making a bit of christmas magic for a friend.

Hello all you holiday makers,  we're gearing up just like you are for all the festivities later in the week. While my lists are done,  I got a chance to help a good friend this week by making her boys some stockings to hang for Santa.  I had been making mittens using old felted sweaters and this fantastic free tutorial from Five Green Acres ( and Mary Jo's old sweaters too! ) .  These stockings were simple to make using the scraps from the sweaters.  I used an old stocking as a pattern and than cut it into 5 pieces.  Using the pattern I tried to make a white, blue & green stocking each embroidered with the sweet boy's name.  I like the cozy handmade look of them,  maybe I'll make some for my boys next year.      there's always next year rite?! 
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to you all. 

Cheers,  Lily

tiny acorn hat

Ta Da!!
my first try at a hat,  a teeny tiny hat.  I modified this free pattern on ravelry called swell.  Since my kids arn't surfers I thought an acorn pattern would be cute.  Even though they look more like Chinese lanterns than acorns I'm happy with the result.  And while there's no one in our home to fit this tiny hat I'm sure I can find a little person to give this too before the winds blow. 

Now to cast on for one double this size for my guys. 

acorns again?  we'll see. 

squeel ... freebee stencil

ohhhhhweeee, I can't believe these turned out so well. I saw a pillow recently with this love graphic, and immediately fell in love with it. I modified the E a bit and made T's for the boys for Valentines day using freezer paper stencils. 10 minutes, seriously, I want to put this on their underwear, but I haven't yet.






















My Valenines gift for you too. Since I don't know how to create a PDF, the last photo should be printer paper size, hopefully you can print it out & use it for your loved one. Or if it is as easy as a freezer paper stencil, which I can handle, help me out!

Felix's quilt

finally, it's sooo close I can't wait to tuck Felix in under his big boy quilt. This was my first attempt to make a quilt, and without a lot of help I wouldn't have made it. I had all the fabric, some vintage bark-cloth with all it's nubby texture and a very large repeat which I didn't want to cut up. I added some wood grain fabric, some orange corduroy, hounds-tooth, vintage napkins, denim and some ikea fabric to give it a boost. I thought it would be a nice big boy quilt, to replace the one he received as a baby.
I got some great design advice from Meg, Beth and others from our awesome craft group. And quilting help from the wonderful ladies at this shop ( a treasure!!) . So in the frenzy of pre-Christmas crafting I shoved this baby through my sewing machine but stopped short of adding the trim.
I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, even with the wrinkles, warps and fudges, it's just like a mothers love rite? So now with a rainy weekend forecast, I'm hoping to finish it up while watching the Lion King again.

finally a gift

My first piece of jewelry made by Felix, I swooon. Is this because I took him on a date this weekend ( camera batteries were dead! of course. ) I arrived at school early today, another errand would have surly cost me in between $10 - $25 depending on where I stopped. Felix took my hand immediately & lead me into the classroom and gave me this bracelet, isn't it perfect!
I'm starting a new job tomorrow ( a little PT thing making muffins ) and I am having a little separation anxiety from the boys, so this token is just the rite thing. At dinner we were talking about it again & felix said " mama, you and I are artists and papa makes the music. "
proud proud mama.

bridge t's

a quick note before the weekend starts. here are a few t's that I made for my dear nephews, who give all their hand-me-downs to my boys. Because they think I'm probably from another planet I thought I'd make them some far out t's for Easter. I really like the way they came out, the oxfords are really cool too. anyway, we'll see if they actually wear them.

cluck cluck

This was a quick & satisfying late night project. You know the one where your partner goes to bed early, the kids are down & it's just you, the TV, scrap fabric, heat & bond ( thanks beth ) and your iron. I have big projects on my list so these small ones are a perfect warm up to my day off.
I think my affection of chickens & eggs is heightened because I think we'll have to postpone getting a few hens for one more year. At least these cards don't require food.

baby shower gift.

A quick quilt for a dear friends baby shower this weekend. sorry it's a dark photo.