bestitched

git yer roy g. biv on

When I told BL yesterday that I needed to make one last gift for LL, he responded, "Seek professional help."

Hmpf.

Ooo, so pretty! What is it, you ask.

That's right, a take-along crayon roll for my budding little artist. Inspired by thimblewinder's awesome little rolls and   made according to the directions in Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts (could I possibly love this book more?).

Super fun project! I loved matching the crayons and the cloth. True to their estimate, the project took between 2- to 4-hours. (Sorry Nova!)

Now. back to some knitting for me!

giving and receiving

  I was so excited to give JMB her Christmas gift this year.

I used the box bag tutorial from here and some great tattoo fabric from Alexander Henry.

Here's what was inside. A sewing kit!

Let's break it down.

Needle book pattern from Last Minute  Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. I picked up the supercute little patch from a booth at Bazaar Bizarre.

A pincushion made from the tutorial over at paper.string.cloth

 

And then some thread, vintage buttons and band-aids (just in case!).

The moment of exchange

Success! Yay!

And what did I receive in return? An amazing crocheted scarf!

Isn't it amazing?

Success! Yay! Merry Christmas friend!

check, check and check

The stocking is done. Details over at the side.

The tree is trimmed. All eight feet of it. LL is a wonderful husband.

Just a few more projects to be completed under the watchful eye of Mr. Owl and I'm all done.

Holiday stocking progress

I'm using the holiday stocking pattern from Handknit Holidays to make LL's first ever stocking.

  Her first holiday was in Korea and we din't know if they celebrated the holidays at the orphanage and last year I didn't have my shit together enough to make a stocking. This year, BL reminded me that I needed to get on it. Okay, okay...

fingerless glove fiesta

Four pairs of fingerless gloves for the holidays.

Pattern: Fingerless Mitts by Ann Budd in Weekend Knitting (Ravelry link  here)

Yarns from top to bottom:

Punta del Este South American Space Dyed Cotton in SPD519 + SPD564

Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton in Tomato + Shrimp

I heart this pattern, but after knitting five pairs (one for myself not long ago), I'm done with this pattern for awhile!

finished chocqua quilt

I think I need to invest in a bias tape maker. While I did enjoy hand-binding the quilt (kinda, at the end it was a pain in the ass), I could have used that time to work on some of the other projects on the ever-growing list of handmade holiday gifts. So many fingerless gloves to make. Too many.

I'm really happy with the finished quilt. The colors are great and I finally learned about seam allowances (sigh).

The winter landscape has made photo documentation difficult. It doesn't help that the sun is setting at 3:30 (or at least, that's how it seems to me). And maybe I need to upgrade my POS digital camera to one that actually works.

Okay, enough chit chat. Back to knitting the fingerless gloves. And knitting a stocking for the kid. And sewing a bunch more stuff. Send chocolate.

pics from the trip

A few days in DC

::taken from the balcony of a Senator's office::

::the sky after a long day of meetings::

And then a few days on the outskirts of Philly visiting with the family

::My Ma takes her cookies seriously. Here she is constructing a platter from 13 varieties::

::My big brother celebrated a birthday. We played Guitar Hero + it was awesome::

::I did a little yarn shopping + got some cotton  for yet another pair of fingerless mitts and colorful yarn to make something for LL::

I spent a lot of time grading papers + writing on the train, but managed to sneak in just a little knitting. All my shots of knitting turned out like crap, so these need to wait for another day. But I did manage to finish a handmade gift just before leaving on the trip.

::Here's the log cabin pillow destined for a kind friend. My walking foot kicks some serious ass::