Yep! Can you believe I found this t-shirt? I thought it might make a really cool beach cover-up for my daughter. I just used one of her currently fitting dresses as a pattern.

This should have been such an easy project. The t-shirt was twisted and I had a hard time making the vertical lines look even. Also, the material is really thin and kept getting sucked into my machine. But I loved how it turned out!

So does my daughter. It would be nice if this fits next summer as a dress, but they way she’s growing, it will probably fit in the middle of January.

thrifted and refashioned: 99 cent sale t-shirt.

Our neighbor’s daughter is graduating from high school this week. She’s a very talented violinist and I love when the windows are open in the summer and I can hear her play. She’s planning to study music at the university in the Fall and I wanted to make her something special. Honestly, I had a hard time coming up with something music specific, so I went with a school-book theme.

This tote is made out of upholstery fabric and hopefully will last for many years after she graduates from college. The pockets have tiny music notes on them. Inside I added this cool manuscript notebook that I found at music store downtown. I think it will be perfect for music theory or composition class.

stash: Everything except the notebook was from my thrifted stash. The upholstery fabric didn’t behave all that nice and kept unraveling on me while I sewed. Note to self: overlock all of the edges next time even on seams that won’t be exposed. It will make life much easier.

In my creative space today I’m finishing up the details on a few gifts.

First up is this little teddy bear for my friend Lisa, who is expecting a baby any day now. Lisa is all about cute crochet stuffies, so I figured an amigurumi bear would be perfect.

Want to know the coolest thing about this teddy? She’s made completely out of recycled sweater yarn! Don’t you just love her even more now?

The pattern is from the amigurumi volume of Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts! If you are interested in Japanese craft books, but are nervous about following the diagrams, this is a good place to start. It’s translated into English!

I’m off to finish up some more gifts. You should head on over to Kirsty’s blog for more creative spaces!

Did you have a Dressy Bessy (or Dapper Dan?) when you were little? I did and I loved her! My daughter is learning to button/snap/tie and I really wanted to get her one. However, the dolls from the last few decades look very different than the one I had. This one isn’t so bad. I don’t even recognize this one!

Here is the Dressy Bessy I had. I’ve been searching on ebay for the past few months and these girls are hard to come by in nice condition. (New in the box went for $84!) Then I started to see dolls like the one above. She looks like the doll I remember, but doesn’t have the vinyl shoes and vest. I figured I could live without them if I could get something similar and clean.

I was so happy to win her! I’m also happy that my daughter likes her, although she’s not a fan of the buttons and snaps. I guess she’s officially a member of the Velcro generation. I’m going to keep working on her, though. Sooner or later she’s got to learn how to button/snap her own pants!

Do you have a favorite doll or toy from your past that you really wanted for your kids? When you gave it to them, they like it as much as you did?

A few years ago I made a bunch of crayon rolls, including one for Wyatt with car fabric. You can’t really draw a Lamborghini with crayon, though. It just doesn’t seem right. So, I made him a much more grown-up colored pencil roll.

I have this really nice, thick wool felt that I got at a garage sale a few years ago. I never knew what to do with it, but it had Japanese characters printed on it with a sparkly gold ink. I knew I had to save it. I was so glad I did. It was perfect for this project!

I saved the printed part of the wool for myself. It will make a cool crochet hook roll, don’t you think?

stash: If you don’t have a use for a certain fabric right away, but it speaks to you somehow, I recommend keeping it in your stash. It might just be waiting for the perfect project to come along.

*I can’t find the exact book online, but this one looks similar.

My daughter doesn’t really like wearing hats, unless it’s her Nebraska Husker hat. I bought this little bucket hat at Neat Repeatz, long before it would ever fit her. I just fell in love with the denim and unfinished edges. It finally fits, but I knew I’d have to come up with something special to get her to wear it.

I asked her if she’d like me to crochet a flower for it. Yes! What colors would she like? Red and white! (Husker colors, of course.) Would she like to pick out the flower pattern? Yes! Yes!

I whipped this up Sunday morning and she wore it to the zoo on Monday. I’d say she had it on about 95% of the time — a definite success!

wardrobe refashion, stash and pattern: Cotton yarn from my stash, left over from knitting baby bibs. Pattern from Crochet Adorned, which I received via Swaptree.com.

I didn’t follow directions very well. I believe every baby should have something new, especially when so much is being handed down from his big brother. Better yet, he should have something handmade especially for him.

Isn’t this little guy the cutest thing ever? I especially love his smile.

I also sewed him a lightweight blanket that coordinates with the quilt I made for his brother. I forgot to take a picture of that, but it’s a single layer of the same fleece trimmed with the Snoopy fabric. Maybe I’ll get a photo in a few weeks with a cute baby bundled inside? (Hint, hint, Lauren.)

stash: Everything came from my stash of thrifted yarn. The pattern is Happy Little Airplane from Amigurumi Two! by Ana Paula Rimoli.

The surprise eggs were finished with a few days to spare. I even had time to whip up a little basket for them. I just started with no plan in mind. The end result was a little flimsy, but a quick soak in some water followed by liberal amounts of spray starch got it right into shape.

My daughter loved the eggs. This was the first time she ever played along with one of our stories, though. She came running out of her room saying, “Mom crocheted me some yarn eggs!” We told her they were from Peter Cottontail and she’s all, yeah, sure, right, ok. If you ask her, she’ll tell you they’re from him, but she doesn’t sound convinced!

. . . . .

We don’t do a lot of candy at Easter, and this year I didn’t put any in her basket. Instead, I made candy part of our egg hunt. I filled little plastic bags (from the candy section of the craft store) with two chocolate kisses and ten jelly beans. Each bag was tied and labeled with a day of the week and hidden in a plastic egg. She found those special eggs along with the others.

So far this has worked great! She eats the whole bag at once, usually after breakfast, but when they’re gone, she has to wait until the next day for more. I can’t tell you how wonderful the holiday was without a sugar-crashing three-year old. Hope this works next year, too!

stash: Basket yarn and candy bags both from my stash.

The appliqué experiment worked! My daughter wore her grandmother’s hand knit sweater this week. She loves it. She even asked her friend to feel how soft it is. Then she told me that it was too hot. Oh, well. I got a picture at least!

When my daughter was born, we received a sweet elephant Baby Gund blanket as a gift. It’s super soft and cuddly. It’s also pretty small.

The other day I asked her what she wanted to do with it. She definitely wasn’t ready to part with it, so I suggested making it into something else. Something else that might get used, like a pillow.

She loved the idea! Especially when I told her she could help. If you have one of these and are looking to turn it into something for a big girl or boy, it’s easy.

Step 1
Using a seam ripper, open up about 2-3 inches of stitches on the side.

Step 2
Stuff it with polyfil, starting with the legs first and working your way toward the middle. This is a great step for your child to help. My daughter LOVED doing the stuffing.

Step 3
Close up the side with a blind stitch.

reshape: I love it when my daughter gets excited about working on a project with me. She adores the pillow and is proud to say she helped out. I think we just added a few more years to Ellie’s life with us.