My Loose Threads

Summer Catch Up

2010-08-29T10:58:00.000-04:00

So I've taken a little blogging break here. Maybe it's a summer thing, maybe I need a better direction here. Really, a lot of the reason is that all my projects have been knitting ones so they get documented, photographed, noted, cataloged, linked, and oohed and aahed over on Ravelry. Much of my purpose for the blog was just to have a great record of what I've made in one place. For knitting Ravelry handles that perfectly. For sewing, there's just nothing like it.

So now it's time for a big catch up! First here are my shawls & shrugs. From top to bottom: Summer Flies in Handmaiden's Lady Godiva, Hibiscus in Kelpie Fiber's superwash sock, a Saroyan shrug in Sanguine Gryphon's Codex, and my second Daybreak in Sanguine Gryphon's Bugga. The Saroyan shrug is a project I copied with a leaf lace edging from the Saroyan shawl. All details are on my Ravelry project pages.

I think I need a break from shawls. I feel like making sweaters to my great surprise!

A few weeks ago I finished my last Loved Crown for the year. Eight crowns for eight 4th birthdays!! What a fun pattern. I had so much fun coming up with different color combinations for all the kids. All eight were made with Knitpick's Comfy Bulky.

This last one was a birthday present for my niece who was turning 6. It's a combination of three patterns by Susan B. Anderson. In her "Itty Bitty Toys" book she has a section of reversible toys. I took the frog, sister, and the free Ribbit pattern frog and combined elements of each to make a Princess & the Frog reversible, like the Disney movie. I think it came out pretty good! I love the little details.
Made with Knitpick's Comfy Worsted. My go-to yarn for toys, I have a ton of colors on hand.

A Little Summer Prep

2010-07-01T10:40:00.006-04:00

So what do I have planned for summer knitting? Um, more scarves and shawls of course!

If you're wondering when I'll have "enough" that won't come until I run out of patterns I want to make.... so basically never. I'm sure at some point I'll tire of lace and move on, but for now I really enjoy it so I'm running with it!

I'm constantly pairing yarns with patterns and thinking about what to knit next. Inevitably, I change my mind a few times before any actual knitting occurs, and there are always new patterns that often distract me too. But I'm hoping to knit up these yarns this summer -- such a pretty rainbow!

From left to right:

Handmaiden Swiss Mountain Mulberry/Tussah (worsted weight, Topaz color)

Malabrigo Sock (fingering weight, Indiecita color)

Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! (sport weight, Orchid Mantis color)

more Bugga! (Sharpshooter Leafhopper color -- yes they love the crazy names!)

Kelpie Fibers Superwash Sock (fingering weight, Name of the Rose color)

I love seeing the hanks all uncoiled

With some help from my ball winder and Tinker Toy swift they are all tidy and ready to go!

Finishing time - Silk and Sequins Scarf #2

2010-06-17T11:14:00.008-04:00

It was my birthday recently and a few weeks beforehand my husband asked my 4-year old son what they should get for me. He replied, "I think mommy would like some yarn." So true :)

So one day they stopped at my favorite yarn shop, Loop, to buy some. Of course my son wanted to buy yarn in his favorite color -- pink! I think it would have been very funny to have witnessed those two shopping for yarn. But they did a wonderful job and picked out quite a winner.

The yarn is Tili Tomas' Disco Lights in the Hope colorway, a true splurge of pure silk with a thread of sequins running through it.

I immediately thought to make the Raha Scarf from the "Knitted Lace of Estonia" book (amazing book!) I've been itching to make some of the fabulous patterns in the book and while Raha is by far the simplest, I thought it could work here. It knitted up incredibly quickly (one of my favorite qualities!) but then I realized.... I hated it. Too dull, too much garter stitch on the edging, didn't show off the yarn at all, but mostly it just looked like a beginner's project. A simple pattern in a heavier yarn can often be a great thing, but not here. I think this pattern needed it's original sock weight, not worsted like I was using. Ripped out the stitches and sought out a new pattern.

I have used the Disco Lights yarn once before to make my Ariel scarf. Love that scarf -- I've worn it several times and I think the pattern was a wonderful match for it. I didn't want to simply repeat it, so I set out searching for something similar. I realized that it was the changing directions the stitches appear to have that worked so well in the silk. I said "appear" because it's just increases and decreases in the right spots that make it look like the stitches are flowing in different paths. I found just the right thing in another book, "Knitting Lace". This book takes a very old lace sampler scarf and charted and wrote out all 101 lace patterns used. I chose pattern #54. Raveled here

Aaaah much better! Thank you boys for such a lovely gift!

By the way both those knitting books (and many many more) are currently 40% off at Knitpicks.com!

Finishing Time - Sea Silk Scarf

2010-06-13T17:41:00.003-04:00

Once I heard about a gorgeous yarn called Sea Silk that is part silk, part seacell, with incredible drape and shine that even smelled a bit like the sea, I had to try it. The fact that it's dyed by Handmaiden means that it comes in the most incredible colorways too. I now have several skeins but here is the first project I've finished with it.

The pattern is called Montego Bay and it really goes hand in hand with Sea Silk. It's just a simple lace mesh with fringe but it's just a perfect showcase for the yarn. One nice twist is that it's knit with straight ends but once finished it hangs as tapered points. The pattern calls for braided fringe and I did attempt it, but after the first braid I didn't want to do any more! I made my scarf a bit wider by casting on 47 stitches to start.
Raveled here

The colorway here is called Cosmic Dawn - quite an interesting combination!

Finishing time - Daybreak shawl

2010-06-10T10:50:00.005-04:00

Daybreak shawl is done! I made it to match my raincoat above and of course it's finished just in time for it to be too warm to wear. Ah well, I'm sure I'll enjoy it in the fall. This is another of of the WIPs I've posted about previously. I started so many projects at once but now I'm finishing them all up in a hurry.

The pattern is Daybreak by Stephen West. The yarn is KnitPick's new Stroll Tonal in the Springtime and Kindling colors. I love tonals, I don't think I want to knit with solids ever again! Since I had a generous 462 yards of each, I was aiming for the medium size shawl but along the way I grew bored and cut out rows here and there and it ended up between a small and a medium. Since I really wanted to use it as a scarf with my raincoat I'm not sure what I was thinking aiming for it to be so big! Small would have been fine.

Raveled here

As usual, I couldn't help myself and I blocked the daylights out of it! I started out thinking I would just "lightly block" it to straighten out the edges, but then once I get out my blocking wires all that goes flying out the window.

Finishing time - Placemats

2010-06-08T17:00:00.003-04:00

The last 2 weeks I've been all about finishing up my projects!

Here are the two place mats I pieced ages ago, quilted a while back and finally even the binding is done too. Once again, I left the hand sewing of the binding for my mom on her most recent visit. She's really much quicker and claims to even enjoy it. I need to remember to always have a hand sewing project ready for her!

My free-motion quilting on these is pretty awful. I just can't seem to get the speed/control down with that. Of course more practice could definitely help. I always seem to be going OK, OK, OK, big jaggedly motion, OK, OK, teeny tiny stitches, over compensate with overly large stitches, OK, OK... you get the picture.

I posted a few WIP pictures back here. This project is from a Connecting Threads kit and I don't think I fully realized just how involved they were. As I started cutting, the stacks of tiny triangles were piling up and I wondered if I was in over my head. In the end, I'm pretty happy with them even though they definitely aren't perfect.

I hope to make the coordinating table runner too. After that, I should have plenty of scraps to make a few (way simpler!) place mats to match. The kids are definitely not eating on these two!

Ochre Echo

2010-05-28T11:09:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I posted about a ton of knitting projects I had in progress, all at once. I call that start-it-itis where you just feel like starting project after project, when the beginning is more fun than slogging through to the end. Well now I'm feeling a huge bout of finish-it-up-itis!

My latest finish is the Echo Flower Shawl (free pattern on Ravelry) that I made in Malabrigo Sock yarn in the Ochre colorway.
I LOVE this pattern. It has several traditional Estonian elements and I loved learning the new stitches for it. Raveled here

Some closeups...
Here is the flower repeat. It uses 2-into-9 and 3-into-9 stitches. Basically you turn 2 or 3 stitches into 9 by knitting into them extra times. It's different but not hard, and creates an interesting effect. It's the little circle holes with all the stitches radiating out from the center of the "flower".

Here is a closeup of the border. I do love a detailed border and this definitely qualifies! The little yarn blobs are called "nupps" and they add a neat textural element to the pattern. The nupps are made by turning 1 stitch into 9, then turning the 9 back into 1 on the next row. Voila - yarn blob!

I need to learn to weave the ends in before taking pictures so I don't have silly threads like in this one. But here is how I wear my shawls usually.

Here is how important blocking is for lace. This is exactly how it looks after coming off the needles. Not anything I would call lace quite yet!

I think at some points during May I've had 6 projects I was working on, or ignoring, but I really feel like getting them all out of the way before starting new ones.
Some recent progress:
- finished two knitted crowns (three more to make this summer!)
- I'm going to end my striped Daybreak shawl earlier than planned. I intend to use it as a scarf with my raincoat so no need to make it enormous. So suddenly it's almost done! :)
- almost done with one super secret project
- Two other knitted projects will be worked on once I clear out the two above, a scarf in SeaSilk and a second Calais shawl
- My ducks in a row pull toy really just needs the wheels and ties assembled
- and on the sewing front, my place mats were finally quilted and just need the hand stitching of the binding.

Stephen West knitting

2010-05-12T08:46:00.004-04:00

This great yarn shop here, Loop, is constantly having great knit designers in for events. They are often book signings, classes, trunk shows, casual knit-and-greets or even all of the above. I really look forward to seeing what classes the guests are offering particularly since they tend to be more specialized or advanced. The problem is that I can never make it to them! I was out of town for Jared Flood's (aka Brooklyn Tweed) classes, had my son's 4th birthday parties during Anne Hanson's (of Knitspot) advanced lace knitting class (I nearly cried over this one!) and on and on. So I was happily surprised when I saw that Stephen West was coming to Loop and I actually can make his advanced shawl workshop!

I've been working on two of his shawl pattern now and just finished one this week.

Herbivore

I knit this one with Malabrigo sock in the Impressionist Sky colorway. I had such a hard time picking which yarn to use for this pattern. It looks great in really varied colors too, but in the end I wanted to highlight the texture of the twist rib stitches and went with a semi-solid.

Raveled here

The Malabrigo is so light and soft, it drapes so well. I'm with my son here enjoying an outdoor lunch in the city.

Daybreak

Another one that is incredibly hard to pick yarn for! It seems to look great in just about every yarn combination - colors that are similar, light/dark, contrasting solids, semi-solids, one solid and one high variegated.... Options overload! The combination I finally decided on is made to match my raincoat.

I'm a bit further in now than when I took this picture, but still about half way to go.

I actually did my first of Stephen West's patterns back in February -- the Colonnade shawl, another fun design.

I'm looking forward to the class!

One more WIP - but this time it's a quilting project

2010-05-04T10:20:00.003-04:00

I know my last post was about the way too many works in progress I have on my knitting needles, but here's one that's on my sewing table. I actually did a good bit of work on it this week for the most arbitrary reason: the weather suddenly turned steamy but the basement is nice and cool!

This is a kit from Connecting Threads. It's for a table runner and 2 place mats, all fabric and the pattern included. I'm just working on the place mats to start though I also want to make the runner. I also ordered a charm pack (5" squares) and will have leftovers from the kit to make a few more (simpler!) place mats to match.

I should have gotten a bit worried when I started cutting - this is a lot of pieces and some are teeny tiny! Here are my stacks of triangles (plus the pieced center squares ready to go):

It's not a hard pattern, but there's not much room for error. sew two triangles, press, trim, sew two triangles, press, square up, repeat, repeat, repeat. I do like the finished square though:

There a nice sense of accomplishment finishing one of these squares. The down side is that it's only 6.5" square and it takes four of them for each place mat. Then add the border pieces but after all this another 8 pieces feels like nothing.

I currently have both place mats fully pieced and pinned and ready to be quilted. Wish me luck there!

Oh and this kit is on super sale right now. Only $13 and it includes 4.5 yards of fabric!

Too Many WIPs

2010-04-30T17:26:00.001-04:00

I have 5 knitting projects I'm currently working on. Not just 5 projects that have been started and put aside, I'm actually working on all of them somewhat equally. I usually work on 2 or 3 of these in a night. I just pull one out of my knitting bag and do a few rows, or a pattern repeat, or just until I get bored. And then I move on to another project. It may sound crazy, but it's actually pretty fun. None of the projects are very challenging -- for 3 of them I don't need to look at the pattern anymore and the other two just need an occasional glance -- so perhaps this is my way of injecting some complexity!

I'm sure I'll post more about these as they finish so for now just a few little pics....

Spring Shawls - Calais Tinkering & Miss Woodhouse

2010-04-23T11:28:00.005-04:00

Yes I've been making a lot of lace shawls and No I'm not even close to done! No no no no no!

My latest two are also my current favorite shape - triangle/crescent. With a "classic" triangle shawl you knit from the center top and increase equally along the center spine and edges, working outwards. This gives you a straight top edge with a length that is double the height of the spine. My Swallowtail shawl is a good example.

With these triangle/crescent shapes the increases on the edges are twice as rapid as along the spine. The end result is longer and more shallow. The top edge is often blocked as a curve making it look like a crescent, but the construction is just like a classic triangle. One great advantage is that you can make great sized shawl with relatively little yarn. Another is that extra length makes it so easy to wear.

I had previously made the Traveling Woman shawl and loved it so I set out to find more patterns with this shape. There aren't too many out there (yet?) but I selected Wendy Johnson's Miss Woodhouse pattern as my next project.

Blocked out nice an big and only used about 315 yards! I used Madeline Tosh sock yarn for this one in the "William Morris" colorway. A beautiful, warm brown with speckles of robin-egg blue.

Raveled here

Next up I fell for a new free pattern Calais. I thought it would make a perfect spring shawl but it was that classic triangle and I really wanted that triangle/crescent again. So I set about to alter it to fit that new shape.

First I started with the original pattern chart and widened it along the edge. Then I basically filled in the extra spaces with the pattern. It took a bit of fiddling with until it looked right, but here is what I came up with (sorry for the weird spacing around this):

Next I continued the extra increases through the eyelet portion and finally I was ready for the edging. Here is where it gets complicated again. I wanted to do the edging as is but I needed to get a correct stitch count to start it. You need a multiple of 20 plus 7 for it. When I made mine I knew I'd have 2 extra stitches but those garter rows of the eyelet section are perfect for camouflaging a couple decreases or increases if you need.

I didn't do all the edging rows as written, but it's pretty flexible on doing more or less rows here. With my handy kitchen scale I was able to use just about all of my yarn, around 350yards for this one in HandMaiden Casbah, the "Rose Garden" colorway.

Raveled here

It's definitely a bit trickier to block these shapes but worthwhile!

Look! Something Shiny!

2010-04-20T10:26:00.004-04:00

On my last trip to my local knitting shop I was happily browsing away in my favorite section -- the beautiful handpainted sock yarns. There was a new batch of Malabrigo and fun new fruit-striped Lorna's Laces and much more. Ahhhhh.... so lovely.

But meanwhile my mother was canvassing the entire store and finding all kinds of different yarns. Finally I met up with her hovering over a silky, luscious scarf. Oooooohhh..... it's soooo pretty.

The yarn was 100% silk and had sequins in it too. The sample scarf was in a gorgeous navy blue like a shimmery river that sucked us both in. We looked at the price tag and said yikes! But we were too far gone and a skein of navy went home with mum while I chose a moss green.

The name of the yarn is "Disco Lights" by Tili Tomas.

Other projects got swept aside and I set out to find the perfect pattern for it. I did take the simple pattern that the sample had been knit with, but simple knitting and I don't always mesh. Even though I was pretty sure that as a scarf you'd never see much pattern (100% silk is so drapey), I wanted it to keep me interested as I knit. I ended up choosing the Ariel Scarf (free pattern) and think it worked out great.

The yarn was a little bit tricky to work with. The sequins are on a thread that is just carried along with the silk. So you always have to make sure that you're catching both strands as you knit. Also I had to adjust how I held the yarn since at the beginning the sequins were getting pushed back and bunched as I was feeding the yarn out. I had to hold it with very little tension.

But in the end I have a luscious, sparkly, silky stream of scarf of my own.

It's such a difference from the merino sock yarns and heavier cottons I've been using lately, but I am glad we got swept away by it.

Raveled here

Happy Birthday Crowns

2010-04-14T20:00:00.006-04:00

My little boy turned 4 this past weekend - where is the time flying?
March had been taken over by toy knitting so I didn't knit or sew any additional gifts for him except for one that was for me a must-do.

The pattern is called "Loved" and you can buy it ($1.99) on Ravelry.com or on Knitpicks.com. I ran across this pattern back in December and instantly knew it would be something I'd be making a lot of. I've decided it's my gift for all the four-year-olds. We go to a lot of kids' birthday parties through the year so any project I commit to making so many of needs to be:
1) relatively quick
2) interesting enough so that I don't burn out, and
3) something I think will really be enjoyed.

I couldn't get him to model his own properly, but here is one for a friend:

I've now made 3 of these and don't think I'll mind knitting up the many more I have planned. I'm having fun planning out the colors. The pattern doesn't call for different colors for the bobbles but I really think it's worth the extra bit of awkwardness it adds. I loved the "jewels" for the top of my son's crown.

Here's a peak at the work in progress. Really crazy looking I know, but I love the interesting construction this has.

I've been making these in the Knitpick's Comfy Bulky yarns. This is the same as I've been knitting my itty bitty toys, but in a heavier weight.

The Easter Bunny is here!

2010-04-02T11:09:00.004-04:00

Sometimes a project just sneaks in and you just have to go with it. Fortunately this one was pretty quick, about 3 nights. With an Easter egg hunt last weekend, more Easter plans this weekend, a sudden rise in temperatures and cherry blossoms blooming, I needed a fun spring project. A bunny must be made!

I chose Rabbit (free!) by Susan B. Anderson, author of Itty Bitty Toys and other fun things. Rabbit is a cousin of Ribbit and shares his fun unique twist -- the body is stuffed with a tennis ball!

Overall it was an easy project, and I pretty much followed the pattern as is. I love the ear shaping and the pom pom tail.

Raveled here

For yarn I used KnitPicks Comfy Worsted. Again, I can't believe how much I like this cotton/acrylic blend when I previously hated the cotton and acrylics I had tried. It's cheap and comes in lots of fun colors. Of course I made this bunny pink since it's Nate's favorite color. :)

I've been gathering up the Comfy yarn for a while now. Anytime I make an order with Knitpicks I seem to toss a few balls of Comfy in with it. It's become quite a collection!

Garden of Alla Shawl

2010-03-29T13:01:00.007-04:00

On one of my mom's trips out to Philadelphia she became enamored of my Koigu Feather & Fan scarf and was determined to make one just like it. She even bought 4 skeins to make two scarves. Well... I think she'll finish one of them someday but in the meantime I thought I'd make her something she could wear now. :)

I chose the yarn first. I was looking for purple but didn't want either a solid or a handpainted look. I found this Mini Mochi yarn with long color changes. Kind of like Noro but it's actually soft!
After knitting with it I'm undecided on whether I like the yarn. It's very soft, but a bit fuzzy and very splitty. The colors were gorgeous though each skeins had the color changes a bit different.

Next I needed a pattern that wouldn't conflict too much with the color changes, a basic repeating geometric pattern I thought would be best, but I also wanted something interesting to knit! I chose a free pattern called Garden of Alla. It turned out to be pretty challenging, I wasn't able to memorize it until the final repeat. But I do like how it looks!
Raveled here

Pre Blocking. One thing I love about these slow color-changing yarns is watching the color emerge as you knit. It keeps you motivated to just do a few more rows each day!

I finished this way back in January, gave it to my mom in late February and finally am sorting the pictures out now. Here is my mum modeling her new shawl -- doesn't she look lovely!

Itty Bitty Knitting

2010-03-17T09:20:00.005-04:00

Have you seen the Itty Bitty Toys book by Susan B. Anderson? It's one of those so very rare books where you actually want to make every.single.pattern. Really -- the classic toys, the quick toys, the sock yarn toys and then the irresistible reversibles -- I wish I had time for them all! But those reversibles really drew me in.

So for my first project from the book I chose the small and simple Egg to Bird. This was an easy intro as the egg side is quick and the bird only has a few details. The pattern also includes a nest which I haven't gotten around to quite yet. Raveled here

Yes he really does turn inside out into an egg, but that was too boring a picture to post. Instead, look at his silly face!

Next up I tried out one of the bigger reversibles and decided to mix and match from the pattern collection. So I took the Elephant and paired him with the Mouse. They just were my 2 favorites but I think they work together just fine!

For the yarn, I had bought some cotton boucle (KnitPick's Crayon) and decided to try it here. I started knitting it single but thought it was too flimsy. So I doubled the boucle, went up to a size 7 needle and it felt perfect. So I didn't end up with a giant toy I scaled everything down roughly 25%. So I cast on fewer stitches and skipped rows here and there. They end up a bit bigger than Susan's originals but a nice size.

Of course holding the yarn doubled meant I burnt through it quickly! For the Mouse side I used up all but 2 yards maybe and on the blue side I have not one bit left. In fact I had to skip poor elephant's feet and make his ears a bit differently. The pattern gave 2 ways to make them but I knew I needed to conserve yarn so I just did some garter stitch. They could definitely have been bigger but again, no yarn left! Raveled here

I love the details of the mouse. Of course they definitely slow you down but in the end they really make the toy. His ears are made from a grey ear, a pink ear, stitch them together then stitch to the head. And then repeat for the other ear. Not quick, but look how cute! My son only likes the Mouse side showing since it has pink. :)

Last Thursday my favorite yarn shop Loop was having yet another guest come in and they turned it into a really fun event. It was the Itty Bitty author, Susan, and instead of just a book signing they sold kits with an unreleased mini reversible Susan designed! The whole night was just chatting with Susan and knitting along. Susan is so friendly and easy to talk to and everyone was squishing the toys and having fun. She wrote a long blog post about the night with tons of pictures (I look kind of crazy in them) and even linked to my Mouse & Elephant project!

A few nights later I finished the kit project and it's adorable! It's a mini bunny and duck - how perfect for Easter and spring right around the corner. I'm debating making more of these as gifts I think it came out so cute. I love the little bunny face!

If you're interested in the pattern, I'd call Loop ASAP and see if they have any kits left (they will ship).

Of course I'm already working on another pattern from the book, The Mama and Baby Ducks. They are the classic duck pull toy and couldn't be sweeter. Wish me luck making the axles and wheels!

Cabled hats and Cuties

2010-03-07T09:26:00.003-05:00

I'm definitely pretty late posting these, but winter isn't over yet. :)
I made these hats in December and January and thought they came out great. The lighter blue one was actually my first cabled project ever! Raveled here and here.
Gotta love a hat with ear flaps and pom pom!

The pattern is called Master Charles and is a $1.99 download available through KnitPicks.com. This may be the cutest hat pattern ever! One of the best features of the pattern is that it includes sizes from infant through adult. I actually used a mix of sizes for my boys. Disturbingly, the almost-4-year old and the 18-month old have the same size head!
I made both with Malabrigo worsted in the Blue Surf and Stone Blue colorways. Yummy yarn.

A high school friend of my husband is a wedding photographer now and we did a portrait session with her for the kids. Her name is Lorraine Daley. I thought the hats would be a cute prop and raced to finish the 2nd one for the shoot. I think they look good! (the hats and the kids of course)

A few more cute kid pics!

Ravelympics 2010

2010-03-02T23:05:00.004-05:00

Did you have fun watching the Winter Olympics? I had fun knitting along too.
Over on Ravelry.com they held another Ravelympics event. The idea is to challenge yourself and finish your project(s) during the Olympics - opening ceremony to closing - 17 days.
Here are my medals I "won" :)

For my project, I knew I wanted to knit a shawl in a new shape so I chose a pattern that is knit side to side. The pattern is called Argante. It has some interesting features - a lace edging knit as you go, short row shaping, and the cast on and off are just a few stitches. But I have to admit, I didn't entirely love knitting it. There is a lot of garter stitch and I found myself trying to race through it. I guess I missed the long purl rows of a stockinette shawl!
Raveled here

The yarn is a lovely hank from my favorite Etsy dyer, Kelpie Fibers. I have one more delicious hank from there to knit up sometime soon.

I also had a vacation during this 17-day-stretch and I wasn't sure how much knitting I'd get to do during it (turned out to be plenty) so I brought along yarn and a pattern for a second shawl, just in case.
And to my surprise, I finished it too!

The pattern is the popular Traveling Woman and I can't recommend it enough. I'm definitely planning to make another (and another and another?) It was so fast to knit, simple, enjoyable and looks great too. Instead of a traditional triangle shape it increases faster on the sides which gives a softer crescent shape. Perfect.
Raveled here

For this shawl I chose 2 lovely skeins of Koigu KPPPM (yes I've used this a lot and yes I have plenty more!) I only had 350 yards which is pretty skimpy for a shawl, but I probably only used about 320 yards on it. It blocked out plenty wide.

AND to top off an already fabulous experience, the "team" I joined for Ravelympics pulled my name to win a skein of hand-painted yarn! Woohoo!

Ribbit in the Snow

2010-02-11T14:10:00.005-05:00

We're buried in snow here! My office has been closed the past 2 days so it's been 2 days of shoveling and playing in the snow. By now there are paths on the sidewalks and some cleared driveways but the piles of snow are over our heads. Normally we get maybe 2 days of snow to briefly play in so this is crazy for Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, I finished a project, Ribbit, a free pattern from Susan B . Anderson. She's the author of Itty Bitty Toys and other cute knitting books and also has a great blog with free patterns (one of which is Ribbit and the similar Rabbit). Besides being obviously cute I thought it was a fun twist to have the body be stuffed with a tennis ball. Ribbit is bouncy but much less than a plain tennis ball.

I actually started Ribbit way back in the summer, paused to get a tennis ball and never picked him back up. These past 2 weeks I've really been working on finishing up some works in progress and I'm glad this froggie was one of them. I think the best part of little toys like this are the details and the feet and toes are the star for me. I love them! They were crazy slow (for me) to knit but worth it. Raveled here.

And of course I need to share a few other snowy pics!

More Malabrigo - Colonnade Shawl

2010-02-08T12:48:00.007-05:00

Can you handle seeing one last project with Malabrigo Burgundy? I promise, this one is the last, I only have tiny scraps left. For this shawl I paired the Burgundy with Malabrigo's Stonechat colorway. An interesting name for an interesting color combination! It's mainly burgundy and olive with some brown and lighter red mixed in.

The pattern is Colonnade by Stephen West and it's free on Knitty.com. I found it pretty quick and easy and I did a few minor modifications - more rows of the burgundy and a few less of the lace pattern just so I could use up all of my yarn. I started this project early in January during a burst of "start-it-itis". I think I cast on a half dozen projects in a couple days and I'm working on several of them now.

Of course I blocked it like crazy!

I like the shaping, 4 sections rather than a traditional triangle's 2 halves. I did add the loop and toggle button too. Raveled here.

NaKniMitMo 2010

2010-01-29T15:29:00.004-05:00

You know all about NaKniMitMo right? ;)

I discovered through following the very-talented SpillyJane knits blog that January is national knit mittens month. It's a month long knit-a-long with prizes, chatter, inspiration and support over on the Ravelry and Flikr groups.

My first attempt at mittens was a mess and has since been ripped out. I started them again and ran out of steam after the first cuff. Something just wasn't clicking with that yarn and pattern.

So I thought I was just going to skip the mitten-knitting but my darn burgundy Malabrigo yarn was taunting me. I bought it intending to make a hat/scarf/mitten set. The hat and scarf are finished and getting lots of wear. They wanted mittens!! So I gave in and set off looking for a pattern. For me this is a week-long debate, minimum.

I ended up sticking with my new cabling skills and chose the (free!) Chevalier Mitten pattern. I did a few modifications so check on my project page on Ravelry for those. It ended up being a great pattern for me. Lots of cabling to keep you busy and moving along, a simple knit palm to give you a break, an easy way to alter the length and a great fit. I love how the cabling really snugs around my wrist perfectly.

I am a mitten failure no more! :)

A Not-so-Secret Swap

2010-01-22T10:10:00.005-05:00

Back in the fall I participated in a DIY Fairy swap with a group of great ladies from thebabywearer.com. The setup is quite simple. Everyone posts basic info about what fabrics/colors/patterns you like or dislike, what your kids like and then everyone gets matched up. You only need to make one item but I knew from previous rounds that everyone goes well above and beyond. Check out all the goodies my Fairy made for us!

I'm sure my giftee knew that I was her Fairy, I was not very sneaky and didn't know how to keep Paypal from printing my name in the return address on the shipping label. :) So I feel safe in sharing these projects here that I'm not ruining any secret.

Part of the fun of the Fairy swap was all the sleuthing to make the gifts really personalized. My giftee was a mama with a little girl and boy. I found that the mama had just gotten a tattoo and posted a picture of her arm. I thought the design was really neat so I took the picture, traced it, cleaned it up, played with the colors and made an image I used to print out a notecard set. I'd never done anything like this and I was really happy how they came out.

I made a fabric case to hold the cards and envelopes, of course in a great butterfly print. The closure was an elastic hair band and a fabric covered button. Love those.

For her daughter I saw that the little girl had requested a Darth Vader/Princess theme birthday party. Yes. Really. Coolest theme ever! Of course I had to do something with this. So I came up with a reversible bag. It's basically an Amy Butler Swing Bag made child-sized.

For her son I was just working with a description that he liked just about everything. So I decided a little stuffie toy would be great. I must have been looking at this little evil cupcake monster stuffie I have when I dreamed this up. I know I was thinking of a silly spider toy I made that had these great boots on each leg so that took care of the feet. But for hands? I know I didn't want actual hands for a cupcake but what to do? Then it hit me -- oven mitts! Naturally, a tiny chef hat would be necessary as well.

I love the tiny details

I had so much fun coming up with ideas for this, I hope another round starts soon!

Mmmmmmmalabrigo!

2010-01-17T19:37:00.003-05:00

Yummy.
I'm loving knitting with Malabrigo Merino Worsted! It's so soft. I love the subtle changes in the mostly-solids (though the wild colors are fun too!) I also appreciate the nice sized 210-yard hanks and the price isn't bad at all.
I chose the Burgundy colorway to make a nice hat/scarf/mitten set. I have the hat and scarf and maybe when I can decide on a mitten pattern I'll get to work on that too.

For the scarf I did something a bit different - a lace triangle. The pattern is called 198 yds. of Heaven but I actually used even less - a measly 147 yards (a guess, based on weight). It's certainly not a shawl, but I was only meaning to make a scarf to wrap around my neck. After blocking it measured 31" wide. Small but perfectly useful and it feels so nice to wear next my skin.

Raveled here. The pattern is free and suitable for a beginner (charted or written out) but it's only on Ravelry.

The hat was a more challenging pattern. It's the Laurel from the Made in Brooklyn pattern booklet. It's meant to be a tam but um, I don't think I could pull that look off. I just wanted a regular beanie-type hat but I really liked the cabled and bobbled pattern. I ended up modifying it a bit - I did 5 repeats instead of 6 (to reduce the width) and removed 4 rows and redid the ending (to reduce the height). My previous attempts to tinker with a pattern were NOT promising but this one came out great! The pattern had 4 different cables, bobbles, a very very busy chart and tons of errata. Do not attempt this without checking those!
Raveled here

Swatch and Frog, Swatch and Frog

2010-01-12T00:18:00.003-05:00

I have two skeins of a highly variegated yarn that I'm determined to knit up. But I'm having the hardest time finding a pattern that works with it. Really, I've knit it in six different patterns now and I'm just crossing my fingers that this time it will work. Or I might get a foot into the scarf and decide to frog it yet again. (Frogging is what knitters call ripping out the stitches. Fortunately the yarn is 100% reusable in most cases).

The yarn is Koigu KPPPM. In two skeins there are 350 yards, enough for a long skinny scarf but pretty scant for a triangle shawl. So I'm limiting myself to patterns I can do as a scarf.

I first tried the Woodland Shawl pattern. I thought the yarn was too busy and went with a semi-solid instead (my Rust Woodland which worked wonderfully).

Next up I tried the super popular pattern Clapotis. I got a ways in and confirmed that I really dislike the look of those dropped stitches. The columns of yarn lines just look... unfinished to me.

No picture for this one, but I started and stopped a Lacy Baktus scarf. A narrow triangle, mostly garter stitch worked side to side. The garter stitch made the color variations look even more frenzied and a bit sloppy. Not the one.

Then I started doing little swatches. I tried out a stitch pattern I truly enjoyed knitting, the herringbone in my Herringbone Neck Warmer. Actually, I thought this looked great but the fabric is dense and it wouldn't be a drapey scarf. I needed to go back to a lace pattern.

So I tried my faithful backup - Feather & Fan. Amazingly, this did nothing for the pattern OR the yarn.

Really this was getting ridiculous. I thought of another stitch I enjoyed - the budding lace section of my Swallowtail Shawl. A bit tricky since the pattern is written as a triangle not a rectangle, but with a bit of math I worked out how I could do it. My swatch was sort of promising...

And here it is 37-stitches wide. The rust will be taken out so I can knit on the edging of the Swallowtail pattern. If it works out I think it will be so interesting, if not, frog frog frog.

I wasn't a complete grinch - Noro stripe scarf & hat

2010-01-07T15:36:00.004-05:00

I've kept my knitting pretty selfish to start but I did squeeze in two little projects to give to my husband for Christmas. It was fun watching him open them up and ask, "When did you make these?" Luckily he pays no attention to what I knit at all. I don't think I ever worked on either one with him in the room, but there were several times where I quickly-but-not-too-quickly put it down and picked up another project when he appeared.

The scarf is the popular Noro Striped Scarf written up by Brooklyn Tweed. It calls for 4 skeins of Noro Silk Garden, but since I had 2 skeins and wasn't too pleased with it, I used a solid maroon (Knit Picks Gloss HW) that I had in my stash for the alternating stripes. Noro drives me nuts. The 2 skeins I had had 4 joins with drastic color jumps. I ended up splitting them all up and reordering them into an order that made sense to me. One section wasn't even from the right colorway! Really. As beautiful and mesmerizing as I find the color changes, I'll never buy any Noro yarn again.

The pattern is very simple, just a 1x1 rib. The great thing about it is that it ends up looking just like stockinette, but double-thick and the same on both sides. Perfect for scarf. The downside is that it's incredibly boring to knit! Definitely have something else interesting to jump to when you just can't take it anymore!

And one last pic of me modeling it. I think I took this the night I finished it. Raveled here

The hat is another popular (and free!) Brooklyn Tweed project called Turn a Square. Raveled here

The way the decreases work creates a square pattern on the top of the hat in the stripes.

Pretty basic design but I did want to mention the jogless stripe. When you're working in the round and creating stripes you really need to do something to avoid those jumps called jogs that occur when you get to the end of the round and are switching colors. You don't want to actually see where that end of round is in the finished product. So there are various techniques to deal with it. There is one method written up with the Turn a Square pattern but it made NO sense to me because the result looked even worse than if I had done nothing. So I turned to the TechKnitting blog for help and she didn't let me down. Love that site!!

Happy New Year! A quick review of 2009

2010-01-02T15:01:00.002-05:00

Wow I've been a busy bee this past year. I started off the year with so many plans for sewing clothes, for me and the kids. January was all about aprons and I made 4 of them. The spring was filled with a ton of simple shorts, skirts, and iron-transfer T-shirts for our Disney trip and for gifts. I made many skirts, a blouse, a button down shirt for my son and then my garment sewing took a poor turn and I got very discouraged by the challenge of actually making things fit. The summer included some quilting projects, table runners and then my interest in knitting really picked up and took over. In the fall I finished a few quilts but the year ended with all knits.

And here it is in picture form!

Sewing:

Quilting:

Knitting:

Swallowtail Shawl - Lace is Addictive!

2009-12-22T12:08:00.003-05:00

Yes, I'm definitely all about knitting lately. And while I'm also working on hats, mittens, warm scarves and potentially useful items I love knitting lace and seeing the beautiful patterns created. I think lace looks much more intimidating and complicated than it is. If you told me at the beginning of the year that I'd be making this, I never would have believed you. Once you get the hang of some tricky bits (reading lace charts, general triangle shawl construction) it's really just the same knit and purl stitches. But that doesn't mean I'm not excessively proud!!

Raveled here.

The pattern is the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn C. Clark and is a free pattern. The yarn is a sock weight that I bought on Etsy. I was instantly mesmerized by the colors in it - definitely overall green but with some blue and dark gold in the mix also.

This was my first beaded lace project too. I used size 6 beads an the crochet hook method to get them on the yarn. Beading definitely slowed me down, but I am really pleased with how they look in the end.

Getting the beads to show up in photos is tricky!

This is definitely the kind of project that blocking wires were meant for! I got a nice straight top edge and my points are all even too.

More Koigu knitting - Woodland Scarf

2009-12-15T16:12:00.004-05:00

This is the third scarf I've knit with Koigu yarn and it won't be my last! This time I'm using their KPM yarn which is the mostly-solid version of their sock-weight yarn. It has just enough variation in it to not be a solid.

I had the pattern in mind first and went to yarn shop looking for something that would work well with it. I didn't want it to be too busy or else it would distract from the lace pattern but a completely even solid wasn't want I wanted either. This Koigu was a perfect balance. Plus I loved the rusty color and knew I enjoyed knitting with the yarn.

The pattern is called Woodland Shawl, though I knit the scarf-width version. This was my first time doing a lace pattern that is patterned on both sides. Meaning there weren't those simple "purl each second row" instructions. The wrong side follows the lace pattern too. For the first repeat I thought it all seemed a bit too complicated but then I got to see how interesting the back was turning out. After a few repeats I had the whole thing memorized and could easily put it down and then later pick it up and jump right in. By the end it was truly enjoyable and it's a pattern I could see myself making again, definitely.

These early pictures show the stitch pattern really nicely, even though these were unblocked. Now I'm interested in finding more of these patterned on both sides designs! They are worth the extra work I think.

Raveled here.

Holiday Prep

2009-12-09T09:40:00.003-05:00

Our Tree! I love all our colorful ornaments and Ben and Nate enjoy redecorating the bottom 3 feet every day. :)

I was such a busy littler crafter last year. I made 20 gifts for the infants and toddlers we know. These were not quick simple gifts either. Seven of those gifts were hat, mitten and scarf sets. The scarves had hand-stitched animal faces. Three of those gifts were baby clutch balls that used 36 different fabric prints. Two of those gifts were stuffed dinosaurs with spikes all down the spine. Those spikes took forever to turn right side out!

I also made 11 more soft ornaments for our tree including these from the Spool birdie pattern:

And this year? Well I'm burnt out. Plus I'm hooked on knitting which is much slower than sewing. I'm working on knitted hats for the boys, but really that's all. Maybe next year I'll have a big push to do a handmade item for everyone, or maybe not. It got to be a lot of pressure -- making one item for one person made me feel obligated to make something for many others. For now, I need to stick with projects that are fun.

Here is the single solitary holiday decoration I made this year, but I think it's adorable!

I had made a bunting for my 3-year-old's birthday but didn't even consider making them for holidays until my secret swap parter made a cute Halloween one for me! For the holiday version I just pulled out my favorite prints and started cutting. Just sew the triangles right sides together, turn and press, then sew store-bought double-fold bias trim around it. So easy!

A Knitting Catch-Up

2009-12-06T19:58:00.001-05:00

Despite the last two posts about sewing projects, I really have been doing much more knitting lately. I'm definitely hooked!
Just in time for the real cold weather to begin, I finished (mostly, kinda) my winter set. I finished the hat long ago but I had bought two more hanks of the Sheep Shop Sheep 1 yarn to make a scarf and mittens to match.

For a scarf I decided to go with a neckwarmer. First, I found a great pattern by the owner of Loop, my favorite local yarn store. It the Herringbone neckwarmer and it's a free pattern. Second, a neckwarmer is a heck of a lot faster to make than a scarf! I think mine is about 26" long while a scarf would be at least 48". The pattern is just 2 lines, but looks amazingly confusing in print. Actually trying it with your needles and yarn works much better and in the end it was a really fun and fat project! I love how thick and squishy the finished fabric is.
Raveled here

And then there are the mittens. My first mittens.
As happy as I am with the neckwarmer, I'm the opposite with these mittens. They do not fit in several ways -- too loose in the palm, thumb starts too late, too short at the fingers, too frumpy and bumpy and lumpy! And to top it all off, my mainly pink and brown yarn got a big pool of GREEN near the top of one of the mitts. I didn't even notice it as I was knitting, I think I was just relieved to be almost done.
I definitely learned quite a bit about what NOT to do, and I plan to frog (knitter-speak for unravel) and redo it in another pattern. So no I'm not posting too many close ups of these!

A few quick works in progress:

I fell head over heels for this adorable cabled hat pattern on KnitPicks.com called the Master Charles. Of course I went out and bought some lovely Malabrigo yarn to make one for each of my boys!

And I always have some sort of lace on the needles as well. This is the Swallowtail Shawl in a stunning yarn I bought from an indie dyer on Etsy. This one will even have some beads, a first for me.

Moda Soiree Quilt

2009-11-30T22:09:00.003-05:00

Another quilting project! I did a LOT of catching up when I took a vacation day just to sew basically. I didn't get everything I wanted done, but it gave me the motivation to continue through the weekend and finish up my quilts. Then of course my mom visited and finished up the bindings for me! Yes, I can do them, but she claims she likes to have something to work on while she's here and I'm happy to work on other (knitting) projects instead. :)

I've become a big fan of these lovely pre-cut sets all from one line. Moda is the champion of this. For my Soiree quilt I chose a "layer cake" which is a pack of forty (or more) 10" square cuts, all different prints from their Soiree collection. Add in a 1/2 yard for binding and some yardage for the quilt backing and you're set.

The pattern is... well I don't know if it has a name actually. I think I'll call it wonky stripes. :) It was pretty simple and I took pictures of the process so look for a quick tutorial soon!

The backing is 2 yards of a Michael Miller dainty damask that I had. I was able to stretch it wider by adding the strip of stripes. Plus I love having an interesting back to the quilt also!

Strip Twist Quilted Runner

2009-11-27T14:48:00.006-05:00

Another quilted table runner! This was done just in time to decorate the table before Thanksgiving. We're already decorating for Christmas today!

I got the idea of this one from the Connecting Threads catalog. They have tons of lovely table runners and quilts photographed in there. They sell many kits and patterns but this particular one is from a larger quilt pattern called Strip Twist. I thought it would make a great runner if it were only 2 squares wide. I actually didn't buy the pattern, I thought I could figure it out and I did!

The fabric is set of strips plus maybe half yard of the binding and backing prints, also from Connecting Threads. They sell strip sets, FQs and just about any cut you could want too.

I ended up going with a simple diagonal line quilting. The lines are spaced at different widths and there is an occasional line the other way too. I used good old painters' tape as my line guides.

Here is a matching potholder/trivet. It is also my first project attempt at free motion quilting and I give myself a D. If you look at the stitches its a big old mess. Some long stitches, lots of teeny tiny stitches, bizarre jogs in the curve. Just look at the overall pattern please. :)

Felting Class

2009-11-22T16:03:00.004-05:00

My mom is in town visiting and I thought it would be fun to plan out some activities for just us. So I signed us up for a Felting class at the local art center. It was called Felting: From Fuzz to Form and it covered needle felting, wet felting and ideas on how to combine them with things like felted sweaters material too. I'd never done any of these and it was a nice change from all the knitting I've been up to!

First we did needle felting. It's just stabbing over and over some wool roving with a barbed needle until it submits to your will. Or turns into something like a cupcake. ;)
Here is my little project:

I also made these little circle shapes, not sure what they will become yet...

Next was wet felting. Just dip clouds of roving into warm/hot soapy water and turn into a ball. Or something. I was most excited for this part but it was NOT a good fit for me. My first attempt wasn't turning into a ball, it ended up more flat. Actually it looked like a T-bone steak! Or a human heart. But DEFINITELY not a ball.

Next I tried wet-felting a snake. Much better!

My mom had much better success with felting balls but she managed to forget all of her projects back at class! The only piece that actually came back with us was this embellished felted sweater piece. The orange and turquoise bits were needle-felted on. Quite cute!

Another Koigu Scarf - Berrylicious

2009-11-14T22:23:00.003-05:00

It's hard to go wrong with any of the Koigu KPPPM yarn colors. I went to a local yarn shop with the idea of getting some purple Koigu. Oy, there were at least a dozen options! I ended up falling for this more-pink-than-purple colorway. So pretty!

I had a bit of trouble finding a pattern I loved to use it for. I started a drop-stitch pattern but didn't enjoy it. Too fiddly and slow for me. Then I wore my first shawl, the Feather & Fan Comfort Shawl and I was reminded of how much I loved the finished product AND the knitting itself.
I had wanted to avoid repeating patterns since I'm still pretty new to knitting and love learning new techniques and stitches, but the Feather & Fan was calling to me.
This scarf version is a 4 row repeat - knit, purl, pattern, knit. Easy! So I didn't really learn anything new but I did enjoy it thoroughly. :)

Love love love my blocking wires! Really this scarf didn't NEED blocking but it's never a bad thing. It smoothed and shaped the ends and added a whole lot of length.
Raveled here

Autumn Scarf

2009-10-30T14:25:00.003-04:00

Yes more knitting. I'm actually doing very little sewing lately as I've found knitting to be so much easier to pick-up-and-put-down. Plus it's fall and there's more to watch on TV so I can knit and watch. But I do have two quilting projects I will finish in November!

This scarf was knit with Koigu's KPPPM yarn and it's lovely to knit with. Plus Koigu comes in every color under the sun - from slightly varigated solids to tonal stripes to wild rainbows! Really, the prettiest part of a yarn store may be the Koigu section - it's a riot of color.
Here's a few skeins of Koigu, including the 2 that created this scarf:

The pattern is called Sock-it-to-me and is from the 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders book. Yes there are definitely some fluff and silly things in there but there is also a ton of good projects you'd actually make. Good book.

I got through this scarf in just two weeks! I was really pushing to finish it though since I wanted to wear it to our family portrait day last weekend. I hope it photographed well!
Raveled here

Noro Shawlette

2009-10-21T11:21:00.005-04:00

What is a shawlette? It's a tiny shawl. Or something that was supposed to be a shawl but the knitter was sick of the thing and decided to quit early. So now instead of keeping shoulders warm, it's just basically a triangular scarf.

This is a lace pattern called Kellokukka that I did intend to make as a full size shawl. However I did not enjoy knittign with the yarn, Noro Kureyon Sock. Ick. It's thick and thin (and I mean blobby, really thick and then thin as thread), it's not soft and I was all done with it. I do love the look of the slow color gradation but I need to find it in a nicer yarn. Did I mention that this Noro isn't cheap either? Definitely not buying it again!

So I had done a decent amount was coming to the end of a repeat. I could have kept going, maybe knit at least one more 18-row repeat but I decided to quit before I hated the whole thing and end it short. At least it's usable as I was able to block it it to 40" wide! In the end I used just over half of the skein. As I said, I just couldn't take it anymore!
Raveled here.

Mittens and Hats

2009-10-16T09:34:00.005-04:00

Brrrr! Suddenly it got very cold here and I had to admit that just throwing on a hoodie on myself and the kids wasn't going to cut it anymore. I dug out our box of mittens/gloves/scarves and then scavenged around to see if coats from last year would fit the boys this winter. It looks like we are OK on coats, but Nate only had one mitten. I found a pair of Nate's old mittens that would be fine for Ben but I have vivid memories of wrestling Nate's fingers into them and thought we could do with a easier pair.
Some new mittens were definitely in order!

Now I've been bitten by the knitting bug but no way could I have finished 2 knit pairs in one evening like I did sewing up these fleece pairs:

Fortunately I still had the mitten pattern pieces I used last year when I made mittens/scarf/hat sets for all the toddlers. The pattern is free, but there is some work involved scaling the pattern to the right size for the user. It was great to just be able to cut and sew! For Ben's I just basically winged it. No thumbs on his. I used up all of the blue making Nate's pair and didn't have a good other color for Ben's. So I ended up using this luscious smooth minkee. I used white fleece for the inside to make sure it would be warm enough. (Of course white wouldn't have stayed clean for long on the outside!) These were pretty quick jobs but definitely functional. :)

Then back to the saga of the pumpkin hat. Sigh. I really had a lot of problems with this. My first hat was too big and stretched even bigger. I also didn't love the rolled edge (especially with the stretchiness.) I ended up taking out some bottom rows and knitting a ribbed bottom instead. However, it is too big for Ben and almost too big for Nate! So it's officially Nate's hat now. I started knitting another, making it a bit smaller, for Ben. I finished it and tried it on him (bad idea to wait to the end to do this!) and it was too small now!! My notes for the first hat were wrong and I knit the 2nd one with a much smaller gauge resulting in too small a hat. Argh! I had to put it away for about a week I was so frustrated with it.

But the cold weather made me determined to pick it up again. I undid the bottom, knitted up more rows, put a nice garter stitch edge on and bound off. I was as usual, so very very close to running out of yarn! But it finally FITS him now. (Of course, he still hates wearing hats!) I have a bit more green yarn (no more orange) that I may use to make ties for this still. We'll see.

I shared this project before but I'm really only calling it complete now that I found the perfect button for my hat!

And this won't really be a cold-weather scarf but the fall colors definitely make me want to get it done NOW! It's knit with lovely Koigu KPPPM yarn which is sock weight meaning it isn't a fast knit, though it is fun and pretty easy. I love love love the colors on display here. Only a few more feet to go! ;)

Pumpkin Surprise

2009-10-13T11:02:00.005-04:00

This ended up being a bigger project than I first imagined! Actually I think the problem was that I thought I was "almost done" a half dozen times and a full week's worth of knitting before I really was. This was definitely a learning experience.
The pattern is the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. It has a really unique ingenious construction and as soon as I heard about this misshapen dishtowel that folds to make a jacket I had to try it out. Really, here it is when I "finished" knitting it and laid it flat. Crazy looking right?

So at this point I had completed all the pattern rows and thought I was almost done. Nope. I needed to bind off. Many bind off methods are quick but I wanted to try an I-cord bind off. Of course I didn't know how to do that but YouTube is a modern knitter's friend and it didn't look too hard. I got about a 1/3 of the way through the slow process when I discovered that while I'm a loose knitter in general I'm a very tight I-corder! So I had to rip it out and redo. S-l-o-w. I do think it was definitely worthwhile though. I used the aqua for the I-cord and I love the look. It also gives a nice firm edge to the jacket which might have become too stretchy and droopy without it. Oh and during this I near had a heart attack thinking I was going to run out of the aqua yarn a foot short. It was close. (OK, the picture above has the I-cord step done too)

Almost done? Not quite. I needed to seam up the shoulders. Not hard but again, not fast.
Next? Buttons. I didn't want to make a trip just for buttons (as I knew this would lead to buying too much fabric I don't currently need) so I dug through my supplies instead. I happened to have a 1/2" fabric button kit so I searched through my fabric stash and then my scraps. I was just hoping for a decent match to the aqua but I hit the JACKPOT. I had teeny tiny scraps of a Park Slope print that not only was the exact blue but also had the exact orange AND a cute bird print that was the perfect size for the button too. Really, if I designed it it wouldn't have come out any better.

Whew. Finished? Hardly! Apparently the Baby Surprise Jacket proportions really only work for a newborn. Since this was for a tall one-year old I needed to make the sleeves longer. I ended up adding about 4" to each sleeve. And please remind me next time I'm working an unfamiliar pattern to not add crazy stripes. I originally had the sleeve ending with the wide aqua band but since I was lengthening them I had to continue the stripe pattern - one ridge of orange, two of green then back to orange.

But now? DONE! And maybe Ben will wear it for a few weeks before he outgrows it. ;)
Raveled here

A little Fairy flew in yesterday

2009-10-06T09:37:00.002-04:00

And brought us some amazing Halloween (and other) goodies!
This fairy swap was with some lovely crafters from thebabywearer.com. Is it weird that a site about baby carriers got me hooked on sewing and crafting?? So many of us were making and sharing pics of clothes, toys, home items, etc. that we needed a new sub-forum over there just for DIY that wasn't babywearing-related. So the fairy swap was to make almost anything. It could be things for the mama, the kids, the dog, whatever! Really it just has to be one tiem but everyone loves to go above and beyond and my fairy was no exception. We got so many fabulous gifts!!

First, aww... the box art

My boys digging into the box! (They never seem to be wearing shirts after dinner)

An amazing bag packed with goodies!

A super cute Halloween bunting!

Wine charms! They are actually tiny pictures of Lizzie Dish fabrics!! That's the print line I made a lot of kitchen accessories with. How perfect are these?
I have no idea how these were made but I'm in love!

2 adorable bags - perfect for trick or treating

And more pictures of my new bag. I love the shape, the color, the details! Now I need some tips on sewing cording too!

Thank you thank you thank you!! We had so much fun opening up all the gifts and they will all definitely be used!

Too many WIPs! And a fairy distraction...

2009-09-28T10:44:00.004-04:00

I have a TON of projects in progress right now. I had been aiming to finish a quilt for my mom to hand-sew the binding on during her visit but instead of finishing one project I kept inching forward two. So now I have my strip twist table runner top finished but it's not quilted. My Soiree quilt has all 40 blocks pieced, pressed and trimmed. But they haven't been arranged or sewn together. I'm also doing some piecing on the back so still a ways to go on that one!

Here's a pic of the table runner currently:

And I'm working on several knitting projects too. I'm *almost* done with my Baby Surprise Jacket. I did decide to do an I-cord bind off so I had to learn how and I've had to rip it out once and start it again. Apparently I'm a loose knitter but a tight I-corder! Now I'm making progress though the I-cord feels slow. Hopefully I'll be posting that later this week. :)

Here a picture from about half way through - it's an amoeba!

Plus I always have a lace project in the works. I'm making another triangle shawl this time with Noro Kureyon sock. I really hated that yarn at first but it's growing on me. It IS very fun watching the colors develop through the work. I'll decide after blocking if I'll use it again though. It needs to soften up a LOT to make the cut. Right now if looks like it's growing nicely but I've only used 40% of my yarn!

But the real reason I don't have anything finished to show is that I've been working on my fairy swap projects! I'm pretty happy with how they turned out and I can't wait to hear how my fairee family likes them! Maybe I'll post some pictures after the gifts are received. And I'll soon have our swap gifts to show too!

Tiny knitting = tiny sock

2009-09-18T16:05:00.003-04:00

I knitted my first sock! Granted it's only about 2 inches tall but it IS a sock. This pattern and sock blocker keychain kit were too cute to pass up. It was a quick, fun project and although I misread the pattern in one spot, it's a keychain so who cares? Looks passable to me. :)
There's something pretty funny about knitting such a tiny object. My fingers felt huge!

I used size 00 needles and magic looped. I had a 40" cable (the greatly flexible ones from Knitpicks) and was able to switch between having my stitches in 2 sections and 3 which was useful for creating the heel. Raveled here.

What do Tinkertoys have to do with knitting?

2009-09-16T09:50:00.004-04:00

Remember Tinkertoys? I'm not sure I ever owned any actually, I was more of a Lincoln Log/Lego builder. But I recently read about a crazy and useful purpose for these classic toys.

Let me just back up and say that one thing that surprised me when I started knitting was finding out that a lot of yarn isn't sold to you ready to use! Some yarn is sold in balls and those are fine but others are sold in hanks. A hank is basically just a huge loop of yarn and you CAN NOT knit with it. You'd get a giant tangled knot in no time so you first have to wind it into a ball. If you buy from your local yarn store they will wind it for you but if you buy online you're generally on your own. Doing this by hand can take a LOT of time. Especially the finer(thinner) the yarn you are using. Hanks of laceweight are 400-1200 yards! Can you imagine winding 1000+ yards by hand? Me neither.

So yes they sell tools to deal with this. The first is a ball winder. They are pretty cheap, small, and actually fun to use. I do own one. The other piece is a yarn swift and they aren't cheap or fun. Really all they have to do is hold the giant loop of yarn and spin and I couln't justify the expense. But now we get to the Tinkertoys... I came across directions to turn a simple Junior set of Tinkertoys into a yarn swift. Ingenious!

It worked wonderfully and in no time at all I had turned my 655 yards of Sea Silk into this beautiful yarn cake ready to go. And of course, the Tinkertoys break down and can go back to just being toys when you're done. I'm sure with 2 boys in the house this won't be a regretted purchase.

It's even a snap to adjust for all the different sizes those hanks come in. My Knitpicks Shimmer lace needed three orange spokes an one green.

Yummy yarn :)

Doll Quilt Swap

2009-09-08T15:58:00.004-04:00

I got my doll quilt completed and mailed and received mine in return already!
I posted pictures of the quilt back and front already but here they are again, all quilted and binding done. Yes I managed to bind a quilt without my mom to help me! I changed the stitch I was doing, used a very very thin and short needle and my hand stitching went much, MUCH quicker. Maybe someday I'll even grow to enjoy it!

And here is the GORGEOUS quilt I received in the swap! I love it and I think it will get hung in our bedroom. Ben likes it too as you can see. :)

Speaking of my mom helping me with my quilts, I need to get going on my next quilt before she arrives for her next visit. I've pieced 28 out of 40 squares for the top. Plus I plan to make the back pieced so a bit of work there too. I'm using a layer cake of Moda Soiree plus some extra fabric. Hope it works out well!
Here is a peak of what I've got so far:

Arrrrr! Pirate Baby doesn't like his pumpkin hat!

2009-09-04T09:58:00.003-04:00

Babies. So silly.
A few weeks ago Ben's older brother was playing with his dress up clothes. I decided to put a pirate hat and eye patch on the baby so he wouldn't feel left out and also because it would look ridiculous. Oh and it did. But he crawled around wearing them for a while! Wearing an eye patch and he didn't mind it at all! So you'd think he'd wear just about anything.
Anything except his pumpkin hat as it turns out. :(

I finished two more knitting projects - hats! As soon as I saw a pattern for a pumpkin hat I was set on making one for Ben. I thought it would be so cute!
It was an easy, quick project and I learned a lot of new skills making it (magic loop instead of DPNs, colorwork, i-cord). Raveled here. But the pirate baby won't let me take a picture of him wearing it. Crazy enough, my 3.5-year old has the same size head just about and he was happy to model:

I love how the decreases look as parts of the leaf pattern!

The other hat I made for myself. Raveled here. I do still need to find an interesting, big button for it. You can't see it well in the picture but there is actually a flap on the seed stitch section.

I started on it way back in the spring. It got warm and I just didn't want to work on a wool hat at the time so I started my feather and fan shawl instead. I also needed to switch to DPNs (double-pointed needles) to join it in a round and I didn't own those yet! I have since learned the magic loop technique and I am HOOKED. Basically you just use a long (40" or so) circular and then you don't need DPNs, or shorter length circulars either. I particularly love this since I use the interchangeable Options needles from Knit Picks. Instead of buying circulars in every size I just needed one longer cable (which I already had and liked using for the shawl) and now I can magic loop for all my needle sizes!

I love all the colors in this yarn (Sheep Shop Sheep 1) and the way each nub of the seed stitch is a different color. I ended up buying 2 more hanks of this yarn/color to make mittens and neck warmer.

Oh and one more fun thing - Craig over at Loop put my feather and fan shawl on their blog! It was actually an old post on that blog which led me to that pattern in the first place. The lovely Lorna's Laces yarn I used was purchased at Loop.

Quilted Pillows

2009-08-28T10:32:00.005-04:00

This is one of those projects that you put off and when you're done you wonder why you didn't get to it earlier? Our couch pillows were looking SAD. Lumpy, boring and needing to be replaced. Quilted pillow covers are such an easy project (well, once you know your quilting basics!) as it's just like doing one really large quilt square. No big commitment of having to repeat a ton of times to make a full quilt plus you'll get to see your handiwork every day.

I chose to do a log cabin pattern. I pulled out all my rust/brown/mustard/olive prints (basically everything that was in my Brick Path quilt plus more). I knew I wanted to make two pillows and I didn't want them to look the same so I decided to make one with the green/yellow prints and the other with the orange/browns. I think they are quite fun! It's so nice to see a great assortment of your favorite prints on display and in use. For the actual quilting I just did a simple shadowing of the seams. I didn't want to distract from the prints or the pattern at all.

The backs are a simple overlap. Since I used regular quilting-weight cotton here, I fused woven interfacing to the fabric to hopefully give it more of a chance of lasting. In a house of two small boys pillows don't just get to sit up on the couch in peace!

Oh and a nice bonus here? This is a quilting project with no binding and hand-stitching to do!

My first finished knitting project - Feather & Fan Shawl

2009-08-20T19:31:00.005-04:00

Woohoo! I'm so happy that I finished my shawl! I'm totally hooked on lacy shawls now too. I have few winter things to make and then I'm definitely making another (and another and another...) There are so many amazing lace patterns out there and tons of them are free on Ravelry.com! I think Ravelry is my new home away from home. I'd love to have such a place for sewing too.

This shawl is the Feather and Fan comfort shawl. Yarn is 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces sock yarn. I just went until I almost about ran out of yarn and bound off. Afterwards I found out about a stretchy bind-off which is essential for making those amazing pointy lace edges, but mine looks decent. :)
Raveled here

MMmmmm I love variegated yarn. This picture was during blocking.

More Quilting WIPs

2009-08-17T19:47:00.003-04:00

I got around to the second pillow cover so they are both now ready to be quilted. Here is the orange/brown one:

I had a lot of fun making these log cabins. I could definitely see myself making a quilt with them one day. But I have so many other quilt designs on my to do list first though!

Both pillows together.
I like the orange one, but I LOVE the green. I'm sure they will look pretty different quilted and turned into pillows so there's still hope I will love it all finished.

Speaking of quilting, I got a darning foot for my sewing machine too. Now I can learn stippling! For log cabins though I will stick with straight line quilting following the pattern.
I did get a brief chance to try out the new foot. Not horrible for my first 10 minutes of practice ;)

Quilting WIPs - log cabin and doll quilt swap

2009-08-11T00:20:00.005-04:00

I have two quilting woks in progress to share.

The first will be a pillow cover for our living room couch. I wanted a scrappy log cabin though when I pulled out my scraps I had a ton! I decided to do one pillow in green/yellow and the other in orange/brown. I'm so so pleased how it came out!

Some of the prints for the other. I have so many orange-ish prints (I found more than in this pic) I could probably make an army of pillows!

The next WIP is for a doll quilt swap I joined. I wanted to take the opportunity to do a new quilting pattern/technique without having to commit to a large quilt. I first decided to do a zigzag and found this alternate method to piecing (no triangles!) It's super simple, but once I started putting my squares together I realized it was identical to putting together a rail fence (you just cut it on a diagonal after it's pieced). Rail fence is one of the two quilts I've already done, so not a new technique after all. But I definitely do like how it looks and I think it will be the doll quilt back. The fabrics are Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market.

For my second attempt I tried something very different. I think it's definitely a very fun look! The center and outside print is Alexander Henry 2D zoo. I seem to have it in every colorway.

I wonder if I'm the only one who likes the look of a neatly pressed back? Yep, I'm in the press-seams-open camp now.

Crayon Totes

2009-08-04T10:53:00.003-04:00

I made these crayon tote bags for gifts for two 3-year old boys. They are actually similar sizes but the denim/Thomas one I put gussets at the bottom and I didn't do that step for the red dot/Curious George one. I'm not sure which way is better honestly. When I don't follow a pattern and make it up as I go it should be no surprise that two of the same item come out quite differently!
There are 24 crayon pockets going around the bag and then I'll include some coloring books and construction paper to put inside. I hope they both like them!

I did a little decorative stitching on the Thomas bag to break up the solid denim. My machine has a grand total of about 12 designs on these 2 big odd disks. So old-school. ;)
I quite like how it came out - simple but just a bit extra detail. Since it's for my nephew no big deal that I can't do any fancy scrolling roses anyway!

Lizzie Dish Table Runner

2009-07-23T15:50:00.006-04:00

Lizzie Dish - I just have to say that this is THE collection to make any kitchen accessory. Snatch it up before it's out of print! So far I've made an apron, oven mitts, a trivet and now finally my table runner is finished!

I finished the quilting on it ages ago but since I'm SO slow at hand stitching the binding I opted to wait for my mum to visit and do it for me. Thanks again mom!

I got the idea back last fall from this blog post from Spool Sewing to make a disappearing nine patch for a runner. Paired with the leftover Lizzie Dish prints to make my oven mitts and it was perfect!

Here's a fun little step by step pictoral of how to make a disappearing nine patch square. So easy yet deceptively complicated looking!

First make a basic nine patch square. You can use 9 prints or less like the 5 I used.

Next cut down the center horizontally and vertically:

Next rotate each square clockwise one time (upper left corner will be upper right now). There are other ways to do this step, but I like the results here.

Then just sew it back together! It gets even more fun seeing the squares next to each other and pattern continuing on.

Fun with Fabric

2009-07-21T10:08:00.002-04:00

I have way more sewing plans than I have actual time to sew. This means that my to do list is always a million projects long and regularly things get bumped off the reality list and into the wistful "maybe someday" list. I had all these dreams of summer clothes to make for myself and they are all on hold. I did make some cute skirts this spring but the dresses and tunics will wait for now. There is always next summer and at least fabric doesn't go bad. :)

This is actually what my sewing table looks like behind my sewing machine. Stacks of fabric, but I do really enjoy seeing all the time. You can just see some of my Garden Party prints -- still figuring out what to do with those...

I LOVE the planning stage of sewing and particularly quilting. I love pairing fabrics, figuring out layouts and doing the math of cutting and piecing. Again, I plan out more projects than I get to, but it's fun for me. Yes I'm a nerd.
So here are a few things I'm planning out now.

Remember this quilt?

It's in our living room and I recently realized we have very ugly and boring pillows on our couch. So I'm going to make some scrappy log cabin pillow covers! I pulled out all these scraps to make them. Anything brown/orange/rust/mustard/olive/forest green went into the pile. Now I'm considering making one pillow brown & orange and the other yellow & green instead of mixing them all up...

For my next quilt I'm making a large throw size out of Moda Soiree. Such a pretty collection! It will go in the baby's room for when we're snuggling in the recliner. I bought a layer cake (10" squares) plus some extra for a border and binding. Still need to figure out the backing but I think it will be scrappy a la Film in the Fridge. Why have a boring backing?

This next group is Heather Bailey's Pop Garden and Bijoux prints. They will become 2 pillowcases plus 2 quilted shams. I would love to see them all together as a big quilt too but I think they will get more use as a bed makeover.

I also just received a small order from Connecting Threads. I couldn't figure out why I was getting their catalog in the mail but they are a sister company of KnitPicks, where I bought my knitting needles from months ago. They make their own prints, sold in collections, individual yardage (even FQs), charms, jelly rolls, etc., or kits. Their prices are really good too ($6/yard, cheap shipping). I order a strip set plus a bit extra to make a fall colored table runner. I'm going to do the Strip Twist pattern shown here, just two columns wide. I'm not buying the pattern, but I think I've got it all figured out. ;)

I love to drink, er... knit!

2009-07-17T14:34:00.002-04:00

Really, why not add a few more projects to the pile? :)

Back in December I heard about a new knitting group starting up in my neighborhood, a Stitch-n-bitch. They were meeting at a local bar and anyone was welcome to join in. At the time I had a 3 month old and was potty-training a 2 and 3/4-year old so yes I needed a drink. Weekly at least. Plus some non-diaper-related conversation. Only I didn't know how to knit. I think most people would have moved on but you see, it is a really good bar they meet at.

So on a holiday visit I had my mom show me how to cast on, knit and purl. She gave me some huge needles and ugly yarn and I was on my way! I started knitting this simple scarf:

It's quite a lot longer now but I fully intend to never pick it up again ever. Already I'm a yarn snob and I'm all done with acrylic!

For my next project I bought some nice needles (Knitpicks Harmony wood interchangeables) and some gorgeous yarn. I started this free hat pattern and it was coming along rather well until the temperatures went above 70 degrees. I just can't work on a wool hat in the summer.

So off I went to find a nice simple pattern for a beginner and ended up choosing the Feather & Fan shawl. I'm not sure if this would be called a beginner pattern but it's been pretty easy. This picture was taken a while back and it's already a lot bigger. Still a long ways to go! As mentioned, the point of my knitting is to drink so most of it does occur at the bar and it makes for slow progress.

I think I'm in love with lace. I keep drooling over lace patterns. Check out this stunner on Grumperina's blog. Someday perhaps!

Oh and back to the drinking. Best. Beer. Ever.

Come join us Tuesday nights at St. Stephen's Green!

Modern Diaper Bag as Beach Tote

2009-07-09T23:33:00.002-04:00

So I made this diaper bag that I love. It's the Modern Diaper Bag pattern from Amy Butler's "Little Stitches" book. The shape is so unique and it is what drew me to the pattern in the first place. Another bonus? Nothing ever gets lost at the bottom since the sides angle outwards. It's roomy and big enough to carry everything I need. As big as it is though, I actually scaled the pattern down 25% to make it. The original is even bigger.

But for a beach trip? I feel like we have to haul half our house when we go. I need a BIG bag. So I decided to make the full size Modern Diaper Bag. I skipped all the pockets and just added a single simple pocket. Really all I need is a pocket for a phone and keys so that they don't get lost in the bottom.

The result? BIG!! In the picture above it makes my original diaper bag look tiny and it is anything but. Below I have the "Little Stitches" book inside for size reference. Tons of room of towels, sunscreen and toys I think!

When I made my diaper bag I tried to line up the pattern on the closure flap but messed it up in the end. I put the magnetic snap in the wrong side of the flap! This time I was more careful and I think I did a darn good job!

Quilt Inspiration - loads of links

2009-06-29T22:00:00.006-04:00

I've definitely been bitten by the quilting bug! As a newbie, I've been collecting ideas and inspiration left and right. With so many gorgeous designs out there, it's hard to know where to start and how to choose. But it's definitely fun browsing!

I've become a big fan of all things Denyse Schmidt:
her quilts, her fabric lines, style. Clearly, I need to get her book now too!

A few great quilting/sewing blogs:
Crazy Mom Quilts
Quilting' Like Crazy
Film in the Fridge
Tallgrass Prairie Studio
See Katie Sew

Quilt-a-long groups on Flikr -- I love looking at quilts! It's also fun to see how so many variations in color and scale really change the overall look even with the same basic pattern. Here just a few, but you can really get lost for hours looking for quilts and quilt groups on there.
Old Red Barn Quiltalong
Coin Quilt Piece-a-long
Quilt-a-long

Cool tutes:
Spiderweb
String Quilt (paper pieced) - someday I will make one of these!
modified Bento Box
Wonky Log Cabin
Crazy Nine-patch

Summer Birdie Sling

2009-06-27T14:04:00.005-04:00

I finished this bag Thursday night and spent all Friday collecting compliments on it! I literally had strangers stopping me in the streets asking where I bought my gorgeous bag. You just have to love that. :)

Sometimes I wonder what I'd have to charge to make such a bag. It is not a quick whip-it-up project. I have 3 different fabrics (exterior, handles, lining), plenty of two types of interfacing (you can't skip this - you want those pleats to be crisp and the bag to be sturdy), 2 interior divided pockets. There are a lot of steps but when the end result looks so polished and professional it is worth it!

The pattern is Amy Butler's Birdie Sling. Again I chose two heavier fabrics for the exterior like with my first Birdie Sling here. I have no idea what the lotus flower fabric is but I love it! It took me forever to decide what print to use for this. I wanted something that would match what I was wearing all the time - black, brown, pink, orange, whatever. I think this will come pretty close.

I chose a yellow print for the lining - no dark linings if you ever want to see what's actually in there!

I think Ben was confused why I wasn't taking pictures of him...

Quilted Trivet

2009-06-21T14:57:00.003-04:00

Small is good. Small means trying out a new pattern, techniques, materials without much fear of waste. But above all small means fast (or at least relatively fast). I love fast!

I'm still slowly finishing up my table runner's hand-stitching but I took a break and made this adorable quilted trivet instead. Again, I so so love these Lizzie Dish prints! I had tons of scraps and wanted to try making a log cabin quilt square. The log cabin is perfect for making any size you want so it seemed a good choice for making a trivet too. The finished size of my trivet is about 10" square.

Small also meant that the machine quilting was a breeze! No struggling with fitting a big quilt under the machine, quilting just one square is easy! I decided to try out one of the few decorative stitches my machine included and it came out pretty good. NOT perfect, but decent. I also used a variegated thread for the first time and I think it looked particularly good with the heavier stitch pattern.

So... it's quite busy! Here's a picture of the back which I almost like better. But I did have fun making it and it's definitely a useful project too. I used a layer of Warm'n'Natural and a layer of Insul-Bright as the batting. It works as a trivet or a pot holder.

I hate hand stitching!

2009-06-17T09:54:00.002-04:00

I have no patience. Or time. In theory it seems like hand sewing and watching TV would work out. But it's summer and there's nothing to watch. When I do sit down, I'm either cutting out my next project or folding the never-ending mountain of laundry we seem to generate. See? No time to hand stitch.

I would love to unveil my latest project, a quilted table runner, but it's not *quite* finished. I have that pesky hand stitching of the binding to do. I love how the runner came out and it would be put in use right away if only I could actually finish it. Unfortunately for the runner, my table, and me, I've already started my next project: my summer birdie sling. No hand stitching in that one! ;)

So I'll just leave a little teaser pic. Here is one of the squares of the runner. Can you tell what pattern it is? It's deceptively easy to make but so visually interesting. It looks even better when you join up the squares and the pattern continues...

Nigella Rail Fence

2009-06-14T23:31:00.007-04:00

Wow, I can't believe how long this quilt sat in my "in progress" bag and how quickly it got finished once I really worked on it. I started this quilt (my very first!) way way back in January 2008. Yes LAST year.

I'm a rather haphazard sewer and I was definitely careless with having my pieces be the exact size and then again with having an even seam allowance. So my squares ended up all different sizes. Of course when I attempted to put them together it wasn't working at all and none of the seams were lining up. (I must have thought it would just work out magically!) So very frustrated with my "good for beginners" rail fence quilt I put it aside.

Fast forward a year and half and some much-improved skills and appreciation for a 1/4" seam allowance and I felt confident enough to tackle this mess. I first had to trim down all the squares to an even size. Very unfortunately for me, the pattern of the prints meant I had to trim down every single side of every square. Not the most fun.

But this time putting the squares together was a snap! Amazingly, when you do things right and take some care it does actually work out. Not magically -- but it feels like magic when it all comes together perfectly. I added on my border and binding and my lovely mum was wonderful to finish it up by doing the hand-stitching of the binding to the backing on her visit. Thanks mom!

The fabrics are all Amy Butler Nigella, a light home dec weight. The quilt pattern is a basic railfence with a few squares of a single fussy cut flower tossed in. It's backed in a furry fabric I got ages ago and no batting.

Yes this turned into a baby modeling session, but I just love taking pictures of little Ben!

Several WIPs

2009-06-09T23:51:00.004-04:00

Oh my it's been quite a while without a post! I have been sewing but I had two pretty disasterous projects that I had to scrap so that was a big letdown. Fabric gone to the scrap pile, time wasted and nothing to show for it all! They were both clothing projects for me so my next few projects I'm keeping away from anything that has to FIT. (Fitting is hard!) But I will definitely be returning to clothes sewing soon. I'm also determined to learn to shirr this summer!

So here are a few snippets of my next 3 projects (why am I always working on so many at once??)

First is a rescue of a quilt (my first) that I started in January 2008! Yikes. But I'm happy to report that it's almost complete, just a tiny bit of binding left to do.

Next are more yummy prints from the Lizzy Dish line. I'm still head-over-heels for my gorgeous oven mitts, they make me so happy every time I use them. So here's another fun way I'll get to see them. No more hints about that one just yet.

If you squint at the picture you can tell what this will become - a Birdie Sling! I use my Country Fair version daily but I really want a summer one too!

Skirts Skirts Skirts!

2009-05-18T16:36:00.006-04:00

My fabric co-op was running a skirt contest back in March. Perfect I thought, I love skirts for the summer! I decided to enter the contest and I planned out a whole bunch of them and actually cut out the fabrics and linings for 5 of them. Five. Back in March. None got completed by the end of March but one by one they all did eventually make it out of the "in progress" pile and I've just about finished all of them. The "just about" part is needed for one which needs a bit of ripping and resewing.
Three of them are the Amy Butler Barcelona Skirt pattern. One is Simplicity 2655 and one is a weird combination (this is the one that still needs work!)

I was really pleasantly surprised by the Simplicity pattern. I will definitely use it again - I love the flounce at the bottom particularly. It's hard to tell with the busy pattern (Amy Butler Daisy Chain in Dandelion Fields Forest) but it's 6 panels, a yoke on top and the flounce on the bottom.

And now the three Barcelona Skirts. I've made this pattern three times before, it's just a perfect a-line and the layered version is really fun too.

So that fifth skirt is the black/red/white/multi one peaking out in the picture above. I started with the Barcelona shape on top, added a strip of the red full moon dots and a flounce in the Mirabelle fabric for the bottom. Unfortunately I think it looked better on my head and is quite wild in person! It also currently has some shape issues so I'm planning on fixing it and giving it another look.

Even more Disney clothes!

2009-05-10T23:08:00.007-04:00

We're back, but now my neice and nephew are off for their first trip to Disney World. The trip is also a joint birthday gift from their parents so i thought the bulk of my gifts to them should be some special Disney clothes.

I made my nephew some of them same sets I made for my 3 year old son so I won't bother posting those. I had heard they would be doing a character breakfast with Lilo and Stitch and I found these cute designs to print (again, iron-on transfer paper). I so love how these come out!
Which reminds me I have a few more of these to do this week...

Another cute T, this time paired with a dotty tiered skirt:

And finally, my first dress! I think it was actually quicker to make than the skirt above. I used the Flowergirl Dress pattern from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing book and enlarged it a bit.

I hope the dress fits her well and they have a wonderful vacation!

Spring to Finish 2

2009-05-08T14:39:00.003-04:00

I'm back from vacation with a mountain of laundry and an equally impressive mountain of unfinished projects! I came across Jacqui's Spring to Finish challenge and it seemed like a great motivation to get all those unfinished projects done during May. Or at least attack the mountain!

Here's my list of projects in progress:
- skirt and dress for my niece's trip to Disney World
- summer tunic
- trapeze dress
- Street Stripe Kai shirt
- one more Barcelona skirt
- another skirt from a McCall's pattern

And I have a few toddler birthday gifts I *must* get to this month too.

I am proud to say that I did get two little pairs of shorts for my nephew completed last night yay! I'll post pics when I get his sister's clothes done too.

Hats - for me and my big boy

2009-04-22T14:38:00.001-04:00

It's really starting to warm up here in Philadelphia so that must mean it's time for sun hats!

I kept seeing cute children's bucket hats with a really fun patchwork design. After I saw a Disney Cars version I knew I'd just have to make one for own car-obsessed boy. I already had more than enough Cars fabric and scraps for sure.

The pattern is from YouCanMakeThis.com here. One side is patchwork and it reverses to a solid lining. It's a very simple pattern really and it just works well. What more can you ask for?

My semi-willing model:

So next I wanted to make myself a hat too. Since I'm an Amy Butler junkie I went with her Blue Sky Hats pattern. This baby is big and heavy and substantial! Wowza. And a bit tricky to sew. I used the recommend 3 layers of canvas/duck for the brim and it was hard to sew those seams, even with a jeans needle and walking foot. My topstitching around the brim was not quite where I intended it to be, as the fabric has ideas of it's own.
The fabric is also from Amy Butler, the Daisy Chain line. I'd love to make a black/white version too, but I need just the right print for it...

Now I just have to decide if I'm a big hat girl! It feels a bit southern and I'm a northern gal. ;)

Finally finished my Brick Path Quilt!

2009-04-20T09:06:00.003-04:00

So remember this? My first quilt is finally done! My mother most graciously did a lot of the hand sewing of the binding when she visited and I finally stitched up the last little 12" last night. I started this back in February but the binding was holding me up. I have too little patience for hand sewing! It's the Amy Butler Brick Path pattern and backed in a furry "cuddle-up" fabric - so snuggly!

My Little Man is 3!

2009-04-17T22:11:00.003-04:00

Happy birthday Nate!

My big boy just turned 3 years old last week! It feels like it's all zoomed past so quickly and almost become a speeding blur once his little brother appeared and has grown in leaps and bounds. Slow down little ones!

Here's the big birthday boy:

A look back, 2 years old:

Just one year old:

Just one day old:

Birthday and Disney clothes

2009-04-04T16:16:00.002-04:00

My little boy turns 3 this week! We're doing a Disney Cars theme party so I whipped together the birthday banner above with the Cars prints I have. This was so fun and fast to make, I can see why people make yard after yard of them! This would be a fun way to brighten up a sewing area with some favorite prints. :)
And I managed to finish all my Disney clothes for him and his little brother too. I already shared the iron-on transfer Ts I made, now here they are with shorts! I'm not normally matchy-matchy, it really just happened.

I used two different shorts pattern - my basic Kwik Sew "Sewing for Toddlers" and also the Huck Finn pants from Heather Ross's "Weekend Sewing" book. I actually made the 18-month size of the Huck Finn pants for my nephew and had my almost-3 year try them on. They were actually wide enough just a funny length. So I shorted about 3 inches and now they are board shorts!

Here's the Cars set (Kwik Sew shorts)

And one for little Ben:

Kai Shirt from Weekend Sewing

2009-04-02T16:12:00.003-04:00

Another project from Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing book, this time the Kai Shirt for my almost-3-year-old. I'm really pleased how it came out though again there were some issues with the book and I added my own mistakes too I also wish I had used a higher quality cotton, I think this is from Walmart. There is such a world of difference in the feel of it and say a Michael Miller print. It hasn't made a difference with projects like shorts, but for this shirt a crisper, sturdier cotton would be better.

This is my very first project with buttonholes! I think I did pretty good except afterwards I found out that I put the buttonholes the wrong way -- I made them side horizontally! Ah well, Nate loves everything I make, he actually said "I want to wear this always" when I had him try it on.

Some notes on the pattern:
* I'm not sure what's going on with the collar. I thought it was about a 1/2" too long so I resewed the end of it to shorten and then continued which seemed to work. But I also saw someone else's finished project where they didn't shorten so their collar has an interesting shape that doesn't look wrong either...
* I made the size 3 (plus I added about 2" in length which I shouldn't have bothered doing) and the sizing is generous. It's a bit large on my boy who wears mostly 4T tops.
* the instructions say to sew the front edges on the top and bottomin step 4, I think it should only say to sew the top.

Tweet Tweet - Weekend Sewing Summer Blouse

2009-03-29T00:05:00.006-04:00

I think this is everyone's first project out of Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing book!
And for good reason, it just looks like such a fun, simple top and who isn't looking forward to spring and summer?

I won't lie, I definitely had some issues making it. I started making it Thursday, thinking I would whip it up quickly...
* First, I was making the large size and I needed more than the 1 and 5/8 yard suggested. I actually used most of my 2 yard cut.
* Second, the cutting layout in the book didn't work at all. Fortunately I love puzzles and often make up my own anyway.
* Next, I wasn't getting the directions about sewing the bias trim to the neck edge. I was lost, I didn't understand what size strip to cut or what the finished size would be. I kind of muddled through it but was getting frustrated.
It was late so I stopped here.

Fortunately the very next day I actually got to talk to Heather at Spool Sewing for a book signing/store party! What perfect timing! :)
I also got to see some summer blouses in person which also really helped. I liked the tip I got from one of the ladies at Spool, to just do a simple bias strip folded in half. Then line up all raw edges, stitch, flip to the back and stitch more. I'm thinking a 1" strip, a 1/8" edge stitch would yield a neat 3/8" finished edge so I'll definitely work it this way next time.

One thing I love about this pattern is that is feels infinitely adaptable.
I changed a few things with mine, the biggest is that I took in the side seams quite a bit under the darts. It was looking TOO loose and flowy for my tastes. I also added an inch of length (and did a narrow rolled hem). I chopped about 3" off my sleeves before hemming those -- they were long!
I'm not super happy with the height of the collar, it almost hits my neck. I think I would prefer a slightly lower curve, following the collarbone. Of course, I don't plan on wearing it closed and so I didn't add the loop and button at the top anyway.

So I already have my next version planned (I think I'd make loads of variations if I had the time!) I have an Amy Butler print waiting. This one will be sleeveless, with a V neck and a longer tunic length. Maybe some more darts. We'll see!

It was so much fun meeting Heather, I hope she doesn't think I was a giant PITA bashing her book. There are so many patterns in it that I *WILL* make. I've even learned how to make buttonholes to make the Kai shirt! Her writing style makes all of it seem very approachable for a beginner. I'm looking forward to working with different fabrics outside my comfort zone now, I'll just be sure to check out the errata on Heather's blog first. ;)

Forget applique, I've discovered iron-on transfers

2009-03-23T17:16:00.006-04:00

I think I've given up on applique -- these iron-on transfers are fun and fast and look perfect!
I really am THRILLED how these came out! They even wash and dry and still look great. You just print out the images on an inkjet printer, trim with scissors and iron on.
I bought the transfer paper here (and the seller made the Thomas names fill above for me too):
www.amymickey.com

They are mostly for our upcoming trip to Disney World, plus some of the many many birthdays coming up.
In my Disney planning on the disboards.com I stumbled into a subforum where people make all kinds of great custom designs for others. Kind of like I stumbled into a DIY subforum on thebabywearer.com and started sewing 2 years ago.

I have loads of Cars, Wall-E, Nemo, Mickey, Princess,Thomas, etc. to make shorts and skirts for the kids to go with their shirts! Here's a set I just gave to my nephew for his birthday

I made 24 shirts (so far), here are mine and my 3-year-old's:

Some of my Disney/Thomas fabric stash -- lots of toddler clothes in the works!

Another Month - Another upcoming Stitch Party

2009-03-10T11:52:00.002-04:00

OK so the first and last Spool Sewing Stitch party I went to (with designer Jay McCarroll) was quite a madhouse and not quite the show-and-tell I was hoping for, but I can't resist marking my calendar for the next one. This time Heather Ross will be there signing her new book Weekend Sewing. I just got my copy of this book a few days ago and I *LOVE* it! There have been so many of these fabric designer/pattern author's books published recently and I'm sad to say that many of them are just not that good. Same old patterns beautifully photographed in luscious prints are still just same old patterns. But Weekend Sewing is such a joy! OK, I'm not that thrilled with the sewing for home section -- I'll likely just make the travel pouch and maybe the everything tote (though I have a lot of bags!) But the patterns for children and adults are great! I'm definitely trying out the summer blouse for me, the Kai shirt for Nate, Huck pants for Ben and the flower girl dress for my niece! The Weekend Sewing Tips and Tricks and Design Challenge on Heather Ross's blog are overflowing with ideas on variations and most of all inspiration.
Now I'm wondering if I can get that Summer blouse (or some variation of it) made in time for the Stitch party! :)

Hopscotch Bag and More in the Works!

2009-03-05T22:38:00.008-05:00

Yes yes, another bag. I'm definitely on a bag-making kick but I've already got the patterns so what's a girl to do? I'd like to say this is the last one, but I know it's not. The PortoBello Pixie Market Bag pattern is waiting impatiently (as is the Andalusia fabric for it) and I'm curious how it stacks up against my much-beloved AB Swing Bag. Then I scored a barely half-yard of a long-desired print (RK Florentine, pics below) and figured that it would be perfect as a tote. Add on the deliciously cute gathering bucket from the Sew Mama Sew blog, perhaps a larger version of this Hopscotch bag as a summer tote... you see my problem.

Anyway, here is the latest one! It's the Melly & Me Hopscotch Bag, really more like a purse as it's quite a bit smaller than my usual carry-alls. The fun prints are from Jay McCarroll's lines: Woodland Wonderful and Garden Friends. I so love the Rust colored zigzag that I have a skirt planned for it too!

Close-up:

Braided handles:

Of course I added some pockets inside, and another tipped pocket!

And that Robert Kaufman Florentine fabric I mentioned above. Oh how I love it! Here's the very odd bit that I got:

But I should be able to eek out a tote bag looking roughly like this!

Birdie Sling

2009-02-26T14:12:00.005-05:00

You might be wondering - hey what happened to the quilt? I'm still working on it - it's quilted and the binding has been machine stitched on. Now I'm working on hand-stitching the binding to the back of the quilt. It's my TV-watching activity and it's going to take many shows to finish but I am getting there!

In the meanwhile here's another recently completed project! It's the Amy Butler Birdie Sling pattern in Denyse Schmidt Country Fair home-dec weight prints. This is one HUGE bag! I really like the way it came together except that I wish I hadn't used fusible fleece interfacing in the handle. It's a bit too stiff. I'm hoping that some use will soften it up and make it a bit floppier. I really like the pleating on the outside and the simple structure on the inside. I changed the pockets on one side - I like a rather small pocket for my word ID badge.

In progress - I love these prints!

Peak inside at my small pocket and lining. I love adding a bit of detail to the top of pockets now (see my AB Swing bag too). I think it looks fun and it helps you find the pocket too!

All done!

Making Progress -- Quilting

2009-02-19T11:42:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure it's fair to call this my *first* quilt since I started and abandoned a rail fence quilt last year. Apparently my 1/4" seams were not 1/4" and nothing was aligning correctly. :( It was very frustrating and while I'd like to get back to it one day, who knows when that will be.

But I'm trying again, this time with the easy and very forgiving Brick Path pattern from Amy Butler. It's one of the free patterns on her site.
I got all my "bricks" cut out, arranged them and pieced the top together! Next I need to trim it even, pin the back, quilt, and bind! I'm skipping the batting since I'm using a very fuzzy/furry backing. I already did a test quilting piece with it and no problems. I'm planning on doing a simple stitch in the ditch quilting. Too much quilting on the furry fabric looks odd.
Here's how it looks so far!
All cut and arranged:

All sewn!

And hopefully soon I'll have more progress to report!

An Ode to Swing Bags

2009-02-16T21:36:00.005-05:00

Oh Swing Bag, how I love thee!

I've gotten my money out of the Amy Butler Swing Bag pattern and then some. Really, I've made at least a dozen by now. I found I could make one out of two half yards, a fat quarter set, or really whatever piece I had and using a pieced construction. It's reversible, is a great size for me, looks good almost empty or stuffed to the gills. I even like that it has an open top so items can stick out if needed. It's a great basic pattern to build on. I usually add a covered button/loop closure at the top, plus a pocket or two.

My latest is really simple, just two Amy Butler (yes I have a lot of her stuff) prints from the August Fields line. These are heavier weight (heavier than her Nigella line) so no interfacing at all required --easy peasy!

Here's a look back at some of the others I've made:

Plus my very first, and still a favorite print of mine, Alexander Henry Mocca

Wristlet Testing

2009-02-06T10:30:00.005-05:00

I was blog-hopping one night, looking for some fun craft blog to add to my Dashboard when I came across the See Katie Sew blog. She had just posted that she needed one last tester for her wristlet pattern. So I commented and later that night I was sewing up Katie's pattern (now available at her Etsy shop).

Here is mine:

There's a nice finishing step for the top at the zipper:

I'm already thinking it would look stunning in a red/black/white or a black/taupe combination....

Nate promptly claimed it as his own to put cars in. What can I say, at least he appreciates my handiwork!

It's a fun project to make out of smaller pieces. These are 3 of the fabrics in my Amy Butler Brick Path quilt. I'm really hoping to actually COMPLETE it. I've cut the bazillion pieces and laid out the pattern yesterday. I need to iron it all before I start piecing.
I'm better with smaller projects frankly!

Oooh la la - oven mitts almost too pretty to use!

2009-02-04T15:32:00.002-05:00

I have to say I love how these oven mitts turned out. I used this free pattern from Savvy Seams and some more cute Lizzie Dish fabric. Our old, plain oven mitts were so grungy they really needed replacing. Now I'm worried we won't use these they are too nice!

More kitchen goodies

2009-02-02T08:40:00.009-05:00

First off, aprons:
I started out with plans to make ONE apron, then thought to make another as a gift, needed to make a less-girly one for my husband, and got distracted by yet one more pattern. So one turned into four. But now they are all done!

I've already posted the Lizzie Dish/denim simple apron for my husband and the simple Lolli Dot laminate child's apron gifted to a friend's toddler.
Last night I finished up my super-girly Emmeline apron! It's already quite a feminine pattern and then I made them up in some adorable Farmer's Market prints. It's reversible. The pattern is pretty darn involved for an apron, but I'm pleased with the results.

Last week I finished another apron, a half-apron. It's the apron overlay that is part of the Amy Butler Barcelona skirt pattern. I love the skirt pattern but had ignored the apron part until now.
It came out OK... I had to alter it since I made it too large initially... and really I'm not sure I'll get much use with it. It's meant to be a fashion apron over jeans or a skirt instead of a functional apron I think. I feel a bit too old for the look honestly. I think the pictures make it look nice, but not sure it's me.

But that's not all! I finished up another kitchen item - a stack of bibs for my baby boy. He's a spitter-upper, drools like crazy lately and will be starting food soon so it's bib time! I made 4 with more of the Lolli Dot Michael Miller laminate (and I still have tons left!) each trimmed with a different color of the pindot bias trim. So cute!

And then nine more that are a cotton print backed with minkee. All so soft and cozy!

AND I started working on two over mitts with Lizzie Dish prints. We could really use some new ones so I'll be finishing these up soon too.

Skinny Headband Tutorial

2009-01-15T16:14:00.009-05:00

I love headbands but they often don't love me back. I've made so many really pretty fabric ones and they start off nice but then just slide off my head.
Then a long, thin scrap from a project made me think it would be perfect as a headband and I realized I just needed thinner headbands! So the Skinny Headband was created! It's such an easy project that I thought it would be great as my first attempt at a tutorial.
Sorry for the picture overload, better too many than too few right?

The finished product:

You will need:
- basics (scissors or rotary cutter, sewing machine, thread, etc.)
- soft measuring tape
- 2.5" of 1/4" elastic
- two long thin scraps of fabric

Measure your head by wrapping the soft measuring tape around your head exactly where your headband will sit.

Cut two pieces of fabric 1.5" by your head measurement less 1 inch. My head measured 21" so I cut two pieces each 1.5" by 20".

Now sew with a 1/4" seam, the right sides together on one long edge of the fabrics, backstitching at each end.

Press the seam open

Now fold the outer long edges in to meet the edge of your pressed-open seam. Press. Repeat on the other outer long edge.
As long as you line the edges up, even if your seam allowance was bigger or smaller than 1/4" you will still end up with a 3/4" wide headband here.

Fold in half and press.

Unfold at the end and fold the short end up 1/2". Then refold the long sides in and back in half.

It should look like this:

Insert your elastic (2.5" piece) in one end so it is 1/2" in. Pin in place.

Starting at the short end with the elastic, stitch close to the edge on the short end (backstitching over the elastic will help keep it in place), pivot at the corner and stitch almost to the next corner. Pause here.

Now insert the other end of the elastic 1/2" into this end. Make sure the headband isn't twisted!
Finish stitching by pivoting at the corner and sewing along the short end, backstitching over the elastic.

Clip the threads and you are all done!

Distracted yet again!

2009-01-13T14:18:00.003-05:00

Sigh... I have a bag full of cut projects waiting to go and still I start others! I think I like planning, picking fabrics and even cutting better than the sewing and finishing.

So yesterday I heard about this fun stitch party at Spool Sewing...

My first thought was, can I go? A toddler, a baby, my first week back at work... But I think it sounds fun enough to make the plans for it.

My next thought was, what project(s) to bring? I want to bring something to wear but I'm not ready to make skirts for myself yet. I need to lose more baby weight (and I will!) Then I remembered the Spool blog post about the Amy Butler apron overlay which is part of the Barcelona Skirt pattern. I've made several Barcelona skirts and it's a great pattern (both the a-line and layered) but I also just ignored the apron overlay. Until now! I'm hoping it looks fun enough to wear with jeans and a top and not look silly on me.

The fabrics have been chosen, the pieces cut! This is the FOURTH apron I'll be making this month -- yikes! Now I really need to actually sit and sew!

When I was picking my Emmeline paron fabrics I came up with 3 combinations and I loved them all. Now I've decided what to do with each one.

Combination #1 - Amy Butler prints - will become the AB Barcelona apron overlay

Combination #2 - MM Farmers Market prints - will become Emmeline apron

Combination #3 - MM Mirabelle and Zen Blossoms with AB Full Moon dots - will become a skirt later this spring

Aprons Aplenty

2009-01-12T14:51:00.003-05:00

I decided it's time to finally make an apron with one of the many apron patterns I have. After picking which pattern to use, going through my stash and coming up with a few combinations, I made a decision and cut the fabrics. I chose the Emmeline apron from Sew Liberated, and Farmer's Market prints for each side and the trim.
Then... I got distracted. ;)

The apron I'm planning is VERY girlie so I had to made something for my husband to use too. Also, another toddler birthday snuck up on me and I thought a cute apron was in order. So my apron is still yet to be sewn but I did get these other two completed!

I didn't use a pattern for either, just copied (literally, I just traced around) ones we already had.

Here is the toddler one -- Michael Miller laminated Play Lolli Dot, with MM bias trims plus a simple orange print for the straps.

Close-up -- I just love these fun pindot trims

And one for my husband (and me, I love love love this print!)
Lizzie Dish fabric backed with denim with denim straps.

Both of these were so fun and fast! The Emmeline pattern has quite a few more steps, but I will get it done!

Sock Monkeys

2009-01-05T15:55:00.007-05:00

Just sharing another holiday gift!

Who doesn't love a cute sock monkey? The best part of this project is if you buy a bunch of socks thinking you will be making loads of monkeys and then they sit and sit and sit... well at least they can just go back and be used as actual socks. Yes I have several socks once destined to become monkeys!

I seem to be on a trio kick - so here are 3 monkeys! The one on the left is mine (Nate thinks it's his though) that I made last year. I used a thicker, sweater-like sock for it and it came out really fun. This middle was a funky knee sock and came with it's own eyes! The one on the right was cute but seemed a bit plain once I was done...

So I made her a skirt! I was going through my fabric stash looking for a fun print with a strong red and duh of course the Sock Monkey Yearbook print was perfect! It's really one of my all-time favorite kid prints. NOW this monkey is ready for playtime.

Free pattern link is on my list down to the right.

Baby Clutch Balls

2009-01-03T15:31:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year!
Amazingly, I'm not burned out from all the holiday sewing and I'm hoping to get a lot done before my maternity leave ends at the end of January. Sigh... the time flies by so fast!

Another Christmas gift is unveiled! I just love these, I used 36(!!) different fabrics for each one (I made 3 balls) in cottons, minkee, and baby wale corduroy. It was a really fun stash project finding which prints to combine.

Before I forget here is the free pattern.

Before sewing (my teaser pic a few posts back):

All done! They are a nice size, about a basketball but soft and light of course. This is the thicker size of the pattern. I had made the thinner version previously and it seems a bit floppy. Not bad, but I wanted to try out thick version. Plus you see the prints better! :)

Dilbert the Dino (times 2)

2008-12-26T19:58:00.004-05:00

Happy Holidays everyone!!
I actually got all my sewing done with a WHOLE day to spare! :)
My goal was to make a handmade item for each child on my list - my own, nieces and nephews, and friends' children. This year was a baby explosion so the list almost doubled!

Here is one gift I made for 2 of my nephews - Dilbert the Dino! This is a Melly & Me pattern (yes, yes, I need patterns for almost everything, even stuffies).
I thought they came out so adorable. I won't lie -- those spikes were pretty ugly to turn inside out but once you power through that step you're almost done anyway.

For size comparison - next to baby monitor. They are a nice size!

Why not squeeze in an extra project or two? High chair cover is done!

2008-12-11T15:54:00.003-05:00

Little Ben isn't quite ready for solids yet but we wanted to get him used to sitting at the table with us for dinner. Our high chair's original cover was cracked from repeated washings and I already had the Michael Miller Play Lolli Dot laminate and Michael Miller bias trims waiting around so another project got squeezed in among all the holiday gift sewing.

I started with the original cover as a rough pattern, but I did make a lot of adjustments and changes. Most were just time- and effort-savers, I mean WHY did the cover need 18 different ways to attach to the plastic seat? The orignal had a ruffle (blech) and an odd bottom shape, those had to go. The bias trim I though would be cute and colorful, plus it's a really quick way to finish things!

Fleece hats, scarves, mittens -- oh my!

2008-12-08T23:06:00.004-05:00

I am not doing a handmade-only holiday, or even close to it, but I do love to give handmade things when I can, and particularly to the ever-growing list of babies and kids in my life. Maybe it's because they are less likely to be critical of a crooked seam. ;-)

Since these have already been given out I'm free to share them here now! I wanted to get these done early so that they could be used the whole winter season. I made seven sets of these. I didn't intend to make mittens too, but after I made a pair for my son Nate I really liked how they turned out, and they were pretty fast. First some pictures then some details for anyone else interested in making some.

The pink girl set with kitty cat scarf:

All my kitties:

Boy set with bunny scarf:

My model:

And now some sewing info...

SCARF -the pattern is from the book Cute Stuff. Even though the directions are really just cartoons I don't have any tips or changes to add here.

HAT - free pattern from the Martha Stewart site! I do have some tips for these:
* make sure the stretch of the fleece goes around the circumference of the head
* if you intend to join the top in a pompom (as I did for the girl set above) add 1 to 1.5" to the height. I didn't add any to the instructions on my first one and it wasn't tall enough. This one became Nate's and I just cinched the corners up to make "ears", also a cute option.

MITTENS - free pattern here. It's not a quick just print and go pattern, it's a small one on a grid that you use as a guide. I used a grid with 5/8" squares for the toddler/pre-schooler size. There is a flaw in the pattern though, if you add up squares on one side it's 8 and on the other side it's 9, you need to either lengthen or shorten one side.

The Toddler-friendly Tree

2008-12-03T22:32:00.006-05:00

I love beautiful, ornate, delicate glass ornaments.
But glass and little ones don't mix well. So almost all of our ornaments have now been replaced by soft kid-friendly ones. Much safer now, and pretty cute too.

I made a big batch of these last year:

Here are this year's additions -- stockings:

And more of the Spool birdies - I just added ribbon loops and they are perfect as ornaments!!

An "action" shot of our tree:

Since we're in a holiday mood now, here is this year's picture with Santa (yes that as good as it got, Ben was not cooperative and Nate was a bit smiled out after family pictures earlier.)

A Fun Distraction - First Sight Book

2008-11-23T11:44:00.006-05:00

So in the midst of frenzied holiday gift sewing (some gifts have already been given out early in fact) I stumbled on this cute Michael Miller First Sight fabric. I wasn't sure what exactly I was going to make with it, but it jumped into my Etsy cart anyway. When it arrived I saw the squares were too large for a block (well actually maybe a soft taggie block would work well, but not stacking blocks.) I considered just making a little blanket since I already had red satin binding and red minkee to back it, but really we're swimming in blankets here! Then I thought to make a soft fabric book out of it -- perfect!

There are 12 different squares, but I also added a minkee back cover and made one more square out of the checkerboard border, so 14 sides in all. I added the satin binding plus a loop. The cover pages I used fusible fleece on (makes it a tad stiffer than just batting, and I think it's what makes the book stand up so well which is a feature I love), the interior pages have batting inside except for the center page which has some cellophane too make it crinkly. I think it turned out so cute. :)

Here is baby Ben modeling:

A Quick Sneak Peak

2008-11-15T22:50:00.002-05:00

Color color color! I love how these pieces look all laid out and I'm sure they are going to look so fun all assembled! Unfortunately, I won't be sharing the finished project until after the holidays since it's a gift.
I'm really gearing up for all the holiday gift sewing now. Lots of projects are cut and ready to sew, more are planned and yet to be started. The only problem is not getting *TOO* distracted by other random projects that catch my eye. I saw (and bought of course) this Michael Miller First Sight fabric and now I need to made a cloth book for my littlest one. I'm a sucker for all kids prints lately -- I need to stay off the fabric sites and use up some of the stash!

Don't worry, to keep from getting too empty here I'll be posting about some fun gifts I've made in the past: I-Spy bags, crayon keeper, car playmat. Stay tuned...

Sewing Space Makeover

2008-11-05T10:39:00.004-05:00

My sewing table is in my basement and I've made lots of projects with Amy Butler Nigella prints for it so far (and someday, maybe, hopefully I'll finish the quilt for it!!)
I still had plenty of fabric leftover so I made some cushion covers and a machine cozy!

The chair has removable cushions that were purple velvet. Not bad, but they were getting old and dingy anyway. I decided just to cover them over.

The sewing machine cozy was so fun! I used the instructions from Spool Sewing, modified just a bit for the dimensions of my machine. For the front I just went through my scrap bag and started laying out pieces. It was fun! Piecing bits into strips and then piecing the strips together isn't hard, you just have to have an idea of which pieces to sew in which order! The sides, top and back are just the solid print. I added a light interfacing behind the pieced front just to keep all the seams neat and from snagging anything on the machine. I also added a pieces of fusible fleece on the inside of the top piece. I really like the shaping it added, I may add the fusible fleece to the remaining pieces too. I'd like it to basically stand on it's own.

More pics of my space, with my "inspiration wire" over my worktable -- just bits of fabric, pictures, ideas and cute things.

And just because I *LOVE* to look at it, my fabric stash

Toddler Hats

2008-10-30T15:04:00.009-04:00

First off, Go Phillies! World Series Champs!!!!
We have a serious lack of Phillies gear in the house, so I dug out my out-of-print Phillies fabric and made a cap for Nate! I just came across this tutorial from Made by Petchy yesterday so it all just came together perfectly.

Blue one is fleece with a center panel of On a Whim Owls. I put a layer of fleece behind the owls too. It's not reversible and I used some bias tape for the edging. I skipped the elastic on this one.

Red twill one has Phillies (woohoo!) on one side and a bit of Michael Miller Guitar fabric on the reverse. I almost cried with joy when I saw that I had a scrap of the guitar print just big enough for this.

My model:

I got a new camera!

2008-10-14T10:55:00.009-04:00

Woohoo!
Getting a picture of my 2.5 year old is just getting impossible. He doesn't smile for pics, but most of all he doesn't stop moving! My husband suggested I go ahead and get a digital SLR since I figured I'd get one at some point, but which one to get? I'm notoriously terrible at over-researching and taking forever to make a decision on purchases like this. Fortunately I read this site kenrockwell.com that just made 100% sense to me and I was done! So I got the Nikon D40 and already I'm much happier with the vastly improved responsiveness. I also picked up the recommended external mount flash (SB-400) and I'm just about giddy about how my indoor shots look now. My living room has particularly bad lighting but of course that's where I'm trying to take pictures all the time. I can't wait to see how actually, you know, learning how to use the camera helps even more! :)

A few pics:

Pretty Pillowcases!

2008-10-07T11:55:00.004-04:00

I just LOVE the new Heather Ross Mendocino line. But I had a very hard time figuring out what I wanted to make with it! I'm all stocked up on fabrics to make bags or skirts or PJs for me ... I didn't see making something with it for my boys... and I loved the way the different prints looked together too.
Then I saw a great little half-yard bundle from Fabricworm on Etsy and I realized they would look great with my orange duvet cover! So a few half-yards headed my way and I made pillowcases! Each side of the two pillowcases varies a bit with the four inside fabrics in different spots.

All cut and laid out:

All done!

Action pic with the rusty orange sheets & duvet:

I'd never had pretty or even interesting pillowcases, they always have just match the solid sheets. It seemed like a frivolous project at first, but I can see making more. It's so nice to see your handiwork first thing in the morning (or for me, every time Ben wakes up to nurse!)

A project for baby & mama!

2008-10-03T23:01:00.003-04:00

A new baby needs new carriers to snuggle in right? ;)
I bought a snuggly wrap, chopped it in half, dyed it blue and turned it into a ringsling! I'm so happy with the color (I'm not a dying expert!) and the sewing for the ringsling shoulder is very simple. Here are some instructions for sewing a gathered shoulder BTW.

Action pic:

With the undyed other half of the wrap:

I'm Back and Ben is Here!

2008-09-24T21:08:00.003-04:00

Born 3 weeks early, Benjamin Matthew joined our little family! He's a tiny sleepy guy so I've actually gotten a few moments to sit down at the sewing machine too.

The To Do list got thrown away and I had to make the little guy some things. :)

Here are a few projects from the Amy Butler "Little Stitches" book - booties and a military-style hat! Actually it's more of a little dictator hat I think! The booties are impossibly cute, I'd make more if they weren't so labor intensive. Both are a size too big for Ben right now, so no modeling pics just yet.

And I finally fixed my Boppy covers again - a simple project that took me way too long!

It's September and my due date is quickly approaching!

2008-09-03T09:46:00.002-04:00

With getting the house ready for the new baby (how do babies have so much laundry???) and me getting tired again, I'm not sure what if any sewing projects I'll be able to get done this month. But at least I'm caught up on my must-do's:

my photo scrapbooks are done up to January 2008 (a huge improvement since I left them at October 2006 for over a year)
my diaper bag is done (a huge project but a great sense of accomplishment!)
my new covers for my Boppy pillow are done (one of those projects that isn't on a to do list, but suddenly appears and MUST be done ASAP!)
all the pillows, valance, etc. for the basement & bathroom are done
all the projects for DS's new room are done (valance, big nap pillow, body pillow)
I sewed on a button for DH ;)

A lot of the projects on my to do list are really things that would be nice to make, not need to make. The quilt for the basement has been in progress since February, so there's no need to rush to finish it now! I'm sure I'll sneak in time to make some pants for DS (I have so many cute prints for him) and of course I'll get started on some holiday gifts in the fall. I guess I won't be able to post too much about those though, but I can give teaser pics!

I've really been sewing a ton these last several months, so you might see me dip back in the past a bit and showcase some of those projects. :)

My new diaper bag is done finally!

2008-08-31T21:54:00.002-04:00

What a project this was!
I finished my new diaper bag late last night. It's the Modern diaper bag from Amy Butler's Little Stitches book. It's HUGE - I actually scaled it down 25% (except I kept the depth of 4", so there was lots of fiddling with the measurements before I even began) and now it's a perfect size for me. I think there were 50+ pieces to cut out, it was not simple or quick!
It has a magnetic tab closure, a cell pocket on the outside end, 4 interior pockets (I think I pleated these wrong, oh well) which are large enough for my diapee & wipee case, water bottle, etc.

I also made the matching changing pads (also from the book). I used this super soft minkee-type fabric and they are quilted. I made two so one can be in the wash and I'll still have one ready to go.

Spool birdie

2008-08-27T13:39:00.008-04:00

In a very it's-a-small-world way I discovered a fun fabric store nearby! The path involves a norweigan, a british mama, a fairy swap, 10-minute trousers, a picture of a bird mobile, and an unsubscribed-for home decorating magazine randomly arriving at my door. But at the end I discovered Spool Sewing is a shop here in Philadelphia! The fact that I had printed out their instructions for the birdie pattern here just the day before (and still didn't realize they were a brick and mortar shop less than a mile away!) just shows how close I was to missing it.

Crazy-Quilt Fabric Coasters!

2008-08-27T13:34:00.007-04:00

They turned out rather wild!

Amazingly I didn't go mad dealing with all of these teeny tiny pieces. I have so very little patience as a sewer, but these went together reasonably quickly.

Not that I've ever actually done this as a quilt, but I think I pieced these using a crazy quilt method. You stack up the fabric, cut all at once and then rearrange the order of the cut stacks of pieces. Then sew a bazillion seams and hope for the best. I got to use some scrappy bits for this and forced myself to let go of being too matchy-matchy.

First Post!

2008-08-07T22:02:00.003-04:00

Welcome!
I'm still getting acquainted with this site, blogging in general, and trying to figure out what I want to say here!

Why Loose Threads?
Well, I mean for most of this blog to be for crafting. Things I've made, tutorials, links to other crafters' great projects and blogs, great fabrics, non-fabric crafts, and reviews. BUT, I'm rather scatterbrained so expect me to go off on random tangents too!