Crafting - a new challenge in 2012

** I wrote this post back in September and forgot about it. I think because there was a photo missing. Well, here it is, several months later and I'd like to start blogging again in 2013 - so much going on, so much to process, so much to write about. So, here you go, a post to start off 2013 which was written with good intentions and edited today.**

At some point this spring, one of the members of my knitting group, the much loved Bluenail of Ravelry fame, took it upon herself to start a quilting bee of sorts within our knitting group. What a grand idea, right? Every month one person distributes her fabric and instructions. At the end of the month, we pass in our quilt blocks and move on to the next person. Sewing up the quilt and quilting it will be up to the individual, but a lot of the work is already done!

Now, I have attempted quilting before...

Rather... Let's start that again... I have attempted piecework before.  Many years ago, during a visit to a much loved discount warehouse in Calais, Maine, I purchased fabric and eventually pieced together a quilt top of my own devising. This is pre-internet days, so my technique was, well, poor, but my heart was in it. I made the top and then nothing. Nada. Did nothing else with it. The top taunts me whenever I come across it in my closet. I sometimes think about making it into a quilt, but the fabric is incredibly dated.

Then, after the mogrunt was born, realizing that I had a lot of fabric left over after making his birthday banner, I cut out pieces to make him a zig zag or chevron quilt a la Denyse Schmidt. I started sewing it together but soon realized that things were awry. I eventually used these pieces for my quilting bee month... I'll show a picture below.

While I did do quite a bit of sewing in the lead up to the Mogrunt's birth and afterward, I hadn't again thought about quilting. And then the quilting bug struck Bluenail, and next thing I knew, we were all on board. She's contagious like that.

The first square I made was for Bluenail's daughter's rainbow quilt. Each of us were given a bag of coordinating fabric and everyone got a different colour. My bag was, well, here:

We were given the task of making a 12.5" quilt block of any design. I went for a log cabin style block, charting it out on paper first. I was happy with the result, though after seeing some of the other blocks, felt a little quilt-envy. Nevertheless, I was still pleased with the project and realized that I needed to pay attention to how the fabric was cut as well as the measurements - i.e. centering designs etc. (The picture looks strange because it's actually flipped on the side.)

The next block up was for UberWench and we were to sew her a chevron block based on this pattern

 

It's a little wonky at one end, but I was pretty pleased with the result.  I hope that UberWench liked it as well.  I love the contrast of the skull fabric and the Little Golden Books fabric (my special addition for UberWench's block). I love this pattern so much that I would seriously consider doing it again.

The next block was a simple four patch for Val, which I don't have a photo of for some reason. I had a lot of fun making it. And for some reason, I think I made two - did I Val? I really can't remember.

Next up was a log cabin variation using this pattern. for Cate G. I was intimidated and procrastinated as much as I dared. Finally, I sucked it up and made the block.

 

 

 

Which turned out nicely, I think.  Then I moved on to Ann's block which was fun:

 



 

Then we all moved on to my "block" which was likely a bit of torture for everyone. I asked that they sew strips from those aforementioned triangles, making a zig zag:

This is an example. I haven't yet taken a photo of all the strips together. Here's hoping I get to do that this week some time.

 

 

 After my month was Terra's month. And she gave us her packets and instructed us to do "whatever we wanted" which was kind of neat. I had just completed a 9-block square for another project and liked the simplicity of it.
 

 

So Terra got a cute little square. I took the time to align my quilting square on the fabric before cutting it - having learned the lesson on my very first square (with apologies to Bluenail - I wasn't entirely happy with how one of the strips in her log cabin lined up). Let's ignore the face that the I may have sewed the squares in the wrong orientation when I sewed them together. Of course, having done this, I now want to make a quilt of just squares. My niece is graduating this year and I would like to make her a quilt for her graduation. Of course, that sets a precedent and I'd have to make at least two more, if not four more over the next few years as my two nephews and two other nieces go through school. Yikes.

 

Next up is Nicole's quilt which is in a star theme. I'm looking forward to the challenge!

Quick Change Obsession

Gnome pants, a photo by Sesser on Flickr.

The little man in my life has been the recipient of much of my crafting over the last few months. It all started when I went to the library and borrowed Anna Maria Horner's latest bok, Handmade Beginnings. She does make a crafty person get all "wanty", doesn't she?

I got a little "wanty" about the Quick Change Trousers. And the next thing I knew, the Mogrunt had three pairs.



I love this pattern - the contrast on the bum gives you the opportunity to play around a bit. Of course, I'm not exactly a pro-sewist (sewer?), so I didn't do the best job lining up my pattern pieces on the fabrics. You can tell, for example, on the red pants above, that I didn't really optimize the gnomey-ness of the back of the pants.

Ah well, learn and grow, learn and grow!

The pants below, with their elephant-camouflage look (perfect for hiding in the forest with your elephant friends), were the first pair of quick change trousers I made:



I'm still not sure if these are cute or bordering on obnoxious... but hey, the other side of these pants have dogs driving cars, so really, who care? Dogs driving cars, man, dogs driving cars!



The most recent pair of QCT, were these, Superman pants, for my sweet boy's 2nd birthday:



With the comic strip in shades of blue on the reverse side, I'm not sure who likes these pants more, the Mogrunt or his mama:



What makes me a little sad about these pants is that soon enough, the Mogrunt will grow out of the pattern sizing.  And then there's the day I dread, when the Mogrunt starts to rebel against wearing the things I make for him.  Until then, little man, it's elephant camouflage and gnome pants for you!

Pants for my Monkeypants

Back in May, I went on a sewing binge. My little boy would soon be spending his days with the sitter and I would soon be spending my days sitting... in my office. Sigh. I assuaged my maternal anxiety by making pants. Cute little pants for Mr. Mogrunt Monkeypants.

Not trusting my ability to make pants from a hand drawn pattern, I picked up a pattern for children's pajamas and got to work. I traced the pattern onto freezer paper, rather than cut out the pattern pieces. I want to be able to use this pattern for many different sizes, so I thought this would be the best way to go. Originally I took a little length off the legs, but after the first two pairs of pants, I realized that a little more length and a little extra room in the seat wouldn't be a bad thing.

I also figured out that you need to use non-folding elastic for the pants - it makes them so much more comfortable around the waist.

Another thing I did after the first couple pairs - I sewed French seams for all of the seams. I have no serger and my sewing machine is old. Switching back and forth to zig zag the seams would have been torture for both me and the machine. I don't know when the machine might decide it will give up the ghost. The French seams just seemed nice and tidy for these pants.

For two pairs, I cut the pieces out of a couple of dress shirts that had belonged to Mr. Happy. He no longer wore them so they made lovely pants for our boy.

I took the shirt pockets and sewed them on the back of the pants. The pocket is a little "oversized" and kind of cute - though not really noticeable.

To mark the pants so that we could tell which way was the back, I stitched a little ribbon into the waistband. I found some old name tag ribbon that my mom had bought for my brother many years ago - from the Eaton's catalogue (so, not yesterday) - and just folded it in half so only my maiden name shows when you look in the pants.

One thing I discovered while making these pants is that there is a thin line between a boy wearing cute little homemade pants and a mullet-coiffed dude wearing a tank top and wrestling pants.

A thin, thin line.

Since making these pants, I've been staring rather longingly at the cute pants people are making from Anna Maria Horner's book, "Handmade Beginnings". I've requested the book from the library but had a peek at the instructions in a local bookstore. I think I might be able to fudge a pair of these adorable pants from her instructions. I just wish that a local store carried her fabrics.

Though the fact that the alphabet fabric had my name on it...

...almost makes up for the lack of AMH's fabric.

Almost.

(Apologies for the wrinkly pants in the photos. I took these photos on the fly one day when all the pants were clean at once. Taking the time to iron them... HA! Are you nuts?)

Quick Sew

Birthday gift for Ella
Originally uploaded by Sesser

A couple of weeks ago a wee girl named Ella finally celebrated her first birthday. Her dad had been away so the party was postponed until his return.

The Mogrunt and I were thrilled to have been invited, but I, being the last-minute kinda gal that I am, had put off part of the birthday gift. I had picked up some things to put in the bag, but hadn't made the bag that was in my head.

On the morning of the party (Yes, Cali, I'm ashamed to say) I set to work making this little bag. It was fun and pretty easy to do. I had read Super Eggplant's tutorial a few years ago and had tucked the idea back in the recesses of my memory.

I know that Ella probably won't know for a while that it's hers, but I knew that green is her Mom's favourite colour, so I think it will see some use.

I used denim and cotton, both purchased at Atlantic Fabrics. For her name, I made a freezer paper stencil and fabric paint, which dried in record time. The colours are a bit off in these photos. Of course, with all the sewing on the morning of the party, I didn't have time to take a photo before we arrived!

Plans are afoot for more!

Two for Tea

At some point last spring, I picked up some tea towel fabric at Atlantic Fabrics in Dartmouth. As far as I can tell, it's a linen blend - I can't remember if it was strictly linen.

My original intention was to embroider it, but my desire to embroider or cross stitch* anything had waned by the time I stumbled upon the fabric a few weeks ago.

I cut the tea towel fabric into four pieces (I think I had originally intended only three, but oh well) and quickly hemmed them.

Then I whipped out the freezer paper and made stencils of my two favourite chihuahuas.

To say that I am pleased with the results would be an understatement. Minou's "downward dog" pose if one that I used when I made my Wasp Bag a while back.

See?:

I really love how Birdie's towel turned out (she's the one "singing" on the left). This pose came from a picture I took of Birdie while visiting Angie last May.

You can probably tell that I took some liberties with Birdie's tail, but I did try my best to remain true to the original photo.

Unfortunately, I was not able to convey, with the use of a freezer paper stencil, the passion with which Birdie sings along with Florence Foster Jenkins.

If you need further proof of Birdie's singing prowess, here she is, singing along to The Darkness!



NOTE: If this video doesn't work, it's b/c I 'm still trying to figure out how to post videos from flickr to blogger. And my web browser has crashed three times this morning. Any advice about the video?

Angie's birthday is in October, but thankfully, she is very forgiving when it comes to me sending presents to her. I managed to get these tea towels, along with a couple other things into the mail this week.

Now, if only I could get something else in the mail, I would have a huge weight off my shoulders.

*I used to be an avid cross stitcher - If you need proof of that obsession, look in my craft room - I have several little plastic containers with my floss wound onto bobbins.

Busy, busy world

I feel like a scene in Richard Scarry's "Busy, Busy World". I've been sewing again and even have some knitting to show you.

Two weeks ago I bought the yarn for the Baby's Denim Drawstring Pants (from Last Minute Knitted Gifts). This is how they looked this past Monday:

And this is how they looked on Wednesday:

I just need to knit the drawstring and then wash them to shrink up the length. I'm wondering, though, how much my gauge is off b/c the pattern called for 4 balls of yarn and I only used 3. I'm sure they'll fit him at some point.

Now, I would have been finished these pants much faster, but I felt the need to use up some yarn that had been marinating in the stash. This was my bus knitting (oh heck, the pants were bus knitting too, but they took turns):

It's a Le Slouch by Wendy of Knit and Tonic. This one is significantly more slouchy than the one I knit previously. I haven't even blocked it yet!

Yarn: Araucania Nature Wolle Chunky
Needles: 5.0 and 5.5mm

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon in front of the sewing machine. I've got a pile of flannel and only 15 weeks to go! AAAAAH!

So, I made six burp cloths - all double layers of flannel:

The burp cloths all measure around 14x19 inches - yes inches. I know. I can't help it. I work in both!

And, I made another big blanket - the burp cloth is there for scale:

Today, I'm going to make another big blanket and then get back to knitting on a cotton blanket for the Mogrunt.

*mumbles through a mouth full of twigs* "Did someone say something about nesting?"

Yes, we're sure

Only b/c everyone is saying the same thing:

"Are you sure it's a boy, because etc, etc, etc...?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Ok, I know you're all well-meaning but, yes, we are sure it's a boy. If I had a picture of what we saw, trust me, you wouldn't have a question in your minds either.

The nurse, looking at the screen, said to us, "Ok, we don't usually say 100% one way or another that it's a boy or a girl, but wow, that is most DEFINITELY a boy. No question about it."

The doctor even wrote it in the report: Male genetalia.

It was not:

1. a finger
2. a hand
3. the umbilical cord (which is significantly bigger and attached to his STOMACH)
4. a sea cucumber
5. girly bits


What we saw was most definitely:

BOY BITS!


Not just a subtle hint of "wee wee" but the whole package. Like I've said to some people - if he had had a coat in there, he would have been trying to hang it and joke that he was a coat rack.

Are we good now? ok. We're good.

I apologize for sounding brusque, but I did the gestational diabetes test this morning and just the memory of the dextrose drink is making me feel ill and cranky.


Moving on... as a result of announcing that we're having a boy, we've received some really neat gifts.

This, my friends, is the funniest one yet:

The Pee-Pee TeePee for the Sprinkling Wee Wee

I'll give you a moment to stop laughing. To answer your questions:

1. Yes, I will try them on the baby.
2. No. Mr Happy has not done that with them.
3. They are flannel and very soft.


When I arrived back at work after my trip to Newfoundland, there was a package on my desk containing a beautiful sweater:

Made by Deb of the Knitting Pharm. It's an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise sweater. Isn't it cute? She sent green buttons for it. I can't wait to try it on the Mogrunt.

Then we went out for brunch yesterday with JAK and her family. She arrived with presents. Some things I can't show you, but I can tell you that they have something to do with Etsy and robots.

JAK also made this cute little hat:

It's made with organic wool and it's super cozy.

And since I can't let everyone else have all the fun, I've been sewing blankets.

One for Ava:

And one for the Mogrunt:

The little girls I babysat (years ago), had blankets like this. They loved them and dragged them everywhere. I thought the Mogrunt would like them too.

My dad was here on the weekend... for my birthday... and he put his seal of approval on it. Because of the moose, of course.

:)

Don't I have the nicest friends?

Sewing With Velvet - or "Why I Threw a Purse Handle At The Wall"

Back before Christmas, I bought a couple yards of fuchsia-coloured velvet, intending to make a purse with it.

Since I seem to be feeling the need to not just finish but start new projects, I pulled out the wasp bag pattern last week and got to work on the bag.

Now, I've sewed this pattern up before, which usually means that things will go a little smoother the second time 'round.

Here's my first bag, which I hadn't photographed in it's completed state:

I love this bag. I didn't do the best job on the detail stitching (Ang - what am I trying to say here? overstitching? hem stitching?), but I'm still really pleased with the results.

This bag actually holds quite a bit of stuff. In fact, there's a human skull in the Minou bag, and I bet you can't tell.

Sooooo... the velvet one must have gone well, right? Um. Not so much.

I didn't use the pattern piece to cut the handles. Choosing, instead, to cut them to the measurement of the original and using my yard stick to get a nice straight edge on them - I even used my fancy chalk line that I bought when I was in BC visiting Ang.

Everything was going smoothly until I went to attach the second handle to the purse. I held it up to the first handle, which was already sewed to the top. I wanted to see how much fabric I should tuck into the hem and was not so happy to discover that the second handle was SHORTER than the first.

That's when I threw the handles against the wall, stormed out of the craft room and started muttering about how knitting was easier, even if you had to make your own fabric, and blah, blah, blah...

I wasn't in the best frame of mind to begin with, because it turns out that you should always baste velvet before you sew it. Something about the nap and some crazy, sensible sewing advice that Ang gave me AFTER I had my hissy fit.

In the end, I gave it a night, then went back to sewing when I was in a better mood. Now I have a cute little, not perfect, but it'll do, velvet bag.

Lessons learned:
1. When putting handles on a bag, measure to make sure they are the same length, FIRST.
2. Velvet is a tricky mistress. Baste it.
3. Sometimes you need to walk away.
4. Persevere - it pays off in the end

Travellin', Doin', Makin'

Travellin'

This past week I was in Newfoundland for a total of 35 hours. I flew in at 9:15am on Wednesday morning and flew home at 8:00pm Thursday night. Let's not talk about the turbulence on the way home Thursday night. It's the first time I've ever been that freaked out on a plane.


Doin'

I was in NL for my annual trip to the student career fair. I spent Wednesday night talking to students in various stages of their program and I spent Thursday having one-on-one interviews with students who will be graduating in the spring.

Surefire way to get a pouding headache? Spend an entire day doing interviews. And drink more coffee than you usually do!


Makin'

Friday morning, after getting to sleep in for the first time since last Saturday, Mr. Happy and I took a trip out to a local fabric store where I bought some things that I needed to make this:

Forgive me, Knitters, for I have sewed.

Pattern: "Wasp Bag" from Machen Machen.
Fabric: lightweight denim exterior, lightweight cotton interior.

The instructions confused me a little, but the design is easy enough for an inexperienced seamstress like moi to figure out.

I made a freezer paper stencil of the Minou silhouette that Angela sent to me.

Now I just need some glittery buttons for the handles.

I am so fricking excited about this thing. You have noooo idea.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation* - part deux

*or - How My Mom Is Watching Out For Me

Well, you all know the saga of the house next door, right?

First, it went up for sale. Then, there was all the rhubarb thievery. Then came Operation Gonorrhea. And finally, something I didn't mention here, the new owner* put the house up for rent. There may have also been an incident with some activists in the garden "freeing the rhubarb roots", but everyone involved in that bit of late night, cover of darkness shovelling has been trained to deny, deny, deny. Rank and serial number only!

While I was away in New Brunswick, Mr. Happy kept me apprised of the situation next door. The "For Rent" sign was taken down and it wasn't long before a family of 5 (or is it 15 - I can't yet figure out who lives there and who doesn't) moved in next door.

Ok, so what does this have to do with my summer vacation? Well, I came home intent on doing some work around the house. The plan was to either scrape wallpaper in our bedroom OR to work on the sun porch (sigh - the project that will never get done). These plans were sidelined when we realized that we don't want to traumatize the children next door. It was time for dining room curtains. I've only had the fabric for 5 years. Ahem.

On Thursday morning I bought TWO fabulous Umbra curtain rods at Linens 'N Things** - (half price - yay!) and then I went home to try to figure out how on earth I was going to make the curtains.

After rummaging around in my craft and sewing supplies (wouldn't a craft room in the sun porch be great?), I consulted with my neighbour (source of much wisdom and knowledge). The two of us were standing in my spare room (where the sewing machine lives, for now) looking at the fabric and trying to figure out the best way to make the curtains - drapes? tab tops? just throw the fabric over the rod and be done with it? I had envisioned drapes with pleats hanging on rings. A friend of mine had given me some curtain rings years ago but I didn't know how to attach them.

This is the part where Mom was watching out for me: I reached into a drawer and pulled out a roll of what I thought was some sort of reinforcement for curtains. My neighbour said, "Oh! That's the stuff you need! That goes on the back of the curtain and then the hooks slip up into that tape, see?" And she showed me the little channels for the hooks. I reached into Mom's sewing kit (now my sewing kit) and pulled out one of the hooks she was talking about. Needless to say, I was very thankful that my mom's sewing kit is filled with extremely useful things and that she still seems to be looking out for me.

I'll skip the gory details about the sewing, the lining and the double hems (which are gorgeous, by the way) and just show you the finished product:

The fabric has a yellow threads and dark khaki green threads forming grids on it (fabric people could probably name this style) - which pull in the colour on the walls and the colour of our sofas - which are visible from the dining room. (Our house is small - everything is visible from the dining room!)

Aren't they beautiful? I think I did a pretty good job for someone who only sews about twice a year.

I also made drapes for our bedroom while I was at it. I won't be showing these to you until the bedroom walls are stripped of the ancient wallpaper and painted. At this rate, that could be next summer. I've had that fabric since 1999.

Speaking of fabric (and because this post just isn't long enough), here's the fabric I bought while Becca and I were at Mardens last Monday:

First, this pretty paisley print:

That's for new throw pillows on the couch. It goes quite nicely with the new curtains.

Next up, this vintage looking print:

Safety first people! I wish I had bought more of this- we need a couple new curtains in the kitchen and this would be perfect.

This fabric:

is to feed my addiction to green. And to make something fun for Christmas.

And last, but certainly not least, a little something for the knitters:

I just can't wait to use it all. In my new craft room. Sigh.

* The new owner just happens to be an old girlfriend of Mr. Happy. When I told the KOL crew about the new owner, the collective gasp in the room was so strong that a man walking by the coffee shop was sucked in through the door and had a latte in his hand before he knew what had happened.

**apparently the 'n Things refers to curtain rods and potato scrubbers.)

Fabric Content!

Now that you've all recovered from the shock of real, "live" knit content, I'm going to scare the bejeesus out of you with Fabric.

Last weekend was the first ever Atlantic Quilt and Fibre Festival. While it was somewhat disappointing in terms of the number of vendors in attendance, I am living in hope that next year's event (planned for the autumn of 2008), will be better. We NEEEEEEEED a fibre festival around here (well, kind of like how we NEED another hole in our heads).

Before my camera batteries gasped their final breath, I managed to take some photos of the amazing quilts that were on display. I'm only posting two photos because I do not have the names of the artists in order to give credit where credit is due them.

Someone told me that this is a watercolour quilt - I know nothing of quilts other than ye olde traditional quilt patterns, so I'll just go along with that. Each little square making up the quilt was about an inch big. AN INCH! Forget knitting a super long scarf - this quilt takes some serious tenacity!

This photo is for Ang. It's a tea bag tea cozy. Perhaps you could have made this instead of a dress? Heh heh.

I couldn't justify going to a Quilt and Fibre festival without buying something, so I bought fabric! I KNOW! Me too, thoroughly shocked.

I saw an online tutorial for a box bag. I'm going to try it with these. And then, I'm going to find something to go with this:

So I can make another. Isn't it pretty? This fabric reminds me of the woods behind my parents' house.

Mr. Happy and I have had a couple of fruitful visits to La Village de Value in the last little while. We scored a couple of really nice wool blankets (thanks for the tip, Paula) - one of which is identical to the wool blanket that was on my brother's bed when we were kids - the other of which is pictured here, along with a newly "thrifted" flat sheet (ok, wrinkly sheet):

I loved the colour of the green blanket and while it's not in perfect condition, it's still nice for throwing over your feet on a cold night. The sheet may not remain as a sheet for long. It may become lining or a chair cover, or... Oh, the possibilities.

It's dangerous, really, letting me out of the house.