Crochet Hot Pad Finishes

So, with my move my kids became car riders to and from school instead of bus riders. The pickup line is long and not my favorite. To pass the time I started doing crochet hot pads in the car. They are so forgiving as I don't have to remember a pattern or what round I'm on. These were on my Q2FAL list so I could finish up the six balls I had. Well, I did way more than six! Take a peek...

A little car crochet. I have a project bag that I grab on my way out and can do several rounds a day as I wait in line. That really adds up!

I have finished these 14 hot pads in less than two months. I only work on them in pickup lines and while watching shows with my family. I planned on giving them as teacher gifts but now I have too many so I think I'll also give them to family as we go on our big trip this Summer.

I love seeing and working with all this fun color! You can buy these in little balls or giant cones. Each ball makes one hot pad. I came up with the tutorial on my own after looking at a friend's hot pad. You can find my hot pad tutorial here.

Here's a little sneak peek shot for next week. I am nearly done quilting this one and just have to finish and poke on some binding. I hope to be able to share it next week.

That's me for the week. Thanks for stopping by! If you'd like to keep up with me more find me on Instagram @julieschloemer where I post nearly every day. Until then I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday.

Many Small Finishes

It was another one of those weeks where I finished up a lot of small things instead of a big one. Some of these I finished last week but forgot to share. Recently I made - three hats, a cowl, a mini, and a drawstring bag. Score!

This is the Jul Hat I finished. I love it so much! It is perfect for St. Patrick's Day and I wore it yesterday. This is the second Jul Hat I've made you can see them both in the bottom right. I wanted this one to be a bit bigger and love how it turned out.

I made these sweet little hats for a swap partner who is having twins. I wanted them to be gender neutral and I just adore the pompoms on top! I used the pictured Clover Pompom maker and I just love this little contraption!

I also made another Jasmine Cowl. I love how quick and easy these are and how it shows off the kettle dyed yarn. It's so pretty!!

I'm in a swap that was all about the Elizabeth Hartman patterns. I chose to make two Fancy Fox blocks and two Hazel Hedgehog blocks. I love how it turned out and how it looks all done in Tula Pink fabric. This one finished out about 20" square.

I really love the quilting on this one!! I went with free-motion paisleys again. It had become my favorite motif. I also love how this mini was 100% stash!

The same partner in that swap also love the "Frankenhazel" that someone else made. I recreated it and made it into a drawstring bag. It is so fun! This project was also 100% stash.

I also wrapped up the Rainbow Mini swap this week. This is the amazing package I received. I super love everything, especially the mini. Alison Glass is one of my favorites and this pattern and quilting are perfection. I totally scored!

This is what I sent out to my partner. She mentioned she liked Tula Pink and many of her mosaic pictures were of simple quilts that showed off the fabric. She loved it and I sure had fun making it.

Thanks for stopping by! We close on our house next week so I'll be doing a lot of painting in the near future but I did have a few things I have to finish up first. I hope to get it all done and then service my machine when I'll be too busy to sew with it anyway. Until then I'm linking up with TGIFF and Finish It Up Friday.

Nesting Buckets and Crochet Donkey Finishes

I finished up several little things this week as well as a quilt top. I wasn't feeling particularly productive so working on little things really helped keep me motivated and on task. I finished my nesting buckets which is #5 on my Q1FAL list. Here are my projects...

Here are the Nesting Buckets from the top. This pattern is by Svetlana Sotak and is so fun and easy!

Here they are together. I love them!! These were 100% stash from the Knuffle Bunny fabric I had leftover from making a lap quilt for my smallest. They'll be a cute addition to her room to control her toys.

Here she is with her collection of Knuffle Bunny awesomeness. She's so cute!

This week I also finished a custom order for a crochet donkey. I love how it turned out. The process was a bit tricky but a fun change from my usual hats and quilts.

Here's a side view of the donkey. I really like the hairdo and tail. I was worried they would be so tricky but they weren't! You can find the Simply Cute Donkey pattern here.

I also was able to finish up with twin-size Primrose quilt with Miss Kate fabric by Bonnie and Camille. This project was also 100% stash. The pattern is from my favorite quilt book, Fat Quarter Style. I've made two projects from this book and have fabric for three more!

 That's me for the week. Thanks for stopping by! I hope to baste and start quilting (maybe even finish) the flower quilt this week. I might sneak in a shirt or two for me as well. Until then I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

2015 Year in Review

I'm so excited about this post as I have so much awesomeness to share!! I have broken down all of my finishes from the year into categories and made mosaics for your viewing pleasure. ;) I am just amazed at how much I finished. Figuring it out I completed something - from a small simple pouch to a quilt - about every two days!! However, I finished one more thing after I made my mosaics so it will be listed separately. Also, I finished all twelve months of goals for ALYoF! Hurray for productivity!!

First my ALYoF Goals. I finished all twelve months and they are in order here. You can see all the finish and goal posts here. I'm sad to here that ALYoF is going away but I sure love what it has done for my productivity the last few years.

Speaking of productivity I finished up this mini last night!! This is #9 on my Q4 FAL list. It didn't make it into the mini mosaic below. I tried doing free motion paisley quilting again and I love it! I think I'm really getting the hang of it now.

Here are the rest of my minis and pillows for the year. Counting the one above there are 21 minis I finished this year. Seven of them were for swaps and the others were gifts or for our home.

I finished nine quilts this year including the whole-cloth Knuffle Bunny quilt I made this month for my daughter. I tried some new quilting motifs with many of these and love how I'm branching out this year.

I helped each of my three oldest kids make themselves a quilt this year too! They pieced them together and I quilted and bound them. We all feel so proud of our accomplishments here and it's probably my favorite group of finishes.

I made 42 bags and pouches this year!! Crazy! A few of these were fairly simple but many were more complex. That's a lot of zippers!

I fell in love with the Fancy Sailor Top this year and that led to more confidence in garment sewing. I made seven sailor tops and eleven pieces all together.

These random little projects were hard to classify so they got a category all their own. There are 22 projects here from pillow cases to pin cushions and stroller makeovers. I got out of my comfort zone here too trying new things all over the place like 3D sewing and rope bowls.

I also advanced like crazy in my knitting skills. Since learning to knit in October 2014 I have been driving to learn and grow. I completed 19 knitting projects this year and taught myself how to cable and do color work including some pretty fun fair isle hats. I found a quick and easy favorite in the Cowl and made 10 this year for gifts.

Since I have an Etsy Shop where I sell crochet hats it's not surprise I have a lot of finishes here. I don't think this is all of them but it is all I could find pictures of. There are 37 projects here from tiny newborn hats to adult hats and even a crochet blanket. The crab hat is my most popular by far.

That's my year! Wow! I feel crazy productive! 29 of these projects were made mostly if not all from my stash. That's 164 projects completed in all! That's a project finished every 2.23 days. Thanks for being a part of it and I look forward to another awesome and productive year! Thanks for stopping by and keeping up with me!

Knuffle Bunny and Crab Hat Finishes

I finished up a couple of quick things this week. During Black Friday I went to Fat Quarter Shop and picked up some Knuffle Bunny fabric. It came the next Friday and I finished it by Monday afternoon. My smallest one and I are pretty excited about this one. I also got another order for an adult-sized crab hat. LOVE! First, the quilt...

These prints are Knuffle Bunny from Cloud9 Fabrics. I had a really hard time narrowing down which prints to choose. I wanted this to be a quick and easy whole cloth quilt. I enlisted my Mo Willems obsessed two year-old to help me pick and these are the ones we ended up with.

My littlest one was so excited to match up the fabric with this page in her book. She kept dancing around on my fabric while singing an usual song consisting of the word, "match!"

Since all I had to do was baste, quilt, and bind this went super quickly! I got the fabric on Friday and finished Monday.

I really love both of these prints and the binding is so fun! I love a pop of color or interest on the bindings. You can see I did my regular zigzag method for the binding stitch. I love this because it makes them so sturdy, especially on quilts that I know will be loved and used by my small people.

Here's my smallest, the one this quilt was made for, all ready to read. Ruby just loves this book and having a quilt to match is perfect!

At 40" by 60" this is a great child or lap size quilt and I hope it will be cherished for years to come.

Also this week I made this adult crab hat. You can find this, and many other styles newborn to adult, for sale in my Etsy Shop. This is by far my most popular hat and I just love it still! It cracks me up and I'm getting so fast at whipping them out.

 That's it for me this week. Thanks for stopping by! I hope to have several mini quilts and maybe a cable knit hat to share next week. Until then I'm linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Bags and Hats

I stepped out of my comfort zone a little this week and I'm so glad I did! Stretching myself earned me some amazing finishes and a great sense of accomplishment. One of them also marked something off my Q4 FAL list but first the crown jewel of the week...

Isn't it stunning! This is the Geometric Quilted Tote by Vanessa from V. and Co. The fabric is two ombre prints, also by her, and a solid white. This bag is actually at Market right now and I feel so special that Vanessa asked me to make one for her to show. It was fun to make and I highly recommend the pattern. Isn't it classy?

The inside is also done in ombre and I added a fun pop of color with the zip. I had the hardest time picking a color because they would have all been fun. Also, the leather handles are a dream and were so nice to work with. I had never done leather before so I felt quite intimidated by the task. It turned out to be easier than expected and it really adds to the bag.

Fresh off the victory of the above bag and leather handles I decided to do a leather accent foldover clutch. This was for my Around the World Craft swap and is #5 on my Q4 FAL list. My partner loves Australia and asked for something sewn because she's new at it and can't make things herself. I had so much fun with this and again, while new to me, the leather wasn't as difficult as I assumed it would be.

This was the package I sent off to my partner. It was lighter on extras than I usually do but the two homemade projects were either expensive or time consuming so I hope she doesn't mind. Extras weren't required so it's just a fun bonus anyway.

In other news I've been getting such fun orders from my shop lately! For a while there I just made crab after crab and it was a fun change to get something else. I'm just in love with this Cabbage Patch Kid inspired hat. Isn't it adorable on?! I had one of these in a smaller size for this sweet girl and I may need to make one for her again. You can get one at my shop!

I think adult hat orders are always fun. I try to imagine the fun people who order them and where they'll wear them. The top is a sheep hat and it is so adorable from newborn all the way to adult. The gray and pink variation was a fun change from the usual white. The bottom is a Gingerbread Woman. I so love these! Especially in toddler size. Check out my shop for more pics.

Last but not least I also received an order for a newborn apple hat. This was a fun and fast finish and it is going to be so adorable on this teacher's new baby!

That's all for this week! It's been fun and productive. Definitely getting out of my comfort zone and ruts with things! Next week look for some table runners and hopefully a Halloween Quilt or Pillow. For now I'm linking up with Finish it up Friday.

Yarn and Back to the Future Finishes

I am so happy with all I have been able to accomplish this week! Most of it has involved yarn in one form or another. My two year-old has been less than cooperative of late with me sewing. She loves it when I knit or crochet next to her though. I've been keeping up well with shop sales, swaps, and even made something for myself. We'll start with the thing for me since it's also #7 on my Q4FAL list.

Another cowl for me. This #7 on my Q4 FAL list and I'm so happy with it! I have several cowls now but it gets so cold her in Iowa I'm sure I'll use them. I had this one on as I ran around town today and it was so nice!

This is better light for that yarn I used. Isn't it amazing?! It's from Knit Collage and called Pixie Dust. The pattern used US 19 needles so needless to say it went very quickly.

I've also been having fun keeping up with my Etsy Shop orders. As you can see, all crab hats! It is my most popular hat by far and there is still time to order one like it, or any other design, in time for Halloween.

My last finish for the week is my Back to the Future swap package. I had so much fun making this one and even more fun hunting out the extras. At the bottom of the picture are a tiny Hover Board and cute little earrings. I can't wait for my partner to get them!

That's me for the week! Next week I'm going to have two awesome bags to show off and maybe another hat or two. Until then I'm linking up with TGIFF and Finish it up Friday! Thanks for stopping by!

Mini House and Crochet Hat Finishes

I am amazed at what I accomplished this week. I made four crochet hats and finished off my Mini House quilt for a swap. I also nearly finished three Sailor Tops from Fancy Tiger Crafts. I love them all and enjoyed crossing things off my Q3 FAL list and adding new items to my Etsy shop. Let's start with the mini...

I am so happy with how this turned out! This crosses off #5 from my Q3 FAL list. It's so much better than I thought it would be. Some of my low volume background isn't as low volume as other things but I love it anyway. I enjoyed the process with this one even though those houses were not quick.

Check out this adorable print for the back! When I saw it I knew it would be perfect for this swap. I got some for the back not even knowing what the front of the mini would look like.

Here's a peek at the quilting. It was a teaser for my partner. these are 1/4" ish lines and were pretty fast even though I ended up having to do almost one hundred of them.

At the risk of getting into overshare territory here is my favorite block. I love everything about this one.

This tag from yardage by Sweetwater for Moda was pretty perfect for the back of this mini.

Moving onto the hats. !!! I can't believe the cuteness of this Hippo hat! You can find it listed in my shop here.

Here it is off a person. Wouldn't this be adorable paired with a Sandra Boynton book as a present? I'm also really liking these colors for it but it would be adorable in grays or blues too for a boy.

This was a custom order Sleepy Owl hat from my shop. The customer wanted it in all white except the lashes and the beak. My usual beak color looks pretty bold but the gray I had just didn't look right. It was so different from the colorful owls I usually make and a fun change.

This crab hat is by far my most popular hat. I just love it in all the sizes. It's adorable for a baby and just hilarious for an adult. This baby size is a result of an order from my shop.

In an effort to refresh my shop selection I also added this new hat pattern. This Monster hat was so fun to make and I'm sure will make a great addition to my shop.

That's me for the week! Thanks for stopping by! I was hoping to get my tops finished so I delayed my post but it's not happening. Got to save something for next week, right? Until then I'm linking up with TGIFF and Finish It Up Friday.