Patchwork Pillow

 Day 1 ::  2010 Craft Books

Sewing Bits and Pieces: 35 Projects Using Fabric Scraps by Sandi Henderson

 with my environmental engineering background & the reduce, reuse, recycle thing in me i enjoy these types of books that give me ideas on how to use the scraps of fabrics leftover from my previous sewing projects.  i sewed the patchwork pillow, made from leftovers from a bundle of cotton coordinating fabrics in browns/greens/blues, plus a little bit of brown & white linen, & then for the back of the pillow some white linen ~ all from my fabric stash.  this was the first time i made an envelope pillow back, it's nice to be able to easily remove the pillow form, & also not have to fuss with sewing a zipper. speaking of pillows, be sure to check out Pillow Month at Sew, Mama, Sew!

 i wanted to be sure to mention that there is a free pattern from the book, it's called the Saturday Market Skirt (a woman's skirt ~ a project that proves that using your fabric leftovers is not limited to only smaller projects)

photos of any projects made from this book can be added to the Sewing Bits & Pieces Flickr group, also take a look around there to see the projects from the book.

see you tomorrow for day 2 !

2010 craft books

 raise your hand if you're a craft book junkie. the whole month of February i'll be blogging all about 2010 craft books, my favorite ones & what i created from them.  craft books can be so inspiring, plus i enjoy a challenge ~ i want to try & learn new things when it comes to crafting.

(i did this last year, check out 2009 craft books here)

this is a fun winter project for me, something to keep me going during this long, cold, dark, snowy Minnesota winter we've been having.  maybe you'd like to chime in & mention what were some of your favorite crafty type books from 2010.

so come back tomorrow, i'll see you then !

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 !