Over-the-Collar Doggie Bow Tie!

Look how handsome! Alison and I each picked up a few sacks of awesome remnants for super cheap from Sew LA's booth at Renegade Craft Fair last weekend. I don't know about you, but I love random assortments of pretty things. I started rifling and sorting as soon as Jonathan and I got into the car. Isn't it cool how a particular color or texture can give you a bajillion ideas?

First up, and super early to boot, I made Egon a Halloween bow tie! It slides onto his regular collar for extra security, and so he can be fancy and carry identification at the same time. What if he were to get carded at the door of some puppy soiree?

I'll tell you how to make one for your dapper pet after the jump. It's very easy.

DIY Ruffle Sandals!

Look how fun and cute! I followed the directions at the the bottom of this post at The Mother Huddle to adapt this project to make some fun adult flip-flops. I gave the two pairs in the photo to my sister Amy for her birthday last week! I wish I'd thought of this in time for Kathy's birthday, but maybe next year? Kathy, immediately forget I said this!

Purge of the Day: Yarnstuffs

I was honest with myself about which things I was never going to use again, and those things have gone away.

My ass-kicking, name-taking friend Ali and I took a knitting class a couple years ago, during which we had to begin making a dishrag out of Sugar 'N' Cream yarn. Neither of us wanted a dishrag and we both hated working with the Sugar 'N' Cream. (It's similar in texture to string and doesn't pass over itself easily the way some other yarns do, which makes knitting with it more strenuous on the hands and wrists.) So, as of yesterday, I still had half a dishrag attached to one of my needles.

In the spirit of purging, I decided to cast my unwanted half-rag off the needle and repurpose it... into a sweater for my pencil cup!

Those pens and pencils are going to be so toasty for me when I stop procrastinating!

Comic File DIY

Looook!! Individual comic book issues are ugly on a bookshelf. Gross, even! We saw a picture on MarthaStewart.com of magazine files covered with wallpaper, so that gave us this idea:

DIY after the jump.

Quilt: FML

Oh, man. I tried to work on a quilt last week, but as it turns out, quilts are really hard to make! And to make matters worse, it was the 1970s, so I just couldn't get anything done!

Here are rows 1-2 of 12. Yes, I still have 5/6 of this behemoth left to go:

Aaaaand I finished the stand mixer cover for my mom:

It has piping and a pocket to store extra attachments! Instructions are coming your way soon. 

This week, I have more superhero DIY in store for you, as well as some... uh, never mind. You don't really want toWEDDING!!!! MORE WEDDING!!!! Have a happy Monday! 

Wedding Wednesday: Super-hero Boutonniere DIY

We asked the groomsmen, ushers, and male family members for a list of their favorite Marvel or DC heroes and/or villains about a year before the wedding and didn't tell them why. A couple of them guessed it was for table names. Very clever, but no. It was for THIS:

First three pics by Sweet Monday Photography

Yes, this totally happened!! Not going to lie! It took several months to find some of the characters, but with persistence and a bid sniper on Ebay, we prevailed!

DIY and more pics after the jump!

Yay for the long weekend!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving at the Jengs', and an exhausting Black Friday at everywhere in L.A. We did not get maced, which makes us feel both lucky and like we really weren't a part of things this year. Also, our friend Rob visited!

As you can see, there was a tragic sewing explosion, covering the apartment with fabric and various notions. As you may have also noticed in the midst of the disarray, we made a cover for Rob's Kindle!

I taught Rob how to sew! He picked it up very quickly. This Kindle cover is stuffed and has a button-and-bungee closure. Excitement! 

Now for a whole five-day week. Yikes. Good luck, everyone!

Toaster Cover DIY

Look what I made! A lovely toaster cover for my mom! Don't worry. It's not droopy or lopsided. It's standing up on its own with no support because I don’t have a toaster with the same dimensions as my mom’s. It’s definitely the right size. I checked and double checked and triple checked. Here is how I did it. 

Appliance Covers: It Begins

Guess what I did this weekend! If you guessed "something awesome," you are right, although I don't appreciate your lack of ambition. That was kind of a safe answer. I'll mark it correct, but I'm giving you the side-eye. Specifically, I started making a toaster cover and a stand mixer cover for my mom.

I warn you that I am not a professional, so you should not do/take/repeat anything I tell/give you, but tutorials are forthcoming.

Check out this awesome fabric I used for the project from PinkCastleFabrics's Etsy shop:

Also, SNEAK ATTACK! I threw something away. 

You didn't see that coming, did you? It wasn't even in the title of the post this time! Now you have no idea what I'll do next! You are undoubtedly terrified and running for cover, but it is all in vain because I have proven myself to be an unpredictable adversary. It would be best for all parties if you were to surrender now. 

These are plastic things that make video game systems stand on their sides, but they only fit flat in my TV stand, so they're going away.

With that, I wish you a happy Monday!

Purge of the Day: Streamers

Another day, another story of crafting gone awry... A couple years ago, some (dedicated and wonderful) friends and I set out to make crepe paper roses for my unfailingly awesome friend Heather's bridal shower. Little did I know, CREPE PAPER IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND ANYWHERE! 

At Long Last, Easy Knitting Tutorials!

I've always wanted to be good at knitting. I love big, fat scarves and sweaters and I've always been very jealous of people who can dream them up and make them happen. I started teaching myself how to knit from how-to books in college, but never got very far. It is very difficult to understand the diagrams in those things. I mastered basic stitches, but when I tried to do anything more complex, I'd end up with more of a knot than anything else.

I looked everywhere for a good instructional video, but was unable to find anything that was close-up or clear enough for me to follow.

I thought I found the solution a couple years ago when I took an intro knitting class with Alison at LACC. Our teacher was good, but the class was on the big side, so it took a long time for her to get around to everyone to demonstrate techniques close-up or to see if anything was going wrong. I corrected some sloppy technique issues I was having, but I didn't push further with my knowledge of knitting.

Then TODAY, look what I finally found! An amazing website with close up, easy-to-follow video instructions for knitting! I can't wait to dive back in. The kits are on the very pricey side, so that may not be happening, but I may take their cue on knitting a tie for the husband. He already has a couple mass-produced knit ties that he loves. Excitement!

Napkins for Mom

I made a set of these cute cute cute cute (oops, stuck on a loop) cute cloth napkins for my mom! These signify my first-ever attempt at attaching rickrack, so don't judge too harshly. I said, DON'T JUDGE TOO HARSHLY! Jeez. Some people.

A Bib for Miss Kron

I just made this quilted bib for little Miss Kron, who's due to join the family in December. I gave up the title of Miss Kron in July due to personal commitments. Luckily, the position won't be vacant for long, and I know the new Miss Kron will do a wonderful job. 

I can't wait for December!

Did you know this was a thing?

I'm apparently last to learn that vintage sheets are a hot collectible item. They have incredibly low resale value, but vintage shops can't keep them on the shelves. They're used for either their original purpose or in place of other fabrics in sewing because they're a lot cheaper than standard yardage. Weird, right?

I'm thinking about finding a cool vintage sheet to use as my quilt back. Drooling over some of the ones on Etsy, but actually saw one that had a big yellow stain in the middle. Wonder what that's from.

The Scourge of Europe would approve of this tote!

Or, to the uninitiated, "Look! A Muppet of that guy from Bones!"

I made this adorable tote as part of my sewing class! I made it harder on myself because I wanted it to be made out of stretch jersey and lined for added durability. Also I wanted to use fancy embellished fabric for the straps. Of course I did. Such is Molly.

In related news, the new Angel and Faith series launched last week. Yaaaaaay!!! Now I'm going to quietly file that under "things that only my husband, me, and a few other Whedon nerds care about."

Another pretty!

This woodgrain oilcloth from oilclothaddict's shop is going to be the outside of a roll-up makeup brush holder! The inside is going to be a white fabric with red roses. Happy, happy!

Pretties!!

I just ordered a great big bundle of these lovely fabrics from SewDeerlyLoved's Etsy shop. They're for my sewing class final project... a quilt! I'm practically squeaking with glee. I can't wait for them to arrive!

Clever Title about Sewing

I could call this post "Look What I Did," but how could you differentiate it from anything else on here? OMGLOOKWHATIDID!!!

I started taking a sewing class and I made this drawstring pouch. If I'd taken a picture of it holding a cartoon bag of money, you'd be able to tell what it is. Now that I mention it, I should add "cartoon bag of money cozy" to my list of upcoming projects...