Mother Bear Project Teddy Bears

 "Love cannot remain by itself ~ it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service."  ~  Mother Teresa

 you know how it goes, when you finish a knitting project you have leftover yarn, then after finishing several knitting projects you have even more leftover yarn... so what can you do with all this leftover yarn?

i found the perfect project for some leftover yarn... the Mother Bear Project Teddy Bear.  the Mother Bear Project was started by Amy Berman & these hand-knit bears give comfort & hope to needy children in Africa & Haiti.  more information can be found in the Knitting for Peace book or at the website.  i was very touched by these stories (this quote can be found here):

"Berman has received hundreds of calls and letters saying how much the bears mean to the children. One young boy in South Africa rushed into his home to save his teddy bear just before the house was washed away by a flood. Another story was told by one of Berman’s distributors about a 7-year-old girl in Zambia who had AIDS. Her classmates refused to play with her, and soon she became too sick to attend school at all. Before she died, she asked to be buried with her teddy bear because, she said, it was her only friend. Her family honored her wish."

 i was thinking how silly it was having this extra yarn just sitting around doing nothing when it could be used to knit up a simple bear which would give a needy child such comfort... so here are the 5 Mother Bear Project Teddy Bears i've knit so far...

 Mother Bear 1 was knit flat using the Mother Bear Project Teddy Bear pattern found in the Knitting for Peace book, be prepared to spend a bit of time sewing up all the seams.  i really like how the 3 colored stripped scarf turned out

 Mother Bear 2 was knit in the round ~ for me this is the way to go, knitting in the round... oh, how i love seamless knitting !  no time spent sewing up seams :)  also for all the ones that i knit in the round i grafted all 4 paws closed

 Mother Bear 3 (knit in the round) was knit using the remaining yarn (dyed with blue Kool-Aid) from the Tiny Tea Leaves cardi that i made for my daughter

 Mother Bear 4 (knit in the round) i was really pleased with how this one turned out, this guy got black shoes

 Mother Bear 5 (knit in the round) i ran out of brown yarn, so this teddy bear is gray & black shoes for this one, too

 one last big hug to all the bears before they go off to Africa or Haiti to give a needy child a hug :)

pink dress

 {prepare your eyes for lots of pink}

November & December's pattern for the Carefree Clothes for Girls sew-along was the dress with contrasting patches.

 my daughter wanted a pink dress, would you call the color Honeysuckle ?  (Pantone 2011 color of the year)

 instead of adding the contrasting patches to the dress i made a pompom trim keyhole neckline & added a belt

 one sewn button loop in the front

 sewn button loops tutorial found here

 6 sewn button loops in the back

 with a vintage ribbon belt

 with a homemade pompom trim belt

 with the vintage ribbon layered on top of the pompom trim belt

which belt do you prefer with the dress ?

GF Christmas baking

 some baking was taking place earlier ~ all yummy gluten-free desserts for Christmas... Key Lime Pie, crust made with GF graham crackers...

 Chocolate Cranberry Cookies recipe from Gluten-Free Cooking for Dummies...

Basic Vanilla Dough (made with gluten-free flour) prepared as Shaped Icebox Cookies, these were made with pistachios, dried cranberries, & mini chocolate chips ~ bon appetit !

GF Christmas barks

 some yummy barks for Christmas & all are gluten-free !
the variations:
:: crushed candy cane
:: crushed gluten-free OREO cookie
:: mini chocolate chips
:: toffee bits, sliced almonds, & mini chocolate chips
:: gluten-free pretzels & crushed candy cane
:: pistachio & dried cranberry (i think this is one of my favorites; salty, crunchy, sweet, tart, chewy all in one plus being green & red makes it very Christmas-y)

homemade bird feeder

 i was inspired by Joanie's flickr photo to make these bird feeders, happy to find a way to reuse the plastic nets (vegetable packaging) i had saved... & was happy to reuse the apples we had for candlestick holders... cut deep ridges into an apple, spread peanut butter on it, roll it in bird seed, place in plastic nesting, then hang from tree.  bon appetit birds !

Nordic Crosses Gift Wrap

 

Kathryn from The Pickled Herring kindly asked me to be a guest blogger during her Scandinavian Christmas series.  Today you can head on over to read my guest blog post about Nordic Crosses Gift Wrap & be sure to check out all of the Scandinavian Christmas posts (they are December 13-23).

frozen cranberry wreath

 with decorating i fall into the "less is more" category... i wanted to make a couple of outdoor decorations for the winter using fresh cranberries, so i made this frozen cranberry wreath.

to make one: add some water to the bottom of a bundt pan, cover with fresh cranberries, tuck in the 2 ends of red wool yarn (so you'll be able to hang the wreath), place outside until frozen.  when completely frozen, pop the wreath out & hang outside.

 i also made this cranberry & twig frozen candle holder...

i got the idea from this page of Christmas Ideas magazine.

very simple & uncomplicated things to do to make things more festive ~ enjoy !