Cute chicks

I made cute chicks for some of my favorite peeps today!

The original idea and dimensions were found on YouTube, courtesy of Deb Valder. She has some great ideas on YouTube and I will definitely be going back to check out more of them.

I used Stampin' Up punches and a scoring board to make these, but you could adapt the idea to work with what you have.

I began with a strip of yellow paper cute 2" wide by 7.25" long. I scored this at 3" from each end.

The 2" strip fits perfectly in the scalloped tag topper. Punch both ends.

The 1.25" scallop circle was used to make the wings. Each wing was cut in half.  The owl builder punch was used for the eyes, white being the larger circle, black was the medium circle. 

Boho blossoms punch and orange paper created the feet and beaks. The blossom was trimmed to the somewhat oval shape shown next to the punch, then folded in half to form the beak. 

I made five the first time and liked them so much, I made ten more right away. Here are the components ready to assemble. I used glue dots on everything. Liquid glue would have been more economical and would have worked, but I decided I wanted to take this to my knitting group tonight so I was pressed for time. 

Here is a chick with face, wings and feet attached. Glue dots attach the wings to the inside of the front of the chick. Dots on the back half of the boho blossom hold the feet to the bottom. 

Time to add the candy. I used a glue dot on this too. Rather appropriate to have a chocolate egg inside the chick, don't you think?

I used white to tie the top together. I deliberately frayed the yarn but untwisting it.

Last touch was to add a white highlight to each eye. A small touch, but I think it makes a big difference. 

The flock, in V-formation, ready to go to knitting. They were a hit with the ladies. 

Table runners

Time is flying or I am procrastinating. I think it is time's fault though. 

While shopping for fabric for the baby quilt a few weeks ago, I fell for another Art to Heart publication. Actually, I fell for two of them Table Please, Part One and Table Please, Part Two.

I have always liked their projects, and the store where these were purchased had fabric bundled for Valentine's, St Patrick's and Easter projects from Part One. I bought the St Pat and Easter bundles, thankful to be spared the time spent choosing fabrics. I can make myself nuts over fabric choices. 

The St Patrick's Day runner was made shortly after the baby quilt (shown here) and placed on the table right away. 

After this was finished, we had a flurry of birthday activity spanning two weekends. Even though I've known the date for Easter this year is April 5th, it didn't hit me that this will arrive less than three weeks after St Pat's until I looked at the calendar. Uh-oh....better get going on the Easter runner!

Here it is minus a quilted medallion in the center that I added after this was photographed. 

Here is the medallion

 

I have a Viking Designer SE Sewing machine. I love doing the applique stitch on it. I get into a peaceful zone and could do this for hours....or until the bobbin thread runs out.

I don't mind raw edge applique on a table runner or wall hanging that isn't designed to be an heirloom and isn't going to have the wear and tear that clothing would experience. 

Here is a close up of the stitches. Watching the machine progress is like watching dance steps. Forward, over, back, step back, forward, forward, over, back....

Happy Stitchin'!

Baby Quilt

Baby things and birthdays continue to keep me occupied this month. I made a quilt for the baby shower that was held on the first for my daughter-in-law. I had an idea in mind but was open to buying a quilt kit at a store that excels in nursery and toddler quilts. When I didn't find the fabric choices I had in mind and the kits, while very nice didn't appeal to me, I was stumped for a few days.

I went to a store much closer to home, not expecting to find anything because of a misconceived idea of what this store carried. It was good that I went, and better that I looked at printed panels because I found something that pleased me.

The panel is called God Gave Me to You by Leanne Anderson for Henry Glass & Co.

The left side of the panel is "Why God Made Little Girls", the right is about boys. Each of these themed squares is under 22 inches. After discussing what finished size and colors I wanted, the clerk at the store helped me select fabrics and calculate yardages.

The backing is the same as the binding, the red in the checkerboard strips. I did all the piecing and quilting by machine and was pleased with the result.

The baby is due at the end of April and will undoubtedly get another quilt when she is old enough to voice an opinion on the matter. Meanwhile, I've saved fabric scraps from this to make a doll quilt.

Bibs with tags (ribbon loops)

Tags to play with on baby toys, blankets and accessories weren't a "thing" back when my boys were babies. I don't know if they would have liked this textural sensation or not, but I should have thought of it for two of my nieces.

I've been making baby gifts lately but haven't made anything with tags (taggies?) until these bibs. I used McCall's pattern 2468 but don't know if that is still available. I've had it for a while. I stopped after three bibs but could have kept going, ad libbing designs as one idea led to others.

The bee bib is pretty much as Simplicity intended. I used a bottle of glue as a template for the cheeks, cut two for each cheek, sewed them completely around the edge, then made a slit in the back to turn each check right side out before appliqueing in place. The mouth is machine satin stitch and the eyes were hand embroidered with perle cotton. The side tabs are a satiny ribbon, the neck is grosgrain. The pattern called for the eyes on any of the bibs to be a black button sewn over a larger white one. I don't like the idea of buttons on bibs as they can be a choking hazard.

The ribbons that I already had or bought for these bibs are all from Joann's, the type sold by the spool rather than by the yard. When I saw the pink ribbon with black dots that matched fabric I had, this flower was born.

My daughter-in-law has crab and lobster images in her kitchen so the crab bib was first on my to-do list.

I think I will make more bibs, both to have on hand here to use and some to be future baby shower gifts. They are quick to make and make me smile.

Baby Fair Isle effect yarn

Sirdar yarn has a DK weight yarn called Crofter which produces a baby Fair Isle effect. I bought color 178 and Sirdar pattern 4519 to create this sweater.

I used less than two skeins to make a 6-12 months size for my granddaughter who is due to arrive at the end of April. 

The front halves and back are knit plain. The sleeves begin with the edging which is not hard provided you keep in mind that British patterns use the term yarn forward (yfwd) for what most American knitters call yarn overs (yo).  

The front borders are picked up and knit. There are no fasteners to this sweater. The size range on the pattern goes from 0-6 months to 6-7 years and also gives directions for a short sleeve that does not have the border pattern.

The yarn is a nylon and acrylic blend so it should be very easy to launder. I am pleased with the result and would make it again. 

Sprinkle / Tea Party

A few of my daughter-in-law's girlfriends hosted a Sprinkle for her this past weekend. In case you are unfamiliar with that term, a sprinkle is a mini-shower for a baby that it not the firstborn, often given when a number of years have passed between births or in this case, when the expected baby is a different gender.

Can you guess by all this girliness and pink that I am going to have a granddaughter?

My grandson is so much fun, I am not expecting his sister to be more wonderful in any way, but pinkness will be a nice change after raising two sons and have the big little guy around for 5 years already.

There were nine of us at the tea party, three at each card table. The printed sheets on the tables explained what was being served. The brown boxes held varieties of teas.

The top tier held desserts, the middle layer held scones. The sandwiches weren't set out on the lower tier until everyone was seated.

I don't feel right about posting photos without permission but I think this one is vague enough to not be objectionable and shows us enjoying a wonderful afternoon.

Despite saying I don't use photos without permission, I'm including these two of my sweet daughter-in-law. The tears are happy tears. She is holding shoes from her mom. The shoes will be worn at the baby's christening and the baby will wear mommy's gown. 

In this photo, she is holding up the dress that I finished 24 hours earlier.

Will I have tea parties with a granddaughter, dolls and stuffed animals in my future? Maybe, or maybe she will prefer trucks and dinosaurs, but someway or another, there is going to be a bit of pink in them!

Knitted baby dress, Clara

The last few weeks were spent working on baby gifts for my daughter-in-law's Sprinkle. I could be wrong about this, but I believe the term "sprinkle" began in the southern states and is working its way north. A sprinkle is a mini-shower for a baby that it not the firstborn, often given when a number of years have passed between births or in this case, when the expected baby is a different gender.

Other items were done and I had an itch to make one more thing, the Clara dress. I first knit this a few years ago, using a different yarn and deeper color, seen here.  This time I used Tahki Cotton Classic Lite, color 4443. The first photo shows the color most accurately.

It really is a sweet little dress. I don't believe the pattern is available as pattern only, it was part of a kit with yarn that I didn't care for as a child's dress.

I chose the Tahki yarn for the color, not the fiber content. Nothing wrong with using cotton, I'm just saying that light pink was the color I wanted and other yarns weren't offering this shade.

The back of the dress

The pattern might be available as a separate purchase. Google for the pattern name Clara and see what you find. Because my copy was intended for use with the yarn in the kit, it gave yarn requirements in grams, not yardage. I bought way too much Tahki cotton, but I think I can exchange the two unused skeins ( I used two and a half, maybe less for the smaller size) for whatever my next project will be.