Creating Christmas - Mitten Pillow

Welcome to Day 3 of Creating Christmas with The Girl Creative.  Check out Day 1 and Day 2 if you missed them.

The point of Creating Christmas is to not just pin something, create something.  Like the rest of you, I've been pinning tons of things that give me inspiration and have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to all the awesome Christmas ideas that have inspired me.






One particular idea that I decided needed to be created is the mitten pillow in the back of this picture:

Source: ballarddesigns.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

The $69 price tag is a little steep for me and since mittens can go for the whole winter season, I'd rather go with my color scheme and my winter pillows that I made last year from thrift store sweaters

Originally I planned on going through my fabric scraps, but a fever left the little man in my lap yesterday and while I've sewed with him in my lap before, he just wasn't up for that... crocheting it is then!  Don't worry, I used yarn scraps.  Now, bear with me, I have never really written a crochet pattern before.  I made the first one up as I went along, wrote it down, and then tried to follow it.  Please feel free to ask any questions.

Crochet Mini Mittens:
With worsted weight yarn and an H hook, chain 12.
sc = single crochet, HDC = half double crochet, DC = double crochet
Row 1: in 2nd ch from end, DC, counts as 1st stitch.  DC to end, 11 stitches, turn
Row 2 of the thumb: ch 2, DC in next 2 DC, turn
Row 3: HDC, DC, HDC, turn
Row 4: Repeat row 3, turn
Row 5: 3 HDC, turn
Row 6: SC to the end and down around the inside of the thumb back down to Row 1 and slip stitch to connect, turn
Rows 2-5 of hand:  ch 2, DC to end, 8 stitches, turn

Row 6-7:  sc, HDC, 4 DC, HDC, sc, turn
Row 8: sc, 5 HDC, sc to end and down the hand back to the base (no real count, some DCs I did 2 stitches, some only 1, just watch that it lays flat).
Row 9-10: ch 2, DC to end, about 10 stitches, make sure it lays flat, this is the palm portion of the mitten.
Optional: add a row of fringe or an alternate color.

I love the burlap of the pinned version, but muslin was available.  Since I'm constantly stash busting and trying to use what I have and not buy something new, muslin it is!  Plus, it's softer anyways.  I'm thrilled with the result, yes, it needs a bit more stuffing, just have to find where I put it.

Plus, it looks great with my other pillows:

Now it's time to go back to Pinterest and see what else I pinned that needs to be created this week!

If you like what you see,

I’d love for you to follow me!

Peace be with you,

 

I'll be linking up to some of these parties, stop by and check out the talent!

M: Made by you Mondays, Made with Love Monday, Making the World Cuter, MMM @ CRAFT, Just something I whipped up, Organizing Mission Monday, Creative Me Monday, A Round Tuit, Motivate me Monday, Jam Hands, Must Try Monday T: Sew Cute Tuesday, Handmade Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesday, TCB, Topsy Turvy Tuesdays, Take-a-Look Tuesdays, Too Cute Tuesdays, Giggles Glitz & Glam W: We Did it Wednesday, Night Owl Crafting, Sugar & Spice, Tea Rose Home, We’re Organized Wednesday, What I Wore Wednesday, What’s Up Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Share the Wealth, Real Momma Real Style, Your Whims Wednseday, Whatever Goes T: Make It Wear It, Frogs & Snails, It’s Stinkin’ Cute, Making it with Allie, Things I’ve Done, Everybody’s Creative Endeavor F: Fun Friday Finds, Fingerprints on the Fridge, It’s a Hodgepodge, Chic on a Shoestring, Fantastic Friday, TGIF, I’m an Organizing Junkie, Spunky Junky, The Shabby Nest, While He Was Napping, Upcycled Awesome S/S: Get Schooled Saturday, KISS, Funky Fresh, Weekend Wrap Up, Nifty Thrifty, Creative Bloggers, Six Sisters

Sewing for a Car Trip

Today we are heading up to New Hampshire for the Timberman race.  This will be IronFish's third time competing in this event consisting of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 run... yes, I think he is crazy but he's been doing this for a few years now.

So for the past few years, this has become our family vacation... it's a good thing New Hampshire is beautiful!  We have explored the area a bit each time and get to spend some time with IronFish's cousin and her husband who live near by.  I'm sure I'll share some fun pictures next week when we get back.

But, a trip to New Hampshire is a good 6 hours in the car with three kids, not as far as Ohio and luckily with another driver, but still a long car ride for kids.  A few weeks ago we were in a store and the kids saw neck pillows, and of course asked for them.  Light bulb!

I can make that!  So I did!  JuneBug and I selected flannel for each of the pillows and cut them into a U shape.  I really just eyeballed what I thought would be the right size.  I sewed and JuneBug stuffed.

I guess they like them, they have been using them even for a quick run to the grocery store!

Peace be with you,

 

I'll be linking up to some of these parties, stop by and check out the talent!

M: Made by you Mondays, Made with Love Monday, Making the World Cuter, MMM @ CRAFT, Just something I whipped up, Organizing Mission Monday, A Round Tuit, Motivate me Monday, Sharing Monday T: Sew Cute Tuesday, Handmade Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesday, TCB, Topsy Turvy Tuesdays, Take-a-Look Tuesdays, Too Cute Tuesdays, Giggles Glitz & Glam, It’s Sew fun Tuesday W: We Did it Wednesday, Night Owl Crafting, Sugar & Spice, Tea Rose Home, Upcycled Awesome, We’re Organized Wednesday, What I Wore Wednesday, What’s Up Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Share the Wealth,  T: Make It Wear It, Frogs & Snails, It’s Stinkin’ Cute, Making it with Allie F: Fun Friday Finds, Fingerprints on the Fridge, It’s a Hodgepodge, Chic on a Shoestring, Fantastic Friday, TGIF, I’m an Organizing Junkie, Spunky Junky, The Shabby Nest, While He Was Napping S/S: KISS, Funky Fresh, Weekend Wrap Up, Nifty Thrifty

More Thrifted Sweaters

My last 24 hours have been spent on the phone or online trying to track down and fix a problem with our flex spending account so we can get our reimbursment before it's too late.  Today while O-man naps, I'll be filling out tons of paperwork (yeah).  But the other day I did manager to get a few more of my thrift store find sweaters turned into a few new things.  Mainly things for Sister-Baby.  Here's a few pictures (not great since the camera is on it's last leg and JuneBug took some of them, she does try hard though):

Three cable knit pillows and a yoga waist sweater skirt.  I still have a few more sweaters I'm working into new things.  Hopefully I'll get this flex thing straightened out soon and my house cleaned up (again) since my in-laws are coming in a week, then I can finish up my projects!

Peace be with you,

Sewing Machine Sleeping Bags

O-man wanted to know what I was sewing.  After several attempts to explain something I thought was pretty simple, sewing machine covers, we finally concluded they were blankets so my sewing machines could sleep at night.  He walked away saying, "why didn't you just say they were sewing machine sleeping bags..."  I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, this is the child who the other day said, "Mom, I really appreciate you not forgetting me," when I picked him up.  He's not even officially 3 yet, what will he come up with when he gets older?!?!?!

I'm still attempting to reign in the constant clutter around my craft space, as well as making it look less cluttered when all the "drop it here because I don't know what else to do with it" from the whole family isn't actually there.  You know, when it is actually clean, but still has a cluttered look, fix that problem.

Sew, (pun intended) I cut up a table cloth I had that was fraying around the edges, added some left over denim on the inside to make the covers have more structure and some fabric I love as trim and here is what I came up with:

I have been planning this for a while, hoping if the machines were out of sight they would be out of mind to O-man, but I was looking for the right fabric, only because I want to use it in a few places to tie the space together.  Turns out, I had this fabric all along, and it's one I love but was never sure what to do with it!  My goal is to finish clutter control and those other projects using this fabric this weekend.  I really want to get it done and just maintain it since my in-laws will be here in a few weeks... we always need all the space we can get when we have company!

I also made a trip to the thrift store for some more cable knit sweaters.  Pillows for my Sister-Baby and a few ideas I have for an entry into 733's Knock it off Contest

I can't pass up a challenge!  Sister-Baby, here are your cable knit soon to be pillows, hope you like them!  There were so many awesome cables I wanted to buy... maybe I should start taking custom orders...?

Peace be with you,

Sweater Pillows

A few weeks back I picked up some sweaters at the thrift store to make pillow covers for my living room.  Then I saw Megan's tutorial on Brassy Apple and how great her pillows turned out and I started keeping my eye out for a few more that would go with my decor.  Since I finally fixed my pillow insert problem last week, it was time to cut into the pile, ironically I didn't end up using the first sweater I got for this project, it just didn't have enough character.

Ever since I started re-doing my living room, pillows have been on my mind.  The pillows were an issue on my old couch and I wanted them to tie the colors of my downstairs together.  I have a few shirts in my stash that are horrible as shirts, but the colors are perfect and will have a better life as a pillow, but it's cold outside so those shirts will have to wait.

I have a small house, and storage is always an issue, so by using the same pillow inserts, I'm only storing the covers when not in use, allowing me to change the look out with the season, holidays, etc.  This one's my favorite, I love this little chair too:

I'm loving how the textures are all different but since they are all cable knits, they work so nicely together.  I had planned on making some of the awesome flowers like Megan did, but O-man hasn't stopped playing with the pillows I'm thinking I'll make them, attach them to pins, and wait until next year to use them.

While the blue one's my favorite, I do really like the one big cable on this one:

Look down, would that sweater you're wearing look better on a couch?  Haha!

Peace be with you,

Pillow Problems Solved

About a year ago I decided my living and dining room needed to be re-decorated after 7 years in the house.  I found the couch I've been designing for years at Home Reserve and changed my whole color scheme.  This couch has storage under every seat (that is what I'd been dreaming of)!  From the beginning I planned on making throw pillows to pull bits of red (the color of the kitchen walls) into the living and dining rooms with shades of browns and teals to make the whole downstairs flow.

While treasure hunting in Home Goods, I found these pillows with all my colors:

Actually, the top two I found in a box at my house from my sister, the perfect size for my accent chairs.  In addition to being the perfect colors, they had another feature I loved:

Unfortunately they also had a feature I didn't like... the pillow form inside was feather and I'm allergic to feathers!  So, after a few days of sniffling and sneezing while sitting on my new [also American made] couch, the pillow forms were passed on to a friend, leaving me with the perfect pillow cases.  In my local stores I couldn't get the right size forms and when I finally got to a place that had the right size, they were not made in America, so I passed on them, determined to just make my own pillow forms from the piles of material I already have on hand.  As a temporary solution, I stuffed in my old bed pillows that I had just bought replacements for.

Life continued to happen and I never got around to making pillow forms and IronFish began complaining about the lumpiness of the throw pillows (also why they look kinda sad in the first picture).  Autumn came and I decided I would do those pillow forms and also picked up several thrift store sweaters because I had always intended to make winter pillow covers.  Then came Christmas, New Years and a few snow storms.....

Today, I walked passed the home section in Wal-mart and remembered those new bed pillows needed pillow liners/protector things.  Wal-mart actually carries pillow forms in their craft section that are made in America, however, they don't have the right size.  While I was there, I looked at the throw pillows on clearance to see if any of them were made in America and the right size to serve as my pillow forms (no luck), but I had a brainstorm when I got to the pillow liners, they came in a two pack for less than $4 and while not made in America, they were made in a country I'm good with, sized 20"x26", standard bed pillow.  I needed 20" square pillow forms...

Time and other projects were really my main obstacles to making the forms, but with a few pillow liners in hand, I save myself time and checked this off my list today!  Here is what I did:
1.  Fold over pillow liner to form a triangle, which gives us a square without doing any actual measuring

2.  I drew a line on the first one and then realized it fell right on a fold (for all of them) and didn't bother with the other two.  Be sure not to cut off the end with the zipper, you want to keep that!
3.  Serge along this line (or cut off and sew).  I didn't even bother turning it inside out, it's going inside another pillow after all.
4.  Now fill!  You could use fiberfill but I just cut open my old bed pillows and used that, keeping them out of a land fill.  Part of the reason I had replaced these was because aside from being pretty flat, I think they were left over from college!  That disgusting yellow thing is the outside of the pillow (OK, that will end up in a land fill) but with some pulling and fluffing the stuffing, it worked perfectly.

5.  Zip up after you've made sure to get the stuffing in the corners really well.

6.  Now the pillow form is ready to be stuffed into the pillow.  It may be hard to tell from the picture, but they actually look 100 times better and are incredibly more comfortable.

Now that the pillow forms are finally done, those thrifted sweaters are in the dryer, I'm determined to make my winter pillow covers before the next snow fall (which might actually happen tonight!)

Peace be with you,