A new beginning

For anyone that might still have me bookmarked, I am going to attempt to ressurect my blog.  It has been over two years since I have last posted, but I haven’t given up crafting.  In the last two years, I have bought a house and had my first son.  I am now a stay at home Mama to my little man.  I keep busy chasing him and keeping up with my creative pursuits.

In any case, here is a sample of my most recent projects:  Placemats!  The pattern is my own design.  The fabric is Alexander Henry’s the “Ghastlies.”  I had seen a former co-worker use the same fabric for placemats, and wanted something similar, but a with a unique style.  The pink, black, and grey makes for a unique take on Halloween colors.

 

Bracing for the Cold

So I actually have another finished project to share. I have been knitting lately, and I need to blog about it more! This quick little project was one that was related to work and with our recent cold weather, and late snow storm, I might have a reason to wear this one!

My store hosts a monthly Knit Along for our customers. Twelve projects were chosen from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders and we knit one up each month. Normally, yarn isn’t really my department, but a coworker had a previous commitment and drafted me to fill in. She gave me her sample for the spiral hat worked in varigated Paton’s Soy Wool Stripes, which turned out nicely. Since I thought it would be wise to actually work into the project a bit, I picked up some yarn and cast on for a hat for myself.

Here’s what I came up with
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I love the way this worked up in a solid color even better. I really think it shows off the stitch pattern, and the gorgeous spiral is even more front-and-center.

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I used Louisa Harding, Grace Silk-Wool for my version. I wanted something just a bit softer that Paton’s which is what we recommended to the KAL members. I also wanted something just a bit thinner than the Paton’s as well. I have a relatively small head, and short hair, so not much to fill up a bigger hat. The guage worked out nicely in the alternative yarn I would say.

More knitting and sewing coming soon! I have stepped off the deep end and started a sweater. It’s finally to the point where pictures will do it justice, so I’ll take some pictures.

 

Simple little things

So I have been busy busy with the sewing and knitting lately. Plus a visit to the 2009 Sewing Expo in Puyallup, Washington. What a fun place to spend time exploring my favorite fabric outlets and getting inspired. All I can say is SEWING IS NOT DEAD! It was great fun to see so many men and women with a common love of a hobby. It was also great to see so many younger people there.

So enough of my fun times, here is one of my latest projects. I used this cute little pattern to create an apron. I’m thinking I might try using this pattern to teach a class at work. The French Flea Market Apron calls for four contrasting fabrics to create a tiered effect. The ties are extra long to wrap around to the front. This is my version

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I used a couple of asian quilting cottons, and a fairy frost to create my version. I really loved the sushi print. I’m not really a quilter, but I do see some of these cute fabrics that I would love to work with, so this lets me put them to use. I did decide to just use the sushi print as the ties as well. I think it’s just fine for my purposes.

Here is a picture from a further distance. As you can see it’s quite long.

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All in all a cute little pattern. I found the instructions to be quite easy to follow, and really pretty uneccesary for myelf….but I’m also checking on the quality of the instructions for teaching purposes. A great way to introduce gathering, and tube-turning to a new sewing audience.

 

A Fairy Cute dress!

So I have another post for you today. I have the sewing mojo back, finally, and have been cranking out projects. This little number is for a booth sample at the Sewing Expo in Puyallup, WA at the end of February. I won’t mention what booth it will be in, but keep an eye out and you should spot it at a busy booth!

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The dress pattern is from Portabello Pixie’s Claire pattern. It’s the Round Apron Dress. The fabric is a newer fairy fabric that my employer carries. We have been selling out of it like crazy, and I just managed to snag enough to complete this little dress.

I must say, after making the pattern up, I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of the pattern and instructions. The actual pattern pieces themselves are commercially printed on tissue. I noticed no errors, and all the pieces fit together beautifully. The instructions were included in a little book, and the author really took the time to lay them out well. She devoted a section at the back of the instructions devoted to tips and tricks for the more complicated aspects of the techniques required to complete the 4 versions of dresses included in the pattern. While, I wouldn’t recommend this as a first sewing project for someone, the pattern was definitely easy to follow with lots of easy to understand instructions. Pair all of this up with a liberal copyright policy (the author allows folks to make up garments for resale using her pattern, provided its not an assembly line) and you have a great pattern.

I was really pleasantly surprised over the success with this, since I have had some bad experiences with badly drafted independent patterns. The photographed dresses on the pattern are definitely not to my taste (to patchworky) but I think this turned out pretty cute for a little kid.

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Since I don’t have an embroidery machine, one of my coworkers did the little flower motif on the apron for me. Turned out cute didn’t it !

 

Stash Busting!

Hello everyone, I have continued on with the theme of stashbusting for this post!

I have used a piece of the jersey knit that I picked up on my travels to San Diego this summer. I have to say, I am so pleased with this pattern. Kwik Sew 3616 has been a fun one to work with. It is a Misses size, but I was able to enlarge it to a plus size using my tee-shirt sloper that my mom and I have developed.

Here are my results :

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and

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The top is definitely quite low cut, so I use a cami to layer underneath so I don’t scare off small children (or scandalize my family). The layered look is actually fairly current fashion-wise anyway. It also adds a little contrast and extra color to the look.

Despite this being a poly jersey, its a breathable breezy summer top. However, I wear summer tops just about year round anyway since I generally get fairly warm hefting heavy bolts of fabric around.

The new dress form is courtesy of my mother in law who gave it to me while I was visiting this summer. Mr. Nemesis and I managed to get it wedged into the car along with all other Southern California booty. I have named her, since I understand all dress forms should have a name. I’ll admit it, its campy and cheesy….but Hellga (after my favorite American Gladiator). I loved that show as a kid when it first came out, and have enjoyed it again when it was revived last year. I don’t know if the dress-form is a Wolf form or not, it’s only labels are from Acme. It is however a plus size collapsibe form in the style of a Wolf form……so I am beyond thrilled to get it. I did have to do a little padding though.

In the first picture above, I gave Hellga a boob job. Or rather padded her up with one of my foundation garments and stuffed with a couple pair of socks to fill her out to my more robust proportions. The bottom picture is without the padding. I still need to adjust the padding a bit more….there is a bit of discrepancy with the chest being off-center.

 

After a long hiatus…..A finished object

Hello again,  I have been absent for quite a while.  Mr. Nemesis and I finally returned home and are re-settled in our apartment again.  I have been busy busy at work.  Apparently I was missed because I got tossed right back into the fray at work. 

I haven’t had a lot of time for projects since I got back.  I have been doing a lot of work to get my apartment cleaned out.  I got back and realized just how much junk I have sitting around, that I just don’t use.  Amazing what sitting in a (rather sparsely) furnished government issue apartment will teach you!   So I got back and realized just how much I have in crafty supplies.  In honor of a New Years resolution to use up some of my stash I bring you Tudora.

 

This little pattern was from Knitty’s Winter 2007 issue. This simple asymetrical neckwarmer made a great stashbusting project for me. As well as my first finshed project of 2009. I learned how to do cabling as well. I loved the Tudor theme of this project. As my family and friends can attest I am a history junkie with a particular interest in the Tudor and Elizabethan era’s of British history.

I found the perfect buttons for this in my stash, a stylized pewter rose fits with the Tudor theme perfectly. The pattern was designed with only one button, so this was my first time making substantial changes to a pattern. I added and extra button hole and also changed the stitch pattern of the button flap. I really feel that 2 buttons balances the look of the piece better anyway. I have seen other versions using a much larger single button or toggle type closure.

I will try to have a few more things to put up here soon. My work schedule has evened out a bit now, so I am having a bit more time to work on crafty pursuits…..plus I cleaned out my studio/guest room and rediscovered all my treasures :)

 

Happy Thanksgiving ~ Plus Turn a Square, Chevron, and Gust!

Hi All,

I just wanted to post and say Happy Thanksgiving everyone! My house smells like cinnamon from the home-made pecan caramel rolls (recipe on Breadworld.com, the Fleishmanns yeast website) and I’m just relaxing after dinner with friends and an afternoon spent at Mission Bay Park flying kites. I am thankful that I have had so long here in San Diego to explore so many new things with Mr. Nemesis. We have had a chance to visit so many fun places, and try out lots of new activities, as well as a few old favorites. I have been able to spend more time getting to know Mr. Nemesis’s family, especially my siblings-in-law, which has been great fun. I have also been fortunate enough to have several of our friends stationed down here, and to make several new ones.

Since my time is coming to a close, less than 3 weeks now! I have been feeling the time crunch and started cranking out knitting projects. I know when I get home I will have plenty to do with work and holidays, and getting back to my sewing.

So here are a few of my latest finished objects.

Here is Turn A Square from Brooklyn Tweed My super simple project used some scraps of Berroco Ultra Alpaca and Noro Silk Garden. I did use a smaller set of needles than called for, which was good, the hat is still a bit big on me, it would work better if I had longer hair to fit under there. This took about 8 hours to make, so I was done in 2 days.

This next one is a titch blurry and not quite as much of a close up as I wanted, but its the best I could do by myself in my living room mirror. At least you can get an idea of the fit.

Here is the view from the top. I really liked the raglan decreases on this pattern. They really give a tailored look to the hat.

Next up is the popular Chevron Scarf Pattern from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts I made my scarf with Socks that Rock Medium weight. Its an awesome yarn that I can’t say enough good things about. My version is made in the Lagoon and Algae colorways. This is a hugely long scarf…..mine turned out around 8-9 ft long. I don’t have a long enough tape measure to check it with. I do have to say there is no way that this qualifies as a last minute gift….It would have taken me probably 40-60 hours of knitting to do this, but since I have been working on it since last February, so I’m really not sure.

The last finished project I have to share now, is the Gust Scarf from Anne Hanson at Knitspot. I actually purchased the yarn and pattern together as a kit at Ball and Skein The yarn is a lace-weight 80/20 Alpaca and Silk blend called Arequipa. I was really pleased with how this yarn knitted up, and am just absolutely thrilled with my first lace project. The pattern was well written and easy to follow, with both a chart and written instructions.

I’m putting this picture in full size so you can see the lace pattern better. This lovely colorway was a fabulous combination of purples, lavendars, charcoal, and black.

So there you have it, my projects for the last 3 weeks. Oops, there go my cinnamon rolls. Happy Thanksgiving everyone, have a safe trip if you are travelling and otherwise may your pumpkin pie be spicy and your turkey be moist :)