Wow, its been a while since I checked in here. I have to get better at integrating blogging into my every day life. It’s still new to me, and not at all automatic. Doesn’t help that I have the day job from hell, either.Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful to have a job. Especially now, since my partner has been laid off for a while. But this is our busy season at work and my free time is very limited. I did manage to do a shirt refashion and have several others planned.

This is the shirt before:

Boring. I didn’t wear it much. So I refashioned it with a bit of crochet:

Here’s a look at the detail:

This was a lot of fun, and I love the way it turned out. More to come soon!

Hurry Spring!

Oh what a month was February! Actually, it wasn’t the greatest month here. We had a few expensive catastrophies: our refrigerator decided to stop working, so we needed to replace it, then both my dear partner (DP) and I needed new tires on our cars. Apparently navigating through snow and ice is easier if you actually have tread on your tires. Huh. Who knew?

We had garbage disposal problems which required apparently both snaking out and swearing at (just one of those was ineffective, but together, bingo) and we had to call the furnace guys out, but they said all was well, and I’m good with that. As my favorite knitting podcaster says, “If you’re cold… put on a sweater. That’s what they’re for.” And I will.

Oh, yeah, and DP and I both were sick. Twice. (I mean come on, its the shortest month for gosh sakes). First with some weird norovirus, then with the flu. I’m still recovering.

Maizy 2001-2010

And saddest of all, we had to say goodbye to one of our furry babies. Maizy the kitty started getting sick after the first of the year, and after many trips to the vet, and many different tests and pills and special foods, she just couldn’t pull through. We never did find out what was wrong with her. So we’re still mourning the loss of our sweet kitty, but we know she’s in a better place now.

Meanwhile, I did actually do some crocheting, and managed to make some belated Christmas gifts (or they could actually be early Easter gifts!) for several great-nieces. I felt bad because I ran out of time to make them gifts for Christmas. They haven’t received them yet, so I won’t show photos.

So welcome March! I’m ready for you!

Can you tell I don’t have any children? My fur babies are my children, actually, which is why I love to sew for them. I made this little outfit for Peaches from felted wool sweaters.

I used the bottom ribbing of the felted sweater as the neck ribbing of Peaches’ sweater. I also used scraps from a contrasting blue felted sweater to finish the bottom, and for the hearts on the back.

I think Peaches likes it. It’s keeping her warm this winter, anyway.

Felted wool sweaters are probably my favorite material to refashion because there’s so much you can make from them. I’ll be posting more of my creations soon. What kinds of things have you made with felted wool? I’d love to see what you’ve come up with!

I just completed my first two crafty “swaps”. I have been aware that this swapping thing has been going on for quite a while now in the craft community, mainly from seeing them posted on Craftster. I’m not sure why I never participated, I think maybe because I felt a little intimidated. Or shy, maybe? I mean I didn’t know any of these people, what if they didn’t like what I made?

So how did I get into not one but two swaps? The first swap came about when I was searching online for handmade ornament ideas. When I saw Pam’s post on her blog Gingerbread Snowflakes for these beautiful yarn star ornaments, I couldn’t resist. Lucky for me, Pam posted an excellent tutorial, and I soon completed about 15 of them, for gifts for my co-workers and family. They really are a great recycled craft… I reused cardboard for the star shape, yarn from my stash, and reused images from last year’s holiday cards for the center.

I left a comment on her blog, and Pam was sweet enough to email me back and because I enjoyed making the yarn stars so much, she suggested a swap. I was so excited to make more stars and send them to her, and the ones she sent me were just beautiful!  You can see how gorgeous the colors are that she used. And, she had the brilliant idea to use little mirrors for the center. They sparkle!

I had to take a photo of the other one the way she packaged them up for me. In cute little cellophane bags tied with raffia! What a nice touch.

Well, how fun was it to open the box and have these greet me?  I now have two beautiful new ornaments to adorn my tree next Christmas, and  best of all, a new friend. That was a good swap.

The other swap came about when I was participating in  a “craftsocial” chat on Twitter. I am a Twitter newbie as well, and thought it would be fun to meet some new crafty people to follow. Boy did I ever! Someone suggested an Artist Trading Card swap and I thought that sounded like fun. I had always wanted to create some ATCs and I did. I should receive my swap partner’s ATC any day now! I’m glad I took the plunge into crafty swapping!

Peaches in her party dress!

Last month our dear friend Christina invited us to her birthday party, and being an animal lover of the highest order, she invited our dogs as well.  We have two — Peaches the Pomeranian Princess, and Heidi the Min-Pin (Guard-er of the humans, as well as the food). Together they can be…um…loud. Alone they are much more well behaved. Peaches is better with new people, so I decided that she should be the one to go to the party.

But we can’t go to a party without a new party dress, now can we? So I rummaged through my stash and found a striped cotton baby cardigan that I had thrifted long ago with the idea of making a sweater for one of the dogs. I tried it on Peaches with the button side on her back, marked where I had to take in and where to cut the sleeves off.

I had denim left over from the remote control pillow I had made for my friend Kevin (see previous post), so I used that to make a little ruffled skirt to attach to the sweater. I found (again in my stash) some cute ribbon with little navy blue paw prints on it, so that was the finishing touch. She was quite the hit at the birthday party.

Peaches is all partied out!

For Christmas this year I made my dear friend Jeannie a yoga mat bag. I discovered a rayon blend sheath dress I loved and had saved even though I couldn’t wear it anymore. I finally admitted to myself that I wasn’t going to lose enough weight to get back into it but I loved the fabric and wanted to refashion it into something extra special. So it was perfect for Jeannie’s yoga bag.

Because it was a lightweight fabric, I lined it with cotton fabric, repurposed from a sheet, and that made it quite sturdy. I also added a pocket on the front for her wallet or keys.

She loved it, and I was happy to have reused such a beautiful fabric!

Unfortunately, I was so busy making gifts for friends and family, that I forgot to get photos of most of them! I did manage to get a few pics of this remote control pillow caddy I made for my friend Kevin.
I refashioned 2 thrifted men’s shirts to make it. I used a denim shirt for the pillow and a plaid shirt for the remote control pocket on the back.
I made the pocket span the width of the pillow, but sewed up the middle of the pocket to create 2 smaller pockets. The cool thing about this pillow cover is that its made so that the shirt still unbuttons so that you can take it off for washing. And I didn’t have to sew in a zipper! It was really easy.