It’s Friday night…what are you doing?
I’ll be right here, comfy with my Diet Coke and pajamas on, working away until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. Have a good weekend, everyone!
It may seem to some people (most of whom know me in the real world) like I’m a little overly eager about how much I love my sewing machine. I really, REALLY love my simple little Husqvarna Viking. It’s easy to use, small enough to tote around to my friend’s houses and takes a lot of beating up by me. So last month, I finally decided it was time to take Emma (my sewing machine’s name is Emma, it says so right on the front of her so don’t make fun of me) in to be oiled, cleaned, timed, and fixed after the knob selector broke. It had been over a month, and last Monday I finally got her back.
Oh my God….I had no idea how much I had missed her.
We’ve been a little busy…it’s been sewing bliss (yes, I realize I’m nuts).
Seriously though, I think that I should have probably taken Emma in to be serviced way earlier than I did. I was shocked at how differently it felt to sew on a properly aligned and timed machine. My stitches are the right length, there’s no loops at all on the backside of my work and the needle is no longer hitting the metal faceplate when a stitch is made. I guess I just didn’t realize that it would make that big of a difference to have her worked on.
I just want to let everyone know that I have no idea how to write a blog post anymore.
And now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, wanna see what I’ve been up to?
I happened to stumble upon this amazing alpaca yarn at one of our crappy little craft shows that we have in town during the holidays and I couldn’t pass it up. It’s from a local farm–who seriously knew that yarn this nice was found so close to home? It’s amazingly soft and has quickly become one of my favorite things I’ve ever knit with.
I’ve never knit with a fiber that was so thin though, and finding a good pattern for it was a little challenging. I went through my older knitting magazines and spotted a nice (but not outstanding in my original opinion) scarf pattern from the Spring/Summer 2005 issue Vogue Knitting. I’m so glad now that I stuck with it, because it has turned out so lovely. It’s knit in two halves, and then seamed together in the center of the back (something that I’ve never tried before). Since I’ve got the first part done, I blocked it out this morning and couldn’t believe how it looks! I’m scrambing to finish the pattern now because I want to wear it NOW!
So now I’m carrying around the ratty magazine and second half of my scarf everywhere. I have to get it finished!
Things are hectic but productive around the Hip To Piece Squares home these days. Before I really get settled into thinking and doing for the holidays, I’ve got a show to get ready for!
I’ll be at the Shadow Art Fair on December 1st, in Ypsilanti, Michigan from noon until midnight. I did this show this past July, and it’s such fun one. It’s at the Corner Brewery (Beer + Arts and Craft = Ridiculous Fun) and if you live anywhere nearby, you should really stop in, say hello, and start your shopping for the season.
And if I’m not sewing, I’ve got a cat on my back. That’s just how it goes!
Hmmm….
Hello blog and blog friends!
My summer seems to have been insanely busy, sewing wise, but for some reason (lazy) I’ve not written about any of it. Since June, I’ve been spending my days getting ready for two craft shows and now that they’re over with, I feel like I have time to sit down, take my time on some new projects, and maybe even write a little. That is, of course, until work begins again in two weeks…
After I did the Doll Quilt Swap, I got really excited about doing some quilting again, and making pillows seemed to be a good way to get back into that. The red and yellow was the first one I did and had to immediately get started on a second one because I had so much fun doing it.
I quilted both of these on the machine and it was fun to get them finished so quickly. I think I’ll still probably stick to hand quilting on actual quilts though.
It’s been practically a year since I did any real quilting of any kind; last summer I got on to the bag making kick that I’m still in, and quilting kind of fell from my radar. I’ve been meaning to get back into it all, and so I joined up with the Doll Quilt Swap II project to get myself motivated.
Like normal, I was supposed to send this out yesterday, but I just finished the binding on it this evening. It took some extra time to do all of the hand sewing on this, but I really think it made a difference. I was really on the fence about just machine quilting and binding it, but I know my work looks better when I take the time to do the hand work.
I couldn’t decide if I wanted to put any borders or sashing in, and in the end decided not to, mainly because I was running out of time. In the end, I’m really glad I decided to skip it. I think it would have been too broken up that way. Maybe it’s me being lazy, too.
I was seriously happy with how the backing turned out. It worked perfectly to just use the small amount of color so that you could really see the quilting from the back. Part of me almost likes the back side better than the front side.
Off to the post office in the morning with it! I hope my swap partner likes it as much as I do. If not, I suppose she can send it back to me. I wouldn’t complain!
I’ve just got to say, there’s a lot of really good things going on right now. Like for instance, it’s the most lovely day we’ve had here yet this year. I have to admit, I’ve been a little jealous looking at all of the photos of people already experiencing spring, but today, it really feels like we’re not too far off.
Also making me happy is how fast I seem to be coming along on my first crocheting project. I can’t believe how fast it’s moving. In just over a week, I’ve done all of this:
The only downside to the whole thing is that I really had no idea how much yarn I was really going to need. As I keep adding rows, I’m really starting to notice that I’m just not going to have enough to finish the whole thing up. I’m worried that I’m not going to find what I need to finish it. I’m not real worried about things like dye lots–I’d just like to have a close match. Even so, I’m nervous I’m not going to find what I need.
So, spring weather, crocheting progress, and a TiVo that is filled with last night’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony so that I can see all four original R.E.M. members play “Gardening At Night” makes for a great day. The best of days!
I think I must be riding high after being called “the bomb” by Brit the other day, but I am on a roll, people!
Let me just tell you how pleased I am with how this bag turned out. This happens to be one of the only things that I’ve ever made that turned out the exact way that I had planned it to even from the point of when I bought the fabric.
::Cue whirly sounds and fog::
I seriously stood in the store, picked out the red and cream prints for the outside and thought, “hmm…I’ve got some black fabric that would look really good with this for a tote.” Then I picked up the red polka dot print on that I used on the inside and thought, “this would look perfect with the vintage black and white gingham that I’ve also got.” Look! I’ve done all of these things on this bag, making it the first time ever that I didn’t change my mind about things 42 times before I was finished with a project. It’s a big day for me.
Thanks to all of the good advice left in the comments from my last post, I’ve been able to get myself off to a decent start with crocheting.
So it turns out that crocheting is nothing like knitting! I had no idea about this. Despite this minor issue, I stuck with it this weekend (and with far less throwing of the yarn and hook as well as inappropriate words used for frustration then when I learned to knit, actually) and managed to do pretty well. The photo above is just about one day’s work on an afghan.
Now, I do realize that everyone and their mother are making afghans these days, but I’m really smitten with all of them.
I’m going to try really hard to only use what yarn I’ve already got on hand for this project. Most of the yarn that I pulled out is wool–Cascade 220 and Lion Brand Wool, but I’ve also got to use up some of the cheaper (and not nearly as nice to crochet with) Lion Brand WoolEase. I wouldn’t normally mix the two kinds of yarn, but I really want this to be a project that I don’t have to buy anything new for. I figure, not only is it a good way for me to stash bust, but it’s also a good way to practice–crocheting and staying on task with a project.
I’m not very good at it, really.
Much like the way that I prefer to run this blog, (by starting it and never bothering to follow through with an update for months at a time) I also knit socks. Do these socks match, though? No. Would I consider finishing a pair so that I could wear a matching set? Possibly…but I’ve got several other skeins of yarn that need to get started on too. Do I tend to follow through with any of my plans? Do I have to answer that now?
Seriously though, I’m on a sock kick right now. It’s something that I can take with me to work and do while I eat lunch, I can work on it while I’m watching television at night, and I can always toss it into my bag to work on while I’m out. I know people talk about how they can get so much sock knitting done when they’re in public during times of waiting, but it is so true, people! I just can’t take a full size quilt or a bag that needs to be sewn on the machine to the doctor’s office while I wait. I preach the truth–learn how to knit socks and you’ll never be bored while waiting again.
And while I’m on the subject of starting things I’ll never finish….does anyone know of a good “how to teach yourself how to crochet” website? I’ve tried to learn before (I never tried very hard, as that is my style with things) but I never got the hang of it. I have to learn so that I can make one of these though. So seriously beautiful.