Blog / toy
recent commissions
I'm very lucky to have kind friends and family members who support my craft and commission me to make things for them and for gift giving. This month, I had the chance to work on two projects: a Kindle case for an aunt and a stuffed elephant for a college roommate's new niece.
I dragged my feet for quite a while on making the Kindle case (surely I'm not the only person who tends to put projects without a due date on the back burner!), but when I spotted Karen's iPad case, I was immediately inspired and motivated to whip up that case.
I pulled bright blue and green scraps from my stash, and pieced them at random until I had slabs large enough for the case's sides. I used batting scraps to add a bit of structure to the case, and quilted it with turquoise thread.
For the elephant, I returned to the pattern I used from Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts to make Peanut, the Wee Elephant, last year.
Peanut gets easier to make each time I use the pattern, so luckily I was able to whip up this gray + pink + turquoise elephant in just a few hours.
The little tail is my favorite part! What are your go-to handmade projects for gift giving?
two pea[nut]s in a box
This weekend, in between packing boxes and drinking iced lattes to stay cool, I made a second Peanut to accompany the first. Both are now safely packed up and on their way to Minnesota to meet two soon-to-be-born babies!
LMP+QG april challenge: peanut, the wee elephant
Each month, my friend Kait and I are making a project from the book, Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts ("LMP+QG" for short). You can see previous projects here.
For this month's challenge, Kait and I made little elephants. While this project was a bit of a challenge for me (and some of the directions were a bit vague), I'm happy to report that Peanut turned out to be pretty darn cute.
For Peanut's body and ears, I used two fabrics from Heather Ross's latest line for Spoonflower, and I found a coordinating blue gingham in my stash for Peanut's blanket.
I especially love the little details, including the snout, felt eyes, and perle cotton tail.
See Kait's adorable elephant here.
Coming up next month: Summer Breeze quilt
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For this month's challenge, Kait and I made little elephants. While this project was a bit of a challenge for me (and some of the directions were a bit vague), I'm happy to report that Peanut turned out to be pretty darn cute.
For Peanut's body and ears, I used two fabrics from Heather Ross's latest line for Spoonflower, and I found a coordinating blue gingham in my stash for Peanut's blanket.
I especially love the little details, including the snout, felt eyes, and perle cotton tail.
See Kait's adorable elephant here.
Coming up next month: Summer Breeze quilt
presents for luna
While we were in Texas over Labor Day weekend, my husband and I finally had the chance to meet Luna, the almost-seven-month-old daughter of some dear friends (This is the quilt I made for her after she was born in February.). We obviously couldn't arrive for our visit empty-handed:
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On a personal note, I will be participating in the Walk to End Alzheimer's here in Durham this Saturday. This is a cause that is near and dear to my heart, and I'm overwhelmed by the amount of support my family and friends have already shown for my walking team. If you're at all interested in participating in a walk (they're being held all over the country), or donating to the cause, I hope you'll visit the Alzheimer's Association's web site. My personal team page can be found here.
