Art Quilt

We've been recovering from some serious computer virus and technological failures in this house! My blog has been seriously ignored. But, we are back online and I'll update you on our Spring as we start our Summer!






This is an art quilt that we'll hang in our bedroom. I used free motion quilting and pieced it together so you'd see those small brown squares. Sewing it together didn't take long, the quilting took about 30 minutes a square.

We Made That!

The kids and DH made this to send to Grandma.

I made this play tent for the table. Inspired by this one (click here), but not as nice since my table is 89" long! I hope to go back and add windows.

We made this for my mom's birthday. The center needlework is by my grandmother who had put this on a dress for my aunt. The fabric was my grandmothers, so I used it to make a boarder. The frame is made by DH from purple heartwood. That amazing purple hue is the natural color of the wood!

Knitting Alert

This is my Frankenstein sweater. I had started the Tilted Duster by Norah G a year ago, but I reconsidered the idea and now it's a Zimmermann Saddle shoulder. I used the sleeves from Norah and worked the body from the other pieces, you can see one in the corner. It's working up fast, but is now past the portability stage.

Evelyn Clark's Shetland Triangle is the shawl I finished. I used Lamb's Pride in worsted, but the pattern calls for a smaller yarn, so I got a bigger shawl, enough to wrap around me on cold night instead of a Snuggie. Cats provide scale.

Completed hiking socks and feet for scale.

Crafty Times

In between the trips, school drop off, grocery store and other daily life, I sneak off to the basement to do a little sewing. Here's what I've accomplished this summer between the hours of 8:30 and 10 pm!

Scrap Sock Monkey Baby Quilt-it became more of a changing pad! I loved piecing this and playing with the layout, it's entirely from scraps from P. Mookie, but it's probably too sturdy and small to really wrap a baby up in. The good news, babies come in all sizes, so at some point you can fit an infant on this to lay on, or change a diaper if you really hate it!
This is the back of Sock Monkey, I realized a bit late you should line up the quilting, so I sacrificed a bit and re-did part of it so the quilting actually lined up to the back rows. I didn't do any vertical quilting, hope it's okay.

A little Stacked Coin-type baby blanket. I think brown would have been a nice choice for the solid sections, but it's still nice for a little girl to be born in November. Notice, no white! I like color but admittedly, this choice was a bit off.

Sandwich wraps for some of my favorite San Francisco ladies. I made a template for these and I have this down to a quick sew, I should sell these on Etsy! Would you buy one?

Sewing When I Can

This is a sneak peak of what is next.
This is what I finished up: a custom double pointed needle holder. Pieced the outside together and the quilting makes the pockets. They weren't deep enough so I added the elastic, which moved around on me. I reinforced the stitches on the elastic. The inside fabric was scrap from the binding on E's quilt. I had the cutest pink bandanna fabric, to match the knitting pirate, but the color was just off. This solid isn't perfect, but it works.

Cupcake Blanket

The cupcake blanket is done and don't be fooled by the top photo, she loves it! Nearly every fabric shopping trip we took, I let the Princess pick out some fabric. It started with cupcakes, moved to dots, cherries, hearts, then when it looked like sports equipment was going to be added, I cut her off and started sewing. Nine patch squares with solid squares and white sashing. I top quilted 2 rows/columns in the sashing which showcases the squares nicely. I also free motioned a heart in the top corner. I used some of my grandmother's fabric at the top and the bottom-to cover her from head to toe! The back is one large single piece of European fabric, so it was just the size I needed (about a full size top), I got it from Bunte Fabrics. It's divine! I miscalculated (hmm, maybe that's why people follow a pattern instead of going maverick) and my back was a tad too small. I ended up making some fat binding to wrap around and reach the back fabric. Crazy, I know. It's a new trend, fat binding, you heard it here first!

If you are worried about mixing too many colors and patterns, don't be. Take it from the expert:

Baby Blanket

I pieced together a quick baby blanket over the last couple of weekends for Clizziare, my collage friend who now has one month to go before birth day! This is Amy Butler Midwest Modern fabric I'd been saving and not sure what to do with. I had two fat quarters (center and around the center), and a yard of the big boarder and a yard of polka dots for the back and little corners. I didn't want to cut up the big pattern of the flowers so I made that my focus, and put in two boarders and called it a quilt! The backing is the same little dots you see in the small squares around the first boarder. I fussy cut the outside boarder to keep the lines of pink consistent. I machine stitched the binding, I uhh, wanted it to hold up to frequent washings (or, I'm just lazy!)

I practiced my free motion by tracing the large flowers in a matching pink, and did stitch in the ditch for each boarder. I think some wide spaced (maybe 3 inches) horizontal lines along the outside would have been nice, but I didn't think of it until I was wrapping this for a baby shower on Saturday. The free motion takes some practice, I tried area stores to buy a $29 sew slip or supreme slider to make the fabric move nicely so you can control your work, but I no one had them and half thought I was crazy! After my husband raised his eyebrows at the idea of buying 'quilting gloves,' I made due with some 99 cent plastic kitchen gloves, and it gave me the traction I needed.

I struggled with making such a simple quilt with such quality fabric (read: expensive) but in the end, a simple well made quilt can show off a nice fabric and you don't need to complicate things. And, if halfway through the process it becomes an okay-made quilt to an "at least it will keep the baby warm" made quilt. That's okay, too!

You can see my plum tree is in full bloom, expect plums at least a month earlier than usual.

No Medal For Me

I didn't finish my Olympic Mittens on time, in fact, I might just make them fingerless gloves! I can only manage about 3 rows in an hour, too much concentration needed for these to turn out right. I challanged myself with colorwork, but a true olympian would just keep going. So, I'll press on and finish these some day! Thanks for the challenge, Harlot!

I figured I'd show you some snaps of the bog jacket. Since taking these, I've finished the seaming and done the collar. I still need to add an i-cord edge and I'm thinking I'll put in a zipper.









Here is detail of the waste yarn removed, waiting for weaving. When you weave garter stitch together you need to have two of the same sides, I did it wrong on the right side of the sweater (hint,the left side in this photo) and I unwove it all and re-did it. An extra 4 hours of work done. Holy Mohair!

I love the colors, but this is hibernating for the summer, waiting for help to sew a zipper into a knitted garment.

Phat

I was going to post about this as my favorite hat. I've made three so far for several babies (still working on the size.) I was going to tell you how it fits perfectly over the ears of little ones and works well for adults, just cute and gnome-like enough. I was going to offer to knit one for the first person to comment and tell me the color of their choice.

I was going to tell you all about this as my favorite hat. Then, my husband compared the shape to a part of the male anatomy and it's not my favorite hat anymore.

But, it's still my favorite to knit, so if you don't mind walking around with a penis head, then post a comment with the color you'd like and I'll randomly pick a winner and make you one. If anyone wants it, that is!

My bog jacket is no longer portable, hence the need to have a hat on the needles! This is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Gnomy hat from the Knitters Almanac.

Lazy Sunday

The kids and I made popovers from a Mollie Katzen recipe book for preschoolers (love her!). Easy recipe-paint butter on a muffin tin. Whisk 2 eggs, a cup of milk, a cup of flour and some salt. Bake for 30 mins. They were a hit. The kids also made 'soup' in the sink. A wild concoction of Italian seasoning, soap and toothpicks.

Tinker Toys ended up in my coffee. I didn't even blink, just kept drinking. Luckily, they were plastic and not the wood ones. Next to my favorite cup is my Bog Jacket I'm working on. It's too big for traveling at this point and I need to start a smaller project, this will stay in the house from now on.

We had a lazy day; cleaning and cooking, visiting the library and playing in boxes. Kids always ended playing with the box! Ice cubes in the bath tub are also cheap and easy! Can you tell I've been cutting corners lately? Every good mom needs a library card, sprinkles or chocolate chips in the pantry and band aids in your purse!

At the knitting night I used to go to, I once spoke at length with a librarian about children's education. She told me the best way to help kids succeed-read to them. It's no secrete and it's simple, she told me. We read to both kids, individually, at bedtime and I often grab books throughout the day. This is about the third time DH read this book to Butters! DH suggested trying a different one, Butters replied, "But I LOVE this one." You can't argue with that! Note: the expert Tinker Toy Wall-E robot in the corner and crazy hair on the boy!

Making Stuff

I finished my crazy Zimmermann socks, she calls them 'retreads,' as you can replace the bottoms when they wear out. They are thick, warm slippers but too small for me. They look crazy when they aren't on, like Japanese slings or something.

You can see they are a bit small. My only adaptations were that I did two at once on one long needle, knit the leg and top of foot, then picked stitches in the green and finished the bottoms individually. I love the toe decreases.

Since these are a wee tight on me, it's time for a contest, if you wear a size women's 8 or smaller (or men's 7 or smaller) and you swear you will wear these and you'll wash them in cold water and never ever put them in the dryer, they are yours! Email me or post a comment why you want them and I'll pick a winner at random and mail them to you.

Here's the other thing I made, a 5 layer chocolate chip cookie cake for my friend's birthday. You could get away with half the recipe and make a 3 layer cake, but the look on the kids faces at this giant pile of sugar is worth it! Recipe found here.

Knitting Everywhere

I've got knitting all over the house now, that way, when the kids are entertaining themselves (you can never predict these things) and the dishes are away and the laundry is in, I just pick up the knitting closest too me and work. At night, it's more a complicated piece or I sneak in the basement and sew, in the day, it's all knit stitch. Upstairs: a blanket beyond the portability stage. Next to the couch: lace scarf. In the bathroom: crazy zimmermann socks (for bathtime not my bathroom time-I'm never alone in the bathroom). I have way too many projects on the needles but at least they are all slowly getting done.

So, here are a few I've finished, unless you want to see photos of works in progress!

An Unoriginal Hat by Yarn Harlot in out of stash yarn from 10 years ago, a silk wool blend by Noro. Hat was received by TiffTiff and hopefully it kept her warm at the Mall for the big day (so jealous!)

A pencil/crayon/marker roll filled with short 'pip squeak' markers. I ended up folding down the top, the quilting is better than a year ago and I finally figured out the tie but avoid looking at the corner, I ran out of bobbin thread. It's made to hold markers for a kid, it doesn't have to be perfect, right!

Mittens for a friend, unhappily modeled again by E! There are two, I knitted two at the same time, these are a gift for Friend, once I get to the post office!

Christmas Gifts

Now that the gifts have been given and received, I can post a few photos of what I made this year (and didn't!)

Tea towels or finger towels for my mom. These were made from the Elsbeth Lavold Linen in sage. I got the pattern from Knit Wits, a store in Northern Kentucky. There were fast and fun but I should have included a note, I don't think my mom knew what they were when she opened them!

This is a simple 1x1 rib scarf made from glorious hand painted cotton. Super soft but the pattern didn't deserve the yarn. But, I had bought the yarn from a store in Half Moon Bay, Ca and the store went out of business around 8 years ago, so I figured I should just make something with it.

Notice anything? I like to travel and go to yarn stores. It brought me peace this summer. I took an hour to myself when my husband was in the hospital and found a knitting store in Pittsburgh. They had every color of Cascade 220 on the walls, over 100 colors of the same yarn waiting for you to do something with it. It felt good just to be surrounded by possibility.

And now, the impossibility: I made a mitten with camel toe! Learn from my mistakes this winter!

1. Don't think that Elizabeth Zimmermann, the Grandmother of knitting, was wrong when she said to pull the yarn through the top stitches on your mitten. I decided grafting would be better, like the toe of a sock, I ended up with the toe of a camel. I fixed the top but the mitten is still too narrow, unless you know someone with small, long hands-this is going to be ripped out.

2. If the shawl in the picture looks like it will be too long of a triangle and you knit it and it's too long, that's probably your fault. This kills me and I can't decide what to do. I started knitting this as a wedding shawl for Maria (last July). It's not turning out right and I hate working on it. Should I press on and finish it, even if I don't like how it's turning out-too pointy??!! Or, rip it out and make something else, a better wedding shawl? I have lovely memories of starting it in Tuscany and still trying to finish it the day of the wedding. I'm thinking they'll just be memories.

3. The last lesson: It won't save you time to wash your black, red and white fabric for a baby quilt with your dirty clothes. Yes, you should be impressed I even pre-washed, but now I need to find the time to go back to the fabric store and buy new fabric as my newly washed fabric is stained all over.

Home Sick

We've been wiping runny noses and dealing with sleepless nights around here. Last night I laid awake for hours, I just couldn't fall asleep. I couldn't blame a hungry or crying child or even growing pains. Just me. Awake. I listened for more rats in our attic, let the dog out at 2 am and I tried drinking milk. Tonight, I plan to stay up late so I'm super tired and will fall asleep no problem.

I've been crafting up a storm, and it looks like a storm hit my craft room. Here's a sneak peak. I've also got startitis since I finished a number of projects. Started a hat and getting ready to put another pair of socks on the needle.









Baby E leans back like she's doing a limbo, it's the funniest thing but not quite captured on film. You have some come and see it! She also gives her baby a bath, loves peek a boo and reads the book Ready, Set, Go!












The Boy has been less than a joy lately (here he is with make up on his face). Testing me/us daily, pestering sister. I was threatening to email Santa before 8 am the other morning, just to give you an idea! I've been at the end of my rope some days. Three and a half is supposed to be a tough time for them, possibly the hardest yet, until puberty. I think the holidays add a level of craziness to everything also. He's great when we go out, but with the sickness, we've been home. And I'm climbing the walls! Luckily, there is Christmas knitting to keep me busy.

Too Big

Okay, Mom, just admit that the jacket you made for me is too big and I promise to wear it next year!

Sorry, I've been Facebooking!

I finished up some secret projects,they've been mailed and received so now I can post about them!




Finished up a knitted penguin for Liane's new baby girl. I started this when she was pregnant and the baby was born in July, oops! Oh well, the kid will never remember!

This is a heart shaped purse for my neighbor growing up. She got married on Friday but I couldn't go to Ky for the wedding. This is just big enough for some lipstick, powder and tissues. A something old (my mom sewed an old button on), something new (the yarn), borrowed (uh, the button again) and blue! I gave her some sisterly advice-drink white wine as red wine makes your teeth discolored and you don't want to spill on your dress. Very important. And, don't be a drunk bride, your mom will not be happy.











Here is why you don't want to be a pet in our household! E is always bringing toys over to Levi and Butters harasses the cat like you wouldn't believe. When I was pregnant with him, I read a passage about raising a compassionate human because as a vegetarian I brought life into the world without sacrificing any other life and he just terrorizes living things. He started riding the dog like a horse today!


I've decided to try and limit my holiday knitting-tea towels and wash clothes, mittens and socks. Simple, small and usable. Otherwise, I'll buy stuff from your list, I think my family is tired of my buying gifts for them that I would like!

Not Quite Right

Things don't always turn out the way you want them to. This is stretching it, but the scarf I knitted during surgery didn't quite turn out the right way and neither did his surgery. Don't worry, they didn't find anything (else) bad, it's just that since he doesn't look like crap, it seems like he should be fine, but he's not. It's taking much longer for him to bounce back and we are basically treading water right now. It's like your first trimester, you don't obviously look pregnant so people have no sympathy for you and they just think you are hung over. He is getting better every day, we just didn't think it would be this impactful...dramatic...shitty?


Here is the scarf, it's finished and wearable; casted on when they wheeled him in and finished shortly after we came home. Pattern is Diamata (it's in my Ravelry notebook if you are interested).






In true Megababe form, I ran out of yarn for the last 2 rows and had to cannibalize off an old hat, which is now a neck warmer! The yarn is not quite right, a bit too thick and fuzzy and springy. I'm willing to knit this again using the store sample's yarn, which was sent to me by my favorite yarn fairy. Still, knitting this brought me great comfort. I needed something to do with my hands while waiting, and waiting and after 4 hours when we hadn't heard anything, then 5 hours, then 6 I wasn't stressed because I was about to purl 15 stitches together, I needed to concentrate. Then, Dh's completely hot neurosurgeon came out to update us and I blushed like a schoolgirl. It was wonderful to have the distraction, the knitting, I mean.

Knitting also relaxed me at night and gave me something to do on the shuttle ride to the hospital. I'd only get a row or two done on these socks, but it was better than nothing.






I also worked on this poncho/shrug thingy. Although I had planned to boycott the Olympics, we were in a hotel room for 2 weeks, so I worked on this while cheering Phelps, the old lady and Misty/Kerri!