Cuteness Advent Calendar

I'm working on so many crafty things, but they are all secret until Christmas. Can't risk a family member destroying their surprise.

Here's one thing... I made an advent calendar. I hear they are all the rage this year, although I did not know that when I started. I only knew that craft felt was ridiculously cheap at Joann Fabrics this Black Friday.



I decided to do it with the Holy Family, even though I'm not religious, because that's what an advent calendar is traditionally about.



Cute little Holy Family. Don't they look like weebles?



Much, much chain stitching, which I was guilted into by this project on the Purl Bee.



And the pockets are just the right size for Ghirardelli squares. Not an accident!

Here's the applique pattern if you are interested:


The tan felt is 27.5" x 33",folded in half over the dowel, and the squares are each 3" x 3" (there are 6 in each color). If you attempt this, I would recommend changing the numbers so that they are evenly distributed on each side of the picture. As it is, it tilts to the right as you eat the candy....

See You Soon

I haven't gone on a serious vacation, one where airplanes are involved and a Christmas or wedding with relatives is not, since my honeymoon. So my husband and I are taking a long overdue trip to Berlin.



I won't be blogging for a bit, but here's a detail of what I am working on right now, for the trip. It's a travel pillow made of fleece, for our red eye flight. Jigglypuff is there to help me get to sleep.

Bye for now!

*Grimace*

I know I promised that I wouldn't go to the craft store, but I was out of fusible interfacing and what can you make without fusible interfacing and I also had this idea that needed ric rac and while I was there I saw a boootiful piece of linen for $2 so you can't fault me for any of that... and I have my period.


Yes, today I made a tampon cozy. And it has a face. A *grimace* face. How-to follows, but if you don't want to know how-to, scroll down to the fun part at the end.


Supplies

7" x 9" Outer fabric
7" x 9" Lining fabric
7" x 9" Fusible interfacing
8.5" Red ric rac
Black embroidery floss and needle
Coordinating thread
1 button

Clip 3/8" seam allowance off interfacing and fuse to outer fabric. Embroider eyes 2" from the sides and 1.75" from the top.


Pin outer fabric to lining fabric, wrong sides together, and sew together leaving 3/8" seam allowance.


Leave two openings at the corners of the mouth, so to speak. Make sure one of them is big enough to push the fabric through (although if you make it a little bit too tight, it could be an appropriate metaphor for the... never mind.)


Flip inside out and iron flat, neatening the openings


Pin ric rac to the top of the front, and fold edges into the openings. Sew in place.


Fold over the bottom so that the top flap is 2.5" long. Pin in place, and sew down the edges. I recommend using a topstitch or denim needle for this, as the fabric is quite thick here.





Pull out your buttonhole foot and make a buttonhole between the eyes, about 1" from the edge.


Sew button to the inside about 0.5" from the edge. Stuff with four tampons and go!


Now, here's the fun part:

Since I ran through this design twice to get the how-to right, I have an extra tampon cozy. So, giveaway! If you would like this tampon cozy, introduce yourself in the comments, and leave some way to contact you, and I'll pick a winner next week. Good times!!

LOLCross-Stitch Pouch

This was also for my Great Geek Swap partner.



I have been embroidering (or trying to) for a while now, but this is my first cross stitch. I learned the basics from this page. I thought it really had to be cross stitch for the subversive factor, and I had some evenweave fabric from the Black Mage project (his hat)(and is it possible to link to that project too many times?{answer: No!})



Initially, I wanted it to be a wall hanging, but I made a mistake in my measurements and it no longer fit into the frame I had in mind. So I made it into an impromptu bag, using the microsuede and cording from my chair recon and the fringe from my BSG (not nipple) pillows.

I wish I had seen this awesome zippered pouch tutorial before I started, because it explains how to do it all by machine. I hand sewed the lining in because I wasn't sure how to work it with the machine, and well... it would have been better this way. I'm not the prettiest hand sewer. So, next time! It's still cute on the outside, right?

Tardis Tissue Box Cozy

UPDATE: This blog post has gone around some, which is awesome, but I know these instructions are a little fly-by-night. If you want any help please feel free to comment and I will respond.

Allons-y! -Jessica

---

It had to be done. It's so obvious that it's even been done before. This is my interpretation, made for the Great Geek Swap. My swapper partner likes Dr. Who.



The BBC has actually copyrighted the TARDIS design, which is one of those interesting copyright oddities since clearly this "design" was just borrowed from actual police boxes designed for the London PD. Whatever, I'm not selling this.

Supplies:
20x20" Fusible interfacing
1/4 yd Dark denim
1/4 yd lining
Silver Satin (scraps)
Embroidery floss (white and navy)
Print n Press transfer paper (dark fabric)
Sewing Machine, denim needle & navy thread
Bead for top light
1 5.5x5.5" cardboard square

I wanted to do a more detailed HOWTO, but my process got changed and convoluted somewhere along the way so this is the best I can muster. Here's the basic template for the sides:


This should be about the size of the larger side of your tissue box. All the blue is one piece, and the dark blue sections form the top pieces. A base piece the size of the light blue area is also needed.

And here's the sign I used (with Print n Press transfer paper). Print this out for use on one of the denim base (door) pieces.



First step: cut interfacing into shapes based on template, then iron onto the denim. Notice one of the sides has to be split in half, for the door.



Next, cut them apart, cut open the "windows" and baste the window seams under. Topstitch the window pieces on top of strips of satin, and the base pieces. Then sew the sections together, with the "doors" on either end. After this I topstitched four corner pieces over the seams.



Embroidered "Police Public Call Box" labels. The window grids are also (very simply) embroidered.



I cut out a square piece of denim big with sides the length of one of the panels. As tissue boxes are not square, this did not fit exactly, but the cloth was forgiving. I sewed this to the top of my panels.

I added a lining to hide the embroidery mess on the inside. This was done by sewing together a lining in the same shape as the denim exterior, then sewing it to the denim, right sides together, and flipping it inside out.


It would have been more awesome if I had found a lining fabric that had a big polka dot pattern like the inside of the actual TARDIS... but I already had this, and I like money. Both of these fabrics are leftover from a certain other cozy project.

Almost done - just some last minute tailoring. I hand sewed the embroidered signs on at this stage.



The top is just five pieces of fabric sewn together and then hand stitched to the top. It is tightly stuffed so it could be used as a pin cushion if you are so inclined to have a pin cushion on top of your tissue box. The "light" is a clear bead tied on with embroidery floss.



The base is made by sewing denim around a piece of reclaimed cardboard, and then hand sewn to the cozy. I made the base in the actual dimensions of the tissue box (rather than square) and then just pushed the fabric around until it fit properly.



Some final product detail shots.





There really is a tissue box in there.





I love the otherworldly glow in this shot:



I also made a Dr. Who card, which I colored with a highlighter and a green marker. David Tennant, incidentally, looks like an older Scottish version of my brother. Who in turn looks like an older, American version of Daniel Radcliffe.

Long Throw Pillows

So thanks to Jelly Wares, I felt confident making these two pillows not match. I think it actually works pretty well. Anyway, I am too busy working on my next cosplay to fix it right now, so I stuffed them this weekend and this is how they will stay.

Inspired by images of Chinese dragons chasing pearls, I made these appliques to dress up my lackluster Target pillows. I've never made an applique before... this may be apparent. I used an awesome calico quilting fabric from Joann called Snakeskin. It looks like scales up close. The satin pearl is made from my scraps pile, and it is exactly the size of a spool of thread, imagine why.

Some people like to call Chinese dragons long, the Chinese word, to separate them from Western dragons. Although similar in appearance, they are very different mythologically. The long is not villainous or frightful, it is a symbol of power. The pearl it chases symbolizes prosperity. My husband would also like to point out that the one on the left is an "S" so he thinks that this design is now our family crest or something.

I added some more stuffing to the pillows while I was at it, because they were a little flat, and inserted a zipper, because these pillows were pretty tough to make, I want to be able to wash them.