Halloween!

I finished my daughter's Halloween costume two weeks early!

She wanted to be a cowgirl, but I discouraged her because that would not be very DIY and I didn't want to buy her cowboy boots she would never wear again. Boots like that are not easily found up here in the upper midwest..

So here she is as an ice cream cone:

The pattern was in the Halloween 2010 Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications magazine. LINK. The pattern was provided in the print version, and I guess they were the correct shapes, but you have to enlarge them at a copier to use them. The instructions were AWFUL. I mean really really awful. I did one basic version based on their recommended pattern enlargements and it would maybe fit a 3 year old child. I fiddled with it and just made really large pieces and got it to fit my 10-year old.

Other BHG publications are really good with instructions. I especially like the seasonal Quilts and More, but this was really bad. Basically it says, "Sew up the parts, attach the cherry to a headband... " and that is pretty much it. I am sort of experienced with these things, so as you can see, I figured it out. She loves it and it may be one of my most favorite of all the Halloween costumes I've made.

Here her cherry is a bit askew:

Felt is really inexpensive and easy to work with. I had polyfil, sweatshirt, and pom poms already, so the cost of this costume was about $12. Happy Halloween!

Pillowcase Borders

I reviewed the terrific crochet book Around the Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman over at Craft Critique. Check it out!

More Vintage

Mom gave me these beautiful crochet pieces. They were part of her collection and not made by anyone in my family.

This is a lovely dresser scarf or table runner:

Here are two doilies that would probably have been used on the arms of a chair:

They were probably never ever used:

This is a lace trimmed linen table runner. If my dining room table wasn't piled high with sewing supplies and projects, I might use one of the many table runners I have in my collection. I think this is a kind of bobbin lace. I am not sure, as I have never tried making bobbin lace.

I like to use my rainbow crochet afghan underneath my crochet photos. I tired of crocheting that blanket before I finished it, but it does generously cover one side our our queen sized bed on chilly nights.

Block Tool Review

I reviewed the C&T Quilt Block Tool iPhone App over at Craft Critique.

I liked this app, and I made these simple blocks with it:
Go ahead and check it out! HERE

Since my kids are back in school and I am still not working (although I would like for that to change), I've been playing with crocheting borders onto our pillowcases. I love them They are totally durable and washable! The patterns are in a book I purchased and this project will be part of my next Craft Critique review.

Nostalgia!

One of the reasons I started this blog was to keep track of my own projects and to archive the vintage linens in the family collection. My mom has been cleaning out her house and has given me piles of lovely sentimental things and I am hopelessly behind on photographing them.

Among the things she has found in the corners of my childhood home are some art projects I did in school. Here is a very surprised looking portrait of someone:



I made this in 1976 when I was in Mrs. Mustoe's 4th grade class.



In fact, here is a picture of that very class. I'm the girl in the middle row on the far right below the teacher. On facebook, someone tagged the little girl with the glasses in the front row as Liz Phair whose indie rocker career has cooled a bit in the last decade, and the boy below me in the front row is a successful producer of short lived guilty pleasure prime time soap operas.


At any rate, don't think I was particularly talented with clay, but here is a wall hanging we appliqued in art class:



I love that blue burlap. I suppose someone still sells soft burlap like that, but I don't see it at my fabric stores..

Mom also found some very beautiful crocheted things. These were not made by anyone in my family, but they are still lovely.





My grandma gave these thread crochet aprons to my mom because Mom used to hold a little vintage style tea party for a small but lucky group of little students of hers. The tea party was a fundraiser offering at her elementary school. I think I was already away at college when the tea parties occurred.



If I had a vintage style waistline, I would totally wear these.

Felt Pinwheels

I saw this adorable pinwheel brooch project by Betz White last month in several crafty places on the internet. If you browse crafty blogland, I imagine you saw it too. I had to make them especially since I have that cherry fabric in my collection.

This is the one that my daughter made:

She's a bit crafted out since she got a nice variety of craft kits for her birthday recently, so I let her be the designer and I would simply be the craftsman for the rest of our lot.

This one is my favorite. I love that dotted fabric:

They all have safety pin backs. We each wore one to our holiday picnic, but the rest we attached to little sticks and stuck them in the flower pots as decorations.

We had a relaxing 4th of July holiday! Hope you are enjoying the season!

Fabric Heaven

For Mothers Day, my mom and I planned our own trip to the Indiana Amish Country. We had a great time! This area is a quilters heaven, so I wrote about our adventures for Craft Critique HERE.