completed: 10 minute wrist rest

wrist rest

I have been playing a lot of Diablo III (which is a new computer game, if you are living under a rock), but my left wrist always ends up hurting from resting on the hard computer case. It's been cramping my style. Literally.
So today, I devised a quick and easy solution: a handmade wrist rest! Store-bought rests can run up to $15 - which is ridiculous. I made mine for under $2!
I used a piece of leftover fabric from another project, folded it in half, and cut along the fold to make two equally-sized pieces. I stitched the two pieces right-sides-together, leaving a gap to turn it right-side-out. Then I filled the resulting pouch three-quarters of the way full with rice, stitched along the top to close it, and voila! A cute wrist rest!
If I had wanted to be fancy, I could have secured the gap with a hidden ladder stitch, or stitched all the way around the bag before filling it with rice so that the top seam wouldn't be out-of-place. But I was going for functionality over beauty today.

completed: erin's quilt

the quilt!

Remember this super secret present?
Well, it's finally time for the grand reveal!

 I made this 37 x 57 quilt for a (belated) birthday present for my oldest friend. I was inspired by the backing fabric, which is an abstract tree flannel print. I bought five half-yards of solid cotton fabrics to coordinate with the backing. Then I designed the quilt pattern to work with the amount of fabric I had purchased (this quilt pattern can also been seen here and here in different color schemes).
I free-motion quilted the entire quilt, and bound it in grey satin pre-made binding (because my friend once commented that satin binding reminded her of childhood blankets).
I miss this quilt - it is one of my favorites!

close-up of the front

the back

close-up of the back

all rolled up

ready to be sent!

I will be posting a tutorial on how to make this quilt pattern very soon. Stay tuned!

christmas in june?

get excited

Remember this post last year? Well, I've decided to do it again - a (mostly) handmade Christmas.

I'm starting even earlier this year. I actually started in May, and already have completed twenty-seven (small) gifts. I was way too ambitious last year, and made many lists (and bought many supplies) for projects that never got completed. Some of those ideas will get reused for this year, and some might get saved for next year. Crazy, right?

I've got nine items on my to-do list at the moment, but most of those are larger projects than I've attempted in the past. I'm going to try to get as much done this summer as possible, so that I don't have to finish projects at the last minute (like last year...) or stress about presents while also stressing about schoolwork.

Wish me luck!