Crafty Christmas goodies

Hello, and happy New Year's Eve! I figured I'd end the year with updating this with the newest toys I've gotten recently.

One thing I posted on Instagram, but not here, was that back around Thanksgiving, my Grandma (on my dad's side) was in the process of cleaning some things out of her house. She decided that she wasn't going to do any more yarncrafting. So she let my sis-in-law and I take her entire stash of knitting and crochet needles. Since sis crochets and they were mostly knitting needles, I did get the bulk of it, but she did get a couple of things, too! Grandma also let me look through her old craft books, and I did take a few booklets of some cute 60s-ish vintage knitting patterns. Thanks, Grandma! So I should be good for awhile on double-pointed needles and circular needles....but I might need to sew new cases for them, because mine are stuffed!


As usual, my mom gave me some fabric for Christmas! In particular, she gave me about 4 yards of a funky knit print, 3 yards of this oh-so-cool Japanese teacup fabric, and a couple of yards of a lightweight denim. I don't have quite 4 yards of the knit anymore, since it shrank a bit in the wash, but that's why we pre-wash, right?  I'm thinking a Tiramisu maxi-dress (a la Cation Designs) for the knit, a "real" Cambie for the teacup print, and maybe some wider-legged jeans with the denim--since it's thinner and non-stretch, I think that would put less strain on the fabric. Plus a looser leg would be more comfortable for warmer weather here.

But what? you say. There's four fabrics in this picture! Well, Doug completely spoiled me this year. Not only did he get me a new computer-- and a Kindle Fire, which I'm still completely in shock over since I already knew about the computer--he also bought me fabric! With TARDISes on it! He got it off of Spoonflower, with the disclaimer that since there were a ton of TARDIS fabrics on there, he basically got the one he liked best. Love that guy. It's a quilter-weight cotton, so I'm thinking this would make an excellent lining for the Colette Cooper bag, which I recently acquired the pattern for. The best part is that, although I'd have to buy contrast, I do have a blue canvas-type fabric in the stash already that should work quite nicely for part of the bag!

Mom made a couple of things for my sis-in-law and I, too. She made each of us a new beach bag with some meshy fabric (hers was in a different color scheme, but same idea). And she also made each of us a TARDIS wristlet--so cool! (And this would be perfect to throw into that Cooper bag that already exists in my head!)














The best part, other than the fact that it's a TARDIS, is that she lined it with Van Gogh fabric. If you watch Doctor Who, you understand why this is great. My mom rocks. 


















My mom also put a few fun new sewing toys in my stocking. I now have a buttonhole gauge, a Chaco pen, and a double-wheel tracing...thingy. She also got me this amazing wooden pressing tool, which I saw on A Fashionable Stitch and promptly put on my wish list. This will be so handy when I make that new winter coat!




I even got something for the scrapbook--my mother-in-law spotted a Project Life kit on my Amazon wishlist and got that for me. I think this one will be fun, because it's so colorful! I love those constellation cards in particular.

So that's a wrap on 2013, and I need to get back to trying to figure out the 3-D puzzle that is currently trying to get my craft room optimized to actually use this stuff!

Sewing Surprise!

It's reveal day for the Sewing Surprises swap that Nova is hosting!

I received a package from the lovely Kerrilee, from Sew Exhausted. (The sewcialist that I sent to was actually her co-writer, Laurie!) My package got a bit lost in transit for awhile, but arrived just in time for reveal day, on Friday. Which was great, because the end of the week was pretty stressful and it was the perfect fun surprise to cheer me up! So here's what was inside:
The package came all tied up neatly with a pretty ribbon. It was much neater than this, but then I repackaged it when I realized that I needed to take pictures--I was too excited and had torn into it right away!






There was a card with the cutest little cat sticker to seal it up.













There were two packages of wedding-related scrapbook stickers. Which is perfect, because of course I'm already plotting to make a scrapbook so I can hoard all of the candids that my friends and family make, as well as professional shots that we can't necessarily fit into the album that comes with our package!




The latest addition to my stash of sewcialist-given chocolate. I'm still working on the first of the two bars I got from New Zealand for the stash swap (eating them verrrrry sloooooooowly so there won't be any last minute dress-fitting panic issues!), but sea salt and dark chocolate is completely yummy, so I'll be looking forward to this for sure.


And finally, there were two coordinating pieces of super-lightweight jersey, and a pattern to make them into! I'll have to see if I can squeeze this in before the wedding, because wouldn't this be great for a tropical getaway?

I had a lot of fun putting together my package for Laurie, and it was very exciting to see what I got in return! Thanks again, Kerrilee!

On the map

I'm sure that by now, several of you have seen the "Sewintists" map that Another Sewing Scientist set up. Brilliant idea, right? (As is the name. I'm also rather fond of the "sewcialist" one that's popped up on Twitter this week.)



I managed to get my location pinned on there yesterday--my post-wedding one, tbh, since it's so close now and it's not like 20 minutes of drive time makes much of a difference around here. It's been fun to see who's in the general vicinity of me. Meaning in the Philadelphia or Baltimore regions, because so far, I am the only sewing blogger in Delaware. Yeah, that's right, I get to represent sewing for an entire state! (Come on, internet, tell me I'm not the only one...)

Anyway, if you're so inclined to join in, here's how, copy-pasted from Vicky:
Open this link to get to Map the Sewintists
Click on the red Edit button on the left
Click on the blue pin on the upper left of the map
Click on your location to drop the pin
A box will open that will allow you to add your name or blog URL in rich text
Save et voilà!
**********update from users:  it appears that you cannot pin if you are using a mobile device / tablet; also, you may need to use Firefox since other browsers may not work; finally, you must be signed into your google account.  If worse comes to worst and you can't pin after trying all this, just comment below with your location and info you want to include, and I'll pin you!

I would strongly advise people to only pin their general location or closest city, since we don`t want creepers peeping in our windows while we sew in our unders, do we?

p.s. Philly/Baltimore-area peeps, I'd be eternally grateful if you also add some fabric stores to the map! I'd love to have some driveable options other than Joann Fabrics!)

p.p.s. Speaking of locations on maps, on my to-do list today is to mail out fabrics for the Swap Your Stash! As of now, I've got stuff going to the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. Pretty exciting. Also, Juliet, I still need your address.