This started out as an attempt at Thai fisherman pants for my daughter out of some cheap stretchy pink fabric.  When all was said and done (after lots of trial and error...and seam ripping), they fit like yoga pants.  I just took the adult fisherman pants pattern and tried to reduce it to a size that would fit a four year old.  I guess I actually made them a bit too small, but they really work as yoga pants and she loves them.



Modeling her comfy new pants

My package from AutumnKisses got here today!  I feel pretty spoiled - she sent some awesome stuff! 

She said something about it not seeming stuffed to the gills because it was a slightly larger envelope than the flat rate..but I didn't even notice - I just saw lots of stuf as soon as I got it open:



All the supplies: embroidery thread and 18 count Aida, three zippers, two super cute stamps, a variety of stone beads, a green t-shirt, fabric paints, fabric singles, stencil brushes, bamboo knitting needles and some very yummy brown yarn:



I forgot to put this in with the supplies - a knitting magazine.  I never buy these for myself, so this is a treat:



Nice bright dishcloths:



Delicious smelling homemade soaps.  I smelled them as soon as I opened the package and I wondered what it was - I love the smell of homemade soap:



Freezer stencil t-shirt!  With blue and green birds flying around the side.  It's big on me now, which is great because it should fit when my belly gets nice and big next year.

Back:

And front:


And my favourite thing: a teapot cozy!!  When I pulled this out of the envelope, I couldn't figure it out - I found the note explaining everything when it was all out - but after some thinking, I got an idea and put it on my teapot.  The sad thing is that my teapot is broken and I haven't found a new one - but at least I could use it to model the cozy!



Thank you so much, AutumnKisses!!  What a great swap!

Got my HUGE package from onyxnox today - I had mentioned that I would love something crocheted because I don't do it and she asked me if I minded getting a potholder as one of the dishcloths and of course I didn't mind.  In the end, she made me a set (she said that it seemed wrong to only do one potholder) and still made me three dishcloths!!  Not only that, but she sent me a very cute set of stitch markers, too.  Spoiled!!

The ladybug (I love this one - it might be my favourite, actually)


Twin leaves - I really need to learn how to do this - I love the pattern.


Fleur de lis to go with my kitchen towels (try as I may, I could not get a really great picture of this one - I think it's the colour because we had the same problem with the oak leaves cloth I made for her)


Pot holders in Polish star crochet pattern


Silver stitch markers


Thanks so much, onyxnox!! 

This one might show the detail a bit better:

I drew this little blue slug years ago and recently scanned it and then forgot about it.  My kids have a birthday party tomorrow for my friend's little girl who just turned three and I thought I'd make her some shirts.  The pink one is her initials and year of birth - I love this one.  The orange one took me forever to decide on and then I stumbled upon the slug hiding in my photo folders and thought I'd just go with that.  I think he's cute, even if he is a slug.



Close up of the slug...I think maybe I'll call him Doug the Slug. 

It may just be a Crayola kit and it may look somewhat childish, but that doesn't stop it from being lots of fun to use.




First I took a piece of scrap paper and rubbed the impression of the mirror into it (because the square mirror is set into the frame).  I scanned that in to the computer and made sure never to adjust the size so that it would stay the proper dimensions.

I went into Paint, used straight lines, curving lines and a circle and made a simplistic landscape as a template.  It doesn't fit the mirror perfectly, so I may use it on an actual window instead.

The Paint template:

Hooray for thrift stores and 99 cent racks!  I found this nightgown on Saturday and right away wanted a skirt out of it.  It was pretty ugly as far as the style went, but I loved the fabric.  So..cut, add elastic, move buttons, and voila!  Cute skirt in my favourite skirt length.  And..it has pockets!  Added bonus!

Before:



After:



Close up of the fabric (since I just realized that the other photos don't show it very well):

[stinking]

I didn't think I'd get to this one, because I knew I wanted to bake and it's been so stinking hot in my house for the last week.  Finally, the weekend brought rain, and with it, cookies!  This was very time consuming and in the end, I wish I had done things a bit differently, but oh, well - it's too late now! 
I decided I wanted a spool of thread, and that was the worst of it.  The thing kept falling over and the angel hair "thread" kept leaking water onto the icing sugar and water glue I was using.  That of course made the glue pretty useless.  And then I had to take photos really quickly because the spool was falling over!  Bah!  Oh, well, the beads themselves are cute.

Cookies!!!  Beads!! Cookie beads!

The leaning tower of blurry angel hair thread.

The whole thing.  On a cake plate.  Looking very poorly lit.

Another view: bracelet and necklace with "seed beads" in the bowl to the right.

It is with a sad heart that I declare my first swap package ever to be lost.  Or rather, Mel declares it, because it is sort of up to her.  I've been told that it can take up to seventy-five days for a small packet going surface to get to the states from Canada, but it's already been about forty-five, so it's time to throw up our hands.  Anyway...I'm holding out a faint glimmer of hope that it will get there sometime before I have to really give up and claim the insurance on it (near the middle of August), but I'm going to post pictures so you can see what I made.  Anyway, if anyone is still even coming here anymore.   Sorry, FadingHippie!!!  I worked so hard and this is a HUGE disappointment to me.

Retro/vintage: I made a bag out of two 80s style quilted placemats.  I also threw in some lace because FadingHippie is into lace.



Something for the child in you: A small plastic canvas "hiding place".  I was always fascinated with hiding places as a child.  So, it looks like a little cross stitched piece hanging on the wall, but actually has space inside.  This took me SOOOO much time to make (= I hope it's not in the trash somewhere).

Front:

Back view:


Seasons:  Two notecards per season in coloured pencil drawings.  I worked some beakers in for FadingHippie's love of science.



Origami: A decoupaged/paper mache box made from torn up origami paper in black red and white, with an origami star on the top of the box.  I packaged the seasons cards in this box (I made the box so that they would fit).



A photograph: I took a picture of lace ribbon and printed it out in black and white.  I coloured in some red in the background and then covered a small journal with it.  I also made a closure around the journal out of the same lace that was in the photo.



Something sweet: Sweet orange soap.



Something soft: A small knitted drawstring bag in soft brown yarn.  I lined it in bright blue and made fabric covered buttons from the lining fabric to put on the front.



Hair accessory: Two lace covered barrettes.



FadingHippie - I sincerely hope that someday this package makes it to you or that it's being sent back to me and I can send it properly with tracking numbers next time.  If not, I hope that someone is really appreciating my work and that it wasn't just tossed out.   And that I feel like doing another swap again, because this experience really hasn't made me look forward to doing another one.

I decided that this fit better in reconstructed because I had this photo on printer paper that I printed by accident and needed to use somehow.  When the last Craftster challenge was going on, I accidentally printed on paper rather than fabric and ended up with a 8.5x11 inch photo of succulent plants.  I was browsing Etsy for a checkbook holder today and decided to play around with making my own.  So this is what I ended up with.  I used a base of cardstock and added scrapbooking paper and more cardstock and the picture on the outside.  I covered the whole thing in no heat self-laminating paper and added tape when I needed to (on the edges...I would do that part differently if I did this again).  I put in a pocket for coupons or cash and a button and ribbon for closure.  I'm so happy with how it looks, especially since I've never done anything like this before.