That garland is darling! And I really need to look into getting a cricket after seeing all the amazing projects people are posting here... 

Class/Challenge: Floo Powder - The Night Circus
House: Ravenclaw
Project Name: Baklava Cake (based on Hungry Rabbit recipe)
Brief Description: What's dreamier than a cake made of baklava? I'd had the Hungry Rabbit cake pinned for AGES and finally had an opportunity to make it. I don't bake often so this was lots of fun! The recipe for the pistachio cake layers was really different than anything I've done before, so to balance that I used my usual recipe for the baklava layers, made into 2 round cake pans. (I was worried about getting the baklava out, but flipping them over and taking a blowtorch to the back of the pans made it super easy!)
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Class/Challenge: Care of Magical Creatures
House: Ravenclaw
Project Name & Page Link: Steampunk Clutch
Brief Description: A slightly-steampunk-slightly-hufflepuff clutch made for the Make a Friend Swap! This took quite a bit of care and lots of piercing with a special leather needle.
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Class/Challenge: Alchemy
House: Ravenclaw
Project Name & Page Link: Golden Snitch Collapsible Tote Bag
Brief Description: Two bandanas became a collapsible golden snitch tote bag for the same swap!
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This was one of the items I crafted for seeuudee in the Make-a-Friend swap. I had the basic idea to do a small bag for my fellow bag-obsessed partner and tried to include elements from a few of her likes. The result is a little bit steampunk, a little bit Newt Scamander/Hufflepuff, but hopefully still versatile enough to not stand out too much! I think my favorite thing besides the monogram (loosely based on Newt's with her initials overlapping) is the belt loops on the back  - which I've been seeing on more bags lately and thought was fun and steampunk utility-belt friendly. All of the fabric and thread was in my stash; the only things I had to buy were some of the findings and leather needles for my machine.



using the belt loops!



And thank you PerfectlyBohemian for some almost-finished progress photos that actually show all the angles :










Thanks for looking!

Made for the Make-a-Friend swap and inspired by those collapsible grocery bags - I had this stretchy gold fabric in my stash and thought a little snitch keychain bag would be fun! Fortunately/unfortunately, I found these amazing Marauder's Map bandanas that I really wanted to use, so this ended up a bit larger than originally intended  The wings are satin fused to white glitter felt for a bit of stability.









Thanks for looking!

I received from seeuudee last night! My baby and I tore into it (baby slightly more literally, tearing paper is a favorite) and oh. my. goodness. I cannot believe how wonderful everything is!

The wrapped goods! Plus a lovely card, a sturdy but pretty bookmark, and yummy squishy candy that smells like childhood (the front flavor is bubblegum and lives up perfectly!)

First up, because the baby was tearing at this package as I was reading the card, is the amazing thing made for her:


A busy blanket with every conceivable bauble and trim and fabric texture, with lots of buttons and snaps an overall clip and zipper (with cute tiny shapes hidden inside!). The sheer amount of detail in this is just astounding. It's already well loved and there was a mild struggle to pull it out of the chubby hands for a quick picture, and this will definitely grow with her! (chubby hands for scale)


As if that wasn't already well and above, the next package was this stunning gem:


Love. Love. Love. Tiny meticulous quilting, butterfly, corduroy (with details from the actual pair of corduroys used!), and absolutely perfect colors. Oh, and did I mention it's a perfect sized storage cube? (cue staging with the closest things, which of course are baby toys and books these days):


But wait. There's yet.another! This one has handles, and eyelet lace detail in the quilting:


And side pockets, and beautiful stitching on every surface inside and out.


And because this package wasn't already super over the top, some fun extras!


I am in awe. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was definitely intimidating in this swap to be crafting for a master, and while I still don't feel worthy I am so thrilled to have these wonderful pieces to aspire to

Class/Challenge: Floo Powder Challenge - Kowalski's Bakery
SPEW: made for hungry programmers at spouse's work if that counts
House: Ravenclaw
Brief Description: My go-to banana bread! I don't bake very often, but when I do this is one of my favorites just because of how good the house smells. This was a double-batch after having bought way too many bananas for a picnic a couple of weeks ago. This is the recipe I use.
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Class/Challenge: Arthmancy
House: Ravenclaw
Brief Description: Just another dinner recipe that's been on my list to try - "gyoza meatballs" are supposed to be like potstickers without all the work or extra calories of wrappers I left out the bamboo shoots and used the modification of 1lb of ground meat vs. half of ground meat and shrimp. The result...the spouse asked if I made meatballs from my chicken salad (which is pretty plain and definitely not asian-inspired). So not quite what I was hoping for, but good enough with some cauliflower fried rice and plenty of coconut aminos and chili garlic sauce
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[Tell me about one of your absolute favorite projects that you ever made. Share pictures if you'd like.]

Tell me about one of your absolute favorite projects that you ever made. Share pictures if you'd like.

That's a tough one and will probably change with my mood! But right now as my baby gets bigger I'm reminiscing about the pirate-themed quiet book I made for my niece and nephew when they were much younger. Specifically the finger puppets in the treasure hunting pages that became their favorites:



(And of course looking at photos makes me realize I'd do about 90% of things differently now!  )

Yeah, that's mine. I got in the Asheville white elephant gift exchange and believe me when I say NOBODY even dared to try and steal it away from me.

I totally would have if I didn't literally have one in progress in my lap at the time It is SO cool to see the finished piece though. Also it was so crazy that everyone pulled something that seemed to suit them!

The weekend was so fun that this is as far as I got:

I threw together some better-late-than-never easter eggs using a retro mama pattern and some scraps from my stash. The spotted one is from space sheet scraps I've been hoarding carefully saving. I added elastic loops to the blue-swirly-glitter ones and two of them have rattles I made for some other kids' toy project years ago (for maximum stash busting!).






Process picture for scale (and green tea latte):

I received a lovely package from across the pond yesterday! Teething babies wait for no one, so I snapped a couple of pictures during a hard-won nap. Edit: Added words



The loot! The bag of fudge was broken into immediately after this photo and gave me some hardcore food nostalgia. I went to college in a historic town/village in Georgia where most of the available summer jobs were at the tourist shops, and one summer I worked at the old-time candy shop. They were known for their fudge (which was like shelf stable cheesecake) and their "denture friendly" nut brittles (which I later learned was actually honeycomb with nuts), but my favorites were the caramel turtles and pralines. This fudge tastes exactly like southern pralines, minus the nuts! Or maybe pralines taste like this fudge? Which came first?



A hufflepuff pin!



Seeuude's letter is a work of art and craftsmanship in itself. It has fold-outs with more fold-outs and a pull out tag and all kinds of intricate decorations.



Some lovely shells



And last but not least - this bag made from jeans! Fully and beautifully lined in red, and a great size.



So many pockets!