Summer Beginning Quilting Series: Finished

Remember this quilt? I actually finished it ages ago and thought I had shared pictures of it. After I pulled it out this weekend to give to a former Sunday school student who just had her first child (a boy), I realized that I had never shared pictures of it finished.

Here it is! I quilted the front ...

... and then backed it with yellow minky dot fabric from Hobby Lobby.

I love how it turned out!

Jean Skirt from Jeans

I'm sure you've seen this concept before. It's been around for a few years now. However, I just got a serger (more on that in a minute), and I finally feel up to the task of giving it a whirl. My daughter has been patiently waiting for me to make this skirt for her since last summer. It's a good thing she hasn't grown much in the waist!

In case you haven't noticed, my daughter and I only wear skirts. And you've probably noticed that skirts are hard to come by, especially if they aren't skin-tight, they go past your knees and don't include slits up to your thighs. Modest jean skirts are even harder to find, so I make it a point to look for them at every thrift store we visit. I've had more success finding them in my size than in my daughter's size, so I turned to this idea for my daughter.

Since she's so thin, I was able to buy a 5T pair of pants that had gorgeous embroidery work at the hem. The waist still has room, so she can fit it for awhile. And the skirt is a little on the long side, but she loves it and doesn't trip over it, and I didn't have to cut into that beautiful embroidery, so we're both happy.

The fill-in piece is from one of my favorite sheet prints. I buy this particular print every time I see it in the thrift stores. It coordinated nicely with the embroidery, and my daughter liked it even better than a denim fill-in.

You may or may not notice, but I did change this a little bit from how people usually make these. There is usually this huge section in the front and back that curves over. It's the crotch seam. Well, I'd rather not draw attention to that part of my body, and it looks like a duck tail to me [another thing I'd rather not associate with my body :) ], so I folded and cut until it created a fairly straight seam down to the fill-in part. I like it much, much better this way.

So, on to the serger ... I don't have pictures yet, but my parents found me a serger at an auction for an unbelievable $6!! Of course, I gave them more than that for it and still came out way ahead of the game. It's a White Superlock 534, a model that was out in the late 80's/early 90's. From the reviews I've read, it's a great basic workhorse that will last and last. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to finally have a serger. I've wanted one since I started sewing (back in 1994), but I could never justify the expense. God is good!

Zoe Bunny for Operation Christmas Child

How about a cute knit bunny for the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes? She was actually my first knit toy for these boxes, but it took me a little while to get pictures of her.

She was much easier than I had feared! I envisioned all kinds of annoying seaming, but that was not the case. The only part requiring seaming is the ears. Admittedly, they're a bit fiddly, but not enough so to make me vow to never make another one.

For the tiny pieces started in the round (i.e. everything done in the round), I used Emily Ocker’s crocheted cast-on, which is pretty much the same thing as magic loop in crochet. I used a size “D” hook for this. You could also use Judy's Magic Cast-On, which I may do the next time I make one.

I wasn't planning to knit the dress, but after I assembled her, she looked very much in need of clothing. See, she's not really designed to look like a real bunny with her arms and legs the way they are. So she looked a bit ... bare. The dress was cute and quite easy, once I got the lace pattern memorized. You could easily substituted any lace pattern you wanted for the dress to make it go faster.

I already have another one knit, waiting to be assembled. You can find this free pattern on Ravelry: Zoe Bunny by Patons.

A Different Knit Lamb for Operation Christmas Child

Here's another version of a lamb, and these are my favorite. I made this pattern in two sizes by simply varying the yarn and needle sizes. I followed the same instructions and used the same number of rows for both of them.

I made the bigger guy first. (Sorry that the color is a little off, but he is indeed off-white.) I used worsted weight yarn and size 5 needles for him. He turned out really cute, but I wanted something just a little bit smaller so I could fit more in the shoeboxes.

Then I made his "little brother" with sportweight yarn and size 3 needles. He's the perfect size!

For the larger lamb, I didn't attach the arms and legs according to the pattern (so that they rotate). I've always been a bit leery of this construction, fearing that the arms and legs would fall off easily. But after unsuccessfully trying to break this acrylic yarn with my hands, I'm pretty confident that these arms and legs aren't going anywhere. So I made the smaller one with "jointed" arms and legs. I like them better that way, and they're actually easier to attach.

This picture is a bit washed-out, but I just had to show you his cute little face. I used French knots with DMC floss for the eyes and simple embroidery (if you can call it that) with scrap yarn for the nose and mouth.

Believe it or not, this is also a free pattern: Fuzzy Mitten Lamb by Barbara Prime. After knitting this lamb a few times, I've put a few of her paid patterns on my wish list. They are very thorough and well-written, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to you.

Stuffed Lamb Toy for Operation Christmas Child

In the US, we are able to make toys for the Operation Christmas Child boxes (not so in the UK). As a result, I searched for some cute, small and free patterns to make some toys that are much nicer than I could buy at the store. The bonus is that most of the patterns I found can be made with scrap yarn, so it was also much cheaper than buying a storebought stuffed animal.

This is the first little lamb for the boxes.

Because of the way he's designed, you add a small bouncy ball near his back end to keep him from nose-diving all the time. It worked quite well!

I think I added the head a bit too far down. Next time I'll have to move it up closer to the shoulders so he doesn't look like a hunchback.

However, he did turn out cute and will make some child quite happy, I'm sure! He's also a perfect size for the boxes.

This pattern was a bit more fiddly than I would have preferred, only because of trying to sew on those little legs while the stuffing kept trying to escape. Other than that, it's pretty quick and easy.

You can find the free pattern on Ravelry: ASE's Little Lamb (Knit Version). There is also a crochet version available, but I don't think it's as cute. :)

Puppy Hats for Charity

I was thrilled to discover this adorable hat pattern since my recent haul of yarn from the thrift store contained a lot of browns. This was my first one. For the next one, I decided not to use such a dark yarn for the eye “patch”. It makes it harder to see the eye on top of it.

Instead of using buttons, I crocheted the entire eye:

Row 1: With white, Magic Loop, ch 1, sc 8 into magic loop.
Row 2: Change to black, ch 1, 2 sc in each sc around.

After looking at these two hats, I realized what looked wrong about the ears. They look like donkey ears because I started anchoring them at Row 3, but I made them go across several rows instead of straight across Row 3 so that they flop downward to the sides. You can avoid my mistake. :)

You'll probably want this pattern, too. It's another free one from Ravelry: Crochet Puppy Hat Pattern by Sarah Zimmerman.

Penguin Hats

This hat is adorable and super-easy. I love this designer’s patterns!

My son claimed this one before I was even finished, so I had to make another one for charity.

At first I thought my gauge was off because this one came out a little bit longer than I was expecting. After looking at it more closely, I think the problem is that I mistook the back for the front when I added the facial details. Oh well, he still loves it!

I made a second one for charity. This one is done in Hobby Lobby's I Love This! yarn and will most likely be going to a children's cancer ward for kids who lose their hair to chemo. I figured they would appreciate these cute hats even more than most kids.

You can find the pattern for free on Ravelry: Crochet Penguin Hat by Sarah Zimmerman.