december rewind no. 2 {handmade holiday}

it's no secret that i adore that amanda soule. her blog. her books. all are so inspiring to me. since i got her book Handmade Home, i've been slowly working my way through all the projects that i marked on my first read as "must do."

after tackling the treasure bags, the letter satchel, hot pads and sweater hats (with marginal success), i decided to whip up the table runner for a holiday gift for my mom. she's a lover of thanksgiving. she's grandmother and fall colors are definitely her hues. so, i decided to ask 3 of her grandkids (the ones old enough) to draw something that made them think of fall or thanksgiving. i didn't tell them what it was for, but to just send the pictures in the mail and the rest would be a surprise for grammy.

so, here it is! i have to say, i was really proud of how it came out. it's easy for the things i make to come out "wonky" as we like to say around here. crooked or slanty or otherwise not straight.

but this one came out nicely. partly because hubby helped me with the measuring and cutting of the fabric, which is surely the hardest, most un-fun part of sewing. thanks, hubby!

my son did this little one of the apple tree and the "dude" with his pumpkin. festive!

i chose linen for the bulk of the this project, which has such a nice feel. it feels "real" you know? the project calls for printing artwork out on to fabric sheets. they were a little less real feeling than the linen, which was a not-so-great contrast, but the whole scene is so dang cute, it doesn't really matter.

here's a snowy little scene done by my niece who is 7. if there were a mistake i made in this project it was that i didn't pin the artwork in place well enough. so, when i sewed the pieces on, they ended up a bit crooked.

each time i do one of these projects, i learn something new, get a little better at certain things. and most importantly, it's fun!

handmade home :: hat!

one of the projects i was most excited to try my hand at in Soulemama's Handmade Home was the sweater hats.

i started experimenting a bit (just a wee bit) with felting old wool sweaters last winter and making hats was definitely of interest, but it always seemed complicated to me somehow. how could i make a hat that would actually FIT? and not look all wonky t'boot?

then i got my copy of Handmade Home and thought, "it's time to give it a try!" as i started to look at the instructions, i got all the way to step 2 before getting confused! ah well. thankfully, amanda started a group on Flickr where we can all upload pictures of our creations. so, i asked some questions in the forum and was lucky enough to get help right from amanda herself. so, yay! now step 2 made more sense. and i completed a hat.

and it's TOO SMALL! boo.

i'm not deterred, though. i shall try again and until then i'll pass along this first one to a friend whose little girl could use it.

onward! there must be more sweaters lying around i can felt. . .

POP! right off her head....

handmade home :: hot pads

i am having the most fun with Amanda Soule's book Handmade Home. i'm working my way through the projects that i think i can handle. first i did the treasure bags. then the letter satchel and now i'm all about the hot pads.

first i worked these up with some scrap butterfly fabric. i'm thinking holiday gifts....

then i had to do some for autumn/halloween. because i found this fabric down at the local quilt shop and could not resist. could you?

i'm not sure which project to tackle next! it's so fun to look on flickr and see what other folks have come up with....what about you? any holiday crafts in the works?

handmade home :: letter satchels!

well, i had so much fun doing the Treasure Bags from Handmade Home, that i had to get on with the next project that was calling my name.


BB has a friend next door. a good neighbor who is only about 6 months older then him, and they played together a lot for a couple of years. sadly, jesse moved away recently. they decided that they would be great pen pals, so when i was flipping thru Handmade Home and saw Ezra's Letter Satchels, i knew what the next project needed to be.as soon as we could, BB and i got ourselves to the fabric store to get some fabric that would be just the right thing for our project. we also decided to make a Satchel for his cousin Abbey who he loves to write to. it was a tall order to get a some fabric that he thought would please himself, jesse and abbey, too!

but alas, we found something suitable. and when we got home he set about writing the tags for them which i then embroidered. he's knew at writing, but has recently started to really love sitting down and learning new letters. i think he did a fab job! and so did i for that matter. as a newbie sewer, i was pretty pleased with how i did.i can't wait to see his satchel brimming with cards and letter from his friends and family!

next project :: Hot Pads!

handmade home :: my first project

it's been so long since my last post! i'm having some blogging blues, i think. partly because of blogger being so hard to deal with. partly because i have mixed feelings about my blog lately. and partly because i have been so busy! more on all of that later. in case anyone is actually reading this.

on to more fun topics :: SEWING!!!

i'm totally loving amanda soule's new book Handmade Home.

here's my first project from it. i made these for my niece and nephew for their birthdays while we spent time together at the beach last week.

they put them to use immediately which was so very satisfying!

they were easier than i thought, thankfully and i had everything i needed already on the premises. it's funny, i have had this extra screen from when we put a new screen in our front door. for 2 years i have been saying i'll make something with it. and finally, here was the perfect home for it!

next project from HH :: mail pouches!