Behold my new Sewing Cabinet!



My mom gave me this beautiful new sewing cabinet for Christmas--definitely my favorite gift this holiday season! It is a Koala Sew Mate II, and an absolute dream come true.

Up until this past Christmas, I did my sewing where most young people living in apartments with no extra space do--on the dining room table. And I use dining room loosely, as our dining room/living room is just one long space. It's not so easy to sew when you are trying not to knock over pepper grinders and cups of coffee. I found it hard to get into a groove when I kept having to hunt for scissors, bobbins, and other paraphernalia when there is no designated place to set them down.

I have been wanting a sewing cabinet for quite a while, but couldn't find what I wanted out there. All of the ones I found were either white or light oak in color--too "country" for me. I wanted something a little more modern. I had complained about it to my mom, and she hatched a plan to find me one for Christmas. She enlisted Mike's help, getting him to measure spaces, and figure out what I needed. Whenever I brought up my desperate need for a sewing cabinet, and how we should go look for one immediately, Mike sneakily would say, "Why don't we look after Christmas when most furniture places have big sales?" So, I huffed and puffed, but eventually agreed.

Then, lo and behold, I received this beautiful cabinet for Christmas! And it is everything a girl could want! It fits perfectly into this goofy little corner we have in our living room, which I like to call a nook. It used to have a swivel chair in it, but nobody really sat there because it is too far removed from the couch and conversation. The cabinet feels just right there, and gives me a special, designated spot for crafting.

Oh, and the features! I know it's hard to see in the pictures, but it has a pull out cabinet with two drawers and a shelf on the left hand side. One of the drawers has a built-in notions organizer--my life is complete! The other door of the cabinet reveals the spot for the sewing machine, which raises and lowers, as well as more built-in storage on the door. It also has a fold-out table leaf on the back, which doubles the surface area again.

My first time to sew using the cabinet was a dream. I had a spot for everything, and had plenty of surface area to work on. I repurposed my dining room table for a cutting table (still don't have room for one of those). I made a checkbook cover and two out of a set of four place mats. I will post pictures of those soon.

To further cement my craft corner, I want to make some wall hangings for the empty space above my desk. Like the ones made by Sally here. And here. Aren't they cute?

The possibilities are endless with my new sewing cabinet!!

Last of my handmade Christmas gifts!

Here are the twenty journal covers that I made for my friends for Christmas gifts! I used a stretchy cotton fabric, which made it easy to create a snug fit on the journal. I embroidered them using my mom's Janome embroidery machine, which took quite a while! Once we got the design figured it out, it took about 15 minutes to embroider each one (15 minutes X 20 journal covers = 5 hours!). I used a different color embroidery thread for each one too, and tried to use each person's favorite color. On a different day, I sewed them together. Actually on two different days. I think they turned out really well! (By the way, this picture shows the covers before I sewed them together and put journals in them.)

Now, here are some gratuitous dog pictures! Here is a sleepy Sadie:


















And here is another sleepy Sadie on Christmas Eve:













And here is Sadie in her most prissy pose!

Christmas Gift-Giving with Granny









For Christmas this year, my Granny gave me this beautiful needlepoint of irises in varying shades of blue and white. My Granny is one the two major creative and crafty influences in my life (the other is my Mom). She taught me how to crochet, paint, scrapbook, hot glue, sew--basically anything and everything she knew how to do. Except knitting--I actually showed her how to knit on Christmas!! It was definite role reversal.

The needlepoint work measures about 15" X 15", and she had it framed for me. This is a pretty large size for needlepointing, so I know it took her quite a while. That detail is just amazing!


Here is my Granny wearing the red shawl that I made this past summer. It was a perfect Christmas gift for her!

More Handmade Gifts and Holiday Goodies

I realize that the holidays are but a distant memory now, but I still have more gifts and pictures to share. This is a scarf that I made for my cousin, who is living in Paris right now. She is there for six months teaching English, and as far as I know, this is the first time she hasn't been home for Christmas. I sent her a box of goodies, including the scarf. I thought the yarn was such an interesting combination of colors: gray, pink, orange, yellow, and blue.

This is a purse that I made for my sister-in-law. I used a linen fabric that I bought at Ikea for the outside, and cute frog fabric that I got on Superbuzzy. It is a linen/cotton mix of a similar color, with green frogs and brown numbers printed all over it.



















Can you see the little frogs?













Finally, here is another grocery bag dispenser that I made for my mother-in-law. (The free pattern is here, written by the Crochet Dude.) It ended up being quite a bit fatter than the other one I made--I think I added lots of extra stitches when I wasn't paying enough attention! I think this is a good thing though, because she will have more room for grocery bags.



















Right after Christmas, I made the Bisquick Applesauce Muffins recipe shared by Alicia from Posie Gets Cozy. I have to say, they were absolutely delicious! You dip the tops of the muffins in butter and cinnamon sugar once they get out of the oven--mmmm! Mike and I kept dipping them as we ate them too!


















I'll leave you with a picture of the Christmas tree at my mom's house--it was just beautiful!!

Happy New Year!

This year has started with me being very busy, but also with me having hope and looking forward to the changes that the year will bring. At work, I am currently swamped with new projects and changes to old ones, but they are all for the better. I think 2007 is promising so far!

I have been holding back on posting--I have been busy as a bee with crafting projects, but I had to wait until I gave them all away to show them to you! I'll start with my fleece blankets. I got the idea for these from Crochet Today, which is my new favorite magazine. I highly recommend it--the issues so far have been stocked with good ideas. In the October/November 2006 issue, the magazine was full of gift ideas, but I especially liked the Ruffled Fleece Blanket. It is shown as a baby blanket, but can be made any size.

I made these 3 blankets for some of the babies in my life--Riley, Logan, and Grant. To make these blankets, you do a blanket stitch by hand around the perimeter first. This gives you a place to crochet into. The Crochet Today magazine had a nice pattern for the crochet part, but I just did 1 row of single crochet and 2 rows of double crochet. I cut the fleece to 36" by 45" for the baby blankets, so they ended up a little larger with the edging. The yarn that I used around the blue and green blankets has the cutest name--Baby Bubbles! I couldn't get over that!

I also made 3 more blankets for adults. This is a great project because you can drastically change the look by changing the fleece and yarn, and still use the same method. I made these slightly larger, about 40" by 50" for a small lap blanket size. The two red ones were for some of my family member in wheel chairs, so they needed blankets that were a little smaller than a standard 50" by 50" lap blanket, so that it wouldn't get caught up in the chair.

The last one is one that I made for my dad and stepmom. They live out in the country in a log cabin, which is decorated in maroons and forest greens. I made them this maroon fleece blanket with a brown edging. It's difficult to see in this picture, but that yarn actually has maroons and greens mixed in with the brown.