Little Pouches

22
May 2012

The first long weekend of the “summer of 2012″ was here this past weekend.  It always feels that when it’s time for the May long weekend (Victoria Day), the summer season officially starts, even if the weather turns out like crap.  We lucked out with the weather and took the kids to the Rodeo on Saturday.  It’s our annual thing even though my husband and I really don’t like going.  For a few hours of watching the kids have fun on the midway, we spend an inordinate amount of money.  But, needless to say, the kids had a blast and the weather cooperated so it was a fun afternoon for them and it is fun watching them have fun.

Fast forward to Sunday and Monday and the weather turned really icky.  Like any other day/weekend, I’m always the first one up in the house and I like it like that.  I do sleep in past my regular weekday alarm clock time but 7 am is usually about the latest I’ll stay in bed.  I thoroughly cherish those quiet moments in the house while everyone else is still sleeping.

This past weekend, I made it a bit of a mission to try out a bunch of small sewing projects and to also make some jewelry.  I’m getting ready for a craft show in just a couple of weeks (deep breaths inserted because I’m nervous that I don’t have enough time to get enough new stuff added to my inventory) and I would like to introduce some small sewing projects (little zip pouches and metal frame clutches) to my show display.  I still love my chainmaille jewelry but I’d like to diversify just a little.  Can’t be a bad thing, right?

I’m a fan of Michelle Patterns.  Her patterns are nice, simple, quick and easy and the instructions very well written.  I must admit that until recently, I’ve been better at buying and stashing and printing her patterns than actually working my way through them all.  That’s not to say that I didn’t do a few of them before but there are many, many, many that I bought and never tried.  So, last Friday, I printed out a bunch of the small pouch patterns with the idea that if I have them printed, organized and the pattern pieces all cut out, I might just start getting them done, one by one.  I didn’t work through my pile of patterns that I printed but I got a few done.  Here’s a project group shot:

Litte Pouches Group Shot
Michelle Patterns Pouches

Aren’t they cute?  So here are some further details:

 

Sheepy Dumpling PouchPink Flowers Dumpling Pouch

 These two are made from one of Michelle’s tutorials, the Dumpling Zip Pouch.  Cute, eh?  When I first saw the tutorial, I was a little intimidated.  All the zipper clipping and sewing it around a curve………. ugggh…. let’s stay away from that.  Oh, I do not like to clip curves.  I do not, truly, I do not.  Well, I tried the sheepy pouch first.  I got the fabric at a “destash craft market” and paid mere pennies for it.  It’s so cute though.  So, the blue one was my first attempt and there’s a couple of things I learned.  First of all, it’s definitely easier than it looks.  With great instructions, it’s not all that bad.  Secondly, I’m inclined to skip the step in a pattern that mentions the workd “baste”.  Well, go for it, spend the time, baste the zipper.  It really makes the final zipper installation easy.  Thirdly, don’t stitch too close to the zipper teeth.  I think the curved nature of the pouch makes it even more pronounced that when you sew too, too close to the zipper teeth, the lining might get caught in the zipper pull.  That’s what happened with my blue pouch so it is not giftable but it is still usable.  It’s mine and since I like things with sheep on them, I won’t complain.  So, that’s the big thing that I did differently the second time with the pink pouch.  I just shifted the sewing line when sewing the zipper in a little bit.  The way I sew zippers with my Janome Horizon, I have a very special mark on my Accufeed foot that I let run along the very edge of the fabric when I put in a zipper (no, I don’t use the zipper foot).  I still wanted to be able to use that as a guide so in a moment of brilliance, I decided that I could just move the needle to the right.  Not something I could have ever done with my old machine so it wasn’t a natural thought that occurred to me.  I felt rather brilliant coming up with such a basic, simple idea all on my own. :-)   So pouch #2 was much better.  I am planning on making some more so my “production schedule” is to cut out a bunch and then baste the zippers in a marthon TV session on evening and then they can all come to the sewing machine with me.

Next up was the Zip Clutch pattern.  Super cute with the little sash.  Just adds a little something extra and rather than boxing the corners, darts add the volume at the bottom.  I really like how this turned out.  Maybe I’ll use a contrast fabric for the sash when I make another attempt.  I’d have to lie if I said that I remembered what size I made.  I think I made the medium size.  I don’t really have too many comments about this one, other than that it’s a nice pattern, works up quickly and it was my first time that I used sewn zipper tabs on either side of the zipper.

Sashed Zipper Pouch

 

Peek inside the sashed pouch

 Last but not least, as I was trolling the blogs and all, thinking about other quick projects I could play with, Michelle added the basic pattern pieces for an i-phone pouch.  I used more of the pink fabric which is so very pretty.  I made a zippered i-phone pouch earlier in the week and it turned out really nicely as well.  I’m trying to compare which style I like better.  They are both really cute (just don’t have a good picture of the zippered one).  This pattern was a “pattern pieces” only with the basic construction much like some other patterns.  I had the other pattern and I am getting pretty good at “winging it”.  I have a couple more cut out.  I’m just trying to decide on whether I like velcro on projects like that.  I’m kind of thinking that snaps would be good but I don’t own a snap press (but my friend does).  I do have snap pliers but I don’t know how well they would work through layers of interfacing etc.

IPhone PouchIPhone Pouch with Flap Open

 So there’s my sewing from the weekend. 

I got my FitBit for Mother’s Day.  See my previous post.  So far I love it.  I’m out of time to talk a whole lot more about it right now.

Category: FitBit, Totes and Pouches  Leave a Comment

I Love Gadgets or the Newest Object of my Desire

03
Apr 2012

So, if you know me, really know me, you know a few things about me……. one of them is that I’m such a gadget girl.  I can’t be without my gadgets.  I’m glued to my i-phone, I always have my i-pod classic with me to keep up on the most current podcasts in the car, I have 2 e-readers, for my birthday I got a scale with wireless connectivity and an i-phone app to keep track of my weight (I don’t like the app very much though…. it’s awkward) and the list goes on.  If money was no object………….. well………….. Of course, I also love all my crafting gadgets and my obsession is pretty bad there, too.  Give me a new ruler, a new something else that promises to make things easier etc. etc.  So, I do admit that I really, really love toys.  So far, I’ve managed to live without an i-pad although I’m not quite sure how but I do have my Kobo Vox which acts like a poor brother to an i-pad but I’ll survive (for now).

Here comes in my newest gadget that has caught my fancy!!!  It’s got nothing to do with sewing or knitting or crafting but it has to do with my constrant striving to live more actively which some days is hard when you’re a full-time, busy, working Mom with kids in millions of activities and rather sedentary hobbies that I’m super passionate about.  I love to track things…….. I track my weight with regular Weight Watchers meetings (I was doing so great but recently, I stalled out again) but I’m back at it now since the girl’s early Saturday morning private dance lessons finished up now that we’re int he midst of dance competition season.  I track all my walks with my i-phone apps – I switch back and forth from Runkeeper to Walkmeter.  I’m still not entirely sure which I like better.  I’ve also looked for a decent i-phone pedometer app but haven’t really been happy.

For a while, we did a team “steps” challenge at work where we wore our good old basic pedometers daily and we logged our daily steps and as a group of 10, we travelled around our province in about a month (PS: My team won the challenge).  I was so faithful to the challenge and it really helped me stay focused on trying to achieve more steps in a day.  I did the extra little things….. now, the challenge is finished and although I was going to keep my pedometer on, I soon stopped.  It’s a clunky thing and only measuring steps is kind of boring.  It also hurt me on my waist band lots of days.

Then, one day, I was reading another quilting blog (Of course, I can’t remember the blog) but the lovely blogger was doing a review of this gadget called FitBit and I had to check it out right away.  New gadget love!!! 

Fit Bit!!!

 It seems like a great little gadget.  It looks like it would be easy to have with you.  Definitely easier and less obtrusive than the old, clunky pedometer with a whole huge wealth of information.  I’m really curious to check out how it tracks your sleep patterns.  I know I don’t get enough sleep but what’s my sleep like when I do sleep.

I’m trying to be an active person (and it’s not always easy) and I’m trying to teach my kids that daily activity is so important.   I want to set a good example for my kids and I want to be active with them.  I can do that with or without a gadget but wouldn’t it be so much more fun with the gadget?  I also think it would encourage me to just do the extra mile and to pick up the pace when I see that I’m having a real low activity day.  Maybe it would get me on the treadmill at night rather than sitting on the couch on the days when I’ve been sitting around a lot during the day?  And best of all, you get a log over the long run of how you’re doing.

Of course, if money wasn’t an object, I’d already have ordered it.  But…. we have a lot of expensive things going on right now and so I have to be patient.  I’ve asked for my FitBit for Mother’s Day.  I really, really hope my husband heard me.  I’m not very good at being patient, though.  I have to admit that!!!

If I get it………… I’ll tell you more about it and how I like it.

Category: Active Lifestyle, FitBit  Tags: , , , ,  One Comment

T-Shirt Sewing – Kwik Sew 3043

02
Apr 2012

On the weekend I dove head first into experimenting with a great stretchy t-shirt knit to make a top for my little man.  Except for sewing up the hem, the shirt is entirely constructed on my serger.

This was my first time tracing a pattern rather than just cutting straight into the pattern paper.  The big reason for this is that I wanted to preserve the pattern especially because kids grow and the boy might need the next size up soon (actually, my next sewing of this pattern will involve the next size up in width, probably not in length).  As well, this is a unisex pattern and my girl might like a t-shirt, or 2 or 3 (if I find the perfect tween fabric, too).

I used parchment paper to trace the pattern pieces with a pencil and that worked out pretty well.  I had just enough left on the roll I had at home to trace the pattern once.  As the pattern calls for, I used some iron-on interfacting to stablize the shoulders a bit.  I made no other adjustments to the pattern.

Here is the boy:

It shows on his face that he’s enjoying his new shirt.  I used another sew-in tag, this time on the bottom left right side of the shirt…. why hide those cute tags?  We’ve got a skateboard with the word “Handmade” on the inside.

The pattern was great.  It fits well and was very easy and quick to sew.  You can buy t-shirts so cheaply that I’m not sure whether from a $ perspective it’s efficient to sew t-shirts but this fabric is lovely, very soft and washes beautifully so it’s definitely worth while to me.

I have a bit of ruffling going on with the dark grey ribbing on the neck line.  If I make the shirt again, I’ll lengthen the size of the ribbing just a little because the stretch I had to add in was maybe just a bit much so that it pulled in a bit more than I would have wanted it to.  It sitll is a very comfortable stretch over the head though so I think it’s fine.

This project allowed me to check off one project off my every growing sewing to do list.  It wasn’t quite enough for this weekend.  I had bigger plans but I also had a few nice Etsy shop orders to finish up and get ready for mailing and that always takes precedence over the personal sewing projects.

This week, if I find some free moments, I’d like to work on the Craftsy Block of the Month for March since I’m behind on that project.  I’d also like to work on a few pouches, totes and boxy bags.  Always lots to do!!!

Category: Garments  Tags: , , , , ,  Leave a Comment

Girl’s Just Wanna Have Fun!!

29
Mar 2012

And I love that my girl’s version of fun includes trying to learn how to sew and quilt and do all kinds of things crafty with me.

I bought her a pack of pre-cut 6″ flannel squares (actually 2 packs for a total of 56 squares) during Christmas break.  I shopped at an Etsy shop where I often buy charm packs (didn’t you know I had a slight charm pack addiction?).  The shop is Materialgirlchic and I’ve always received my charm packs quickly and with great service.

I thought the 6″ squares would make a project a nice size and would make it easy to get a variety of fabrics without buying lots of yardage etc. and it worked.  We didn’t do anything about the quilt for a while but we started laying it out over spring break.  Well, actually, I let her do all the laying out and she was having fun.   Here are some pictures of the process of arranging and sorting out the quilt squares.

We have started sewing the first row together but then spring break ended and now we’ve just been really, really busy with getting back into the swing of things as well as starting the dance competition season.  I haven’t knitted a stitch, spun an yard or touched my sewing machine (or any fabric) all week long and I have so many projects that I’d like to get working on!!!

Category: Kidlets, Quilting  Tags: , , , , , , ,  Leave a Comment

A Little Bit of Progess

27
Mar 2012

I’m a little behind again.  I actually have accomplished so very much on the sewing room re-org project.  The pictures that I have are already old but I haven’t had a chance to blog them yet nor have I had a chance to take new pictures.

So, here’s a step-by-step of how the re-org has gone:

  1. Cleaned all the crap off the floor
  2. Tried to find homes for as many things as I could
  3. Shoved some more stuff into places that will need to be organized later
  4. vacuumed the floor several times picking up lots of little things, especially little chainmaille rings that had gone astray.
  5. Organized everything that was in the wooden desk and dumped everything I wanted to keep from the desk into one storage box so that the wooden desk could be moved into my son’s room. (Steps 1-5 were mostly completed on the first Wednesday of spring break.  I was home from work and the kids were still at Nana and Papa’s house – I worked my butt off)
  6. Dragged husband to IKEA to buy the new furniture as soon as I got the e-mail that the corner desk unit was back in stock (’twas late on a Friday night and he was hauling IKEA furniture home for me….. one of the few times that I don’t complain about how expensive the payments on the truck are!!!)
  7. Nagged husband most of the weekend to get the furniture built until it got built on the Sunday
  8. This is about the time the pictures were taken……….. see!!!

    This is the corner unit with the desk extension and a set of drawers. The desk is still in the way and messy but it is destined for the boy's room.A Close-up View of the corner desk unit. The part of the picture to the right is under the window. This is the spot for the sewing machine and table.A Close-up View of the corner desk unit. The part of the picture to the right is under the window. This is the spot for the sewing machine and table.A Close-up View of the corner desk unit. The part of the picture to the right is under the window. This is the spot for the sewing machine and table.

     

    A Close-up View of the corner desk unit. The part of the picture to the right is under the window. This is the spot for the sewing machine and table.

  9. Since then, the desk has been moved to my son’s room, the other table under the window was taken down, the sewing machine was moved upstairs and I’ve done some sewing (yippee!!!) in my nice bright room.
  10. After my last “learn how to use your serger” class, I’ve also set-up the serger.
  11. The organization is not complete yet – there still a pile of things left to do such as organizing the book shelf, organizing the contents of the wardrobe, starting to destash some of the cross stitch and other magazines that are in perfect shape but I just don’t want around any more, dealing with the last few storage tubs and the biggest task is to get the right set-up for my cutting table.  I have decided that because of cost reasons, I will re-use a table top I already have but put on adjustable legs so I can raise the table to a comfortable cutting height.  When that is all done, I will feel like I have a great crafting space.  One part of the desk will be left so I can do some jewelry work up there or I can set my old, smaller sewing machine up in that spot for my daughter to use.

  12.  Last but not least, I am saving up for a small flat screen TV because the old clunky 14″ just has no space anywhere in the room and I have to put some happy decorations on the walls as well as some thread spool racks and maybe make a little window topper.

I’m so happy I’ve come this far!!!  Now to keep it looking nice and fresh and organized and clean!!!

 

Category: Craft Room Re-Model  Tags: , , , ,  Leave a Comment

Craft Room – The Ugly

16
Mar 2012

Okay, so for the full effect, here’s the UGLY of the craft room before the task of cleaning and organizing it.  It looks different already because everything has by now been picked up and most things have found places.  The book shelf and the shelves on the wall still need lots of organization work as they are still a real mess as does the inside of the wardrobe but so much progress has been made!!!  I really worked hard on this the other day…. all day….  now I’m ready to buy the new furniture…………. tonight or tomorrow!!!  I’m so excited.  That means my sewing machine will move upstairs and my serger will have a permanent spot and a little bit down the line, I’ll actually get a cutting table that’s at proper cutting height (around 36″).

So just for the embarrassing fun of it, here are the before pictures…………….. totally insanely messy.  I won’t show off the closet (that’s actually not messy) because it was organized into my yarn and fibre closet months ago.  I’m showing these so that the “after” pictures will have more impact.  LOL. -))

So here you are.  Terrible.  The room had become a dumping ground and I was working on digging it out for months, probably years.  I’m still working with the concept of storage and how to improve it.  Part of me is saying that less is more and I don’t need all the stuff I have accumulated.  However, only with proper storage will I be able to keep it organized.  Staying tidy is a tough job for me.  A really tough job.

Hopefully by the end of the weekend, I’ll have something else to show.  Something much more fun looking.

Category: Craft Room Re-Model  Tags: , , ,  3 Comments

JR’s new Sweat Pants – McCall’s #6393

13
Mar 2012

Now that I have the serger, I have a renewed interest in garment sewing, especially some kids’ clothes and active wear items like, for example, dance shorts for the girl.  PJ bottoms are also big on the list of garments to sew since my kids seem to have very specific PJ likes and dislikes.  Especially that goofy boy of mine who loves silky/shiny PJ bottoms.  Sure can’t find a lot of silk PJs for boys in the department stores.  AND… a huge bonus is that he still loves it when Mommy makes something for him – he really seems to appreciate it and be proud to strut his stuff in Mommy made things.  Although, his next few requests have been dress-up things like Vampire costumes and Star Wars costumes. 

On Sunday, I finished a pair of sweats for the little man.  The pattern is McCall’s #6393.  I used size 8 for his measurements.  The pants had two version, one longer and with elastics in the bottom like true sweat pants and the other pattern option was for a more cropped style of pant with just a plain hem.  Well, by all my best measurements – and it is hard to measure a 6-year old bouncing boy – I figured that I’d best cut the crop size version of the pattern to get a normal length leg for him.  If I had gone for the full length, they would have been so long.  I also omitted the pocket detail because I thought that wasn’t necessary and really kind of silly.

Everything went quite well with the pattern until I hit the point of inserting the elastic.  I serged all the other seams and that went super quickly.  I did measure the elastic around his belly and tried to figure out where he naturally wears his pants at the waist.  He’s got a bit of a belly on him.  I decided to serge on the elastic (rather than sew a full casing) and I reviewed several YouTube videos on that technique.  Sorry, I didn’t save the links but a search on YouTube about “serged elastic waist bands” will give you several good hits.  In basic terms, you join your elastic in the round so that it becomes a continuous piece and then you pin it to the much bigger waist on the garment at each quarter.  Then you stretch the elastic as you serge it to the garment, working around each quarter.  That worked quite nicely.  Then you turn over the elastic and stitch it down.  I tried to stitch it down the first time using a twin needle and top stitching it but to be brutally honest, it didn’t look so great.  I just didn’t get it perfect so that the stitching around the waist band on the inside looked nice and even.  I talked to my serger class instructor that night and she didn’t recommend that method and suggested I just use a straight stitch from the back of the work and if I wanted the double seam effect I could stitch a second line.

To make a long story short, after doing all that, I had the boy try on the pants and they were okay but the elastic was too big.  I didn’t make it tight enough and it sat too losely for an elastic waist.  I guess I still don’t really know how tight I should have measured that.  Well, first I was going to write-off the pants altogether and make a new version using the reverse fabric (I have enough red left to do a red pair with grey accents).  Then my boy said he’d love them for PJs so I thought I’d just finish the hems and let him wear them as PJs.  Then my sewing friend suggested that I could take the folded over hem back out and around the back insert a 2nd piece of elastic that was shorter so I contemplated that as a fix.  So, I decided to unpick the whole twin needle top stitched folded over elastic casing.  Since the whole line from the crotch to the top of the waist was quite long, I then contemplated just hacking off the serged elastic at the stitching and get a new piece of elastic and re-do it all.  But, as I was sitting there on Saturday night (with no place to go and while playing a match of Battleship with the girl), I started picking out the serged elastic and undid all of the stitching.  I cut the elastic, made it shorter and re-started the whole process.  I then applied the same elastic insertion process to make elastic hems at the bottom as well.  I used skinnier elastic and those elastics I could have left a little bigger.  It took a long time but it was worth it because they went from being garbage to maybe becoming PJs to actual pants he can wear which is a good thing because we are in desperate need of pants for him and we have searched all the department store and kids clothing stores for basic pull-up pants the last few days and everyone has switched over their inventory to summer and shorts but it’s just not that kind of weather yet.  We’ve sadly come up empty handed in our attempt to find RTW pants in his size to tide him over for a couple of months.   Now I can just move on to the red pair with grey stripe and I can just quickly get them done since I know what I’m doing. 

Here’s the result of the photo shoot and although he’s cuter than cute, he’s not a great or very patient model:

Look – New Pants – Now stop taking pictures!!

 And look at the great label – Zombie Approved!!!  I got a bunch of these labels from a friend – she was super kind to share with me and I love, love, love them!!!

Tomorrow I start my spring break and tomorrow I am without kids or husband (just one day of freedom) and I WILL tackle my big sewing room project.  Tonight, I’ll try to get some before pictures (even though that embarasses me).  My goal for tomorrow is to get everything put away, cleared away and/or into a state where everything that doesn’t need to be in the room can be removed.  A clean slate…. then we are going to add some new furniture and fixtures.  Maybe I’ll even add a coat of paint.  It’s been so many years and I’ve talked about it so much but now is the time, this is it!!!  I’ve commited here to getting it done.  Watch for pictures and updates!!  I am really pumped.

Category: Craft Room Re-Model, Garments, Sewing  Tags: , , , , , ,  2 Comments

Block of the Month

12
Mar 2012

Just around the turn of the new year, a local sewing and crafty friend of mine pointed me in the direction of the Craftsy Block a Month program on Craftsy.  While many of the classes on Craftsy are classes you pay for, this Block of the Month video class/tutorial is one of the free ones on the site and it sounded like a lot of fun so we decided to participate and encourage each other along the way.  Encouraging means gentle or not so gentle prodding close to the end of the month to see if we’ve done our block of the month.  One time, the stars will align and we might actually get rid of the kids and sew the blocks together.

We have chosen very different colour schemes.  She’s doing black and whites of different intensities while I’ve chosen bright batiks of all kinds of random colours.   I have the January and February blocks all done.  The March blocks, foundation piecing sound like they will be 2 very fun blocks, too.  I can’t wait although I’m struggling with fabric choices just a little bit for these blocks.

 Here are my blocks so far:

 

Category: Craftsy Block of the Month 2012, Quilting, Uncategorized  Tags: , , , , , ,  One Comment

I’m a “In My Head” Blogger

06
Mar 2012

Yes, I admit it………. I failed miserably at blogging more so far this year.  No excuses.  Just business and laziness.  I blog everything in my head.  The blog posts are all up there and then I think I need to take better pictures and that never happens and then I get behind and then….. it’s a big vicious circle.  And then I fall into that deep hole of………… nobody cares anyways and it will take me hours to catch up.  So, moving forward, I’m still here, I’m still busy and doing lots.  More sewing and quilting, some spinning, some knitting and of course, always some jewelry.  Still, I must admit that the kids’ activities are keeping me so busy this year (added on top some weird stuff at work and a very strange schedule) that I’m not finding as much creative time as I’d like.

The other thing I have to get over is that if I always wait to get “great” pictures before posting a project to the blog, it might never happen, especially over the winter months when I’m at work from dawn to dark.  When can I take pictures of objects that are larger than my little light box when I never have daylight when I’m at home?

So, here it is…………. i-phone photos will also do for now?  Right?

Today I just want to get things back off to a new start with a little table topper that I’m stitching up using the Lil’ Twister ruler.  I bought it here.  This little ruler is genius and I’m having a lot of fun with it.  If you love charm packs like I do, this is the perfect little project.  Right now, I’m working on a little table topper.

Lil' Twister Pinwheel Table Topper

  So here’s how it works: Unfortunately, I don’t have the picture of how this little project started out available at the moment.  This ruler works with 5″ squares so a charm pack is perfect for it. You can also get one that works with 10″ squares that works perfectly with a layer cake. 

To start, you lay out your 5″ squares in a pleasing arrangement.  Good contrast is important so that, later on, the pinwheels really pop.  Once you have a layout that makes you happy, you sew the squares into rows and then each row together into exactly the layout your created.  Now you also need some border fabric and for the 5″ Lil’ Twister you need to add a border to each side that’s cut at 3″.

Once you have that all assembled, you’re ready for the fun to begin.  Press your little quilt top of squares and borders nicely and then lay it out on your cutting mat.  Using the little ruler you will be slicing up your little top.

I wish I had pictures of the process but I don’t.  The little ruler has two lines drawn on it.  Those lines need to be aligned with the seam intersections of each sewn square (vertical and horizontal seam).  Working from left to right.  Line up the lines on the ruler with the seam lines and cut around the square.  Keep on moving to the right and cut out each new square.  The next job is to reassemble each block arranging the newly cut squares to form the pretty pinwheels.  It’s pretty logical and self explanatory when you do the work.   My first two rows, I sewed as soon as I had one row of squares cut out.  After that, I cut a row, stacked the blocks in the right order, set the stack aside and cut the next row. 

The picture that you see is my cut and re-assembled top.  I used a 6X6 arrangement of charm squares from the Moda Half Moon Modern line.  My borders are just a basic solid grey quilting cotton from Fabricland.  Now I’m just deciding how and whether to add any other borders and how to bind and quilt it.  I should do that soon so it will turn into a finished object soon.

It was my birthday just a couple of weeks ago and I got a serger.  My hubby bought me my MIL’s serger that she bought a few years back and never used.  It’s a Pfaff Hobbylock 2.0.  I’m having fun with it but there is definitely a steep learning curve.  Last night I tried to sew up a little pair of sweat pants for the boy.  He has been staying with his Oma and Opa for a couple of days so I couldn’t try them on him and I wanted to do that before finishing up the elastic waist and hems.  I’m also taking a serger basics class at a local shop, Castle’s Sewing to learn some of the tricks of the trade.  I think the serger will work great for doing some stuff for the kids, doing some costume sewing for Erika etc.  I’m really interested in garment sewing again these days.  I do find the fitting process very difficult though.  PJ bottoms are a great hit at my house though.  I need to make more. :-)

Soon you’ll have to stop by to meet Gracie and Ben!!!  They need some clothing first though so I don’t have to introduce them naked.  :-)

Right now, I’m also spinning for a Round Robin Swap on the Snobby Spinners Ravelry Board.  We’re spinning and knitting for our swap partners.  Everyone sent a braid of fibre to their assigned partner, that partner spins the fibre and sends it to the next person whol will knit something from that spun fibre and then it returns back as a knitted item to the original owner of the fibre.  So much fun!!!  I got the most gorgeous BFL/silk blend to spin and I have the first bobbin done:

BFL/Silk Blend from Abstract Fibres - Spinning for the Round Robin

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
As far as knitting goes, I’m working on a few things but I’m kind of holding off until my yarn for the Round Robin swap comes so that I can cast on and plow through my knitting assignment rather quickly.  I don’t want to hold up the swap process and I’m not the quickest knitter these days.
Got lots more to say but must take a break and catch up later.  Say HI if you’re still stopping by to visit once in a while.
Category: Quilting, Sewing, Spinning  Tags: , , , , , , , ,  Leave a Comment

Happy New Year

01
Jan 2012

Well, it’s 2012…………….. wow, where did 2011 go?  I have no idea but I’m often told that I do just too much and that I’m always too busy.  So maybe I didn’t take enough time to sit back and smell the roses (or to blog) and just let the year whiz right by me.  I’m looking at 2012 with a bit of trepidation but I’m not sure I can pin point why.  I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I didn’t get enough accomplished over the holiday break and that there is a lot of craziness and also a lot of expenses coming up.

I didn’t really make a whole lot of resolutions but I do want to:

  • renew my commitment to losing weight with WW.  I continue to go regularly but I’ve fallen off the tracking and being good wagon a bit, especially in the last couple of months, so I have stalled out a bit (a lot).  Need to pick up the pace.  I would like to make more progress during 2012.  I also want to get on our treadmill at home more regularly.  I have a few weeks of Zumba coming up but I can’t afford right now to make a financial commitment for the rest of the year beyond this next session I’m already committed to, especially since my studio wants a 12 month commitment with 12 monthly cheques.  I can’t afford another monthly commitment as that will add to my stress not help me destress.  I’m very sad about that.
  • blog more
  • do more fun things with the kids
  • bring my focus back to creating regularly for my Etsy shop so that there will be new items listed in my Etsy shop, do more hand spinning for my fibery Etsy shop and launch my sewing shop on Etsy.  The last two will remain small shops though but I would like to shift my focus a bit from only jewelry to also include more of my fibery and fabric artistic endeavours.  Having said that, I need to not forget to make some pieces for myself and just plain enjoy making those and having those (or wearing those) just for me.
  • try to save some money (or just spend less), especially on the things I don’t need like magazines
  • Finish my unfinished quilting projects and don’t add fabrics to the stash like I used to add yarn and fibre (that’s pretty much under control these days – not buying anything)
  • Knit and spin from my stash!!!  Only exception is that there’s a boy’s sweater I’d love to knit for the boy and I don’t have yarn for that.  I will only buy that when I’m ready to cast on though.   Knit lots of socks and small projects throughout the year so I can have a stash of them for “the country shop” next fall.    I will probably also de-stash some more fibre.
  • Do a bit more weaving, too.
  • take time to smell those roses so that anxiety about 2012 does not stick around all year long

A bit of a jumbled mess of thoughts more than an organized list but that’s okay for the moment.

Before I take off today, let me show you the handmade things I created for Christmas gifts this year:

Dad's Christmas 2011 Socks

 

Dad’s Christmas socks were plain fun to knit.  My Dad loves my socks so I love knitting them for him and as a bonus, I can knit them on 64 stitches (like my own) and his foot is only a bit longer than my own feet.  I maybe knit 1/2″ more before starting the toe on my own so they don’t really feel like knitting big mens’ socks.

These were done with some striping Regia that I got from Dressew in Vancouver some time ago for a really inexpensive price.  He loved them.

 

MIL's Kindle Cover

My Mother-in-Law had asked for a Kindle pouch that would fit her Kindle including her Kindle leather book cover.  It took me a couple of tries to get the measurements just right but I got it worked out.  Inside it, she found an Amazon gift card to go and buy some more books with.  She loved the fabric.

 

 

 

 

Christmas Table Runner

 

My Mom got a Christmas table runner and I think she really loved it, too.  Mom is a hard one to make/buy for and I was worried that she wouldn’t like these fabrics (although I found them stunning) but she really did like it.  It is Christmas themed but I think it can work right through the winter season.

Those were all my Christmas gifts for 2011.    I really don’t like making things for people who I don’t think will enjoy them.  My girl knit her BFF and her teacher a scarf and I think both of them loved it.  I’m so proud of her because she did such a good job and I only helped her just a teeny little bit.

I have other projects to show off and talk about but I’m going to sign off for now.  I did start the mittens and I’m just past the thumb of the October mitten (yes, I know, it’s January by now).  They are awesome but also a slow go.

Today, on New Year’s Day, I think I’m going to start 2, maybe even 3 projects.  Handspun socks, a hat of some variety and a top down cardigan with some yarn that’s been stashed for a long time.  I will also find some time to pull out any UFO’s and put them in one place so I can make sure none get forgotten about.  I’m also working on a few quilting projects.

For the remainder of the Day at Creations by Uli my Boxing Week Sale in my Etsy shop continues.  At checkout, use coupon code BOXINGWEEK25OFF, to have the entire purchase (excluding shipping) discounted by 25%.

For those few of you that still come back to read once in a while, have a happy and healthy and most wonderful 2012.

Category: Chainmaille Jewelry, Finished Projects, Sewing, Sock Knitting, Spinning, Stash and Supply Shopping, Weaving, Woodland Mittens  Tags: , , , , , ,  One Comment
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