Japanese Garden

... And another quilt finally gets finished. It's been sitting in my UFO pile whistling sweetly that all I needed to do was quilt a corner and the border. Then I herniated a disk in my neck mid-summer and not much got done for about 2 months. (Well, except sewing circle skirts; you can't keep a girl down totally!) then mom bought the genius sewing machine and I wrestled my way through the corner hand quilting and machine did the border. I love it, I am in love, and I have 3 more quilts ready to finish with that puppy!

Circle around

My new fave: circle skirts. Add half of one to make an apron and pockets. Super girl already has an order in for hers.

Burlington Industries, 1971

My favorite purse is um, 12 years old and a Gap $5 special. I'm pretty sure I got my money's worth. I haven't used it constantly but it's been a good one to fall back on when I needed a change.

The poor lining has been patched many times and when the patches were the only thing holding it together I wasn't sure what to do. It's the perfect everything (corduroy patchwork) and there is nothing like that in style right now.

Lucky thing I've been in an extreme-save $-thrift shop kick because it dawned on me: just replace the lining; that's all that is wearing out. Get a great funky cotton pattern.

Went fabric diving at mom's and found 2 absolutely fabulous retro prints. Only thing with the retro part, they are actually from the early 70s. The selvage on the main one said 1971.

Awesome.

Rag time

My "little" brother is about to graduate college and this is what I had to give him.  It's all his t-shirts from his "early years."  He couldn't believe it and loves it.

This is the way I recommend to do rag quilts.  All you need is the top (10 or more inches square) and the back (fleece; eliminates the need for any batting), sew it together with the seam on the right side (NOT wrong side) with a seam allowance of 0.5 inches, sew 0.5 inches (or more if you want) around the border to hold it all in, and snip the seams to make them fluffy (careful not to snip the sewn line).  No kidding, that's it.  You pop it in the washer to get everything curled around the edges and throw it on the bed.  Crazy, huh?  So's little bro so it all works perfectly!  :)

Aspen is lovely this time of year

My afternoon extra daughter has been busy when we aren't doing homework.  The first picture is her own creation: a sock dog.  She has since made another so this one could have a friend.  The second picture is our Christmas present to her: her own quilt, done rag quilt style.  Highly recommend this technique for the speed of completion but do not recommend doing the squares this small, unless you just really want to.  She was worth it and it turned out so lovely.  However, I don't think I'll be doing squares that small again; just the snipping of the seams gave my fingers nerve damage and they still tingle a little from time to time.  She was worth it all, though!  She's a sweetheart!

Now finally...

My socks!

The Schlep backpack!

I finally got the pictures taken.  I finally got two more projects out of the "To Do" stage and they are now "Done."  Rah rah ree, kick them in the knee!

Socks are out of the yummy yarn I got when LMSS's little one was on the way and the backpack was my tutoring child's inspiration and request.  I carry a bag in that pattern but it has regular bag straps.  She asked if it could be made into a backpack and that's all she wrote!  She picked out the fabrics from my slowly shrinking stash (HAPPY DAY!!!) and here it is!

Something old, something new

Life has settled into a high paced, but at least consistent, schedule.  I am at Mom's helping her rehab her knee, cook for the FabFam, and clean house while potty-training Little Guy.  (That's going great by the way; only a few minor accidents when he gets tired in the evening or too busy playing to go.  No sweat because I had kids that still did that in Kindergarten and 1st grade.  I totally got this!)  We are borrowing Mom's car to keep it active;  she can't drive anyway so I'm her chauffeur.  HaHa! City @ the Port, look out!  Hubby has our car and we aren't having to dash about getting everyone everywhere so that has been a nice change.  The Bee (who is also SuperGirl, that name just fits her better now) is almost finished with school so that's one less errand to do.  Also having her around more to play will be a nice change for both Little Guy and me.  We've missed her during the day.

While cleaning and passing the time at Mom's I have been knitting away at a s-i-l's birthday present.  It's a wrap and a lovely one at that.  I don't care to knit wraps (or scarves for that matter) because they are hideously boring to me so this has been a special labor of love, especially since she wanted black.  Why, do you ask?  Um, you can't see it.  At all.  Like the yarn totally disappears except under bright lights.  And this is a wrap with cables which kinda ups the excitement factor a bit when there is a mistake, which I tend to do because I'm usually knitting this while watching some movie or show ("Fantastic Mr. Fox" was truly fantastic but I had to rip half a row out because I forgot to cable) that I find more exciting.  At the moment it's Sgt. Cribb and I've managed to avoid disaster so far (knock on wood).  

I'm nearly halfway through it and I highly recommend the pattern if you like, or don't like!, knitting wraps/scarves.  The gauge is large enough you can see a quick growth but not so big it's a bulky piece.  The cable row is easy and happens every fifth row so just when you get stuck establishing a k-p switch pattern there's the cable to make it pretty and change it up.  Pics and a link (if I can find it) to the pattern/pattern name will be posted once it's gifted.

While making myself knit on this I've been cleaning out things at Mom's like closets and drawers.  I'm boxing up things for Snakeman (congrats on your latest addition!) and trying to work through all that's still here that's accumulated through the last 30+ years.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.   This has earned me weekly trips to Goodwill and a local used book store and some rare gems of finds, some I get excited about, some not so excited.  I won't go into details on the latter.  :)  In the fabric boxes I found some pajamas that I had cut out to sew back in '99 and a little doll dress that I wasn't sure who made it but all it needed was a hem and snaps to finish.  I took them home and am proud to say they are finished.  I wore the pajamas last night and the Bee now has another not-naked doll (4 down, too many to go).  I couldn't imagine why I never sewed up those pajamas and had wondered where the fabric pieces had gone for years.  While sewing it up and trying to figure out what needed to go where (the pattern itself I'm sure was donated years ago) I realized why I had discarded it.  I had gotten too industrious on sewing shirttail hems and had hemmed the sleeves too soon which meant they would take some extra figuring to fit them on the shirt.  I apparently didn't feel like doing the figuring or ripping the hems out (knitting I don't mind so much but sewing I HATE ripping) so I dropped it like it was hot and went on my merry way.  11 years later it took me maybe 3 minutes to figure out the difference, make it look right, and sew that puppy up in under an hour.  I make myself laugh.

Curtains!!

Aren't they darling!  They came to me while shopping for pillow stuffing and I had strolled by the quilting fabrics only to take a peek, not to buy, about 4 months ago.  They've been living in my closet through all the project/financial reckoning/upheaval like an illegitimate child that was fun to get but I gotta tell the Hubby some day, who cares that he had known I had bought the fabric when I did and didn't care; I still felt guilty spending money on fabric that wasn't direly necessary even though I couldn't stand the curtains that were hanging there.  What had been there were blue broadcloth gathered-at-the-top, shirttail-hemmed-at-the-bottom-sewn-only-to-get-windows-covered-but-never-no-never-were-going-to-hang-for-nearly-4-years-because-I-would-get-around-to-making-decent-ones-before-that-long.  They were made too long (accidentally), were too blue for the kitchen (honest mistake, I love blue), and just, well, needed to go.  These are perfect, bright and sunny, have green at the top with a blue accent at the bottom and ties, and were actually measured to correctly fit the windows.  I'm such a better seamstress now than I was 4 years ago.  Maybe that's why I didn't get around to sewing them until now.

Some presents revealed

Here is a showcase of the dishcloths I knitted, plus a purse. Apparently I didn't get a picture of the Ravenclaw hat and scarf but that was for a friend of ours to give to someone. Oh well.

Dear Deadline,

I see you there and I'm working on it. You're being very patient and I thank you. I don't wish you to go away because you are serving a purpose: you are reminding me that there is something I need to be doing even though the housework piles up. It's nice to have this to do. It makes me sit down, watch movies, and relax. However, I have a hard time relaxing when I realize that there is only TWO AND A HALF WEEKS LEFT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

I would say "Never again will I decide to knit/sew something for half the family in the name of frugality (is that a word?) when I really just wanted an excuse to make everyone something" except I'm pretty sure I'll eat those words next year, just like I'm eating the words "6 pairs of socks in a month? Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezey."

Everything is beautiful in it's own way

I love it when projects suddenly are finished a day early. I love it when that allows other projects that have been hanging around like stinky cheese monkeys to be suddenly finished. I love it when all the projects suddenly make the house more organized and clean, whether that is by providing a spot for things to go or by finding a way to my car to be taken to their true homes. I just love it. That stack of books overwhelming the poor little book shelf holding them to the right in the previous picture? Gone. The books are now organized in a large, oak bookshelf, stained by yours truly and Hunky Hubby. It is finished and standing tall and lovely. There is an even taller one in the front room for all the socially acceptable books and hardbacks but it needs to finish fully drying for another 24 hours. The kids' books are organized and separated in their rooms. They now have the smaller particle board bookshelves, i.e. shelves I'm not going to have a heart attack about when I found them markered and covered in stickers.

The separating of all the kids' books was interesting. I didn't realize how much I collected through the years and found lots of the old favorites from when I was a kids. (Note to siblings: if there is a book you want from when we were growing up, I probably have it. Let me know if you want it.) Most of the books had not been moved from the crates they were squatting in and I found lots of dust bunnies and a missing puzzle piece in the process of cleaning them out. Now everything looks like it belongs and it's BEAUTIFUL!

Just like the quilt, beautiful. Even Little Guy comments on the quilt every time he comes in our bedroom; he pats it and says, "Hm! Mommy's quilt!"

Now for Christmas presents to start on and finish. And a few baby presents. Oh, and another lap quilt. Oh yeah, I need to get my modern sewing machine back from the shop so I can fill bobbins for the antique sewing machine and use it. And that would enable me to finish the mending for that friend of mine...

Yep, still have more to do. But no more stinky cheese monkeys. These projects are sweet, cuddly monkeys I like having for company.

All apologies...

Since I'm not sitting at a computer for endless hours I'm sorry to say that this blog has fallen on my list of priorities. However, other things haven't. Knitting is still happening (way too many project bags!) but isn't this other lovely?

The big quilt with the black, red, etc. is our new bedspread. Or it will be once I finish quilting it. It is now squatting on a quilt frame in our living room being used as a tent by the little ones. I love it all.

The purple is a throw that is a Christmas present for a niece, along with the purple purse that is for her birthday. They sort of go together but not really.

The purse I sewed up on a whim when I got mad trying to sew a knit dress for me (I don't think sewing clothes is my thing) from a quarter contest free pattern thing on www.allpeoplequilt.com
Love the vintage-style corduroy.

Where the quilting has come from, I don't know. I'm enjoying every minute of it.