adventures in sewing (and bad photography)

I always mean to post more regularly, but then I get sucked into the pregnancy/motherhood/housewife vortex and I just disappear for a few days. It's an odd sensation, that. Disappearing. Poof.

Anyway, I did not end up making anything patriotic for Daughter to wear on the 4th. The reasons are threefold: first, I hated all the patriotic fabric carried at our Joann Fabrics this year (and $9.99/yard? really? come on); second, my back was super owie after sewing a lot last week (mental note...must get a cutting table of correct height one of these days); third, we didn't do squat for the holiday anyway so there was no real reason she needed anything special to wear.

I did make one cutie-patootie pair of shorts for her, but they are in the wash right now. I'll take some photos and talk pattern specs another day. I started 2 more pairs yesterday only to sew the crotch seam incorrectly so those were ruined and I was VERY VERY FRUSTRATED. They went straight into the garbage as they were unsalvagable. Grrrr.

I did, however, experience some success in the sewing/knitting arena over the past week or so. Besides the one pair of wee shorts, I managed to finish the 2 quilt tops I owe the shop:



It is actually quite a sunny day but for some reason I cannot take a quality photo. Anyway, you can see there are 2 tops there, right? Tedious work making those borders, let me tell you. Freaking half-square bias triangles. Invented by sadists, I'm sure. But they are done and I am happy. Now I will spend the afternoon snipping bazillions of threads from the embroidery sections so these can be turned in tomorrow and I can GET PAID!! That's happy, because I want to buy more fabrics to go with these:



Whoa, how 'bout that segue? These are a small collection of little prints I've been, well, collecting. For many years now. There are actually more hidden away somewhere in one of my closets or cabinets, and I have to go spelunking to find them. These have been displayed in a basket lately so they were handy to photograph. I'm planning to use them (along with the bleached 200 count muslin underneath) for the new babe's quilt. I figure I ought to get going on it, considering she's due in just over 13 weeks...aaaaagh! Ok, must not think of the timeframe. Breathe. Breeeeeeeeathe.

The pattern will be a simple 9 patch, and will hopefully have an "old" look to it when I'm done. I'm not planning a border, just alternating white squares with 9 patch squares to the edges, and then a binding made of strips of each fabric used in the top. I think it will be super cute. I plan to make one block of each fabric to take shopping with me so I can pick out a few more teeny prints to coordinate. Hopefully my paycheck will arrive just in time for the hy-ooge Joann Fabrics coupon sale that starts the 16th.

And finally, we have news on the knitting front. I finished the front of the wee dress for baby #2:



My word, this is tough to photograph. For some reason the stockinette portion comes out all freaky-looking. The bodice portion is really sweet:



I don't know why it looks so washed-out in the picture. The garter ribs are a lilac color and look adorable in real life. This is such a nice, simple pattern. I've been plodding away at it while we watch movies at night because other than making sure I click my row counter, I don't have to think. Once the back is done the shoulder seams get sewn and then the sleeves are knit down from the bodice...happy, happy day! That's 2 fewer seams to sew. Rock on.

And then, of course, once that's done I have twelve billion more things in mind to make.....