Fabric Basket

Some time ago, I cut a lot of my smaller fabric pieces into strips of varying widths.  I've been incorporating them into quilts, but recently, I found this excellent tutorial on making fabric baskets, and I had fun making a scrappy basket of my own.

I used 1.5" strips that I folded over on the exposed edge as I wrapped the cotton clothesline rope. This eliminated the raw edges that could produce a lot of loose threads.  You could also cut strips on the bias.

I used up lots of narrow strips, and a lot of neutral thread. The finished basket used 96 feet of rope.  I also went through several needles before I realized that using the needle down setting was bending them.

I love the swirling colors and it was very meditative winding the fabric around the rope and sewing around and around.

While I was making this basket I bought 100 feet of cotton cording from JoAnn Fabric (with a coupon) for a second basket.  I think I'll coordinate the colors on the next one.

This made a nice sturdy basket and I used up a staggering amount of fabric strips. 

I'm using this one as a knitting basket, though I can see making cat beds and tote bags using this technique. 

Cheap Thrills

I found these goodies on a recent thrift store trip.  I spent all of $4, and I came away with some minor treasures.

 

I got a bag of the tiniest white buttons, some fine crewel embroidery wool, and this ceramic hand.

The hand rides that fine line between creepy and cool.  I keep thinking one day I'll find one of those hands that are meant to display and store jewelery, but so far no luck, but this one isn't a bad substitute.

I'll use this hand, which is life size (hence the creepy element) to hold beads and buttons.  Remember Thing, that hand in a box on The Addam's Family?  Like Thing, it can be my crafty helper.

As long as it doesn't move around the house on its own like Thing.

I also finished this Deirdre shawl, a free pattern  by Linden Heflin on Ravelry.  It's a fairly plain knit, in that androgynous style so popular these days. 

It has a very simple lace edging, which I'm not sure I did right, but I think it looks fine nonetheless.  I had to knit the lace section twice when I dropped a bunch of stitches in the last row and couldn't pick them up properly, so I ripped that part out and re-knit.  

It was that or toss the whole thing in the back of the closet, and I've run out of room back there.

The yarn is two skeins of Deborah Norville Serenity sock weight in "Teal Tease."  It's a great bargain for a wool, bamboo and nylon blend, and it comes in some nice self-stripping colors.   I'll put this one aside until the fall, or perhaps save it for a gift.

147 Pyramids

My Pyramids quilt started enthusiastically when I went through my stack of 3 inch strips and pulled a bunch in purple and green to make a Thousand Pyramid quilt using Debra's amazing tutorial.

Once I had a bunch of these on my design wall, I stepped away and sighed.  Though I love the look of the Thousand Pyramid design, the thought of all that repetitive sewing gave me hives.  So I went back to my pile of 3" strips, and decided to to do a strippy version of the Thousand Pyramids quilt.

I also decided that instead of starting yet another big project, that's it's okay to stockpile a few baby quilt tops.  There are always babies coming along that need a quilt.

 

This is not quite a thousand pyramids, but I like the way the prints blend and contrast, and the way it's both geometric and floral.  For me 147 pyramids (more or less) were quite enough, thank you.

Bistro Apron and a Finshed Sweater

 It was Allie's birthday this week, and I decided to make her a couple of bistro aprons as part of her gift.  She cooks at a restaurant, and likes the long half aprons.  Since they're pretty casual at her job, I took out some fun fabrics I knew she'd like.

Fabric: Alexander Henry's "Las Señoritas"

These are a cinch to make, and you can easily get one from a yard of fabric.  The finished size is  29.5 inches wide and 34.5 inches long, so cut a rectangle a little bigger than this, fold narrow hems all the way around, and top stitch them down.  Also cut two 1.5 inch wide strips the length of the apron, fold in half along the length of the strips, and then fold and press the long raw edges toward the center and top stitch.  Attach a tie at each top corner, reinforcing each one by sewing an "x" over the spot where the tie meets the apron.   You can add an optional 9X9" pocket at the top.  Press nicely, and you're done.  I'm glad to get some of these fun fabrics out of the drawer and into the light of day.

Fabric: Alexander Henry, "Los novios"

I also finally finished my Top-Down Raglan Sweater, knit from a bag of Noro Kureyon that I treated myself to. 

I got a little carried away by the buttons for this project.  I had stashed a bunch of these bee buttons, and when I began this sweater, I decided to see how many I could use.  Because of all the buttons, the finishing, with the button band and buttonhole reinforcement, took a little while.

This yarn has long lovely color changes, but I cannibalized a few skeins to concentrate the light and dark colors in the most flattering places.  In our cool summer weather, this sweater is my new jacket substitute.

The Bitter with the Sweet

  

My dear cat Fatty died over the weekend.  She was 15 or 16 years old, and came to live with us after the neighbors she'd lived with moved away and left her behind.  They'd adopted her from a shelter, so she had an uncertain early life, but she had great spirit and a big personality, that helped her maneuver in the world until she landed at my house.

  

The neighbors named her Cleo, but giving nicknames based on physical attributes is a Mexican sign of affection and familiarity, so she became Fatty to me.  Ironically, when she got sick over the last few months, she shrunk down to half her highest weight.

She was very photogenic, and she liked to "talk" and "sing."  Here's a favorite post I wrote in 2007 about Fatty, with one of my favorite photo sequences of her.

 She's in the Spirit World now, but I'll always remember her with great love.

Wedding Bells and the Honeymoon Shawl

Michael and I were married May 20 at my house with my kids as witnesses.  We've been moving toward this step in our relationship for some time, but hadn't quite set a date.  Then in May we booked a vacation cruise to Mexico, and readied to leave town on the 21st.  Suddenly The Right Time had manifested itself, and our vacation turned into a honeymoon, with visits to my parents and to one of Michael's sons and his family as bookends.

The wedding itself was hastily arranged.  I only had a dress because I'd bought one for the trip.  We got the license that morning, and I called my kids at noon to tell them that the wedding would be at 2.  Troopers that they are, they showed up right on time (both on their way to work)  for the short ceremony performed by a local judge, a friend of Michael's, who also gamely agreed to perform the ceremony at my house on short notice.  We would've gone to his office, but he insisted that a less bureaucratic location would be much better.  

That night I put my tennis shoes back on and we went out to dinner at our favorite local Mexican restaurant.   Though the arrangements were very casual, we were both very happy.

The cruise was wonderfully relaxing.  We stopped at Cabo San Lucas and at Puerto Vallarta, where we enjoyed the hot weather, shopping and the beach.  On the ship we spent time reading, getting sunburned, listening to music, and otherwise honeymooning.  It was very romantic.

Looking back on the photos Michael has noticed how happy I look.  Yes, definitely happy.

And there is a fiber-related angle here too.  I started knitting a simple shawl to take on the trip, a variation on the Kid Silk Haze Shawl pattern.  I used some anonymous thrifted mohair yarn on size 11 needles.  If I'd known I was going to get married I might have planned a more elaborate project, but as it is, I finished the shawl, not before the wedding, but on the long drive to Sacramento before our flight to southern California and the cruise ship.

So this is my Honeymoon Shawl, and it worked perfectly as a lightweight but warm shawl for the nights at sea.  It's very much a reflection of our whole wedding experience: it's plain, thrifty, yet cheerful and not without style. 

Mother's Day Aprons

I've had the idea for awhile to use some of my vintage linens and fabrics to make aprons, and Mother's Day provided me with the inspiration to make one for my mom and one for my sister.  These were quick projects that went into the mail the other day, and hopefully they'll arrive on time.

My mom and sister actually wear aprons when they cook, so this is a functional gift.  I usually only wear an apron when I'm going to be cooking for a holiday, when I plan to be in the kitchen for a long time involved in a big cooking production.  But lately I've been wearing a couple of aprons the kids made in middle school home ec., and I think I may make myself a new apron too and expand my choices.

 

The fabric for this first apron is probably from the 70s.  It reminds me of a Marimekko print--remember those?  It has that bold graphic and bright colors.  This fabric was a tablecloth someone had roughly hemmed, and making the apron allowed me to cut around a couple of stains and the ugly hem.  The pattern is one a I copied from an apron that belonged to my grandmother.  That poor apron is threadbare, but I outlined each piece onto waxed paper and I've used it as a pattern.  Even the bias tape is vintage.  The pink tape came in a package with a 15 cent price printed on it.  I've noticed that some vintage aprons mix and match the bias tape colors, so I did that here too.

The my sister's apron is made from a commercial pattern, the Sassy Plus Size Apron Pattern, which runs from sizes 14/16 to 26/28, which allows for a generous apron that covers more than just the front of your clothes.  The paisley fabric is new, but the flounce and pocket were cut from a pillowcase.  These aprons can easily be made from odds and ends, I used a third fabric for the ties and neck straps.

I've got a big stack of fabrics piled up to make a few more aprons.  This is a very satisfying project.  I may have to join the campaign to bring the apron back into widespread use so there will be a reason for all this sewing.

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Sacred Threads

My Fall Madonna has been accepted into the Sacred Threads show in the Washington D.C. area this summer. I'm very exited to be included in my first non-local show.

Converting a Pullover into a Cardigan Using Ribbon, and Making 1000 Pyramid Quilt Blocks

 

I'm having a cashmere love affair.  It's softness makes it a wonderful indulgence, and I've been on a streak finding cashmere sweaters at the thrift store.  Recently I found this really nice pullover, clearly from the 90s since it's long, and brought it home, only to discover why the tag said "as is."  

It had a tiny hole right in the center of the front.  Undeterred, I turned the pullover into a cardigan by machine sewing two lines of stitches up the middle to prevent raveling, and then cutting between the stitching lines with a sharp scissors. Here's a link to another sweater conversion I did using bias fabric, which has additional photos of how I cut the sweater.

At the fabric store I found a wide ribbon in a matching color, and pressed a seam along the length so that one side was a quarter inch wider that the other.  I then cut a piece of pressed ribbon for each sweater front, making sure I had a little extra on the tops and bottoms.

I machine sewed the narrow side of the ribbon to the inside of the sweater, having lined up the cut edge of the sweater with the fold.  Do this for each side.

 

Then I hand sewed the wider side of the ribbon to the outside of the sweater, and trimmed, folded, and stitched up the top and bottom ends as well.  Initially I thought I'd do a Laura Ashleyesque finish on the sweater, embroidering a few French knots along the ribbon, and using a flower button for a closure.

But then I found these great wood fish beads in my stash, which is really more my style.  These are purely decorative.  I sewed hooks and eyes to the inside edge of the sweater.

I'm loving this new-to-me sweater.

I also stole an hour from my day to make some blocks following Debra's 1000 Pyramids Tutorial.  I have a drawer of 3" strips in purples and greens.  I'll throw in some yellows and oranges for good measure.  When people were making 1000 Pyramids quilts for the millennium I was a newish quilter and never made one.  This is my second chance.

Spring Scenes

I was invited to do a poetry reading at the University of California, Merced last week, so I hopped in my car and took the drive down to the Central Valley.  I had a lovely time on campus, reading to a receptive audience of students, and chatting about Chicano literature with Manuel Martín-Rodríguez the faculty member who invited me, and with his graduate assistant Martha Acevedo.  That's me in the orange (store bought) sweater. 

The trip had many other benefits: I got out of the torrential rain zone here on the north coast.  We've really been soaked this year.  I also got to visit with my parents, sister, and nieces, who live within a short drive of Merced.

 

Spring had sprung at mom's house.  Here she is in her garden with Handsome her cat.  She's wearing the Corrie vest I knitted her for her birthday last year.  She has assured me that she's wearing it a lot.

Her tulips were in bloom, and Handsome was enjoying his sunbath in the grass.  God, it was nice to see some sun.

Baby, one of my parents' other cats, also kindly posed for me.

 I took a different route back home, as highway 101 had suffered a major mudslide near Garberville since I'd left.  The highway has been closed down for days, though there is some hope that it will open tomorrow.  I returned home on highway 299, and caught this view of Lake Shasta from my side window.

This is a beautiful drive, and at the summit, there was a considerable amount of snow on the ground.  The day after I got home, a mudslide temporarily closed 299 as well,  and I felt lucky to have negotiated the highway closures without getting stuck.

When I got home, the skies were grey, but the azalea in my front yard was putting on the best show in years, and some red tulips were also showing themselves.

I returned to the Top Down Raglan sweater I'm making with Laura Chau's free pattern and a bag of Noro yarn I couldn't resist buying recently .

The sweater is knit in one piece from the neck down, so there's no seaming.   I'm in the home stretch, making my way down the second sleeve, and I'm thinking of adding some embroidery over the fabulous long color changes for which Noro is famous.

While I was gone, Fatty kept the knitting basket warm.