Busy making and not posting

I've made several blankets in the last month and sewn some little girl nighties.  It was past time to get my granddaughters in some Grandma made PJ's.  I only have a picture of the third one made.  This was a pattern cut out, but unfinished, from my mother's craft supplies.  She's been gone for 16 years.  I should have finished this many years ago for the granddaughter it was meant for, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  Now it's on her great granddaughter.  Better late than never, right?

So summery and girly.

Here is where I put all the pins I took out of the pattern.  I'll leave them, always.

There have been blankets.  It's funny how each one is so different from the rest, yet each makes me happy in it's own way.  I smile when I look at the blankets still in my possession.  I smile more, when I look through my sold items on Etsy.  I can only hope to one day sell many more.  I'll keep making them until they take over a room of their own. 

This pattern is from a quilt design called Swoon.  I've admired the quilts made from it and chose to make just one giant block, instead of the 9 to 16 that would be in a quilt.  It helped to draw it in Paint on the computer and spend time playing with color before I started cutting into sweaters.

The back, as pretty as the front.

I loved the turquoise so much, I made most of the binding from the same wool.

Gives it a nice pop of color all the way 'round.

This quilt pattern is Chain of Events.

The first time I've used black in a blanket and it's literally a little over half the material. 

The graduated shades of coral make me so happy!  I'm simple, it's true.

Color! So many beautiful colors.  There was plenty of cashmere in this, too.

Cashmere, it's the new black.

This week's blanket.  Who knew I had so many pinks?  I did, that's who!

This isn't even all of them.  I got the striped wool in the binding, from my sister, it is too soft to use for anything that will be stuffed.  But, perfect for the pretty edge to this blanket.

Folded up and ready for a new home.  I may have trouble sending this one.  Quite a few of the sweaters were cashmere.  So girly and soft.  I can see it taken everywhere, used to make forts and standing in as a super hero cape.

Happy Scrappy Triangle Blanket

Finished!  Ta da!

A close up of the backside.

There are 10 rows of  triangles.  Here all the matching colors are lined up in a box lid and I'm part way through cutting the other 120 random scrap triangles.  Finding pieces in my bags of scraps was pretty fun!  I tried to choose zingers as well as neutrals.

Laid out and ready to sew.

The first 2 rows sewn and ironed.  These made me smile, a lot!

Choosing thread color is as much a part as choosing wools.  All threads show in these blankets.

A little more done.

Folded up neatly and waiting for a new home.  Listed in my Etsy shop.

Katzfire.etsy.com

Custom order blankets

I'm so happy these are finally finished.  My customer had a bunch of felted sweaters, mostly cashmere, she had been saving for something special.  She sent them to me and requested two blankets for her son and daughter.  She liked the look of large geometric pieces and some random circles.  I've been adding a crocheted star to all my blankets.  I made about a hundred of these last summer.  They go so fast, that I had a hard time quitting, then.  It was like picking blackberries or pulling weeds, just one more.

All the blankets I usually make are quilt designs and very orderly.  She doesn't know how much harder random is for me.  These aren't my usual style, but I'm pleased with the way they turned out.  Large pieces should be easier, but not for this OCD type.  I spent too much of my time obsessing over placement.

I feel they would have benefited from some orange or green.  I always like a complimentary color thrown in.

There's a tiny blue polo player on the upper left circle.

This was the first one I made.The long strips of cashmere weren't as easy to sew as I had thought they would be.  They are so soft and tender.  I cut shorter pieces for the next one.

The blue stripe was too bold to use in big pieces, I put one long strip off center, a couple smallish pieces and used up every last bit of it in the binding.  I filled in the binding length with the lightest blue.  Love the stripes around the edge.  Now, the whole blanket gets to share that wonderful sweater!

It's time to box them up and get to the post office on Monday!

Embroidering Again

Wow!  I haven't been here in such a long time.  I make things, they just haven't made it to the blog.
It's time for Easter Bunnies again.  Today I cut out 6 boys and 8 girls.  2 of them are already spoken for, but the rest will be going to my Etsy shop.

These are the few left over from last year.  The white chocolate girl sold today and I'll take her to the Post Office tomorrow.  I've had the chocolate mold for decades, a present from my Mom one Easter.  I made the pattern for the wool bunnies from the shape of this mold.

Chocolate colored wool isn't as easy to find as you might think.  This all wool sweater will make many bunnies.  I was gratified to discover that people prefer dark to white chocolate when it comes to stuffed bunnies.

The backs are all soft Easter colors and the fronts will get embroidery.  Girls face left and boys face right.  This makes it easy for the girls to sneak a kiss!  Ha!

Tiny Handwarmers

These are the tiny hands that were helping me sort through wool for my last blanket.  Olivia's 3 and was wrapping piece after piece around her hands talking about handwarmers.  It's not the right time of year, but she can keep them for fall.

The piece of pink ribbing seemed impossibly small for such a thing, but 3 year old hands are SO tiny, it was perfect.  A little green ribbing for the other end and we were getting there.

I made some tiny flowers and leaves from scraps destined for the scrap ball and stitched them in place.  Sewn into a tube with a thumb slot cut 3/4 inch down the side, they were done.

Here's my phone for size comparison.

They made her a happy girl!

Happy Scrappy Blanket

I'm not keeping up with the quantity of blankets I had hoped to make.  I thought I could make a new one each week.  As much as I love making these, the selection process of the colors bogs me down.
This is the blanket I wanted to make, but before I cut out the star pieces, I really thought it was ugly.
I went ahead and added the solids and it made all the difference.

Looking back on this picture, I almost wish I'd put a black border on it.  It's laid out on a blanket of the same pattern.  Made it really easy to place the pieces.

The Inspector, hard at work.

This is my tried and true thread selection method.  Get a bunch of colors out and start eliminating.  Zigzag uses so much thread that I buy the big spools and have an empty spool that I put inside the cone to use it on a regular spindle.

The main pieces all together and needing a border.

The backside's as pretty as the front.

Zippered Pouches

I had a special request for 15 assorted pouches this last month.  No special colors or designs.  I just pulled out a bunch of sweater parts in lots of colors and started cutting.  What a mess that makes and then I start obsessing about every detail.  Some were already made and listed in my shop, I decided they could join the party too.
These don't take long to sew, the selection process is the time killer.  If I was making a dozen at a time, all the same, it would be more time-cost effective.

I/m pretty pleased with the results, some are kinda fancy and others left very plain.  A little something for everyone.  Yes, that's bacon and eggs.

The backsides.  I've used one of my pouches for my camera.  I like how soft it is.  I need to get these in the mail today.

Caramels

Whether you say carmel or caramel, they're delicious!  Before Christmas, I got a craving for homemade carmels.  I hadn't made them in years and knew they would be a good addition to all the holiday goodies.
I didn't have a thermometer, so I bought one at the grocery store for $4, how bad could it be?  I made one batch that disappeared real fast.  Right before the holiday, I made time for 2 batches intended for taking to my family gathering.  The first batch went fine and the second seemed to stall at 220 degrees.  I watched it forever before I decided the thermometer must be broken.  Into the trash with that thing!  I saved the carmels, barely.
I went to the kitchen supply store last week and steeled myself to buying a good thermometer, I feared it might be $20-30.  Happy to say, it was $10 on sale 10% off.  I know good tools are important, why hadn't I gone there first.  I've had many a "cheap" thermometer over the years.

Gather all your ingredients-

2C sugar

2C dark corn syrup- the whole pint

1/2 C butter, salted- the whole cube

2C whipping cream- the whole pint

1 tsp vanilla

nuts if you like

Prepare a 9 x 13 pan.  Iv'e always buttered it, but discovered a new use for my Silpat.  Genius!  I just pushed it into the pan and it worked better than anything else I've tried.  I only wanted half of my carmels to have nuts.

Add the sugars and butter together and bring up to a boil over medium heat.  After it's really at a boil, start adding the cream a little at a time.  You have to go slowly and stir a lot to make sure it doesn't boil over.  All that liquid in the cream.

When all the cream is in and your sure it won't boil over, let it continue to boil and watch the temperature.  It'll stay at 220 degrees or so for quite awhile.  When it starts to climb it won't take long.

At 240- 245 degrees, take it off the heat, stir in the vanilla and pour it out into your pan.  Don't dawdle.

The nuts all stayed right where they were,  Not sure if that was the Silpat or not.  The next morning, I put a piece of waxed paper on my cutting board, lifted the Silpat out of the pan and turned it upside down on the paper.  I worried about getting any residual garlic or onion flavors. 

I cut them into pretty small cubes, 1/2- 3/4 inch square, they seem to grow when you chew them.  Use a sharp knife and wrap them in squares of wax paper.  If you don't, they stick right back to each other.  Cut a little, wrap a little.

This is about half of the carmels.  I took a bunch to work.

Scrap Balls

I saw scrap balls on someones blog months ago, sorry I can't remember where, and thought it would be fun to try.  The idea is to keep this next to your sewing machine or work area and keep feeding all the tiny pieces you can't save for something else into it instead of the garbage.  You know we crafters will save some pretty small bits to maybe make something else out of them.  You know you do.
Since I like to make stuff (pretty much any stuff), I always have remnants of all types.  I only begrudgingly throw out the tiniest of pieces.

The original pattern was the one on the left.  After I drew the pattern from the directions they gave, I knew it would be far too large a ball for my liking.  I redrafted it in the smaller size and sewed a scrap ball for myself.  The resulting ball took quite a long time to fill.  I left it sitting by the machine and used it when sewing.  It was very easy to get used to putting the scraps into it and fun to watch it slowly fill out.

When it felt stuffed so full that I thought I really couldn't get much more in it and still be able to sew it shut, I did just that.

It's pretty heavy for it's size, like a good orange.  It would be a good baby toy or a dryer ball.

I went along without a new one for a few months before I missed it.  There were a lot of tiny (bitty!) scraps in my basket next to the sewing machine. The crafter in me wanted to stuff a new ball and of course, here it comes, I couldn't leave well enough alone.  Enter the Acorn Scrap Ball.

You see the original lines of the pattern on the right, I made it pointier and cut off the top.  Then I made a circle for the top and gathered it in to fit.  A loop and some decorative stitching and I was ready to stuff.

Before I stuffed it I'd already drawn a new pattern for the next one.  Bigger top and shorter bottom.  Do you see a pattern to my craziness here?  No project can ever be left simple.

After stuffing, I found that it came out so much larger than the original and less acorny than I thought it would.  Maybe the next one will be the smaller top AND the smaller bottom.

I think these would be good to list, unstuffed, in my shop.  The round ones, that is, the acorn cap took a lot longer to sew on than I thought it would.

Crafters could make their own dryer balls and have less angst over scraps in the garbage.