Pillow and Blanket

I acquired some lovely needlepoint pieces from Debra, including this one, which is a vintage pillow cover stitched from the back on velvet.  The pillow inside is a thrifted feather pillow, which Debra also tipped me off to.  There are almost always feather pillows in the thrift stores, she explained.  They usually have removable covers, and although they might say dry clean only, I've washed my feather duvet for years, so these go through the wash too.

The stitchery was a little smaller than the pillow, so I pieced scraps of upholstery fabric in dark colors for the border and backing. 

 I love the way this looks in my living room.

My niece Maria gave me pieces of pink fabrics she'd bought to make cloth masks, back when we were all making them.  I thought I'd make a baby quilt for her sister Nina's now-arrived baby girl.  I'd been admiring this cross pattern online, and there are multiple ways to execute it, but I picked the one that fit the fabric pieces I was working with.

For each block of this quilt I cut 4-4.5" and 2-2.5" squares of background fabric and 2-2.5" and 1-6.5" pieces from the feature fabric.  The pieces go together very easily, with minimal seams to match.

 Another baby quilt in the world warms a new baby.  I'm definitely in the baby quilt groove these days.

Baby Sweater Round Up

When I moved I had to face the true scope of my yarn stash.  As a consequence, this is the year of the baby sweater.  These little projects are using up small quantities of yarn, especially odd single balls, and they will be donated through the For the Children of Pine Ridge group on Ravelry.  This little red sweater was knit from a large ball of recycled yarn, and it's a size 2-4 years.  The pattern, the Roma Baby Cardigan, is free, but the design is flawed with a large neck opening that many knitters have re-engineered. I don't do gauge swatches for these sweaters, so when it came out bigger than the pattern specifies, I just made it longer in the body and sleeves to compensate.

My stash busting for these sweaters includes trim for the button band backs, and the buttons, which so far have all been from my collection.  For the next sweater I stitched two thin pieces of trim together to make the button band backing.

I've made two sweaters so far using the Fuss Free Baby Cardigan pattern and a bag of leftover dk superwash yarn.  

The beanies were stitched from the cast-on numbers in a children's knitwear pattern book.  

All the socks in this post are knit from the same free pattern, Ribbed Far-Away Baby Socks.  The pattern is for newborn socks, but I make them longer for a 6-month size.

This last set is from a classic, and also free pattern, the Baby Boy 5 Hour Sweater.  The pattern is pretty gender neutral, so I used up a special ball of pink yarn.  The lovely old-fashioned bonnet is Debutant by Sweet Paprika Designs.
 

Even Bigger Scrappy (70 x80)

I finished my scrappy quilt top.  I decided to add another round of borders, and I used some smaller scraps to make paper pieced 4.5" blocks.

 

Before I retired I used the office paper cutter to cut an old professional journal into 4.5" pieces.  It seemed fitting to use them in this project.

 

 Now it's done, and the top will rest for awhile until I either get up the gumption to quilt it myself, or send it to be quilted.

 

I have to decide on the backing and batting options.  I'm kind of interested in attaching it to a piece of fleece, so it can be used as a casual utility quilt, but I'm still thinking on this.

 

From the Vault

                     

 

This christening dress I made 37 years ago recently came back to me for minor repairs.  I made it for my niece Nina's baptism, and she's going to turn 37 soon.  She wore it, my daughter Allie wore it, and my sister's younger daughter Maria (Nina's sister) also wore it.  Since then, it's been in my sister Linda's care.  Now that Nina is expecting her second child, a girl, my sister thought it would be good to bring the gown out so it can be worn by the next generation.

 

I used a commercial pattern to make the gown--maybe it was a mid-80s Butterick.  It included iron-on transfers for the embroidery.  In retrospect, I wish I'd made a more gender-neutral gown so my nephew and my son could've worn it too, but I think when my nephew was born--he's the oldest of my and my sister's kids-- I wasn't the sewing enthusiast I came to be.

The gown has held up really well.  The fabric is some kind of cotton-poly blend, and it has stayed white.  The lace is nylon and has yellowed, but not bad for an almost 40-year-old garment.  The tiny repair I had to make was to sew up the shoulder seams, which probably came unsewn from the weight of hanging on the hanger.

 I love these pearl buttons.  They're decorative, and the opening is actually velcro.  It took me a long time to learn to make buttonholes and I avoided them for years.  The dress has a long sewing story to tell.

Out of the Knitting Basket (Free Patterns)

I've been finishing up some lingering knitting projects, trying to keep those UFOs to a minimum (I can dream, right?)  Recently I finished is this great pullover knit from a combination of recycled and new yarns.  The free pattern, Southwood by Galt House of Yarn is a good basic pattern with great instructions

 

I was knitting this sweater during our move, so I veered from the pattern in a few places due to inattention, but it remains cozy and very wearable.  

 

I divided my leftover yarn bits into super wash and non-super wash yarns and knit up a couple of Stashbusting Helix Hats by Jessica Rose, which I've made many times now.  This is my go-to free pattern for charity hats.  It uses up the smallest leftover bits, and the hats are always pretty.

 

I needed a baby gift, so I knit up this Seamless Yoked Sweater by Carole Barenys.  I almost got the whole sweater out of one skein of yarn, but half way down the second sleeve I ran short, but was able to buy a second skein of the yarn.  I was able to find some good button options in my stash, and I think the buttons I chose are perfect.

The Springtime Sandpiper Cowl by Eva Marie isn't free, but it's only $4.  I'd cast this on a long time ago, made some errors in the pattern, and then put it in time out.  I took it out and ripped back the mistakes, and easily proceeded and finished.  Sometimes knitting behaves much better after a time out.

 

Thank you for your comments.  I'm trying to figure out the comment situation: I get some comments in my email, but not all, and I haven't yet figured out how to reply in comments.  Give me some time and I'll work it out, in the meantime, you can reach me at the email in the heading, or at my yahoo address, which many old friend should still have. 
 

Big Scrappy ( 62 x 73")

 

After a really busy 2021, I'm back in the sewing room in a new house and a new town.  Michael and I relocated to be nearer to family, and while there are still projects going on here at the the new house, I was inspired to use up a drawer of scraps to make my favorite kind of big scrappy quilt.

 

 

This kind of quilt really appeals to me.  It's visually busy, and there are few places to rest the eye.  I used more white than I typically do in this one, and this gives the shapes some definition.

 

When sorting this drawer full of scrappy goodness, I cut the fabrics into 2 x 3.5" rectangles, and made 4" half-square triangles, in addition to the main string pieced blocks.  These have been versatile units to work with,

 

I got pretty close to the bottom of this drawer, and I'm thinking of adding a row of small string-pieced blocks to the composition.  As you can see, I've got lots to work with still, but I'm letting the project rest while I consider my options. 

Here's to a happy and creative 2022!

English Paper Piecing

 

 

 When I retired I had visions of myself relaxing with some hand stitching, so I treated myself to a kit for Tula Nova by Tula Pink, who designs English Paper Piecing patterns.  Tula Pink also designs fabric, and one can see many versions of her patterns using her fabrics on Instagram.  I however, decided to use this pattern as a way to feature my collection of Mexican themed fabrics that I've collected over the years.

 

Several rounds in, I'm enjoying this project.  The last time I did English Paper Piecing, I made my own papers and stitch basted the fabric.  Now, kits come with die-cut papers, and each piece is glue basted, so it goes much faster.  Getting a thin thread makes one's stitches almost invisible.  Check out the vintage juicer I use to hold my threads, it makes me smile every time I look at it.

EPP is not very complicated, and I got a lot of tips from Tula Pink's YouTube videos.  When I want to feel especially retired, I sit in my armchair and stitch a few seams.
 

Scrappy woven scarves on the rigid heddle loom

 

Weaving is very meditative once you get the loom warped, and one beauty of weaving scarves is that the warps are skinny and go pretty fast.  

As usual, I was using up bits of this and that, nice yarns I'd picked up at the thrift store, a mix of wool and linen in compatible colors.

I used my little loom, an Ashford Sampleit 8", a tiny thing that doesn't fit on a stand, so I use a cheap work bench I bought for 20 bucks at Harbor Freight. 

In the purplish scarf I also incorporated tiny leftover bits of yarn into the weft, which jazzed up the fairly plain warp.

Both scarves were finished with twisted fringe, which is my favorite way to deal with fringes. Some people finish their wovens by washing them so that the fabric becomes more fuzzy and tight, but I like the look of these as is.

Table Toppers

Table runners are great stash busters.  They use up not just scrap fabric, but also scraps of batting.

I used up some of my favorite scraps on this runner, and set them in my favorite scrappy block.

The one is the perfect size for my kitchen table.

I had some leftover blocks and a really nice piece of home dec fabric for this longer table runner.

I just alternated leftover blocks in a long row. 

I'd been saving an old seed catalogue with historical illustrations for the longest time, and it came in handy when I decopaged the top of this small side table.

It lives next to the chair where I read, knit, and watch movies with my eyes closed in the afternoons.

 Smokey the cat is a living and breathing table topper.  This is one of her favorite places to hang out.