Sunday, October 24, 2010

I've been gone so long, blogger forgot who I am...

I had to sign back into blogger today when I tried to get to this blog to post it. My web browser also didn't remember the website and autofill it for me. This obviously means that I've been away too long. I'd blame the school year starting back up, but really I think it was my newfound motivation and level of accomplishment. When I accomplish more, I spend less time on my computer. When I spend less time on my computer, it doesn't occur to me to blog about things.

In other exciting news, I'm an aunt! My brother and his wife had a little girl. I've been crafting things for her for months now. Here's a few of my recent finishes.

Set of Dr Seuss burp cloths - they're not into pink for a girl, so I went with unisex, but fun.

Matching Dr Seuss bib that needs a velcro dot for the closure.

Set of wipies that are made with bamboo / hemp fleece on one side and hemp / organic cotton fleece on the other side. One of them is softer than the other (I think it's the hemp / cotton), but both are really nice. They're serged around the edges because I got a serger! It's this one. I picked it based on the amazon.com reviews. So far, I love it.

Another set of owl burp cloths that I made for my childhood best friend who just had her second child, a girl. They were expecting a boy so I thought I'd make some cheerful slightly-pink owl accessories for her.

A knitted baby sweater based on the Helena pattern by Alison Green Will on Ravelry. It's made with this hand painted sock yarn from knitpicks.com.

Here it is from the back.

I decided to make the smallest size, which seemed like a good idea at the time. It's smaller, so I'll finish it faster, right? Well, it turned out so small that the baby will only be able to wear it for about 2 weeks, and who puts a tie-on sweater on a newborn? Oh well. It'll look cute on a teddy bear for years to come.

After I finished that sweater project, I needed a new knitting project. I decided to make hats with really bulky yarn. Here's what I ended up with.

It's probably sturdy enough to be a flower pot.

Rags was unimpressed.

I didn't take pictures of the stuff I tie-dyed recently. For some reason, I always forget to photograph that particular craft. I did a bunch of bamboo socks for baby, a few other random baby things I had lying around, and then swiped a few of TD's white cotton undershirts (I'm not sure if he likes them better or worse now that they're blue and purple).

I also forgot to take pictures of the two wetbags I made (also for baby). They're based mostly on this tutorial. My brother and his wife had registered for this on amazon.com, but I decided that I could make the same thing for way cheaper. I ended up making two: a roughly 8"x11" one and a larger one with an outer non-waterproof pocket. They're lined with PUL fabric, which is a waterproof (but apparently breathable) fabric that people use for making cloth diapers. It was a little irritating to sew because it sticks to the sewing machine, but it wasn't too bad. The worst part was putting in the zippers. Zippers are my nemesis.

I mailed all the baby stuff off to my brother and baby on Friday. Hopefully they will actually use some of it. I forgot to mail out this hat that I'd made for her quite a while back. I'll have to send another package... but that's ok - I got a onesie that says "My Aunt Rocks" that I have to send her, too.

I went to the October Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting. Twice, actually. The first time was two weeks ago, which didn't really work out well since the meeting was this past week. There was a pretty cool art show on the street next to PCNA, though. I bought a headband that I'm fairly happy with and I enjoyed looking at the art.

I'd hurried and stressed about having my pincushion ready for the swap at the meeting. I got it done the night before I went to the meeting (for the first time), then brought it home and it sat inside its paper bag for another two weeks. Sadly, I didn't take a picture of it at any point.. The one that I got in the swap is pictured on the PMQG website. It's the colorful round one that's the third one down. I'm insanely pleased with it.

I'm sure there have been other crafts that I've finished. I just have to think about it and search around the house for unphotographed crafts to snap pictures of and post about.