Remakes

 WAY back in my Social Distancing # 44 post, I wrote about a quilt that my mom made, and my brother and I were trying to save it. We but some new batting and a new back on the quilt top, and I happily posted about our progress. I've linked it for you up there if you're interested.

Once we got that quilt tied, i folded it up, waiting for the right moment to pull it out and sew the back to the front around the sides, and finish it up. So it waited. And it waited. Sometimes, I hit a stopping point in a project. A place where I'm not sure about how long something will take. How much work it will be. Sometimes, I'm not sure what to do next, or I'm not sure whether my tools will be able to tackle the job successfully. That quilt was heavy because we put two layers of batting in it. We did that to recreate the loft that the old quilt had, but the batting was a different sort than my mom had used. The quilt was heavy, and where I live, it doesn't get THAT cold. Well, especially in a house that has heating, like ours does. I wasn't sure how I would fare sitting under that quilt to sew up the edges. So it sat, and it waited. 

But we had some snowy, cold days, and I'm reorganizing my craft room, and looking to get some things out, to make room for new projects, so I pulled that quilt out and unfolded it, and gathered a needle and some thread. I put a movie on the TV to watch, and started stitching. I worked on it for almost 3 hours, and got two sides stitched up. As before, I felt like my mom and my grannie would have had thoughts about my technique. They would have had advice for me about it, and I could have probably used some. But yay, two sides done!

The next evening, I put on a couple of episodes of Columbo, and got to work again. And about 3 hours later, that sucker was done! I celebrated by taking some pictures and sending them to my brother. Only four years after we tied it. My fingers are only a little sore from all that needle time.

The finished (again) quilt

Carl took his quilt home today. I have the matching one still in the craft room... waiting for its turn, and once I get started on it, I don't think it will have to wait as long for its finish. I've learned stuff.

Another view

When Carl came over, though he brought me a different remake project. His wife injured herself, and while she's healing, she can't wear all her pull-over tops. She needs some button downs. And she is not an easy to find size, so Carl wondered if I would turn a couple of tunics into button downs for her so she has something to wear while she figures out what she wants to wear, and orders it, and gets it.

Tunic 2 BEFORE

Silly me, I didn't take a BEFORE picture of the tunic I worked on, but they are the same basic pattern. I found a piece of flannel for each that I had in my stash. For the first tunic,  I cut a piece to face both sides, and cut the center front of the tunic from hem to neck opening. Once I got the facings on, and the hem repaired, I sewed button holes, and then buttons on it.

 

the facings are done

the button down version

The new neckline

This one is ready for try on. I would like to know if anything should be changed for the next one. You know, Tunic 2 up above.

Happy New Year, 2025

 Yeah, that's right only one post for 2024. Ugh. Best laid plans and all.

I've been working on a TON of projects, but haven't written about them At All. Trying again to do better this year. Again. Documenting my crafting journey seems to be a consistent new year's resolution for me, with varying degrees of success.

Carl gave me this book for Christmas:

Add your projects!

SO the plan is, add projects into this book, or at least take advantage of its organization, to help me keep track of blogging about them in here. I have So Many Projects in process! I think this will help! 

Right now, there are three main places that I do sewing/crafting.

     My craft room. Yay! I have one, full of projects and supplies. I love going in there to sew, and it counts as using my craft room if I'm planning or working on a take-along project. Whether I'm taking it into the living room to work on while I watch TV, or to whatever place I may need to spend some time at, IT COUNTS! This week, I have been doing some organizing and cleaning in my craft room. It needs it. It almost always needs it to some degree. I work on projects and leave the supplies out handy, but eventually they must be dealt with. People give me crafty supplies and stuff (Yay, people!) and I have to incorporate it into the room (I very nearly put "mess" there, but really, I must incorporate new stuff into the organization.) Things need to be organized and on occasion, reorganized. For instance the patterns are all over the place. I have an organization system, but at the moment there is chaos. I also need a new storage item, either shelves that I can put containers on, or drawers. The drawers I have are plastic, and are drooping badly. They may have reached their useful lifespan for me. I'm looking and thinking about what they will be replaced with.

     Cruces Creatives. The local makerspace. I love it there! I'm so happy to be a member, and have access to their supplies and tools! While I am a frequent user of their Textile Space, I have also taken classes in resins, and did some playing with the Art Supplies Area. I worried about Cruces Creatives through the pandemic, and after, but it seems to not only have recovered, but thrived and grown! One of my main ways to be involved is Charitable Crafting. This group is made up of volunteers that find a need and try to fill it. We have made kids clothes and donated them to the kid's clothing room that was run by Gospel Rescue Mission. We've made SO MANY tote bags for various groups who could use them (this is also kind of an ongoing project, so if you don't know what to do, make a bag. Someone will need it). Lately we worked on a community quilt building project, making a twin sized quilt to be donated to a project which works on housing people who are in need. We completed one quilt, and are getting ready to start another! One thing that I have learned from my time at Cruces Creatives is that I really enjoy social crafting. Whether you are working together to create something, or just occupying the space while working on your own projects, it is nice to talk and share ideas, projects, feedback, and knowledge.

     Sewing With Roxanne. Rosanne and I have sewn together off and on for years. Sometimes almost every week, sometimes not. In 2023, Roxanne suffered a spinal cord injury, and her mobility was impaired. It has been a journey for her to go through various therapies, and to learn what her life will be like now. One of the things we have been doing is sewing together again. It is a physical therapy for her and a mental and emotional therapy for both of us. We have worked on quilt top building, a project we started on years ago, and are really making progress on now! We have the blocks made and are working on constructing the quilt tops with them for each of us. Her mom wanted in on the action, too, so we are working on blocks for her as well. We made fabric boxes for Christmas to give to friends and family. She's also helping me with a table runner that I was making for Ron's sister, that I got stuck on. It is almost done now!

Some of my projects are focused on one of these places, and others kind of leak over into multiple. Either way, there is learning, creativity, problem solving, sharing and satisfaction involved. Here is where I begin for the new year of 2025.

And Now Its 2024...

 Man, if I didn't just almost type 2014.

So I thought I would catch up a little on 2023 crafting. I've already started some 2024 crafting, so hopefully I will blog a few more times than last year.

The birds. I did post about them to start with. I had such a great time crocheting small birds (and bats) last year. My sister-in-law got a dozen for her birthday in November, and I just had to thank her for unknowingly giving me such joy making these little birds. Of course I made more than just the dozen she got. I can't even tell you for sure how many I DID make. Enough chickens to enter a flock into the fair.

Naomi's bird tree

Flock of chickens at the fair. One of my friends got most of these guys to put on her Christmas tree.

Enough to give a couple dozen more out as Christmas Ornaments.

Bats for the Christmas tree!

Enough to gift them to people all around me.

ostrich - YES!

flamingo - OMG the cuteness!

emu - fuzzy!

Enough to start making up some...

I didn't like the black bird in the book, so I made my own, in velvet yarn.

Fox bat - for Ron of course

Turned a peacock into a phoenix.

What would you call a flamingo bat???

On to other projects... I did some sewing, of course. Made some shirts for Raine, and some flannel pants. Some baby blankets, and some fleecy ones. Made LOTS of kid's clothes for the summer Charitable Crafting project.

Here are some of the kid's clothes... I made so many, I think I leveled up a bit.

I was in the mood to dress bunnies this year, and made some new dresses for Ron's mom and sister.

Then his sister couldn't find her bunny, so I made her a new  one, and one for her boyfriend. So they could match. You know, like you do... Which meant more outfits. And a new bunny for me, too! I had forgotten how much fun bunnies were to make and sew for!

Butterfly Princess Bunny

Easter Outfit (with baby chick)

Matching bunnies with matching outfits.

Matching in October!

An autumn dress and bunny for me to keep

An autumn dress for Linda's bunny

Festive 4th of July outfits

And then, my friend Cheryl found some super cute crochet patterns online, and sent some to me to try out. Oh. My. Goodness. Of course I had to try them out! There are evidently many patterns in this collection, which were made by a mom, for her son. It is a collection online called Son's Popkes. Here are some I made:

First up, a fox. I did the first one for Ron, as practice

The second one went to Cheryl

Bumble bee

A striped kitty. I have another kitty pattern to do, still.

Then, I finally finished the cross stitch project I had been working on for about 3 years. The Last Supper. It was 18 pages of pattern. I got done it time to enter it into the fair this past fall, then Carl got it. (He requested it, that's why.)

The Last Supper, with the Best of Show Ribbon.

Last, project for the year, but not least, was inspired by a book that I have enjoyed making several dolls from.

This pattern book has some very cute dolls and outfits in it!

A bear suit!

I didn't have enough of any one yarn to make the suit, but wanted to practice it and see how it worked, so this happened...

Almost but not really a bear suit. With a doll inside.

Well, I wasn't sure how the doll would get into and out of the suit as one piece, so I decided to make the suit the doll's body, which worked out for my purposes, but I did (finally) get that the suit would open up the front to dress/undress the doll. I made it for one of Ron's presents, so, as you may have guessed, I changed the bear to a fox.

Fox Boy!

I enjoyed doing a lot of making this past year. I only wish I had kept up with posting about it! Hopefully this year, I'll do better! If I have a New Year's Resolution, that would be it.

Little Crocheted Bird Watching

 So I found this book in my local Joann's store:

Mini Amigurumi Birds

As you might guess from the title, it is full of small crochet bird patterns... and a bat. There are a couple of general patterns that are used for multiple birds, with different colors of yarn, of course. That makes some of the birds go a little faster as I get practiced at some of those general patterns. Other birds are individual patterns, and most of them have some details that are specific to that bird. They take maybe a couple hours to complete, and they are just so darn cute!

Most of the birds I've made so far are made with cotton yarn, which is a little less stretchy than the acrylic yarn I often use. Once I got used to the UK directions for the crochet (they call the stitch I know as a single crochet, a double crochet...), I've enjoyed making these little birds. And the bat.

My first effort was the swan

These three take advantage of one of the common patterns, with different colors and finishing touches.

Bat

Baby Chicken

Owl

I want to try another owl with different thread colors... 

Here is another set of birds with a common body pattern:

flamingo

peacock

I did the peacock first, so I got the flamingo a little straighter, but... it took a little negotiation with the pattern... I like what they did with the peacock tail feathers. I'll be making that one again to try some different color combinations... I saw a video of a peacock with red tail feathers and I also bought a turquoise thread to work with too. This flamingo is from an acrylic yarn which was a little easier to work with (the cotton yarn is a little bit stiffer than the acrylic), so I may do a set of at least some of these birds in acrylic as well.

I'm no where near having tried out all the patterns, but I think eventually I will. So far, each project has been fairly quick and easy, and would only go faster with practice. I can see these as fun gifts. They could work ok as small pet toys, if your pets won't chew apart the threads and swallow them. They could also be a nice handful for a baby or toddler, although I would embroider the eyes instead of using beads. Maybe the safety eyes are OK?

Kingfisher

Robin red breast

Dolly

 I like dolls. I like making them and dressing them, almost as much as I used to like playing with them. During the last third of 2022, Charitable Crafting was making - among other things - some comfort dolls for the Rio Grande Cancer Foundation. We wanted something fairly easy, and of course it had to be cute! I suggested this pattern, which I've had for a while, waiting on the perfect time to make her:

Cloth doll with clothes, and carrying case (not pictured)

We thought it was a good choice, and we could make it serve as either male or female, and we found a small checked fabric in the stash at Cruces Creatives that we liked, so we cut out several dolls, each with an outfit, which we decided to sew on to each doll. 

I sewed up three of them, and once the construction questions were answered, they went pretty smoothly. They have embroidered faces, and looped yarn hair, instead of the longer braided hair that the pattern shows. I thought they were very cute, and the clothes went together pretty well. They are kind of reminiscent of a Raggedy Ann doll. Yes, I'm old enough to have one of those.

Once upon a time, long ago, I found some in my mom's sewing room, that she had cut out and started embroidering, but then got busy with other stuff... like kids. So I sewed them up and dressed them and shared them. One for me, one for each of my brothers and one for a friend of mine. There may have been one or two more, I'm not sure. It was a long time ago!

So anyway, I like this pattern, and its friendly, soft feel, and the leggy doll (which is an oops I'll talk about later). I also wanted to try out the doll carrier that the pattern includes, which has pockets to hold dolly clothes or other belongings, and a bed to tuck the doll into. The only thing is, I wanted to make the doll and accessories, but I didn't want to keep the doll forever myself. So, I had to think about who would get this project. Well, I found a suitable candidate and approached their parent about whether it would be OK. I mean, not every kid wants a dolly! How do I know that? Mine never did. Sigh.

So the project began again. This time, I worked on the carrier first. Since I have been working on bowl cozies for Christmas, I felt like this was a continuation of that, sort of and I like to call it a doll cozy. I think it turned out pretty well, although I'm debating the addition of fasteners for the pockets and for the overall carrier. I used denim for the outside of the carrier, and a stripe that seemed sort of wall paper-y for the inside. The bed covers are flannel on the top layer (blanket) and the green spotted cotton for the pillowcase and sheet. I had a flowered fence fabric that made up the smaller pocket and the flap for the bigger pocket.

Doll Cozy!!

Now, here's the thing. The bed is SHORT! When I tried to put the doll in, her legs had to fold up for her to fit. WHAT??? 

Cozy doll!

So I looked back at the pattern cover, and at the pattern pieces, and at the pictures of the earlier dolls, and at the doll I had just sewn up. Yes, the legs looked longer than on the pattern. But the pattern included two "leg" pieces. I think there was one for each leg? Maybe? Anyway, I ALSO liked the cute leggy look of the doll as I had made it, so I kept it. Yep, dolls don't mind having to curl up to fit in their beds! 

So, onward to the outfits! First of all, the child who will receive this doll is about two and a half. Some simple clothes for them to manipulate are in order. But also I wanted to make some outfits for a variety of clothes for the doll. One of the things I like on a doll is undies. Mom agreed that undies could stay on the doll as well. I used small double fold bias tape to trim many of the pieces I made. I though it worked particularly well on the camisole. The pattern called for non removable socks and shoes, and I sewed the camisole and shorts/undies to the doll.

Shorts for undies with a camisole and socks to match.

One of the ideas I had was to make some of the pieces reversable. My first reversable piece was a simple elastic waist skirt. This wasn't even included in the pattern, but so simple that I didn't need one. I was hoping that I could make the overalls reversable as well, and that turned out pretty easy as well. The final reversable piece was the sleeveless jumper dress. I tried to coordinate the palette to make things a very interchangeable mix and match. Here are some of the pieces:

Reversable skirt, orange shirt

Orange shirt again, with flowery overalls that are reversable to blue

Jumper dress has an orange reverse side

Over all, I made 5 shirts, a skirt, overalls, the jumper dress, a pair of shorts, and a long sleeved dress, which may - or may not - become her nightgown. I think the idea of the pattern may be that the clothes should fit in the pockets of the carrier, but...

The wardrobe

Finally, I finished the doll's hair and face. I really like the look of the looped yarn as hair. it is fun and happy, and a little messy, like a busy kid. 

Ready to play!

I'll suggest to Mom that they start off with a few pieces, and as the child grows and becomes more able to dress the doll, and more interested in having more outfits, they can be shared then. I know I didn't include a party type outfit, but would be willing to work on that in the future if the doll becomes a favorite, and maybe even some other pieces, like the coat that was included in the pattern. But for now, I think she's ready to have someone to play with! I would recommend this pattern!