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 mittens

Baby Mittens! To be more precise, toddler mittens? Forgive me, i will find the pattern and link it here. I figured with all the babies everyone is having, it would be good to have some quick projects to knit up. This is not my favorite yarn color but i decided i could knit a test pair. It was a pretty quick knit and would be a great carry-along project.

Back in the studio!

Finally working in the studio again, despite the heat and craziness of the summer! Trying to make a wearable muslin of the Portrait Blouse by Gertie.

I need to hem the sleeves and bottom and also do the zipper. So far it seems that it will fit me. I had to remember a few things... like drawing my dart lines on the wrong side of the fabric... seems like I would remember that, but I guess it's been a while. I like learning construction details, and I think if I can force myself to pick simple enough patterns to start and make wearable muslins prior to using the perfect fabric, I think I will learn a lot from my mistakes.  

Busy summer

Well in the last two weekends we've had a funeral and 2 weddings to go to. I had no idea how tired I would be after two weddings (Saturday and Sunday) in the heat and sun. They were both lovely and fancy and I'm so happy for the couples... but it was very Hot!

My garden: Hanging basket to replace dead flowers I forgot to water for several hot days.

 My tomatos are reaching up soooo high. This cherry plant I had to use 3 stakes to try to prop it up.

 We have used some basil from our garden, it just keeps on growing. 2 of my bean plants sort of got pulled up (i assume by the chickens?) But one is climbing the walls, and the other 2 have some small new leaves so they may do something.

 Not much has happened craft-wise but I have made a little progress on the cat embroidery.

 Sorry for the washed out photos. These are vintagey fabrics from my mother-in-law who finds great stuff at yard sales. I think the blue paisley is silk. I have never sewn with silk before so it would be interesting to try. In the bottom photo there is also a textured yellow cotton fabric that has several yards to it so i could practice making a dress or skirt. I have so many Colette patterns I have hoped to do but have not yet worked on. It is so hot in the sewing studio, and frankly we have been to busy with family health issues and weddings we have barely kept up with basic housework and life.
Hopefully some things will slow down a bit and I can make more progress.

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. 

Tablet Cover

These are pretty badly lit photos, but here they are anyway. I made a tablet cover for one of Mike's friends. I had the measurements and tried to find something similar-sized to use to make sure it would fit. I tried it about 3 ways and then finally went back to the same tutorial I used for our laptop case. It is a great tutorial! 

The fabric is black twill, vintage football player lining (also featured in the baby quilt I recently finished). The middle layer is a fleece to add some cushion. I made a pocket and also used green thread for top stitching. I had some wiggly stitches around the opening, it was definitely hard to get such a thick area of the cover through the machine, since the opening was small (compared to a laptop case).

Anyway, the good news is that Mike's friend likes it! (I was planning on doing another one if it didn't fit right, or looked too sloppy.) I was stressed and putting it off and then just powered through on a hot evening in the studio!!

Continuing with Cats...

This cat sampler project is pretty fun. I have been taking it with me to work sometimes to work on my lunch. It also goes with me when we visit my father in law who is in hospice care. I have been trying to figure out the outlines. Sometimes it makes it look more pixelated. I love all the mice and birds. I will have to re-learn how to do French knots for the eyes. 

 Here is a photo of my grandma's hydrangeas. So pretty. She lives at a lake and we had 4th of July there and ate way too much food, including huckleberry cobbler. Yum! 

I thought I would share a previous cross stitch project. It was a pre-printed pattern. I made it for my husband before we were married. I chose the colors (brown, blue, orange, gold) to match this 1970's-ugly ship painting he has. I mean, it's so ugly it's cool.

Finally planting

My parents came over today to help me make a fence around the garden. I am late planting partly because we weren't sure for a while if we were moving. Also, Our housemates have chickens and they like to peck at things. I was originally just planning on putting up some chicken wire, but today it became a little more complicated. We used the lattuce and wood from a scrap pile. We made a functional door with hinges...(so fancy!) I'm so grateful to finally plant and i hope the chickens can't hop over the lower side. I had 3 volunteer tomatos and bought 1 tomato plant, 1 bell pepper, and some basil. Yum!! Can't wait!

Kitty Cats

Beginnings of an Alphabet embroidery! 

Baby Blanket update

                         First, some flowers from my garden. Yay, so nice that they are blooming.

Here is the baby blanket. It is supposed to end up 30x30 in. I have one mistake and some things could be better, but after it is blocked it will probably be awesome! I got a lot of knitting done this weekend at a beach retreat. And the baby quilt shown previously is done, I just need to add my initials. (Which I should have done prior to finishing it...)

Next up: maybe working on the sorbetto? or a denim quilt? I also have a tablet cozy to make too...