A few monkeys off my back!

 My sewing table has had a few projects piled up that I've been afraid to start.  Why?  Because I didn't have a clear pattern or idea in my head of where to take them or how to finish them.  But I reached a point where I was tired of looking at them so let's get them done and off.  And surprise surprise, I loved how they turned out.  I'm a decent seamstress, I can be creative with fabric and trims so why I drag my feet when I have to solo without a pattern is beyond me.
The pajamas above were from a fabric gifted to me by a friend in the Itty Bitty group on ravelry.  They had an owl swap and I didn't join in but I got a package of owl themed goodies from this sweet friend.  I knew the fabric was destined to be pjs for Mr. C.  I wanted to try piping on them and found a pattern that looked classy.  Ta Da!  I'm happy with them but I don't think I'll be trying piping on pjs again anytime soon.  I'm over it.

Next up were quilt blocks left over from previous quilts and 5 Precious Moments counted cross stitches that, until a few years ago, had hung in my daughter's bathroom.  They've been sitting for a few years because they were too precious to get rid of (pun intended) but what to do with them?  A quilt!  I used a simple quilt pattern that is now one of my favorites.  2.5 inch blocks in groupings of 4 and 4.5 inch blocks.  Arrange randomly.  I had some fat quarters in pale pastels that screamed to be used alongside the pale Precious Moments.  Ta Da!  The quilt is now a lap throw at my daughter's home.  The rest of quilt blocks were spied by eager 6 and 7 year olds and they were quickly snatched up and because quilts for tigers, puppies, and dolls.  They not only arranged the blocks, they sewed some of them!

 The Olympics are on which means the ravellenics are in full swing.  It was time to pull out some wips.  This Duck Soup has been in the wip pile for 4 years?  Maybe 5?  Ta Da!  A medal!  Details on my ravelry page.  Suffice to say I love it and it should fit Mr. C next fall.  This is the 4th Duck Soup I've knit and I still love the pattern.

 Slippers!  There were a couple of pairs of slippers in my last post.  One of the guys hadn't got his yet.  They were headed out to the mountains for a long weekend and 2 of 3 had slippers.  Talk about motivation.  I cast these on one night during the Olympics and finished them the next afternoon right before they left!  Ta Da!  (and whew!)

 The project that I was the most hesitant to start and filled me with the most trepidation was Elsa costumes for the girls.  I have had the fabric since last summer.  Originally they wanted to be Cinderella and Ariel.  There are patterns for those costumes. Then they saw Frozen and Cinderella and Ariel were passe.   Elsa...no pattern to be found.  I searched pininterest for ideas, looked at our Frozen book, looked for a pattern.  I  couldn't take looking at the pile anymore and dove in with a sketch of an idea in my mind.  I used the Snow White pattern for the basic dress and Rapunzel's sleeves.  The hardest part was coming up with the cape in the back.  

I had bought the first 2 yards of the snowflake fabric on a whim on a Black Friday sale thinking I would use it for Christmas.  Then we saw Frozen and the girls wanted to be Elsa so the fabric was re purposed.  I searched and found 2 more yards online and there was no more to be had.  But 4 yards was enough!  I am thrilled with how they came out and more thrilled that they are finished!  My sewing table is clean of projects!  And now I'm going to dive some more into the knitting wip pile and pick up some cross stitch.  There are a few projects begging for attention that don't fill me with trepidation.