Belinda's Daughter

I just finished knitting this rabbit for Eva.  Her favorite color is blue so her rabbit was done in blue with black shoes.  I think that the next time I make a rabbit, the shoes will have to be a different brighter color because the black is so difficult for me to see when sewing up the shoes and knitting them.
Knitting the rabbit this time was easier than the first time but sewing in the loose threads and sewing her together is very tedious.  I will not be making another rabbit very soon but after a rest from her, I'm sure that I will make another one and probably make some new dresses and maybe a sweater for my rabbit.
She will be delivered to Eva on Sunday.  All Eva has to do is choose a name for her and love and take care of her.

Sunny Sunflower

  On Thursday, I decided that I needed to do something different and a doll kit by Barbara Willis fit the bill.  My friend Pat gave me this kit several years ago and I have been wanting to make this doll.  I used my own fabric for the petals, the skirt and the body of the doll and the rest of the fabric was part of the kit.  Making the body was a challenge because of the way the face had to fit into a small circle.  Once that was done and the parts were stuffed, I painted the face. I think that painting the face is my favorite part of the process next to deciding how to dress the doll.

An Evening Bag

Several years ago I saved a pocketbook pattern and never used it.  When I looked through my patterns I saw this pattern and thought that if I reduced it 20% it would make a pretty evening bag that is to be a gift for a friend.  Off to the library I went and copied the pattern at 80% which seemed like a good size.  Over the last four days, I completed the project.  To embellish the bag, I made a rose from gray ribbon with sparkles and green leaves.  The rose and leaves are on a pin back so they can be removed if my friend doesn't like them.  I also added a magnetic catch to the bag, a first for me.  I will use this type of catch again as it is easy to install.  I'm happy to report that the magnetic catch was the only thing that I had to purchase for this project.

Sew Together Bag

I needed a gift for friend who does needlework and thought that this bag would be the perfect gift.  After buying a few pieces of fabric and all of the zippers, I checked the pattern and was happy to find an address with instructions and photos that were given step by step. The address is:  quiltbarn.blogspot.com2014/03sew-longhtml.  This bag is a challenge to make but it does turn out well.  My friend liked her bag and I made another one for myself even though I'm not sure what I'll use it for.

Meet Belinda Bunny

About a month ago, I discovered the site, "Little Cotton Rabbits" and had to make one.  Julie Williams sells her patterns through Revelry so they can be downloaded.  I had three of the yarns needed and bought one more for this project.  I consider myself to be an experienced knitter and this pattern was a challenge for me but I enjoyed every minute of working on it.  Julie's directions both words and pictures along with the commentary and pictures on Ravelry made this project a success.  I plan to make another rabbit soon and also make more clothes for Belinda as Julie has published patterns for other dresses, tops and sweaters.  She also sells patterns for other adorable animals which I can see making in the near future.

A UFO completed

The Show and Tell for the November meeting of the Embroiderer's Guild

was for completed UFO's.  Some time during the 1970's I started this Maggie Lane needlepoint from a chart and finished it except for blocking it and making it into a pillow.  I found this while sorting through a drawer and decided to finish it.  I did one more row of needlepoint around the edge, steam blocked it and made the pillow.  It is now sitting on my sofa in the living-room.

Betsy Ross

One evening I got a call from Adina saying that she needed help with a puppet.  She had to do research and do an oral report with the puppet.  After reading a book about Betsy Ross, I came up with this puppet.  When I showed her to my quilting group they persuaded me to make a Quaker bonnet for her which I did.  Her dress was made from some of my Dear Jane fabric and the rest of the materials came from my stash.  Her hair came from a friend who gave me a large shopping bag of yarn.

Holiday Gifts

Two of my granddaughters told me that they wanted me to make them pocketbooks for their holiday gifts and matching bags for their dolls.  Since Emily, the almost four year old wasn't there at the time, I made her a pocketbook also in her favorite color, red. Eva wanted blue and Adina wanted pink. I had the fabric for Emily's bag and had to buy the fabric for the other two bags plus all of the ribbon to make the ribbon flowers and leaves, that is the part that I love to make.

A Cabled Vest

Several years ago I saw a knitted vest with lots of cables and fell in love with it. After looking and with much research, I located the patterned and ordered the yarn, Donegal Tweed by Tahki Stacy Charles, in a pretty green. The pattern was complicated because the cables started and ended in different places. This was a project that I did at the dining-room table with a pencil and piece of paper to mark off each row. I've worn the vest several times and am very happy that I made it.

Catch Up if Possible

It is already March and I haven't written in a very long time. Why? I'm really not sure. I have completed many projects and will attempt to show them here in this post and in the following posts. My biggest accomplishment was to complete the center of my Dear Jane quilt, all 169 blocks of it, sew them together with the sashing and make a few triangles. I am trying to work on a side of the quilt at a time and make those triangles. So far, I think that I only need two more triangles to complete the bottom of the quilt. I do have triangles made for the other three sides that I will work on when the bottom is complete. There are 13 pieced triangles on each side and then 4 corner triangles plus plain triangles make up the border of the quilt. So for I've worked on the quilt for three years and hope to finish it within the next three years.