Baby Blanket

I made a little baby blanket for a friend who just had a baby.

The pattern is the "Quick and Easy Baby Blanket" from "Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson.  It's listed as a 2-4 hour project, which is about right.  The cutting always takes me a long time (this is my third one - here's one and the other I forgot to take a photo of) and at the end, you make little embroidered stitches every 4" to hold it together (see last photo) which takes a long time to first measure and mark the locations and then to do all the stitching (by machine, but still slow...)

The front fabric is Harmony Art Sweet Jane organic sateen, backing is organic cotton (front and back from Organic Cotton Plus); batting is organic cotton and thread is organic thread from Near Sea Naturals, so it's truly a 100% organic blanket :)  I love how it turned out - the fabric is so soft and the pattern is gentle and the colors are lovely - perfect for a baby blanket!

The blanket is 33"x53", quite a bit bigger than the recommendation, but I had that much fabric and the batting is that size, so it seemed better to use it than to have a thin scrap to save indefinitely...

I want to get some sweet gender-neutral baby fabric to make a few of these as standby gifts so I don't find myself doing blindstitch at 1 in the morning again (ah, I just realized that the name of the book is Last Minute Gifts, so I guess it makes sense that I was making this blanket at the last minute!)...  I like that this gift is fun to make, practical, can be made fairly inexpensively if cheaper fabric is used, and is enough of a gift by itself (ie, I don't feel compelled to make several things when I give this blanket).

Back Pain Hot Pad - Tutorial

This will be a VERY simple tutorial, mostly for my own benefit, so I can make these again :)  This is a GREAT gift for anyone with back pain.  It was a request from a family friend who, of course, has back pain.  She saw something similar a few years ago and told me about it and that she regretted not buying it then, since she hasn't seen anything like it since, so I volunteered to make one and thus got the benefit of her detailed description and help in implementation!

This is filled with flax seeds and can be microwaved to heat the flax (which retains heat and cold well).  Then you rest it between your back and bed or couch to relieve back pain.

Materials:

26" x 15" cotton or linen or favorite fabric

matching thread

about .5 kg flax seeds (hopefully not organic like I used...)

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Wash and iron fabric.

2.  Cut two pieces of fabric to 13" x 15" each.  (One side is longer because once the pad is filled with flax, the horizontal side shortens a bit - guess how I know that??  LOL.)

3.  Fold down one of the long sides on each piece of fabric 1/2 " to the wrong side and press.

4.  With right sides facing, sew three sides together with a 1/2" seam.  The side with the 1/2" fabric pressed down is the side that will not be sewed.  Trim corners.

5.  Turn right side out, poke out corners so they look square and press.

5.  With a ruler and vanishing marker, mark 12 vertical lines evenly (the total fabric width will be about 14", so the lines are about 1.17" apart.

6.  Sew along these lines, going back and forth at beginning and end.

7. Measure out 1.4 oz flax seeds and fill into the first column.  Pin top so seeds don't fall out.

8.  Continue #7 for remaining 11 columns.

9.  Topstitch closed, going back and forth at beginning and end and making sure not to sew over seeds.

10.  Cut loose threads.

11.  Wait for vanishing marker to disappear and give to friend who will say, "Aaaaah, Thank You!!!"

Nature Bag

I made this little bag for Y last night (another birthday gift).  The pattern is from "Linen, Wool, Cotton" by Akiko Mano; fabric is organic cotton from Organic Cotton Plus.  I'm hoping Y will be as happy with his.  He often asks me to hold his nature bag (which is like a standard canvas bag with two handles, but his is thin cotton) while we're in the forest because it's hard for him to balance and climb while holding onto the bag.  This bag is designed as a messenger bag with only one strap, so it's to be worn over his neck.  I'm adding some embroidery that I'll finish tonight - his name and some elements from the Cinderberry Stitches' precious Sweet & Spotty Needle Wallet.

The bag:


My (organic) "Emily's Organics" label that I got from greenbeanstrings on Etsy:


Finished photo (with embroidery) coming soon!

Stockmar Block Crayon Roll

I just finished this crayon roll for Y's birthday.  It can hold 12 Stockmar block crayons.  Disregard the water marks - I used a water erasable pen for markings... 

Measurements:
Outside fabric, inside fabric and interfacing fabric:  6.5" x 11.25"
Red fabric (two pieces):  4" x 11.25" (folded in half lengthwise before sewing to the inside fabric)
Ribbon:  20" (this time I used ribbon from Lillalotta).

Directions:
1.  Cut all fabrics
2.  Iron interfacing to wrong side of inside fabric
3.  Fold crayon-holding fabric (my red fabric) in half lengthwise and iron.  Pin in place (fold is toward the inside of the crayon roll).  Make a vertical mark at 2.125" from the left edge, then four more markings every 1.75".
4.  Stitch along markings, going back and forth a bit at beginning and end.
5.  Fold ribbon in half with pattern on the INSIDE and topstitch to right side of inside fabric.
6.  Pin ribbon to the inside fabric so you don't accidentally sew over it.
7.  Place right side of outer fabric to right side of inner fabric and sew with 1/4" seam allowance, leaving a 3.5" hole for turning right side out (I left hole at short end on the side without the ribbon).
8.  Trim corners and turn right side out.
9.  Poke out corners with a knitting needle or similar, iron and topstitch 1/8" all around.
10. Insert crayons and enjoy!

Knitted Gnome

How cute is this little gnome!?!??! I used this free pattern - THANK YOU Tonya! It is such a fun pattern - just took me an afternoon (with interruptions) and Yoav stuffed it and sewed the arms on (you can't tell that he did it versus me - I was surprised he was able to do it so well with no tips!) The wool is Purewool. I definitely will be making more of these - it's easy, quick, fun to knit, and the finished product is adorable!!

Knit Hat for ME!

Just finished this hat for me. I love how it came out. I made one for a friend's daughter using the exact pattern recently (it's from Louisa Harding's "Hats, Gloves, Scarves" book). I modified the pattern for DPN needles and added an inch to the length, so it covers my ears and doesn't have a seam, so I like it much better for me than the original pattern. The yarn is Purewool 100% merino wool.

Baby Blanket

Just finished this little baby blanket. The pattern is from "Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson. The front fabric is Harmony Art Silent Stumps (organic cotton), backing is 4.5oz organic flannel (front and back from Organic Cotton Plus); batting is organic cotton and thread is organic thread from Near Sea Naturals, so it's truly a 100% organic blanket :) I love how it turned out - the fabric is so soft and the pattern is gentle and the colors are lovely - perfect for a baby blanket!

The blanket is a lot harder than it looks because it has 99 (!) little satin stitch ovals to hold the batting in place. Next time I'll make them 4" apart instead of 3.25" so I don't have to do so many. It's important to start the ovals from the center of the blanket and smooth the blanket as you move outward or you get lumps of fabric between the ovals...

Another difficulty was that I made a mess cutting the flannel - I was listening to a podcast and ended up cutting the fabric three times and still didn't get it quite how I wanted, but the final size is fine. It ended up 31x38" (final blanket).

Yoav helped pick out the fabric, although he actually preferred Harmony Art Whispering Grass, which I think is too shimmery - I actually have no idea what to do with it, but that's another story... He also helped cut the fabric (not while I was listening to the podcast).