Monday, December 29, 2008

Crocheted Christmas Gifts

Here are some stocking stuffers I crocheted for my siblings.
Experimental towel holder for stove handle. This was before I sewed the button on.
Gryffindor bookmark. With leftover yarn from the Gryffindor scarf I made Rachel several years ago.
Hedgehog screen cleaner for Leonard and frog tongue bookmark for Sumana. I used knots of black and white thread for the face details.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Late Christmas

Two things in Maggie's stocking and she loves them both.
Practicing her present-opening skills. We hopped into presents the moment we got home from the hospital - you can see she still has her little bracelet around her foot.


Trying out her new carrier (and her new outfit!)
Snuggling her baby doll. She loves watching the eyes open and shut.
Snuggling her Grandpa.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Merry Christmas?

Here are pictures of Maggie during her hospital stay on Christmas Day and the next two days.

Day 1: Christmas. So fun. (Technically Day 1 was Christmas Eve, but I didn't have my camera lying around on the way to the Emergency Room that afternoon.)
Day 2: Someone is hiding behind the curtain!
Day 2: Opening a present from Uncle Leonard and Aunt Sumana. This present has three "F"s on it - Maggie's favorite letter!
Day 2: Stuffing her with fluids so we can go home already.
Day 3: Feeling better. The nurse brought a play mat and lots of toys since Maggie was finally unhooked but wasn't allowed to leave the room.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Snowy Day

Maggie went outside to play while John shoveled the driveway and I built a snowman that toppled after 3 minutes. I got some cute pictures of Maggie where she looks like she is actually enjoying herself.



This is what really happened:
"Wet!"

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Play Felt Food and Instructions


For Christmas I made Maggie and Colette each a set of fake food. Colette opened hers today so I'm going to go ahead and get a head start on my Christmas-gift posting.

Most of this was very easy to make. I used acrylic felt which I bought for $2/yard or 25 cents a sheet at Jo-Ann. I spent about $15 on this entire project, and that includes buying a bag of batting I barely touched and plenty of leftover felt. So about $5 for each set. Felt is easy to work with because it doesn't fray or unravel so it doesn't need finished edges. Most of the sewing was done by machine with straight or zigzag stitches. Aside from the chocolate chip cookies, Oreos and donuts, I made:

Bread: Cut two cream bread shapes and a long tan strip. I sewed the strip to one bread shape, then most of the way around the other. Then I turned, stuffed with a few layers of batting, and hand stitched the opening closed.
Lunch Meat: ham and turkey. Two circles zigzag stitched together.
Cheese: Two rectangles zigzaged together. I used a straight stitch to add circles to the Swiss cheese.
Lettuce: I cut a lettuce shape out of two layers of green felt. I zigzaged them together, then used a straight stitch to add detail stitching to the leaves.
Tomato: Two layers of a red felt circle. Zigzaged together, then added detail stitching in the center.
Mayo, Mustard, Ketchup, Jelly and Syrup: Cut out blob shapes.
Peanut Butter: Sewed together two blob shapes using a zigzag stitch.
Pancakes: Two circles with a layer of batting in between. Zigzaged together.
Butter: two squares of yellow straight stitched together.
Bacon: I straight stitched two tan strips to a larger brown strip.
Egg: For the egg I used two white blobs and a yellow circle. Stitch the yellow circle to one white blob - before closing the circle, lower the needle and stuff with polyfill. Finish stitching the circle. Zigzag the other white blob underneath.
Pizza crust/sauce/cheese: I am not very happy with how my pizza turned out. I layered an 8 inch tan crush with a 7 inch layer of batting, a 6 inch tan crust, a blob of sauce and a blob of cheese. Stitched around the outsides to hold everything down. Then I stitched the pizza into four pieces in double lines and cut between the double lines. I folded the larger tan crust over the batting and hand stitched it to the upper crust. Each girl got two pieces.
Pizza toppings: These are all just shapes cut out of felt. Yellow pineapple, pink ham, red pepperoni, brown mushrooms, green peppers, and black olives.
Carrots: I cut two long ovals, stitched them with the machine leaving a gap, turned, stuffed and hand stitched the opening closed. Then I hand sewed on two wavy green strips at the top.
Cucumbers/Pickles: I made these the same way I made the bread only without any batting. I machine-stitched a green strip to one cream circle. Then I stitched the other cream circle to the other side of the green strip, most of the way around. Turned through the gap and hand stitched closed.
Banana: The banana was complicated enough to make that I wrote down instructions as I figured it out. The banana was the first thing I made, back in September and I've been keeping it a secret. Finally, I published my instructions, so you can check them out here.

Sack lunch: turkey sandwich with carrot sticks and Oreos.
Sandwich ingredients.

BLT.
Breakfast.
Salad.
Pizza.

I have more felt food planned, but I think it'll wait until the girls' birthdays this spring.

Here are some links I found helpful while planning this craft:
Felt Food Tutorial
Crocheted Food Patterns

Friday, December 12, 2008

Random Cuteness

It's about time to showcase some more Adorable Maggie. Oh, and Leonard visited us.

Posing by the Christmas tree.
Me and Leonard... we match, I know.
Playing peek-a-boo with Uncle Leonard
Tucked into bed. She wanted to play with the pillows while I made the bed.
She loves the camera, what can I say.

Haircut

Ugly
Cute

I got a haircut during Maggie's nap today. I'm not too happy with it. The layers are too short - luckily I knew enough to keep her from giving me a bob in the back (yuck! - not for me). She tried to show me how to style it (using three things I don't have) but when I got home I found my own solution - clippies!