yarn bombing in montreal.

One of my daughters recently went on a trip to the east coast and while she was in Montreal she took pictures of this incredible yarn bombing for me...

 

Does anyone happen to know who the artist might be?

kim.

new crochet pattern - chubby owl family by tara schreyer.

Yay!  The day has come that I am able to share my newest crochet pattern with you!  Please meet the Chubby Owl Family!!

The idea for these little guys originally came to me when browsing a book store.  I love sweet little bookends for children's book shelves.  When stuffed with a heavier filling (I used popcorn kernels) the largest owl makes a perfect bookend.

The pattern includes 3 sizes:

Large - 15.5" circumference x 5" high

Medium - 11.5" circumference x 4" high

Small - 7.5" circumference x 3" high

Buy Now

Enjoy!

tara.

photo gallery.

We love seeing what our customers create from our patterns!! Kerri from Calico Rabbit recently shared her finished item of the Hanging Storage Pouch crochet pattern and we absolutely love it!  Kerri has a true love of all things primitive and this comes across in her decorating style and her artistic handiwork. 

While the pattern calls for 100% cotton, Kerri used jute as her fiber of choice to give it a timeless feel and make it a little more outdoor friendly.  For her tips and experiences in choosing and working with jute, visit her blog posting here.  While there, be sure to browse around...you will find she has many beautiful creations and talents that will appeal to your creative side.

tara.

sneak peek.

 

Just a little peek...can you guess what it is??  

 The crochet pattern for this chubby little guy and his family will be available really soon. Can't wait to share them with you!!

tara.

photo gallery.

If you are looking for one of a kind felted wool accessories or if you make your own felted creations and you are looking for some inspiration then be sure to check out Laura DeMeulenaere of LJDBags.

Back in May, 2012 we posted some pictures of Laura's beautiful hand crafted wine bottle totes here, and today we are excited to be able to share some more photo's of her work. We are sure that you will agree that Laura's colour combinations and needle felting techniques are amazing!

 

Lemon Grass and Meadow Green Felted Wool Bag

If you are interested in purchasing this felted bag or any of Laura's other high quality creations then you will be happy to know that she is having a 20% off sale for the month of August, 2012.

If you are interested in creating your own Felted Crochet Bag you can find the crochet pattern here on our blog.

kim.

easy burlap pillow.

There are 2 things that I've notice a lot of on the Internet and the first is all of the fun knitting accessories that are available. For example cafepress.ca has these fun K2tog (knit 2 together) bags. I love these bags and I've been thinking how nice it would be to have something that had sc2tog (single crochet 2 together) printed on it.

The second thing that I've noticed a lot of are all of the stamped burlap pillows. Just google burlap pillow or do a search in pinterest and you will see tons of wonderful examples. Since I'm currently  obsessed with burlap, word art, and crochet I wanted to create my own burlap pillow for my office space.

I love crafting, but crochet designing zaps me of most of my brain power and creative energy so this project had to meet 3 important criteria: instant gratification, easy, and with the exception of the burlap it had to utilize current supplies. I did a google search on how to make your own stamped burlap pillow, talked to a few friends, and this is what I came up with.

As you can see from the picture below, excluding the sewing supplies, I didn't need much to get started. I purchased about 1.25 meters (1.37 yards) of burlap so that I would have enough to make 3 pillows. I used a reclaimed cushion that I had on hand, and I made my own stencil.

To make the stencil I simply chose a font that I liked the look of, and that would be easy to cut out. Using a regular piece of paper I then printed the stencil out. The next part was the hardest, and most time consuming, and that was cutting out the letters. By time consuming I mean a maximum of about 15 minutes. This job, however, would be super quick and easy if you had a Cricut or Silhouette electronic cutting tool.

I needed a 15 x 15" cover for my cushion so I added a 5/8 seam allowance and cut out two pieces of burlap. When I was done I centered my paper stencil on the burlap, and taped it in place. 

Using a black "wanna be sharpie" that I had purchased from the dollar store I then traced the letters out.

Once the letters were traced out I removed the stencil and using the same pen I coloured in all of the letters. Super easy I know, but doesn't it look great?

As for the sewing, using the closest matching thread that I had on hand I sewed a 5/8 seam around 3 of the edges. I trimmed the edges and I finished the seam off with a zig zag stitch. I then stuffed in the pillow, folded in the remaining edge about 5/8 and sewed in place. As you can see from the picture I messed up, and my last seam ended up on the side edge of the cushion as opposed to the bottom where it would have been less noticeable. The whole project took me about an hour, and because I mostly used items that I had on hand the pillow cost me less than $4.00 CAD to make.

When I was all done one of my daughters asked if I had made the pillow and thinking that she was about to sing my praises I said, "yes"!!! My daughter then looked at me and asked, "what does scu-two-tug mean?"

kim.

winter sale in july.

knotsewcute.etsy.com

This is our last sale of the year so now is a great time to visit knotsewcute.etsy.com and stock up for winter! Also, our regular offer of buy 5 patterns from our etsy shop and receive 1 free still applies. Just leave us a note in the "Message to Seller" section at checkout regarding your 6th free pattern choice and we will automatically send you your free pattern. Enjoy!!

kim and tara.