Posts from — August 2009

I finished McCalls 5874 about a month ago to wear to my niece’s wedding (which I didn’t get to go to…kitchen debacle).  Since I don’t “get out” much I wasn’t sure when I would get to wear it.  Last night it was finally able to come out of the closet when we went to dinner with friends at Prima Vista.  I’m happy with the way it turned out.  It fits well and is very comfortable.  I purchased the fabric at JoAnn.  I think it was around $7 per yard and took roughly 2 yards.  I cut a  16 for the top and a 14 for the bottom.  I only had to make one alteration.   It was pretty loose at the waist despite the darts so I took it in about 3/4″ at each side seam, blending it in to the top and bottom so it wasn’t an abrupt curvet.  I could have taken in the darts instead but they looked so darn perfect I hated to rip them out.  The only thing I had a little trouble with was when I went to match up the shoulder seams.  You press under a certain amount (3/8 maybe?) on the front and back piece.  Once the front and back are sewn to the dress you then match the shoulder seams.  Apparently, my pressing job was not quite accurate enough.  I had to fudge a little to get them to match and then grade the press mark so that it would blend in smoothly with the rest of the strap.  If you make this dress, be sure to do all of your front and back yoke pressing at the same time then match the shoulder seams before you attach the yokes and the facing.

I’ve been quite busy in the “sweatshop” this week.  Among my projects were another gift blanket and a shirt with embroidery. I’m pretty behind on the sewing updates but I hope to get a couple more posted this week before I leave for Arizona (YAY).  Please keep me in mind for custom gifts and embroidery.  I finally have a link at the store for custom requests.  I’ll also have some handmade crafty totes and Christmas stockings (with embroidery, of course and the ability to add a name) available for purchase soon.  I”m plan to be very busy in the sweatshop once I’m back in Cincinnati!

Now I need to figure out what to cast on for my travel knitting.  I’ve been having some tingling in my right hand so socks may be out of the question.  I’m thinking a fall sweater (yeah, Vivian is still on the needlesbut I left it in Arizona…will pick it back up while I’m there).  I’m off to Ravelry now to try to decide but I’m open to suggestions!

Tomorrow is my father’s 60th birthday and we are heading over to his house later today to celebrate.  My dad is a big pie fan (although he rarely indulges…very healthy eater), so I have been in the kitchen this morning baking away.  I chose Apple Cherry Filling with an Oatmeal topping by Emeril (I’m sure I don’t need to add a last name here…isn’t he pretty much up there with Cher and Madonna?) and a  pie crust by Paula Deen.  If I’m going to eat pie, I like cherry the best but I know dad likes apple so I figured this was a good compromise.  I didn’t have the deep dish pie pan it called for so instead it made two 8 3/4″ pies.  The crust recipe easily covered the two tins with some left over.  Far be it from me to waste crust though…I improvised a lattice top for the birthday pie and just put the rest randomly on top of the other.   I’ll have to let you know how it tastes later but it definitely looks and smells delicious!

Jayne (my stepmother) also had a birthday on the 10th.  She happens to collect flamingos so I incorporated this embroidery design into a tote.  I’m really happy with the way it turned out.  So happy in fact, that I’ll be sharing a tote bag tutorial with you shortly.  There are several good tote tutorials out there but I figure I probably have more knitting readers here than sewing and several of you have commented lately something to the effect “I wish I could sew”…I’m thinking an easy project like this might be a good segue to get some of my knitting friends to dig out their sewing machines.

For dad, I made a blanket with a collage of things that will mean something to him.  For those who don’t know him; an explanation.  He use to restore cars (3 I think) from rusted out pieces of crap to beautiful historical vehicles.  Our last name is Schnellenberger (German…duh) and he worked for a German company that sent him there several times.  He also taught himself to speak German and makes beer.  He’s been a runner for practially my whole life (36 years) and ran a farm (pigs and cattle) in addition to his “real” job when I was a child.  Like a lot of dad’s, he can fix, build, etc. just about anything.  I never know what to get him and I figure everyone needs a throw blanket.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I wish I could say this pattern lit a fire in me, but instead I strongly suspect it as the cause of my knitting funk.  Started way back on April 7, this was to be a “travel” pair of socks.  In the beginning, they didn’t see too bad.  Pretty colors and an interesting pattern knit toe up kept me happy for a while.  But somewhere in between the toe and the heel I began to hate these socks.  Doing tiny one stitch cross cables SEEMED like it should be pretty easy (especially since I cable without a cable needle) but it really hurt my hands with the metal addi turbos.  Instead of putting myself out of my misery and ripping them out, I continued to plug along.  I worked on them solely on the plane or in the car.  Pretty soon though, I wasn’t working on them at all…or knitting anything else for that matter!  They stayed in back of my mind, lurking and causing me knitter’s guilt for not finishing them.  To make matters worse, I like to knit until I run out of yarn which makes really cute knee socks.  I finally decided they just weren’t worth it and finally cast off.  I feel like a weight has been lifted off my knitterly shoulders.  Now what to cast on next?!?

Stats:  Firestarter, magic loop on addi turbos US 0, Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi Color 204 Daffodil 76 grams

This isn’t exactly a contest,  but you can win a gorgeous custom handbag…go check it out!

I planned to write today’s blog post from the airport since I usually get there plenty early.  I had to meet with the contractor this morning one last time before I left thoughh so I didn’t really have any extra time (fortunately, I had enough time to get my usual airport burrito…leaving without it would have been a tragedy).  So now I’m writing on the plane.  What’s cool though is that I’ll actually be able to post from here!  I finally hit a Delta flight with the gogo wireless service.  I consider this $10 well spent.  I can catch up on blogs, write email and generally keep my mind off this 3+ hour flight.  If I get tired of catching up on blogs I have reading and of course, knitting.

I’ve been wanting to make a new handbag for a while so of course when I found myself out in Arizona by myself with a sewing machine this is the first project that came to mind.  Pattern?  I don’t need no stinking pattern!  I did have a new technique I wanted to try though..a concealed top edge zipper.  By the way, for inquiring minds it’s Michael Miller fabric purchased from The Olde World Quilt Shop.  Well, let me just say that if you plan to try this technique, prepared to be annoyed.  Getting the zipper disassembled and reassembled again is VERY fiddly.  Annoying even.  If I try it again I’ll go with one of those “make your own zipper” kits.  I think that would be much easier.  After all that work, I have no new bag.  One thing about not having a pattern is that one tends to forget things.  Whole steps even.  There is definitely a specific order to making a lined bag.  An order that somehow got a little off track and caused me to abandon the whole mess.  I’m going to chalk it up to being distracted with the kitchen situation.  As a future project, I think the size and design I chose really look great.  I’ll probably tackle this again once I’m back in Cincinnati.

I did finish something; Burda 8361 purchased from sewingpatterns.com.  It’s the first time I used a printable pattern and I loved it.  It’s so nice to have a pattern on real paper rather than on tissue without the whole having to trace part.  It was easy to assemble too so no worries there.  It was also the first time I did a full bust adjustment.  This pattern doesn’t really need it since it’s a knit but I thought the simple construction made it a good candidate on which to practice.  This blog post at Sew Mama Sew has some great explanations and links to doing the adjustment on different types of garments.  The pattern was very easy and I’ll be making at least one more .  I’m not sure if it was caused by my adjustment, but I had to sew the shoulder seams with a two inch seam rather than the ccalled for 5/8″.  I’m short waisted but I never imagined my shortness being from the shoulder to under-bust!  With that adjustment the fit was pretty good although I’m taking out some of the FBA on the next version.  I’m not afraid to take pictures without makeup but, OMG…MUST. HAVE. EYEBROWS.  I had to delete the first batch so I didn’t scare y’all!  So here you have the top and me, with eyebrows.

Thanks to the Sew Forth Now podcast, I tried a new edge finish called lettuce trim.  I can’t remember the episode number (it was somewhere between her first and number 11…maybe 2?, interview with Anne St. Clair of Needle Nook Fabrics who specializes in knits) but I’ll give you a mini tutorial here.  First, set your machine to zig zag at the widest width (mine was 7mm) and the shortest stitch length (mine was 1mm).  Then place your fabric with the edge in the middle of the presser foot so that the “zag” part of the stitch occurs off of the fabric. (darn it…I had a good picture of this but forgot to upload it)  Then as you feed the fabric through the machine, stretch it from the front and the back.  Don’t fight with your machine too much here or you risk breaking a needle.  Practice on a scrap with the amount of stretch and stitch width to get the amount of curl you want and voila, you’ve got a great knit edging without the use of a serger.

Back to the grind in Cincinnati tomorrow!   I hope “re-entry” doesn’ burn too much.

Yesterday I shared that searching for bargains on craigslist has been keeping me busy while out of town…but that’s not all.  Fabric shopping, a mini quilt class and sewing (now that I have a machine here) have all been part of the mix.

The fabric shopping is amazing here.  There is a really nice “super” JoAnn about 20 minutes away and a quilt shop just down the street.  Those are pretty typical though.  What is AMAZING is SAS Fabric.  I don’t have anything like it in Cincinnati but I suspect other Really Big Cities™ like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles might have something similar.  It’s basically a warehouse type setup with remnants of any kind of fabric you can imagine including brocade, upholstery, vinyl and silk just to name a few.  Some are cuts that you buy by the pound, some are on big bolts and rolls and some are by the yard.  The prices are fantastic even cheap, depending on what you get.  The only downside is it can be overwhelming and you have to be willing to dig through bins and stacks of fabric to find what you want.  There are three locations in the valley, each a little different.  My favorite is the closest to me and also happens to be the largest (19th Ave).  Any of the locations are definitely worth the trip if you are in the area.

While I was out one day, I checked the class schedule at JoAnn’s to see if there were any while I was still in town.  The only one that looked interesting was the mini quilt and at only $10 for a four hour class seemed like a bargain.  They’ve been making a different mini quilt each month all year and I was lucky enough to be in class with a woman that had them all in a portfolio.  So.  Cute.  I never really thought I would get into quilting, but this class really opened my eyes to how much fun it could be.  Even if I never get into making large quilts, I can totally see myself doing minis.  They’re fun, addictive, can be completed in just a few hours and make great gifts.  I can see them being used as sort of a doily type thing under lamps, bowls, etc. or better yet, they’d make great hot pads/potholders!  Plus, they’re the perfect way to use up scraps and try out new techniques.  My first mini is a little sad…this particular technique of sewing circles then turning them at this size does not make for precision.  I tried it again when I got home in a slightly larger size (the one on the right) but didn’t have much more success.

The mini quilts and the associated class chatter about previous projects led me to a web search where I learned about paper piecing.  That was my next experiment.  It’s fun because you don’t even cut the pieces to a pattern.  You just cut pieces bigger than that particular part of the pattern and then trim as you go.  You then sew the seams through your pattern paper.  It too, was so fun and easy.  I always wondered how quilters made such perfect points with tiny pieces and now I know!   I was surprised that my google search didn’t bring up many tutorials on this technique.  Maybe if anyone is interested I’ll do one.  Oh… and please don’t make any judgments about my fabric choices.  I just used the leftovers from the quilt class and some super elcheapo fabric I bought at Walmart.

Tomorrow…my new top and a handbag technique I tried.

I’ve often joked with my online knitting friends about who gets the stash in the event of my unfortunate demise.  I’ve also worried about poor Jim having to deal with all that stash if I’m gone…the fights, the pushing and shoving amongst greedy yarnistas.  Forget any jewelry…where are the Addi Turbos, the Viking sewing machine, for gosh sakes, the alpaca?  Maybe I even need a yarn/craft will?  Silliness, I know.  But going to an estate sale made me think about it again.

A girl has to do something to keep busy when away from her business and family…in between meeting with insurance adjusters and contractors, of course.  So I browsed Craigslist and found a tasty estate sale where a sewing machine was pictured in the sale preview.  I saved the picture.  I enlarged.  A Pfaff Creative 1471?  After some research, I discovered it was one of the first computerized sewing machines, has the exclusive Pfaff IDT technology that people love and after closer inspection…a price tag of $45.  I know.

I arrived when the sale started at 7 a.m. and it was already very busy.  It was in cute little house near downtown Phoenix.  I didn’t stop to look at anything on the way through, hoping someone hadn’t already scoo0ped up the machine.   The very last room in the house contained not only the machine, but the remains of a woman’s crafting life.  I immediately plugged in the machine and ran it.  I couldn’t believe how smoothly it ran.  I was absolutely giddy1.  I was then able to focus my attention on the rest of the room.  Fabric cuts of at least two yards each for .50, sewing and craft magazines for a quarter, tool, rulers, thread and other notions at bargain prices.   You can see I went a little crazy (forgot to picture the sleeve board and wooden collar point) but at those prices?  How could I not?  I didn’t take any pictures of the fabric but it was mostly suiting type stuff …even if the color isn’t my taste will be great for muslins.

Which brings me back to what happens to our craft stuff after we pass on.  I can only hope that where ever this woman is, she is happy knowing that someone who apprecitates and loves her things is putting them to good use.

1. It’s quite abnormal just how happy craft stuff makes me…I was especially delighted that an “ebay” lady that came into the room after me tried to snatch up the machine that sat right at my feet.  Apparently she had known about it ahead of time too [↩]

Ok, so I’m a little late with this…I actually wrote it on the plane (July 23rd!) but haven’t had a chance to post it until now.

What at day. It began at 2:45 a.m. with a call from our alarm company in Phoenix (to refresh your memory, we have a house there). The alarm has gone off before due to bad weather so we hoped that was all it was. They called back and said the sheriff saw water on the floor in the kitchen and thought that was what set off the motion detector. Now this would be a bad call on any day, but it was made worse by the fact that Jim was to be at the hospital for minor surgery at 5:30 a.m. (A blockage was taken out from under his tongue last week and it had become infected. Turns out there was another stone in there the size of a marble!)

We decided I would have to go to Phoenix today to see what had happened. Normally, the though of going to Phoenix makes me ecstatic, but without Jim and on such short notice it just isn’t as fun as it should be! On a positive note, it is making me knit again. I haven’t mentioned it but I’ve been in sort of a knitting funk lately. The last time I had the needles in my hand was the last time I was on a plane (about 6 weeks ago). Fortunately, it’s just like riding a bike but I am still loathing the socks I’m working on. The are the firestarter pattern in Lorna’s Laces and I am pretty sure they are the cause of the knitting funk. The tiny cables are not making me or my hands happy. They’re actually already long enough that I could cast off, but I hate to “waste” the rest of the yarn. For the sake of my knitting sanity I need to either finish them this weekend or burn them. I think once they’re off the needles I’ll feel like I can start something fun and hopefully this funk will disappear!

***
Fast forward to today…stoooopid reverse osmosis unit was the cause of the damage. I have met with the insurance adjuster and *5* contractors! Fortunately most of them were referred and I like all of them. It’s going to be a difficult decision on who to go with but I think any of them would do a great job. The sad part of the whole thing is the house is only 10 years old and has had a very nice kitchen which will now have to be torn apart in order to repair the damage. Water damage is a nasty thing! We’re also going to have the plumbing separated so that we can turn off the water to the house anytime we leave yet have the outside still going so the drip irrigation (much needed in the desert!) and pool will be unaffected. Too bad we didn’t think of that sooner and we could avoided this whole mess! I have finally booked my ticket back for Thursday. As much as I love it here, I am ready to be home with Jim and the boys!