Pillows!

I've had so much fun sewing up some stylish throw pillow covers for my house. It's a great way to change the look of the room or even to spruce up the couch, bed or chair. I had a few extra throw pillows so I measured them and made some removable pillow covers to coordinate with the sofa slip cover and some existing pillows. I found some great home decor upholstery fabric at Joann's. It's 100% cotton by Waverly Modern Essentials. Love the way they look!
After measuring the square dimensions of the pillow, I added 1" to both dimensions and used these dimensions to cut the front of the pillow. For the back of the pillow, I added 1" to the width across the pillow and 5" to the height to account for the overlap in the envelope fold. The two pictures below show the front (top photo) and back (bottom photo).


I had also purchased this spirited modern home decor fabric by Waverly, Wild Life in 3 different colors. At first, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but after making my first set of pillow covers, I thought that making some pillow covers with the Wild Life fabric would be a sure way to add some fun color to a room. The colors all look so great together and definitely will brighten any room! I added a top stitch detail around the edges to give them a little extra style. The throw pillow covers shown below are made to fit 16"x16" pillow forms and can be purchased in my Etsy shop in the for the HOME section.

EtsyBABY's Annual Candee Cayne Holiday Hunt

It's the 4th annual Candee Cayne Holiday Hunt hosted by the EtsyBABY Team. Tuesday, November 29th - Friday, December 9th, search Knitstyle's shop for the Candy Cayne graphic, purchase the listing and you'll receive FREE SHIPPING! Visit the EtsyBABY's website for a list of other participating shops and see what sale or special promotion Candee Cayne has to offer.

Look for this Candee Cayne graphic!

Do It Yourself, Or Not

Are you a knitter or would you rather purchase an already knit pair of SNUGGS(c)? SNUGGS(c) are Knitstyle by MMC's original design for suede knit baby booties. They are completely lined with the softest plush yarn that any baby would love!
Since 2007, Knitstyle by MMC has been knitting numerous pairs of SNUGGS(c) in either tan or chocolate brown. In 2009, I introduced the option for knitters to purchase my original pattern and knit their own pair of SNUGGS(c). Now, I am offering buyers to either purchase an already knit pair; purchase a DIY kit that includes the pattern and yarn; or to purchase the pattern alone. I also introduced some new colors for the suede-like yarn (colors to choose from: Tan, Chocolate Brown, Black, Purple, Light Blue, and Light Pink). Check these out!

SNUGGS(c) in Purple

DIY Pattern and 2 Yarn Kit

DIY Pattern and Suede Yarn (Blue)

DIY Pattern and Yarn Kit (Pink)

New Items:

Hello!

While I was searching for some new fabric to use in my shop, these wonderful multi colored fabrics caught my eye! The Goldfish Cloth Play Blocks (Heather Ross fabric) have been a big hit in my Etsy shop. I only have a limited amount of fabric left and soon they will be all gone! The Automobile themed fabric is just as fun.

I thought Automobiles would be a great theme to go with and the colors were just so fabulous! Here's a set of 3 Small Cloth Play Blocks with the automobile theme from the Riley Blake collection. The colors: turquoise, orange, brown, red, green and yellow!


Next, I came across these stripes, stars and circles fabric by the same designer, Riley Blake. These looked fun, colorful, perfect for making my blocks and great for learning shapes. Here's a Medium Cloth Play Block I call ALL STAR!

Please check out my Etsy shop, Knitstyle, for more great Cloth Play Blocks!

My Etsy Finds ... Dahlias

I've been searching through Etsy lately trying to find some cool art work, mostly giclee prints, for my new house. One of my favorite flowers, is the Dahlia. Every year my dad plants several Dahlia bulbs in his garden and around the yard. From whites and light hues of pink and yellow to big and vibrant puples, oranges, red and pinks. He puts alot of care into them every year and during the fall when the flowers stop blooming, he digs them all up and stores them in the basement for the winter. Here are a few Dahlia prints I came across in my search on Etsy.


1. Prettypetalstudio
2. NatureMandalas
3. ModernArtEveryday (MAE)
4. Gauchogirl

Etsy for Pets

My Black Lab, Neely, is 6 months old now and growing so fast! She's a sweetheart and loves going on the boat with me to work every day. She loves swimming in the ocean too! I have found some great handmade pet products on Etsy and want to share some of my favorites with you. One of my first Etsy purchases for my dog was from Sugarplumcollars. I instantly fell in love with all of these collars and it was truly difficult choosing one. In fact, I think it took a couple of weeks before I decided on the Spring Breeze. I ordered it in a big size knowing that Neely was going to be growing. She finally grew into it last week and now wears it every day. We get compliments on it all the time!

Another Etsy purchase was from Woofpurrcreations where I purchased 2 tug-o-war braids with squeakers. I love that they are a safe, earth-friendly toy and handmade in the USA. Neely loves to chew on these, especially the squeaker end. I would definitely recommend one of these for your dog!

Blog Giveaway from Knitstyle

I know everyone loves a Blog Giveaway! Here's how it works ... it's easy as 1-2-3!

1. Visit my Etsy Shop, Knitstyle
2. Come back here to the blog post and leave a comment and tell me what you like best from my shop (please leave your first name and last initial and email address).
3. Seven (7) days from the date of this post, come back to this blog and look to see if you are a winner.


The blog giveaway will be closed at midnight on Tuesday, June 23rd and 2 winners will be randomly chosen to each win a MEDIUM sized Cloth Play Block. Winners will be posted on Wednesday, June 24th.

Polka Dots for Baby

I love these fun and stylish polka dot blocks and burp cloths! They make such a wonderful gift for a new baby and every time I make a set of blocks or burp cloths with this Amy Butler fabric I have so much fun! The colors are so bright and cheerful and just knowing that they will soon be in the small hands (or mouth) of a special little one brings me joy. The fabric is 100% cotton and I use high quality fiberfill or eco-friendly bamboo fiberfill to stuff them and include a few ribbon tags along the seams for baby to tug on. I currently keep a hefty stock of these 6 colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and pink and hope that Amy Butler never decides to discontinue this fabric!!

(1) Set of 6 small polka dot cloth play blocks
(2) Polka dot burp cloths can be purchased in a set of 2 by selecting 2 colors of your choice.
(3) Set of 6 polka dot burp cloths
(4) Set of 3 polka dot cloth play blocks - small, medium & large.

The small polka dot cloth play blocks can also be purchased in a set of 3 or 4 by selecting the colors of your choice.

Want to make your baby gift extra special? ... In addition to purchasing some blocks and burp cloths from Knitstyle, I would suggest buying a set of 2 coordinating spotty elephant onesies from Tadpolecreations. Your gift will be complete and the envy of all the moms!

Help SAVE Handmade Baby & Kids Products

EtsyBABY & EtsyKIDS are launching a huge promotion to help SAVE Handmade Baby & Kids prodcuts. Starting Friday, January 9th - Monday, February 9th. over 100 shops will be offering discounts, free shipping and more to help in the request to change the CPSIA and help save handmade toys and kids products.
Knitstyle will be offering FREE SHIPPING on ALL MEDIUM sized cloth play blocks.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade knitstyle.etsy.com

Visit ShopEtsyBABY for details and a list of participating shops.

Wishing you the Happiest of Holidays!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy & Healthy New Year! Knitstyle will be taking a short break from now through the New Year. I look forward to "re-opening" my Etsy shop, Knitstyle, with new and fun products!

Cheers!
Megan

Babble Magazine's Holiday Gift Guide 2008

I have some exciting news to share with my blog readers ... Knitstyle's Goldfish Cloth Play Blocks are featured in Babble Magazine Holiday Gift Guide 2008!!! How exciting is that?! I was contacted by an Etsy Admin last month and was told that Babble Magazine would like to "potentially" feature one of my items in their online Holiday Gift Guide for 2008. If I was interested I had to send a set of blocks to Babble for review. If they were selected my blocks would be used for a giveaway and I would not get them back. I quickly made the blocks and shipped them to the Editors of Babble Magazine in hopes that they would select my handmade products to be featured in their Holiday Gift Guide. It was so hard not to mention anything about it to anyone, but I am a bit superstitious so I didn't say a word.
A few days ago I received an email from Babble notifying me that my product has been featured in Babble Holiday Gift Guide ... I clicked the link and sure enough they were there under the baby section ... right between a pair of Robeez shoes and a large stuffed toy from Babystyle. Wow!

Have a look for yourself, sign up to be entered into the giveaway and be sure to check out the other categories for more great Holiday Gifts!

Babble is a new kind of parenting magazine, one that talks to parents not just as caregivers, but as fun, smart, intellectually curious people.

Etsy Front Page

How exciting is it when you turn on your computer, go to Etsy.com and see your handmade product on the FRONT PAGE?! Knitstyle has made it on the front page of Etsy twice in the last month and I missed it both times! I was fortunate enough to have some friends watching out for me and they captured the whole thing for me. Here's Knitstyle on the Front Page of Etsy!

Martha's Vineyard Baby Toy Collection

I'd like to introduce a Special Edition to my Etsy Shop. Earlier this year I came across this very special fabric with printed scenes from the island of Martha's Vineyard (where I live). At the time, I was picking out fabric for a sewing class I was about to take and wanted to make something for my cousin who was going to have a baby a few months later. She grew up on the Vineyard but now resides on the west coast so I thought this Martha's Vineyard fabric would be perfect for her new little one soon to arrive.

The class was called "Quilt In A Day" and was set for the entire day. I was a beginner so I had a lot of help from the shop owner/instructor in order to finish my first quilting project (a baby quilt). This is the quilt I made that day and later shipped off to my cousin with some cute embellished burp cloths made from the same fabric. I also included a wonderful Zadyball from one of my friends at EtsyBABY!

A few months later I went back to buy some more of this fabric and started making cloth play blocks. They are unique and specialized so I wasn't sure how they would sell. Each block has 4 out of 6 different scenes from Martha's Vineyard; Islander Ferry Boat, West Chop Lighthouse, Edgartown Lightouse, Man Fishing, Oak Bluffs Gazebo/fireworks, West Tisbury Grange Hall/Farmers Market. I was thrilled after the first one sold! I sold a few more and had a few request for friends and family over the summer. Just recently, I finally made a trip back to the fabric store to buy more of this fabric and that is when I learned it had been DISCONTINUED! I was able to buy a small amount of the blue and some green so now I have a very limited supply! I'm having a hard time deciding whether I should just keep the fabric for myself or start cutting it up to make more toys for my shop.
Currently I am offering the medium sized cloth play block in blue, red or green. The block can be purchased individually or with a set of 3 toys that each make a noise- one squeaks, one jingles and one crinkles.
The fabric is from Susan Branch's Martha's Vineyard Watercolor Collection

Baby Toys with BAMBOO Fiberfill

Hello! My BAMBOO Fiberfill is here! You now have the option of having soft baby toys (cloth play blocks and knit bears) from my shop filled with Bamboo Fiberfill. What is Bamboo Fiberfill? Bamboo Fiberfill has a unique soft and silky texture, is Earth-friendly and made with renewable resources. The Bamboo plant is the fastest growing timber plant and requires no fertilizers to grow. It thrives naturally without using pesticides to grow. The Bamboo fiber is eco-friendly, naturally antibacterial, anti fungal and has great mildew resistance. At Knitstyle by MMC you can add bamboo fiberfill to your order of cloth play blocks or a knit bear!

My niece Sydney loves to play with her cloth play blocks! Sydney is wearing a super cute "Here Kitty Kitty" onesie from Oliverlane.

Happy Mother's Day!

I've been back home for about 2 weeks and have been finding it hard to get back into the swing of things with my knitting and sewing. For the first part of April I was traveling around Arizona and California. I was in Sedona, Arizona for vacation and it is so beautiful there! We really enjoyed the trip; from the Pink Jeep Tours, Horseback Riding, Grand Caynon trip and most of all just getting away from home! Now, it has been over a month since my last post!

Mother's Day is next weekend and although my mom is no longer with us I'd like to share a few of my Etsy favorites for this Mother's Day. I'm sure my mom would have enjoyed these too!

(Mother's Day card from Moderncard)


(Fabric Coaster by Starfishbarbados)

(Heart bowl from JDWolfePottery)

(Knitting Needle Organizer from Sarahkincheloe)

(I LOVE YOU ceramic bowl by Palomasnest)

POLKA DOTS Cloth Play Blocks

I finished the third set of blocks to complete my order and have also added them to my Etsy shop. I am also offering the polka dot blocks in a set of 3 or 4 all sized small.
I love these polka dots! I can make them in my standard sets as shown or in custom sizes. Here they are!