Recycled fabric: Dog bed

I've been madly cleaning out boxes and closets lately.  I came across this stashed in a box in a closet- My father in Law's old hunting outfit. It's heavy, made of thick wool, and The fabric was in great shape.



I just can't see my husband ever wearing red pants for any occasion, so it was either toss it or recycle it..And then the dog curled up on it and I had a bright idea.


Our floor get a little cool during the winter, so I thought I'd cut up the pants and make a nice doggie bed for Shnicklefritz to sit on when I'm at the computer. The dog loved the idea, he seemed to understand that it was for him, and he helped me figure out exactly what size to make it.




I was getting pretty good at working around the dog, when the cats decided to see what all the fuss was about. They chased the dog off his spot and fought over it themselves.


 It is hard to measure things in the middle of a catfight, so I just made a video instead and called it entertainment. During the cat fight I decided to use an old wool skirt for the back of it..And even made use of the zipper in the skirt to leave an opening for removing or adding stuffing.

I finally did get the bed done, the animals settled on who got to sit on it, and  I remembered why I usually put the critters in the bedroom when I work on sewing projects.

Santa Quilt

My mom saw this pattern in a quilt shop, and admired it, so of course, I wanted to make one for her for Christmas.. It's called "Nine Nicks" by Qwiltz Patterns.

I started cutting out the pieces and realized I wanted to make two - one for me to keep! The curves were a little tricky.



 I wanted to make the Santas of different colors, since we have varying colors of Santas in our family..


I used the traditional reds and greens for my Mom's quilt, and choose some snazzy, glittery blues for mine.





Here's mom's quilt all finished ( and I did get it done in time for her to hang before her Christmas Party!)



Mine is still waiting to be completely put together.. I don't think of it as late, just extra early for next Christmas.

Kaleidoscope Quilt

Or Stack n Whack, One Block Wonder. I've seen a few names for this sort of quilt. You start with a loud patterned fabric  with repeats every 23 inches or so.

You make cuts of the fabric, stack up the sections, and cut out 8  identical triangles.



Then you sew  the triangles together and watch all the different patterns pop out like magic:



I tried making some 4 triangle squares, just to see what it would look like:







and here's all the blocks I made from that one piece of fabric:

Yo-Yo maker

being the complete sucker for gadgets that I am, I could not resist picking up a few of these little darlings...Yo yo makers..Not just round ones, like my great grandmothers made, but cute little heart and flower ones, and in two sizes:



Is that adorable or what? I rooted out a pile of tiny scraps from my fabric stash and took it all with me on a car trip.



I started putting them together And I think it might be a cute little wallhanging
or maybe a little dolly quilt:


My favorite piece of fabric:

Attic Window I Spy Quilt

Ah Spring! Lots of Babies coming - to friends, not to me :) and incoming babies mean lots of quilts to make! Here's 2 I have in progress..

I started with some bright colorful fat quarters of novelty fabric, cut them into squares:


then added the sashing:


I used a slick new trick for making half square triangles.. I'll show that in a separate post. The half square triangle is what make the optical illusion work on the Attic window quilt. here's Quilt 1 all pieced together:



And Quilt 2 almost all pieced together..



Now to add borders, Backing and quilt them!

Fleece coat ...for my dog

This wasn't too hard at all.  Of course, I had to add some dreads to it, so he wouldn't feel left out. The weird thing is I think Schnicklefritz really likes his coat. I put it on him a few times to adjust the fit, and when I had it finished, he happily stuck his nose in it and pranced around.

 

  

It is a rare sight to see snow here in Arkansas ...

Rasta Fleece Hat

 

 

And one more hat.. A rasta dread hat.  My husband wanted it.. i'm not sure why, but he's cute, so I made him one.

 

I have  some fleece scraps left over, and I hate to throw them out, but it isn't enough to do much with. so I think the dog is getting a fleece coat. Maybe the cats will too. 

cozy Fleece hats

Thanks to the cold weather, I have had time to work on several projects - and actually get them done!
Mollie's Kitty hat:


And Jake's...Dreadlock hat. He wanted it to look like this, I promise.

Knitted socks

I finished the socks I made for my Aunt, and mailed them off yesterday. They were supposed to be for Christmas and as much as I procrastinate, since I am only a few weeks late, I am doing pretty good!

I use the two socks on two circs method. I can't handle double pointed needles, If I did one at a time I would never do the second one. And I don't have to count for the second sock, I can just do the same thing on each row, and end up with socks the same size.




I used a worsted weight wool, and size 6 needles, so they are pretty thick and cozy.

And here they are all finished!! I get a kick out of seeing them grow.

Raggy Quilt - Sarah

My Friend Sarah's version of the raggy quilt:

She made a sweet baby quilt with Minky, chenille and a flannel - Lots of texture and really cute!


And she made this one too:


She got really fancy with the quilting on the squares, it really looks beautiful. I love the fabrics she choose.