Last of 2018 Christmas gifts

The one and only Barbie dress I made for DGD this year. Either the Barbie doll I have here is smaller than the ones made now or the pattern is for a different size type Barbie doll. I had to take in the bodice of the dress.

Below is the two knitting bags I made for gifts. The one with the owl is for DGD. Its made with left over fabric from a lap quilt I made her a few years ago. The inside fabric is just the overall floral print seen around the owls. The other  print is for my oldest DD and the same print is used on the inside.

  Snack mats I made for the two little ones I take care of. Nothing fancy. One print is dog paws and the other is dog faces and glasses. They are both reversible. Plan to include some Christmas cookies or crackers with them

And finally the last item is another outfit that I made for DGD doll.  I was also going to make her a coat but found the fabric to fray very easily that I had picked up to make it with so no coat.

shawl in shades of pink

After making and remaking this shawl it is finally done. The pattern that came with the yarn said to weigh the yarn and when half of it was used up-around the end of the second solid pink colour to start the decrease which was the fourth shades and there was actually 9 shades so when I got to the other end of the shawl the 9th didn't end up getting used at all. Guess I wasn't reading the scale right either for the halfway point. So I had to redo it and made the decrease area start half way through the 5th colour. I am so glad that I when back and made the change so all 9 colours were used.

I used 'Creative cotton degrade yarn' 200g-800m 50% cotton, 50% acrylic and you can find all the different shades available on their website.

knitted doll outfit

As one of the outfits I decided to make as a Christmas present for my DGD was a knitted Winter Doll Ensemble by Mary Maxim.
I purchased a kit that included the yarn--Mary Maxim Starlette sparkle in Ruby and White long with mary maxim ultra mellowspun in black. Buttons and pattern was also included.

With the kit you make a sweater, booties, coat, booties and a pr of leggings.

Little gift boxes

Here is some of the gift boxes I made to hold some chocolates we picked up in Amsterdam for Christmas. I made two of each.

The die for the boxes is from ART-c and measure 3.5x2x4 inches. I used scrapbook size card stock that I picked up from my local dollar tree. The paper wrapped around the blocks came from some Christmas paper set that came in a card making magazine.

The paper was reversible so I was able to get four cuts per sheet and use the two different sides. Tags were made from the reversed side of one of the papers.  The twine used is celebrate it packaging twine. With the left over card stock I got some tags cut out as well and next year I will decorate/use them for Christmas gift tags.

Am going to go grab some more of this card stock and put it away to have on hand as I like the weight of it.  I also cut another layer of the card stock to double up the bottom of the boxes.

nightgowns

Back in August I got thinking I need to get busy and get my Christmas sewing done. I got busy and made my DGD nightgown along with a matching doll nightgown.

I have had the fabric since the after Christmas sale at my local fabric store and knew that I wanted to put a mouse appliqué on it from the beginning. Started looking around and without finding anything local I started my search online. Lace heaven had what I was looking for. It's a US site but I was find with it. Found a couple other things I couldn't find local so I ordered them as well. Great service, great prices and I got the items shortly after placing my order. Have bookmarked their site just in case.

Some doll items

Been busy making some doll items for DGD 18 inch doll.

The scarf and hat should below were made from yarn that oldest DD gave me that last year in the yarn bowl she gave me. It wasn't much yarn but just enough for this set.

                  Below is a sleeping set I made for the doll. Feels good to get some left over fabric used up

Below is a jumper set I made using some more fabric left over from other sewing projects.

Feels good getting some of the fabrics used up, and taking care of a gift at the same time.

Lexington sampler quilt top

The finished quilt top and the fabric for thee backing. I really enjoyed the challenge and look forward to doing another one in the future. Now I need to get back to a couple others things I need to get finished up before I can quilt this one.

Final quilt block

Seventh and final block for the challenge. Next week is the setting triangles and than the border. Need to get the blocks square up and the center ones sewn together. The second picture is of all the blocks.

6th set of blocks

Block six for the online quilt challenge I am doing. Pattern is flying geese

5th set of blocks

Here is the next set of blocks for the Facebook quilt challenge that I am taking part in.

Set four of quilt blocks

The top picture is of them all together. Center block is yet to come.

The second picture is of this weeks blocks.

next set of blocks for quilt plus first set

Here is block three on the top and block one on the bottom.

Block three is Prairie Flower

Block one is Watermill variation

On the left block of the watermill there is a different fabric that goes around the light rectangle blocks like in the red but it doesn't show up. Thinking of replacing it but have not found a fabric that will work in my stash so it may very well just stay the way it is. 

quilt challenge block two

So the Christmas board that I visit and post to is down right now for some upgrading etc. However I am still crafting away. Not on anything for Christmas but still crafting. I came across a quilt challenge on Facebook  by the National Quilters Circle and decided to join.

You get to choose between two quilt sizes. Bed or lap. I choose the lap and using fabrics I have laying around but mainly in man colours so nothing really with flowers. Plans once this gets done plans are to put it away for one of my grandson's.

The blocks shown here are the second set of blocks--week two of the challenge. I need to redo a part of one of the first set of blocks so I will post pictures once it's fixed. 

The quilt pattern is called the Lexington Sampler quilt, designed by Susan Guzman

Block is called Brightest Star (with border)

Malil shawl

July birthday gift for oldest DD

Pattern by Lisa Hanes/maliha designs. 

Yarn by cloud born fibres.

Grey yarn is charcoal heather merino superwash 

Blue yarn is merino super wash sock twist mini set in blue dacnis 

Knitted on 3 & 3.25mm needle. larger size used on the mosaic panels

Came out smaller than size given as only gage is a needle size larger than suggested on yarn wrapper.

4 aprons

Yes that's right--4 aprons. Purchased some cute cherry fabric that reminded me of one of my grandmother's aprons a couple years ago. Plans were to make me a full apron but once I pulled it out I found that I purchased more than I thought I did.  So I got:

Apron for me plus

                                                      A Barbie apron for DGD's doll, plus

                                                 
                                                    An apron for DGD's 18 inch doll plus

                 An apron for DGD and still have a little left over and that little is just under half of a meter

Even the rick rack could be found on my dear grandmother's aprons. I loved it when I got to wear one of hers even if it was a little big while I help her make ketchup.

Doll dress

I finally got the doll dress finished. I used the same fabric for the doll dress as I used for DGD Easter dress. However I put navy binding around the bottom of the dress instead of the netting. 

This dress will be given to DGD at Christmas as part of the clothes I will be giving her for the 18 inch doll. Been kind of thinking that I need to make myself a dress with this fabric as I really like it but I already have a couple navy dresses and I did buy some smaller red flower fabric in this line to make myself a dress.

Birthday cards

Its been a while since I posted any pictures of cards I have made.

Here is the birthday card I made for my DGD who's turning 5 today.

While I had my card making supplies out I when ahead and made my DGS Birthday card for his birthday which is two weeks from today.

sock class

Back in January I took a two-part toe-up sock class on two circular knitting needles  and this is the pair of socks I made.  I used Indigo dragon yarn-chameleon sock yarn-special edition. Shades of blue with a touch of purple.

Am taking another sock class towards the end of April to learn a second heel in pink yarn.

Easter Dress for DGD,

This is the dress I made for my DGD for Easter. The fabric is a navy solid fabric and navy flora print. The flora print is a avionne print and the sewing pattern I used was McCalls M5793. The dress is fully lined and the navy netting around the bottom I simply attached to the skirt lining. The netting was to be the full length of the skirt but I figured it was a little to much. The ribbon tie was to have three one inch roses attached to it but was not able to find any but came across some cute pink trim with some little flowers so I used it instead.
 Will be making a matching 18 in doll dress but will be saving it for part of her Christmas present.

Church RS dinner invites

Our church ward Relief Society puts on a yearly dinner for the woman in the ward. As part of the presidency this year I am doing the invites for the dinner.  Below is the front of the invite and the front of the envelope.

I needed a total of 120 butterflies and found that I actually punched out 150. Also needed 180 stamped and punch flowers and actually ended up with 220. Guess I didn't count very well when making them but than again I just remember that I need to make a poster for the bulletin board about the dinner so I can put some of them to use for that.

The butterfly punch I purchased at a dollar store and the flower stamp/punch set is by Martha Stewart.
The centre flower and the one on the left was stamped in dew drop memento Teal Zeal.  The one on the right(smaller) was stamped twice. First in the color box surf colour and than overtop with the Teal Zeal.

Really happy with the way they turned out and hope the ladies enjoy them.

knitting bags and a quilt

I started  this quilt a few years ago. Got the top done and than it sat for about a year. Finally got quilted and than it sat again till a few days ago. Decided that I wanted it done and was able to get it finished by this past Saturday. The pattern is called Northern Lights and from a quilting magazine that DH gave me as part of my Birthday gift a few years ago. Sorry can't remember which magazine its in as I couldn't find it. Will update when I find it.

Plans are to hang this quilt above our bed to add some art/colour to the wall as we don't have a headboards.

A friend wants to learn how to knit so she can make herself some dishcloths. She got needles and some cotton yarn for Christmas but there is also a cat in the home. I figure since I had some scraps I would make her one. The large one you see in the pictures below is the one I made for her. The smaller one is for me. I figure by making my friend a larger bag that when she grows in her knitting and moves on beyond dishcloths that she will have a bag that will fit more yarn.

These bags are reversible The picture above is one side of the bag. The larger one print is a pretty blue with white vines and flowers. The small one has a snowflake print. In the picture below is the second print. Large bag is a green with white daisies and little dots. The small bag print fabric is called winter friends by P&B textiles.

 Now all the little bag needs is for me to get the hank of sock yarn made into a cake to put into it along with some needles and than its ready for my sock class-toes up in a couple weeks