Not here, but...

It's been a while, a really long while, since I've posted here.

After a lot of consideration, I've decided that this blog has become to "braggy" and not very beneficial to anyone else. Instead, I'm now sharing some of my projects as tutorials over at www.atluceends.com.

I hope you'll join me over there! If you hop over now, you'll even be able to enter a giveaway if you get your comments in before 1/28/12 @ 5PM PST!

Today's Etsy Favorites #1

I thought I'd share some of my favorite Etsy finds every once in a while. Here's what I'm currently loving!

From left to right, top to bottom:

• Red Rose with Sapphire Crystal by krev
• Animal ABC Large Stickers Set of 26 by StephanieFizer
• Hanging Hearts Wall Graphic by oneupdesigns
• Cat Art Pilka Dot Kittens - Art Print by SimplyCutebyKaren

Just One Birdie

At the same time I purchased the Owl pattern (see previous post) I also got this bird pattern from Gingercake. It's even easier than the owl, if that's possible! Again, I modified it a little. I used felt for the eyes instead of fabric, and finished the wing edges rather than zig-zag stitching them all. It looks better and will stand up to baby play longer!

An Owl or Two

Last week we noticed that Halcyone loves the owl on our Pandora skin. She'll look at him and giggle, talk, and smile. See, he's really cute, right?

I was reminded of this cute Gingercake pattern I'd purchased back in December. We think one of the main reason's she likes him so much is because of his huge eyes. This was a super fast project. So here's what I ended up with! I modified the pattern a bit so that the head would be a different color and the wings have some cute rick-rack.

I'm working on another one for a friend. When it's done I'll post it too!

Belated Christmas

I started working on this ornament the end of November, finished the main pieces in the beginning of December, then stalled. I didn't have any large beads for the finishing touches so it never made it to our Christmas tree! While sorting through my current projects last week I found it, added the buttons and recently acquired beads, and stuffed it! I'm hoping to make a few more of these over the next few months to have a nice batch for this coming Christmas! The pattern can be found over at Attic24. Super easy!

Yet Another Gift...

Here's another wool pincushion I made as a Christmas gift! (I promise, this is the last pincushion!)

Dish Towels

Again, these were Christmas presents that I finished a few weeks ago and couldn't share until now! I found these cute tea towels at Ben Franklin and decided to embellish them with some fun fabric from my stash and extra wide rick-rack. I measured the towel width, cut the fabric 1 inch longer in either direction, and ironed down 1/2 inch on each side. I stitched them down all the way around about 1/8 inch from each edge, stuffing the rick-rack in as I went. If you try this, make sure to wash both the towels and the fabric you'll be using ahead of time since they both shrink, but at different rates!

Birdie Pin Cushions

I worked on these earlier in the month, but couldn't post them because they were Christmas gifts! I found the pattern in an older issue of Quilts and More. They were super easy and fun to put together. The hardest part was finding a heavy enough wooden spool to keep them from tipping over!

Dyed Burp Clothes

I finished a few of these a couple months before Halcyone was born, and a few I put together last week. We use these ALL the time!

I got white Gerber cloth diapers from Babies R Us and used the following steps:

1. Wash the diapers (I did a few onesies too!) on hot once, wash on cold once, dry in hot heat. This sets the size and gets the diapers all fluffy.

2. Get the dye ready. I used Dylon for Hand Use from JoAnn fabrics and was super happy with the result... much better than Rit. Empty the dye into a pan, adding the hot water as directed on the package. Be careful with the dye; it's pretty fine and can easy float around. Stir, making sure the dye is dissolved.

3. Fill your sink or a large pot with warm tap water, dissolving the salt as the dye package directs. Add the pan of dye water, stirring until it's all combined.

4. Add up to 4 items to the dye in the sink. 4 is kind of pushing the limit for a dark dye, but I think 3 works out well. The fewer items, the more concentrated the color will be. Make sure the items are all well submerged and that there are no air bubbles hiding underneath. Set the timer for 15 minutes and let soak.

5. Stir when the timer beeps. Reset the timer and stir again 3-4 more times, dyeing them for an hour or so. The longer you leave them in the brighter they'll be.

6. Drain the sink and rinse everything well in cold water. I'd say it takes about 10 minutes of rinsing. Rinse until the water runs clear. (Note, with the reds I was never able to get the water completely clear, just a very very slight pink coming out.)

7. Wash again! Wash in cold then hot and dry.

8. Next up, prepare scraps of fabric to sew down the thick center part of the diapers. I had to measure each one individually because the centers were all slightly different sizes. I found that fat quarters were just long enough to work. Measure the width of the inner seams and the length. Add 1 inch to both and cut the cutesie fabric. Iron each edge under 1/2".

9. Pin the fabric onto the diaper in a few places to keep it tacked down. Sew with a zig-zag stitch, just inside the fabric, not on the diaper at all (except obviously on the back!).

Ta-Da! There you go! Super easy and fun.

Because Haly Needed a Kitty

I've been on the lookout for a stuffed kitty for Haly for a while, but haven't seen one that looked cute enough. Then I saw this cute bunny pattern on one of the blogs I follow. (Sorry, I can't remember which blog!) It linked to another blog where someone had given the bunny kitty ears and a long tail. So cute! I decided to try it. First I made the bunny, then the kitty. I had to remake the kitty ears because the first set I made where too tall, making her look more like a mouse! This is a pretty easy pattern to follow, and really doesn't take much time at all! The pattern suggests using old t-shirt fabric, but I didn't have any so used flannel scraps instead. It worked pretty well with my walking foot to keep the fabric from stretching.