Cute cat

Tatting on the mystery doily proceeds slowly but surely, but I got distracted by this cat.  The pattern is from Sue Pendleton.  She recently retired and generously made her patterns available for free download.  This is the Tabitha Toy Cat although in my version, I used sport weight yarn (with a 3.0mm crochet hook) for the can and pearl 8 cotton (with a 1.6mm hook) hook for the dress.  The result is not quite proportional and the dress is a bit too small.

This cat went to live with a friend of mine.  The little lady has already requested one for herself, in white, pink and purple.

Sewing

I've been making Halloween costumes.  I'm normally not keen on Halloween.  Malaysia has many, many festivals, and I don't see the need to import any more.  Still, my son's music school had a Halloween themed concert and I didn't want him to miss out on the fun.  So, I decided to make costumes that had some chance of being used afterwards.  For the little guy, I made overalls (from a Burda pattern) and a hat (from fleetingthing.com) so he could go as Mario.

The little lady wanted to be Princess Peach, so I made her a dress (from a McCall's pattern) and a crown (inspired by a tutorial from craftyc0rn3r).

This was my first time using downloadable patterns and I have to admit, I'm very pleased with the results.  Cutting, trimming and assembling the patters wasn't exactly a party, but it was not as fiddly or frustrating as I thought it would be.  The results are more precise than anything I'd attempt to draft by myself.

I started the mystery doily for the third time.  This time, I'm using Cebelia 20, a thread that I have in large quantities.  Here it is at round three.  Hopefully third time's the charm and I'll actually make it to the final round with this one.

Distracted

My bead tray is now all cleared and put away.  I made a tasbih for my mother, and a little beaded heart.  The heart pattern is from 3dbeading.

I hid the ends and pressed the two completed rounds of the mystery doily and decided it was done.  It's a decent size to put under a vase and I've run out of thread.  I contemplated getting more, but going through my thread stash convinced me that I have too much thread.  So I am starting again, with different thread.  I've actually made decent progress on my third try, but no pictures yet.

I've cleared most of my small piles of random craft supplies and was planning to tackle my sewing basket.  However, I got some new toys in the mail and got distracted.  These are little fabric flowers made with Clover Kanzashi flower makers.  So now, I have another little pile of unfinished items.  Sigh.

Simple tatting

A few months ago, I was asked for a tatting project suitable for a do-it-yourself project.  To be honest, I think tatting is skill.  It takes time to learn and isn't all that suitable for quick project.  Still it got me thinking about simpler forms of tatting.

Here's the simplest thing I could think of to tat.  It's a card with tatted flowers.  I think these are good for using up thread scraps and for playing with picot sizes.

I also wanted to make something with simple rings and chains; something that could be tatted with a paper shuttle using any kind of thread.  These book marks are the result. From the top, these are made with pearl cotton size 8, Cebelia size 20 and embroidery floss.

I must have been feeling industrious because I actually scratched out a diagram for these.  Here's the proof.

The mystery doily continues.  I actually finished round 2 with my variegated thread.  Unfortunately, round 3 didn't work out.  I'd planned to switch to a different colour of pearl cotton thread from my stash.  It seems that not all pearl cottons are created equal, so round 3 had smaller stitches than round 2.  The whole thing looked bad, so out came the scissors, snippety snip snip.  Ah well, time to come up with another plan.

Also ongoing is my quest to clean up my piles of random craft supplies.  Here's the next pile to tackle: my overflowing bead tray.

Crafty avalanche

I finally cleared one of my piles or random unfinished craft supplies.  I was smitten by these kanzashi butterflies (by NStellDesign on etsy), so I bought the pattern and made some of my own.  Making these requires flames and metal implements.  Needles and fabric are more my style, so mine came out a bit wonky.

Still, they're pretty enough to want to show off, so I made hair clips (yes, more hair clips).

For me, finishing things often leads to a crafty avalanche, with one project leading to another.  Since the ribbons are out, why not wrap some more clips?  Why not use up some other butterflies (macrame ones this time)?

Wait, there's one more kanzashi butterly left!  So why not make a bag?

Oh, and since the sewing machine is all set up, how about another bag?

So now, six finished items later, after many trips to the cupboards to pull out fabric, thread and all sorts of other knick knacks, I'm finally done.  The supplies have all been put away, and hopefully, the avalanche is over.

Feeling clever bracelet

I haven't had a chance to tackle my pile of random supplies from yesterday, so I thought I'd share a bracelet I made last month.

Here's the part that makes me feel clever.  The closure is actually a fabric covered button.

I bought a fabric covered button kit, punched a hole in the back piece with a nail, and stuffed the end of the bracelet through the hole.  Then, I put the button together as usual.  The result is a neat closure that hides the ends without using glue.  I even get to choose my own fabric for the buttons.

A flaw in my plan

The Mystery Doily is coming along and I'm happy with the thread colour.  However, there's a flaw in my plan.  This is only the second round and that's how much thread I have left.  I'll be lucky if there's enough to finish this round.  I'm still deciding whether to go hunting for more of the same thread or to make the other rounds in other colours.

I've been itchy fingered lately, starting lots of little projects and not finishing them.  The abandoned supplies all over the place are starting to bother me, so I'm trying to spend the next week or two finishing things up.

Today's project is these tiny butterfly hair clips.  The butterflies have been sitting in a box for months now.  Today, I wrapped the clips in black ribbon, added antenna and sewed on the butterflies.  The pattern is from the One & Two Company.

Here's the next thing on the list.  Hopefully tomorrow there will be finished objects instead of a pile randomness.