Why?
Why is a good question. I don't know why.
All I can say is that at the time, it made sense. Now? Hmm.
Crafty Intentions Quilt Edition: Pillows
When I was learning to quilt, one of the things that I became obsessed with was quilting 10 pillow shams for each season of the year. I ended up only making about 30 of them - 10 for spring/summer, 10 for Fall, and 10 for Christmas/winter. These are my Christmas winter ones. What was fun was that they are so small that piecing them was not overwhelming, quilting them was an experiment and I could get creative with it. They are envelope shams, so they come off pretty easily and we wash them after the 4 months or so they're on the pillows. They look so festive, and I never get tired of them because we change them out with the seasons!
10/10 would highly recommend this project!
Featured Pattern: Seahorse
Seahorse made by Me! Crafty Intentions
Pattern by Terry Finer.
Available Here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/post-modern-post-stitch-seahorse
This pattern builds this seahorse in an ingenious 3-dimensional way so that you do not need stuffing. It is built in such a way that it fills itself out! It's amazing! I made a ton of them and it was tremendous fun. It was certainly a challenging pattern, I would say intermediate or above. But I would definitely recommend it!
Free Crafty Intentions Hungry Caterpillar Pattern
Have your child (or classroom!) tell the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by feeding the Caterpillar the correct food as you read the story! Kids will be able to practice all kinds of skills like color recognition, counting, gross and fine motor skills. The best part is that you clean up the toy as you play with it!! This pattern is 10 pages long and contains a full set of instructions with photographic illustrations, and specific links to every other FREE pattern you will need to put together a full set of every piece of food in Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"!!
Available here on Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hungry-caterpillar-play-set
© 2018 Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™. All rights reserved. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. The pattern (or parts of it) may not be reproduced, distributed or resold, translated, published, altered, shared or posted (for sale or free) over the internet or offline. You can sell items made from this pattern, provided they are handmade by yourself in a limited number and you give credit to the designer. Please add the following lines to your item description and any item you are selling: “This item is handmade by (your name) from a design and pattern by Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™”.
Pincushions forever.
There was a time when I became obsessed with making pincushions. Why? Everyone needs a pincushion, right? Wrong. Very few people need pincushions. But I thought that it was a good way to explore making felt-hand-stitched-softies with a purpose.
First there were cacti. I made the pattern myself. It's felt, stuffed with polyfil (with a little bit of steel wool at the end of each cactus branch to keep the pins and needles sharp!). I glued it into the terra cotta pot. Not a great idea, because pots like this break easily. One curious cat later, and you'd find yours shattered on the floor with no ability to fix it. Also, they are a bit large and in charge - I'm not sure anyone needs a pin cushion of this gigantic size. Fail.
For a while I dabbled in snap bracelet pin cushions. I wanted the active seamstress to be able to wear a stylish... Octopus?... on her wrist and stab it as often as she liked. It was a good idea, but in practice it's quite bulky. It takes up too much space, and doesn't stay oriented on the wrist. The snap bracelet itself (that I encased in blue felt above) wasn't quite strong enough, so in the end, it was a fail and a one-off. I did try again with a Rainbow snap bracelet. I made a separate arched felt rainbow that was pulled straight when you wore it as a bracelet, but arched into the air between two clouds at either end of the snap bracelet when it was straight... But it had the same issues. I would show you, but I can't even find a picture!
Cupcakes were my next attempt. This was a better idea than terra cotta pots and cacti, because the silicone cups I used aren't breakable! Win!... Ish! Instead the issues I found were first that the glass beads I used for sprinkles aren't great when you're using it as a pincushion (they get in the way of the pins!, duh. Ugh.), and the glue I used to secure the cupcake into the silicone cup didn't hold.
I started getting warmer with this one! The Ice cream cone I glued into a wooden cone, and that worked great. The Glue held, and the wood was not fragile. Unfortunately, I made the same mistake with the glass beads getting in the way of pins.
This was a small hat I found in a craft shop, that was just begging for a little white rabbit. So I made it look like the rabbit was hiding in the hat and everything was so great! The hat is not breakable, the glue held, and there was no interference for the pins. However, I underestimated how disturbing it would feel to stab pins into the back of a helpless little magic hat rabbit.
Once I entered the world of disturbing, it was hard to turn back though. This one was built on a recycled bottle cap weighted with pennies. The beads get in the way, but it turned out well for what it is. Very few people seem to enjoy it the way I do, unfortunately.
Have you ever seen these cheapy little plastic pumpkins? I'm not sure what they're supposed to be fore, halloween party favors maybe?? But, I decided to try them for pin cushions! MORE EYEBALLS.... Maybe? Hmm, maybe not.
This one might be my favorite. It worked up quickly - a little piece embroidered like a brain. The glue held, the pumpkin isn't fragile...
And then I figured out that I prefer to keep my pins in a box.
Oh well.
Monster Pattern: Explained
This Monster Pattern is available on Ravely: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/choose-your-own-adventure-monster
© 2018 Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™. All rights reserved. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. The pattern (or parts of it) may not be reproduced, distributed or resold, translated, published, altered, shared or posted (for sale or free) over the internet or offline. You can sell items made from this pattern, provided they are handmade by yourself in a limited number and you give credit to the designer. Please add the following lines to your item description and any item you are selling: “This item is handmade by (your name) from a design and pattern by Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™”.
This pattern is for an Amigurumi-Style Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Adorable Monster. These Monsters have many interchangeable or combinable options to create over 64 different end-creations!! You can truly customize exactly what you want to make. There are Monsters with overbites or underbites, Monsters with legs and Monsters without legs, Monsters with dangly feet and Monsters with flat feet, Monsters with long or short arms, Monsters with horns or ears (or both!), Monsters with mohawks or spikes down their back, Monsters with eyebrows and/or claws, Monsters with as many teeth as you want in one of three styles!
Each step is photo-illustrated. Yarn amounts are extremely variable depending on what options you use. This project is an excellent stash buster for all sorts of smaller amounts of yarn you have on hand for all the different contrasting decorative bits you might choose to make.
Confessions in Winging it: Sorting Hat
This is another one where I did the thing, and ideally would like to be able to do it again. So Why? Whyy?? Whyyy did I not write down what I did as I did it??
I think the real reason is that I always believe the first version is going to be terrible, so what's the point of writing it down. And it doesn't always come out great, but it often comes out pretty-good but because of that nagging negative voice, I don't write anything down and then I always curse myself afterwards.
Halloween Decorations: Windows Edition
In 2011 my family moved to a new house. It was our first big move as a family, and days afterwards my baby had his first birthday. It was a tumultuous time with a new job, new house, unpacking, no nearby family or friends. It took a couple of months to unpack and by the time I did, I had a hefty supply of large cardboard boxes taking up an entire room of my house and the calendar had just ticked over to October. Instead of getting rid of the boxes, I decided to recycle them into Halloween Decor. All it took was some black paint, tissue paper, and a trusty box cutter. My new house was uniquely suited to monster silhouettes because of all of the windows in the front. I made a different one for each window, and taped them in place with duct tape.
A friend of mine shared the photo and moving box story with this website I hadn't heard of at the time -- "Reddit". And from there it went a little bit viral. Every year since I've seen it re-shared and re-posted across the interwebs.
Unfortunately cardboard moving boxes don't hold up over time. We only lived in that house for 2 years. When we moved we didn't take the old cardboard decorations with us. In our new home, I decided to re-create the experiment but in a more permanently reusable medium: Wood.
Now set-up each year is easy and our home immediately becomes a Monster Sanctuary each Halloween season. Take-down is also easy, and they store away flat!
Pegasus Pattern Published!!
The Crafty Intentions Pegasus Crochet Amigurumi Pattern is now available! You can find it here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pegasus-5
Or Here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/635597418/digital-pegasus-crochet-amigurumi
© 2018 Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™. All rights reserved. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. The pattern (or parts of it) may not be reproduced, distributed or resold, translated, published, altered, shared or posted (for sale or free) over the internet or offline. You can sell items made from this pattern, provided they are handmade by yourself in a limited number and you give credit to the designer. Please add the following lines to your item description and any item you are selling: “This item is handmade by (your name) from a design and pattern by Megan Lapp, Crafty Intentions™”.
Featured Pattern: Yoda hat
Photo by Danielle Foster Creations: https://www.facebook.com/DanielleFosterCreations/
Hat made by me!
[Free] Pattern for the hat: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crochet-yoda-hat
This went well! I enjoyed making this hat for this little new one. It would be the perfect addition to a cute little onesie for a newborn's first Halloween!
Halloween Costumes!
Since my children were born, I have done a new Halloween Costume every year and most have been handmade. There have been rules and guidelines for these costumes that I follow. 1) They must be Cold-weather friendly. 2)They must match when I have more than one child. 3) I prefer book-related costumes. This year they are finally making individual requests (She wants to be a Pink Cat, He wants to be Max from Where the Wild Things Are - (Revisited, as you'll see below), Sigh), and I will no longer get to choose. So to celebrate 8 years of Halloween Costumes done my way, I would like to share those costumes with you!
Year 1: Astronaut [Bonus costume! First Ever!]
Hand-assembled... Yes, I put my precious baby's head on a plate in service of looking like an astronaut. I stand by my actions.
Teddy Bear [Official Halloween]
Store bought, hand-altered.
Year 2: Monster [Official Halloween]
Hand made all the way! ... Mostly by my mom. Though I did do the adult hoodie decorations myself.
Year 3: Max, Where the Wild Things Are [Official Halloween]
I store bought the one-piece pajamas. I hand-made all the detail (added the feet/paws, buttons, ears and tail. Made the crown with fur edging)
Skeletons [BONUS Costume! aka My Daughter's first costume!]
Pajamas with skeletons from Carters, Shirt for me with Skeletons from Etsy
Year 4: The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Beautiful Butterfly [Official Halloween]
The Hungry Caterpillar handmade from fleece as a slip on costume (sandwich board style) over top green pajamas.
The Very Beautiful Butterfly with a store bought Orange sweatshirt and handmade butterfly wings from fleece.
Year 5: Sorcerer's Apprentice & Minnie Mouse [Official Halloween]
Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey was cheapy knit winter gloves and a golden rope I found at a craft thrift store. My Mom made the hat, I added the ears. I sewed the red robes!
Minnie Mouse was a machine stitched Red white-polka-dot dress from a pattern on Etsy with lots of petticoat material and lace underneath, over a black long sleeved t-shirt and leggings. I made the ears from felt and bows attached to hair clips!
Bonus Costume! I was particularly ambitious this year and made homemade costumes for the Renaissance Fair for both kids!
Flynn Rider utilized leggings, a white button down shirt, this free pattern for boot covers using microsuede material, and a Flynn Rider vest of my own making!
Renaissance Fair princess was made using the same pattern as the Minnie Mouse dress, just with some alterations for the over-lay!
Year 6: The Cat in the Hat and Fox in Socks [Official Halloween]
Both costumes used store-bought solid-color one-piece pajamas. The fox in socks used 2 pairs of blue soccer socks, and handmade ears and tail. The Cat in the Hat costume used a store-bought hat and gloves and handmade belly and tie.
Year 7: Superman and Wonder Woman [Official Halloween]
Superman was store bought 100%. Wonder Woman was partially store bought, and partially handmade. I added glow in the dark stars, I altered store bought accessories to fit her.
Year 8: Peter Pan and Winter Tinkerbell [Official Halloween]
Peter Pan was store bought. Tinkerbell was almost all handmade! I bought a hair-bun, as we had cut her hair short, and I bought green boot covers. I found light-up fairy wings at a yard sale. The Dress was made from an adult sweatshirt, and extra large pipe cleaners. Brown accents are lengths of elastic!
Crafty Intentions: Failed Results, Part 4: Felt Thingys
Why did I make this?
I sure don't know. It took A LOT of hand stitching.
Why.
Tumble Leaf Rumble Leaf
My son is a huge fan of the Amazon Prime show Tumble leaf. Since written communication is easier for him, he really likes that they show the word for the thing Fig finds in the Finding Place at the beginning of each episode, and then there's an entertaining story about exploring that found thing. I decided to make him a Fig so that he could maybe play pretend with his favorite TV buddy. I actually wasn't sure how much he'd like it, but since he liked the show so much it was worth it to me to try.
I used old jeans for Fig's pants, brown fleece for his tshirt, and left over furry material from a previous Halloween costume for his ears and skin and feet. Fig accidentally ended up being nearly as big as my son!
Fig is well-loved!
Featured pattern: Koi Fish
This Rainbow Fish made by Me! Crafty Intentions.
Pattern by: Terry Finer
Pattern Link: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/whomsoevers-koi-fish
A few pieces and parts of this fish can be tricky, and it is definitely a large fish!! But the finished product is so satisfyingly gorgeous that I have to recommend the pattern.
Question: Fox pattern, Yes or No??
Fox pattern! Now, I didn't just wing this. I did write it down. But... Is it good enough to publish it? Would you want to make one like this? I'm undecided about whether or not it's worth actually typing up, testing, and publishing. Hmm...
Confessions in Winging it: Jake and Lady Rainicorn
I have a bad habit, every once in a while, of making a thing, and not writing down what I did so that I can make the thing a second time. This is one of those times.
After binge watching most of Adventure Time, I decided to make a Jake and Lady Rainicorn hat for some loved ones. They do not watch Adventure Time. Make note: Attempt to make gifts referencing pop culture only for people who are familiar with said pop culture. I'm very proud of how they came out, and I would happily share the pattern with you but...
I winged it.
Featured Pattern: Flumplebees!
This is a pattern by EssHaych!
You can find it here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-flumplebees
It's worth a couple of dollars for sure! It's a short simple pattern, easily made, beginner level, very cute, and it creates an adorable, very imaginative creature! I can use just about any imaginably solid or variegated yarn for this one. At my last craft market, I sold out of these little guys. Every single person who asked about them was delighted by the name "Flumplebee" and insisted on taking one (or three) Home!
Now, I made a few alterations to my construction. I add a wire in the body that reaches all the way from the nose to the butt so that you can re-position the head and neck. I also add some glass gems at the bottom of the butt to weigh it down and make it sit securely (but both of these things can be completely left out to make the thing 100% toddler safe). I like sizing up the eyes a little bigger than what they recommend in the pattern, but that's just personal preference. I also sometimes piece in a mane of yarn and it makes them look like wayward fuzzy flowers to me!
Autism and Crafting
So, my now (today!!) 8 year old son is Autistic. He has a significant communication delay and has difficulty with verbal interaction. He has had early intervention since he was 2, has been in ABA preschool from 3-5, and special education classrooms from 5 years old onward. He has a PCA (an adult with him at all times in school to keep him safe, and focused on his work). Specifically he's what's called "Hyperlexic" which means he's been able to read since he was 2, but he has difficulty with spontaneous verbal communication. He's been obsessed with letters and numbers from a very, very early age.
He is a lot of work, but I also feel quite lucky. I know everybody says something like that, but I'm not trying to be all rainbows and sunshine. He is quite affectionate and sweet. His heart breaks when kids get upset nearby him - he can't tolerate tears or sadness. He's gentle with animals and smart as a whip. He's enthusiastic about playing and fun, and absolutely loves music (he has Hamilton memorized). There are moments, even days or weeks, when it is difficult to connect with him... but for the most part, that's easy.
When I make gifts for him, I try especially hard to make sure it's going to be something that really makes him light up.
Here's the pattern I used for this one: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/babys-abcs-afghan
It worked great! He was finally able to literally wrap himself up in the alphabet, and roll around on top of it. He traced those letters all day and gave me a big hug for this one. This was a total success!!
Baby Quilts
I have found crib-size quilts the easiest quilts to make. They are just big enough to enjoy a design or have fun with putting together a color scheme... maybe even experiment with some new quilting designs... But they are not big enough that they become over-burdensome. Also, newborn babies are SUPER easy going about gifts. Even if you make a mistake, they will NEVER mention it... mostly because they won't be able to talk for a few years.
Satisfied customer.
Crafty Intentions: Failed Results, Part 3: Lace Skirts
So, there was an extended period of time when I couldn't stop adding lace to tiered skirts. By hand, pre-sewing machine.
They were all (thrift)store bought skirts. I was so sure I would wear them all the time, but it turns out that my office job didn't think these were very "Office-Appropriate" and they ended up taking up a lot of poofy unnecessary room in my closet.
It still took me about 10 years to officially re-home them to a local craft re-use store in hopes that a more adventurous soul would wear them regularly and give them the love they deserve.
I didn't wear them often, but when I did I sure felt fancy. It's too bad I didn't get more use out of them. Also sewing all that lace on with tiny hand stitches took FOREVER. I enjoyed it, and it certainly led me to feeling confident enough to attempt to begin my rainbow king sized quilt, which is what led to me getting a sewing machine... But I'm sad this wasn't a craft that made something I really used.