Almost November

Well. I am knitting and sewing as much as I can but don't want to get into too much detail because it is the Xmas season, and I am trying to work on presents. I guess I will just try to get good photos to put on Ravelry/the blog later. I can tell you I finished a cowl. I had previously knit a few lengths of scarf-like knitting, hoping to sew them together as a rug, etc. I then looked at them one day and decided to turn a few into cowls. Here is a not-great photo. I have been wearing it on my walks to work and on my days off. It has finally turned to Fall, after a long dry summer.

I also can tell you I finished a hat. A baby/kid hat for no one in particular yet. One of those single skein purchases because the yarn was so pretty. The pattern is from purl soho. I love their simple palate and get inspired when I look at their site. The yarn is Noro silk garden which was rough on my hands. I may think about sewing a lining in case it would feel rough to a kid. Of course, now i have left over yarn and no idea what to do with it.

Let's see what else can I mention. I am embroidering something secret. It is a fun Aunt Martha's  pattern and hopefully I can do another one. Just look at all of them online. Hard not to want to buy many more.
I am also sewing something which means currently I am hand sewing binding on. I always seem to end up hand sewing bindings, but it allows me to have more control. The binding is so thin to use pins that I have been using my extra Bobbie pins and it is working quite well. I hope to get a good deal of the binding done today if I can. 

I know when we close on this house I will not have much time for presents (besides the hour long lunch break I have at work) so I am trying to get what I can done now. 

There are some people I have no idea what to make for.. And some people that I have an idea for but wish I had started a long time ago. Like socks or something.

Anyway, we are getting excited about the house. We will be painting and replacing carpet and moving in. I kind of wish it was not going to be winter with all the cleaning/painting but I guess sooner is better than later. And maybe we can decorate for Christmas a little! 

Speaking of which, I need to find out what my pumpkin will be because it is this weekend. As far as costumes I think we may just do a low key year as our costumes are packed up, and we haven't been invited anywhere. I guess we are getting old, haha.

Oh! Just remembered the yearly Xmas print I do. Sigh. To get it done this year I guess I will have to pick a simple design/process. I generally screen print or block print. Maybe I can carve stamps? It is always the lining up that takes the longest. 

I may mention it every few posts - I am hoping one day to have a more streamlined blogging system. To get photos and links in correctly and in a timely way, I feel that the laptop is the best. (I have also tried my phone and ipad). I may just have to get in the habit of taking photos with my digital camera and transferring them at least once a week. It's amazing how much of a chore it seems, but I think it will be easy once I get it worked out. 

Pink quilt

This is an awesome old quilt we got. It is old and coming apart at some seams. I love the combinations of patterns and colors. It does need a new binding at least and maybe someday i will get around to replacing more of it. (Sorry that my photos are not amazing)

Yesterday I got a few hours to work on a wool quilt top I got at a rummage sale forever ago for $2.50. It had random non-matching squares I am trying to recover. The whole quilt is awesome old wool (perhaps Pendleton shirts?) And then there was random magenta, teal, beige courdoroy mixed in. So... i have been hand sewing some patches over the worst offenders. I hope to finish sometime sooner than later and find fabric for the back and make a quilt that actually will fit our bed. So many quilts to do. So little time!

Baby Bear Quilt (Finished Object)

I thought I had already posted the final photos of the baby quilt I made for our friends. This was such a fun project! See the previous sneak-peek post for more photos.

Pretty much all of my quilts have had hand-sewn blanket-stitch binding. It does take forever. 

Kitty Cats

Beginnings of an Alphabet embroidery! 

Green Jeans Quilt (Finished project!)

      Hooray! I'm so glad to say that I finished sewing the blanket edging for the jean quilt I have been working on for a while now. I have made at least five twin sized jean quilts and one queen sized one over the years. I really like the blue-green look of this one. The back is a blue-green wool that I got from an elderly neighbor who was moving. It is pieced in a few places to make it the right size. Normally with denim quilts I just do two layers because the fabric is so heavy. For this one, since the wool was lighter weight I decided to do a middle layer of fleece that I had. I tied the three layer together with embroider threads.

I arranged the colors and sewed the top in a weekend. Then I got the great idea to hand embroider our friend's dogs on there. The longest part definitely was the binding because I did not have enough wool to fold over top. I made strips of fabric and ironed the seam allowance under so I could just pin the edging on and sew it. I used a blanket stitch and I think it looks great. 

Even though it took a while I think it is definitely worth doing it "right" and having handsewn details.

I finished the binding when we were on a weekend trip. We stopped to take pictures on the bleachers in Irrigon Oregon. (Mike's hometown).

I have a problem sometimes of making things and giving them away right away without proper photos. My Ravelry page is pretty sad because I dont have photos for most of my projects. Oh well. I am trying to learn to document things better. Yay!

          

Next projects: 

Baby blanket. Squares are cut but i need to lay it out and sew.
Sewing the Sorbetto and Hazel that I have cut

Wedding Pillowcases

 I have made about 5 sets of Wedding Pillowcases for friends. Usually with favorite animals or something.  I made some for my cousin and her husband the last month or so. I have a set of vintage embroidery patterns of State Birds. I purchased some vintage pillowcases from Etsy (I normally just thrift for them, but I was running out of time). I then chose their birth-states (hopefully that works for them! haha, I know they have moved around some) and started sewing. I do love embroidery and how creative and colorful it can be. I also like it because it can have sort of a paint-by-number aspect

 Illinois for Joseph. (Northern Cardinal)

North Dakota for Karen. (Western Meadowlark - same as Oregon's!)

Ta-Da! I think they are fun, and I hope they like them. Happy wedding! 

Labels

 Labels. lots of labels. I started saving labels when I was making tie skirts with my grandpa and my dad's neckties. After that somehow i started to save more labels, perhaps interested in the "Made In .... " as i became more conscious of where clothes came from.

 I have been sewing the labels i have to red fabric. I'm not exactly sure what it will be. i guess a wall hanging, but i'm not sure. (i generally like useful projects.)

I'm about half done, but i have taken a break for a while. It has been fun to catalog. I have been organizing them by color.

Another form of label I have collected. I'm realizing to have a more organized sewing stash, i need to get rid of things. These may seem small, but I was saving some of these old embroidery labels. I'm not a hoarder (haha) but i do need a craft/sewing room. and as i may have mentioned, i'm trying to organize, get rid of, and not bring in too much more material before i have used things  up. This is partially why i'm blogging again, to hopefully show finished projects, etc.