Catching up

Well. That was an unexpectedly long break! A lot of stuff happened with my day job after my last post, and then was the mad dash to finish everything before the holidays, and then my parents were staying with us for a week, and then it was back to work! So, now is time to play catch-up on projects going back to November. Ugh. I'm not one to make resolutions, but I'm hoping to be better about carving out bloggy time this year.

On to the projects... This first one was a birthday gift for a coworker of mine who loves guitars. I thought it would be cool to make a soft version of one of his guitars. As with my latest tattoo, though, it couldn't be just any guitar. I was very sneaky and with the help of another coworker decided on which guitar to make: a Gretsch 6118 Double Anniversary, in Two-Tone Smoke Green. Yowza. You can see photos of my inspiration here. I think I came pretty close, no?

The guitar is made of wool felt, an upcycled linen shirt, and an upcycled (accidentally felted) buclé wool skirt, stuffed with poly-fil, and the strings were machine-stitched using metallic silver thread (left over from this project). I thought that was a pretty cool touch. My coworker loved it, and he knew exactly which guitar it was as soon as he saw it, so that was a big win for me!

This second project is another of the tiny bird in a nest (originally blogged about here). This was a housewarming gift for a friend to give to a mutual friend of ours. Bird in a nest = best housewarming gift idea ever, I think! This birdie was also well received and turned out very well, though the legs are a pain in the neck to do, and I always underestimate how many fabric strips I need for the crocheted nest.

Okay, that wraps up the pre-Christmas gifts. Next up is some decorating/Christmas crafting, and then actual Christmas gifts. And though I said I'm not one for resolutions (I'm not--I always break them), I think it would be good, in this space, to officially put out into the universe that I would really like to try to hold myself to completing one block each week for my Dear Jane quilt. If I can do that for the next three years, I will have the center squares done... Oh my, it sure is a marathon, isn't it??

**Edited to add: I saw this yesterday and think it's a fantastic idea!