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!  :)

Orange Tights

Found this picture which I believe is a JCrew model and was feeling so inspired by it!  I'm a lover of tights, especially colored tights.  I think it's great how they took a neutral, preppy outfit and added splashes of color with the bright pink belt and burnt orange tights.  It looks really cute and really nice!

This served as the inspiration I needed to go ahead and buy some tights from Target (their $5 tights are the best price I've found, and they come in a variety of colors) and I'm so glad that I got them!  :)

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!

Brown Suede

I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday.  That store is dangerous for anyone that wants to keep any of their hard earned money.  Part of me really, really wants one in my town, but part of me thinks that I'd be broke if that happened...  I still want one.  :oP

Anyway, I went to Hobby Lobby and happened to find some lovely brown suede that will be perfect for my Eowyn vest!

Oh, I haven't told you what I officially decided about my LotR costume?  I've decided to do Eowyn's Shield Maiden Dress - starting with the vest.  (That way if I don't have enough time for the whole thing I can borrow a friend's Padme` Coruscant nightgown as a make-shift under dress.)

Now I need to do some more research so I can get to work!  :o)

Oh, and I'm sorry I've been so shamefully absent recently, ya'll.  I've really missed blogging!

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)