Recent crafting

Okay, still trying to get all caught up on my pictures and working long hours and watching Deadwood... But I'm close. I have some more crafting that I'm finishing and giving away tonight, and tonight is a Lady Scouts with a very special, fun project, so I should have pictures of all of that next week, but this is pretty close to where I'm at right now. 

My friend JJ just moved into a new place (congrats, Jage!) to go with her new job. She is quite the cook, so what better housewarming gift than some oven mitts? With whales, which she loves? These were made following Denyse Schmidt's pattern in her book Denyse Schmidt Quilts. She only calls for quilt batting and uses cotton canvas for a lining. I changed that up by using Insul-Bright AND Warm & Natural in the middle and only some muslin for lining. I hope she doesn't burn her hands!

This whale was my own design. Cute, no?

My assistant just had a birthday over the weekend and I wanted to do something nice for her because she's fabulous. I was going to make her an apron, but when I found this cute gingham one at Target, I couldn't resist. It was a little plain, though, so I added this cute cherries felt and ribbon applique. Perfect! 

But the apron wasn't enough (she's awesome!), so I also made her this big stuffed lizard from Let's Make Cute Stuff!: Cute Dolls. She really liked the Cute Book lizard (which I made her for Christmas), so I figured why not make another one? The gingham bow adds a lot to the wonky cute quotient (I'm still having trouble with knits, but holding off on the new Built by Wendy book for now). 

So, that's pretty close to where I'm at crafting-wise now. I'm checking out a bunch of new blogs to possibly add to the links on the right, but one that I'm adding right now is label-free. It is new but already SO great! Check it out. I'm also adding this Flickr album that I am obsessed with: the sewing tattoo pool. I am getting antsy for my next tattoo but just can't figure out where to put it. Stay tuned...