Being blessed with friends the way I am, I guess it’s no surprise that I have royalty on my side!  This sewhooked Sew Awesome award is looong overdue and well deserved.

When I put the call out for for help with blankets for Linus, The Princess, aka Amber of Amber’s Originals, not only made and donated blankets to The Linus Connection, my favorite charity, she designed this brand new pattern just for Linus!

And then she posted it for everyone to share…for free.

The Texas Brick Blanket, from Amber’s Originals

I’ve been working on my very own version of this awesome blanket.  The technique is different than anything I’ve ever crocheted and I just love the way it’s turning out!

My version, in progress.

Amber, you ROCK, thank you for sharing!  See more of Amber’s original, creative and downright cool work here.

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

I have a best friend and she is made of Win and Awesome.

She is, really!

We’ve been friends since college and have loads in common, not the least of which is crafting. The only real problem is that she lives too dang far away!

Fortunately for me, last summer she decided to spend her well-earned vacation visiting my family, so she told her hubby goodbye for the week, loaded up her daughter, and drove the 13 or so hours it takes to get to Albuquerque to Austin.

That’s love, baby.

While she was here, Julia (Jewells to me!) was working on the blanket she named Baby Brainiac.  It’s a knit, high contrast, black & white log cabin blanket of awesome.   I just know the family she gifted it to must have loved it, because it is just that cool!

Am I a bit biased because she’s my bff?  Yeah, probably, but hey, it’s my blog, so I can pick her project as a sew awesome craft if I wanna!  :D

Baby Brainiac Blanket Pattern

Find more fun (and free!) knit patterns at Julia Makes Stuff and make sure you tell Jewells just how awesome she is while you’re there!

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

Without a doubt, my most popular crochet project to date is the Yarn Ball Cozy (on ravelry).

The uberamazing Convivial Crafter, Pren has taken the project to a whole new level and made it ultra-portable by adding a crochet strap.  Instead of writing a pattern, she’s created a two flexible “recipes” that you can use to create straps for the Yarn Ball Cozy or for any bag.  I suspect her straps would also make a pretty awesome belt!

Pren’s Recipes For Two Straps

Everyone needs a Yarn Caddy to represent their house, dontcha know!

Another adorable variation.

Pren should probably receive an award for making this project the most.  The last time I checked, she had four Yarn Caddies under her belt.  She is also an accomplished designer, having some seriously cool project designs on her various blogs.  Check out her Ravelry Designer Page (I especially love her Ribs and Ridges Hat) and her AWESOME Harry Potter themed crafty blog, Wilcox Wizard Wears, where you can see her AMAZING Beauxbatons student costume.

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

I’m a fan girl, you all probably know that by now.  Sci-fi, fantasy, books, movies, telly, music…I just can’t help myself!  My favorite things are just so craftable!

You all also know that I LOVE (capital letters!) stencils.  LOVE.  Stencils are a crafter’s dream medium.  They’re easy, cheap and almost instant gratification.  Almost.

One of the most versatile crafters I know is craftylilthing and her daughter K.  They’re a mother/daughter craft team that have tackled just about every kind of craft you can imagine.  We have loads of fandoms in common, not the least of which are Harry Potter, Doctor Who and Redwall.  What’s not to love, right?

She’s made not one, but two fabulous Doctor Who themed stencils and shared them with the world.  That, my friend, is crafty awesomeness!

TARDIS Stencil along with information about Freezer Paper

Adipose Baby Stencil

Crafty? Like Doctor Who?  Check out Doctor Who Crafts on flickr!

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

Here I am, ready to admit it.

One of my favorite people and favorite crafters is the amazing Shae.   She is known around the Harry Potter fandom as Dolores Umbridge, in which guise she’s even shown up in Movie Magic Magazine.

Shae is a Guest Designer of paper pieced patterns on sewhooked, and one of the two people I have entrusted to test the patterns for the quilt book I’ve been working on.  She’s a genius at cross-stitch (especially the not-your-mom’s subversive stuff) and she constantly pushes her own personal limits by not only taking on new crafts, but conquering them.

Shae, I think, just might be an evil genius.  She has a heart of gold when it comes to her friends, but I’m not telling anyone that.

When it comes to crafting, she is Awesome.  Like a hundred billion hot dogs.

Now, she has shared an AWESOME tutorial for my new favorite thing she’s made, the Etch-A-Sketch frame for her fun Etch-A-Sketch embroidered doodle.

Etch-A-Sketch Frame Tutorial by Shae

Have I fangirled enough?  Maybe, but if you know anything about Shae, you know I’m not exaggerating a word!

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

Harry Potter crafts, how do I love thee?

Lots.  Lots and lots and lots!

Yes, this is second HP craft to received the sewhooked Sew Awesome award and the third HP craft I’ve posted about in a week.  I can’t help it, HP crafts, it’s how I roll.

That said, today’s Sew Awesome Craft award goes to caitirin’s crochet Baby Mandrake Root.  OMG, is this the cutest little thing ever?

caitirin made this cute little guy (hard to believe he could knock you out with one tiny wail!) for the ravelry HPKCHC Herbology Class May 2009.  Here he is on ravelry.  He’s in my queue, add him to yours:   !

Isn’t he fantastic?

Here’s my version!

Cover your ears, it’s an angry, screaming baby mandrake!

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

Drum roll please!  I have chosen the FIRST EVER sewhooked Sew Awesome Craft!

I’ve made a lot of online craft friends over the years, and I’m always excited when they share their talents with me.  One of these wonderful people, hermione_jean on Livejournal, shared a bag with me that has become one of my absolute favorites to carry around.

She then wrote a tutorial so you can make one for yourself!

This bag has particular significance for me because she has incorporated my Hogwarts House patterns into the design.

I proudly present the the first EVER sewhooked Sew Awesome Craft:  Hogwarts House Tote Bag Tutorial, by hermione_jean.  Also check out the variation for a Hogwarts Unity Tote Bag.

What do I love about this bag?  Well, to start, it’s huge, with a square bottom and awesome long straps for throwing over your shoulder.   It’s got a fantastic harlequin design, created with different colored blocks of fabric, with a Hogwarts House crest pieced front and center.   The tutorial itself is just COOL and the bag looks like a pinwheel before it’s actually finished.

The Gryffindor bag, made in the tutorial

This is the bag she made for me!  Caw Caw Ravenclaw!

I hope you enjoy hermione_jean’s awesome bags as much as I do!

If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked,  I’d love to see a photo.  Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.

Posted in harry potter, paper piecing, sew awesome award ]]> http://blog.sewhooked.org/2009/05/29/sew-awesome-craft-hogwarts-house-tote-bag/feed/ 4 ofenjen Photobucket Photobucket Ravenclaw bag by hermione_jean http://blog.sewhooked.org/2009/05/29/sew-awesome-a-sewhooked-award/ http://blog.sewhooked.org/2009/05/29/sew-awesome-a-sewhooked-award/#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 15:13:45 +0000 ofenjen http://blog.sewhooked.org/?p=1289 ]]>

There are some amazing crafters that share their patterns, tutorials and ideas for free on the web and I fangirl them all!

To show my love and appreciation for these crafts, I proudly present the sewhooked sew awesome craft award!   I’ll be presenting this award completely randomly to for crafty ideas that I really like and then sharing links to those crafts here on the sewhooked blog!

Do you have a favorite craft?  Comment and I’ll check it out for a potential sewhooked sew awesome award!

Coming soon…loads of my favorite crafts!

Posted in sew awesome award ]]> http://blog.sewhooked.org/2009/05/29/sew-awesome-a-sewhooked-award/feed/ 7 ofenjen