a whole new world

I don't really like it when people just put all their pictures in a huge stack like this, with no explanations, but it takes forever to sort them all out with the new(ish) blogger interface and get all the justifications and alignments right so today it's what I'm doing.

We are off to a great start for the new school year...and this year it really is a whole new experience. In fact it is what I've been waiting for since September 2, 2008, when I first learned that my son wasn't going to have a 'typical' childhood. Daughter started third grade (omg) and my baby boy turned 5 and started pre-K. We chose to keep him out of elementary school for one more year and put him in a "kindergarten readiness" preschool program, designed for 5 year olds. There are only 5 other kids in the class and surprisingly 4 of them are girls (4 girls and 1 "kind of naughty boy" according to my son).

As my son has quite literally never been away from me other than to have surgical procedures or to stay overnight at Grandma and Grandpa's house (my parents), this was a huge deal for both of us. He still struggles with a severe speech impairment and pooling of saliva that leads to drooling so I was terrified he would be teased or somehow ostracized because of that. He does take medication to curb production of excess saliva but it is not perfect. Thankfully the teacher is awesome and is totally rolling with it, and we're just dressing him in dark shirts so it doesn't show as much when it happens.

And long story short, he LOVES school. He is so happy when he is there, and comes out dancing and hopping around, asking to go back the next day. He has also started a new speech therapy program at our elementary school, which he will be doing 5 days/week. I'm definitely a taxi driver this year, and hopefully will be getting lots of knitting and reading done with all the waiting time!

Some summer knitting has been completed - socks for Daughter in Patons Kroy, a soaker for the etsy shop in some leftover Wool of the Andes (winter night colorway, size 0-6 months), a chunky little 3-month size cardigan to donate once I put some buttons on it (earns money for a local hospital), and Ene's Scarf, using yarn purchased when my husband and I spent our anniversary weekend in Toronto.

Well, it was definitely a crazy week and things feel a bit hectic for me. I need to get organized and get into a groove so I can feel more productive. I have so many projects I want to do! Fall weather is coming, it's prime-time for knitting, plus there are more quilt patterns I want to try and I keep stumbling across adorable cross-stitch patterns I want to make.....definitely need to research crock-pot recipes first.

I hope everyone is settling into autumn routines and enjoying somewhat cooler temperatures. I'm loving cruising around blogland and watching the seasons change through everyone's crafts. Fall is the best!

too hot

It's official...I prefer cool or even cold weather to this soggy, stinky, swampy hotness. The air is thick and heavy, and the only thing to do is hide in my bedroom in front of the air conditioner (I shudder to think of the upcoming electric bill) or float around in the pool doing nothing. At least when it is cold you can pull on some knee socks and another sweater and get stuff done. I'm a task-oriented person and have a lot of trouble just sitting around. I like to do stuff! Perhaps this weather is God's way of slowing me down, forcing me to surrender to just bobbing around in the water, watching my kids play.

The only knitting going on has been a few Etsy orders, which have kept me pretty busy. I've even managed to sneak in a few ready-made items along with custom orders.

I'm kind of excited that Patons has finally come out with some new, nice colors (hello, what took so long for basic navy and green?) so I think I will take a few skeins along on our upcoming midwest vacation to make up some samples.

Let's see, what else? Oh yes, my husband and I celebrated ten years of marriage (!!!) last week and took off to Toronto for a weekend alone. We had no big plans other than tickets for The Wizard of Oz (which was outstanding). We wandered the city and took in the sights, ate and drank and napped whenever we felt like it, and...we visited Romni Wools. There is just no way to describe the place, which is tucked into a rather nondescript block just at the edge of the Toronto Fashion District (itself enough to knock me flat) on Queen Street West.

I've never seen so much yarn. It is a huge shop, stacked floor-to-ceiling with every yarn in creation. And then there is a basement, a labyrinth of 5 additional rooms, all sale priced. Lucky me, in July the entire store is 20% off, including the sale stuff. I could have stayed in there for a week but didn't want to torture my patient husband, so I had him pick out some sock yarn (the gray Jawoll above) and I got two skeins of Estelle Yarns Baby Silk Lace (70% baby alpaca, 30% mulberry silk) in a beautiful raspberry colorway. The prices were crazy good. I am already making a plan to return - luckily Toronto is easily a day trip from where I live!

After dithering for months over what yarn to use for Ene's Scarf, which I've been dying to make, I finally jumped in with the new stuff. It's luscious and feels amazing in my hands... as long as I'm sitting about three feet from the air conditioner.

Stay cool, everybody!

7 day quilt

Lately I've found a lot of stress relief at my sewing machine.

This quilt was cut, pieced, quilted, bound, washed, dried and photographed in 7 days. Which might tell you how much stress I've been under for the past week! It's ok, everything worked out fine, but it was a tad tense for me so I took it out on my stash. :)

This has been my view for many days. The quilt is just 5 inch squares of anything and everything in my cotton stash. I used up a number of scraps, and ended up with an 81" square. The entire thing is quilted 1/4" on each side of every seam, and I did it all on my trusty Bernina 1008. I do love that machine. And I have super Popeye muscles now from holding it up while I quilted. Cripes, it was heavy! 

For the backing I managed to cobble together enough of a lovely Nancy Halvorsen purple (very old, a fall line from around 2002?), and I bound it with a green Moda marble that's been sitting in stash for 10 years as well. Actually I've been doing such a good job of using up stash, it was one of the only pieces large enough to cut 300+ inches of binding strips from.

The batting is inexpensive Hobbs Heirloom cotton, which I don't love but it will do. I do prefer Quilters Dream or Warm & Natural/Warm & White, but this was affordable and drapes nicely so I can snuggle up under the quilt.

Overall I am pleased with this. It's a nutty hodgepodge of colors, prints, scale, etc., but I think in the end it works. When I think "quilt" I think of enterprising frontier women using up scraps of calico dresses, aprons, shirts, and whatever else they could get their hands on. I think this is somewhat true to that ideal, as there are many pieces of calico here that began as little dresses for my daughter from the time she was about 2 years old. It's fun to look over it and remember the things I've made.

So much satisfaction in finishing something this large. Yep, my stress is relieved and I am happy with the result. Have a great weekend, everybody!

buttercup

Got some fat quarters or scraps you don't know what to do with? Quick, gather them up and make a buttercup bag! The pattern is free, and it is excellent and easy to follow. This little bag only took maybe a couple of hours start to finish. The only mildly fiddly part is sewing that top band to the pleated bottom section because it's a curve. But the pieces fit together properly so it isn't even hard.

This purse is fully lined and has a wee pocket that's large enough for a cell phone or small personal items.

You are supposed to not be lazy like I am, and go buy a magnetic snap for the closure, but I didn't know if I would like the pattern and I would rather poke myself in the eye than go to Joann Fabrics most of the time...so I didn't go get one. Now I am kicking myself because this bag is freaking adorable! I will be making the trip to buy a bunch of snaps so I can make lots of buttercup bags.

This will be so great for a summer date night, or a quick trip to the store when I just need a wallet and phone (you know, instead of the satchel I usually haul around with crayons, snacks, water bottles, coupons, knitting, etc, etc).

I'm going to brew up something hot and caffeinated, and pick out some fat quarters to make another buttercup. Thanks for the great pattern, Rae!

obsessed!

I can't stop making pillowcases!

I'm pawing through my (dwindling) fabric stash looking for 1-yard pieces of cotton because I just can't get enough of 'em.

In an effort to clean out and pare down I've been hauling bag after bag out the door to Goodwill or the Salvation Army (I've taken out at least 6 enormous trash bags so far). Last weekend I attacked the linen closet and dumped the eighty-bazillion polyester blend pillowcases that came from my Nana's linen closet when she passed away 16 years ago. Before that I'm sure they sat in that closet for YEARS because my Nana was raised during the Depression and she basically hoarded everything. Anyway they weren't even very nice ones...I did keep the amazingly wonderful percale cases with the tatted and crocheted edges...so our collection has really shrunk. A lot of our cases that came with white sheet sets have discolored or just started to fall apart from years of use and being washed in hot water with bleach, so voila! I put my stash to good use replacing things we actually need, which is my favorite kind of sewing to do. Plus these are just way more fun than plain white!

The two in back are currently on my kids' beds. They were 1-yard cuts of gorgeous Moda fabric gifted to me by a lovely blogging friend many years ago. I couldn't bear to slice them up for quilts so they've been marinating in the stash waiting for the right project. The vintage kids playing is on my son's bed, and red riding hood is on my daughter's bed.

On the bottom left is some Laurel Burch cat fabric, on the bottom right just a rose and green stripe (it is a Ro Gregg fabric from about 6 years ago or so). Those first four cases are just a simple 1-yard cut of fabric with a deep 4-inch hem. I can put up some photos of my process if anyone is interested, but it is seriously basic, just fold one edge over 4.5 inches, then fold the raw edge under .5 inch and hem. That's the cuff. Then simply make french seams to close the case. Ridiculously easy!

The blue floral cases were only slightly more complicated to make, using the excellent tutorial by The Crafty Gemini. Her youtube channel is packed with great tutorials. These cases are great if you don't have a full yard of one fabric. You only need 24" of the main fabric, 12" of the cuff fabric, and 2" of the contrast band (which is optional).

The weather is perfect for sewing this week (nice and cool!) so I'm off to make more stuff!

lately

 The holiday weekend was so, so nice. The weather was lovely, in the 60s with sunshine and blue skies. We didn't do a whole lot, but on Monday we took the kids to Griffis Sculpture Park, a very cool place about an hour south.

We only saw a fraction of the 400+ sculptures because it was muddy and frankly, because Hubs is not that much of an outdoor-family-fun kind of guy. I was lucky to get him to come at all.

I've visited several times over the past 20 years and really wanted the kids to experience it too. I will definitely take them back, probably in the fall when the leaves are changing, to see more.

Then the weather changed over to cool and rainy, rainy, rainy. We had gray skies and thunderstorms for two days and it was awesome. I really dread the upcoming hot, humid summer. Mama is just not cut out for it. I enjoy the more temperate days. Plus, duh, on those days I can get more sewing and crafting done!

 My son requested a "4th of July shirt" (I don't know why) so we found some patriotic-looking shirting on sale at Joann's. Whoa, I thought the shirt looked blurry because of the plaid but now I think it's just a crummy photo. Whoops.

I realized once I'd started placing the pattern pieces that plaid is trickier than I remembered. I tried really hard to line things up so it wouldn't look crazy.

I'm kind of proud of how the pockets came out. I fudged the placement so the darker vertical lines of the plaid would match up. 

And I'm pleased with the collar, even though I technically put it on backwards...the interfacing ended up fused to the wrong piece but it lays fine so no one needs to know, right? I love making these little shirts, they are immensely satisfying despite not being all that difficult. Even my husband is impressed, and after showing him all my projects for the past 10 years it takes a lot to make him really sit up and take note. He even said he would wear one if I made it for him! I'll probably do one or two more for my son to get better at making this pattern, and then move on to a pattern with a collar stand. Learning new skills and stretching beyond my abilities is so essential to my everyday life, because otherwise I just feel like a maid/cook/laundress and that's no fun at all.

Speaking of learning, I'm sure I'm the last person to figure this out, but youtube is PACKED with awesome videos and tutorials about garment construction and sewing in general. (Those Crafty Gemini "sausage" pillowcases are in my sights!) It's incredible how many people, including professionals, are willing to give of their time and skills to help others learn. I can't get enough!

I've also been stitching away at my giant sampler, finishing up the alphabets in the center as well as the frame surrounding them, and moving on to an urn and leaves. Very relaxing.

And of course there is knitting. I haven't settled on a big project to make right now so I'm just doing socks. Good enough for now, and quite portable for the playground runs that are becoming more frequent as the weather changes.

So that's what's going on in my neck of the woods. What are you working on?

circle of diamonds

When my husband and I first met I made no pretense about my hobbies. Within a few weeks I was happily knitting and/or crocheting while we watched movies together on the couch. He was very supportive, but I do recall him saying it was a really neat hobby, but I wasn't going to start knitting shawls and doilies and old lady stuff, was I?

Ummmmm.....

Oops. Looks like I knit a doily.

Oh well, so what, it was fun! I am always looking for a new and interesting challenge to keep growing my needlework skills. This was a combination of knitting in the round, lace, and using cotton thread.

I'm not planning to knit up a hundred of these and drape them all over the house or anything, but I might make a few more. They are a small, satisfying project and they do look nice here and there.

This one is at home on the piano, snuggling with my fiesta ware vase* and candlesticks.

Well, it's 80 degrees and a bit humid (barf), I have one kid with sniffles and one home sick from school, and nowhere to be this afternoon so I think I'll get everyone settled down for a rest and spend some time with my alphabet cross stitch. With a glass of ice water. In front of a fan.


*Oh my word! I have thought this was a vase since I received it as a wedding shower gift ten years ago, but looking it up I discovered it is actually a utensil crock! No wonder the opening is so wide...I just thought, since it was given to me with the candlesticks, that it was decorative and meant for flowers!

lots of spring sewing

I know, I know, first I'm all, "I'm back to blogging!" and then I vanish for weeks. My excuse is that allergy season has hit HARD this year and I've been really miserable. No one wants to listen to me whine, so I've just stayed quiet. 

The upside to hiding in the house with all the windows closed is that I've had lots of time to sew. In fact, I've done more sewing over the past several weeks than I've done in the past several years. I don't have photos of everything because much of it has gone into immediate use. 

We found that this year it is impossible to fit Daughter into any store-bought shorts. And believe me, we tried. I dragged that poor child to every store in the mall to try on every brand and style. If they fit in the waist they gave her wedgies. If they were long enough they were too loose. There was no winning. Even the adjustable waist kind were hopeless. Absolutely nothing fits. So I started out by making a total of 9 pairs of shorts between my two kids. Some for wearing out, some for sleeping. Because in addition to no shorts for Daughter, when the weather turned warm I also discovered my son had no warm-weather pajamas. 

These kids and their nonstop growing. Sheesh!

So let's see, there were shorts and pajamas, two dresses for Daughter, three sleeveless tunics for me (one lawn, one linen, and one "mystery fabric" that's some sort of lightweight cotton), some pique capris for me that were so ridiculous they went straight to the donation bag, and the above "church shirt" for my son. (That's what we call shirts with collars around here, to keep him from showing up at the breakfast table on church mornings in a t-shirt.)

Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon - usually the end of May brings the end of the severe allergy season - and I can get outside with the kids and better photograph some of the stuff I've been making. 

Oh, and lastly, here's a stern warning for the sewists out there:

I can't believe I'm even showing this, I'm so ashamed of myself, but I thought it might help someone else. I was stitching the collar on my son's shirt, and using lots of pins because it's fiddly. Somehow I broke the cardinal rule of NEVER EVER sewing over a pin (it was buried in multiple layers of fabric). The needle hit the pin and bent so badly it's now curved. I am hoping and praying the needle bore the brunt of that stupid error and my machine is ok inside. It seems to be fine so far. But let this be a lesson, friends. Never, never, never sew over pins! I don't care what your mom or your grandma or the old lady down the street who taught you to sew says...it is NOT a good idea, ever. You can do potentially hundreds of dollars of damage with one little pin.

I'm off my soapbox now. Hope you're all having a good weekend and may the pollen counts where you live be low!

x stitch

Oh, I'm also going through a bit of a cross-stitch obsession.

This is my latest (not my own design):

I'm on the second-to-last alphabet for this center section and then it will be on to the elaborate floral borders. So. Much. Fun. 

birds

Finished the Birds in the Air quilt top today!

It's 56" x 64" right now but needs borders. I have no idea what to use, but it definitely needs something plain and/or neutral to give the eye a place to rest. Gosh, this is a busy quilt top...I'm not sure if it's awesome or awesomely bad. 

Here's a closer look:

Pretty wild! I used everything but the kitchen sink in this. I have to live with it for a bit to decide on borders, then I'll get it quilted and take some better photos of the finished product. For now I'm packing up the sewing and getting started on some spring cleaning. Daughter's 8th birthday party is this weekend and the house is a wreck. Maybe because I've spent all my time sewing lately? Yep.

look for the helpers

For Boston.

knitting with beads

Over the winter I decided to give knitting with beads a go. It is SO FUN! And very addictive. I'm now on the lookout for shawl patterns that can be enhanced with the addition of beads. 

Here are a couple I recently finished.

Swallowtail shawl, modeled by my soon-to-be 8 year old. This used about 1.5 skeins of knitpicks sock yarn (Essential in the "grass" colorway...so old they don't even make it anymore).

Gosh, it's hard to photograph the beads. Can you see them?

How about now? I used them in place of the nupps, as many people have, throughout the lily of the valley portion of the shawl. It's much easier than the nupps and gives a different look. I like the sparkle! I used most of a tube of size 6 beads that I got on sale at AC Moore, so this was a frugal and fun way to get into beaded knitting.

And here is my second flower basket shawl, knit from the same kind of yarn as the swallowtail (Knitpicks Essential, this time in "pumpkin"), also beaded (same kind of beads as the other shawl in a different colorway) but this time only in the border pattern.

Basically anywhere there is a *yo, k1, yo* in a pattern you can add a bead. It's not hard but it looks so pretty and people think you're really awesomely talented when they see it! Oh, and I added an extra repeat or two of the main flower basket pattern because I knew I could get a bigger shawl with the two skeins of sock yarn I had.

I just took these photos today, our first warm day of the season (75 degrees!). Also the first day suitable for knitting outside:

Lovely.

testing the waters...

Hello? Anyone there?

It's been awhile. A very long while. I've received some really nice emails inquiring about my well-being and I want to thank anyone who has been thinking of me.

Last summer I finally reached a point where the world did not feel very solid beneath my feet anymore. The "breakdown" I'd been waiting for since losing my second child (in 2006) finally manifested itself and I began suffering from unmanageable anxiety. My family and I suffered through this all summer until I could no longer get up in the morning to care for my children and I asked my husband to take me to the doctor and get me some help. I don't want to go into it in any more detail except to say that through a combination of medications and counseling I am finally starting to feel like a normal person again. I will also add that if you or someone you know or care about is suffering from anxiety or depression (especially prevalent in times like these when the economy is bad and people are hurting financially), encourage them to get help. It makes all the difference.

Through it all I've continued to create. In fact, I count that as valuable therapy. I noticed many months ago that I felt most calm in front of my sewing machine, guiding fabric along, soothed by the monotonous sound of the motor chugging along.

My son strolled in while I was sewing today and took this picture. He is 4, so this is at his eye level. This is where he has seen me the most over the past couple of weeks. In fact, he doesn't call this the dining room anymore...it is simply "the room where Mommy sews."

I have a couple large bins of quilting fabric here, amassed over 10+ years of sewing. But I would rather have quilts than piles of fabric so I've set a goal to empty those bins in 2013. 

To that end, I've been scouring quilting books for inspiration and when I see something I like I jump right into making it. But then I also FINISH it, which has always been a weakness. I guess I'm maturing or something because I want to actually see these quilts done, and quickly. The log cabin above is about 20" square and needs borders. Then I'll quilt it and hang it somewhere in the house. I should add that I will allow myself to purchase fabric for borders/bindings if necessary, and of course thread and needles, but otherwise my goal is to use what I already have. Therefore you might notice some repeated fabrics. I'm hopeful it isn't too obvious, though, because I'm using many very different, very scrappy patterns.

Today I am working on a quilt called "Birds in the Air." I don't believe in piecing triangles, so these are all made starting with squares. The large squares (made from 1 light and 1 dark triangle) are all made, but the smaller pieced units (the "birds") are more tedious, so I am making a small pile at a time and then...

...assembling them into blocks and rows. Otherwise it gets boring. I like to see where I'm heading, it keeps me inspired.

There's more, lots more. What do you think? Would you like to see what I've been up to? I'm off to make dinner and then head out to knitting guild tonight, but the machine is sitting here, ready and waiting for me. I'd love to get back into this online community and start sharing again.

yarn along...stripe edition

Wednesdays keep sneaking up on me...time for yarn along again.

When I'm between projects, or just bored and seeking inspiration, I sift through my yarn bin. This accomplishes a few things: I remember what I have, get interested in starting something (or finishing something), and I'm deterred from buying more supplies.

This week I discovered (again) several extra and several partial skeins of Lion Fishermen's Wool. I usually end up with more than I need for sweaters, sometimes by a full skein, and that's what I have floating around in my bin. I'm mildly obsessed with using what's on hand this year - I've broken the habit of randomly wandering the aisles at the craft/yarn store and now I don't even feel like going there. Yay!

However, I do not have enough of any one color for a sweater. So I started a simple neck-down cardigan using Nature's Brown and Oatmeal for stripes. I have less of the Oatmeal color so I'm doing 12 rows of Nature's Brown to 6 rows of Oatmeal. It's on size 9 needles so it grows pretty quickly. These colors have a rather masculine feel in this stripe pattern, but I'm just looking for a utility sweater, to knock around the house in next winter.

As for reading, I finally picked up Outlander and read it through. It took me 3 tries to get past the first two chapters, but once I did I could not put it down! I will say this, it is too long and could have done with some serious editing to condense a few parts and move it along, but it was very good. I'm on to the second book of the series. I use an e-reader on my laptop and can then work the stockinette stitch of my sweater while reading. Win-win!

Oh, and the book in the photo is Scarf Style. I'm dying to knit Ene's Scarf and our entire large library system has only one copy of this book, so I grabbed it while it was in. I'm not sure I have enough of anything in my stash to knit it (I want to use fingering weight rather than laceweight for a more hearty shawl). I may break my streak and buy something, so badly do I want to make this pattern.

lighter fare

I must admit, I've burned myself out on the huge knitting projects for the moment.

While I wait for the urge to start something large, I'm doing some fun quick knits.

I'm also obsessed with using up my stashed yarns and leftovers right now, so this scratches that itch as well...some new clothes for one Ms. Barbara Doll.

This shift dress took one day to make and used a few ounces of old leftover Baby Ull and size 2 needles. I hate the belt and will re-do it, but wow, what a FUN pattern to knit!

I ordered a selection of patterns from a great seller on ebay - "Pretty Patterns" - and while they are photocopies (I knew this when ordering) they are of excellent quality. I can recommend this seller for sure if you're seeking unusual or hard-to-find patterns. It seems there were many Leisure Arts booklets with Barbie patterns in the 80s (I saw some on ebay as well) but not anymore. I wonder why? Knitting for Barbies must be uncool now or something. Anyway, I liked the collections this seller had - they are very 50s and 60s and not difficult at all.

The back closes with 3 snaps, and it is hemmed, which is a nice detail. People used to put so much care into things. 

I loved making this. Can't wait to make more...it's perfectly delightful hot weather knitting.