Some sewing projects I've finally photographed

I finished sewing these weeks ago, but somehow kept forgetting to photograph them. So here's more from Alabama Stitch -- the Rose Applique Shawl, and beaded applique skirt:

The skirt was made from a kit that I mail-ordered from Alabama Stitch. The pieces were cut out and stencilled, and the kit included all the thread and beads that you need.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

This year's vacation wasn't terrribly exotic, but it was fun and relaxing ... and I had lots of time to knit, sew, and read. We spent nine days on the coast of Maine, enjoying the sunshine, the cool temperatures, and the beautiful ocean views. We did a little bit of sightseeing every day, but spent lots of time just hanging out. That gave me time to finish the Harry Potter socks that I started for my daughter ages ago. These are knit from a hand-dyed self-striping yarn that I bought on etsy. The cuffs are a basic 2x2 rib, and the toe is the star-shaped toe from Sensational Knitted Socks.





And I was able to knit another pair of socks for myself, too. (all those hours of driving back and forth to Maine allowed for plenty of knitting!) These are knit with a self-striping Lorna's Laces sock yarn that I bought at purl. The pattern is the Yarn Harlot's basic sock recipe, with ribbing all the way down to the ankle and a slight modification at the toe (after doing half the toe decreases, I started decreasing every row rather than every other row, in order to make a less pointy toe).




And I got a good start on the blocks for a quilt that I'm working on, from Alabama Stitch.


















































What a shame to be back at work, instead of making things! Oh well, the weekend's coming.

I just love the Alabama Stitch Book!

I haven't got much time to put together a post this morning, so I'll just put up a few photos of projects based on the Alabama Stitch Book. Next time I'll get photos of the skirt and headband I've made, but for now, here are three t-shirts.

A Crafty Fourth of July

Notwithstanding the cloudy and often rainy weather, I had quite a good holiday weekend – basically three days of making things, and what could be more fun than that?! I started out with sewing, working my way through more of the projects and techniques in Alabama Stitch. I finished this “3-D appliqué” t-shirt:

Made myself this headband:

Then I started on another shirt, which still needs to have some leaves stenciled on and beaded, I think.

Along the way, I took a detour to make this needle book from Last Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts. I’d been wanting to make one since I saw it in the book, and was spurred to finally do it after struggling to pull some new hand-sewing needles out of their plastic packaging – I wanted to get them into an easier to use case. This was my first time using computer-printable fabric sheets – pretty cool, although the ink did bleed a little bit.


On Monday, I spent the day spinning. I had a number of partly-done spinning projects that I was beginning to feel guilty about, so before starting anything new, I finished up a big hank of tailspun kid mohair:

finished corespinning my “pixie meadowbrite” locks from HollyEQQ:

and finished off a bag of “drunken sailor” batts from hobbledehoy:

I still need to finish off my “neapolitan” roving and a bag of suri alpaca locks, but I decided to let myself start something new anyway … some English Leicester locks from HollyEQQ to corespin:

What a letdown having to go back to the day job (sigh).

More yarn, and some sewing

Here are my two latest yarns. The first is corespun suri alpaca, in a colorway called "Rosewood Orchid." It's every bit as soft as it looks, and then some! The second is a simple thick and thin merino, in a colorway called "Drunken Sailor."


I also took a break from spinning this weekend to finally try a project from a book I bought a few months ago, Alabama Stitch. This is a "reverse applique" cover, designed to dress up a basic composition book from Staples. I love making covers for these inexpensive notebooks.

Lots of finished projects -- not all knitting

I'm shocked by the date of my last post. I knew it had been awhile, but I had no idea it had been so long. I've accumulated lots of finished projects in the meantime. My favorite is this messenger bag:





This is the "Cheery Os Book Bag" from Tink Knit. The original has lots more circles, but I liked the way it looked after I finished the first row, so I stopped there. The front flap is knitted and felted, with the circles needle-felted into place. The yarn is Ella Rae Classic, eggplant and a variety of other colors. The body of the bag, though, is sewn from a buttery soft black leather that I bought on a recent trip to New York at Leather Impact. This was my first time working with leather, but the leather was so soft that I didn't have any trouble with it.

I also finally finished another bag that I knitted and felted weeks ago. This one is the medium-size Adventure Bag from Noni Patterns.




I used some Brown Sheep yarn that I've had sitting around for several years (it was supposed to be a sweater). The lining is from Purl, in New York.
The knitting was easy enough, but I was a little intimidated by sewing in the zipper. Luckily, it went in straight on the first try.









Those are the main knitting projects, but I did make these socks while I was on vacation.
















I've also got some non-knitted items to show off today. I got a shiny new Bernina sewing machine last weekend, so I've got a few sewn projects as well -- a cute pincushion, an eyeglass case, and a composition book cover made of some adorable cowgirl oilcloth.








I'm feeling the urge to try a patchwork quilt next . . . but first I ought to finish that cardigan I've been knitting.