Sock monkey knitting

My son Robbie and his girlfriend Hailey have been dating for almost 7 months. That's a long time for a couple 16 + 17 year olds. Hailey asked for a pink stuffed alien or a sock monkey. I decided to knit a sock monkey first because I haven't seen an acceptable sewing pattern for an alien yet. This lady will be a 7 month anniversary gift. Remember being that age and counting the weeks and months of a relationship? Nowadays I have to stop and calculate how long hubby and I have been together (26 years together and married for 20 in October).

 I just know we are on our second lifetime. First it was those young years when we were starting our little family. Now that our youngest is 17 I feel like we are on our second lifetime together. I remember when I was in my 20's (and knew everything) and thought that 50 was kinda old and a long time away. Now that I'm 47 fifty isn't so far away anymore. Now we are beginning a new part of our lives which includes adult children (25 and 28). Both lifetimes have pros and cons but I know I will be enjoying this time of my life.

Small project

Sometime last year or earlier this year I won this little kit from a Flosstuber. It came free with a magazine and she wasn't going to stitch it up so she had a give away.

I've been fighting a migraine and didn't want to deal with the very small pattern for my Oriental Butterfly so I decided to work on this little project.

It would have been a quick stitch but I was trolling facebook, making cookies, and watching videos on YouTube so it took me most of today to complete.  It's a cute little notebook. Once I buy some double sided tape to hold in the pages I will be adding this to the gift basket. It's cute but I tend to use larger notepads or notebooks. I do like the blue design on the front cover of the magazine it came with though. I might need to go on a search for that issue. Plus, those little bunny girl cards are adorable.

U.S.A. Map

Back in  2011 I saw this post over on See Kate Sew and fell in love. I knew I would eventually make at least one scrappy map. 

Since July 4th is right around the corner I decided to make a red, white, and blue scrappy version. I decided to start in the center of the US and work my way to the outer borders. Let me tell you, this felt harder than putting together a regular jigsaw puzzle. Thankfully I thought ahead and wrote the name of each state on the back of each piece. I don't even want to think about trying to figure out which state is which. Of course states like Florida, Texas, California, and Louisiana are easy to identify but Wyoming and Colorado, etc. is nearly impossible to figure out.

I kept looking at the map on my phone and back to my pieces making sure I had each state in the right spot. Once I found my rhythm it went pretty well until I got to the Northern states. Whomever was making the states borders way back then sure didn't think about us in the future. So many tiny states on the East coast compared to out West. I remember as a child trying to color in Rhode Island and Delaware and getting mad because they are so tiny. 

Even with the small frustrations I really enjoyed working on this project. Hopefully I will have this turned into a wall hanging before the 4th of July. Wish me luck!

Assembly line sewing

 Whenever I decide to make something I tend to make several at once assembly line style. One day I iron and cut fabrics, then I start sewing them together the next day. The third day is usually for the end touches like turning out bags and ironing things.

I've been addicted to making monogrammed zipper pouches lately. I started with this basic pattern and then tweaked it for what I needed. It's a great tutorial for making a pouch with a zipper just change up the measurements to suit your needs.

This week my needs were zipper pouches with various initials. If you see one you like you can find them in my Etsy shop - RsIslandCrafts.