So I've been dating this guy, this really awesome vegan guy who likes owls, bicycles, ukuleles, Hello Kitty, asparagus, music, and just cute little things in general. And his birthday is on Tuesday, so I figured it would be nice to make him a little present. I figured an owl would be easy enough to do, because it's been a very long time since I've sewed stuffed animals.

I present to you: OWL



His features are felt with blanket stitch and buttons.



He's got little felt feet.



Here is his flowery bottom. I put some rice in him to give him weight.



Little bitty wings, which I don't think are very useful for flying.



But, he doesn't need to fly, because he can always ride on a BICYCLE!



I got the pattern from here: http://moonstitches.typepad.com/photos/tutowlrial/index.html. I added the wings and feet, because everything is cuter with little appendages.

Finals week is finally almost over, so me and my friends decided to have a cookie-making Christmas party. I didn't expect to get any presents, but then I started getting friends asking me suspicious questions, such as, "What is your favorite color?", and "What brand is your stove?" (She got me new drip pans, by the way!).

Of course I could not go to the party empty handed. I decided to make everyone some tasty baked good. Cookies were out, of course. Nothing tackier than bringing cookies to a cookie party. I settled on pecan tarts. I perhaps went a little overboard with the tarts.







I made 96 tarts. The astute might notice that there are only 91 pictured. That is because I ate 5.

Here's a closeup:



And all packaged into bags:



I found the recipe here: http://www.food.com/recipe/bryannas-vegan-pecan-pie-197982. The crust I used was the Vegan Oil Pie Crust from the book Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. I made them in muffin cups, and they took only 15 minutes in the oven before they were done.

I tried out a most excellent recipe today, and I just had to share! http://irreverentvegan.com/2010/09/french-bread-pizza/#comments There's nothing I used to love more than pizza with tomatoes on top.

I ended up making my own bread, because I couldn't find a satisfactory variety at the grocery store.



And then, I made it into pizza!



Ah, it is so very tasty. My roommate thinks I'm crazy. She pronounces the word "vegan" as though she is saying "pickled pig's testicles." Oh well. Her loss.

I made this skirt awhile ago, but went to try it on recently, and it was too big. So I took it in a bit, and now I actually find myself wanting to wear it. Funny how that works.... Pattern is Burda 6992.







See the kitties?

Since summer seems like it never ends where I live, I decided I need another cute tank top. So here it is! I didn't use a pattern, I just made it up as I went along.

This week, my mother's poor sewing machine broke down. Since I'm moving into my new apartment next weekend, I decided to go buy a new one, because I want to get one anyways and because I had some sewing to finish. I tried out a bunch of snazzy Baby Lock sewing machines at the local sewing and vacuum store, and they sure were fancy! You could program them to sew automatically with a push of a button, including tacking the beginning and ends of seams, and it did a bunch of different one-step buttonholes. But in the end, I decided to buy a used Pfaff 6152 Jeans and Satin machine because it was in wonderful condition and had a larger motor than the Baby Lock and seemed to be more heavy duty.

Anyways, I love my new sewing machine and my new sewing machine loves me. Even though I keep looking for the backward sew button on left, instead of one the right, which is akin to calling your lover by the wrong name. Despite that, my sewing machine was so grateful I bought it, that it decided to prove its worth and sew me a chair, all by itself! Take that, you other fancy sewing machine!



Here's a close up of the fabric.




Well, because my sewing machine made this chair out of love for me, it was a particularly amorous chair. I woke up one morning to this:



They were the strangest looking eggs I'd ever seen.



What could they possibly hatch into?



A baby chair!



The fabric is some upholstery fabric I bought on clearance, and the pattern was made by simply tracing around the original cover. I put a zipper in the back, in the same place it was in the original, but only one instead of two. I quilted it with an old mattress pad. The foot rest has nothing to do with Ikea, I bought it at a thrift store, but I've seen them in many different stores. It looks a bit high for the chair, but it's comfortable so I guess it's about right. The pillows are for for my Klippan couch, which I got at a yard sale for $25! It was originally covered in a pink and orange slipcover, like this: http://www.ecrater.com/p/4629556/ikea-klippan-loveseat-sofa-slipcover. But my roommate didn't like it...I can't decide what to do with that cover, I like it but it faded a bit in the wash, it doesn't look so vibrant anymore. I might be willing to swap it for something cool.

First, some backround. I had lots of white and green yarn, this type here:



Keep in mind, this is an after picture. I had 8 skeins of the white yarn, it's some acrylic Bernat baby yarn. The green yarn my mom brought me from Germany. She said that she went to yarn store, but it was all very expensive and that she wanted to get me enough for a sweater. So, she bought me the fuzzy stuff at Woolsworth. She bought me five skeins to be sure I wouldn't run out in the middle, because she's witnessed that before and it's not pretty.



The white yarn was initially made into this sweater:



Here's some close ups:




The pattern is from The Purl Book. This sweater was very boring and took me two years to make (yikes, I know). When I finished, my mom had lost weight and it was too big. So she's keeping it in a drawer for sentimental purposes only. There aren't any buttons on it.


The green yarn I initially made into this. It's To Dye For from Stitch and Bitch. But I haven't finished it yet. I'm not particularly excited about it. I just need one more sleeve.



About a month ago I decided I wanted to make a cardigan. But I didn't want to buy new yarn, not with all the green and white stuff left. So I decided to knit the two yarns together. I tried to make a bottom-up yoked cardigan, using this (http://glampyreknits.tripod.com/glampyrephotos/id34.html) as a guide. It was going to look like this:



But the ribbing was too bunchy and the neck was too wide and the upper part was too big. So I messed with it a bit and decided it would be better as a wrap sweater, with a sillouete similar to the Tuxedo Cardigan from Big City Knits. So it ended up like this:

 


You can see how it's a bit bunchy in the back because of the ribbing.



The buttons are vintage pearl ones from my mom's button box.





And last but not least, a headband from Stich and Bitch.






I still have a lot of green and white yarn left, but I am sick of it and don't really know what to do with it. I've already given one white skein to a friend, but she doesn't like fuzzy lime green. I might use it for gifts. Or I could give it to charity. Or I could make a shrug or two. Any other ideas?

No, not this: (I wish!)

 This: http://geocities.com/tpe123/folkurban/clarinet/index.html
Cool, no? Or if you don't like clarinets, you can make a different instrument from that site. Any one want to join me?

I couldn't find anything But I did find this, which is just too cute to pass up: YOu could however, take the ears off this knitted bunny: http://www.heartstringsfiberarts.com/bunny.shtm that might work. These are also really cute: http://www.lionbrand.com/learnToKnitPocketPets.html

A toaster oven is looks like this:

Oh god, you're making me HUNGRY!

 PIZZA PIZZA! With extra cheese....and green pepper...and tofu pepperoni...mmmmmm.