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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Seeing Pink Elephants

No, it's not what you think...really! I saw the cutest fabric on clearance and decided to make a summer outfit for a friend of my daughter that had a baby girl in December. Here's a picture of the outfit:

I had left over fabric and decided to make the little elephant in Last Minute Quilted-Gifts.

I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out and I can't wait to give it to her. I hope to have a picture soon with baby N donning her new summer sundress!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Happy Birthday Skie!!!

Last year, a very cute, 4 legged bundle joined the family. My daughter and her boyfriend Bob got a puppy. They had just purchased a home and they had the perfect back yard for her. Here is a picture when she was just a few days old.

Here she is sitting on my lap at 2 months old.

Well, today she turns 1. She's very sweet and has a lot of energy and will still sit on your lap if you let her.


Happy Birthday Skie!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Stuck!

I came across this issue of Australian Smocking and Embroidery magazine a few years ago and fell in love with the little outfit on the cover.

I bought some fabric, cut the piece for the smocked insert, pleated it and happily started smocking. The last step was to embroider little boullion roses. This is where the "stuck" comes in. I don't know what my problem is but I get very stressed out making those little buggers. I'm nearly done and I've been working on this project long enough. I'm posting about this so that maybe I can get motivated. This is what I have so far.


I just looked at the date on the magazine...2004! Maybe I should change my title to "Very Very Stuck".

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Big Dreams, Little Spindle

I first learned to spin on a top whorl drop spindle. A little clumsy and very slow but I eventually got the hang of it. Here is a picture of my (little) Bosworth spindle.


The "Big Dream" part of my title is that I decided to spin enough yarn on my little spindle to knit the Forrest Canopy Shawl. I began spinning. I'd fill my little spindle up, transfer the singles to my wool winder, carefully remove the wound singles from the wool winder onto my hand, then create a 2 ply yarn...one single coming from the center of the ball and the other from the outer. This was accomplished by spinning the two singles together in the opposite direction that the singles were created on a heavier, slightly larger spindle. I would then transfer the yarn to my niddy noddy to make a skein and then soak my beautiful (but very small) bit of yarn to set the twist. Once dry, I would knit up what I had produced and begin the spinning all over again. Here is a picture of the shawl so far.

Then, last summer I bought my spinning wheel. Wowee. I bought the Kromski Sonata.
I could actually produce enough yarn for a project in a reasonable amount of time. By that I mean less than 5 years. I decided to move my shawl project from the spindle to spinning wheel but guilt set in. Guilt! It's only yarn but I had made this decision to create all the yarn on the spindle and I felt like I was abandoning the cute little thing. My spinning instructor thought that I shouldn't move this project to the wheel because the yarn would be different. Ok. After one more spindle full I caved and am now merrily moving along in the shawl project. I may even get to wear it next winter.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Yum, Jelly Rolls

I was browsing the Fat Quarter Shop when I noticed the words Jelly Roll in the left menu. I like jelly rolls. When I clicked the link, I was surprised to find fabric jelly rolls. Companies, such as Moda, will take a collection of fabric, create 2 1/2 inch strips of fabric using the entire width of the fabric, roll them all and sell them in packs. I've been sewing almost my entire life and have never heard of this. These jelly rolls can be used in any kind of strip piecing projects. After more searching I found this kit. Oh boy! There are enough strips in the jelly roll to make 2 bags. What fun, bright, springtime fabrics in this collection. Here is the one I made.






Yum, jelly rolls!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Itty Bitty Sock

Last Christmas all my sock knitting friends received these. I couldn't resist and bought a kit for myself. All you need is a little left over sock yarn, size 000 double pointed needles and you're off. You can knit them in one sitting and you only have to knit one! They so fun and fast to make. Here's mine.





ps...hope everyone had a fun April Fool's Day. I know I did. My husband graciously loaned me some creepy crawly things from his fishing box. I placed the best looking centipede on the drivers seat of my daughter's car at lunch time and a lizard on the steering column. She said she screamed when she opened the door. She told me that she doesn't think I'm very funny. :)