Grey Pleats

For about two years now I've had this image in my mind of a skirt...  a grey pleated skirt.  Oh, how cute it would look with colored tights!  Or that new sweater I just bought.  Or those boots...

Then someone gave a us a huge amount of grey...  I don't know what kind of fabric.  But now my skirt would be practically free!

So when I needed some cute skirt outfits to wear to a conference last month it was time to actually make the skirt!  My sister had used New Look 6566 (I can't find it on Simplicity's website...  sorry!) to make a couple of pleated skirts that turned out really nicely, so that was the pattern I used.

Making the pleats was a little time consuming, but not difficult.  The only thing that has caused me trouble at all is getting the pleats to stay ironed in...  But I think I'm starting to figure it out.  Just use lots of heat.  :)

I love this skirt!  It's such a perfect neutral color that goes with so many things!

(Oh, and we had a lot of fun with this book photo shoot!  Though getting our cat Schubert to stay on the book pile was quite a chore...  haha)

Quilt Sandwiched

Around a month ago Keely and I finished the quilt top we've been working on, but we didn't get a chance to sandwich it until last Saturday.  Here's the story - this quilt is huge.  And unless we took all the furniture out of our living room there wasn't a room in our entire house that had enough space to lay the thing out.  Thankfully we have a dear friend who quilts all the time and has a large basement floor that is perfect for sandwiching quilts!

"Many hands make light work" is so true!  This is the first quilt I've ever made, but I'm told it can take several hours or even days to do all the basting by yourself.  With 6-7 of us working it took only 2 1/2 hours!

I know it's taken us a while to get it to this point (My excuse: we haven't been working on it consistently and lots of other projects have been made during this time), but there is not a machine stitch in the entire thing.  And after two years of work, I must confess I'm rather proud of it!  :)

Now I'm looking forward to beginning the actual quilting!

Meet Vera

You know how you put in an old 50s movie and fall in love with the glamorous actresses of the past?  Well, after my sister Keely made an Audrey [Hepburn] and my friend Laura had a Doris [Day], I decided it was time for a Vera [Ellen] to look and cute and vintage-y on my bookshelf.

That is, a felted wool Vera worm.  :)

So I've had this image of Vera for a while now.  Pink body, white sunglasses...  She was all planned, and just needed to be made.  And when I got stuck on a sewing project because I couldn't find my zipper, making my felted wool worm was just the thing to do!

She really didn't take me very long at all to make, and I love the finished product!  The pattern is from Wee Wonderfuls.  It has some really cute projects in it, but I think this worm has to be the cutest.

So if you get stuck in a project and need a quick project with vintage flair, I would heartily recommend a felted wool worm.  Don't forget to name her after your favorite vintage actress!  :)

Bright Apron

Note to self - if I want to get something done for a certain event and the project involves something I don't enjoy (such as bias tape, tucks, etc), I need to start at least 6 months in advance.  :P

That said, I made this apron for a friend's birthday.  You may remember I was having difficulties with the bias tape...  Well, it was shamefully late, but I finally got it finished, and Emily looks really nice in it!

I used the vintage reprint Simplicity 4282 pattern.  Everything went smoothly except the bias tape, and my sister showed me a new method that is so much easier!  I'm thinking I might post a tutorial, because it will just make your sewing life so much better!

I love the way it crosses in the back.  It's the little things that make aprons so pretty!

Well, it's so good to be back, dear readers!  I've started a plan for a posting schedule, so you'll be getting updates much more frequently now.  :)  Have a great day!

Sarah Hat

I've been able to get a fair amount of crafting done while we watch the Olympics in the evenings, and in the last few days that has been my Sarah hat.  I was excited and a little nervous about this project as it was my very first attempt at making up my own knitting pattern.  But yesterday morning I finished it, and it actually turned out rather well!

Having worked out my version and then studied Sarah's again, I'm going to experiment with changing a few things that will make it closer to the original.   But I never had to rip out more than 3 rows at a time as I worked, so I'm excited that my first attempt went so well!

I was worried about continuing the seed stitch pattern when I got to the crown shaping, but I reread the instructions for the All-Day Beret pattern and once I got going it really wasn't rocket science.  It doesn't slouch as much as I was expecting it to, though, and I'm not sure how I feel about that...

After I work out a couple of the flaws I'm planning to post the instructions.  Just in case anyone else wants to make their own Sarah Hat.  :o)

Quilt and Quilt Again

With 12-out-of-16 of our quilt blocks completed, I'm very eager to finish the piecing and move on to the next step in the quilting process.  With this renewed spirit I'm hoping to have the rest of the blocks finished in the next week, and then we can move on to making the strips that go between the blocks.  Soon we may be able to see the star pattern!

I’m really looking forward to redecorating my room; it’s going to look so amazing!  Having a nautical bedroom is going to be so much fun.  :o)

Casting On

Recently I've been very inspired by lots of adorable hats - so even though I should be working on my quilt or cross stitch, I began a hat last night.  :o)

I'm basing this hat off one of Sarah's in I Am Number Four (review here).  I didn't love the movie, but Sarah always looked very cute and I completely fell for her slouchy hat.

So I started a search for a pattern like hers.  Surely someone on Ravelry would recreate it, right?  But alas, I have been unable to find one, so I'm attempting to make it up.  I'm borrowing the shaping from the All Day Beret (the pattern I used for the last hat I made), and am really hoping it turns out well!

Tomorrow I'll be back with some more hat inspiration!  :o)

Oh, the Trials of My Life

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike making bias tape?  How much I detest sewing on bias tape?  I haven't?  Oh, well I absolutely hate doing anything with bias tape when it comes to crafting.  But I happen to be very drawn to the look of the finished product.  So I tend to chose patterns - particularly apron patterns - that are covered in bias tape.

I do it to myself so I shouldn't complain.  But here I am whining on my blog that is published onto the internet.  Oh, well.  I'll get through this just like I have every other time I've done bias tape.  And once I finish it will have been worth it.  :o)

I do love the bright colors of the project.  They make me feel happier.

Teddy Bear

Wow, it's been a long time! I've missed all my blogging friends! But now that I've graduated and spent a week at the beach I'm ready to get back in the swing of life, and part of that involves my blog. :o)

Growing up I had a beloved stuffed bear as my sleeping friend. So when I saw this pattern on Ravelry I thought I would try to make one, because I tend to like stuffed bears. Though since I really have no use for stuffed animals I don't know what on earth I'm going to do with it...  but it was still fun to make.  :o)

I ended up using buttons for the eyes and a circle of felted wool for the nose.  When I tried the felted wool for the eyes he looked extremely scary, but the buttons worked well.

I'm trying to decide if his bow tie is too small...  but it was the first one I tried, and it will work for now.  I can always change it later if I want.

 

 It's so nice to be back!

Pink Flowers and Polka Dots

Well, after some hazardous mishaps and a pin head melting to the collar, I finally finished this toddler dress the day before the competition!




The pattern is McCall's 5791. I made a size "large". That means I don't exactly know what size it is, but I would guess it's somewhere between 9 and 12 months. (I tried to compare it to this darling 7 month old, and she decided it was fun to hold the hanger and wave it up and down. So stinkin' cute!)



This was my first project with piping, and I just adore the end result. It may become a fixture in my sewing projects. :o) It also provided the perfect opportunity to add more contrast giving the dress more interest.



It went pretty smoothly, and I was very surprised and pleased with the scores I got. All-in-all a good experience, though it was a little stressful to finish the day before competing!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! Hope you are having fun and wearing green! :o)

Last January Craftings

Okay, I didn't get all of my January Sew 12 hours posted while it was still January... So here is a conglomeration post for the final hours in the January portion of the challenge!

Firstly, two more days of cross stitching resulted in most of a yellow flower...



A friend helped me make my very first pair of earrings to give to another friend for her birthday! It was so fun, I may have to get some tools and start making more jewelry! And I think Amelia likes them, so I'm happy. :o)



And the last hours went on this toddler dress I'm making for a competition. I've never entered anything I've sewn in a competition before, so I'm a little nervous... But hopefully everything will go well!



Hooray for the 1st month of my challenge being completed! I'll try to get my hours posted more in sequence this month... We'll see how it goes. ;o)

Hours 4, 5, and 6 - Bed Quilt

Remember that nautically inspired quilt my sister and I are working on for our bedroom? Well, I decided it was going to be finished this year (completely through the hand quilting), and after my *clears throat* success *shuffles feet* with such goals last year, I've decided to put in a lot of work early this year. We've completed 9 squares, so only 7 more to finish!



Hand piecing is nice because we can keep our hands busy while chatting or watching a movie. :o)

Hours 2 and 3 - Owl Gloves

Days 2 and 3 of my Sew 12 Challenge went to my fingerless gloves with the cabled owl. They are finished and I simply love them! However, they are a bit too small for me, so I'm going to give them to a friend. Am I not a very friendly, giving person? lol



It's good to be knitting again! Though I had trouble deciding if knitting really counted for my Sew 12 Challenge. I finally decided it's more of a crafting challenge for me...



And, just so everyone knows, I really have done several of my challenge hours; I just haven't gotten around to actually posting them. I'll try to get everything up while it's still January!

Hour 1 - Pink Rose

My first hour of sewing for the Sew 12 Challenge went on my Paula Vaughn cross stitch. One of my 2012 Resolutions (which, by the way, aren't terribly "resolute"...) was that I would finish this cross stitch. So when I was chatting with my family for a couple hours last night, I created a couple more flowers, the larger of which is this pink one.



Time to put the yellow flowers around it... :o)

Sew 12 Challenge

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you have had a lovely year. This being New Year means I have had this blog for a year now. Wow, that's so hard to believe!

As I hoped when I created this blog, I have done more crafting this year than I think I have ever done in a 1 year period... But not as much as I had planned. So, I was thinking about trying the Sew 12 Challenge this year!

The challenge - "For 12 months, 12 days a month, I will sew for 1 hour."

Now, with this being my last semester of high school, I might not find the time to do all 12 days in the months before graduation, but I would like to try at least for a few months and we’ll see how it goes!

I’m looking forward to trying it! It should be a lot of fun, and maybe I’ll get some good stash busting done in the next few months! :o)