crochet hats for the girls the other day. And they love 'em. I combined 3 or 4 different tutorials I had found online to get them to look the way I wanted. And I really think they came out cute.

I kind of caught the crocheting-bug and am now trying to figure out how to make dresses for the girls. We'll see... Sounds like a lot of work.

New Quilt

This project was really not on my radar until I received a HUGE bag full of crochet flowers from my Grandma. I had asked her to please make a few for me, so I could add them as embellishments to dresses and shirts for my girls. But then, she sent so many, that I wanted to make something that last a bit longer than just one season.
So, I arranged them on a piece of fabric and turned that into a quilt. It's not the greatest design ever, but it's a keepsake and the kids love it, and the cat, too. As you can see...

The front is made from a mix of Shade Garden fabrics and Chick A Dee, Chick A Doo Dots. Also, you can barely tell from the picture, but on some of the flowers I added the Polymer clay buttons I made a while ago. I am happy to report that they hold up great during washing and drying.

On the back I used several remnants of vintage sheets and pillow cases and appliqued a big cute owl on it.

I am proud to say, that NO fabric was bought specifically for this project! Yay, for using up my stash. The quilt is about 45x60 inches.

Hmhmm, I also ventured into making crochet flowers for, yeah, well, I don't really know.... But, I only got this far....

Maybe more some other time.
Have a great week everybody. I think for me it will be time to start working on stocking up my shop for the Holidays. I have a few ideas for some new things. More soon.

On a personal note: Today was my first day at the new office of my company. The offices moved over the weekend. Now I have a 55 mile drive every morning/evening. Up from about 32 miles. It stinks! But, it will get worse once school starts. Our kids are going to schools that are out of our district: so no school buses. I will have to drive close to 20 miles out of my way to drop them off before going to work.... With the traffic situation here that will amount to about 2 hours each way (including time to drop everybody off).
The reason I am telling you this?! - I want some pitty, of course!

Awe!

A dream come true?! Or should I be worried?!
The other day, Yanic came to me and asked me if I could show him how to crochet. Of course, I said, and WHY? at the same time. Turns out they have started a Crochet Club at school and he wanted to be part of it. He thinks it's COOL!

So, one evening we sat down and I showed him how to crochet a chain. I think he is a natural... ;-) I only showed him once and he was already doing it by himself afterwards.

Now, whenever he has the chance he sits down and makes "chains" and the stitches are pretty even!

At his first Crochet Club meeting he was the Star, since he was the only one who knew how to hold the yarn.
Next week they will start working on a Bookmark.

There is only one thing he asked from me:...not to tell his Hockey Buddies! I think I can do that.

Little Miss-Sweater and Repurposed Leggings

So, "K" is my Sweater-girl. She will wear a jacket/cardigan/sweater/shrug any day, time and location, no matter what the weather is. And, YES, she also wears them to bed. So, I felt kind of obligated to give her one that is not store bought. Initially, I wanted to knit a cardigan for her, but then settled on this super easy and cute crochet pattern from Lionbrand. And we all know, crocheting is much faster than knitting!

I followed the pattern in the largest size. I made the sleeves a little longer, though (from 1/2 to 3/4 length). Which, ultimately caused me to run out of blue yarn. Luckily, I have enough scraps of other colors on hand. I think it looks pretty with the pink cuffs and collar.

She loves it and has not taken it off since Sunday afternoon. Except when changing from Jammie tops to shirt and back.
In the meantime "A" requested a cardigan like this one as well. First she wanted yellow.... and then changed her mind to pink yesterday morning ... But, again, crocheting is fast. So, no big deal to lose an hour worth of work. Right? Right!

Then, a couple of days ago I ran into this awesome Tutorial at MakeItAndLoveIt. Out came a new set of leggings for the girls.

They look cute but are a bit too baggy and long. So, I will have to redo them before they can actually "really" wear them.

I am excited for my next post. A few weeks ago I ventured into drawing my own patterns for pants (children's of course). Can't wait to show you the results. I just need to find some time to edit the pics that go with the post.

Until then, Happy Karneval/Fasching/Mardi Gras/Paczki Day (I have had two already this morning and feel like I have been run over by a train!)

The BIG 2 !!!

Anika and Kordula are 2! (Quote: "I pitty, I two" = I'm pretty, I'm two)

It seems like yesterday that they were these tiny squirts, born at 31 weeks.

And now they are so big already, and most importantly, healthy. Time just flies when you are busy and having fun :-)

We did not have a big party for them this year: none of our family is around at this time and they don't really have friends they hang out with yet ;-) So, just the five of us, we went to the local petting zoo in the morning, to lunch at a restaurant (which is VERY rare for us) and we had a lovely afternoon at home. To go to the petting zoo was perfect, because of all the baby animals that are around right now, the kids had fun petting them and just running around. I wish, it would have been a little warmer, but I guess for Michigan you cannot expect more than the 50 degrees that we had.


And did I mention that I attempted to only have handmade gifts for them?! I almost succeeded. The only thing, I didn't make was one of the doll cribs (the other one I didn't make either, but I refurbished an old antique one). So, here is a list and some pictures of all the things I made for them:

Spring Jackets

Birthday Crowns (there is a great tutorial and pattern over here)

Birthday Outfits (reversible skirt and pinafore top)

Doll Quilt and Pillow

Crochet Playfood (nice diet so far, isn't it ;-))

Birthday Banner

Little Flower Purses

50 Posts Bloggyversary...

... and no free patterns or tutorials since my third post?!?! I am ashamed of myself. Well, let's change that right now. Just in time for Valentine's Day.


How about some yummy crochet mini cupcakes?

Here we go:





Mini-Cupcake Tutorial (finished size about 2.5 inches tall)

Materials
- A cotton yarn for cake (brown or crème)
- B cotton yarn for icing (any “flavor” you like)
- button for top
- Size F crochet hook
- Fiber fill
- Needle for weaving in ends and sewing Cake to Icing
- Needle and thread to sew on button

Cake:
Rnd 1: with A channel 2, work 6 sc into first ch (6 sts)
Place marker to indicate beginning of roundRnd 2: 2 sc in each st. around (12 sts) Rnd 3: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc; rep from * around - 18 sts
Rnd 4: work in back loops only, *sc 1, Sc2tog; repeat from * around (12 sts)
Rnd 5: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc; rep from * around - 18 sts
Rnd 6: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next 2 sc; rep from * around - 24 sts
Rnd 7-8: sc in each st around – 24 sts, bind off and leave long tail to later attach Icing to cake

Icing
Rnd 1: with B channel 2, work 6 sc into first ch (6 sts)
Place marker to indicate beginning of roundRnd 2: 2 sc in each st. around (12 sts) Rnd 3: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc; rep from * around - 18 sts
Rnd 4: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next 2 sc; rep from * around - 24 sts
Rnd 5-6: sc in each st around – 24 sts,
Rnd 7: *3 DC (double crochet) in first st, skp one, sl st in next; repeat from * around; bind off and weave in end

Attach Cake to Icing by sewing the loops of Rnd 6 on the under side of the Icing onto the top of the Cake. Finish about ¾ around, stuff with fiber fill, finish attaching the Icing, bind off and weave in end. Sew decorative button to top of the Cupcake.

These are perfect for pretend play. Let me know if anything is unclear, and I will help.

My very first Craftshow

I was so excited that I had finally found a Craftshow in the area that a) wasn't cancelled due to lack of participating sellers and b) didn't cost hundreds of dollars for a table. So, this past weekend I set up shop at a local Holiday Arts & Crafts Show.

For it being my first show I thought my display looked pretty decent. If I do it again, however, I think I need to not have any items pre-wrapped and have more items hanging from something so they are more visible.

I did have a drawing which was my conversation starter. And it kind of worked. I asked people to help me find a name for this new toy ("Jingeling Jacks" ended up being the winner).

For my next show I wish:

a) the economy is better, so more people come out to buy things

b) we don't have the first significant snow storm of the year, so more people come out to buy things

c) the show organizer advertises more in advance, so more people come out to buy things

d) the road leading to the show place is not closed for construction (with a 5 mile detour), so more people come out to buy things.

That's all. Not too much to ask for, or?!

Tackeling the big Honey-Do-List

I am starting to work down my list. I finished the Christmas Cards this morning, while Anika and Kordula were playing nicely with each other for close to an hour without fighting once or coming to ask me for anything... Here they are, all 50 of them!

I have also started to work on my cowl. I have actually started and re-started three times now. But every time it just didn't look right. So, this morning I was brave enough to face the Black-Friday-Crowds andwent to the local craft store (A+K in tow) and bought some different yarn. I hope this one will work better. The first one was a merino wool blend, now I have 100% merino wool.

Immer kaelter....

Es wird kaelter und kaelter. Gestern Nacht waren -2 Grad!!!

Auch haben wir kaum geschlafen. Anika war die ganze Nacht auf. Keine Ahnung, was los war. Sie hat nur 3 Stunden geschlafen. Von 1-4 Uhr. Vielleicht bekommt sie ihre hinteren Backenzaehne. Wer weiss. John und ich sind heute jedenfalls wie geraedert.

John und Yanic haben gestern Abend Raumschiffe aus Legos gebaut, waehrend ich alte Wolle aufgebraucht habe. John sagt, Yanic sieht wie eine Oma aus?! Stimmt das?! Er mag die Muetze jedenfalls.

Popocatepetl etc.

I am back from a short business trip to Puebla in Mexico. On our way back we had a beautiful view of the volcanoes. Popocatepetl was releasing some steam...

I took some yarn with me in hopes I would be able to make a neckwarmer. I managed to do so. Not even that: Before we even landed in Mexico, I had finished two and was out of yarn. So, the flight back was very long and boring...

Also, I am exicted to let you know that Freido the Frog is being featured on an Etsy Treasury right now. Take a look:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=29880_id=29880

Happy Little Acorn

As promised I was planning to post some of my crochet patterns. Recently I made a cute set of acorns, a chestnut and drawstring bag for my shop. I really liked how the Acorns turned out and wanted to share with you how they are made. Let me know if you find any mistakes in my pattern or if anything is unclear.

This Acorn is worked starting with the stem.

So here it goes:

You will need scrap amounts of brown and one other color of your choice. I used 100% cotton yearn. Further, you will need two safety eyes or scrap of black yarn for the eyes and fiber fill. I used a F-size hook and my Acorns are about 3 inches tall.
Rnd 1: with brown channel 7, slip stitch in second loop from hook and the following four loops, work 6 sc into first ch (6 sts)
Place marker to indicate beginning of roundRnd 2: 2 sc in each st. around (12 sts) Rnd 3: *2 sc in next sc, sc in next sc; rep from * around - 18 sts
Rnd 4-6: sc in each sc around – 18 sts
Rnd 7: switch color and work round in back loops only. This will form the separation between the Acorn’s cup and the body. – 18 sts
Rnd 8-10: sc in each sc around – 18 sts

Attach safety eyes or embroider eyes with French Knot.

Rnd 11: *Sc2tog, sc in next sc; rep from * around - 12 sts
Rnd 12: sc in each sc around – 12 sts

Stuff Acorn with fiber fill.

Rnd 13: Sc2tog around – 6 sts
Leave tail and bind off. Weave tail through each stitch, pull tight to close opening and weave in ends. Voila!

Sunny the Wiener Dog

Sunny, my very own creation was just featured on a Treasury List on the Etsy Website http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=29271. I am very excited about it, as it tells me that there are people out there who like what I am creating. This gives me another boost to keep sewing, crocheting, knitting, etc.