My first non-fabric pincushion. Ever since I chanced upon a couple of patterns for knitted and crocheted cupcakes, I've really wanted to make one. Since my crochet skills are pretty much nonexistent, I decided on the knitted version. As usual, I wasn't 100% content to use the pattern 'as is' and decided on a few modifications. Here's my double fudge chocolate cupcake, iced with a strawberry frosting. 
Squashed cubes...done two ways. The first one is based on a pincushion I saw on Craftster. It consists of 6 pieces of fabric (2 squares and 4 rectangles) stitched together. The first time I attempted one, I handstitched it. This time round, I used Ulla to work on it. It was tricky, but I like the result.
I figured there must be an easier way to achieve the squashed cube look without all that sewing. Hence, I made another attempt. The second pincushion consists of two squares of fabric (well, alright...the top square is actually pieced together from 4 smaller square pieces of fabric), and the four corners are stitched to form the squashed cube shape.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been taking sewing classes with Ulla. During the three hour sessions, I've learned quite a bit about her capabilities! Against my better judgement, I am posting some of the wonky samplers we worked on.
Here's the first sampler. Yep, that's my very first button hole, along with a few simple decorative stitches on the side! 
Next up, we have the ugliest deformed tee known to mankind. The purpose of this exercise was to practice making necklines and stitching on knit fabric.
Using a wing needle, we tried out a couple of decorative stitches. 
For the next set of decorative stitches, we used a twin needle!
After the instructor was somewhat convinced that we had a basic understanding of our machines, we were allowed to work on our first project. When I saw a sample of what we were supposed to sew, I was dumbfounded. WTF?!? We had to work on pintucks (which was a PITA).
Here's a close-up of the pintucks! 
There you have it. The completed project is supposed to be a baby bonnet. Yeah, right. I can't think of any baby I'd like to torture with that awful bonnet.
TF sent me some fabulous beaded jewelry in a cute organza pouch, Milo and Tim Tams *faints* Here's the whole package of goodies: 
I'm just about dying to get a taste of the Tim Tams! In additional to the original that I grew up on, she also included a package of Dangerous Liasons Black Forest Fantasy Tim Tams. Oy vey. Darn this detox diet!!! The blue dangly earrings are perfect! They match one of the new tops I just purchased last week! The earring and necklace set is lovely, and I can't wait to wear it to work! 
I love personal swaps!!!
A simple tweed lace project from knitty.com! Click here for the pattern! I've been working on this for ages (well, I am easily distracted and there were a couple of pantas that needed to be knitted along the way) so I'm chuffed that it's finally completed!!! The finished dimensions are about 24" by 76" and it's oh so soft. 
