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I finally got around to replacing the mittens I knit in 2007 and had sadly lost [ in 2009 ]. These aren’t as fancy, but they’re a fast knit and are really warm. Let’s just say they get the job done. I want to make another pair of the Corazon mittens sometime, but haven’t really had that much time to devote to knitting. And I really wanted a pair while it was still cold. Those mitts took me several weeks to finish.

These mittens are made from the leftover yarn I had from Steph’s leg warmers and a bit of scrap yarn. I used the Nordic Mittens pattern from Ravelry. These took about 3 hours total to knit. I also modified the pattern to fit my tiny hands by reducing to 27 stitches cast on instead of 33.

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Mark’s brother-in-law likes MJ probably as much if not more … okay … who am I kidding? Nobody could like MJ more than me.

Anyway, I had a threadless shirt lying around and I decided to make him a pillow out of it. I like how it turned out. I think I like it better than if the shirt would have fit the pillow because I added some contrasting patchwork on the side.

[and it's envelope-back, so if it's too cheesy for him, he can easily change it out]

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I love giveways, especially ones that involve fabulous fabric.

Quokka Quilts is hosting a blogger’s choice giveaway for 12 print fat quarters and 3 solids (holy cow!) of your choice from Fat Quarter Shop.

Since I mostly make bags, I picked a bunch of patterns conducive to bag-making. I also mocked up a couple of bag patterns.

First, these are the fabrics I chose. I went through and picked my favorite fabrics without thinking about putting them together. I didn’t read the rules all the way through … they are PICKING the best ones. I doubt I will get picked, but putting random fabric patterns together and making them look pretty is kind of what I do, so …

And now? How about a couple of ideas for what I might do with them. Stack them (wonkily and not straight of course):

Wow that’s a lot of fabrics. Okay, now for the bags I could create using a bit of ALL of these fabrics.

Probably with an orange zipper on that one.

And a turquoise zipper on this one. Obviously the patterns would translate into bigger than what they’re shown here, but you get the picture.

Anyway, here is the part where I say … pick me! Please.

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I’m on a last-minute Christmas gift rampage and have been scouring my tutorials board on Pinterest this week*.

I came across this really easy tutorial for reversible coffee cup sleeves by Crafty Staci. You can use scrap fabric and these sew up really quickly.

[photo from Crafty Staci's blog]

*Side note: If you ever want to find a quick project, I have more than 300 tutorials pinned to this board. Quilting/patchwork, knitting and crochet all have their own boards, but other crafts are on this one. 

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I hate to be a Debbie-downer, but I recently had to change my shipping policy on Etsy. This applies ONLY to my dishes, not to the other items.

Here’s the sitch: Dishes are fragile and heavy, and therefore, cost a little more money than other items to ship. Said cost is more than most people are willing to pay to have something shipped to them, so I’ve had a lower shipping rate in the past. I kept small items to $5 and large items to $10. However, I didn’t take into account that I always have to wrap these items extra carefully and that they can’t just be put into an envelope.

I have lost a TON of money shipping dishes, so I’ve changed the way I’m handling shipping of these fragile items. I was typically paying $1-2 extra for shipping itself, not to mention I put a tracking number on all my items. So I was eating the shipping overage costs PLUS the shipping materials costs. Even if shipping was about right for the product I still had to pay extra for the shipping materials.

It’s not kosher to ask somebody to pay more for shipping after purchasing an item that has shipping prices included. THEREFORE I’m instituting a flat-ship rate policy. The shipping rate for all dishes is the same up front. This rate covers the worst-case scenario cost of shipping the items. However, all customers will be refunded the overages. The cost includes $4 for packaging materials.

I wrote a new policy after checking to see what others do about this same situation.

The policy reads:
Shipping will be calculated after your purchase and overages will be refunded. Shipping price below is standard on ALL dishes. Please keep in mind these objects are very fragile and require extra care (and bubble wrap) when packaging. Shipping price also includes $2 for bubble wrap and $2 for a box.

Please convo me before purchasing if you would like me to pre-calculate correct shipping for you. This will require me to reserve the item for you, but will result in you paying one accurate charge for the item instead of receiving a refund later.

If you need overnight or express shipping on this item, please convo me before buying so I can calculate the actual cost and adjust the shipping price.

All items to Des Moines or Ames can be delivered at no charge. Please convo me to arrange a pickup/drop off time/place before placing your order to receive the free shipping.

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A while back I talked a bit ’bout making new wallets. The first one was cute, but not what I wanted.

Well, I sketched and sketched and put together another few before I finally got these down. And I had two days this week between jobs (I’m unemployed for 2 whole days! whoopeee!) so I got to sewing.

Introducing my new and improved wallets!

PS the one in the middle is MINE. 

How are they improved from the old version of my wallets? Well, for starters, they are sewn better — all thanks to my NEW sewing machine that I got on Wednesday. This Janome DC1050 solved all my problems of skipped stitches and weird tension happening with my old machine. AND there is a stop/start button, so I can use that instead of the foot pedal. This feature comes in handy when sewing a lot of the same thing in a row. Hit start, feed everything through the machine, then hit stop.

Also, there is one additional feature that my old wallets didn’t have — a divider with card organizing slots. And the closure? It’s not a button anymore. It’s a magnetic purse snap. It’s like my wallets went and got all grownup on me!

[one of my old wallets for reference]

I’m thrilled to have all these wallets ready for Craft Saturday next weekend. I also made a bunch of revamped teeny-tiny wallets. They’re a bit bigger to accommodate cards (which was the ORIGINAL idea … but my math skills got in the way) and they’re more nicely put together. Again, thanks to Ms. Janome. All of my old inventory will be on MAJOR SALE next weekend to make way for the new stuff.

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It’s almost fall, which means it’s time to add some slightly warmer things to my wardrobe.  I absolutely adore this pattern by Kelly Maher of 10 Feet High.  It knits up super easy — enough to make them in multiple colors.  And it’s adaptable based on your size instead of coming in 3-4 predetermined sizes.

Newbie knitter? Never fear.  It’s actually a pretty easy pattern. This project was one of my first FO projects when I started knitting.  It’s basically a large rectangle that’s sewn together at the end.

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It’s been a while since I posted some love about another blog.  But I’ve been wanting to post about DIY or Buy for a long time.  And she’s been blogging a lot more lately, so I feel like it’s a good time to post.

DIY or Buy focuses on analyzing exactly what the title implies: should you do something yourself or are you better off buying? Her tagline is “Make it or buy it? We’ll help you decide.”

My favorite posts include dishwasher detergent, egg nog and granola. This past week she did a promenade of fried foods in honor of the Iowa State Fair. I slightly feared for her health, but she made it through!

Anyway … if you are in the mood for some good tutorials, fun things to do yourself and maybe some greening of your daily routine, check out DIY or Buy.

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Um, I may have gotten the t-shirts for this in the spring of 2009.  Like March 2009.  Regardless, I finally finished it.  It broke my sewing machine twice.  Twice.  Therefore, not making any more quilts (at least quilting them).  So if you want a quilt, I’ll make the top, but you’re on your own for getting it quilted.

I also hate t-shirt quilts. I think they’re boring and stupid and I am not sure why people love them so much when there are so many beautiful quilting fabrics or vintage fabrics out there to make a quilt from instead. I’ve made 3 t-shirt quilts now — but the first 2 were really deconstructed. And the first 2 were because I wasn’t sure if I was going to like quilting, so I didn’t want to BUY fabric until I knew if I liked it or not.

Anywho — the twist on the regular t-shirt quilt here is adding the lyrics to Lateralus by Tool on the back of the quilt.  I just quilted straight lines to make it easy.  And I used scrap fabric that coordinated for the binding.

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I was out of the office a few days last week so I didn’t receive this lovely package from Amy Palanjian (the editor of ReadyMade magazine for those who aren’t familiar) until today.

Amy follows me on Pinterest and noticed that I had pinned this amazing book, “World of Geek Crafts” and promptly messaged me asking if I wanted her copy that was sitting on her desk.

Why, yes. Yes I do!

So she stuck it in snail mail, and I got it TODAY.

Guess what the first thing I’m going to make is? Betcha can’t guess …

It’s a Buffy portrait. Made from beads. Can’t decide if I want to anty up time or money — because this would make a GREAT x-stitch, but I feel that would take up too much time. But it would be awesome.

Also, I didn’t realize this until now, but I was featured on the Geek Craft blog a LONG time ago (2009) — when it first started. My lovely rubiks cube that I made for my then-BF, Kasey, was featured.

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