T's Garden

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Stash to Treasure: Turtle Samosa Pouch

no turtles were harmed in the making of this samosa

Yesterday I needed a quick craft to do, so I decided to try a Samosa Pouch, following this tutorial. The shape is so cute, not to mention tasty-sounding. I pulled out some scraps left over from Rollo's quilt, since I'd always liked the turtle fabric.

It's just right for carrying my keys and ID to the gym or a hockey game. It'll probably hold my phone and a handkerchief, too. In fact, my camera fits inside, but it's kind of hard to take a picture of that.

The designer lives in India, and named the pouch after a tasty Indian snack. The flavor of a samosa was in the back of my mind all the time I was sewing. The shape reminded Dandelionslayer more of a 4-sided die, known affectionately as a "d4" among role-players, or not-so-affectionately as a "caltrop" by people who find one on the floor with their foot.

I don't think my little tetrahedral pouch will hurt any feet!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Penguin Blanket

You've met Pengui, haven't you? He's been D2's nearly constant companion for a couple of years now. D2 just loves penguins.

So I decided his quilt should feature his favorite birds. D2 liked the fabrics with realistic pictures.

I preferred the more abstract batiks. So I bought both and mixed them with a few other prints in a Disappearing Nine-Patch pattern.

I think I mentioned beginning this quilt; it was quite a while ago. I didn't finish it that Christmas, nor the next. But I did complete it early this January.

I think D2, Pengui, and their new friend Pancho approve.

White Christmas Morning

D2's first grade teacher taught him a major life lesson, one I wish I had learned at his age: How to Make it Snow.

The secret, she revealed, is to wear your pajamas inside-out.

He didn't take her up on it the first night, but apparently his classmates did, resulting in a snow day the Wednesday before Christmas. (This was, by the way, the miracle we've all hoped for, and Scoot received: an extra day to finish a major project. I hope he appreciated it.)

So on Christmas Eve, D2 wore his pajamas inside-out. So did a friend to whom we sang carols. And their faith was rewarded with a snowy Christmas morning. It was lovely.

Here's our lovely Christmas tree. Can you tell that it's leaning? Maybe that was just me, not holding the camera quite straight. But the tree was a challenge. Dandelionslayer struck quite the bargain for it, and we cheerfully installed it in the living room and dressed it up. The next morning, I found that the tree had fallen over. When a tree falls in the darkness with no one to hear, the only sound it induces is an "Oh, no," in the morning. And then some grunts as people try to fix it. It turns out that the trunk was quite curved, and narrower than our stand was expecting, so we tried to make it mostly vertical, and shored it up with various wood scraps. Luckily, it didn't fall over again. And it was beautiful. But I don't think Dandelionslayer paid any more than it was worth.

Here they are, full of anticipation, and/or decorated with candy canes.

D2's teacher also taught him to make this adorable snowman ornament, using his own handprint.

Here are a couple of gifts I made:

Tired of carrying plastic bags of drawing materials to church or elsewhere, I sewed a colored pencil roll for the younger boys.

I more or less followed instructions from Sew Scrumptious and The Pleated Poppy. It came out a little smaller than I expected; I'll be more careful about seam allowances next time. But we think it's pretty neat.

I crocheted this dragon for Rollo, using a pattern from ChrysN. You should follow the link--she used some pretty cool special effects that wouldn't be so practical for a toy.

And this is what Dandelionslayer gave me: a lightsaber candlestick. Isn't he romantic?

The younglings couldn't wait to try it out.

Down came the rain,

and washed the snow away,

but all the Garden denizens

had a merry day!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Home for the Holiday

On Thanksgiving I was grateful...

that we hadn't made plans to go anywhere. D2 and I weren't feeling well, so it was nice to relax at home.

The boys hung up the bat house Rollo made at day camp in the summer. It will be interesting to see if anyone moves in.

Everyone helped prepare the feast. The Caterpillar likes to shape rolls. This time, he and Dandelionslayer got out the cookie cutters,

and made these delicious treasures.

I had fun with a cookie cutter, too, decorating this apple-cranberry pie.

The boys provided plenty of help for eating the feast, as well. I'm so grateful to have all of them!

Tiger Club Scarf

Last soccer season we entered the big time. Four boys, four teams. Not to mention refereeing engagements. We had some complicated days. And we saw a lot of the club colors, orange and black.

I cheer at the games, of course, but fairly quietly most of the time. (When the Caterpillar scored an amazing goal, I was pretty much speechless.) So I felt I ought to show my support more visibly. Without looking like a pumpkin.

I crocheted myself a tigerish scarf. I didn't finish it until the very last game of the season, but I think we'll be involved with the soccer club for a few more years. And the high school the Caterpillar will be attending next year (gasp!) uses the same colors. Go team!