Wee Wonderfuls

The Ellie Bag

Ellie knows all to well what it’s like to be forgetful and lose track of one’s baubles and little necessities in life. She does not want you to suffer this same fate. At just the right size to carry your notepad and lip balm, Ellie is here to save the day.

I thought I'd blog here and there in the next few weeks during the blog tour about some of the projects in the book. Maybe share some sketches, some inspirations.

This Ellie bag was going to be a mouse, a kitty and a bunny before I settled on elephant. All were cute but in the end the big ears won me over. I had lots of other bag and accessories idea. I was really loving the idea of piggy and kitty change purses and little felt money. I think I could do a whole book on stuffed animals as bags. I love them!

they look so innocent

Pretty, right? But this was pretty much the end of kcwc for me. That Anna Maria Horner flannel was supposed to be a tunic but I didn't have enough so I tried another pattern, but didn't have enough, so I made it into a top but in the end it was totally the wrong kind of pattern for the fabric. The yarn knit up half a pointy elf hat and ran out. I've tried to knit it into a loopy scarf 3 or 4 times now and keep losing track of my stitches. So there you go. I'm going to quit while I'm ahead! I love that fabric so much though. I need to make it into something else. Maybe a pretty little pillow for Phoebe's bed.

here we go yo

The blog tour for the book starts today! Here's the itinerary. I'm starting today at my pal Amy's house with a giveaway of an autographed book so head over and sign yourself up! 

September 27: Angry Chicken  Interview

September 29: My Paper Crane  Review/Image Gallery

October 1: True Up  Review/Vintage Fabric Giveaway

October 4: Ohdeedoh  Review/Q + A

October 6: Inchmark  Vintage Toys

October 7: 

October 8: House on Hill Road  A Wee Wonderfuls Project/Q + A

October 11: ReadyMade "Make Nice" blog  Stay tuned...

October 13:  Cathy of California  Drawing Inspiration from Vintage Crafts

October 14: Handmade News and The Happy Honeybee Blog  Artisan Spotlight

October 15: SEWN  Review/Q + A

October 19: Stitch Beautifully...Tread Lightly  Review

October 20: Cute Everything  Review

October 22: Sew, Mama, Sew!  Giving Gifts the Wee Wonderfuls Way

October 25: The STC Craft blog Tour finale 

gearing up for a little sewing this afternoon

kcwc: day three: dress and some leggings

Dress & leggings are from this Japanese sewing book, ISBN 9784529044370. Both are a big hit!

Jen, does this color/pattern combo remind you of anything?

kcwc: day two: botched leggings

So, same as last time around, I don't think my 7 sewing days will be consecutive. I'm behind a day, now two. I picked something too tricky for my second project and then I've been sucked into my knitting. I tried to pull it out this afternoon by making some super fast leggings, maybe with some show stopper buttons at the ankle, but no. Botched! I totally forgot to lay my pieces out with the right grain on my knit fabric and the leggings are super stretchy lengthwise but widthwise, not at all. I realized my error and didn't even finish them. Back to it tomorrow though.

Tonight, some knitting.

kcwc: day one: tulip turtleneck

kids clothes week challenge

pattern: from this book.

fabric: jersey knit fabric from here

sewing time: about an hour ( I'd already traced the pattern pieces and prewashed the fabric)

overall: success! there may have been a loud snapping sound of a thread breaking when I pulled it over her head but I went back and sewed it up while stretching the fabric and I think we're going to be okay.

hat: yes, another one. she wanted pink. it's done in this yarn. I don't know if I'm feeling it as much as in the thick/thin yarn as the book recommended. I think I need to hit the local yarn shop.

a little flashback Phoebe sewing. I can't believe her hair was so dark!

early start

I should just save this for next week's kid sewing challenge but I want to stay motivated to get through my huge stack of sewing projects so here's this top today. Thanks Karen for the Liberty print! When are you going to London again?

Pattern is from here and it was tricky! This was definitely a labor of love. Here's the criss cross back.

Liberty cotton lawn and knit jersey for the sashing (that's what you'd call that, right?). I love how it turned out but it was exhausting.

pointy elf hat

Fall is upon us and I couldn't wait to get my hands on Joelle's new book, More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. It's just gorgeous like I knew it would be and full of SO many cute gifty projects. I love a quick knitted project. That's why I'm such a fan of hats. So without further ado, Phoebe's annual handknit Winter hat... the Pointy Elf Hat knit up in Jaeger's Natural Fleece.

Ha! How cute is that! Here she is as Bashful and Grumpy. This took me one night to make! I'm so encouraged. I have a few scarfs to finally finish up and then I want to tackle some more projects from this book. I love these cup warmers and these mittens and socks are just gorgeous. Don't you so want to wear those socks. COZY!

too much sweet

I don't know what happened to us this Summer. We had really kicked it into healthy gear around here last Spring and I thought we'd for sure be able to keep it up all Summer... lots of fresh veggies, eating right out of our garden, lots of home cooking but instead we were super slackers. Our garden was kind of a flop. We got really lazy with cooking. We're totally back on the chocolate. We need to get this train back on track! I suggested to Tim maybe we need an all liquid diet, like Gwyneth's, when we're too lazy to cook. He wasn't too excited about it. Maybe we'll just stop buying sweets.