Knitting, hemming and sewing

Way back in March, I purchased some yarn that was on sale. My idea was to make a quick baby blanket with it since I haven't knitted with that particular yarn before.

It took a while but here it is.

I used two balls of Bernat Baby Blanket in Lilac Dove.

It is so soft.

Here's a close-up of the colour and texture.

It was just knit in garter stitch with size 8mm. needles.

I just made it to keep in reserve in case one of the little ones needs a blanket.

It seems I am always busy doing something.

I hand hemmed a bridesmaid's dress for my daughter-in-law, Davina. The outer layer was chiffon so I hand sewed the rolled hem. The knit lining was hemmed with my serger.

For Mother's Day I made a mug rug for the same daughter-in-law from her little girl. Davina is expecting her second baby next month and these little hand prints are of her little girl Wren, who is a year and a half. If you look closely, the print has little birds on it.

Week 19 of 52 Blocks in 52 Weeks is complete. As you can see, it was a super easy block and took very little time to complete.

Mug rug

My eldest daughter Laila requested a mug rug for her office. I had made a few and so I knew what I was doing. Since she didn't say what she wanted on it, I decided to capture something that she was interested in. Photography is one of her hobbies and she has always enjoyed reading.

I had the background fabric and thought that it was almost perfect.

The camera outline was a free pattern that I found online and instead of just keeping the big lens circle black and boring, I figured I may as well do some fussy cutting.

This is the reverse side. I thought that if she got bored with the camera, she could look at this scene.

I've got a couple more mug rugs to make but right now I have some little people sewing to finish up.

Just a little update

Here's the last mug rug I made. The little Dresden plate was made a couple of years ago and I finally got to use it. I had always meant to make it into a mug rug but it never got finished - until now.

The colour is not that good in this photo. 

I enjoyed making all the mug rugs.

This is one of the wheelchair quilts that Marg and I are making.

This is the other one. We cut the backing for both but won't start quilting them until the New Year. We thought one was more feminine and the other could be used by a male.

I finished this blanket for little Atticus. It's been delivered so I can show it now. It took one whole ball of yarn - not my favourite acrylic.

These are two little dresses that I just finished for the twins. I hope they like them. They are made out of knit fabric that is brushed on the reverse so it's nice and soft against their skin.

I've still got some things on my list of sewing and knitting so hopefully, I can get something finished this coming week.

The temperature is a bit milder for the next couple of days. Perhaps it will be warm enough to melt the little bit of snow we have.

Try not to stress over the holidays. If you don't get everything done, that's OK. Just do the important things on your list first and all will be good.

'Thank You' mug rugs

What is your 'go to' gift for a thank you? Does it depend on who it's for? What if you don't know much about the person but want to do something for them?

I decided I'd like to make mug rugs. I don't know the people to whom these are going but I have met most of them - they are nurses.

This was the first one I made. It was a free pattern/tutorial that I came across while searching for patterns. I made mine one inch longer and I used bias tape for the black keys because they gave a better finish than just cut and fused fabric.

Here's the pattern: http://bettinadanger.blogspot.ca/2012/07/piano-mug-rug-tutorial.html#.WiVr-FWnGDI

Another idea I got off the internet. It was from a search on Craftsy. My colours are much richer than the mug rug I saw.

I liked making crazy stars or maverick stars and since I had a lot of one colour already in a pile, I just went for it. Again, the idea came from something I saw on the internet.

This is why I had a bunch of purples already in a pile. The pattern is from Fat Cat Patterns. I am a pattern tester and since the mug rugs were mainly for nurses, I thought it was appropriate.

Another one in blues.

A group shot. I have one more to finish up and hopefully, I will remember to take a photo and post it.

Some sites you might want to get inspiration from:

https://www.flickr.com/groups/mugrugmadness/pool/page1

https://www.flickr.com/groups/1533394@N22/pool/

https://www.craftsy.com/search?query=mug%20rugs