Archive for the ‘Sewing’ Category

What I’ve been doing on my summer vacation

Friday, July 10th, 2009

I went to MD last month to help my daughter move and to visit with my two favorite girls and apparently that is when my blog vacation started.

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So while I have been slacking off in the blogging department, at least I have been accomplishing a few things around here. I made a tote bag for Alexis using the tutorial found here.

tote-bag-alexis7

And I made a little short set for Addision. The pattern is New Look 6689. As usual, I learned a lot on this one. For instance while I like the way ruffles look, I didn’t really care for doing them by hand. I think a ruffler foot may be in my future. These were also my first button holes. Like a good doobie, I made practice ones on scrap fabric first and they came out great. When it came time to make the real ones, my machine jammed, the needle broke and trying to rip it out without ripping the fabric was not fun. But it all worked out in the end.

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I finished up my plain vanilla socks.

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Pattern: Plain vanilla socks over 64 stitches
Yarn: Trekking #125
Needles: 2.25 mm
Started: 5/1/09
Finished: 6/10/09

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This week I made some raspberry jam and next week blueberry jam is on the schedule.

raspberry-jam

I started a new pair of Ampersand socks when I left for MD last month and this is where they are at right now. As you can see, I haven’t been knitting much. I guess I need a little vacation from knitting too.

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I also started working again on the quilt I started last year.

first-quilt-border

This week I added the border and started the quilting. This is my first quilt, so it’s slow going. I started doing stitch in the ditch quilting and frankly, I stink at it. I have to assume that I’ll get better with practice so I am sticking with it.

first-quilt-quilting

Well that’s all I have for now. I have some spinning to post about too, but I didn’t want this entry to be any bigger than it already is. Have a great weekend!

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Posted in Knitting, Sewing | 15 Comments »

Good Riddance

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

Do you know what today is, other than Tuesday that is? Give up? It is - I am finally getting this stinking cast off and OMG I can’t wait day. Yep. It’s finally here. I cannot wait to take a real shower. Standing up. All by myself! And to shave my leg. And to moisturize it. You should see how nasty my skin looks where I can see it. It’ll be interesting to see what it looks like where I can’t see it right now. And I can’t wait to drive…all by myself too! And to run!!! I hope it’s not too long before I can run. So anyway…this afternoon it’s bye-bye cast! Yay!

I meant to post after Thanksgiving was over but the rest of the week got away from me. You know how that happens. I had a nice holiday and I hope you all did too. I spent most of my free time this weekend sewing.

Click to see it bigger

This is the Emmeline Apron from Sew Liberated. I think it’s a cute apron and I really like that it’s reversible. The fabric is from Joel Dewberry but I can’t remember what line it is from. It looks good tied in the front too but I forgot to show you it that way. If you click on the link though it shows it tied both ways.

I learned how to make my own double fold bias binding for this project and it was easier than I thought it would be. I was scared when I was reading the directions. I cheated a bit with the directions and didn’t sew the binding ties by hand, because I really don’t like to hand sew and I am not very good at it either. So I hand sewed the binding to the bodice and then machine stitched the straps. It looks fine to me. I wouldn’t have been that lazy if this was a garment, but it’s just an apron, so I’m good with it. I will definitely make this again.

I finished up my son’s fingerless mitts last week and started the other son’s hat. The Christmas knitting is almost done!

And I finished up the back of my CPNH last night. This is a fun pattern and I am enjoying knitting it.

I keep forgetting to show you the PIF package that arrive a few weeks ago from Lisa. She made me the cutest little project bag that I am already using for my hat, although I’m sure it will have a sock in it soon. As you can see, she sent along a bunch of other wonderful goodies to sweeten up the package. The cookies are long gone and I can’t wait to try out the fiber. Thank you again Lisa!

And that’s all I’ve got for today! Happy Tuesday!

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Posted in Knitting, Sewing | 19 Comments »

Secret Projects

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

A few weeks back, or maybe even longer than that now, I was working on a few secret things I couldn’t post pictures of yet. Well it’s now safe to post about them. The first project was Elefante. Isn’t he cute as anything?

I had him all finished up weeks early, except for sewing on his head, and then waited until the day of the shower to do that for some unknown reason. I had trouble sewing his head on straight and gave up after a few tries assuming the baby won’t mind so much. I really dislike hand sewing.

I also made this toy ring.

The cat material is Robert Kaufman Cats on the Loose and the reverse side is Alexander Henry Baddanna. Paula, the new mommy, is rather fond of skulls. Hopefully the baby, who arrived a few weeks early last Friday, will like both of his new toys.

I made the ring following a tutorial I found on Joanna’s blog. The ribbon tags on it caught my attention because my daughter was telling me how popular they were last time I was there visiting. Joanna has a bunch of really neat tutorials that are featured here if you’re looking for something different to make.

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Posted in Knitting, Sewing | 6 Comments »