My crocheted flip flop shoes were really boring until I remembered it was nearly Shark Week, so why not add a few sharks to liven them up? They aren't exactly the most fierce looking fish (more like Jabber Jaws) but my philosophy is always use googly eyes where googly eyes can be used. 

My cousin asked if I could make her a gathering apron to hold the veggies she collects from her garden. I found a pattern from 1944 to use as a guideline and free-handed the pattern shape onto a large sheet of paper. It is basically a double sided apron with a casing sewn along the curved edges, with shoelaces threaded through the casing. You pull on the shoelace ends to gather the apron into a pocket shape and then you have a place to hold your harvest! The only fabric in the stash that seemed farm-y enough was red with white polka dots, so I gave the top a few leaves and made a giant strawberry apron.



What it looks like ungathered:

Have a fun and safe Fourth of July, and for those of you that are outside the U.S. please enjoy a few pictures of Chaircat Mao.

I found myself with nothing to do, so why not make a crochet hook roll? This is a tutorial for a very simple one, nothing fancy here, but it keeps hooks and extra necessities neat and tidy.



This pattern will accommodate the ergonomic hooks with the squishy handles (I own one, but sized the pockets to fit this width since I plan on eventually purchasing more). Knitting needles also fit nicely, as do Tunisian hooks and long afghan knitting needles. The large pocket on the left will also hold DPN sets that are kept in the original packaging so you know what's what. Let's do this!

Materials:

1/2 Yard Print Fabric (it shall be mentioned as "patterned piece" henceforth)
1/2 Yard Solid Fabric (or whatever you choose. a.k.a. "pocket pieces")
1 Package Double Fold Bias Tape
1/2 Yard Wool Felt/Wool Blend Felt or Flannel fabric (I've used both and they work equally well)
Cute Matryoshka Doll Measuring Cup, 1/2 cup size (or just anything you can trace around to make rounded corners but those things are pretty adorable)
Large sheet of paper for drawing out pattern

On paper, make an 18.5" x 13.5" rectangle. Use adorable matryoshka measuring cup to round corners. Cut out. Measure 9" from bottom of rectangle and mark across. Measure 5" from bottom and mark across. Those measurements will be for the two sets of pockets.



Place pattern on double thickness of your patterned fabric and cut out. Place pattern on felt and cut that out, too. I have cut out those pieces in the pic above.

Fold the pocket fabric in half, place the pattern piece with the 9" mark along fold, then trace around pattern. Cut out. Repeat for 5" pattern piece.



Sew a length of bias tape along folded edge of both pocket pieces. This is optional, I don't know why I did it. So now you have (2) patterned pieces, (1) felt/flannel piece, (1) 9" pocket piece, and (1) 5" pocket piece.



Align the pocket pieces with the bottom raw edges matching and mark the spaces for hook/needle pockets with chalk. I began marking 1 1/2" intervals from the right to left, leaving a 4" section for DPN sets or scissors, etc. This proved faulty shortly after stitching because I realized I had neglected to add the 1/4" seam allowance. The very first measurement should be 1 3/4" then 1 1/2" afterward. Oh well, it made a dinky pocket that still works.   Sew along chalked lines.



Now we'll make the ties. Sew along the open end of remaining bias tape and cut into two equal lengths.  Mine are 28" long each. Baste bias tape tie on side, 9 1/2" from bottom edge. Repeat for other tie. I lazied my way through it and placed the pockets on top of the patterned piece and the basted the ties above the pockets. It is roughly 9 1/2". And also on the right side of the fabric.



Whew. Stand back and look at that progress. Looking good! On to sewing all these pieces together. First, place pocket pieces on top of a patterned piece (the one with the ties). Right side up! Match all the raw edges! Place second patterned piece wrong side up on top. Finally, place felt/flannel piece on top of that, aligning edges. Sew around, using a 1/4" seam allowance. and leaving a gap for turning.



Turn right side out and use a knitting needle to poke out the corners. (A wand works better, but Muggles may not have one of those).



Tuck in the gap and sew around the perimeter, close to the edge. All done!

Here's a Halloweenie little chaise I made using a chipboard kit from Alpha Stamps. It is 1:12 scale, so pretty small, and I had just enough of a scrap of tiny owl fabric to upholster it.



To add the padding and upholstery, I traced around the chipboard pieces from the kit onto cardboard, cut them a tad smaller, then used those pieces as templates to cut out batting and polyfil stuffing. The batting was glued to the cardboard and the polyfil stuffing was placed on top, making a weird sandwich. The sandwich was turned over and placed on top of the owl fabric, and I glued the edges of the fabric to the back of the cardboard.







All of the upholstered pieces were glued onto the chaise and the little gap along the edges was covered with embroidery floss trim. So easy!



So just how big is this thing? Not very, that's how big.

Chair is sporting a new style this summer- pigtails!



She took a catnap during the photo sesh:



And wasn't particularly thrilled when I nudged her awake:



Her sunshine hat was a flop.

I've just discovered my new favorite quickie craft- articulated mermaid dolls! Alpha Stamps carries a chipboard mermaid doll that can be decorated as simply or ornately as you want, and having the base shape with pre-made holes makes it incredibly easy. All you really need to do is cut out a head and cover the rest with whatever papers you like! I painted parts of my dolls and used papers and collage sheets for clothes and tails, then added bits of fabric and crepe paper.

Naturally, the thought of Ariel the mermaid princess came to mind, but I envisioned her during her unknown goth stage.





Because these dolls can be constructed in a short amount of time, I made Ariel's sister.





It would be fun to have about eight more!

Here is a little embroidery for bunny1kenobi in the Random Fandoms Swap. It was an interesting idea to combine two or more of your partner's fandoms into one item; there have been some amazing things posted in the gallery! bunny1kenobi had both Warehouse 13 (man, I miss that show!) and Eric Scott Fischl's book, Dr. Potter's Medicine Show, listed as favorites, so it made sense to stick a bottle of Chock-a-saw Sagwa Tonic in a purple gloved hand, thus successfully combining the two fandoms in a semi cohesive way. I think. The embroidery hoop is an old vintage metal one that has been hanging around and it worked well for the theme.



It was nearly impossible to stitch the lettering on the bottle...I had to close one eye and squint.

I've rounded up a few projects to entertain the kids all summer long.

craftylittlemonkey has crocheted an entire garden for her kids, not to mention a burger and pizza!



How about a checkers set to keep them busy? h_pets360 made a great set for her sister, and added a tutorial on page two so you can make your own.



Or get outdoors and fling a fruity frisbee! cmarion3's soft flying discs can be stuffed in a pocket and taken anywhere.



If you get tired of frisbee, there's always a good ole game of Toss the Bob-omb!! (That's not really a thing, but it could be if you use the tute BunnieBard shared and you made up some rules like for Hot Potato.) It is actually a really cool bag, so there could be prize inside for the winner.



Feeling ambitious? Why not crochet an entire set of Angry Birds like lym81? That's impressive!



You can use these ideas to keep those kids happy or use the tag summer_crafts for more inspiration. Happy summer to you!

Alpha Stamps has a teensy 2 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" tall table kit that I had to have because it is a good place to put lots of teensy things.



And then I made a doctor's bag to go with the table and made bitty bits to go inside. The syringes are made from a ball end head pin, thin wire, and a glass bugle bead. The scalpel is a half scale metal knife that I trimmed and filed.





Plus a little shelf with lots of little things.





Then all of that went in a 3 1/4" x 4 3/4" framed shadowbox.



All for no reason whatsoever!