After being filled with candy, these were stocking stuffers for the females in my family. I used this Moda Bake Shop tutorial: http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/10/itty-bitty-poochie-bag.html for them. They are indeed really easy. Do note though, that she means it when she says to use 3/8" ribbon for the handles. 1/4" (the white) is too skinny to sew as intended, so I had to zig-zag it on which was a pain.



I also made a few grocery bags. The black and white floral fabric is quilting weight cotton from my mom's and/or grandma's stash, and worked great. The other (from the same stash) is much thicker, and while that's great for carrying stuff, it was much more of a pain to sew. I used this tutorial all the way up until folding the sides in and sewing up the bottoms: http://usetheloot.blogspot.com/2009/12/tutorial-reusable-grocery-bags.html. I switched to this one: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=177482.0 for that. One bag went to my mom, one to my great-aunt, and the last two (one of each) to my sister-in-law. They're all lined with simple white muslin, 'cause I have a bolt of it. Was going to line the black and white bags in black, but then I would have had to switch thread colors around instead of assembly line-ing them all, and I'm too lazy for that.

These are actually my first non-cross-stitch embroideries.

For my Simpson's loving brother-in-law:



Yes, I did stick a pin into the wall so I could photograph the darn thing.

Originally I had planned to just backstitch the outline of the letters, but about it took me less than half an episode of Word World to realize the fabric is so busy it wasn't showing up well. So I switched to satin stitch. Wasn't too thrilled with it as I was working on it (another episode of Word World and two of Sesame Street), but in the end I think it turned out decent enough.



Had plenty of fabric left over so I made a little drawstring bag to wrap it in (which yeah, I know doesn't really belong in this category, sorry!):



For his son, my nephew (in-law, I guess) I used this: http://www.sublimestitching.com/zippered+pouch+tutorial as inspiration. Well, I followed the embroidery exactly, but just did a basic zippered pouch instead of following that part of the tutorial. Sewing the pouch only took one naptime, and the embroidery took slightly less than one episode of Sesame Street.



The inside is lined with a random taupe-ish fabric from my stash that doesn't match the outside fabric at all, ooops.

Here's a close-up of the embroidery (one strand, all backstitch) and the incredibly wonky reverse applique:



P.S. All these episodes of Word World and Sesame Street were not all consecutive nor in just one day, I promise. That said, the kid is starting to recognize her letters and numbers...

So months and months ago I decided that my kiddo needed a play kitchen, and that her second birthday would be the perfect time to give her one so I'd have lots of time to work on it. When did I start on it? A week ago. Of course. Anyway, I'm ridiculously pleased with how it turned out, and thought I should share on here since I'm constantly being inspired by all the awesomeness that is Craftster.

First things first, credit where credit is due - While I looked at a LOT of play kitchens, both here and on the great big internets, the bulk of my ideas, inspiration, and instruction came from Out of the Crayon Box here: http://outofthecrayonbox.blogspot.com/2009/10/build-with-me-cute-thrifty-play-kitchen.html

On to the reason we all come to Craftster - the pictures!

The nightstand for the main part of the kitchen was from Salvation Army, for $12.50. The tall skinny one was one we already had and just weren't using any more. Also, feel free to marvel at the horrificness that is my garage, 'cause dang.



No in progress shots, I was working on a strict time budget. There's a ton on the site linked above if anyone's interested in the basic process. Here's what it looks like all done and pretty. I was going to make the smaller nightstand a fridge, then decided that it's too disproportionate to the sink part of the kitchen for that. And let's face it, it's less work to NOT add doors on, and I'm nothing if not lazy.



The knobs are wooden spools of my grandmother's that I had on hand. I used long screws to attach them, but left it so they could still spin. Covered up the screw heads with cover buttons in the same material as the curtain (thrifted sheet). The burners are plastic canvas (spray paint is already peeling off of those, even though I used sealant, gah!). Faucet is an upside-down "J" - I have a real one that I was going to use, but it was too big. Bowl was a buck at Goodwill.



Another angle, all stocked up ready to play:



Action shot! I had it covered with a sheet before her party, and when she finally got to take it off she just looked at it for a second. I asked her what it was, and she said "COOK!" and jumped right in.



Her cousin and friend getting in on the action:



I think she likes it.