Still Kicking

I know. I'm a terrible blogger lately. Honestly I'm busy and I have nothing to share. No thirfts, no crafts, no general mayhem. Well maybe a little but nothing of interest. I WILL be back. Soon. I hope. :)

In the meantime . . .

My darling nephew sort of enjoying the elephant I made for him. Honestly, he looks a bit ambivalent.

Have a wonderful Fourth of July!

Cheers ~ Rebecca

Bunny Love

I mentioned before that I have been working on a project for my friend Jini to give to her new nephew. She requested a bunny holding a blanket with a pocket for her to include a letter. we talked about the type of blanket and colors and then I started looking for patterns. Nothing really grabbed me and since it was to be crocheted I figured I'd just make up my own.



I am tickled with the way he came out!



He's big, about 14 inches sitting up and much longer if you include his legs.



I like to use fabric in my toy creations so he has a fleece nose and cotton lining in his ears and pocket and on his hands and feet.



The blanket looks like blocks but it's actually strips put together with single crochet to form a ridge. The blanket is made from Caron Simply Soft and the bunny from Bernat Cotton Tots which is one of my favorite toy making yarns.

I'm very smitten with him and happy I actually wrote down his pattern so I can make another one. This one will be off in the mail soon and I'll be sad to see him go but know he's heading to a loving home. Bye bye Bunny Love.

You know I made something else . . .

I haven't been feeling very crafty lately. I'm still plugging away at a project for a friend and it's almost done but that is about all the creative energy I can muster lately. I haven't been blogging or writing Examiner articles, I've just been . . . well . . . being. My new position at work has kept me busy and I'm enjoying the challenge. We are also trying to do some work around the house but the weather and life have gotten in the way of that lately so no newes there either. So what shall we talk about?

How about another cute baby picture in another hand made by Auntie sweater? This one is crocheted and made some time ago so I can't remember what yarn I used. It's a new born size but as you can see, Gabriel is very long so it looks short on him. But he's a fabulous model and he makes it work. I have started another sweater in a size large enough to be worn in the fall but so far I've got about 6 rows done. Again, not much to report there.

I'm hoping to maybe sneak in a trip to the thrift store this weekend but the beach is calling my name as well so we'll have to see.

Cheers!

You know I made something . . .

Welcome my most adorable nephew, Gabriel Owen . . .



I know I have better pictures but I can't seem to find them now. :) How about one of him and his proud (and maybe crying) Auntie?



I just love him. :) And you know I made something . . .



Sweater, booties and bear all from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies. The hat is from an online pattern and it was way too small so I'll be making him a new one. :)



The sweater set is made from a cashmere blend yarn and the bear . . .



 . . . is a cotton bamboo blend. I think he's my favorite. :) When I was making him I was worried he wouldn't look like a bear at all but I think he came out A-ok. More cute babies projects to come!

Cheers ~ Auntie Rebecca

Found

Hello! Is anyone still out there? I've been meaning to post each night this week but I've been running around like a crazy person and then sleeping like the dead. Hmm. Well the weekend is here and I'm finally getting a chance to share with you the finds from last week's trip to the thrift:



Two aprons! The one on the right is a Vera. I've never seen an apron though I'm happy to add it to my collection of Vera scarves, napkins and table cloths. The other one is a very fine gauzy fabric and I love the gingham trim.



Cute, right? This thrift store seems to often have aprons and I'm hoping to reach my goal of 12 vintage red and/or Christmas aprons by November. :)



A box of Congress playing cards in the cutest seashell pattern. AND the cards are still sealed so I don't even need to count to see if they are all there. This may be my favorite set of these to date.



A few more craft supplies including this wide trim and a large roll of silky pink ribbon. I love these old rolls of ribbon, there is always a lot on there and it's soft and makes for nice bows.

Do you remember that one of the things I search out are certain patterns of Culver bar ware? I mention I mean BABBLE about them here and here. I was VERY excited to find these pieces and at only 99 cents a piece it all came home with me:

 

You can see more of my collection here under the very dusty hutch:



(How does the dust get in there??) I love to haul this out for holiday cocktails. So festive! All in all a good trip and I also donated a few bags of clothes and books and that always makes me feel like I accomplished something.

I don't think I'll be out at the thrift this weekend but hope to sneak in a trip in Baltimore when we head down Thursday. My nephew was set to arrive last Thursday but is late as he is waiting for his Auntie to be there to make his big entrance. :)

Cheers ~ Rebecca

Passing the time . . .

I was feeling rather punk yesterday and did a lot of sleeping/laying around/wishing I were on a beach, etc. I also did a bit of work on my current project:



This baby afghan is for my dear friend Jini's adorable new nephew. I'm using Caron Simply Soft and making double crocheted strips and then making a single crochet ridge to bind them together. At first I wasn't sure that I would like the ridge but I think it gives it some texture. Once I steam it I think the ridges will fall into place better. I also plan to add a blue border and am considering lining the other side with cotton or fleece.

Hope all of you are feeling well and if not, passing the time with something you enjoy. Cheers . . .

Park It

The weather here has finally turned Spring like and Luis and I didn't waste a minute getting out there to enjoy it. All the photos below are from the always wonderful Central Park.








The Swedish Cottage.











Note: This photo is not sideways, that tree is growing right out of a side of a hill in The Ramble.



Happy Mother's day to my Mom and all those wonderful Mom's out there!

Spring Schming

Is it really May? Then why was it like 40 degrees last night? Yeesh. So let's think Spring for a moment.



That's it, everyone concentrate on flower scented breezes, picnics in the park and the annual breaking out of the flip flops . . .



Channel your inner gardener and start worrying about buying that new swimsuit for beach season . . .



Now, send all that glorious energy to NYC so the Spring will get here and stay for awhile. I'm ready for all of it. What I'm not ready for yet is air conditioning so let's not get hasty and bring summer in too quickly.



Photos from Flushing Meadow Park and Rockaway Beach. Queens, baby!

Thrifty Finds . . . Because I wished for them . . .

So I spend a lot of time being jealous of other's cool thrifty finds. I am especially jealous of Laurie's estate sale goodies. Recently I was wickedly envious of Sarah's found vintage fabric and spools of trim. So I did a little dance and prayed to the thrifting gods that I would get lucky on my first thrifting outing in weeks. And they listened . . .



My guess is that someone who probably made fancy clothing cleaned house. The trims and sequins that I found seemed to be the type one would hand sew to something to worn for a special occasion.



There is about 4 yards of this beaded trim. It's 3 inches wide and it's heavy! I'm not sure what I'll use it for, maybe to adorn a bag? Who knows. I should put some of it in the shop but I'm so anti re-selling these days that I can't bring myself to get motivated to list anything.



I buy a lot of DMC embroidery floss but I guess I never thought about how it comes in to the stores. Look how cute the box is! I found two boxes with 25 skeins each and will never need to buy DMC 801 (a chocolate brown) again. Sounds like a brown sampler is in my future.



I was just looking on Ebay and Etsy for sequins. One set is a pretty pink and the other a reddish brown.




I also picked up a bag of random pieces. I could see that there were a few bags of beads and some beaded appliques but I was very happy to find this hiding within:



Adorable! And a true vintage piece. I also found a few others things including two wire cake stands and some minature items like doll house wall paper and flooring. So all in all a good thrift. Did you find anything good?

No really, I HAVE been doing stuff . . .

First off, thank you all for the well wishes on 5 years of blogging. I could go on and on about all the lovely people I've meet through good old Thrifty Goodness. :)

So, what have I been doing? Working mostly. And being lazy. You have to work at being lazy, too, sometimes. I have made a few things:



That's another modified ring toy on the left there. They are fun to make and are a good stash buster. My stash of the defunct Yarn Gang yarn is slowly running out. I may have to start hunting it down on eBay soon. On the right? That's going to be a bunny. He's my own design and I'm happy with him so far. He's for a friend's new nephew and will have long arms to wrap around a crocheted blanket when he's done.

So there you have it. I've been doings stuff. Just the most minimal amount possible.

Cheers!

How did I miss it?

This little blog was 5 years old last Sunday. How did I miss it? I even left myself a NOTE and forgot to post on the actual day. I can't believe it's been that long. I also can't believe I've lived in New York for 9 years or have been married for 4. Time flies.



That was me about 5 years ago. I still have that scarf. :)



And this was earlier this year. Not very different it seems but so much has happened and I really use a lot more concealer now.

Click here to read the first Thriifty Goodness post. Okay well it's really the second, the first one was like "Mazel Tov! It's a blog."

Happy a wonderful Easter weekend. I'll be back with a give away next week in honor of the big 5.

EGG-cellent

Again this year I joined Shara's Eggcellent swap. You make a dozen eggs, send them to Shara and she sends you a dozen back. I love the challenge of coming up with something I can make in bulk that goes with the theme and doesn't make me want to poke my eyes out after the third one.

Last year I made these. Cute and sort of egg shaped. Again this year I decided to think outside the egg carton and come up with a project that didn't include a plastic egg.



Voila! Egg shaped needle books. (Why yes, they are cute, thank you.)



I used supplies I had on hand which was nice though it didn't make much of a dent in the apocalypse sized fabric stash I own.



I'm happy with how they came out and am now sad I didn't make one for myself.



I packaged them up in little lolly pop bags (thrifted, score!) and stapled a little vellum to the top.

You should see the eggs I received! Head here to see each egg and the creator. I was going to take photos but Shara's are better. Plus I already have dispersed the eggs among the craft room and my desk at work. Egg-cellent.

New Baby = New Toys

My nephew is set to make his entrance next month so of course I've been working hard on making him some stuffy companions.



I think that giraffe is my favorite toy I've ever made. He really just came out super cute!



I always have a hard time with faces (you should see the pile of misfits in the craft room with no eyes) but his came out perfect. I love his sleepy look!



The elephant is from a pamplet I've used before (check out the first one I made here) but this time I doubled the yarn so he'd be bigger and a better sized companion for the giraffe.



The stacking toy is based on this pattern but I wanted it to fit the jungle theme so I changed it a bit. It really came out cute! These are also fun to make I think.

I'm sure there will be more toys and many hats in his future from Auntie B. ;)

Whoo . . .

I've been busy. Mostly with lame things like cleaning and work. But also with fun and creative things like this little guy:



Made for my friend's son, the pattern is from an old issue of Knit Simple. It's a Susan B. Anderson pattern though  changed it a bit. (do I say that a lot?) Her owl had knit eyes and a beak and I used wool felt and really like the result! He's a great stash buster project and there will certainly be more to come.

I've also made some progress on the sampler:



It's coming along and I'm enjoying finding elements to add. Stop by the Examiner for an article on making adorable egg cups from a paper egg carton. Check it out here.

cheers!

Taking the Plunge

For years now I've been fascinated by all the fabulous projects in Japanese craft books. Particularly the sewing projects. As Japan has been on my mind a lot lately I decided to stop into Kinokuniya.

The flagship store on Avenue of the Americas is huge so you can just imagine the selection of craft books. I could have spent hours flipping through then all. I started with sewing projects but as I'm not very good at sewing in English, ahem, I moved on to knit and crochet, many of which use universal charts. Still not what I was looking for. Finally I landed in the embroidery section.



Let's call it . . . Idees Vol. 12. :) Some of my favorite projects:





Love these! 



Perfect for summer, no?







I want this set for myself.



And this might just be my favorite. But it's hard to decide.

So what did I start with? Inspired by this:



I started my own red work sampler:



It's come a long way since I took this photo and I'm enjoying finding elements to add from this book and other cross stitch pattern books. It's something I can grab to work on while watching TV or if I only have a few moments. I can't wait to see the finished product.

cheers!