Last Day of the Month!!!! ...Matryoshka

I was going to add some pink

cheeks but I haven't got 

any felt in that colour.

And the felt that I do have tends

to pull apart when you 

try to sew with it,

since it's the cheap acrylic kind.

I think that I really need to 

order wool felt online 

or make my own. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Final tally

This project..no new supplies

Total month $21.38 and

the majority of that was on

two projects that were 

new to me 

(making stamps and embroidery).

Day 27: owl

Today I'm off to see the Beatles,
  actually I'm seeing a cover band, 
a very good cover band called Rain.

So I picked this small knitted

owl as today's project.

It was very easy even for 
a non-knitter like me .

I didn't have any owly yarn

so I mixed plain beige

merino with some leftover

dark brown kid mohair.
Free pattern here

Day 26: green chicken potholder

I was really hoping this would be a

quick project but then realized it had 2

sides to be crocheted plus I decided to

watch the Olympics

while I was making it.

I was going to make some

green eggs to go along with it.

Oh well. 

Day 25: Egg cosy

When I sew on the blue door later

tonight it will officially be 

a gnome house egg cosy.

Day 24: scrap happy teacosy

I came up with this pattern while

 watching the men's Olympic hockey

games today.

I wanted it to hug my teapot 

and also to leave the knob 

on the lid naked.

It was nice to use up a lot of scrap yarn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No new supplies

Day 23: 1951 Betsy doll and The Big Bang

These are Betsy McCall paper dolls 

that were introduced in the 

McCall magazine in 1951.

One Pearl Button 

came up with a tutorial to

turn them into magnetic 

paper dolls.

Since I had been gifted with part of

 a magnetic sheet, I set out to make a set 

to give to my niece when

she is a little older.

Problem is ..the magnetic clothes don't

actually stay on the magnetic doll.

At first I thought I had done 

something wrong and then

I noticed one of the comments

that said that the same thing

happened to her.

Brilliant idea but unfortunately

a bit of a glitch in the execution.

They will however work 

if both the doll and clothes 

are stuck onto a fridge 

since the clothes tend to be a 

bit wider than the doll.

I'll have to revisit this and

see if I can work around this 

problem since I think this

project is worth it.

While I had the magnetic sheet out

I thought I'd make up some

magnets for myself of my

favourite characters on tv.

Actually while I was working

on this I came up with another

project involving 

Sheldon, Leonard, Raj, and Howard

but it can't be completed

within a day so it 

will have to wait.

Day 22: Gold medal

Every morning my husband 

makes me a delicious 

cappuccino and for that he

definitely deserves 

the gold medal.

I really had to make this

one on the fly but 

thankfully hubby was still

happy with it.

Free pattern here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No new supplies today.

Total $21.38

Day 21: crochet Tawashi

Tawashi is a traditional scrubbing brush

but the modern equivalent includes

anything from sponges to yarn
(crochet or knitted) 
scrubbers like this one.

This free pattern

is in symbol form and the

written instructions are

in Japanese but, if you

are patient, it is not difficult

to figure out.

The trickiest part is figuring

how to put the 4 rings together.

I made this one with cotton yarn

with a 3.5mm hook so that

the fabric would be course enough

to wash dishes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still $21.38 spent this month

Day 20: Kitty keychain

 

Click here for free pattern

I'm always losing my
keys in my purse so I
hope this kitty makes it easier 
to find them.
The designer made them into 
juggling balls ...I really 
like that idea too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No new supplies for this
so total this month $21.38

Day 19: an owl egg cosy

This project was like a last 

minute essay.

You finish it on time but

you really don't want 

to hand it in.

I like some parts of it, namely

the pattern  

(I did change the wings)

and I was happy with the fabrics 

that I chose.

But I don't like the look

of leaving the edges raw and

I'm not happy with my

embroidery.

 

The back actually was going

to be the front and I had cut

out wings with Elvis on it.

I thought it would look so cool

but it just didn't work 

although I liked the look 

of the guitar.

Day 18: Red Riding Hood

I had so much fun yesterday

making  the Ninja , I decided

to see if I could come up

with a pattern of Red Riding Hood.

 

Day 17: Ninja love

 A cute fast pattern 

for a busy day.

It looks like everyone

is getting into Olympic fever.

Day 16: my first stamp

Oh I can see how making

these stamps can get addicting.

Yes there are a ton of mistakes

in this but I'm still really happy

with my little owl.

(Tell me you can tell 

that it is an owl).

Today I was so busy, 

actually this whole week will

be busy so I may have to

try my hand at carving again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carving tools $14.00

So far this week $21.38

Day 15: money pouch

We will be going to Italy in

May so I made this pouch to hold

all the coins that we'll need...

for tips, for parking, for gelato.

Free pattern here 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No new supplies.
This month $7.38

Day 14: part crochet/part fabric bag

The whole time I was finishing this up

my sweet cat Oreo was on the floor 

crying for attention. 

I turned to get my camera from 

the shelf behind me and 

this is what I found when I turned back.

Underneath her is this bag. 

I tried a couple of different 
drawstrings but couldn't find one
that I liked so I'll find something
the next time I go to the fabric store.
Here is a wip where only

the bottom is finished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No new supplies.

So far this month $7.38

Day 13: Mermaid

This is my first embroidery.
 Yesterday was a merfish and

today is a Mermaid.
The stitching is complete, 

I just need to remove the clear

transfer sheet that has the 

pattern marked on it

(you might see some of the blue

marker that should dissolve

in water).

 The free pattern is here

and while you are there check

out the rest of this talented artist's work.

I'm so glad that I finally got 

around to making this.

This challenge was the kick 

that I needed...I'm hoping

to tackle a second embroidery

project this month (fingers crossed).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For this project I bought transfer

sheets and floss for $6.00

Total this month...$7.38

Day 12: merfish

Here is my first modest attempt 

at making a merfish.

This pattern comes from one

of my favourite blogs

resurrection fern.

Her blog is very unique and inspirational! 

But actually the first time I saw 

this pattern was on flickr

when I saw the work of AnniePurls.
As you can see I have a long way to go. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zero $ were used to buy supplies
so total this month $1.38 cents

Day 11: a surprise for me

 A while back I found this 

pattern that was in Japanese;

 it didn't include a picture of the actual 
project and only included charts.

So when I started it I had no

idea what I was making,

it was, in a way, an act of faith.

What I could tell was that it didn't involve

very many rows or stitches

so I knew it was probably

doable in a day.

This is what I made.

When I finished the individual

pieces and  realized what they were,

 I recrocheted the underbellies

of the mushroom caps in a 

lighter blue.

I like how the other colours

worked out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today I unravelled some of my 69 cent
scarf to use for this project.
Total this month...$1.38

Day 10: teacosy made from thrifted hat

When I found this hat yesterday 

at the thrift store I didn't know

what I would do with it

but it was such pretty colours 

that I couldn't resist.

Both the scarf and the hat

were each 69 cents.

Normally I would just wear the

hat but it was a toddler 

size so that was out.

Then I realized that it

would make a perfect teacosy.

First I tried to sew a band of

stitches on either side of 

where I would cut

(this technique has always

worked in the past).

 

But it was so thick it wouldn't

go under the pressure foot so 

I sewed the rows by hand.

The second I started to cut I

knew I was in trouble because

all the stitches started to unravel.

So I put tape on the back to 

temporarily stop more unraveling and

resewed the edges with yarn that

I had unraveled from the flaps.

Then I single crocheted over the edges

to clean up the mess.

I had been thinking of cutting

a hole for the spout but because the

side and top were made in one piece

I knew that I might ruin it.

I have to say that I'm very

chuffed at my new teacosy and

I'm going to be on the lookout

for other suitable hats.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cost 69 cents.
So far this month 69 cents

Day 9: I wear my heart on my sleeve

 
Okay, so I wear it on my wrinkled shirt.
I know this is a ridiculously simple
project but hey... it's still cute.

But the cool thing about this project 

is all the endless possibilities 
and this would be great for
both adults and kids. 

Can you imagine making little animals 
(maybe climbing monkeys like in the 
barrel of monkey game),
characters from books,
letters to spell words,
holidays (ghosts, black cats, xmas trees, 
bunnies), flowers, pets,
the list goes on and on.
I think I'll make a batch
of book related ones for my nieces.
They would love Max (wild things), 
hungry caterpillar, Charlotte,

Should I even bother with instructions?
Cut hearts from felt 
(I made mine in in different
sizes with the larger at top.
Cut a slit in centre and then pop
it on after you have buttoned up.
Time-- 2 minutes 
 I found this idea in a Martha booklet 
in thrift store.
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No new supplies so zero $ so far.

Day 8: poppy coaster

The front coaster is finished.

The black stamens are embroidered 

 using thread and, although you

can't tell, each petal is separated 

by a  ridge of backstitch 

using the red yarn.

Finally the flower is backed with felt 

held in place with a blanket stitch.

The great pattern here is by 

Stephanie Garcia

 I enjoyed making this one so

much I decided to start two more

to be finished another day. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything used for today
was stash so zero $ on
new supplies so far this month.

Day 7: Korknisser

These two guys look a lot better 

than this picture reflects. 

The one on the left is made 
with Noro Kureyon,
 it has beautiful shades of green.

After I took this picture I realized

that I hadn't given them eyes

so I'll replace this picture soon.

The original pattern for these Korknisser

is for knitting but I made

a crocheted version.

Day 6: Do you think this will get taken too?

A while ago I discovered that

my front corner post was missing.

A week later I went out to discover

that someone had popped a broken

dog toy over it.

I left that toy on it quite a 

while and then it hit me that

it would make a nice base

to attach a crochet project.

Today I made this.

Here is the top view.

 

Day 5: Flowers for her hair

I knew I was going to 

be busy today so I picked a cute 

but fast project.

Here is the free pattern

for the flower part. 

Simply add a button on front

and a piece of felt on the back

and sew (or glue) it onto a 

bobby pin.
~~~~~~~~~~~
$0 spent so far this month

Day 4: framing up vintage children illustration

Sorry for the poor lighting (again)
but I wanted to show it in my room.

I have a couple of rooms in my house

that are bare of any artwork.

So today I'm framing a page from a 

vintage children's book

that will go in my bedroom.

I chose an old Italian book 

called Cappuccetto Rosso.

Isn't the illustration delightful!

Il Lupo, con un balzo divoro

Cappuccetto Rosso.

The wolf, with a leap, devoured

Red Riding Hood.

 As you can see the picture

covered two pages so  I scanned
it into Paint and blended

the colours over the centre fold.

The plastic frame was simply given a 
lick of light grey paint.

I'm totally happy with the 

result and I'm looking forward

to finishing more of these.

-----------------------------

Todays's supplies were all from 

my stash :o)

Day 3: A spring bird

I've been wanting to make this

for a while ever since I saw this

great tutorial by Attic24.

Today is overcast so
this pic isn't quite as cheerful
as in real life.
I had these tube shaped beads
which turned out to be 
perfect for it's eyes.
I'll eventually make four birds,
one for each season.
This one is spring.

----------------------

New supplies for this project $0

Cost so far $0

Day 2: small notebook cover

A while back I sewed some covers

for a few notebooks to send in a swap.

I had an extra notebook for 
myself so I sewed up a cover
using some leftover muslin,
stamped it, and added a couple
of crocheted embellishments.

I think if this wasn't a day
project I would have spent
a little more time on it
but for now I will pop it
into my purse.

Also my sewing machine
is acting up and I
may have to take it in.

----------------------------

This project used all stashed items
so total spent so far $0

Day 1: Ugly Bunny Pincushion

Actually I think he's quite cute.

Free pattern here

Pattern was really easy to

make... I'll put him to work as a

pincushion just for needles.

Supplies that I needed to buy- $0