Hello Kitty bag tags!!

My daughter wanted a gift for her friend's birthday, so she says, "Can you make me something Hello Kitty for her birthday, by ...like, tomorrow?" Yeah, that's how we roll :D When you know you've got a yarn and fabric stash the size of mine, such requests don't faze you! So, off I went to ask the Google fairies to find me a pattern, and here is what they came up with...Hello Kitty bag tags!! Quick enough to whip up, and works for any age Hello Kitty fans :)

Moving on to Felt penny creations!

So.....this past Friday, I headed out to the Textile Center in Minneapolis for their exhibition: Common Thread 2015, and got some fresh inspirations. One of them, I decided to try out right away...It was their felt coasters/ candle mats with a beaded edge. So here is my pair

Pin keeps/ pin cushion seem to have reached collectible status :) plus they are fun projects to make, so here's my first felt one:

I just did the outline of the paisley shape with chalk, and made all the details free hand. I'm sure I'll be making a ton more of these. I have a lot of felt, and two garbage bags full of good quilting cotton scraps to use up!! Haven't broken my pledge to not buy any more fabric at the stores for several years now, but of course, I still go shop for yarn which I seem to consume by the ton :)
Next on my list of felt adventures is a felt penny rug! How about all you crafty souls, what have you been up to??

One more painting framed, and a pattern for a laptop bag!

I'm sharing with all you super talented people some of my glass paintings. I made these during my 2012 trip to India and framed most of them after I got back to Minnesota. The bottom Krishna one, however, just got framed this week though, mainly because I am too cheap to go buy a frame at a store and would rather keep scrounging around at garage sales and the like till I find one that fits just perfect :) Oh well....more money left over to buy yarn, that's what I like to say :)
I would also like to share a new laptop bag I ended up sewing for myself, again with materials sourced mainly from church sales ( I made a commitment to myself to not buy fabric full price from a store anymore, since I don't really find time to sew too much anymore!).

I used this faux leather fabric and embossed suede fabric for the appliques. I cut 2 pieces 15 X 13" for the shell, and 2 pieces the same size for the lining. The middle strip is 43" x 3.5" to give a boxy width to it. I meant to put a button in the middle of the flower, but upon digging through my treasures of appliques from India, ended up loving how this one looks instead.

I just free hand drew my pattern out, cut the pieces and drew around them on the suede fabric, even though I could easily have used freezer paper instead. I love my new bag, and am glad I did not cave and use a store-bought bag to replace my previous one which lasted a good 6 years. That one was my first experiment with felt penny embroidery, which I intend to get back now.....
Hope life is treating all of you crafty (in a good way :D) souls well! I would love to hear what you think about my bag :) Stay strong, and keep on crafting :)

c2c blanket completed!....and don't take crochet hooks when flying to Mexico :(

We had a nice family vacation, flying from Minnesota (USA Midwest) to Cozumel, Mexico for 6 days. Sun, sand and scuba diving :) It was great. Before leaving, my husband warned me to pack enough yarn so I wouldn't run out!! (Last time, we took a road trip to Yellowstone Park and ran out of yarn. Had to drive 22 miles to find a Walmart in Montana!) 25 years of marriage, and he's finally starting to get it. "You won't be able to find a Walmart in Mexico", he says. So yes, I packed a LOT of yarn (3 crocheters worth- both my girls crochet as well)..I almost finished a c2c Corner to Corner or diagonal stripes blanket, but on our flight back, the Mexican airport authorities wouldn't allow me to bring my hooks back on the flight!! My options were either to give them up or pay $25 to get my bag (with the hooks) checked in. Either way, I wouldn't be able to crochet on the flight... I ended up giving them my hooks :( How much harm could I inflict with a Sz 6 hook, I wonder? So PSA here....Don't take hooks or knitting needles to Mexico, because US TSA rules don't hold.
Here is my c2c blanket, with a nice wide lacy border, and 3 flowers sewn on....

And finally, I leave you with a peek into an intertidal pool from one of the beaches at Cozumel...sea urchins!

Happy 2015, everyone! I go back to school tomorrow in frigid sub-zero temps, to look forward to Spring break now :) Hope all of you enjoyed time with family, regardless of whether you got an extended break or not....I would love to hear about it!

What a fun guys hat pattern!

Moogly had this pattern for a hat for a very long time, and yes, I had seen it earlier. But what made me try it out right away was Stitch11's color combination and version. The pattern is the Leaping Stripes beanie by Tamara Kelly. Her video tutorial was super helpful. I just made one change, and that was to do the brim in all sc's instead of doing the sideways rows. My husband loved how the hat fits, and offered to pay me cash :D for one right away!

I guess the camo combination didn't really show the pattern very well :( Oh, no more of those then!
I also made an Infinity shells cowl (Pattern from The Crochet Crowd)....here is a photo...

Enjoying my 16 day winter break right now, so will definitely have more completed projects to share :) I'll be delighted if you leave me a comment about your projects.

Boot cuff BONANZA!!

These still seem to be really popular. I didn't think they would continue selling this year as well...I sold quite a bunch of these last year :) So I was pleasantly surprised to see my sales of these pick up at a rapid pace as Fall turned to Winter! Here are some patterns that I have been making, some of these are variations of patterns I found online....

 

The brown shell pattern ones are based on the Mariposas boot cuff but I did not like the idea of doing the short rows for the bottom, so I ended up just doing regular single crochets. Have any of you lovely ladies been making boot cuffs lately?

Chunky yarn cowls and neck warmers! 'tis the season :)

I had to find all sorts of patterns to use up the chunky yarn I wrote about in my last blog post, and hats and neck warmers/ cowls appear to be a good use of this kind of yarn. So, of course, as I started searching, I found that all the generous souls of blogland had put forth their magical creativity into tons of these projects...

The white one is the Buttoned shell stitch cowl from Stephanie of All About Ami, and the black and white one is from Petals to Picots! Loved both of these patterns, I will surely be making a tone more of these. I added a hand painted parrot bead/ button I had purchased in India last summer to add the Awww :) factor.  These would make such fun gifts too.
I am now making some of the Candy Swirl Placemats (from The Crochet Crowd) for my younger daughter to give as Christmas gifts to her teachers. That's another fun crochet project and gift to whip up!
And yes, I'm now looking forward to Winter break...I get 16 days off, which means more time to crochet :))