Saturday, January 29, 2011

Pretty Pillows

I love toile. It's one of my favorite fabric designs. However, it tends to be one of the more expensive designs as well. So I was super excited to find a red and white toile fabric remnant in the discount bin at Wal-Mart the other day. I snatched it up, excited to use it on something pretty.

Then I remembered that I had a couple of ugly throw pillows sitting in the closet waiting to be pretty-fied. I covered one with the toile. I wanted to showcase the pattern on the fabric, so I kept the pillow very simple.


The other pillow I covered with a lovely dark red fabric, and embellished with a ruffled lace heart.


I love the effect of the pillows on my pretty pink wing back chair.


Such a lovely romantic chair now! This is the extent of my Valentine's Day decorations right now, I hope to add more in the next little while.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Dollies for Queensland


I've seen lots of news lately about the Queensland floods, and the thought of little children having to leave their homes kinda breaks my heart. Then I came across this dolly drive and realized that I can do something, even something small and simple, to help. Mon Petit Poppet is holding a drive to collect Hope Softies, handmade dolls or stuffed animals to give to children in the emergency shelters. It's not a lot, but it can be a comfort to these young children who have been affected by the flooding.


If my printer was working, I would have printed out one of the many softie patterns available (such as this one). But since the printer is currently good for nothing except as a shelf to pile stuff on, I created my own little pattern pieces for a simple doll. Just a body, a head, and a hair pattern piece, with seam allowance. The construction is very similar to the mini matryoshka softies I posted a while back.


I made the dollies out of flannel, so they're soft and a bit fuzzy. The flowers in their hair are rolled-up strips of lace or of fabric, and I drew the faces on with fabric markers. My three little ones, especially Zaylee, all think these dollies are sweet, soft, cuddly, and perfect for hugging, so they pass the kid test. I hope that the children they go to will enjoy them, and find a bit of comfort in knowing that a friend they've never met, living halfway across the world, is thinking of them.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Openwork Handwarmers

The other day I decided to do a little crochet for myself. I love the look of fingerless gloves/handwarmers/gauntlets/whatever-you-want-to-call-them, and thought it was high time I make myself some. I used a somewhat sparkly light blue yarn. I can't say for sure what kind it is, it's stash yarn. But I'm really pleased with how they turned out.


I used this pattern from Crochet Me. It was simple and easy to follow, and the mitts worked up quickly.


Best of all, Isis approves.