Here are some pics of Ellie all packed and ready to go (looking very happy until i stuffed her in a small bubble mailer).

And showing her passport, and luggage.  I didn't want her to get bored on the trip so she was sent with snacks, her favourite books, a little friend, and a picture of her puppy...


Can't wait for gina to get here for some exploring...

May 15
So I'm a deadbeat and have not posted photos of gina yet...
gina and I have been quite busy exploring Ottawa and getting ready for our trip to Disney World ( ) next week that all the photos are still trapped on the cameras... I will say that photos will be posted soon, but that may be an empty threat

May 20
Still a deadbeat with no photos posted... we leave for Florida at 6am tomorrow morning and I just finished my dress for the wedding an hour ago (and I don't think it turned out that well... gina's is lovely though)
We'll be gone until Sunday so it will be sometime next week before I get caught up with everything and get pictures posted.

June 26
gina is getting a little homesick (although she is excited about spending Canada Day here (she heard rumors of beavertails, jazz music and fireworks)), so she wanted to make catpants a card.



We will post some pictures once it is decided which ones are going in the album (so there aren't too many repeats).

Ellie came home late last week, and I am finally done enough writing (silly school work), that I am ready to post pictures.  I'll apologize right off the bat for the pic overload but catpants was such an awesome host, that I just couldn't narrow it down any farther. 

First of all everything all together: Catpants sent a reusable pad (I'm very excited, my husband wasn't so sure about it as he pulled it out of the package, with a "This is for you!"), Some Chai to try (I haven't had it yet, but it looks good), a pin, a little sketch book, a new necklace for Ellie, a candy (very tasty), and a charm from one of their adventures.



Ellie's new necklace (so funny story, my husband was sitting in the living room reading on Friday and I went to go talk to him, and there he was sitting with Ellie, and Sprocket (our stuffed puppy) and sprocket was wearing a blue plastic beaded necklace I have, and my husband said that Sprocket saw it and wanted to be pretty just like Ellie...)



Ellie's new sketch book from her trip.



The neat little charm from catpants and Ellie's trip to The National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother.



Now on to the awesome scrap book. 

The label from inside the album.



And some of my favourite pages.

Ellie Learned how to ride a bike while she was gone (thanks for teaching her catpants).



At the Craft Magazine launch Party (how cool is that).



With some very cool trees.



Braving traffic to see the Joan of Arc Statue (one of Ellie's visiting request).  Thank you so much for taking her there catpants, she is really excited about having made it there (and about everything else too). 



At Stumptown Coffee.



I would happily post all the pages (cause catpants did an awesome job), but I'm sure that would get way too long. 

Thank you so much for everything catpants.  Ellie had a greattime, and we were so excited to travel to Portland vicariously through her (someday I want to see everything for myself, but for now I will just enjoy the pictures and study the transit schedules and maps). 

Wow I love everyone's LVs so far, and I would like to introduce to everyone Sprocket's Ellie (my LV).  First of all I need to apologise to Ellie because she is a she, and in the questionnaire I referred to her as a him, so Ellie I am sorry.
Anyways with out further ado, I present Ellie.  She was adopted for us through WWF by my Mom, and not long after we got her, Sprocket (who you will see in the pics) claimed her as his own little friend.

Here's Ellie.



She is very excited at the prospect of travelling, and wanted to look at all the prospective options.



And finally Sprocket is getting sad that his friend is leaving, so he's getting in lots of hugs before Ellie leaves.     




We can't wait for the adventure to begin (I'm not sure who's more excited, me, Ellie, Sprocket, or my husband).

Hey everyone, bet you all thought this swap was dead... but like so many examples from star trek it has come back to life... for only good reasons of course... I finally got a package (and an awesome package at that)  After 1 flaker and 1 angel flaker our fearless organizer--nirauan--took on the challenge and boldly went where none in this swap had gone before, and sent me a package.  So without further ado, here are the goods (sorry my crappy photos don't do the wonderful items justice but I must prepare for an 8 hour car trip first thing in the morning so sadly these will have to do, oh how I long for a transporter). 

First Nirauan sent me a Trekkie wash cloth (it's super nice, so nice in fact my husband wants more)



Next Nirauan answered my prayers for making my school work more interesting and she sent me not 1, not 2, but 4 star trek book marks for use in both enemy and ally readings...





(I just love all the awesome pictures on them, and they are double sided so I won't get bored.)

She also sent an awesome stenciled t-shirt, I can't wait till it's alittle warmer here so i can wear it and show it off. 





And finally my favourite (I really don't like picking favourites, but i think everything else understands...) Nirauan made me an incredible Klingon Messanger Bag.  I love it and am so excited to use it.  It really is incredable, sadly my picture doesn't do it justice (I had a better one but couldn't get it to load  (if I can get it to work on Monday when I'm back home I'll try again))

 

Thanks so much Nirauan.  You were a great swap angel, I love everything and really appreciate all the time and effort you put into this. 
Thanks again.   




   

I made these for the MYB swap.  I free handed the Jack Skellington one based on a picture I found online.  The flower one I made off of a tutorial linked from my partner's wist.  I attached the hair clips to the decorations with embroidery floss. 





(if anyone has any tips on how to sew through really thick felt without it puckering like it did in the centre of the flower let me know)

I made these for the Magic Yarn Ball Swap.  These guys are rather hungry (one likes to eat knitting, while the other likes the plastic taste of electronics such as I-pods), but they are so cute you can't hate them for it (although the big one ate my partner's MYB while in the mail).  I made them out of some knit material I had lying around (not great because it stretched horribly while sewing), but I lined the project bag with some denim to make it better for containing knitting.  The large one closes with a drawstring, and the I-pod cozy closes with a little piece of elastic and a shank button.  All of the details are done with felt that I machine sewed onto the fur (before assembly for the I-pod cozy, after for the project bag, although in hind sight I should have done it before so my messy sewing wouldn't go right through the lining). 

The project bag.


The I-pod Cozy.


The colour is a little more accurate in the second photo. 

And the proof of how hungry these monster are... one ate my husband, and even the puppy couldn't get the monster to spite him out.



If you have any questions just let me know, and thanks for looking. 

I knit this for the Magic Yarn Ball swap.  I used 3.5mm needles (straight for the body, and double points for the head).  I crocheted the nose and used black felt for the eyes.  Big thanks to Mishymishy for her crocheted Zero (http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=201505.0) as I used her pattern as a guide.  I made it a little smaller (ie estimated 4 stitches where she had 6 stitches) and knitted in stockinette stitch.  Now for the fun part, some pictures.

Awesome yarn balls so far, mine from Michela (who spoiled me terribly) will be posted later today.

So by later today I actually meant "three days from now" because I am a busy deadbeat.  I want everyone to know this was to mean no disrespect to Michela because she spoiled me rotton I was just not at the computer for any length of time to post the pictures...

First it all wrapped up (and you can see the inside of the awesome needle roll Michela made me (don't you just love the colour, I must say I'm tickled pink )


Now for all the goodies (and goodies there were, it was like Christmas all over again here).
First (and in no particular order because i am in love with everything) I got 16 stitch markers which is awesome because I have never had decorated stitch markers before (and my husband was already eyeing them to steel).

Next Michela made me an awesome necklace (isn't it pretty), and a pencil case (very good because I seem to loose pens a lot (she said it was her first time putting in a zipper, and it looks perfect, great job)

Now some wonderful beauty products (and a lip gloss holder which can be attached to my purse so I don't loose it, I'm beginning to think Michela knew i loose everything...)

Coffee Crisps (my husband already asked if I'd share), Really pretty earrings made by Michela (isn't she awesome), a really cute tin (the earrings were hiding in it), and a copy of The Paper Bag Princess the best book ever written (take that Shakespere).  And a little credit-card note book for keeping track of knitting things (rows stitches etc), this is awesome because I currently use my school notebooks while I'm in class...

Yes even more goodies
Stickers, and fun pens to make school more fun, and a really yummy cherry scented candle. 

Now that it's all done you can see the yarn (Bernat Cashmere, so soft and wonderful) and the needle roll all rolled up (as soon as it was out one set of needles jumped right in before I even knew what was happening). 


Oh and the pattern is for Cable knit wrist warmers which I intend to start right away.  (Sorry this was so long).

I made a wonderfully easy, and in my mind really cute wrap shirt this weekend.  I used Burda pattern 8122.  I used some polar fleece I bought over a year ago.  Since the fabric is a fairly stable knit I didn't need to reinforce the neck edge or the hem which was really nice.  Start to finish this only took a few hours (and as usual it was getting the pattern ready that took the most time).  My only complaint about this shirt is that the upper arm of the sleeves is a little tight, but other than that I love it so much I'm pretty sure I will be making more (as soon as I come across some nice knit fabric). 

The Front


The Back


And a full length shot (why is it that the pic with the nicest view of the clothing is always the one with the goofiest look on your face?)

I made these dresses in the summer, but I just realized that I hadn't posted them yet.  My friend is often complaining about how difficult it is to find dresses for her daughter that aren't super fancy, so I took out my trusty sewing machine to see what I could do.  Both dresses are made in a size 5 from Burda Magazine patterns (the paneled one was from an issue from this summer, and the solid gingham one was from a back issue from a couple of years ago).  If you want any more details just ask.  I like how the solid gingham one turned out much better than the other one (sorry for the absence of actions shots, but I don't get to see Ziggy (the owner of the dresses) much).
The Paneled one (for lack of a better way of describign it). 



The Gingham one.


and the back.

So like many people I try and do my part for the environment and that means I try to avoid using wrapping paper as much as possible.  Add to that the fact that I happened to have married into a large family, and that i just happened to have 5 metres of white broad cloth left over from making a large spray painted banner for Kipling last year.  Add in some felt, some ribbon (I had to buy these but I know for a fact most people have these things on hand), some Christmas cookie cutters (as you can see the bells and angels didn't work out as well as the others), and some time at the sewing machine and voila you have gift bags. 






I made approx. 17 bags (I can't quite remember how many) in less than a day so they are quick.  I think it was cutting out the felt that took the longest.  If you had more time I think fabric paint decorations on the felt would be really nice, and if you change the shape of the felt cut outs these could work for any occasion.  Word to the wise though, you can see through a single layer of white broadcloth, so if you have snoopers around darker/thicker fabric is advised. 

Too bad I didn't post this before Christmas when it would have been more useful to everyone.