Car Caddy, Part II

My SIL read my last post(!) and sweetly sent a photo of Milo's car caddy.

The Missing Car Caddy and a Pillowcase

I was just enjoying Homemade by Jill's latest post, when I realized I never posted pictures of the Cozy Car Caddy I made from her
tutorial. Apparently I didn't photograph it, which is a bummer because I was tickled with how it turned out. I carried it around the house for a couple of days and forced everyone to admire before surrendering it to Milo at his birthday party. Anyway, check the tutorial out if you're so inclined; this would make a great Christmas gift for a little guy or gal who loves small cars.

Instead of Milo's car caddy, I leave you with a pillowcase I embroidered.

Doll Clothes: I'm Hooked

Well, I held out for two years. Those tiny patterns for 18" doll clothes struck me as awfully tedious and a little intimidating. Last Christmas, Mom surprised each of her older granddaughters with a full wardrobe of adorable, homemade clothes for their American Girl dolls, and I gratefully thought "Better her than me!" But after seeing the pre-printed fabric pattern kits on Spoonflower today, I finally got the urge to give it a try. Of course I'd picked up a few Simplicity doll clothes patterns years ago during one of JoAnn's $1 pattern sales, so all we had to do was select the fabric from my stash, and an hour later, a dress was born.


















Totally gratifying. I see many more of these in my future.

A couple of towels

I embroidered these towels and sent them out as gifts for friends recently. This one used Sublime Stitching's Camp Out Transfers and went to some fellow Airstream enthusiasts who've just welcomed twins to their family.














And the other is from one of Wild Olive's many cute patterns. I packed it up with a set of the new chocolate-color Fiesta ware for talented photographer (and fellow Fiesta collector) Elizabeth.














Too bad I don't share her photo skills...

Hooking

If you're on my Christmas list, be prepared to receive a scarf this year. I've been turning them out like crazy. I love the Stitch & Bitch Crochet One-Skein Scarf pattern and found some other great patterns on Ravelry.

This cowl is the Martha Cowl Scarf by Little Thingies.














Here's one of many One-Skein Scarves piling up in my sewing room.


















And I love-love-love this soft wool yarn from Italy.

Welcoming Baby Boys

We've been busy welcoming baby boys to the world. I made the Beatles outfit for baby Julien, and Snoopy for baby Jordan. The crocheted cotton caps are another pattern from Polka Dot Posh, and the pants are Made by Rae's Big Butt Baby Pants.

Booties

I'm in love with every single pattern at Polka Dot Posh. Fortunately I've needed gift ideas for several babies lately. These little green booties were my first PDP project.














The covered buttons match the fabric in the onesie.

Pilot's leash

I made this leash for a friend's dog, Pilot, using Anna Maria Horner's tutorial. The "Play Ball!" ribbon came from our local Michael's craft store.

Animal House

It's been a crazy-busy summer. Too much to do, never enough time. I went on a simplification kick and spent weeks decluttering. One of the last things on the decluttering to-do list was to donate some cat food (flavors our three cats won't eat) to the local animal shelter. I'm still not sure exactly how it happened...but we dropped off the cat food and came home with our second puppy in four months.

So much for simplifying.












Zeke and Honey

Tramping, stitching, and going home again

While we were trailer camping ("tramping") over the Memorial Day weekend, I spent one lazy afternoon in the shade, working on this linen pillow cover. The pattern caught my eye last month as I prepared a stitching project to take to an out-of-state conference for work. It reads "East or West, home is best."














The free vintage pattern is available on Flickr from Doe-C-Doe.

A quilt for Robbie

I'm sending this little quilt off today for a friend's baby boy. Have I mentioned that I'm in love with my walking foot? The tutorial for the Crazy Nine Patch blocks is from Oh, Fransson!


























Have a happy holiday weekend!

Onesie Winner and Silly Berries

Our May Giveaway Day winner is Stella from The Golden Adventures of A Very Dark Horse. I'm delighted to make a custom onesie for her adorable baby Eleanor. Congratulations, Stella! Thanks again to everyone who dropped by and left such sweet comments--and a heartfelt welcome to those who are now following the blog!

The strawberry patch at a nearby farm was loaded with beautiful berries this weekend. While Olivia and I picked two flats' worth, she got such a kick out of finding some "silly" ones and insisted that we take a picture when we got them home.














I froze most of the berries for green smoothies, but it wouldn't be berry season without a pound cake.

Monogramming everything in sight

The Great May Giveaway ends today! If you're here from Sew, Mama, Sew! and you'd like to enter my drawing, please click down to the previous post and leave a comment there. It's been fabulous hearing from so many people and discovering all sorts of delightful new blogs to admire.

I posted quite a while ago about the coffee cozies I was working on. Typically, they ended up being set aside for a just bit (okay, it's been almost a year!)...but I finally finished two as gifts for some friends. I packaged each one with a Starbucks card and sent them off yesterday, along with a custom order for a baby named Eleanor.

Onesie Giveaway

Happy May Giveaway Day! I'm delighted to participate in another of Sew, Mama, Sew's fabulous events. The Butter & Sugar giveaway prize is a free customized onesie like these in my Etsy shop. One randomly selected winner will choose their own monogram initial, onesie size, and style (long or short sleeves).

To enter, just comment here between now and 9 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday, May 20. And you'll receive an extra entry by becoming a Follower. International entries are welcome. Thanks for visiting!

Towels for Mom

My mother requested more towels for Mothers Day. Here's what I gave her yesterday, hot off the sewing machine just before she arrived for our dinner out.














I'm spending my MD evening in a hotel on a business trip but received lots of pampering and love before leaving home this afternoon.

I hope all moms had a wonderful day!

Etsy shop and a bit of Honey

Seems like everyone's having babies lately! Onesies have been on my mind, and I've reopened the shop. Here's one I made yesteday for a baby with the lovely name "Sophia."






























And just for the fun of it, here's a photo of our new puppy, Honey Bee.

Thanks, Mother Nature!

We've been walloped with snow here in Virginia, leading to one cancellation after another. The happy result: more time to sew. I finished our kitchen curtains yesterday and did a commissioned onesie this morning.

Daniela's bulletin boards

After e-mailing me from Chile with a question about my bulletin board tutorial, Daniela sent me these pictures of her finished products. Fabulous!

What happened?

It appears I needed all of January to get my blogging act back together after the holidays and a trip to Disney World. I don't know how an entire month flew by just like that, but so it did.

Last night I finished a quilt for my nephew. I've also spent the past few weeks crocheting a couple hats; starting and then unravelling a pair of crocheted socks (I've yet to find the perfect pattern for that); and making crock after crock of homemade soup--one of my favorite comfort foods for the winter months.

Here's Milo's quilt. It's quite late (he'll be 2 in June) but hopefully he won't hold it against me.