Category Archives: Fiber fun

2020 1st Q Creative Wins !

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, Every Day Life, Fiber fun, Handmade, In the Studio, Knitting, Make Stuff, quilting, Quilting, Scrapbooking, Sew this, Yarn hobbies by

May 3 – I am finding one way to grab any kind of positivity out there is to look back and acknowledge things that I have completed (Complete – my 2020 word) and celebrating that…since 1/3 of the 2nd qtr of 2020 is done (how did that happen…because we are all just working and/or sitting in our houses) I figured it’s high time to note what I managed to complete in the first quarter of 2020 for my own tracking…

January

Memorykeeping: Finished my December Daily album (38 layouts) and made 10 other pages. Worked on Stacy Julian’s 20in20 class setting up project ideas and completed 1 project for that, finding photos of myself for an project about me.

Fiber: Started a Cables and Colorwork Class taught by my friend at Cambridge Center for Adult Ed. Worked on broken rib cowl, worked on Briochealicious shawl. Finished mini quilt and quilt blocks.

Went to FLA with the Fam ! (Album or photo book forthcoming this year)

February

Memorykeeping: finished my OneLittleWord album for 2019 (27 layouts), and made 8 other pages.

Fiber: Continued C & C class, broken rib cowl & Briochealicious shawl. Finished a cable knit hat, with fun faux fur pom pom. Started the Hinterland dress in yummmmyyyyyy red buffalo check flannel. Took old binding off of circus quilt…

Other stuff: Designed a poster of Gun Digest covers painted by my Uncle, James Triggs.

March:

Memorykeeping: Made a photo book of Shadows “stick of the day” and sent copies to the girls at school. Completed my March One Little Word work. I think I only did one digi-layout … I know I have other scrappy layouts but quite frankly, March was when the world fell apart so I am amazed I did anything at all…

Fiber: Finished! Hinterland dress in yummmmyyyyyy red buffalo check flannel (photo before I put the black buttons on… I actually don’t think I took a photo of it completely done… at any rate, it qualifies as secret pajamas.

Re-bound the vintage circus quilt (Pretty sure it was my sisters quilt when she was little so it’s going back to her so she can use it with her grands!) Binding is still one of my bugaboo’s in quilting, v tricky for me to get right on both sides with the machine stitching… but I keep plugging away at it.

And March was when mask making and scrub cap making started… I only made two caps for my Dr friend but began what would end up as over 200 masks for family, friends, church family and donation to a nursing home.

Alright then. Things are so weird right now, no other way to say it… I find that if I don’t jot down or take photos of what’s going on… it all becomes one big blur of mush overlaid with nothing but bad news from the outside world, especially from the middle of March onwards… But that is why we make things right? To keep our hands busy, our minds calm and to spread some cheer in the world.

What are you making this spring? Stay safe and wash your hands everybody…

In the Studio:: On tossing out and starting fresh

Posted in Around Here, Craft, Fiber fun, Handmade, In the Studio, Make Stuff, Sew this by

This past week I did an extensive studio clean-up and scrapbooking supply organization (don’t get too excited, still not quite done with that part but it’s coming along nicely).  I have a pile of sewing projects to start/finish and a list of layouts and albums both digi and paper to work on, oh and hello…December Daily will be upon us before we know it – ahem!

I have been vexed by a dress that I sewed in April, and it has been in the pile and on the list since then.

Enter McCalls M5890

mccall-s-patterns-m5890-misses-jackets-top-dresses-and-pants-in-2-lengths-size-ff-16-18-20-22_7353165

I had a lot of trouble with my sewing machine which resulted in not a great sewing outcome for this garment… the fit was OK and I wasn’t as wild about the fabric as a long dress, and the topstitching was horrible due to said machine problem (since having machine thoroughly cleaned this fall, the problems have all resolved themselves…magic!)  and I just wasn’t feeling it.  at.  all.   For months I’ve been going back and forth… can I fix the topstitching?  Should I just make a skirt out of it (I have about a yard extra to make waistbands etc…) and try and salvage something?  Do I even like the pattern anymore?  Do I like the fabric anymore?

Answers to above ?’s ??  No fixing the topstitching… No to the skirt, it’s just too contrived…No to salvage….No to the pattern, at least the top of the dress, don’t like how the neck/arm/capsleeve came together weirdly…No to the fabric, maybe for a t-shirt or shorts but not a dress, plus, it’s winter now ugh.

So here is my answer to the above conundrum:

freedomfromtiedye

Yep…86’d the whole thing… including the extra fabric…and I crossed it off my list.  I have to say, it was really hard to just toss it in the trash.  The save-every-scrap part of me was screaming but for the good of my sewing karma, it had to go.

I feel so much better now.

On to the next project!

Have you ever totally trashed a project?  Was it freeing or guilt inducing?

 

Making-Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt Along

Posted in Craft, Fiber fun, In the Studio, Make Stuff, Quilts, Sew this by

I’ve been broadening my podcast horizons lately and have started listening to the “Modern Sewciety” podcast and I love it, Stephanie has such a lovely way of chatting with her guests about quilting and the quilt world (which I admittedly do not know much about).  I have made a number of quilts over the years but would not consider myself a “quilter” because, well, I didn’t use an established pattern, I made everything up and made my own patterns. And, I don’t quilt as in put the three layers together and hand stitch them on a quilting frame the size of my dining room table…no thank you.  I have quilted smaller quilts on my home sewing machine, tied a number of larger quilts and sent one out to Nebraska to be machine quilted, hmmm funny still didn’t consider myself a quilter. Well, I guess that is all about to change with this quilt-a-long I heard about on Stephanie’s podcast a few weeks ago.   I’m embarking on the Modern Half Square Triangle (HST) Quilt Along this year courtesy of  Alyce  at  Blossom Heart Quilts .

2 blocks per month x 12 months will equal enough squares for a nice sized quilt.  I’ve pulled fabrics from my stash and purchased just a few pieces to round out the color palette, I’ve also purchased a light grey fabric with white printing that will be the background fabric in each block, I am waiting until the top is done to decide on the sashing and binding fabrics.

QAL Fabric Pull

Aren’t they pretty?!  I went with very highly saturated colors for the most part which I think will give some nice contrast against the background.

QAL-block 1

Aaanndd….here is my first block!  Yay!  I have had that dark blue fabric for YEARS!  I’ve been hoarding it as it’s one of my all-time favorites but now it has found it’s perfect home as part of the new quilt!  The block is a little rough around the edges as I need to “true” the block up, I’m waiting to do that until I purchase a 12.5″ square ruler specifically to that task.  But it’s done!  It didn’t take forever!  It didn’t make a huge mess!  Everything went back onto the shelf until it’s time for the next block!  Win Win Win!

What have you been making this weekend?!

 

In the Studio: knitting a Scottish Reel

Posted in Craft, Fiber fun, Handmade, In the Studio, Knitting by

Last summer I was able to spend a weekend at Squam Art Workshop  (I’m super excited that I went for a whole week this year!).  During the Vendor Faire, I spotted this gor-ge-ous cowl at the Knitspot/BareNakedWools booth.   It looked so complicated, it was beautiful, I even loved the name…Scottish Reel…so romantic!  I thought there was no way I would be able to make it  (note to self:  you know more than you think you do)  It’s even beautiful draped on a mannequin…f55adef2704ab2be80586d968cbfb0d7.image.450x337The lovely gal who helped me was so encouraging…  her:  Can you knit and purl?  me:  yes, definitely   her:  have you ever knit in the round?  me:  of course   her:  then you can make this, it’s only knit and purl   me:  whaaaat??? no way… I’ll take one !

So all last fall and part of the winter, I worked on my Scottish Reel…with this beautiful ghillie yarn (which is fingering weight…very fine!) on size 4 needles (I think the smallest I’ve worked on yet).  I knit watching TV, at friends houses, at karate practice, on airplanes…everywhere! And I finally finished it….this spring…and it’s sat in my studio waiting to be blocked and be ready to wear this fall.   Aaaaand finally….it’s all done!!  So excited to wear this as the cooler weather sets in, I have more yarn leftover to make a smaller version or something else.  It’s so pretty and I will say, hides some of my patterning mistakes quite nicely thank you!  It’s also lightweight and warm and big enough to wrap around twice and still be able to pull part of it up for a hood….love love love.

IMG_6983 IMG_6985

Here is the link to the pattern from Knitspot for the Scottish Reel Cowl  and the beautiful ghillie yarn  or you can buy the whole thing as a kit!

Now, go make something!

 

Four boxes and two bins…the two bins

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, Fiber fun, Handmade, Sew this by

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!  And all the stuff crammed into these poor baskets, OK here we go last pile of stuff to purge!!

Giant Pile of Mess

Giant Pile of Mess

I think I didn’t realize how junky these two bins had become…my intent was for them to hold fabric/projects that were next up on deck.  Instead they have been relegated to the bottom of the closet and had stuff dumped on top.

Keeping

-Leftover lengths of PB “Simone” drapery fabric…I had to hem all of my draperies when we moved into our new house and I kept the cut off bottoms to make pillows, cover benches etc…

-Handmade batik fabric… My mother bought me two yards of this from one of the cruises she went on back in the 80’s.  She thought it would make a great skirt…which it would have but I’m glad I saved it.  I used pieces of this to fill the glass doors on our console in the front hall.  I’m going to use the rest of it to make a quilt.

-Orange bottomweight fabric – shorts for Gwen, when I see orange fabric, I buy it for her. Think I have a pattern in my stash

-Printed interlock knit – top for Gwen, need to find a pattern

-Paisley cotton – A’la Amy Butler, have perfect pattern to make a tunic/top/dress…need to go get some coordinating fabric as it’s a really pretty patchwork-y top

-Paris Fashion conversational print… originally purchased to make a window treatment in my old studio, never did anything with this…may use to slipcover my office chair.

-Gardening jeans to patch

-Knit top (one i love) need to figure out how to camouflage hole in front at waistline.

-Three crewelwork pillows that my great-Aunt made, I love them and I know how much work she put in to them.  The really sad thing is that she lost her sight to macular degeneration and could no longer embroider, or near the end, do much of anything.  So I really love that I have them, need to figure out how best to display them.

Pitching / Donating 

-Almost one bins worth of fabric scraps from making the quilt for our bed.  I’ve never done anything with these pieces and they are taking up space so out they go.

-Two apple green gingham check long curtains … from girls old bedroom, was saving in case they wanted to use them in their new rooms but they are not interested… out they go.

-Two pieces lavender gingham check…was curtains in our old house, cut off the trim to re-use and out they go.

Throwing out

-Old muslin for blouse

-Misc scraps and pieces of lining.

yes, another blurry picture…so exhausted from sorting I couldn't hold the iPhone still ;-)

yes, another blurry picture…so exhausted from sorting I couldn’t hold the iPhone still 😉

Oh My Word, got through everything and its in some kind of order!!   The two piles on the left are keepers, the bags need to be hung up and the pile on the right in front of the basket are pieces that are going away.  Next step…putting all this in some kind of order that makes sense and figuring out where to store it so it is not i

See the other posts in my 2014 Fabric de-stash series:  

Box ONE  ,  Box TWO , Box THREE and Box FOUR