Knit news

Something about knitting makes me want to alliterate.
Anyway. I made these wool diaper soaker pants last weekend. I don't
love the fit, so I'm gonna rework the pattern, but I love the IDEA of
them. And they work fine, I just want them to be perfect. And pretty.
So the next ones will be bright turquoise with some fair isle on it.
D wants the Bean to be a green monster for Halloween, but he didn't
like the scary monsters I found online, so I have to figure out how to
make her a goofy green monster. I have lots of green minkee plush
still, so I'm thinking of making a horned- hooded green suit with an
appliqued face on the butt (so she'll be a two-headed monster... I'm
inspired by the purple two-headed muppet on sesame street)

The 7-Day Afghan Book

I just paid $2 for this book at my library booksale (also got A
Treasury of Amish Quilts for a buck!) because I found THIS:

Bag handles...

Who says they have to lay straight and flat?

D's pig-pig shirt

Neither of us could resist this fabric

Look at all the piggies!


I used a print that looks like old stone or brick to do the cuffs and mandarin collar/collar placket.
D loves the story of the three little pigs, so I wanted to make this inspired by, but not literal...
hopefully he'll want to wear it tomorrow, and I'll be able to post pics of him IN it.

this is the same shirt as THIS one, so again, I'm super proud of it.
yay!

D's shark shirt

he asked for it for his birthday... so here it is, only 3 months late!

i did a boatneck with epaulets that button down (he had a giant head and needs lots of space to get his head through.

and contrasting cuffs... his papa is partial to french cuffs, so this is the simple version.

it happens to all of us.

i'm working on a pants pattern for my 11mo girl that is small enough to be like leggings on her crawling legs, but big enough to fit over her giant cloth diapered bum.

so a few nights ago, I made these.

does anything look odd? well, one leg is right side out, and one is inside out.

I, honestly-without-exagerating-at-all, (even though I love exageration), ripped the leg seams 3 (THREE!!!)times, (and it was serged, so it takes a while to rip out!), before giving up and just sewing them wrong.

the problem was that the pants have a VERY definite back-front difference, so I couldn't just fake it and sew them right sides together. And since they ARE just to test the pattern, I decided that I couldn't possibly do it a 4th time.

I'm still not sure what happened, each time I was so sure it would be right.

sigh.

just thought i should post to prove that i'm not infallible... we all need reminders sometimes, right?

Blueberry Mint Lemonade

Recipe!

make mint syrup (following Emeril's recipe here, but using however many mint leaves come in a package at Trader Joes... maybe 1/2 a cup, fluffed up?), and pour into an ice cue tray (although, after 2 days, still not icy, more like a gel... oh well, helps keep it divided and ready to go).

Ingredients

1 mint syrup ice cube (add more to taste, but my husband likes just a little, although the lemonade at Lemonade had enough mint to be mojito-like. super yummy)

1 6oz package of blueberries (or raspberries, equally good!), mashed or blended (and strained, if you want, but i like seeds and skin in my lemonade)

Lemonade! (this works either by adding to store bought concentrated lemonade, or by adding to homemade lemons)

my personal lemonade recipe is completely done by taste.

My gram has a very sweet lemon tree, so i squeeze the lemons (usually about 5), add the same amount of water and

1/2 the amount of sugar (so if i got a cup of juice, i would add 1 c water and 1/2 c sugar), then keep adding sugar and water to taste...

stir and sip, over crushed ice!

* Semi-homemade recipe! I just made it with a can of frozen lemonade concentrate, and 1 generous cup of frozen blueberries, and 3 ice cubes worth of frozen mint syrup, and it's AMAZING (and faster and cheaper)!

good uses for scraps:

making signal flags for trains! i used tacky glue to put this little scrap (about 1x2") on a twig for D and his trains.

Last present for gram...

I just made this rose brooch/pin/thing with the quilt scraps from her
quilt. I'll try to take better pics tomorrow.

my bag prototype

I'm working on making my dream diaper bag...

cool straps, lots of pockets, super roomy...

other side has a zipper pocket with a flap...

i love the super bright lining.

grandma's quilt and flowers

it still trips me out to realize that these gorgeous blooms are made from paper bags. crazy!

I made the prairie points using my 2" Quick Points ruler. very cool

the bean likes it too!

here's the underside, where you still can't really see the cool quilting i did... hmmm

more grandma!

so i made this for D....

and then made this for my grandma (who's about to leave for a month touring the black sea)

and a matching non-flowery one for her boyfriend...

cool cards

my new favorite card method!

free motion stitched!

I lightly pencil the line to write on so i'm roughly straight, but then free-motion the actual phrase...

i like leaving the thread...

here's the view from the inside of the card

my view

I walked the kids to the library yesterday after noon... this is the view from the library driveway... it's not super fashionable to have a harbor view (as opposed to an ocean view), but i really love the colors and the lights and the movement...

!!!

So proud of myself!
I used 2 of my birthday books tonight to make a pattern an then make
this sample shirt. I just used scrap fabric, to test it, but I think d
will like it anyway. Or maybe I'll add sparkle and give it to agirl
for a bday present.
I was thinking of putting snaps on the collar&placket, but I only have
white. So maybe I'll put on some plain brown buttons? I feel like the
buttons will determine how masculine/feminine the shirt is.
My goal here is to make something boyish but cute, not boring, but not
too hard, that a 3yo can put on fairly easily... I think I might have
accomplished it!

Birthday bouquet!

Aren't they so pretty! 11 paper bag roses, made from 6 paper bags (I
have leftover painted bags, can probably make 6 more, but not tonight,
it's late, and I've burned too many fingers on my glue gun!). I
followed the pattern in "Fanciful Paper Flowers" which I borrowed from
the library. I also used the rose petal patterns to make the cloth
rose on my grandma's travel pillow, and will make one or two more
fabric roses to put on her quilt.
I haven't finished binding the quilt, so she won't get that at her
party tomorrow, but hopefully by her birthday on Thursday. She's gonna
be 85, and still going way strong!
Her name is Rosemary, and her boyfriend calls her Rosie, hence all the
roses.

Petals!

Shaped, curled, and ready for assembly!

So many petals!

Making a birthday bouquet for my grandma... Lots of petals!

D's travel pillow!

I got the directions from here, and knew immediately that I needed to make one for D.

he chose the wonky owl to be the animal on it, which I made for him several months ago from an old sweater and some scrap fabric. Luckily I had green minkee left over from making pillow cases (way back before D was born!), so we decided the owl is hiding in some green leaves.

now I need to decide what to put on one for the Bean...

C was crafty too!

Instead of paying $250 for this train, C and D made their own! (and D got people to put in his! and even with ordering the people and wheels and axels, and buying hook&eye fastners at Home Depot, we only spent about $20, with leftover wheels to make MORE cars!)

there are plans to make several different cargo cars, freight cars, box cars, cattle cars, etc...

Bon voyage, Grandma!

after the success (ie, ease!) of making D's travel pillow, I decided to make a pair for my Grandma and her boyfriend. They're leaving next week for a month-long trip to the Black Sea...

So her boyfriend just gets a plain (but SOFT) green pillow, (I figure at the ripe old age of eight-something, maybe a stuffed animal on your pillow is a little odd?), but Grandma gets a pretty coral-y rose, made from fabric, so it's still soft...

I have to admit, though, that I'm pretty sure they already HAVE travel pillows, these were just so EASY that I couldn't resist!

D's new travel pillow!

I'll post a link to the blog where I found directions later

Blanket stitch appliqué

Love my bernina 730!

Sneak peak!

D's lunch bag! He's starting preschool this week, and clearly needs a
super cool lunch bag (I'm making matching snack bags).
Have to finish the quilt before I start sewing this.

Birthday surprise!

I've been working on this quilt for a month(among other things)...
Almost done!!!

Happy Labor Day!

I made these paper flowers! It's my new craft crush! I ordered crepe
paper online so I can make some roses too. Next up: fabric flowers!
I've been busy sewing, just not photographing. I'll have to post a lot
over the next week to catch up!
If in SoCal, watch KOCE on Sunday night at 8 to see my husband's
documentary!