Handmade Holidays: Love Bots

Two more handmade holiday gifts finished, wahoo!!!

If you're a new reader to the blog, you may not know that I have three children: Will is 8, Jillian is 6 and Zack is 2. This year I'm making at least one handmade gift for each of them.

Will and Zack are getting ...

ROBOTS!!!!!

I sewed these lovable little bots from a sewing pattern by Rebecca Danger. (If you're a knitter you may recognize her name as the creator of all those adorable monster knitting patterns.)

In the pattern, Ms. Danger is honest about the fact that there are some spots in this project that may be tricky. She was right, but even as someone who normally only sews straight lines, I managed to figure it out twice! So I guess that's the mark of a good pattern.

There are a few wonky spots here and there, like an arm that only got 1/2 stuffed or another arm that's a different fabric than the rest of the bot. I like to think this just adds to the charm of the project, LOL.

These little bots are a really nice size, too. They're about 12-14 inches high in the torso alone. I'm too lazy to measure them right now, but here they are for size comparison with one of my husband's DVDs:

No, you can't watch South Park. Naughty robots.

Here's a closeup of their faces and chests. I used an awesome fabric for the hearts that looks like circuitry, and for the eyes I embroidered them on with felt since I didn't have safety eyes that were large enough for my liking.

Two more handmade gifts to go, plus two other custom projects for trades/customers. Back to crafting!!!

Handmade Holidays: My first "Real" Quilt!

The holidays are upon us! I admit that I'm totally freaking out on the inside, but trying to keep it cool on the inside. Today I'm hoping to finish at least two of my holiday projects; if I succeed I will feel much better at the end of the day, that's for sure.

So, without further ado, I present

Finished Project #1!

I made a quilt for my sister:

Earlier this year, my sister went to the Knit Picks/Connecting Threads warehouse sale and bought me a TON of batik fabric remnants. I took all the purples and greens from that plus a few from my fabric stash to make her this quilt. I used this pattern as a guide, though I only used two colors instead of three so I just made equal numbers of purple and green blocks. In the end the quilt is a good size for snuggling on the couch or taking to a picnic or a stadium. It's not really bed-sized but it was large enough for me to snuggle up underneath it with plenty of room to spare, and that works for me!

I'm off to sew more squares for my dad's quilt now; I'm tying his instead of actually quilting it and it's just a simple patchwork pattern so I'm hoping to finish it within a few days. For today, finished project #2 will hopefully be one of the toys I'm making for my children.

Ok, back to crafting!!!