Show and Tell (Part Two) & Recycled Legwarmer Tutorial!

This ones for the sista's! The sister in law had a big trip coming up to attend cooking school in Italy (ooohhh) so I wanted to make her something travel related, and small......and what did my search reveal? A perfect little set of a lingerie bag, shoe bag and passport cover, in (to me) Tuscany style ;)



Originally got the ideas here and here...

and for my littlest of sisters.....some coziness for the rest of the winter!

Re purposed sweater sleeves, into legwarmers!



Looks like a couple of happy customers to me :)

Here is a quick tutorial for the legwarmers...

Cut a strait line starting right at the underarm seam,



then fold over and zig-zag stitch the cut side (I do two rows of zig-zag because I am paranoid about unraveling :P). Its also helpful to scrunch the knit as you sew, otherwise you will end up with a splayed out cuff! (unless that is what you are going for...)



that's it! I told ya it was quick ;)

Show and Tell (Part One)

Ahhhh.....the week after Christmas off of work....gives me some time to catch my breath after the holiday madness...we have been hanging out in our jammies all day, feels good!

Last week there was no time for blogging, my house was covered in cardboard, yarn, glue, contact paper, you name it.....I badly wanted to give you all a sneak peek of all that madness, but I just couldn't pull myself away.

So now, the show and tell begins, I can't wait to pass along some of the great ideas I found!

First up.....Kiddo's Cardboard Kitchen!!!



Complete with cotton yarn burners, and a thrifted bowl for the sink....



an oven too!



I still have to finish off the edges, and add a faucet.....of course!

Thanks so much to Anna at Forty Two Roads for her incredible work on the tutorial available on Etsy!

This tutorial is easy to understand but make no mistake....it takes some time and will buff up your arms with all that cardboard cutting!!

Kiddo loves it, but I get the feeling he still prefers the real thing!

Growing Tradition (and a Holiday Green Tip!)

Sometimes its difficult to create new traditions, when there are so many that already exist around you. So this year, we decided to literally "grow" our own!

Sparked by the annual decision to cut a real tree, or buy a plastic one......we decided to buy a live potted tree.....no plastic....no cutting!!



I am pleased to announce the newest member of our family, a Dwarf Alberta Spruce!



It may be small now, but I hear it will grow to about 6 feet!

Commence tree trimming....which took all of 5 minutes ;)






Which would not be complete with out some broken ornaments!!



What traditions are you growing this year??

Finished!!!

Remember the project that had 3 (count em'..3) sewing machines stumped?

Welll....I finally managed to get ahold of an upholstery machine and got....it....done!



I can't wait to get photos of this cutie (seen here in the belly) in her custom Mei Tai......hope you enjoy the ride!

Thanks to Kristen for the amazing tutorial.....I am learning so much from all these incredible women!

Holiday Shop & Stroll......brrrrr!

Quickly becoming one of our Holiday Traditions is our neighborhood shop and stroll.....and this year fell on a night that dropped to 21 degrees!



We did have many chances to warm up indoors.....meet some friendly faces....and even be a little silly :)





and oohhh the window shopping!





yay for Holiday festivals!