Chinese Stars?

My husband asked last night when he found these on his desk if the baby and I are starting a street gang armed with Chinese Throwing Stars.

No. My infant son and I are not starting a street gang armed with Chinese Throwing Stars.

But good guess, Babe.

It's all part of a swap project I hope will turn out. I'll post the result (for good or ill) when I'm done!

Button Swap

I haven't had a chance to blog about the swaps I've been involved in until now but I'm gonna try to do double time to catch up and make up for not posting in almost a month!

These are the buttons I made to send to Christy of Visualized by Christy. She hosted a button swap, but I turned out to be the only one to sign up. It's a shame too because it was a really simple, stress free and super-fun swap! I also sent these coasters that I made out of the same great thrifted fabric:As well as these charm squares:

And here is what I received from Christy:
These fabulous animal themed charm squares; I love the peppermint pink
and those bunnies with the giant eyes are adorable...


And Christie made magnets using these same fabrics as well as 4 buttons using the blue bunnies. Isn't her packaging is really nice too?

I can't wait to use all of these! Thanks for hosting and for being a great swap partner, Christie!

Rice Heat Therapy Bag

I made a rice-filled heat therapy bag tonight to take with me to the hospital whenever my baby decides he or she is ready to come meet us. We have a heat pack already, but it's one of those hot/cold ones, so I decided to put that in the freezer and just make a heat pack so I'll have both if I need 'em. I followed this great tutorial at Sew, Mama, Sew! and these are the results.

It kind of looks like a Neopolitan cookie to me. Is that weird?

I really only looked at the pictures and briefly glanced at the instructions because I (stupidly) didn't feel like following the directions and I already had a piece of muslin for the inner bag but it wasn't the size called for so I went and figured it out as I went.

Note to self: you stink at math, and you always under-estimate how long and hard things are going to be. Self, next time, follow the directions and save yourself the trouble, okay?

The Baby Blanket is done!!

I set about to make this baby blanket for one of DH's expecting co-workers ages ago: and was actually off to a great start. I got three quarters of the way done in two days and then just ran out of knitting-steam. Somehow it took me another two or three weeks to finish knitting, another 2 weeks to block it, and now, a month after blocking, I've just finally made the card with care instructions (no fancy labels for me) and wrapped it up. Good grief!

Well, I think she'll like it just the same. I used a pattern from one of the S'n'B books, this one I think. It's so easy, I don't even use the pattern anymore, but it is beautiful in it's simplicity. Also it's very masculine for a knitted blanket and well suited to bold colors. It's definitely my go-to for handmade baby gifts.

This picture shows the pattern well...

But the color of the yarn is much accurate in this one.

Congratulations Maureen on the birth of little Charlie!!

Take Out Menu Folder

This is a great idea from A Spoonful of sugar. I found the take out menu tutorial to be more of a jumping off point and inspiration.

I ended up using a regular 1/2 inch binder for 8 1/2 x 11 paper (not the A4 the tute called for which would fit paper about 5 1/2 x 8 1/2) just because that's what I had laying around and because my takeout menus are large.

• I also used plastic pockets instead of the clear plastic cases; again, I just had them in the house. They happened to match my paper color scheme too!

Surprise your hubby!

Looking through iPhoto again, I found these pictures of the little treats I sent with my hubs' lunch on Valentine's Day this year. I highly recommend this for your kids or spouse. It wasn't that hard and he felt pretty special - and he is!!

I was trying to think of cute little things I could do for him everyday for the 14 days before V-Day (I got the idea from the Mahaney's Blog, Girl Talk) but so many of my ideas involved candy and other sweets and I didn't want to be a stumbling block on his road to eating healthfully.

So I pulled out my food dehydrator (I have a Nesco and it's just great - worth every penny) and sliced some apples. Then I cut the slices into heart shapes before placing them on the dehydrator trays. I just placed the other bits (left over from cutting out the hearts) alongside the hearts and took them out sooner (smaller pieces dry faster) and have been using them for baked goods where they don't have to look pretty.

I placed several dried apple hearts in a plastic baggie meant for homemade candy or favors (you can find them in the candy/baking isle at Michael's Arts and Crafts) and I tied up the baggies with ribbon, placing each one inside a tiny paper bag I made using Martha Stewart's instructions and template. The exact patterns are no longer available, but these are almost the same. The whole project took awhile, but these are the types of little projects you can work on a bit at a time over a week or so and then dole them out to your loved ones throughout the month or season to show them you love and think about them while they're away at work or school. Looking back it was well worth the effort!

Makeup Bags

How is it that we can never, ever have enough "little bags". And how come I feel so much better inside when I know things are organized into wee pouches in my purse or closet? It's a mystery, but I do, and I think most of woman-kind would get behind me on this point.

Anyway, I was going through iPhoto and saw these makeup bags I made for a friend last year - and now I want some for me!! Hmmmm...I wonder what Hubby will think of adding another project to the list...












Isn't the fabric fun?!

The "RolyNester" pattern is from StudioKat Designs. They have some fabulous ideas over there - they really are bags "designed for the way women REALLY live". Check out some of the impressive examples of this pattern from other crafters - and I thought the larger ones were difficult!

I heart freecycle!

A lovely lady on freecycle offered these fabulous sample fabrics that her design company was getting rid of. What a goldmine!!! I got them home and threw all my plans for the day right out the window. I couldn't wait to test drive them, just a wee bit, so I made this pincushion out of the tiny sateen samples...I hate the way the photo turned out (I really need to learn how to use our amazing new camera) but I do love my new pincushion :)

I have to sit on my hands to keep from crafting up all the rest of the samples before I've say, done the dishes, or arranged with the hospital for our stay when my baby comes in 4 weeks...these of course are just minor roadblocks on the highway to sewing nirvana.

It's the Square Deal Pincushion from HELLOmynameisheather; I really enjoy Heather Bailey's website. The design is beautiful and her designs and photos are so inspiring!