Tried With Fire

I've been a Doctor Who fan since high school. Tom Baker  was my first doctor, so he's still my favorite with his slightly manic and quirky sense of humor, jelly babies , and, of course, the iconic scarf. I've always wanted to knit a copy for myself, but its size isn't very practical. It would probably mop the floor or be a tripping hazard not to mention being very bulky to wear. Thanks to Ravelry, I found this pattern  scaled down to normal human-sized proportions. I used size 7 needles and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes worsted  in the colors recommend at DoctorWhoScarf.com . The site has patterns by season, yarn and color suggestions, and tips for joining the stripes and weaving in the ends. It also has everything a Whovian could ever want to know about the scarf's various iterations. (Did you know the scarf had a stunt double?) The pattern is plain old garter stitch, so it was a fairly quick and mindless knit. I finished it in less than 2 weeks with knitting...

Materials: 1.5 inch wooden disc Two 1.5 inch circles of decorative paper Gesso Acrylic paint Decoupage medium or equal parts Elmer's glue and water Polyurethane varnish Glue-on bail Adhesive such as E6000 or super glue 1. Prime the entire wooden disc with gesso. 2. Paint the edge of the disc with acrylic paint. The disc had curved sides which were visible from the front. I figured acrylic paint would look better than gesso white. 3. Decoupage the paper circles to the front and back of the disc. I typed the phrase on an old manual typewriter and then reinforced the type with a very fine permanent pen (Pigma Micron). The ink needs to be waterproof or it will smear as the decoupage medium is water based. Update: Here are tips  to prevent smudging/bleeding when using an ink-jet printer, including sticking the paper in the freezer for an hour. Sounds crazy but I tried it and it works. 4. Apply the varnish to the entire disc. I used 3-4 coats. 5. Glue the ...

Finally, here's the tutorial for the notebook cover . This is a great way to use scraps and is a fairly quick project. One caveat: if you open the notebook with the front cover flipped to the back, the fabric cover will fold back on itself and not lay perfectly flat. However, I find that it doesn't hinder my sermon note-taking. (Click pics for larger view.) Materials: Cover: Twelve 5-inch cotton print squares Lining: 18-1/4 x 11-3/4 of cotton & 18-1/4 x 11-3/4 of flannel or batting Inner flaps: Two 11-3/4 x 4-1/2 of cotton Thread, pins, scissors, ruler, etc. Iron One button 1.  Lay out your 5-inch squares in a pleasing pattern, 3 squares in 4 columns.  (You can be as creative as you want with piecing the patchwork cover. I used pre-cut charm squares to save time.) 2. Stitch the 3 squares in each column together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Press flat. 3. Take your first column and trim the length at the bottom to 11-3/4 inches to match the linin...

Apple custard coffee cake (ht: Hollie ) This confection didn't come out of the oven but off the needles yesterday... Cupcake hat It's a very quick knit and a good companion for baby blanket #7. The hat is a tad large even with scaling down the pattern. The wee one may have to grow into it or share it with her big sister. 

Here's a tutorial for an easy baby blanket: You will need: 1 yard quilting cotton  1 yard velour dot fabric also known as Minkee 1 pkg Wright's satin blanket binding matching thread 1. Pre-wash the fabric.  If using cotton or cotton blend, be sure to dry to pre-shrink the fabric. 2. Iron the cotton fabric. 3. Trim fabrics to 36 x 36 inch square. 4. Place wrong sides together. 5. Pin blanket binding around the edge.  (I used quilt binding clips rather than pins.) One side of the binding is slightly longer than the other. You'll want to have the longer side on the bottom as you sew so that edge is caught by the top stitching. 6. To miter the corners, unfold the binding at the corner and turn the binding 90 degrees downward.  To make the miter, tuck in the excess fabric to make a 45 degree fold in the corner.  Do the same on the reverse side and pin the folds in place.  (click on the pics for a closer look) 7. Once you have pinned the binding to...

Before Take one spiral bound notebook from Walmart.  Add fabric, one button, and approximately 1 hour of sewing time and you get: Front Back Inside with illegible sermon notes I used 12 five inch charm squares for the cover and scraps for the lining and inner flaps.  I padded the cover with a scrap of flannel, but didn't do any actual quilting since the fabric cover "sticks" to the flannel fairly well.  If anyone is interested, I will post a tutorial in the future.

What do you get when you combine  this this and this? Tutorial here With my limited time, this is a crafter's instant gratification.  I used 14 inch cake circles.  One fat quarter (18" x 22") is enough to make one yo-yo around the cardboard circle.  The dots are fastened with removable foam poster tape.   Here are more ideas for frugal wall art.

and I don't want to think about dead raccoons. Artist: Kit Lane Title: Jabba the Hutt, the early days Medium: 99.99% Wool, Glass Eyes, Beads, and Cotton Floss Size: 7"x5" From the Stitch Wars craft exhibit (Disclaimer:I only looked through the craft pictures so I can't vouch for the pictures of the exhibit opening.) (Painting by Nick Jones) Hello Kitty has gone over to the dark side. "Emma, I am your father."

Calvin bookmark

Here is my second set of dead theologian magnets. I've added four theologians to the set. Can you guess who they are in the 3rd row? These are about twice as large (1" diameter) with slightly better images. The first set was so small and grainy that they looked like how I normally see things without my glasses.

Just the thing that every reformed refrigerator needs. Can you guess who they are? Update: the answers are... Row 1: Jeremiah Burroughs, J.C. Ryle, Thomas Watson Row 2: John Owen, John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon Row 3: Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Bunyan