Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my youngest. 21 years old today.




Ahhh, I breathe a sigh of relief, we made it. They're all adults (at least agewise, actions could be another matter all together!)

A Twice Finished Sweater

Okay, okay, I know I'm crazy, but I couldn't help it. I put the sweater on and all I could see in the mirror glaring back at me was my mistake! I wore it to work tried not to point out the mistake and it worked until I went to knit with a group of women after work and it all came bursting out..."I made a mistake, it's right in the front!" It made me feel better that no one could find it, but I knew it was there.
So...over the weekend I took part of the underarm and side seams out, removed the sleeve, ripped down the front to my error and fixed it. It's all back together and now I'm happy and I try not to look too closely at the sweater because I don't want to see any more mistakes! I'll get a photo of it on me next time I wear it.

Now It's Really Done

My last post suggested that I only had to finish knitting the front/neck band of my sweater. Little did I know it would take me four tries to get it right!! It was worth it though. I finished sewing it together tonight and it is drying right now. I am very happy with the way it turned out...except when I had it laid out for blocking I noticed a mistake. UGH! I don't think anyone else will notice and I have promised myself that I won't mention it to anyone admiring the sweater when I wear it. I just can't bear the idea of taking it apart. I am planning on wearing it this week and will get some photos of it on.

I have started another sweater and don't like the yarn so tomorrow I am going back to the yarn shop to do an exchange. In the meantime I think I will whip up a baby sweater. I think I need a quick knit and I have a niece who is expecting in July.

I can't believe the weekend is over...off to bed to dream of new sweaters!

The Knitting Is Done...Almost

I only have the neck and front band left to knit on my Drift sweater. Now comes the difficult part...sewing everything together. I made it a little shorter than the pattern. I hope it fits!





I have my next project ready to swatch. Stay tuned...

Letterpress Love

I love letterpress. Ever since I first noticed cards printed that way at the Paper Source store in Boston I have been enamored with it. I even took a class at a local print shop. I have wanted to be able to recreate the technique without buying a huge, old, expensive printing press. Enter the new(ish) L Letterpress by Lifestyle Crafts. Mine arrived on Monday and today I finally got a chance to play with it. I am in letterpress love!!!

I watched youtube videos and read some great blog posts about the machine here, here and here. Then I jumped in...here is my first printing. I used rubber stamp daubers instead of ink for the first tries. This is the first printing I did. You can see the ink got on the edges of the designs.



Then I tried a print without any ink. It was gorgeous!!



So I dug up some notecards that I had and pressed them. Lovely.


Then I got the ink and the brayer out. The brayer that comes with the kit is terrible. The blog posts I read had prepared me for that. I will buy a new one.

My inking needs work and there is a tip from Boxcar Press that I will use. I am off to design some things and have some custom plates made at Boxcar Press. I never find the time to send out Christmas cards, but maybe this will be the year that I get my act together. I certainly have plenty of time if I start now! Stay tuned...

The Great Serger Experiment

I found this wonderful piece of sweater knit fabric at JoAnn's before Thanksgiving. There was just over a yard of it which was less than I needed to make a jacket. I bought it because it was the perfect color to go with a skirt that I have had for about 5 years and hardly worn because I had nothing to go with it! I decided to jump right in and see what I could do with the fabric.

I started with an old Simplicity pattern that I have used for years for a simple, unstructured, knit jacket. I had enough fabric for a shorter jacket with 3/4 sleeves, but I don't particularly like 3/4 sleeves - especially in the winter. I set the project aside to think about it (remember I am a great thinker!).

When I went back to it I decided to use my serger to add pieces to the bottom of the front and back and sleeves to make them longer. I used a flatlock stitch.


I went with that idea and added plackets on the front and a neckband. Here I used a combination of flatlock and cover stitches. The neckband went on 4 times before it was what I wanted! I ended up putting the raw edges of the neckband over the neck edge and topstitching with the coverstitch.


I'm so happy with the results. The only thing I may still change on it is to add some shaping at the waist in the side seams and maybe shorten the sleeves.

Now I have the perfect thing to wear with my plum colored skirt, but it also goes with my gray dress pants, faded black jeans and gray skirt!

Wool Coat

Last year I finished a wool coat with felted flowers on it. I realized I never posted about it. I felted a piece of black wool coating in the washing machine and cut out the jacket. I used an embroidery design that I cut apart and resized in my embroidery software program. I stitched the outline of the design, then needle felted the wool roving in place (while the fabric what still hooped) then embroidered the design again to be on top of the felting.



When the embroidery was complete, I took it out of the hoop and used my felting machine to better meld the roving to the jacket. I get compliments on it everytime I wear it.

To the sewing room

Our last holiday guests left this morning. My husband is skiing with friends today. I am headed to the sewing room. I have decided to join the 12 jackets in 12 months sew along on Stitcher's Guild. The group's inspiration came from Gigi who made more than 12 jackets last year and, boy, are they fabulous! This is a no-pressure, do what you can, kind of sew along. Jackets are a staple in my wardrobe so I am going along for the ride.

Today, I will spend a few minutes cleaning up from the pre-holiday sewing bonanza and then get to work on jacket #1, Louise Cutting's Anything But Ordinary in a turquoise chenille fabric. It's already cut out and I'm sure when I do a little cleaning up I will be able to find it at the bottom of a pile!!

I hope your day is as great as mine is going to be...

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. We are hosting dinner for 25 people so I don't have time to dawdle, but next week I am on vacation and have lots of plans for sewing, sharing fun times with a couple of my kids and organizing. I'll keep you posted.

Rock around the clock

I took a professional development course at work. It was on Prezi. I had never heard of it before and maybe you haven't either. It is a presentation software like Powerpoint only lots different! Prezi releases you from the linear boundaries of Powerpoint and you can move all over the place (sometimes too much and you can get a little motion sickness). Here is my final project. If you watch it, take it slow because there is a lot of movement in mine!! Enjoy and give Prezi a try.

Because of the layout of my blog the whole Prezi won't show. So if you want to see the whole thing check it out here.

Dreams really do come true!

Another snow day! I am headed to the sewing room for some fun. Here are a couple photos to show you how beautiful it is here.

The Adirondack chairs in my backyard are upholstered in snow.

A tree in the front yard...this one has lights in it and at night it is spectacular.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Here is a photo of my great nephew in the Christmas tree hat I made for him. Isn't that the cutest thing ever? You can find the pattern here. There are lots of other great knitting and crochet items on the site.

We have about a foot of snow here. It is beautiful...if you can stay home. Fortunately I could because we had a snow day. My sister, her husband and three of her kids were in their car all night on the NYS Thruway. Not fun, but what a story they will be able to tell. Some of the schools are already closed tomorrow. I'm pretty sure mine will be open, but I am going to go to bed and dream of a snow day possibility. And I thought snow days were fun when I was a kid, they're even better now!!

Confessions of a Lazy Blogger

I confess:

1. That I like to read blogs more than I like to write them.

2. I don't want to post to my blog unless I have photos to include.

3. I have been busy.

4. I am terrible with time management.

All of these things have contributed to the fact that I haven't updated my blog since the middle of August. I also haven't been very productive on the creative front (see nos. 3 & 4 above) so I don't have much to show, but I will include a few photos of the fun I have had since August.

An engagement party for my son and future daughter-in-law on the beach of the Long Island Sound. The weather was perfect and the party a blast.

A get-away weekend with my quilt group. We laughed, ate, drank and laughed some more...oh, and there was a little sewing going on too!

I watched my baby sister run her first marathon. It was amazing!

And I met my new great nephew, Charlie. Here he is showing off the play quilt I made for him.

I will try to be better about my time management, creative endeavors and blog posting in the future. I promise!

My Favorite Summer Vacation

I always liked summer vacation when I was a kid, I loved summer vacation when my kids were in school, but since I have gone back to work (in a school) this has been my most favorite summer vacation ever!

I have been very busy and lazy at the same time. Too lazy to post anything here! I am going to try and be better at my blogging.

First up is my new toy. I purchased a Nook before I went away on a trip this summer. I love this thing!! I am able to download ebooks from my library and read them on it. I can also listen to audio books on it. I made a cover for it so I didn't have to worry about it breaking or scratching while I was traveling.

I went to the ASG conference in Atlanta this summer. It was so much fun and exhausting at the same time. I took a class from Peggy Sagers on blouse fitting. I have made a sleeveless blouse since I got home...photos later. I purchased many of Peggy's patterns, a couple of Louise Cuttings and lots of fabric. I also purchased some inks and dyes. I am looking forward to spending some time playing with these. I'm heading to the sewing room this afternoon so hopefully I'll have more to share later...stay tuned!

More Red and White

Our niece is expecting a baby at the the beginning of September. One of the gifts I made for her was this quilted floor mat. I found the instructions here at the Moda Bake Shop. Since we don't know if it's a boy or a girl I went with the latest fabrics still sitting out from the last quilt...red!

I did the stipple quilting myself. I have been "piecing" for years and sending my quilts out for "quilting". I decided to give the stippling a try since this is a play cloth for the floor! I was pleased with the results of my first try. I'm not sure I would like to do a queen sized quilt, but, Hey you never know!

My New Passion

Podcasts are my new passion. I have spent most of the day at my sewing machine listening to the podcasts of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" from NPR. It makes me laugh out loud. So funny! You can subscribe to it for free at iTunes. I have also been listening to The Moth Podcast.

I finished a skirt that just needed hemming and am working on a sleeveless shell to wear with it. Photos when I am done...stay tuned...

First day of Summer vacation

School's out for summer.....

Here's what I did on my first day of summer vacation...not much!

1. I slept in.

2. I spent some time organizing and cleaning my sewing room. This is something that will have to happen everyday this summer to get it in order, it's a mess.

3. I applied for a job...the same job I have been working since September. The person I was filling in for has decided to retire. I think I'll be a shoe-in, but you never know!

4. Tonight is a quilt guild meeting. Tomorrow is a needlework guild meeting.

It's shaping up to be a great summer! Stay tuned....

Finished Quilt

Today my daughter is the maid of honor in her college roommate's wedding. Her gift to the bride was a quilt. Of course, I had to make the quilt! My daughter sent out squares to family and friends and I chose red and white fabrics from my stash to create the quilt. I'm going to have to replenish my reds!!

A Beautiful Wedding

Two weeks ago our niece was married. It was a wonderful day.

All of my children were able to make it. And everyone was wondering who would be next...

They will! My son and his fiance. A wedding next summer to look forward to...and another daughter, finally!!

Happy Mother's Day

We just returned from a quick trip to Newport, RI. We went for the wedding of one of my daughter's closest friends. My daughter was in the wedding and our whole family was invited. Unfortunately, our youngest had to stay behind at school because of final exams. So I was able to spend Mother's Day weekend with three of my four kiddos. We had so much fun.

This morning was brunch and an introduction to son #1's girlfriend's parents. Very nice people (although I knew they would be because their daughter is a lovely girl). Then we hopped in the car and drove 7 1/2 hours home. I was able to get quite a bit of knitting done during the ride...photos tomorrow...I'm too tired now...stay tuned.