Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! I first would like to wish you all a safe and happy evening. Whether you're going around the neighborhood or to a Trunk or Treat, I hope you all have a great night. I will be taking only my son out trick or treating tonight. My junior in high school wants to go around the neighborhood with her friends.... sigh. She's getting so big. My freshman has a volleyball game tonight. Why the schools scheduled a volleyball game tonight baffles me. So, my husband and I will only have our little kindergartener with us. He won't mind too much since we will be going to his best friends house to hang out and trick or treat around their neighborhood.

Ok, back to the reason for this post.

A couple of weeks ago I received a message from a customer asking if I could make her a Cabbage Patch hat. A Cabbage Patch hat? I had no idea how she wanted me to make this so, she sent me a pic of a little baby in a box that was made to look like the box an actual Cabbage Patch doll came in. Came in? Comes in? Do they still sell them?? I don't think I have seen any since I was a little girl. Well, she just sent me a picture today of her little girl in her costume with the hat I made her.

She looks just like the dolls doesn't she? Awesome job to her mom, Rena Camargo!

My first afghan...

A few WEEKS ago, March 24th to be exact, I received another special request for a chevron blanket. I never made a blanket before so I thought, why not? A bit of back and forth conversation about size and color and I was off! This baby is 72" long and 50" wide. I just finished last night but I only worked on it off and on, here and there. I think it's GORGEOUS and is VERY warm. One of the benefits about working on a blanket is you can use it to cover your legs when you're cold. ;-)

I need to hurry up and get this mailed off cause my mom is trying to keep it. :-)

Special thanks to Kat for the request!

Bumble Bee's and Flower

I received an email a couple of weeks ago from one of my customers requesting a hat that she had pictured in her head. She drew me a little drawing of what she was thinking of. I wish I could share it with you but I wouldn't want to embarrass her since she was even a little embarrassed to even send it to me. It was a cute little drawing of a hat with little flowers and little bees buzzing around. After a few emails back and forth, we decided what the hat should look like.

Then, I let the magic of my hands and brain start creating.

 

When she had showed me her drawing with bee's, I immediately thought of these button bee's I had seen at the craft store. I told her about them to be as detailed as the buttons would have been. So I made tiny little crochet bee's which I think are too cute!

 

I sent her a picture of the final product and she responded with this, "Ha! It's so cute!!" 

When she came to pick it up she said, "Oh, it's even cuter in person! I know what my baby is wearing in her newborn pictures!"

I love to see reactions like that. :-)

Special thank you to Melanie!

Pikachu Hat

I got a message from an old school mate just the other day. She told me she made a trip to San Francisco where her husband had seen a Pikachu hat that he wanted to buy. She convinced him not to buy it and then came home and wrote me a message asking if I could do it. I looked online everywhere but could not find an acceptable Pikachu pattern that I would want representing me. I admit, I started to panic a little. I searched and searched and came upon this cool looking Pikachu made by Sasophie here. I tried contacting her to see if she might have a pattern for it. She didn't. :-( So I went along and made my own. :-)

 

My inspiration was of course Sasophia's pics. I think she did an awesome job as well. 

Oh! And special thank you to Leslie for not buying the Pikachu you saw in the store and buying it handmade from me. :-)

Baptism Booties

A couple of days ago, I was browsing Pinterest like I do EVERY night. I seem to be most creative at night while lying in bed and can't actually get up and do the ideas I think of. :-/ Anyway, I was browsing pins of my friends when I came across this caption...

"Gorgeous baby booties. DREA... please make these for my niece's baby blessing next month!!!"

"Drea" is my nickname. Short for Andrea. In case anyone cares. ;-)

Of course the gears in my brain started spinning. I had a new challenge.

After a bit of thinking, a couple of trial tests, and a trip to the store.... 

the challenge was complete.

 

Baptism Booties. I think these came out absolutely gorgeously! I am very happy with the outcome. The only bad thing is the availability of the buttons. I make things when ordered so I don't keep a big stock of supplies. Even if I wanted to, there's not a lot of inventory at the store. As a result of this, the buttons will very upon availability.

Special thanks to Maele for having enough confidence in me to get this project done. :-)

No Sew Fleece Blanket

My latest obsession has been making the "No Sew Fleece Blanket" seen all over Pinterest. I had first seen these blankets at one of my daughter's volleyball games. A couple of her teammates had them. Being the hands on creative person I am, I knew I could make one of these blankets as soon as I seen it. The idea had been in my mind for a couple of weeks and I also seen a pin on Pinterest about making one. I had clicked it and gave it a quick skim. I mistakenly did not pin it. Oops.

A few days later, I made a trip to Joann's craft store with my mom to buy some yarn. I thought I'd take a look around in the fabric section. There it was. THE volleyball pattern I had seen my daughter's teammates with. 

Challenge accepted. 

I came home and whipped it up in about an hour. I was so excited about it that I forgot to take pictures. Good thing I have TWO daughter's cause I went back a few days later to make another blanket for my oldest.

Here's what I did-

I bought1 1 1/2 yards each of a fleece pattern and a coordinating color and a nifty new pair of fabric scissors.

Next, I laid both colors one on top of the other and cut off any excess fabric and the border.

I then found the center of a side and made about a 4 inch slit.

Then, I started making about 1 inch wide cuts down the whole left side of the slit. I've seen some people using rulers to make more uniformed cuts but if you want to live dangerously like me, just eyeball it. That's what I did. 

When I got to the corner, I cut off about 3 little flaps making a square of empty space.

Finally, I just began tying knots all the way across to the middle.

Continue cutting and tying the other half of the side and all around the blanket and you're done!

SUPER EASY!

Here's a pic of the first blanket I made with the volleyball pattern.

Have fun and don't be afraid to try it! :-)

R2D2 Hat

A long time ago, in a glaxay far, far away......

I received an email from a wonderful customer requesting a new hat that I have not made before, R2D2. She sent me a picture of what she wanted but asked if I could make it in a newborn size. After looking online at many ideas, I finished it.

I wonder what super cool baby she wants this for? I'll have to ask her. :-)

Don't forget to like me on facebook, Nicole Ann Designz

Big thanks to Lauren for making this special request. :-)