Cold weather, warm quilts

So, what do you do when you get a sewing machine for Christmas? You go out and promptly begin hoarding fabric, of course! This is the year I build my quilting skills, after all. I have an idea all planned out in my head for these cute prints:

this is also the inspriration for the blog redesign

This is roughly $12 of fabric from the big box store, and I think it's really cute, honestly. I am already worried that I will finish the top and then freak out about quilting it perfectly, thus stalling the project.

But it's 2009, and I'm not! doing! that! This is a practice quilt, after all. It's going on the couch to get gnawed on by dogs and puked on by the rugrat. Good enough will be good enough.

Although maybe I will back it in chenille. We love fuzzy things at my house.

New Year's Plans

I'm not calling them resolutions. I'm not. They're more like... goals. Things I'm hoping for. Things that I will try to do. With resolutions I feel there is a predestined failure waiting to realize itself. Maybe if I don't call them resolutions, they won't act like resolutions. It feels a little like trying too look at something in my peripheral vision, and I'm scared that if I turn my head, it'll disappear.

That's a little depressing. Perhaps what I mean to say is that if I try too hard to schedule my life, the fun goes out of the task, and nothing gets done. I want to have fun, and what follows are things I hope I'm doing when the fun happens.



Anyway, here we go, in no particular order:

• Sew more: I got a sewing machine for Christmas, so I am hoping to make some strides in my abilities. I want to make a couple of little quilts before I conquer the spaceman quilt- I bought those materials before Viv was born! Free motion quilting is on the list for 2009.


• Knit things I will actually use: Let's face it: I am a process knitter. It took me a long time to realize that, but now that I know, I need to tailor my projects to reflect that. No more knitting non-superwash socks (ack!), no more sweaters I won't wear and felted bags I won't use. I like lace, I like cardigans, and I like fancy schmancy knee socks. These are the things I will make... oh, and baby stuff, if it's fast and I think it will last. I want to try Socks that Rock this year, and I want to make one or two orders to handpaintedyarn.com or 100purewool.com.


• Stop kidding myself about gardening: I can't do it. I am bad at it. If Dan wants to try, fine. But no more planting tomato plants that I water all season to not get a single freakin' tomato (seriously! bad! at! gardening!).


• Redecorate the house on a budget: I need to paint, which my lovely landlord covers, but beyond that, I need to fix my house. I have been inspired, but I can't afford the sticker price on some of the things I love (mid-century furniture, bold graphic stuff, etc.). Watch the blog for some revealing photographs about my space as it transforms from crappy to ...less so. Fortunately, IKEA and Target hear me loud and clear... but I am conflicted about buying too much stuff from big-box stores. It reminds me too much of the narrator's apartment in Fight Club.
  
• and the big one: Start my photography business! This is going to take time. I am already booking some small weddings for the summer, so if you are looking for an affordable and friendly photographer who is super crafty and appreciates DIY weddings, I'm your girl. And I am willing to travel outside Michigan! I hope to have a nifty new blogsite up and running in the next week or so, and I'm heading to WPPI in Vegas in February (with big ups to my husband for watching the baby for, like, five days while I'm gone).

FO (just about!): Nursery

Well, here it is. I'm a little disappointed in the photos. It's been so stormy and gray in Michigan this last week, but I wanted to get something posted before what I assume will be radio blackout starting on Friday. :P My parents want to know what I want for my birthday (last week!), and I think a better wide-angle camera lens just shot to the top of the list.

Dan painted the walls, and I did the sewing and crocheting. The crib is vintage (it was mine, when I was a baby), and the art on the walls I put together from things from the Martha Stewart aisle at Michaels. We were aiming for a gender-neutral theme based loosely on Katamari Damacy, one of our favorite video games. We had a limited budget- I'd estimate that I spent about $60 on fabric, $15 on craft supplies, and $60 on furniture (the rocker and the changing table)- the rest we already had and repurposed or were given.

The crib bumpers and the quilt are in the bed (now with a mattress!), ready to take over for mommy as the baby house (although it's going to be a long, long summer before anyone in this house needs a quilt!).

The house next door has really reflective siding on it, so even though it's a northern exposure, there is a lot of light thrown on the crib. I made these curtains from scraps from the bumper project and some broadcloth to match the green wall. Now it's really dark in there with the curtains closed! I'm a little shocked that they match as well as they do- I was winging it, and I have been fighting the sewing machine all week (more on that later, though).

This is what happens when your budget is exhausted (and small to begin with). These are alphabet cards scored on clearance at Michaels (that Martha Stewart craft aisle is killer), strung on black satin ribbon.

My sister and I made these. Dan wanted a Katamari-themed room, and this is where it came out in a more literal sense. They're printed on glossy paper, mounted with puffy tape (you know, the 3D stuff) on scrapbook paper in those Martha Stewart shadowboxes (on clearance for $3!). These were a lot of fun to make, although cutting out the little Katamari cousins was not easy. They're only an inch tall, at most, and my scissor skills can be rivaled by any dexterous third grader.

Bibstravaganza continues apace, although I did stop to finish stuff for the baby's room and then got sidetracked by sewing diapers. I was all set to just do prefolds and rubber pants or butt sweaters, but then the nesting instinct blindsided me. I was transported to the flannel aisle at Joann Fabrics, where I proceeded to throw caution to the wind. Once I have more done, I will show them off. They really are cute... I hope they fit.

I have to go clean the house. Apparently my in-laws are coming down tomorrow, not Friday. Which means, of course, that the night before the birth, the night before major surgery, the last night Dan and I have as a couple (ahem) will be spent entertaining houseguests. Sigh. I leave you with one of the last pictures of the baby on the inside. The bump really only is visible from the side in a lot of my clothes, even now. I'm kind of shocked. I think it means I'll be back into my old clothes relatively quickly, but it probably also means I'm going to look like the old me with a rapidly-deflated beach ball taped to my front. :)

FO: Baby's First Quilt

I sewed the top/did the quilting (in one step) while watching the Grammy awards with my mom (when was that, February?), and it's been folded up in a shopping bag ever since. The idea of binding the thing was really daunting. I've never been a very good finisher, and lately I have been feeling so down that I didn't want to risk stitching a bunch of negative vibes into the quilt (like the opposite effect of a prayer shawl, I guess). Yesterday I was feeling pretty good, so I folded over the backing, figured out the zigzag stitch on my mother's machine (without the manual!), and stitched it down. And it's done.

I used a technique for sewing the quilt top directly to the batting and the backing. I have the material to make another quilt, and I'll most likely post a tutorial when I make that one.

Here's a closeup of the "binding" and my novice zigzag skills:

FO: Box Bags

I have been sewing. It's a miracle! I still haven't finished the baby quilt, which just needs to be cut to size and bound, but I managed to procrastinate a little this weekend and make a couple of project bags. I used tutorials from Dragon[knit]fly and small hands as a starting point, but I think I made enough innovations to the designs to call them my own creation.

I made the amber one first, and the insides are pretty raw, but cute. I don't care, but if I were to make one of these for someone else (of if I were to, say, open an etsy shop), I would want to follow what I did on the second bag. I did a decent enough job that I am willing to show off the insides, but I want you to remember that I only started using a sewing machine about a month ago, and I have been doing this without much supervision at all. Things are a little rough, and I am more likely to sew over/through a mistake rather than rip it out at this point... I'll get over it.

The blue and yellow stripey thing is a baby sweater in progress, and the red laceweight wool is going to become a shawl before May 10- I have a wedding to attend, and I can never regulate my temperature in formal wear without a little help.

FO: Squatty Sidekick

Pattern: Amanda's Squatty Sidekick (from Knitting Daily)
Yarn: 3 skeins of Lamb's Pride Worsted in black, held doubled
Needles: US size 15, from the Needlemaster
February 18-22 (knitting), February 29-March1 (finishing)

I knit this to use up the black wool I had in my stash. It was a straightforward knit, and I thought that I'd make the bag bigger by knitting it on larger needles with the yarn doubled. It turned out BIG. It's about 20" across, easily. I felted it, and it didn't seem to get any smaller! I don't really care for Lamb's Pride when it's felted (especially compared to Paton's classic merino) but I quite liked the fabric when it was knitted up- I could see myself making a rugged little sweater out of it. Well, if it didn't shed worse than my two mutant Corgis.

My finishing skills are not so hot, but I like the way the lining and strap turned out. Instead of knitting a strap, I knit little nubs to indicate where the straps should go (and then blocked it crooked so they don't quite hit the sides. duh). I sewed D-rings on after it was felted with the 18" of yarn I had left (seriously!). For the strap, I cut a width of the fabric in both the yellow and the print cotton, sewed the long edges, right sides together, and then turned them inside out, folded in and topstitched the edges, and then topstitched the long sides. I tied the ends to the D rings, so I can adjust the strap if I want to. For the lining, I cut the lining pieces roughly the size of the bag laying flat. I added a pocket, using the same general techniques as the strap (so it's lined), and sewed the lining pieces together along the bottom and sides, right sides together. Then I turned the felted bag inside out, turned the lining inside out, put the felted bag inside the lining, folded the raw top edge of the lining down, and tacked it into place with black thread and big, ugly, childish stitches (I'm impatient and I'm also learning how to sew!). After I turned the bag back the right way, I sewed on a snap on the inside (not worrying about the outside because the thread is black and the bag is hairy), and ta-da! Dan's impressed, and I think it's cute, too. It took about a 1/2 yard of the lemon print and a little bit of the yellow quilter's solid cotton.

Knitting for class: a dilemma

Well, it's quarter to four on a Tuesday, which is precisely the time that I get to thinking about class this week (which starts at 6pm tonight. I am a procrastinator!). The requirements are simple, and yet I struggle to figure out what to bring with me. In order to qualify as "class knitting" the project needs to be:

• simple and relatively mindless
• a single color (even stripes make me look like I'm not paying attention)
• devoid of techniques that require a pattern/reference book
• large enough that I won't finish it in a couple of hours
• not so large that it doesn't fit in my bag
• made of stashed materials (so, so broke!)
  

I've got a couple of things on the needles right now (a sweater and a baby blanket), but neither of them seem to fit my criteria. I'll probably throw one of them in my bag anyway, and see what happens. Don't get the wrong idea- my classes are really interesting, but I need something to do with my hands when I'm listening or... I stop listening. It's just who I am. The knitting prevents doodling, or the creation of shopping lists.

I made a quilt for Mutie over the weekend- my first! Once I bind it and take pictures, I'll post information. I am officially a sewer now!