Almost HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!

It has been a heck of a year, hasn't it?
I am not one to write out deep thoughts (unless they are by Jack Handy)...but there has been ALOT happening at Casa de Knit-or-get-off!

Some moments sad, but so many happy! Holidays were the worst - but made fabulous by this guy:



How could you not love that face!?!?!?!?!? Okay I am very biased but i am so happy to have this little guy.
Fritz would like you to believe that he doesn't think that Max is all that cute. I have to remind him, that Max looks like him, sooooooo....Fritz must be cute too :)

I am getting back into knitting and hope to have the rest of my presents finished soon. Though sewing is still happening. Like these lovely slippers:



They were modeled after my favourite IKEA slippers. There was a bit of embroidery and embellishment added too. I am annoyed that I lost the second name label for Cathy (these were gifts for my daycare ladies) - but I was running out of time and i had to pick up the baby and get these gifts to them.
The gray fabric is a wool that bought years ago in Illinois. It is very soft and drapey, that is until you wash it and felt it (on purpose). The ladybug is an embroidered micro-suede left over from a show and the purple butterfly is woolfelt purchased at JoAnn's last summer. Other than the cost of foam ($2.50) and time, I was able to make these guys for free. :) Free meaning I spent the money more than 6 months ago...i think that means free... :)


My brother also received a version, more manly, and way too big. His feet just seem sooooo much bigger than mine - but i guess not 3" bigger than mine :) oh well. But they matched the jammies i made him for xmas - and of course there is no photo! Why would i do that? As you saw in the previous post, I was way to busy taking pictures of the cuteness of Max!

Happy New Year!
Prost Neu Jahr!
Prospero Ano Nuevo! (okay i know that there is supposed to be a tilde' over the N but i don't know how to do it - or the Umlauts...)

Merry Christmas!

and i thought i was going to raise my kid jewish :).......

conversations late at night

Fritz: What kind of pie are you making for Christmas?
Me: A crème pie
F: What kind of crème pie?
M: I don’t know, a crème pie – whatever my cookbook book calls for.
F: But I want you to make a Bavarian crème pie…
M: Well, what do you want me to do to make it Bavarian?
F: I want you to add a Bavarian to the pie .
M: So you want me to go out tomorrow, hunt down a Bavarian, chop him up and put him in the pie?
F: Yes –but no lederhosen, the leather would make it a bit tough to eat
M: I don’t think I know how to make a bavarian crème pie
F: Well ask the internet– it knows everything.... What about a boston crème pie?
M: You want me to put Bostonians in a pie?

I do know a few bavarians.....

handmade xmas going strong

i am not going to say who i have been making these items for, so those of you who are expecting a gift in the near future will just have to guess! :)

i have been frequenting the Sew Mama Sew blog like a crafting fiend!
Originally i was not going to make these - but once they started to post ones made by other viewers, i was hooked!


so here are my little tissue holders - ridiculous and cute!



I am also thinking of making them to use for feminine products. I am making them to match all those bags I have cut out and still need to make.

I also am hooked on these bags:



I found the tutorial via Sew Mama Sew! ( i think) or it was Whip up! Well written and so quick to make! Check out the cute lining.

I have blown the pattern up 1.25 times, using the photo copier to make a slightly bigger size. There will be more of those later.

And last but not least , my little notebook:


I have no idea where i got the idea for this - either it came in a dream or a blog-hopping fog. Inside view here.

I am still not quite ready for the holidays! I mean hannukah has come and gone without the pomp and circumstance, why not Xmas? I am feeling the xmas stress.......

more cool gifties to post next week!

Fun at work

In the midst of making the 16 quilt squares, there has also been alot of Secret Santa-ing happening in the ISI building. People get a little insane and have a fabulous time doing it.

Apparentley, my Secret Santa has been reading my blog (Hello!) and discovered that I might like this:




IS THAT NOT AMAZING!!!!!!!???????????

I am going to assume she made it (and i will assume it is a she since there are only 3 men in the company who are playing). And if she did, I would like to know who has been hiding their very mad embroidery skills from the Costume Shop Manager (me)

The patch on the left is Max, from Where the Wild Things Are. And the one on the right is the most glorious Fliegenpilz patch i have ever seen. Actually it was a little folder that had a mini packet of tissues tucked into it (for my runny nose suffering from the plague an all).

I might put the Max patch on something I make for the baby or just frame it. And the Fliegenpilz might go on a purse or as a patch on a pair of jeans .....for now i will just admire it and love it.
I received 3 other very cool items - but the Fliegenpilz is tops!

the last 10 days

Happy Hannukah!



Oh! Wait that ended yesterday...
So I'm a little behind. What else is new? :) We lit the candles and ate the latkes. No dreidel spinning here but we sang the South Park Version of the song...we are soooooo not PC in this house, I tell ya!

Other than the eight days of chanukah...there has been the 10 days of QUILTERS. This is the latest musical for our Musical Conservatory program. I admit, I haven't watched a single rehearsal this weel. Poor Yvette has had to watch it every night this week...Max is such a great excuse. That and I have been sick too - i have caught the plague :)

So what does a musical about Quilters involve? Quilts! Lots of friggin' quilts! I have never quilted. I mean that I have NEVER done the type of quilts that require tiny triangles and squares and circles and all sorts of piecing.
Kristin sent me a link to this amazing webpage! Crazy helpful it was. That and the Singer sewing book on quilts and some other book the set designer brought in were the best thing in the world!

Our quilt blocks are (approx.) 22" square. Some patterns were enlarged and some were shrunk. The final product is 16 seperate squares mounted onto an 8'x8' canvas backdrop:

In order of left to right, top to bottom, we have -
1. Butterfly (a crazy quilt with applique) 2. Logcabin 3. Spools or Secret Drawer 4. "rebel patch" (a crazy quilt used for a fictitious block for the show)

5. School Houses 6. Rocky Road to Kansas (have also seen it called Rock Star) 7. Country Crossroads 8. Baby Blocks (aka Tumbling Blocks)

9. Lonestar 10. Four Doves in a Window 11. tree of Life 12. Kansas Dugout

13. Double Wedding Rings 14. Double Windmill 15. Crosses and Losses 16. Robbing Peter to Pay Paul


By the way, we cheated. Alot!!! - there was heat-n-bond and non piecing....but could you tell? Okay maybe you professional quilters could...irk!

Here are a few close-ups:


We ended up appliqueing this one with heat-n-bond after we had made it WAY to big. There wasn't enough time to piece it properly.



Made by one of our apprentices.


Katherine throwing down the scraps in order to make the Crazy quilt block. She ironed them all down and then zig-zaged by machine.


Our final block - The background blocks were pieced and then the rest was laid on top, then appliqued.

Each block gets snapped on as the play goes on and the song is sung to explain the story behind each pioneer woman's quilt. So we need to readjust the snaps a bit and maybe adjust a block or two....then it is all done!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once that is done, we can get on with the more important things at hand. The making of the holiday gifts and secret santa-ing in the work place. I am sure my person knows who I am...but that is okay...she is loving it!