by Nancy
My nephew recently got his own little kitchen and enjoys “cooking,” so I decided to make him some crochet food for his culinary adventures.
Apple:
Carrot:
Corn:
Oreo:
Food for my nephew
December 29th, 2009Secrets Revealed!
December 28th, 2009by Nancy
Now that people have opened their Christmas gifts, I can finally post pictures of my classified crackpot crochet activities! The penguin shown above was a Christmas gift for Cathy, who is a big penguin fan. Ann received a crocheted cup of tea:
Rebecca received a crocheted s’more. (The graham cracker is a little floppy – possibly due to my using 100% cotton yarn for this one. Acrylic yarn might have yielded a firmer cracker.)
I made Marty a set of crocheted balls for practicing her juggling, which I forgot to take a picture of! Maybe she can post a picture of the balls in use!
More to come another day…
Football Gift Bag
December 21st, 2009by Nancy
This gift bag was made for Andrew’s birthday and will probably be re-used a lot at our house! In fact, I think I will probably use it again for one of the people being honored at the December Triple Birthday event!
Gabe’s Quilt – Delivery Report
December 19th, 2009by Nancy
I’m very happy to report that Gabe turned 1 yesterday, and his quilt arrived on the same day! I’m very pleased that I got it done and there on his actual birthday – that doesn’t happen to me all the time! He and his mom like it a lot.
New Gift Bags
December 16th, 2009by Ann
Here is this year’s collection of gift bags for Hungary.
New Gift Bag Techniques
December 12th, 2009by Ann
Thanks to the Dec., 2009 Quiltmaker, page 20, I have discovered two new techniques for gift bags: one for invisibly stitching up the opening left in the lining for turning the bag, and the second for squaring off the bottom of the bag. To stitch up the opening, you stitch all the way around both the outer bag fabric and the lining. Then, when you stitch the two together at the top, you leave an opening for turning. “But how to hide the opening?” you ask? Simple – just top stitch around the top after you turn the bag!
The technique for squaring off the bottom is a bit more complex, and I haven’t tried it yet. It requires that the front and back of the bag and the lining be made from two pieces of fabric, so that there are two side seams on both the outer bag and the lining. Before stitching anything together, you cut a 2″ (or larger or smaller, depending on the size of the gift) square out of the bottom two corners of both the front and back pieces. Then you sew the front and back together along the bottom straight edge. Then you square it off somehow and stitch it. Obviously that last step is a bit vague, as I have described it. It is clearer in the article. I will try it out after I finish the 6th of the Hungarian gift bags I am making. More news as events warrant.
Just for Fun
December 11th, 2009by Nancy
Just for fun and practice, I decided to make this crochet flower. Andrew feels it looks more like a snowflake, and I tend to agree.
I decided to use it to decorate a gift page which is going to my host parents in Germany. International crackpottiness!
Progress report on Gabe’s quilt
December 8th, 2009by Nancy
I got Gabe’s first birthday quilt basted together with the backing and batting and got it quilted yesterday. The quilting is very simple – just a grid pattern which is in the ditch between the 9 patch blocks and continues through the center theme print. It’s clear monofilament thread on the front, so it’s pretty unnoticeable, and light blue to match the backing on the back. I also made the binding. The goal for today is to machine sew the binding to the front so that I can do the hand sewing on the back tomorrow at the Quilting Ladies. Gabe’s birthday is December 18 – nothing like a deadline to get me going!
Keep it simple?
December 7th, 2009by Nancy
Naaah – where’s the crackpottiness in that?
Gift Bag Making Continues
December 6th, 2009by Nancy
Fabric Gift Bag + Crochet Letter = 2(Crackpottiness) = 2 times the Crackpottiness
This is my first bag which features a ribbon for tying sewn into the seam. The ribbon I am using here is one-sided, and the first time I sewed it in, I did it the wrong way, so that the wrong side of the ribbon was out when I got the bag turned right-side-out. But it was easy to correct, and the second time I got it!
I’m getting better at making the bags big enough for the gift that is supposed to go in them. I’ve been keeping a record of what size fabric I start with and how the bag turns out, which is helping me a lot. Ignore the 2.5 times/3 times the height of the gift formula I mentioned in my previous post. I was confusing width and height. (Not a good thing to do!). After writing that post, I made a bag which was way too skinny and much higher than I needed, but I caught my mistake before it was complete and was able to correct it before things were too far gone!
For those wondering, yes, I am still crocheting. But most of the things I am making must be kept secret from at least one Crackpot, so I can’t post them at this time. But I will have lots of things to show off after December 25! 🙂