Go Outside!

Today was such a gorgeous day outside that we had to go for a little drive, and then (after the sad Spurs game) a hike.

Here’s Paul on the trail. Of course I picked the super easy one since I have basically been hibernating all winter, and I was panting nonetheless. It’s the elevation….yes…. I’m still adjusting after nine months, that’s it.  Everything is still all dead around here, but in a few weeks hopefully it will turn spring-like. Of course, they are predicting snow later this week, but I’ll take my 68 degree days when they come.

I wore one of the shirts I made a few months ago that I’ve yet to show off, another Built By Wendy 3964 (first version, which I loooove and wear all of the time, is here). See how I am standing outside in this picture? Very exciting. Anyway, I think i could make a hundred of these shirts and still want to make more. I wear them over long sleeves or under a sweater in the winter, and they are nice and breezy for summer without leaving my arms feeling totally bare (plus they don’t creep up like t-shirts, thank goodness). The pattern is kind of difficult but it gets easier every time, and if you do simple things like leave off the bias-cut ties (and put a seam at the neckline with a button/loop closure instead) you can save yourself some yardage. It’s also a great use for the fabrics that I only have a yard of (just about all of them), when I can find two that go together. These two are from Reprodepot– Alexander Henry’s Chickadee and Moda dots.

I also had a  baking urge this morning– I’ll share the results later this week. Hope it’s lovely where you are.

Sunday Sewing

I made it back from New York, and I think I’ve recovered from jet lag. I had a good time, but honestly, I was quite ready to leave.  Something about the sheer  number of people and rushing and dirt and smells made me a little bit insane (which is what happened when I realized it was time to move out last year).  It was good to get away though- I had feared that visiting would make me miss it and re-open wonders of whether leaving was a good decision, but actually it made me feel much better about where I’m at. I’m so happy to live somewhere quieter and slower now, even if it’s not always ideal (ahem, it snowed this morning). Hopefully I’ll post a few photos of some of my NYC field trips this week, but right now I am excited to show off my new shirt/tunic thingy.

I have had the sewing urge for a while now, and I wanted to make something before I dive into a big non-sewing project. I found this fabric in my stash (which I significantly reduced this weekend!) and made up a shirt with Built By Wendy 3835. Things I did differently were: made the sleeves longer with no elastic, lengthened the hem by about 4 inches with a slight flare and added the darts from the dress version of the pattern. The darts make it a tiny bit tricky to get on, but they’re worth adding because otherwise the shirt can be kind of shapeless (as I learned with the first one).  This pattern really is SO simple and quick.  I cut the pattern during the Spurs-Suns playoff game yesterday (did anyone see it? It was intense!) and sewed it up in two half-hour ish sessions last night and this morning. I would definitely make this version again… I’m getting to the point where I have enough sewn tops in my wardrobe that I could wear them all week if I wanted to. Which I do. Yay.

For more Built By Wendy inspiration, check out the flickr pool.

New Purse

I have been looking for a new purse for a long time. Since I’m not leaving the house all that much, I don’t need the gigantic one I had whenI lived in NYC (you know, with an umbrella, kleenex, spare book, water bottle,  anything I might need in the span of a day). I’m really picky and there aren’t a lot of cheap local choices, so I have been relying on a clutch I bought at Renegade last summer. But, since I don’t want to accidentally leave it anywhere, either here or there, I got to it and made myself a new little purse. Just big enough for the essentials plus a camera, and it sits right on my shoulder without getting in the way.

I’m happy with my fabric choice but wish I had used interfacing, and that I’d spent the extra buck on a zipper that matched my bias tape. But, I did succeed using stash-only supplies. Both of the fabrics are from Reprodepot- the inside (Heather Ross) I found at Renegade last summer, and the outside is left over from a project that you’ll see in a magazine in the hopefully not too distant future.

Check out the left corner, where I inserted some little plastic rings that are actually for crocheting in place of d-rings. I like how they turned out. I’m happy to have this in time for my NYC adventures. Can you guess how excited I am to get going? Here’s a hint (taken this morning):

Yeah.

McCall’s 5388

In an effort to use some interesting fabric I got at the NYC Craft Mafia Swap in Brooklyn this summer, I made McCall’s 5388 (View D). The fabric is super, super soft and flowy, but I had an odd amount of it, as I don’t think it’s a standard width. I knew I would have to combine it with something– which I wanted to do anyway, because why not? There were some safe choices, and then there was the cute faux quilted fabric I bought at the Reprodepot outpost at Renegade last summer. I ended up using that because I thought the patchwork and the strange 80’s-slash-Native-Americanesque designs worked off of each other.

Here’s the result. I really like it, but the bib collar is *big*. If I were smart, or patient, I would have made a muslin. That’s just not my way.  I don’t mind the largeness too much, though–especially for summer.  (It was -7 yesterday. I like to think about summer!) I looove supersoft flowy shirts to layer.

Things I altered in my version:
-Left out the sleeve elastic because I don’t like my arms to feel cramped (& I was out of the correct size).
- Changed the bib to a contrasting fabric.
-Made my own bias tape for the back collar instead of using packaged tape.
-Took in the sides at a slight curve (I guess you could call it a dart) to make it a bit less boxy muu-muu.

Things I’d do differently if making this shirt again:
-Take in the bib collar (I’ve already marked the pattern for next time) + possibly chop off a bit of the top of the collar too. Patterns are always too big in the shoulders for me.
-Make it at least a size smaller.
-Try a sleeveless version, because this looked pretty cute w/o sleeves, too. And since this one had generously sized puffy sleeves, I could stand to put some elastic in them next time. I generally cut sleeves a size larger from whatever size I’m making, but I really didn’t need to for this pattern.

As far as patterns go, I’d give this one a B. I’m not sure who exactly that wide bib would flatter, and I had a few WTF moments when consulting the pattern. There were little things left out that a beginner might not know (like how to gather the fabric, or what understitching is) . But overall, I’d probably use it again. I should probably actually do that one day– make something twice– to see how different the results would be.

And there you have it, the last garment constructed on my old machine.

By the way, my friend Nikki, who co-wrote the fabulous book Fashion DIY, took the other half of the grey fabric at the swap. I can’t wait to see what she makes with it.

Weekend Recycling

This was the weekend where we tackled the scary closet/pantry. It holds six trash bins for plastic, glass, aluminum cans, magazines, cardboard and newspaper. I set it up when I got here because after recycling for five years, it’s in my blood! Unfortunately there’s no curbside recycling here, so we save it up and take it to the huge bins, and then I walk my white paper recycling to work– because the college is the only place that recycles white paper. In fact, I’m not sure the glass even has a place to be recycled yet, but they are saving it just in case.

Anyway, after sorting a couple months worth of refuse, I got to thinking about the bag of clothes I had stashed in the corner to give away. In some ways, it’s hard to part with them because they’re just a tad too small now. Instead, I decided to combine them with the scraps I save from each project and start my own rag rug. Specifically, it’s going to be a bathmat, to replace our icky brown one. It is using up a lot of fabric– when I took this photo I’d used two or three good sized balls of scrap strips (I save them when I square off my quilt blocks or have extra bias tape, etc), a jersey dress (the orange), and the remainders from my refashioned tees. I found one more old shirt hiding in the bin and a couple pieces of fabric I’m not enamored with, and proceeded to tear them up.

 

Once I crochet those things in, the rug should be a pretty good size. And now I know I have a use for all of the scraps I hoard like crazy, which makes me feel better about keeping them. I think I’m going to cruise my closet again, too…. and be honest about what I’m really wearing, and what’s just taking up space.
 ***
In other news, tonight I am (hopefully, assuming my machine has arrived) going to my first class at the Bernina store. Eeeee.

Link Roundup

Thanks to Modish for featuring me in her Handmade Spaces column. Check it out to see pics of my craft room/studio (in a clean state).

All of my hats and earrings are on sale at Etsy- check it out! There’s still a good bit of winter left.

And check out this 2-part post on needlefelting over at ReproDepot where I show you how to make some cute felted owls, then give you ideas on how to use them.  Also exciting: All marimekko fabrics and products are on sale through January 15th! I loooove the print below.

And finally, check out my crochet-slash-art roundup on the Adorn blog.

Have a great weekend.

Recent Splurges

You may have read here that I resolved to buy a new sewing machine by the end of February. I’ve been meaning to do it but I always get scared to commit. My mom offered to pay for most of it, so it wasn’t even a money issue.  Well, today I got off my duff and went over to the Bernina store. And now I own an Activa 220! Well, actually they had to order it for me, but in a week or two I will. I’m very excited. I pretty much knew that’s what I wanted (especially when I saw the price tag on the Patchwork Edition, yikes!) — I have sewn on my  mom’s and it has SO much more control than my Singer. Yippee. One resolution down. I’m also going to take their free guide classes and I get to be a member of the Bernina club (ooh, a club!) for a year, which means a free class every month where I can learn something new on my machine. With Bernina, you really are paying for service– and I think it’s so great that they offer the classes, because what good are all of the functions if I don’t know how to use them? Yay!

In other much less expensive splurginess, I wanted to show off some of the fabric I bought before and over the holidays. I almost NEVER buy fabric, because I feel like I already have some slated for projects that were not completed, I get it free for work projects, etc. But, since I have been so obsessed with patchwork lately, I thought a few small amounts in colors I needed to fill out my stash were in order. Doing the patchwork swap was really fun because I realized sometimes you really only need a scrap of something to make a layout work. 

 

Here are some 1/2 yards I found after looking long and hard at Joann’s. The woman cutting them kept commenting on how “different” they were.

 

Here are some FQs I purchased in San Antonio. I liked the way this quilt shop had their shelves set up– there was a mini shelf under each fabric bolt shelf with all available FQs of those fabrics. That makes a lot of sense to me.

 

And here are some amazing flannels, from a different quilt shop in San Antonio. I have never seen flannels like this and I had to hold myself back.

The cool thing about  new fabric is that sometimes it makes your old fabric look better. I was going to make a project with the flannels but I ended up using just a sliver of the yellow- everything else was from my stash.  (I’ll show it off next week). I’m trying to be  more conscious of what colors I have a lot of, and where I can build up a little. It makes for a more complex patchwork, plus it’s always good to have options.

Holiday Wrap Up (Part 1)

Paul is sleeping under many quilts right now. We made it home last night, just barely, but my luggage did not. I’m hopeful that it just went on to Alberta since we only had ten minutes to transfer (thank you airport cart man!), because I finally let myself buy some cute fabrics. And I want them! Oh, and you know, all of my jewelry and clothes and xmas presents. 

My camera cord is also in the missing bag, so I’m just going to show off some photos of presents I took before Christmas. I did not formally take the handmade pledge, because I knew that I was going to buy some books for Paul. However, I did manage to give handmade everywhere else. We aren’t big gift givers in my family, so I didn’t really have to stress myself out. (I am, however, thinking of all the cool things I can make for next year if I start tomorrow.)

 Without further ado:

2 sets of hot mitts by me with handmade (in Montana!) wooden spoons. I bought them from Harry Felton at the Holiday Bazaar, because they were so smooth and lovely and perfect to accompany the mitts.  I also had to buy one for myself, of course! (EDIT: If you want some guidance on making the mitts, check out this post.)

At the same fair, I purchased a couple of locally made teas, salve and lip balm. I used them for my gift in our white elephant swap, and my very pregnant sister picked them.  I got a pretty cool sewing notions box in the exchange (which I had to steal from my mom!)….which is also in the suitcase.  Perhaps when I get it back I can post some “Gifts in Action” shots.

That’s about it from this front. I had a nice, quiet, relaxing holiday. My phone totally died, so I couldn’t really call anyone, and I just spent time with my family and Paul’s family for the most part. I finished a lot of projects at home- a knit hat for me, three new cake hats for the shop, the beginnings of jewelry… I even sewed up a few quick gifts on my mom’s machine (I must go buy a  new one!). I also spent a lot of time wishing I was so relaxed when I was at home, with my craft room and craft supplies! Hopefully I can get cracking on some of my ideas today.

In other news, Kerry of Beaded Forest is giving away some fabric! Head over to her blog for a chance to win. She also has a lot of really fun projects posted, too– I especially love the otter she made for her father.

Last Minute Crafting

 

I was getting kind of fed up with my lack of holiday crafting (mainly due to work work work!) and a box of stuff from ReproDepot came just as I started making some fabric trees. I really loved the Full Moon Forest charm square set (a sweet deal at $6.95), so I went to task and made a patchwork tree. See how over at the ReproDepot blog.

This may be my last post for a bit- on Sunday I’m off for holiday travelling plus for about two weeks and want to actually not think about work for a while, during the moments when that’s possible. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Done and Done

I finished binding the baby quilt! It took quite a lot of time to do all of that hand stitching, but I had time, since I’ve been on the couch with a persistent cold.

Here are some overall shots of the quilt on our bed.  It’s pretty big– 40 x 50 inches, so hopefully my sister’s kiddo will be able to use it for a lot of years. I was noticing as I bound it that it would make a nice lap quilt…. but no, I must part with it.

 

You can see some more details on flickr.  Here it is with my first quilt, which was offended that I balled it up in order to make room to shoot the new one.

And if that’s not enough excitement for the day, check out my Holiday Swap Ornaments over at Reprodepot.  Here’s a peek.

I got two of mine in the mail today– they were sooo cute! I squealed “Ornament swap, ornament swap!” when Paul brought in the padded envelopes. I’ll share them all, but I want to save the surprise in case my swap group is reading.