Umm, is anyone still there?

How long has it been? I just wanted to invite you all to check out my new post on my other blog Gettin' my stitch on. Featuring this little lovely.

 The dress

not the child,

though she's awfully cute as well.

Purrrrfect!

My little girl had a birthday in October and I crocheted her a little stuffed cat. I always make up my own patterns though this little cat was inspired by something I saw at Joann’s fabrics. I can't remember the name, but if I find out I’ll let you know. This one took me a few weeks of working here and there on it. I started crocheting animals when I was expecting my first child. I made a little blue dog but it came out looking more like a pig. This one, the cat, looks more professional.

The dog/pig Is still one of my sons favorite toys though, and he will always know that I made it with love. You should never feel like you're not good enough to make things for your kids. That is how you learn, and they will want to create by your example. One thing I learned with this project is that you cannot substitute toy stuffing with regular pillow stuffing. I thought I was saving money but the toy just goes limp with pillow stuffing. They cost about the same anyway.

Each part is stuffed individually. I made the body the same way as the dog, adding and subtracting stitches to get the right shape. On the face I just stitched lines for eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth. For the ears I made little cone shapes and stitched them on flat. The arms and legs are strait cylinders. Long enough for the cat to cross them. The tail was not easy. I did a really thin cylinder(hard) and then I stitched sightly along one side of it all the way up to get it to curl and then I stuffed it.

 My daughter loves it. She holds it in her chubby little arms and rocks it like a baby. crocheted toys are great for children but it is time consuming. I personally would save it for very special gifts for my family. Happy crafting.

Second Stitch to the Right and Straight on 'Till Morning

I have always loved Halloween. Even as an adult I hope for a party or an event to dress up at. As a mother of small children I like to find fun ways to dress up together. For my sons first two Halloweens we went as a big mouse (me) and a little lion (him). Last year my daughter was only a week old and my plan was to go as the princess and the pea. (I’ll let you figure out who was who). I made a little pea costume out of the same green fleece that I used for Christmas last year (as was mentioned in My Handmade Christmas) My son wanted to be a frog and that fit.
This year we all agreed we want to go trick-or-treating as Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and Wendy. So, the first thing I did was go to goodwill and had a look around. I found a dark green ladies top with little brown beads on the collar, light green kids stretchy pants(meant for a girl I’m sure) and one big square satiny scarf with pink and green flowers. Now here’s how it all came together.
I cut out the back of the green Shirt between the back of the sleeves and sewed the ends together. With the spare fabric I sewed a little pointy hat and cut zig-zags around the ends with pinking shears. The kid pants flared out on the bottom so I sewed them tight against the leg. Add a braided belt, a little autumn leaf garland and a dollar store gold knife and I’ve got myself the cutest little Peter Pan this side of Neverland.
As for tinkerbell, I simply cut holes in the scarf for her head and arms, put a drawstring around the collar and added dollar store fairy wings. When I loop the elastic straps of the wings around her waist it holds the scarf together like a whimsical fairy dress. I may or may not fluff it up with some tulle. Either way it would be perfect for any fairy baby. Now I just need an adult size nightgown and we’re set. Then again, I might just skip that part.