Christmas around the corner

Seems Christmas is just around the corner, and Heather in England just got the ornie I sent for her on wXSw ornie exchange 2009. I'm really glad, she'll will be able to display it before Christmas.


Chose an LK pattern I got on an exchange a while ago. Then finished as a mini pillow:

Did a small card.

Added a small piece of fabric and red and green DMC floss as a present.

I was decorating the house past Sunday, I was suppose to do it next weekend, but it'll be Kathe's Church wedding, so don't think I'll do anything on the house front. Here's a slideshow of how it looks:

BTW my 4yo God-daughter Nathaly was having her first Christmas recital at school, her mom asked for help on dacorating a T-shirt, this is what I did.





She liked it, but it was too big for her, she couldn't wear it that day, but she put it on the very next day... I thought so, but her mom gave me the T-shirt, I would have bought it smaller :(

Happy stitching!!!

Favorite Childhood Holiday Memory

I read about Pink saturday on dottiedottie's Blog, she's participating in it on How Sweet The Sound.

I'm not participating in it, but I went to her blog looking for her Lionbrand CAL, read the post and thought it was a remarkable coincidence that her childhood memory was of getting a doll similar to one I got on my 3rd Christmas. And I love Christmas stories...

I wanted a "bebé querido" (somthing like dear baby). It was just a cloth doll with plastic hands and face. It didn't even had clothes you could put on or change, the body was a printed fabric and that was it! My mom thought I was too young for knowing what I wanted, so instead I got a gorgeous doll way too big and heavy for my little arms...

Thing is the doll cried, with real tears, but I thought it was too fancy, not as cuddly as I wanted my doll to be. Anyway, it's a dear childhood memory, because that doll has been with me all my life since. When I was five, on Christmas Eve, she was baptized, her new name was Mónica, I didn't like her original name, Manuela. It was a fine event, Gisela baked a small cake and decorated it with white fondant and tiny white flowers. Her Godmother was Jacqueline, my next door neighbor and best friend at the time, I'm the Godmother for her *yep* bebé querido, a boy whose name scaped my mind... Also at that age I started disassembling things and reassembling them, she was no exception. My cousin, Soraya, gave me a tiny record from her singing doll to replace the annoying crying record lol That way she sang with such sentiment, she turned to tears lol

She's still with me, and her original outfit is so worn that I will crochet a new one. Hope to find a fit baby dress among my patterns. This year she will turn 40. Maybe next year she'll go to Dolls Clinic for a repair.

Meet Mónica Manuela:

Happy Second Sunday of Advent!

Water bottle cover

Hello there! I've been doing some small things, some for presents, some for me. This time my friend Mary asked me to do a water bottle cover "knitted, crocheted, sewn, anyway you want it!"

Hum! I said. Crocheting it would be so easy, but I had this bunch of fabric, and sewn would be faster... So the thing had to be sewn; of course, I wanted a thermic, waterproof, leak resistant fabric for the lining. What was on the store is called "reflective fabric" apparently it has all those properties I was looking for.

Since the bottle was a bit big and I sort of wanted it to fit perfectly, made up my mind for a round based cover. So, I googled what I wanted and follwed two great tutorials: Rose's and Pink chalk studio's.

I followed the process as close as possible.

Cutted the parts (lining, padding and outside):

Then measured the bottle height and sewn the fabrics:

It's not shown in the photo, but Sides were sewn too to make a tube.

Pinned the bottom and did a basting stitch, so it would be easier to machine sew it.

That was done separately, once on the lining, once on the outside fabric. inserted the padding between them. At the end had to hand finish it because my machine is not sewing, guess it must be the carbon brushes again. Why is that? Couldn't it have chosen a better timing?

But then it was all worth!


Found one of this things (name, please?) to make the closing adjustable.


Added a small detail, "made with love"charm on the opposite side of the closing cord.

And, voilà. Mary has her new cover... At first she said it should have a strap to carry it. But without the machine I didn't want to attach it by hand, thought it wouldn't be too resistant. Anyway, when my Necchi is fixed I'm planning to make a matching food carrier with space for the water bottle... Hope it can be done before Christmas! BTW somehow stitching it by hand or maybe the padding shrunk it, now it carries a smaller bottle lol

Have a happy weekend!

Counting down...

It's almost Christmas. So far I've just managed to paint the kitchen and the hallway beside it. Will have to set the decors, specially the tree, as soon as possible, otherwise won't be able to enjoy it long enough.

I have a few cross stitch ornies still as a wip. But I can show you now a small one that went all the way to France. EMS' Arlette is the new owner.

The hanger is floral wire twisted, so simple and yet so nice. The picture doesn't show well, but the things hanging are small bells, those were a gift from Emma in England. They are glued between the backing (felt) and the aida.

Hope to be able to show the tree soon, there are a bunch of new crocheted snowflakes Bea, in Canada, sent early this year. For now,

Happy crafting!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

To all my friends and family in the USA, wish you a bless Thanksgiving. Enjoy the family, food, count your blessings and, if you must travel, drive safe.

Swaps

Just a small note to say thanks and show you what I got on two exchanges.

Past week my Annual Ornament from EMS got here. Was perfectly stitched by Ann, who also sent a lovely card, I believe that itself is an ornie, will find a nice frame to display it.


I told her how much I love Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, it's awesome how she chose the pattern before knowing this fact. Now I can hardly wait to set up the tree.



Kay, from Ravelry, sent me a gorgeous knitted dishcloth. Love the colors and the pattern she chose. Also got a lovely postcard from her home town and a bunch of yummy Baby Ruth, her favorite candy bar.


BTW, I've been peeking on your blogs, haven't always commented but this new job is keeping me busier than I though, specially because the students are not responsible with their assignments, so I have to stay up late grading their work. Next semester I'll schedule a bunch of written tests lol