2920

No sci-fi here (that’s my husband’s dept–I don’t get it), just another yoyo quilt finished.  I like this one.  I used a lot of fabric scraps from other projects–linen from some pants, linen from a skirt, poly charmeuse from the last yoyo quilt, some quilting fabric from the diaper bag I made a while back, and some AWESOME blue cotton sateen I made an apron from as a wedding present for a friend (why didn’t I buy more of that fabric?–it was fabulous).

2920 is the number of wee tiny seams connecting all 1500 yoyos together.  This time, just for kicks, I used Gnomey to sew them all instead of joining them with a blanket stitch by hand like I usually do.  There are pros and cons of this.

Sewing yoyos by machine pros:

1. It’s wicked fast–though not as fast as you would think
2. It super saved my hands from the usual tendinitis flare ups that occur with yoyos for me because being the taskmaster that I am, I try to do too many in a given day
3. A good old #14 needle tackles some nasty thicknesses of yoyos that otherwise make your hands pretty sore

Downside of sewing yoyos by machine:

1. The quilt is smaller than usual because of the seam allowance.  A hand blanket stitch joins the yoyos right at the edge so the seam allowance is MAYBE only 1/16″ as opposed to a scant 1/8″ by machine.  Seems small but it’s not…but that’s one of those things that only I would notice–it doesn’t affect the appearance that much.
2. It’s hard to manipulate the edges of the yoyos as you sew them so that they are totally flush with each other.
3. You have to cut all the little machine threads so things go slower than you think they ought to.
4. This is really the kicker for me and why I will go back to hand sewing on my next quilt:  it’s just not as neat as the hand stitching.  When you cut the threads it’s virtually impossible to cut them down to the ends of them without damaging the fabric.  As anal as I am about thread clipping, this really bothers me, but not so much that I’m going to get every little one…I don’t need a repetitive motion injury from a yoyo quilt.

At the end of the day I’m glad to have this one done.  I have one more to go for my circle of girlfriends before I’m done and I can make one that can stay in my house.   The last one I’m looking forward to though–the recipient and the color palette I’m choosing for her because it fits her well is the one that also fits me the best.  I’m looking forward to bathing myself in those lovely colors.  More on that in several months, LOL!

 

Sock monkeying around!

These are my sock monkeys for Craft Hope.  I’ve been dragging my heels (literally–haha–I love sock monkey humor) on this project.  I’m not sure why.  I love sock monkeys.  They are just inherently funny.  At any rate, I woke up early on Sunday and made the pieces before I ate breakfast and stuffed and started sewing them together while Nathan and I watched Masterpiece Mystery (love that show!–that and Jeopardy–I do love running an opera category).

Noah enjoyed them later–but in this pic he’s looking at the fan.  Such a mesmerizing thing, fans…

I need to make him his own sock monkey sooner than later.  He was really wanting to play with them, especially after they started dancing for him.  I kept them drool free for the sake of the kids who will receive them.

The monkeys in a family lineup:

And two of the monkeys just being monkeys:

I used fabric scraps instead of the heels for the mouths–some more successfully than others.  I like the contrast but it needs to be monkeyed with a bit.  Besides that, I used the tutorial that was on Craft Hope–I like the sock monkeys from Sock and Glove better, though I think.  They’re more primatey (I’m liking these monkey inspired adjectives and verbs in this post however incorrect they might be).

 

Surprise pockets

Finally, this outfit is for the little boy in the Burmese family who is 4 1/2.  I’ve had this khaki fabric in my stash a long time.  I had it to make a skirt for myself, but what with not teaching, I don’t really need it and realistically it’s not the most flattering color for my backside.  It’s super high quality and denim weight–one of the few serendipitous JoAnn apparel fabric purchases.  I knew it would make excellent pants, but I also knew that it’d be too heavy for inseam pockets, so I used this fabric:

Tada!  I think all pockets should be made out of outrageous fabric just for kicks.  Sure, your hands are the only ones who get to enjoy that little surprise, but I think they know.  Making functional inseam pockets was my goal for these pants and they turned out really quite well.  The pants also have some jiffy side pockets too.  Just the thing for little boys wanting to cart around things to gross their sisters out with (like the frog put on me while sleeping one time).

The shirt I constructed entirely with the serger…so easy!!!  I did try to hem it with the rolled hem which really wasn’t a good idea.  It did okay on the bottom, but it made lettuce edges on the sleeves (mainly because I used a rib knit for the sleeves because JoAnn, typical to form did not have a single color of knit fabric that matched a solid knit and I didn’t want 3 colors on the shirt)…not so cute for a boy.  So I folded that mess under and hemmed them as best as I could, but they’re not super.  I still feel like my serging is getting better…I just need to use it when appropriate, not just when I want to save time.

 

Linings are fun

 

As promised, here is another outfit for the Burmese family.  This is for their little 8 year old daughter.  I had this wild fabric in my stash that I got on super ultra mega clearance ages ago.  It was too sheer and didn’t have enough weight to make this dress have a satisfying stay-putness to it, so I lined it with some really nice nylon fabric that I had leftover from my green maternity dress I made for myself a while back.  I cut the bottom of the lining a couple of inches shorter so that it’s not obvious when moving around.  I pinked the bottom edge to finish it, but it doesn’t fray so it ended up being decorative.  I suppose I could have added lace if I had thought about it.  I learned how to do add lace on a vintage nightgown I made a while back (I’m not posting pictures because I feel weird posting about my undies.  Here’s a link to the pattern though which is super cool).   This dress was SUPER easy to line because the top edges are simply finished in bias tape.  On to the bias tape…

Girls’ dress

Goal: Have nice bias tape bound edges on the top of the dress

I picked up a GREAT tip from one of the ladies’ at my Janome store.  We were making quilts and she had us bind the edges as normal, but when you flip the edge of the tape over, she had us tack it down over the first line of stitching with a glue stick (I love glue sticks–actually, I love most office supplies–there’s about 8 million uses for each and every one of them–just makes my little practical soul leap with joy.  If I ever get post-its in my stocking at Christmas, I might bust with happiness).  Then you set the glue with your iron and stitch in the ditch from the right side.  The stitches sit right at the bottom edge of the wrong side…it’s so beautiful.  So simple.  And the glue washes out!  This was yet another moment when I think Nathan thought I was crazy for all the little happy dancing that was going on.

 

Insomnia bag

Well, not really, but in the midst of insomnia yesterday morning, I thought, why not finish the bag I started on Monday.

It’s another diaper bag and matching chaning pad for one of Nathan’s friends from college.  She expressed a need for one and I already had one half cut out, so it was a quick project.  There are lots of interior pockets and I made a 3 tab button closure because I was feeling quirky. 

inside view

matching changing pad/playmat

Noah and I listened to some polka while I sewed.  He thinks accordion is funny–or at least he drools and coos and laughs with sheer delight when he hears it.  He’s particularly fond of Skater’s Waltz, which, I admit I practiced A LOT while he was a cookin’.  I think I’ve asked this before, but it’s always interesting to me–what do you listen to while you’re working?

 

Sure serging

What with as many clothes that I’ve been making and will continue to make, I decided it was time for a serger to take up residence in my house.  The wee little card table that I sew on is perhaps a bit too small for 2 machines, but it’s not really that big of a problem.  I was not prepared for the serger though.  Gnomey seriously is the nicest little machine.  So intuitive to use, so simple, so sturdy.  Just. Great.  Not that the serger isn’t…but sergers truly are a bit finicky.  All the threading and tension–it takes some time to get used to.

So far, I’ve used the serger for finishing the a shirt that I haven’t bothered blogging about though I like it very much and my purple dress.  Today Noah has been rather sleepy, so I took the opportunity to make my Craft Hope blankets (just a single layer of flannel edged with bias binding).  In addition to the blankets, I made some handkerchiefs which Craft Hope is also asking for with my serger.  I figured it was a simple project for me to practice serging on because let’s face it–though it’s necessary to practice on scraps before you start serging, it’s a bit boring.  So by the 8th handkerchief (the bottom sample in the picture, the top is the 1st one I made), I think my ability to serge a decent rolled hem has improved considerably.  The fabric is some beautiful calico from Nathan’s Grandma’s stash (she was kind enough to let me raid it).

Additionally, Ann tagged me to list 6 unimportant things that make me happy. Here goes:

1.  Chopping big piles of vegetables and mise en place: A big knife, some music, and things smelling lovely in the kitchen–really, can your day get better?

2.  Accordion:  Can you be grumpy and polka?  I think not.

3.  Opera:  The marriage of every art imaginable executed at a wickedly high level of expertise all wrapped up in tremendous music.

4.  Baking: There’s nothing quite like a tray of perfect cookies or the beauty of a well-executed sponge cake batter.

5.  Playing video games with my husband:  Lego Star Wars just might be about the funnest thing ever.

6.  Making my son smile: honestly, I never thought I was such a ham.  It’s so amazing to see his little face light up.

I will tag Lauranie, Susie, Nils (if you have a chance getting used to married life and all) and Dawn.

 

A couple of maprons

I’ve been wanting to do some block printing on some aprons, so in between Noah eating, I managed to sew these aprons which, being much more masculine in nature, I’ll refer to as maprons. I won’t say what they’re for in case I might reveal something to their recipients who might happen upon this post.  I used my silverware stamp that I carved to print on them with screenprinting ink and some fabric paint. I learned several things about printing this week:
1.  You need to protect your work surface because even though you’re printing on your (nice) garage sale college boy table of your husband’s and even though you have a fabulous collection of vintage tablecloths to cover said table, blue screeprinting ink still leaves a mark.

2.  Stamps aren’t fond of printing on uneven surfaces, so that pocket that you so brilliantly placed in the middle of your design is going to need to be painted by hand after you stamp it to fill in where it didn’t print.

3.  Block printing with a newborn is not the most intelligent thing you will have ever tried to do because not only will he get upset upon not being able to see Mom over the couch, but all of that paint will dry completely on the stamp before you get back to it.

All of that in consideration, I’m pretty happy with how these turned out and I’m glad to be using this stamp for other projects.

I also made a pie for the final episode of Pushing Daisies that airs tonight (sad, sad, sad).  I’m enjoying this wee foray into piemaking.  I made two last week–the chocolate coconut that I posted and an old-fashioned apple pie that I made for a client of a friend.  I must say I love my little Pyrex pie plate–it’s just the perfect size for me and Nathan to eat without feeling like cows–plus it’s cute to bake in a pink dish.  As I was baking my cherry berry pie last night, I said to Nathan, “Why on earth did it taking Pushing Daisies and vintage Pyrex for me to love pie baking?”  Nathan laughed and I added, “There’s a sentence that hasn’t come out of too many people’s mouths.”

 

Craft Hope

Has anyone else heard about this?  I read on allsorts about Craft Hope–it’s a blog gathering handmade items to be given to children through mission work.  You can still participate in the 2nd project which is making dolls for children at an orphanage in Nicaragua.  The deadline is June 13th.  This is pretty close to my heart as I’ve been contemplating making handmade things for kids throughout the year for Operation Christmas Child for the boxes that go out in December.  Giving a child something handmade–something made with genuine love that they might know that someone else loves them so very very much–beyond what any of us could imagine…this is work that I want to do.

So join me and make a doll for a little boy or girl in Nicaragua.  If you’re in need of some help, Craft Hope has some doll tutorials on their site, and if you’re lacking inspiration, check out their flickr group.

 

Baby to Go

Next week the ladies at work are throwing a shower for me and for the school psychologist who is due about 2 weeks before me.  I figured it was a good time for me to draft a diaper bag pattern.

I’ve been using Amy Butler’s Nappy Bag pattern, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE–but in reality, it uses a TON of fabric and I end up with weird pieces of leftover fabric after the pattern has been cut.  In an attempt to economize the amount of fabric I end up using for a project, I drafted a pattern that is a slightly different shape, a little smaller, with more functional pockets, and a handle that is not cut with the main bag body, which I discovered is where all of the extra fabric is required in the Amy Butler version.  I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I hope Nicole likes it.  The fabric is definitely her style. 

In addition to the diaper bag, I made a portable changing pad to go with it per Amy Butler’s pattern as well as a nursing wrap whose pattern I figured out from a wrap that I was given a couple months ago.

 

10,000

No, there are not 10,000 yoyos in this quilt–there are only 1,470, but this being my sixth completed yoyo coverlet that I have made in the past five years, my lifetime total of yoyos that I have made is over 10,000 now.

This one is a study in purples and reds and it is for my friend Kara who is the 4th out of my women’s group of 6 to be receiving a yoyo quilt I made.  I am SO glad to have this one done.  I started it while Nathan and I were dating.  It stayed half-finished in the closet for a couple of years until I discovered it during morning sickness.  I decided I HAD to finish it before the baby came or there was a 0% chance it was ever going to be finished which if you’ve ever made a quilt entirely by hand you will appreciate that this would have been a crying shame.  I love it, especially now that it’s done.  It just looks like Kara.