November Update

Whoops! I forgot I had a blog, I guess it's time for an update, haha.

Well, things are pretty good around here. Amelia will be 7 weeks old tomorrow! Wow, time flies.

She's about 9 pounds now & learning new things every day. Tomorrow she'll meet her Auntie Veronica and 3 of her cousins for the first time, we can't wait.

I haven't had much time to sew or knit, but I did start an afghan a few weeks ago (thanks to Trisha). Here's how it's looking...

I'm actually a bit farther along than this, but I don't have a new picture. It's practically dark here right now so there's no point trying now. (There's snow on the ground too!) The free pattern for the afghan is here. I decided to go crazy and try a different color scheme, I think I like it so far. And here's Trisha's version, so pretty. I try to knit a row every night or so. At this rate I could finish by the time Amelia starts school.

Though I haven't been sewing much, I did make it out to a quilt show this weekend (thanks to a very proud daddy who pushed the stroller and chatted with all the nice ladies at the show who wanted to know all about the baby). I picked up a few treasures.

These toasters will make a great coupon organizer some day.

And what about these retro prints? I bought them with coupon organizers in mind, but I may have to keep a little for myself. :)

Miss Amelia will enjoy this alphabet panel & matching print. The panel is narrow so I can either make it a wall hanging as is, or add to the sides and make a quilt. Maybe I'll decide by the time I get to this project.

And here's a little something for me. You can't tell from the pattern but these fabrics will make an adorable snowman wall hanging. They had a sample made up at the show and I was hooked by the red & aqua. It'll be great in my dining room some day.

I guess that's my update. Hopefully as Amelia grows, I'll find more time to blog and sew. Have a great Thanksgiving in the mean time!

Is it too much?

Wow, I didn't mean to be missing that long, sorry about the extended and impromptu blog break. Must be all that nesting going on around here. It seems like all I post anymore is WIP's, but that's what I'm doing. What can I say?

Here's another round...(with a few finished projects thrown in to prove I do actually finish things every now & then, ahem)...

**Warning** This is a long post, but not too wordy.

 Let's start with a few sewing projects in the works for my little bump.

 I've spent a lot of time cutting out patterns lately, totally not my favorite thing to do (and my back likes it even less. Don't get me started on back pain right now).

How about a nice little corduroy jumper/dress with polka dot bias trim? I can't remember where I got this cool corduroy, but I know it was in England and it's super soft & cute! I'm making the little sleeveless version.

Both of these fabrics are from JoAnn and are a nice medium weight twill. I'm making the hoodie out of the polka dots and the jumper out of the kitties.

Two projects from this pattern. On the left, a coat out of the birds, lined with the stripes. Then I'll make the little dress in polka dots with stripey bloomers.

 It's cool enough around here to wear winter clothes for about 9 months of the year, so we're going to need some outerwear. This will be a reversible hooded jacket that will still work if the next baby's a boy.

Call me old-fashioned, because I am. I'm making a long sleeved dress from this adorable floral and yes, I'll probably make the eyelet pinny too. (This pattern had been around a while, my niece got a pretty little dress from it when she was a baby ~ she'll be 14 this month.)

Make it a double old-fashioned. The red will be the little short sleeved top with the blue as the bias trim & ties. No idea where the floral fabric came from but I have a bunch and I think it's perfect for this 1950's reproduction pattern, don't you?

I might as well show you my pinning system. I like to pin a little scrap of fabric to the pattern envelope to keep track of my plans and to remember what I've made from a pattern. It seems to work out pretty well for me and is very helpful if your memory has been sucked away by a growing human in your growing tummy.

This one shouldn't take too long and it's going to be made from fabrics from my stash! Check out Jenny B.'s blog for the free downloadable pattern for this cute scotty dog. p.s. I'm making the flat version.

 Maybe I'll make something for myself, maybe I won't get to it, haha. More stash fabric. Did you know there are about 3 maternity patterns out there these days? So unfair. Luckily I live in Frump City all the time.

On to the knitting...

One extremely soft pink blanket that will likely have cocoa brown trim. This is version 2, by the way. I already pulled apart about a foot of knitting I didn't like. I'm happy with this one. Got the free pattern here.

How about a little cotton cardigan? The yarn is a little paler in real life. If I don't add the organza ribbon trim, I think it could be gender neutral if needed. I'm sensible that way, you know?

This little jumper will be great for any time of year, also in cotton.

No, I haven't started on this one yet. Don't you think I probably have enough things going right now? This will be a warm wooly pullover hoody, and gender neutral again too. I promise to leave this project until I have at least one knitted sweater finished.

 Last night we went to Stitch & Pitch night at the Seattle Mariners game. I got this gorgeous yarn there. It's called "Sublime" and let me tell you, it is! It's ohhh so soft and will be made into this cardigan. (I'll be honest with you, this project will likely get started right away. Because it's crocheted, I know I can finish it about 50 times faster than anything I knit.)

Time to prove prove projects are also being completed!

 

Digging into my stash again, I made this super simple flannel blanket.

I couldn't resist this kitten fabric, so I paired it with a plushy white stripe & some rick rack I had laying around for another easy blanket.

I finished the baby shower invitations and mailed them, woohoo!

They do actually sell some cute stretch knits at JoAnn! This was easy to make, I used my serger and I know it'll be a handy addition to the baby wardrobe. It's got a drawstring at the bottom so you can reach the tootsies.

 Yep, cloth baby wipes. (I'll be making cloth diapers too). I've made 24 wipes and the only thing I bought was the cute animal print you see on top. Nice.

And last but not least, the Union Jack that's hanging by the door in the baby's room. (I hung it there so we could enjoy it from the hallway.) It's not actually quilted because I was too lazy to get into that, but you get the picture. :)

So, let's take a vote now:

___ You're nuts, that's way too many projects.

___ It must be nice to be able to make so many things yourself. 

___ What about the crib bedding? Geez, get off the couch already!

Anyway, I'm having the time of my life. :) 10 weeks to go.

p.s. I finished the granny square blanket too. And I'm still making new handbags & coupon organizers for the shop.

A Week Without the Internet

I'm still here, we just couldn't get online all of last week and this weekend. That makes blogging a challenge! haha I did get lots of little things done so I have some more things to show you. 

I already have itty-bitty toys, remember Santa? Well, I used one of my weekly coupons from Borders and picked up itty-bitty hats. My baby will be drowning in hats! This one's called the "pastel marley" hat, I mostly finished it last night but it still needs the wiggly bits on top. It's pretty big because I used monkey yarn to make it, not quite the right scale but I figure she'll grow into it and if she has a brother one day, he can wear it too.

The baby's room is a work in progress too! The curtains are made & hung, along with the new blinds. You can just see a glimpse of the wood panels on the left wall. It's all installed and primed now, I hope to get it painted in the next couple days (I think a crib may arrive at my door this weekend). What do you think so far?

Here's a little update on the granny square blanket. I'm happy. I just have about 24 more squares to make. 

I've completed the most fiddly and tedious part of the baby shower invitations. I need to get to the part where they say something and go into an envelope next. 

This is one of my next projects for the baby's room. I'm not telling exactly what it will be, but you'll see.

This goes with the Honey Bun & wreath above. (I got this book at JoAnn with a 50% off coupon! I love my coupons.) I want to make everything in this book! When the baby is big enough to dig her way out from under all the hats, she'll have to climb a mountain of knitted, sewn & crocheted toys. Poor little lamb.

So that's a taste of what I've been doing around here. I got the fabric to finish the baby quilt and I also made something for her room with these. I'll keep you posted. Now, I really must get to work on some custom coupon organizers for my shop.

One more thing! Trisha mentioned that I didn't blog about my cats much. You know, my "current" children? Here's a little taste of what a day in the life of Maple & Jody is like....

Yeah, she even goes for peanut butter cookies. I like to call her "The Bottomless Pit" (all 20+ pounds of her) or "Fluffy Princess".

Always interested in what's going on in the kitchen. So helpful.

Jody's more relaxed and mellow. Though he can be quite a pest when he needs a lap to sit on, he's a little relentless sometimes.

Can you tell which one's the toddler and which one's the teenager? Kids!

Don't worry, they both find time to rest.

Works in Progress

This post is just to prove that I haven't been sitting around eating bon bons while not blogging, ahem.

Month 2 of Sock Club at Yarn Stash in Burien. I couldn't actually go to the meeting this month because it was on Nick's birthday, but Trisha and I got together and started our socks. They knit up pretty quickly though I still probably won't ever make the second one. I'm the poster child for second sock syndrome.

I pulled some fabric off the dusty old shelf and put this quilt top together. This is one I've had bagged & planned for about 3 years - no foolin'.

You see how I'm trying to make something other than coupon organizers? I got the adorable bumble bee fabric you see here and didn't know what to do with it. I think it'll make a very sweet little zipper pouch. Maybe a long skinny one? More stash busting too. My 30's prints were meant for sewing!

Last but not least, more Hope Valley added to my collection. If you sell fabric crafts, you know that Denyse Schmidt not only designs great fabric (quilts, patterns, etc., etc.), but she sells too (I hope I don't sound shallow saying that, but it's true. A girl's gotta run a business)! You can't go wrong with these fabrics. I admit, I get a lot more pleasure from putting them together than I do sewing them together.

So now you know, I may be quiet, but I'm still working away.

Sport Weight Disciple

I started a new pair of socks yesterday. This time I'm knitting one at a time, from the toe up from this book with this yarn.

I repeat, I started these yesterday. If I could knit every pair of socks in my future on sport weight yarn, I'd do it. This is one evening of work, not two weeks. Wow!

Wonderful Yarn

You may have noticed that I've become a bit of a knitter lately. Because of this, I will now share with you some delicious treasures I recently acquired from the UK.

I don't know how I found Lilou Colours, but I'm glad I did. She offers several types of hand-dyed yarns.

This was my first purchase, it's called Burst of Sunshine, and it's an "ultimate sock yarn. It's a really soft wool/silk/bamboo combination. I loved it so much  when I got it that I quickly whipped up a little swatch.

Isn't it gorgeous? I might make myself some fingerless gloves, or maybe some socks as a Christmas gift. (I'd rather keep it for myself though, hehe.)

Then I ordered more!

*sigh*

Guimauve, Key Lime Pie and Irish Landscape. (3 points for great names!)

You must check out Lilou Colours, she's new to Etsy and deserves some love.

Since we're on the subject of yarn, here's the update on my crazy clown socks.

I'm so close!!

WIP for Me

This past week I've been trying to actually work on some things that won't be for sale. It's a rare occasion that I make something for myself so it's been pretty fun.

I got a quilt top made out of a Jelly Roll and some Charm Packs I bought from the Rouenneries collection by French General. It's going to hang in our hallway right off the entry (and hopefully warm the space up a bit). I'm using some of these fabrics to make curtains for the dining room and living room too. I can't wait to get those done!

And here's my latest knitting project. I held off starting something new until I finished my Santa.

Nick and I made a mad dash to the local book shop (have I mentioned we can walk to a great book shop? LOVE THAT!) on Christmas Eve for this book. I wanted it anyway, really, it was gonna happen at some point. ;)

I picked up this colorful sock yarn at a shop down in Des Moines, WA on an outing last week (since this hasn't arrived yet). I like my socks a little crazy, can you tell? I think this method of knitting both socks at once is brilliant. I doubt I'd ever end up with a pair otherwise.

The pattern I chose is called Twilight and is pretty easy. It'll be even easier when the mail man brings me some longer circular needles! haha, Anyway, it's kinda pretty, no?

What have you been working on lately?