Pinterest Project: Dry Erase Calendar

Our library group, "Dream and Create With Pinterest," met again and tackled anther Pinterest Project!

This time we made "dry erase calendars" inspired by this one from Lindy's blog "Cottage Hill."

We followed her instructions from her post here.

Here's mine!

It turned out quite nice and being able to write and erase so easily makes it very useful.  I'll probably end up using it to plan out my craft projects... especially since the amount of time I have each day to work on things varies from moment to moment (one of the joys of having a toddler!) and I am constantly shifting around my project goal deadlines!

2012 in Review

2012 is over... but during that year I finished a lot of projects!  Eighteen pillowcases, nine dishcloths, five quilted pillows, three fleece squids and a cardboard spaceship!  ...and a few other projects thrown in along the way.  Whew!

First of all, here are all of the pillowcases I made:

The first of the "Birthday Pillowcases."

The "No-Slip" Pillowcase.

Another "No-Slip" Pillowcase.

Another "Birthday Pillowcase."

Another "Birthday Pillowcase."

Another "Birthday Pillowcase."

A "Super Simple" Pillowcase with some stenciling.

A simple "Birthday Pillowcase."

Another simple "Birthday Pillowcase."

The "Elder Sign" Birthday Pillowcase.

"Wedding Ring" Pillow Shams

A "Rugby" Birthday Pillowcase

Another "Birthday Pillowcase."

Another simple "Birthday Pillowcase."

A "Reversible" No-Slip Pillowcase.

Another "No-Slip" Pillowcase.

Another simple "Birthday Pillowcase."

Here are all of the quilted pillows I made as gifts:

The "Puppy Pillow"

"Hogwart's Crest" with a purple background

"Hogwart's Crest" with a blue background

"Lightning McQueen"

The "TARDIS"

Stuff that I knit and crocheted:

"Magic Dishcloths"

A sweater, "just for me."

A "Rugby" scarf.

Jayne's "Cunning" Hat

Some other random projects:

An "Infinity" Dress

Squids!

Meal Organization Magnets

And of course, Buddy's Spaceship!

Over forty projects in one year!

I'm pretty proud of all that.

Not All Who Wander Are Lost, Part 1

I have finished the first three blocks for my "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" block-of-the-month quilt from Fandom in Stitches!  Here they are:

"Bag End" designed by Breanne Cremean

"Bree" designed by Regina Grewe

"Weathertop"  designed by by Soma Acharya 

Pretty Cunning

There is a sci-fi tv show that the hubby and I enjoyed a few years back... and a particular line from that show well describes a certain Christmas present that I made for him this year...

"A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything!"

Yes, I made him a hat just like Jayne Cobb's in "Firefly!"

I found a pattern by Chloe Sparkle (check it out on her blog, "The Hundredth Monkey" here.) and found the perfect colors of yarn (from Vanna's choice, if you must know) and started knitting "in the round."  Perhaps I should have practiced a little bit of "in the round" knitting before attempting this project... and perhaps I should have heeded Chloe's warning that this pattern was for a "BIG" head... because the hat came out very large.  It was positively gigantic on me and even too big for my hubby's large noggin.  Thankfully I was able to make a barely noticeable tuck in the back so that it could be worn!

But now the hubby can confidently walk down the street with his head and his ears warm... and people will know he's not afraid of anything!

We have windows now! Windows are cool!

Yes, we actually DID have windows in our old apartment... but they were not COOL windows.

They were old city windows.... the kind of windows that you had to keep covered 24/7 because they lined up with the windows of the neighbors house 3 feet away... and they were the kind of windows that you had to shrink wrap in 5 layers of plastic in the wintertime and then they would swell shut and refuse to open in the summer.

Now that we've moved, we have NICE windows!  These are the kind of windows that you can easily slide open in the summertime for a nice breeze.  They are the kind of windows that you can sit at and gaze out of at the beautiful tree-covered hills outside... These windows actually function as windows!

And as functional windows, I believe they deserve some functionally beautiful window treatments!

To celebrate autumn and the Thanksgiving season I made quick valences to dress up the dining room.

This was an incredibly easy look to achieve... I simply hung some tea-towels over the curtain rod!  I added a coordinating napkin in the middle to hide the overlap and turned it diagonally to make it look sophisticated.

That gave me some time to sew some real curtains and valences.  I made the curtains out of canvas drop cloths from Home Depot because I wanted them to be a nice, neutral backdrop... and because it was more cost effective than buying "home decor" fabric.  I did have some nice green fabric in my stash that was begging to be used... so I made some simple green valences to add a little color.  I wanted to keep the valences simple so as not to detract from the nice molding above the windows.

On the back of the valences I added a small button at the top so that I could embellish my window treatments for the seasons.  For the holidays I hung some cheery red bows on them!

Fantastic!

Quilting for Geeks

Several months ago I stumbled onto a wonderful site called Fandom in Stitches.  Basically, it is quilting designed for geeks.  If you have an obsession with classic video games, science fiction movies, vampires, or Lord of the Rings, chances are that they have a quilt block or two that would appeal to you.  Pretty much all of their patterns are paper-pieced, which happens to be my favorite piecing method, and all of their patterns are free!  It was the perfect place to find inspiration for family Christmas presents.

My sister and cousin are really into the Harry Potter series, so I made them Hogwarts Crest pillows:

Another sister of mine is slightly obsessed with Doctor Who, so I made her a TARDIS tumbling through the vortex.

My youngest cousin is still really into Disney's Cars, so I made him Lightning McQueen, complete with a shiny gold lightning bolt on the side.

Another cool thing about Fandom in Stitches is that they have a photo group on Flickr that allows fans to post photos of projects they have made using Fandom in Stitches patterns.  Then they also post those photos on their blog every Tuesday (and offer prizes!).  You can see my work-in-progress photos posted on Fandom here!  

Also, if you would like to check out some additional detail shots, you can peruse my Flickr photos here!

...and just one last little thing that I am SUPER excited about... Fandom in Stitches is hosting a "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" Lord of the Rings Block-of-the-Month quilt project!!  Every month they will post a new block or two and I intend to sew them up so that at the end of the year I will be able to put together an entire Lord of the Rings quilt!  I am so excited!