Graduation towels

This past June my oldest graduated from High School.  (How is this possible?) Since he had lots of friends who were also graduating, go figure?, I had quite a few graduation gifts to come up with.  (Because I wasn't busy enough) I decided to dive head first into whipping up some decorative towels for a few of the girls.

I purchased plain white towels from TJMaxx and this beautiful paisley print from Free Spirit Fabrics.

This is  Patient Paisley in Aqua by April Cornell for those of you who wondered.

I followed the pattern I had from Amy Buttler's book In Stitches.  I ended up adapting the pattern just slightly.  The towels I had purchased had a thick band of white on white stitching (see above picture) that wasn't completely covered with the measurements used in the pattern.  I extended the length just enough to make the paisley print the focal point.

I made 4 sets, a hand towel and a bath towel for each girl.  Overall it was a quick and satisfying project which the Girls LOVED.

Poncho for me (almost)

I finished up my crocheted poncho!  I have been wanting to make myself a poncho for a while, 4-5 years?  With all of the things going on around here plus, my 1 year hiatus from yarn work and the lack of a pattern well it just didn't happen.

I stumbled upon this Lion Brand Pattern for this Laced Edge Poncho (maybe in an email) and armed with my wicked new crocheting skills I got to work.  The pattern calls for multiple colors of Vanna's Choice . The yarn is a cotton blend I had in my stash.  I found at Tuesday Morning so long ago I don't remember what city I was in.

I crocheted along for weeks here and there and then this happened. Perhaps it is a scenario you are familiar with, or perhaps not,  but it goes a little like this....

You are happily knitting or crocheting an item and your child/pre-teen/teen, who normally takes no notice in your craft becomes interested.  Not just interested but Super-Duper excited.  She/he doesn't casually ask about it, doesn't quietly become interested but with sudden and intense enthusiasm Loves It.  They ask to try it on.  They cuddle it.  They even ask the dreaded, "Who is this for?"  and without waiting for an answer they ask, "Are you making it for me?"  And then you are lost.  Doubt may creep into your mind and you think, "No, this is MINE."  But then the final nail is driven into the casket.  "It is like a warm Hug from you when ever I wear it."  This project that was once destine for your closet now has a new owner.  You cannot in anyway, shape or form deny this child the happiness this project has brought to them.  After all you can always make your own.  

  TA-Da.  a new poncho for me or Emma. 

Maybe we will share.:)

Hooked

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend I was able to finish up the George's Vest for my Nephew.  You may remember this post where I shared the vest, and the demise of the vest. Well once I cast on the correct number of stitches I was able to whip up this cute vest in only a couple of appointments.  (Anyone else measure the difficulty of their projects based on the number of appointments it takes them to get through?  Or is it just me? )

Like I was saying, I finished the vest except for one thing, the crocheted edging around the neck.  I have crocheted once or twice in my life without much success.  I can't seem to figure out what to do with the working yarn, and hold the piece I am working on. When I knit I hold the yarn with my right hand.  When I crochet I hold the yarn with my Left.  This simple change is so complicated!  My left hand just does not want to cooperate.

My mother has crocheted for years.  She has taught me multiple time to crochet with relatively little success.  Over Thanksgiving weekend she came down and we worked on crocheting once again.  This time I think I am Hooked.  To date I have crochet this cute little bow-tie and 3 washcloths.

With luck this time it will stick.

Knitting again

Last weekend we spent driving back and forth to Charleston.  The kids had a Band Competition and a soccer game, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  It was our intention to hang out in Charleston for the weekend but Homecoming Dance on Saturday night we had to swing back.  It's not a long drive only about 2 hours but driving four times was a little much.  This did ensure that I had time enough to knit not only while sitting in the car but while watching all of the events take place over the weekend.  I finished up this cute little tunic. As I mentioned before it is pattern from Elena Nodel which you can find here.  I plan to make the larger tunic in a scarlet and grey color way for a niece in Ohio..  go Bucks!

I had time this week to run (limp.) out and pick up some cute leggings and a long sleeve top to wear with it.  It turned out so cute.  I only hope it fits, if only for a little while. :)

George's Vest by Chrystal Erb Junkins
(How Cute is He?)

After spraining my ankle, I started on a matching sweater vest for her brother using the grey yarn.  (Amazing how much knitting you can get accomplished when you are forced to sit and elevate your leg multiple times a day.) George's Vest by Chrystal Erb Junkins is the pattern I am using.  You can find it here on Ravelry. I plan on making the vest grey and (possibly) crocheting a matching bow tie with the variegated yarn.  There are so many cute crochet bow tie patterns!

Today I am off to watch the final Band performance of the year... State Finals! Of course I will have my knitting to keep me company.
Knit on!

Sewing Tools--{Pins}

Imagine that you are planning a romantic picnic. (Okay, first imagine you have no children, then imagine the picnic. :) You have packed your picnic basket full of goodies.  Gotten together a blanket, some wine and a nice relaxing playlist for your MP3.  Everything you will need for a beautiful picnic together in the park.  You arrive at the picnic location the sky is a beautiful shade of pale blue, the sun is bright and warm, the perfect day for a picnic.  As you unpack and set up your amazing spread, you complement yourself on your fantastic job, you really are quite the culinary genius. You suddenly realize you have no utensils. What do you do?  Use your hand?  Improvise with sticks? Run down to 7/11 and pick up some plastic wear.

Tools are something we take for granted until suddenly we need them.  What then?  The same can be said for having a tool and then getting a "new and improved" version.  How did we ever survive without the rotary cutter?   Use scissors! Well, last week I ran into just such a circumstance, minus the romantic picnic.

I have lots of quilting supplies.  I have tons of rulers, needles, scissors, measuring tapes and pins.  Pins!  I go through them like mad.  I sew with them in my fabric.  I know that is supposed to be dangerous, bad for your machine and all.  It is how I learned to sew.  Since I started sewing with garments, I pin.  And pin and pin.

When we moved here from El Paso, TX I thought I had brought with me all of the quilting tools I needed, the rest I put in storage. (silly me.)  What I found I needed more of was pins.  Who knows where they all go?  Kind oflike socks that way.  I purchased pins at the local Wal-mart and have been using the same batch ever since.  Several years ago I was at Tuesday Morning when I found a box of glass headed pins.  There were 200 of them that came in a cute little tin for 3$.  I brought them home and set them aside for when I should need them.  And promptly forgot about them.

In my spring cleaning, fabric organizing, re-arranging mood I stumbled upon them last week and decided to open the box.  My pins were getting low and I had a few crooked pins that needed tossed.  I usually throw the bent ones out immediately, but somehow I always manage to find one more bent pin in my pin cushion.

I was working on the Simply Woven quilt pattern, which requires pinning to keep the rows and columns in alignment. I reached for a pin and picked up one of the 'new' pins I had just pulled out.  The first thing I noticed was how much smaller the pin was than the older pins.  Not the length, but the width or diameter.  As I slid the pin into the fabric I noticed that these pins were much sharper than the ones I had been using.  WoW! What a difference.  I imagine that pins like needles come in sharps and ball points.  I have no clue what the original pins were classified as but now they are definitely 'dulls'.  I suppose, like needles pins also loose their sharp point.  This is something I have never considered before.  As quilters, sewers or crafters how often do you need to replace your pins?  Ever?  Do pins go Bad? Sounds like a bad reality series,.."When good pins go bad!"

The new pins also stayed put when I used them.  With the older pins I often have pins that will slide out of one or both sides, scattering themselves randomly all over the sewing room.  Is this a sign that the pins need replaced? or that the wrong pin is being used?  I don't know but I believe as another tool in my proverbial tool belt, I need to be doing an investigation.

Coloring outside the lines.

I quilted this for a friend last weekend.  She designed and embroidered this quilt for a charity at the school where her children attend.  I really love the bright colored pencils and the rainbow border makes it cheery and bright.  When I saw this quilt I knew exactly what I wanted to do!  Quite a contrast to Aunt Tony's quilt which I fretted over for weeks.

For this quilt I quilted a basic swirl (my new go to pattern) around the border.  The inner black sashing is a meander.  I didn't want the background pattern to take away from the bright and playful look of the quilt so I left it simple.  To the Pencils I added straight lines in a vertical and horizontal fashion to give them the feel of the real thing.  They turned out "less" real looking to me after this addition.  Funny how sometimes what you see in 'real' life doesn't translate in art.  I will have to look for an alternative quilting method with the next pencil quilt I get.

My favorite part of the quilt was the rainbow border! I wanted to do something to highlight the border.  I chose letters and numbers and free hand quilted them inside each colored block.  I think the letters add an additional spark that screams elementary school.  But maybe that's just me.

Knit-a-little

I have been playing with yarn these days.  I took a break from knitting for almost a year.  Then as long car trips for holidays took more of role in my crafting, I needed a more portable form of crafting.  Not that I didn't try to convince my husband that it was absolutely necessary that my sewing machine needed to travel with us. Heehee. :)

 I shared with you 2 projects already, the knit and felted stocking and the Sven Sweater.  Since the weather has gotten chillier I thought a hat would be a great thing to knit up, but then. I ran across the Calorimetry pattern on Knitty and well the rest as they say is history.  I knit up, not one but two of these great little headband/hats and are they ever cute!  The first I knit up in Cascade 220 heather gray.  It was a little plain.

When I started the second I needed a brighter cheerier yarn.  I started the second with Lion Brand Amazing in the Aurora color way.  I have to say this is my favorite.  I love the bright colors.  I even knit up a little rosette for the side using this tutorial, from Nicky Epstein.  Let me tell you, it makes the project!  Even my 12 year-old daughter wants to wear it.  Now that's a complement!

The pattern calls for a button to join the ends. The ends could just as easily be joined permanently with yarn.

 I had these cute buttons sitting in my button jar just begging to be used.  What a perfect finish.

A bad case of the BAH-HUM-BUG!

Those of you who know me, know that most of the time I am an up-beat, energetic person.  I thrive on creativity.  I am a boundless bundle of creative ideas.  A bevy of crafty projects happen here on a daily basis.  Now, I am no Martha Stewart, although if you ask some of my sisters they will disagree, but I hold my own.

I am not sure what happened but somehow I caught a Bug.  The Bah-Hum-Bug.  We took a wonderful vacation with friends up into the Smokey Mountains over Thanksgiving.  There was lots of food, fun, and most importantly crafting.  We sat by the fire many evenings while the kids entertained themselves.  We would talk and  knit or crochet or quilt all evening.  It was bliss.  However, I returned with a serious case of Blah.

I didn't feel like doing anything.  I didn't want to decorate for Christmas (something I normally love to do).  BAH! I didn't want shop for Christmas or get ready for Christmas in any way.  HUM! And most alarming, I didn't want to sew, or knit or anything. BUG!

She's Back!

It wasn't until my Long-arm returned last Tuesday that I started to surface out from under my Scrooge like demeanor.  I started quilting on Thursday and my mood started to lift.  I am feeling better now.  Although I am still not quite my chipper self.  A few more quilts might just be the medicine I need!  Here is a peak of the quilt I just finished up for a client.

A few swirls.  A couple of Loops. And Bye-gosh. Bye Golly, how could anyone say Bah-hum-bug.

Hush up

I am not sure that I shared this story.  In fact I am sure I didn't.  It was unsettling to say the least.
About 1-2 months ago, not exactly sure of the time, my Rowenta Iron caught fire.  No worries. There was no damage.  That there could have been was troublesome.  As quilters we rely on our Irons, almost daily.  The reality is I do not Iron my clothing nearly as much as I iron the fabric I sew.

 I was up in my quilting space ironing several large pieces of backing as well as a quilt top.  As I ironed each piece I would then drape it over my quilting table in preparation for loading the quilt.

 Now this particular iron had it's peculiarities, as do many electronic devices I own.  It often would release steam at random. Usually while it sat waiting for me to pick it up to iron the next piece.  I assumed that this was a method the iron used to cool it's self when it started to get to hot.  Perhaps it is, I still do not know.  What I do know is that this particular day when the iron started to make popping noises and smoke started to stream out of the iron I thought it was cooling.  It wasn't until I started to smell burning plastic and the smoke alarm went off that I realized, "This is not steam."

I immediately unplugged the iron. As I sat I watched the smoke continue to wisp out of the iron.  I started to wonder if perhaps leaving it on the ironing board, which happened to be sitting next to my antique dresser wasn't just a really bad idea.  I checked the handle and it was cool.  I gently carried the iron out and set it in the driveway.  There it sat for 15-20 minutes and smoked.  For a good 15 minutes a steady tendril of smokes twisted its way out from between the metal plate and the plastic body. It was truly amazing.  Here the iron was UNPLUGGED and it was still burning.

I thought it best to contact Rowenta and see if this particular model had had any recent recalls or safety warnings. The woman I got was remarkably calm, almost bored, as I explained how my home could have just caught fire.  The first words out of her mouth were not, "Oh, I am sorry." or "I hope no one was injured."  Her first words were, "How much property was damaged?"

What?

Now, I realize when you are working for customer service you could get a little callous towards life or death situations.  But, Really?  I explained to her that there was no damage and that I was calling to make sure this situation would not happen to another individual.  Another individual who may not have the same 'luck' that I had.  Again she gave me a bored response as she explained that the model I have did not have any recalls or safety issues.  She was also quick to inform me that my warranty was expired and that they could not issue me a new iron.  Again, Really?  I offered to send her the iron in the hope that if there was an electrical issue that, again people could be warned. Finally I got a little 'carring' out of her but it was brief.  Her next statement explained that if the technicians found and issue I would not necessarily be issued a new iron.  Again, I NEVER asked for one!

She took my information down and insured me I would get a copy of the technical evaluation.  Nope.  Now I could still get one, but I am not holding my breath. Here is the model # DZ 1500 if you would like to check yours.

What I got was a brand-new-iron.  Yesterday, much to my surprise, a brand-spankin'-new iron was delivered to my house.  No report, explanation, not even any paperwork in the box.  Just and iron.   I feel a bit like I am being bought off.  Okay, I feel a lot like it!  Hush money. A bribe. I don't know.  All I do know is that I feel a little guilty and a lot dirty.  I haven't even taken it out of the box yet.

Creating of a different sort.

This past week, you may have noticed I was a bit absent from blogland. With the loss of my Long-arm machine I inadvertently freed up time for 'other' types of projects.  Namely, tiling my kitchen backsplash.  This is a project that I have wanted to do since we moved into this house 4 years ago. After a week of bringing home tile sample after tile sample, I decided on a travertine and glass tile combination.  The dark granite countertop and the light cream cabinets made tile choices difficult but I think I made the right choice.

It took me about a week to tile the entire kitchen backsplash.  From what I've read, I need to seal the travertine before we grout to ensure that the cleanup goes smoothly.  The travertine is quite porous and without a sealant the grout would likely adhere to every inch. Since there has been no word on my long-arm machine I am left with ample time on my hands to create beauty of an entirely different sort.

A Bean Bag...Baby

The Little Boy Blue {Toddler Bean Bag} from Vanessa Goertzen of lellaboutique.com is on it's way to a special little one.  I finished it up towards the end of last week.  It is so cute.  I mean it!  SO CUTE! 

It has been tested and approved by all of my, not so, little ones.  If I could have only snapped a shot of my 16 y.o. trying to sit in it!  

The pattern went together so quick!  The worst part was those darn beans!  They get everywhere, and FAST.  Emma and I resorted to stabbing them with pins to try to keep those pesky little static cling beans from rolling everywhere.  We had all these little shish-kabobed beans stabbed into the carpet all over the sewing room.  It was quite funny.  Kinda had to be there.    The pattern calls for a separate interior bag to hold all of those little beans.  That way the exterior can be washed and rewashed.

Now I still have 1/2 a bag of beans left.  Guess I'll have to sew up another.  darn.

He loves me? He loves me, not?

It's official, He loves me!  Yep, it only took nearly 30 years but he has proven himself.  This weekend my husband bought me sewing/quilting supplies (and they are things I can actually use.) All by himself.

This summer my DH has caught the garage sale bug.  He spends several Saturday mornings a year driving around looking for "things,"  tools mostly, or occasionally yard equipment.  This Saturday I was the beneficiary of his garage sale finds.

Here is a little of what he brought me.

An Extra Jumbo cutting mat, mini quilting iron, pinking shears,

A tracing kit and THE BUTTONEER 2 (not to be confused with the original Buttoneer)

Not one but two pairs of "New" electric scissors.  Cuts everything, (says so right on the box)

S-P-A-C-E  T-A-P-E

I have no idea on this one.

And the entire contents of this cabinet.  Which includes but is not limited to pins, needles, hooks and eyes, zippers, a hot glue gun with glue sticks, a chisel, 5 measuring tapes and much, much more!  All this for $15.  Yep, he loves me.

"Cozy" Little Projects

Over the past several weeks I have gotten the most wonderful packages in the mail!! Once a week I open my mailbox to find a coffee cozy has been embroidered and delivered to my mailbox. It is totally cool how they keep showing up.

 Those of you who know me may be aware that I have a little bit of a coffee thing.  I'll admit I love the stuff.  And truly, I couldn't get through the day without at least 3 cups of the stuff.  Okay 4 cups.  In the past I have been as high as 2 pots a day, but I've cut WAY back and only make one pot these days.  Still it isn't often that I pass by an opportunity to head to starbucks.

With my last cozy I also got these.. Patterns!  Knit patterns, sewn patterns and even crochet patterns (not that I crochet much, but I could, and with coffee as an incentive.  Who knows?) Who knew there were so many of these floating around in cyberland! These are certainly headed to the top of my teacher gift list and quite possibly to the top of my 'to-do' list.

The plan, the project and the puppy

I have a drooler.  She is part boxer part shar-pei.  We love her to death but she makes the biggest mess when she takes a drink. I have tried place-mats, dogie water absorbent food mats and finally resorted to rags.  Now rags work the best, they can be washed daily or as needed but they look, well.. bad.  No one really wants to walk into my kitchen and gaze at my husbands dirty, old t-shirt lying under the dogie bowls, no matter how functional they may be. Couple that with the fact that the dogie water absorbent mats while functional, cannot be changed out daily at $10-$40 a piece no matter how much I love my puppy.

 Thus the plan...design and sew up. A functional, yet cute, water absorbent food mat.  I sketched out a couple of ideas and this is what I came up with..

The Puppy Food Mat

Materials:
32- 2.5 in x 2.5 in scrap squares.
2  strips of fabric 2.5 in by 16 inch
2 strips of fabric 4.5 in by 13 inch
an old terry cloth towel or piece of terry cloth 15 in x 26 in
3 length of fabric strips 2.5 inches wide for binding.

Arrange your 32-- 2.5 in X 2.5 in squares in a configuration as shown below:

Sew together and press seams open. Pressing seams open makes it easier to quilt. Sew 2.5 in X 16 in fabric along long side of patchwork. press seams.  Sew 4.5in X 13 in pieces along short side of patchwork.  press seams.

Next pin quilt top to slightly larger piece of terry cloth or towel.  I used pins to baste the 2 pieces together.

Quilt as desired, using walking foot attachment. I quilted along the seams of the patchwork.

Trim patchwork quilt to shape desired.  The first quilt I trimmed into an oval using the side of a pizza pan as my guide for rounding the corners.  The second quilt I trimmed to look like a dog bone.  (more on that later).  Once you have the shape you want bind as you would any quilt.  I used cross grain strips for my binding and in hindsight I think bias binding would have been easier to use.  Then again it is for a dog.  

Isn't she patient. 

Now you have a mat, used up some scraps, re-purposed an old towel and when your mat gets wet or dirty you can just throw it in the wash!  How cool is that.  I think a few of these would make great gifts for a friend who just got a new puppy. just sayin'