Do you ever get the feeling

That you're the worst thing to ever happen to sewing?

That's kind of the day I've had today.

This is not right.  But dammit I'm done quilting and it's good enough.  Now I just need to bind it.

This on the other hand...

Umm, yeah...  That's no bueno.  This thing is  pretty much going in the garbage, there's just naught to be done.  As a matter of fact. foot. I just can't even wrap my head around how awful it is.

Now I'm going to go knit until I feel better about myself.

wip-down #2 & 3 or if my mom was a kitchen

i'm pretty sure if my mom was a kitchen she'd be a down home country kitchen done in bright cheerful colors and lots of ruffles

hopefully she thinks so too.  wip-down item #2 is a christmas present for my mom; by request extra ruffly.

everything is from the stash, including the age old spool of orange thread so, you know, go me.  the pattern is from here (tutorial actually) but i made it a bit bigger and added the ruffle at the neck.

this is actually my first sew weekly challenge, so i suppose i'll be posting about it over there, too.  the theme this week is aprons conveniently enough.  i'm wondering if i should post this one or all three aprons i've made in the past week!

dad: if you're reading this please stop now

item # 3 are these big fish.  this is the second time i've done these in a larger size and i will write up how i did it as soon as i have a spare moment.   these are also a christmas present, this time for my dad.

note they don't fit me because, well, they're big

up next?  you'll never guess in a million years

overall i've finished 4 of the 15 items (i found another wip so the total count went up to 15 and i finished one more item tonight too late to take photos).  i also went and bought batting and got my quilt sandwich pin basted so i should finish that in the next couple of days.  my embarrassing admission is that to celebrate i cast on a pair of fingerless mitts.  in my defense, though, they're a christmas present for my mom and i'm trying to just focus on finishing everything i wanna make for christmas.  besides, they should be super quick

i hope y'all are doing well with your christmas crafting.  slow and steady!

wip-down #1: the boy's mitts

well there's no use denying it: winter is upon us.  the days are short, wet, and cold.  of course that doesn't stop us from going out to play, which means we need lots of warm woolies to protect us. 

i'm rather fond of summer, but i love pulling out all the knit goods when the weather turns cool.

of course new wooly stuff is half the fun right?

that being said, the first thing i can cross off my inordinately long list of wips is (drumroll please)

a pretty unimpressive pair of fingerless mitts for the boy.  they're made of lamb's pride superwash.  they're quite tight and long.

 i think i'll whip up another pair and see if he keeps them on for more than 2 minutes

removes gloves faster than a camera shutter!

i am quite pleased that his sweater is going to see another year of wear.  especially considering how long it took me to spin the yarn!

one wip down, 13 to go!

wip wednesday

of (let's get real here) apocalyptic proportions.

i made a list.  not a list of things to make, but one of things that i am currently making.  there were 14 items on the list, and those are just the ones i could remember.  6 of the items on the list are blankets of various sizes, intentions, and crafts.

holy frijoles.  it's too much.  i can't even take it.  i have to finish some of this stuff so i can move on with my life and get to my (overoptimistic) list of christmas pressies.

aaaand here's a collage of messed up pics (hope my camera isn't broken) of just the most pressing wips

my goal is to cross at least 3 things off of the list by next wednesday... hopefully more.

this weeks goals:

the boy's mitts

chevron mitts (#2)

big fish

grammy's apron?

cupcake?

i'll be psyched if i finish all that.

and then?

I just finished sewing and pressing my first ever quilt top.

This is one of those moments where I thought I knew what comes next but I'm actually not sure what to do.  Go buy batting I guess?  

Oh, and apparently my camera is effed WTF?!  Please ignore those lines.

But look: quilt pretty!

Squee! Twee: apron for me

Way back when I first started blogging Karen hosted her pyjama (how cute is that, sometimes she makes me wish I was British) sew-a-long.  For reasons I no longer remember (I think I found out about it two days before it ended; that seems like a pretty legit reason) I didn't partake.  I just remember being sooo jealous as everyone's cute PJs appeared across the blogosphere.

Well, now I follow her (in the most non-creepy stalker way possible, I swear) and this time I jumped on the bandwagon for her apron-a-long.  Do I need a new apron?  Well, let's just say the only apron I own is from when I worked at IHOP as a freshman in college (oh you wanted that back did you?  I thought it was like a souvenir...) and while it's a great conversation starter (excuse me, waitress!) I decided something more, well, pink was in order.  Or as Karen might say: twee!

My apron inspiration is from I Love Lucy and the Dick van Dyke Show.  Now I just need an A-line dress to wear while I make dinner.

The lace atop the pocket is vintage (if you can call something 20 years old vintage).  It was a short piece I stole from my Nanny's ribbon drawer when I was little.  She was my model knitter/sewer/do it all lady and she was always good about enabling my crafty inclinations.  The piece is so short I can't imagine it being used for much, but it was more than enough for this big pocket.  I wanted something functional (it is an apron after all) but the lace and the pink floral/gingham make it rather twee (there's that word again!  I hope I'm using it right) at the same time.

I lurve me a great big pocket.  I don't know why I keep sticking my hand in it for pictures; I never do in real life.  It's more than big enough for my Iphone, a few bobby pins, safety pins, toy cars (everywhere, they're everywhere I tell you!) and even a soda (which I would never put in with my Iphone, in case you're reading this, Dad).

This picture was not staged I assure you, the olives could not wait

It was so simple to make: I just cut a 1/4 circle, a thick waistband, a big pocket, and some bias strips.  I turned under the edges on the circle twice, folded the waistband in half and sewed it on, sewed on the pocket and hemmed with the bias tape.  Admittedly there was quite a bit of ironing and a little bit of fusible interfacing thrown in there but that's basically the jist of it.

Bias tape on the hem

And should you think that this apron won't ever see any action here's a picture of me making dinner. 

Making dinner in my new apron

We had pizza and it was awesome.

And here I am trying to show you how twirly it is. 

Believe it or not that's the best I could get out of several tries.  Just trust me.  It's twirly.

And that's not the only apron I've made.  Here's a sneak peek of apron #2: a Christmas present for my son who loves to help Mommy in the kitchen.

I promised to make my mom one as well, so there'll be more aprons to come.

variations on a theme

This may look awfully familiar.  

How do I escape before it's too late?

Same animal fabric.  Same blue piping.  

That's a huge rat right in the middle of his back.  It's bigger than the zebra WTF?!

Actually it's new blue piping.  I used every last inch of piping I made for the Luka hoodie whereas I used hardly any on these PJs.  Had I read through the pattern first I would have realized that I only needed a little bit.

Who is that dork in the animal PJs?  Oh wait...

He's checking himself out in the mirror before making dinner.  The mirror that's still leaned against the wall in the hallway even though it's been 3 months since we moved.  Yeah, that mirror. 

My little chef

These are the Goodnight Sweetheart PJs from Sewing for Boys.  The fabric is the same thrifted top sheet I used for the last Sewing for Boys sew a long I participated in, back in August.  Much like my last project, these are essentially elephant pajamas.  I'm starting to feel quite monotonous over here.

  I cut out the 4/5 size (ahem, 3 weeks ago) and it is without a doubt way too big.  If I go through with my dastardly plan of making the family matching PJs for Christmas I'll definitely have to trace the smaller size for him. 

Help me!

Of course this is what most of our photo shoot looked like.  I had to bribe him with an ice cream sandwich just to get him in the PJs.  Please don't repeat that, though.

This is where he wonders if it was worth it

Since I have so much piping left over as well as a bit more fabric I'm hopeful they may someday come together to make a backpack.  Then he can wear his PJs, jacket, and backpack all at the same time and I can die happy.  Wait, shoes.  He'll need shoes to match.

Maybe someday I'll succeed in coaxing him back into these and getting better pictures.  I really wanted to see how they looked, though, and opportunity is not a lengthy visitor so I snapped these awful late night photos.  Who knows, maybe someday I won't have to bribe him to wear them?

elephant pajamas

Honestly there's just nothing like a pair of quick PJ pants to make you feel productive.

The pattern is (of course) from Sewing for Boys.  I used the 2/3 size since that's what I already had traced.  However, since I planned to hem them I added some length.  Waaay too much as you can see.  Oh well.  I could always re hem them but I'm not sure when that's likely to happen.

As you can see he's still wearing them just fine.  If the extra length bugs him I just roll them up.  I got this awesome wild animal print at the thrift for a song and there's enough left for....  ah decisions, decisions.  I could make a matching top, perhaps.

He didn't want to try them on at first but I showed him that they have zoo animals on them and he went for it.  Actually I had to bribe him with a cookie as well, but now he wears them without a fight.  He even picks them out sometimes!

Here's a better shot of the print: giraffes, elephants, fish, whales.  He likes to point to the animals and say what they are.  Which, as far as I'm concerned, makes them the most educational pants I've ever sewn ;-)

And of course, how he got in my pajamas I'll never know!

Glam girl

I took a few different aspects of a couple of different patterns and added some of my own ideas and voila!

A little baby dress with contrast Peter Pan collar and ruffle.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  It might just be the nicest thing I've made to date (in it's own way).  I'm just super impressed with how the ruffle turned out.

How cute are those little feet stickin' out of the bottom?!  Of course we live in Seattle and it is October so I had to make her a little shrug to go with it.  Once again this is a mashup of a couple of patterns combined with my vision.

Why are you doing this to me mommy?

Oh yeah, cuz I'm so frackin' cute!

 

I'm really happy with how the shrug turned out too, so you can probably expect to see another one of these (in pink?) as well as a post of how I did it. 

I should mention that I actually made two of these dresses. The one pictured is in my Etsy shop and the other one is for my baby girl.  The only difference is that her dress has the ruffle and collar the same fabric instead of the contrast.  

They are both reversible though.  I don't know why, since I hardly ever end up using the other side of reversible clothing, but I just love it!  It's like my little secret and it just looks so nice on both sides.

Autumn mitts

I've been having some major project ADD lately.  The result?  Not a whole lot of finished items.  Most of the items I have finished are for my Etsy shop which I'm trying to get up and running (unsuccessfully as of yet, having not sold anything).  It has taught me the value of blogging, though.  It gives me a sense of accomplishment (real or otherwise being an argument I'd prefer not to have).

As the weather turns cold, though, my thoughts can't help but turn to fingerless gloves and hats.  I don't know why but I feel like I can just never have enough.  Plus they're quick enough that I can finish them even in a fit of project ADD.  Or if I go and cast on a bunch of new projects I can come back and finish them without too much confusion.

Here are a couple of pairs I've finished recently (from upcycled stash yarns no less).  I imagine I'll be making at least one pair for myself this year and I might try some out for my mom for Christmas (which is creeping up if you haven't noticed).