My local yarn store sure knows how to make a sale. They sent out birthday coupons for 20% off yarn purchases. Sucker that I am, I brought home a wee bit of yarn to play with. For whatever reason, this time round, I seem to be drawn to yarns by the Plymouth Yarn Company. I adore their Happy Feet sock yarns! I know I'm supposed to be in destash mode. But, but, but...I've already used one of the skeins I bought for a project!
Something (10 of 50) for the nephew...who is incredibly difficult to craft for and loves sushi. Found this pattern and thought it was rather clever! Hopefully, he'll see the humour in this!
All the bits and pieces of the fishy...
Aw, cute fish!
Oh no, it's now sushi?!?
And here's a little something (9 of 50) I whipped up for the girly girl niece. I've been saving cute scraps of fabric and the tiny bits were perfect for covering metal buttons! I did have a helluva time removing the metal shanks attached to the button. If I make another batch, I'm buying the button kits with flat backs! 
I've been crafting in my mind...envisioning what I need to do to make an awesome mug rug (8 of 50) for my swap partner. After reviewing her answers to my questions (more than twice, I might add), here's what I came up with. Gnome...check. Colour match to kitchen decor (since she indicated that mug rug will actually serve as a coffee press rug)...check. Requested size of not to exceed 7" square...check.
Embroidery WIP
Embroidered gnome
As I was embroidering the gnome, this was the story in the back of my mind...
Larry is your average variety garden gnome. It has been rumored that he is a charity shop rescue, but he insists that he hails from Target (or was it Wal-Mart?). He is not happy with life in the chilly northwest. “Ah the cold weather is making me miserable,” he moaned. “There are icicles in my beard and my nose is redder than Rudolph’s!” The harsh winter conditions have taken a toll on his usually sunny disposition. Larry has decided that it is time to make a few changes in his life. He will be a garden gnome…no more! His plan is to spend the rest of his life, snuggled under the warmth of a coffee press (or teapot if it comes to that). He does not mind being squished…not if it means moving down south for good!
Front view
Close-up
Back view
The sewing bit for the mug rug was a breeze (what can I say...I love to sew!) but the embroidery bit was less fun. I kept things simple...but sometimes, simple is good. I hope my partner likes it!
Here are a couple of practice mug rugs (7 of 50) that I made recently. The mug rug with the pink binding is a scrappy selvedge piece (I've been wanting to work with selvedges for the longest time!) and the other mug rug is a collection of some of my favourite fabrics in green hues.
I like to think of them as mini quilts...because let's face it, I'm probably never gonna complete a full-size quilt in this lifetime. Here's the equation I'm talkin' about:
Large project + Short attention span = Dusty abandoned WIP
But I digress. What exactly are mug rugs? Essentially, they're glorified coasters, and size-wise, they're bigger than conventional coasters (big enough to serve as a mini placemat for a cuppa tea and a biscuit). The approximate measurements for my mug rugs are 6" by 8". So how well do these work? It looks just about right for a normal size mug, but I might have to make larger ones for monster mugs (i.e. my favourite mug, aka the soup mug)! 
I have one more to crank out for a mug rug swap. And these two mug rugs are leaving my craftroom soon. One will find a warm and cosy abode down south, and the other will be headed north (hopefully warmed by toasty mugs of tea).
Fingerless mitts (6 of 50) made with this pattern for my sis! During the last trip out West, we visited an awesomely huge local yarn store (aptly named Yarn Garden). My sis is not one who wanders into a yarn store on any given day, so it was lovely watching her paw through various shelves of yarn. Knitting is a tactile craft...and much pleasure is derived from selecting a favoured yarn for a project. While I was on a mission to find some cute sock yarns, my sis selected a skein of Classic Elite Inca Alpaca in the Morning Glory colourway for me to play with. 
The yarn was wonderful to work with but it's probably not the best yarn for cable work. The finished mitts lack stitch definition but they are oh-so-soft!
I had fun knitting them for her, and I really hope she enjoys using her new mitts!
In keeping with resolution #4, I joined a notecards swap because I figured I needed the extra nudge to get started on making a bunch of handmade cards (5 of 50) to send out. After cranking out about 25 of these (18 of which have been sent out partners in my swap group), I am excited to make more notecards!
Sample set of what I sent to my partners:
Close-ups of a few of my favourite cards:
Using this nifty little template by Rachel, I constructed a couple of matchboxes (4 of 50) for the fill-a-matchbox swap!
A dear friend, LV, is having a baby girl! In addition to stopping by the shops to pick up a gift card, I decided to knit a couple of tiny goodies for Baby K.!
A wee berry baby hat (1 of 50) which took less than 3 hours to knit while watching a couple of movies:
And since we're talking about a baby girl here, a couple of pairs of shoes! This makes perfect sense because Baby K.'s mama is a shoe aficionado!
Baby Janes (2 of 50) in a charcoal colourway,
and a pair of ruby red feeties (3 of 50) to wear around the house!
Once a year, when I head west to visit my folks, I splurge on craft supplies (typical, when one is away from home, no?). This year, in addition to my usual haunts, I also checked out SCRAP, a store which sells all kinds of junk suited for crafts. 
In addition to interesting bits of scrap materials, I also found some fabric at this place. Amazing! 
And some squishy goodes from Yarn Garden. I was mostly interested in sock yarns (since I have high hopes of knitting socks in 2011), but a skein of baby alpaca somehow made it into my basket (sis selected it for a specific project which I need to get started on)!
And fabric from Craft Warehouse and Fabric Depot. Lots of yummy fabrics were fondled at these places...but I only brought home, ahem, a few that I absolutely had to have.
And of course, some books for inspiration from Kinokuniya and JoAnn's. I've been searching for that house patchwork book for ages, and I was really pleased to find a copy of it! And since learning to draw is one of my goals for 2011, voila, I found a book to help me out with that goal. The sewing calendar, I'm not too keen on *sigh* The projects in it (yes, I already looked at all the projects) aren't all that exciting. Bummer.
And these two sets of clear stamps that I picked up while waiting to pay for my purchases...
Yep, it's safe to say that I should be good to craft in 2011!
After catching up on some much needed sleep upon my return from my holiday travels, I realized that I haven't made any crafty resolutions for 2011. Gah. Took a peak at 2010's resolutions and realised that I'm rubbish at keeping resolutions (what destashing? 36 finished projects? etc, etc, etc.?). Nevertheless, fool that I am, here I go again...with my list of craft-related goals for 2011 (in no particular order).
#1 D-E-S-T-A-S-H. Seriously. Or at the very least make a concerted effort to work off my stash as opposed to buying more craft supplies to play with!
#2 Knit a few pairs of socks. Heh...easier said than done *sigh*
#3 Make a better attempt at completing 50 unique proejcts in 2011.
#4 Send out handcrafted notecards, birthday cards, etc. No more taking the easy route with Hallmark cards.
#5 Try at least 3 new crafts (weaving comes to mind, and a couple other crafts that have yet to be determined).
#6 Find another charity to craft for.
#7 Start cooking again. Yes, cooking's a craft!
#8 Work on a bunch of Ho-Ho-Ho crafts for a certain special relative who shall not be named.
#9 Learn how to draw.