Spring Crafting

I'm happy to report that my crafting mojo is back! However, my usual antics of starting multiple projects at once and flitting from one project to another is also back. Ah well, that's just the way I am. As the summer approaches, and the thought of Pat being home full-time for three months comes with it, I am constantly adding on to my "to do" list. My greatest desire is to really make this house a home and add my personal "Katie" touch to each room with handmade items. There is also some dark paneling that really needs to be painted over! So, I see much painting, sewing of curtains, and quilting of wall hangings in my future!

There are also several birthdays coming up! Ben's is May 3rd (I can't believe how quickly this year has passed!), mine is May 7th, and Matthew's is June 4th. I purchased some "Very Hungry Caterpillar" material to make into wall hangings for Ben's room, plus have plans for birthday decorations and a birthday crown for each boy. My goal is to make a (simple!) quilt for Matthew for his birthday, but I don't want to get ahead of myself too much yet. :)

Several weeks ago I received boxes of back issues of quilting magazines, fabric, and miscellaneous patterns from my mother-in-laws collection. I have since spent the weekends going through and organizing it all. The following picture is what my corner of the office/hobby room looked like on Friday (I have since cleaned it up fearing my husband would divorce me):

In one of the boxes were many small fabric scraps. I couldn't bear to throw them out, so I started investigating Crazy Quilting. I am really enjoying the handwork involved, as well as the endless possibilities of patch placement and embroidery. Coincidentally, I went into our local quilt store on Friday and was told there is a Crazy Quilting class starting next Saturday. There was one more spot left, so I signed up right away--an early birthday present to myself! :)

(Aren't the little apples so sweet?)

I've also started an afghan that was meant to go to a very special person to celebrate his college graduation a year ago. Oops! Hopefully I'll finish it by Christmas...

Spring?!

Wow, I've been absent for a while! It seems like lately, after the boys have finally gone to bed, all I can do is stare at the computer and/or tv. Not much is going on upstairs. We have definitely been dealing with some sleep issues, and there have been a couple of personal issues I've been dealing with as well (nothing major, but my mind has just not been up for blogging).

The weather here has really been fluctuating. In one day it will snow several inches, melt a couple hours later, then the temperature will be in the 60s the next day. Ahh, spring in New Mexico! When it is nice, we've been trying to spend as much time as possible outside. Our daffodils are blooming, we pruned the fruit trees, and the grass is starting to slowly turn from brown to green. As I've mentioned before, this will be our first spring in this house. I'm excited to see what surprises will sprout in the coming months!

Today I sent out the package to my swap partner for the "Can't Wait 'til Spring!" exchange I hosted. I had a lot of fun putting the items together. The bag is a project I crocheted a while ago, but it went perfectly with the spring theme. I purchased the fabric charm pack at a local quilting store, and the book came from a local bookstore. I haven't read it, but it certainly looks interesting. I have already added it to my own reading list! I also included some all-natural diy spring cleaning recipes, as well as a couple of Burt's Bee's lip balms. I hope that my partner enjoys her package!

Let's see, I've also been bowling, experimenting with not wearing deodorant, planning our garden, reading Reading Lolita in Tehran for a book club, and trying to get organized for our first family-of-four vacation. We will be leaving for Tucson on Saturday for a five-day trip, so wish us luck! :)

I hope everyone is enjoying longer and warmer days!

This and That

As mentioned in my previous post, I have been working on a lot of different projects lately. I have been knitting and crocheting, of course, but I've also been enjoying sewing again. After much consideration I had decided to take my sewing machine in for a tune-up instead of purchasing a new one, and it was $70 very well spent! Now my thread isn't breaking every two inches, and my sewing machine and I are friends once again. It's not a fancy machine by any means, but it gets the job done, and it was my grandmother's so I like having it around for sentimental reasons as well.

First, I have a couple of birthday crowns I made for a first birthday (star crown) and second birthday (flower crown) birthday party we attended last weekend. Working with wool felt is so nice because fraying is not an issue and the fabric is nice and thick. I had purchased this felt many months ago from A Child's Dream Come True and have been very happy with it. I also enjoyed working on my embroidery and hand-sewing skills with these crowns. I see many more in my future!


I have several sketch books and journals I've been using lately and decided that they needed a special place of their own. I wanted a pencil holder/caddy that could house at least 24 colored pencils as well as my journals. I also wanted to use some of my Japanese fabric I purchased last year to add a little character. I am happy with the trifold design of this pencil/journal holder, but if I were to do it again I would make it a little bit smaller and add a top flap to ensure that none of the pencils fall out.


I've made it a goal of mine to focus on organizing our kitchen for the month of February. When we moved in last summer everything was put away very quickly, and now that we've been in this house for a good six months I'm starting to discover what works best for me in terms of organization. We have a little table for Matt next to the kitchen, but his art supplies have been constantly piling up on the kitchen counter. Thus, some wall pockets were in order to hold his supplies. He even picked out the fabric!

Finally, I wanted to draw attention to a great natural multi-purpose cleaner recipe found in the comments of the previous post. I'm excited to try it out! Thanks, BKD!

Craft Hope

Like so many, I have been deeply saddened by the devastation in Haiti, and I have been searching for what I could do to help in my own, small way. The number of organizations and programs of outreach is truly amazing, whether it's a national or international organization, Facebook group, Ravelry charity group, or private organization. Last night while I was searching the internet for a worthy cause that felt "just right" for me, I came across the craftivist site, Craft Hope. There are several craftivist projects a year that the site focuses on, and right now the focus is Craft Hope for Haiti. Crafters/artists have donated their work to the Craft Hope Etsy Shop, and ALL proceeds will be going to Doctors Without Borders.

I wanted to get involved, so I have already made one purchase. I'm sure I'll make more, as there are so many beautiful pieces of work in the shop. What a great way to stock up on gifts, for yourself and others. One word of caution: if you see something you'd like, purchase it right away (I learned this the hard way); the listings are going fast! Another way I got involved was by donating the neck-warmer shown below. This is from a personal pattern I've been working on, and I used Rowan yarn's Lima. The yarn is absolutely beautiful with tons of depth and softness. It's actually corded instead of plied and is supposed to have memory (perfect for any project with texture) and resist pilling. The turn-around for project submissions is taking several days due to the generous amount of projects being donated, so this neck-warmer probably won't be in the shop until the weekend.


So, take a look around at the Craft Hope Etsy Shop, feel good about the purchases you make, and make a donation if you're so inclined (Craft Hope is receiving donations until tomorrow evening).

If there are any other great craftivist websites out there, I'd love to hear about them!

Some Wee Projects

While I have a couple more involved projects going (okay, more than a couple), sometimes I like to change things up with a little instant gratification in between. It helps to keep my crafting mojo going, if you know what I mean. :) Sometimes I also like to make something "just because," such as these little gnomes. They're currently on our nature table (when Matthew isn't catapulting them across the room or trying to shove them into a vehicle of some kind), and I found the idea at Wee Folk Art. It was fun for me to do some crafting other than knitting, and each gnome took about half an hour to make. I have plans to make many more of these wee folk.

This is my first pair of Toasty mitts from the popular Toast/Toasty pattern. I used some Noro Silk Garden that was in my stash and just love the way the colors turned out. These are for a friend who is going to be spending a couple of years in Nepal. I made her a pair of fingerless mitts when she was in Mongolia for two years with the Peace Corps, and she requested a second pair since the first were "loved to death." Of course, I happily obliged. And since my life isn't nearly as exciting as hers, I'm happy that at least my knitting can accompany her on her journeys.

Finally, a hat for the wee one. This pattern is from the Fall 2008 issue of Living Crafts Magazine. I honestly couldn't understand the directions too well, so I ended up doing my own thing. I'm happy with how it turned out and love how Ben looks like a little elf in it.

I hope everyone has a lovely fall weekend!

A Fun Article

When I received my new issue of Mothering Magazine (or, as my husband likes to call it, Smothering Magazine) on Friday, I was thrilled to see an article about crafting/blogging mamas. Five women were showcased, including Amanda Blake Soule from SouleMama and Amy Karol from Angry Chicken. It was fun and inspiring reading about these two crafting/blogging "celebrities" who I have been following for quite some time now (I also have both their books!).

If you're not familiar with Mothering, it's a natural parenting magazine that's a little off the beaten path. I look forward to every issue and read the magazine cover-to-cover. I even read all of the advertisements (and I can't say that about any other magazine)!