Ballerinas

Auntie G and Mommy Crafts, for a ballet-obsessed little girl.  Best friends?  Sisters? Will definitely be making more of these.

From Posie Gets Cozy's pattern.

Handmade Ornaments by kids

Well, you get the idea.  The kid made ones were really easy, great motor skills crafts, and kept everyone busy for at least 40 min.  AND look darling on the tree.  I cut card stock circles, made slits around the edge (embellished by J with the hole puncher) then let them wrap away.  J also made a tree out of punched holes which he laced himself.  I had a pile of embroidery floss from a lovely friend - what a great use for it.  There was a pile of felt too, so J and I made the star (I cut and helped him sew) and then there was a pretty plea for a princess ornament.  I'd seen a bunch of felt mushrooms on Pinterest lately so I made one of those too, with Sweet P helping place the dots and sitting on my lap while I sewed.  I'm not totally sure how the bunny I made a while back got in with the Christmas stuff, but she went up on the tree too and seems quite content. 

And in the top row I must describe two important ornaments - a precious glass horn from Germany from Mr. Sycamore's childhood.  And a first for this blog - a Memaw Craft!  Mr. Sycamore's mother made half a dozen of these little sock children one year from a pattern in a magazine (and still she claims not to be able to sew on a button).  Thank you Memaw!

Crewel Heron and Reusable Gift Bag

Inspired by Soulemama I tried again at reusable gift bags and think I like this version over the drawstring kind. It looks more like a present.

My mom loves Charles Harper, and great blue herons, so I swiped this image and adapted it to a little pillow with some leftover wool from this project. I'm really pleased at the way it came out, and I think Mom was too. His images really lend themselves to a quick project like this - very graphic and minimal. I did the whole thing in about one week of bedtimes.

Handmade Fleece Neck Warmers

For the ladies at J's school. These were super easy - I always look in the remnant bin for fleece because it can be a real bargain, and it is almost as nice as wool to work with - no hemming. Or hawing. Of course, I have to be ruthless in only selecting colors I would actually wear, since there are so many of those crazy prints. I'm sure there must be people who enjoy the "no sew throw" but I kind of wonder for a sewing store ... really?

Anyway, I had a bunch of fleece and some embroidery floss so here they are. I've tried them and they are toasty warm, you can fold them over for a turtleneck effect or let them floop or scrunch up. As your style dictates. These are 9" tall by 23" long, I pressed open the seam and sewed the two sides down to just keep the whole thing tidy, then blanket stitch around the top. I found I needed 7x the width in order to make it around in one go, for these that meant about 77" of floss.

If you are searching for last minute projects these took about 30 minutes each. If I were making a manly one, I'd probably use black floss on black or grey fleece, and decrease the height to 6" or so. I might even attempt a skull and cross bones or some other manly emblem. With a matching watch cap it could work, depending on the guy. The fleece definitely avoids the homemade = scratchy curse that men complain about.

Handmade and Thrifty

Another birthday present, handmade by Auntie G.

Thrifty goodness. A garage sale globe for $3 and a rush seat windsor for $10. Plus a whole pod of small sharks and whales for J, who only needs a bag to carry them in when they are not occupying the wading pool.

Needed a Bag

For a project I started from Halima's vintage swap. Too too pretty to carry around in a plastic bag. So I dipped into the stash and made this early this morning - took about 1 hour. Turned out to be exactly the right size for one project, without tempting me to load it up with other things to carry too. It has two inside pockets for scissors and other stuff.

I started the crewel kit last night and so far so good. I LOVE this little embroidery hoop, it is exactly the right size. Now I have cross stitch for the TV room downstairs and crewel for bed time/play room moments upstairs when I can sneak it in. Ah, the lazy embroiderer, too comfortable to be bothered to run downstairs for the cross stitch.

Backpack!

So I needed to cover my sewing room chairs to find out how much fabric I had left over so I could make Sweet P her own backpack to match big brother's. She's been carrying it around for a week and we brought their pjs and toothbrushes to the ballpark in them so they could get all ready for bed and fall asleep in the car on the way back. I think the pink bulldog is special and does bear a bit of resemblence to P when she puts her mind to something.

I based this one on the boy backpack, with some modifications - shorter straps that can get longer as she gets bigger, and a simpler pocket on the outside with an extra pocket on the inside back. After sewing buttonholes in the straps I realized I really should have just sewn the straps on with the button - they won't need to be moved for a while and the buttonhole makes the strap weaker. Otherwise, we're all quite happy with the results. And no more squabbling over the lone backpack!