Current Craft Projects

I've been working on several projects lately. I'm making a t-shirt quilt for my husband for Christmas. I don't know where I came up with the idea - maybe I read about one. I unfortunately gave many of hubby's old t-shirts to Salvation Army a few years ago when cleaning. They all had holes, but now I wish I had held onto them for a quilt. I did have a few of his older t-shirts left and so I am using those. I also added a few of his older Hawaiian shirts. I learned very quickly that you shouldn't mix in woven cotton shirts with the knit cotton t-shirts. They don't stretch like t-shirts and therefore don't line up. I've never made a quilt before. To learn the basics I read a few library books. I haven't worked on it for a couple of weeks but wanted to show a picture of where I am with it. I made the mistake of sewing the bottom row on upside down so I'm in the process of ripping the seam out to resew correctly. The quilt top is almost done. I don't think I'm going to use a batting... I'm planning to use a sheet for the backing.

Another project I'm working on is teddy bears for the boys for Christmas. Saw this in a craft magazine from the library. I have one done (Evan's). They are made of felt and stuffed with t-shirt scraps from the quilt! I've embroidered the boys' names on the tummy of each. My first embroidery ever.










A project I recently completed was Alex's Halloween costume. He's a pirate. I bought a pattern but didn't use it as it was too complicated. I winged it. I made the red vest and gold belt. The shirt is just a plain white button down shirt and the pants are plain swishy athletic pants. I recently received some free lace curtains. Part of the curtains were swags and I didn't really want those. I cut a portion of them to make the lace for the costume. Since it was already gathered it worked great. I simply safety-pinned the lace for cuffs and a ruff at the neck. The whole thing probably cost a couple of dollars. He wore it last night to the Mother & Son Superhero Ball.