Sewing A Pillowcase is Fun!

One of the classes I teach at Joann Fabrics is Kid's Sewing 101: the Pillowcase. I have never been interested in sewing pillowcases because I thought it would be so boring. But, I had so much fun sewing my class samples! I made a Curious George pillowcase for Ellie (her favorite character). There it is behind her in the photo.

And there it is again.

Ellie, my daughter who would never allow me to photograph her, is suddenly the big ham.

For the class I teach, the students are instructed to straight stitch and then zig zag the seam allowances, but for Elle's pillowcase I used french seams. I don't know if you can see them in the photo because Ellie was trying to model it for me. She's so funny.

Oh, and there's some topstitching. Hey, Elle, can you move your cute face for a minute?

:)

Speaking of Joann Fabrics, they are hosting a quilt contest and the grand prize is $2,500. You can also win an AccuQuilt GO! and a lot of other great prizes. I'm not eligible to enter because I work for Husqvarna Viking, but I thought I'd tell you all about it in case you want to enter. I really wanted to enter and am bummed that I'm not eligible. Let me know if you do enter...I'd love to see your entries!

I Went Back. Yes, I Did!

To Stitches. On Sunday. At 2:30 pm. I couldn't help myself because the needles were calling to me.

So, I bought two size 3, 8" circulars, another size 2, 8" circular, and 12" circulars in sizes 2 and 3. I 'm good with Addi Turbo circulars! And while I was there I grabbed some more yarn, of course.

Rustic Wool DK. This is darker and warmer than the photo shows. It's really hard to take good nighttime photos. Usually, I take photos during the day in front of the window and that produces pretty true-to-life color photos. But, it's almost 10 pm and I can't wait until tomorrow to take photos. ;)

The above yarn is Nashua superwash wool and this is what I'm going to use to knit Ellie's Secret Garden jacket. I can't wait to start it. I was hesitant to buy it at first, but when I showed it to Ellie, she gasped and shouted, "Pooopoe!" (that's purple, in preschooler speak). So, it's a winner!
And below, is Nashua chunky which will be a Heather Hoodie vest as long as I get gauge.

Honestly, I can't believe I didn't come home without any Malabrigo or Koigu. I really love Koigu, but I didn't see much of it there. And even though there was a lot of Malabrigo, I ended up leaving it behind. :( Next time. Next time. lol.

So, now I just need to finish my Everyday Cardi, which is going well. I love to crochet and this pattern is great. I'm using Alpaca Love. If you haven't used any of the Stitch Nation yarns by Red Heart, I highly recommend them. They are lovely to work with. And no, they aren't paying me to say that (although, they can if they want to. lol!!!).

I hope everyone's week has started out well. Talk to you later!

Stitches Midwest!!

I really wish I could go back to Stitches Midwest today because there is so much more I want to buy!!

Yesterday, I got a few needles that I've wanted for a while. I got 3 circular needles; sizes 2 and 3 that are 12" long and I got another 8" long circular (size 2). Check it out:

Isn't it tiny??!! I'm going to finally knit socks for my girls with it. A lot of people have told me I should just use the magic loop method to knit socks because I could save money by not having to buy such small circulars and because it's easy. Plus, lots of knitters don't like the 8 inchers because they say they are fiddly. The thing is: I know how to do magic loop and I don't want to be bothered with it. Not because it's hard; it isn't. But, because I don't want to have to slide my stitches and then pull up the cord and blah blah blah. Yes, I'm that lazy. I like to cast on and knit. Don't ask me to divide my stitches between 4 dpn's and don't ask me to do magic loop. Because I'm lazy. And because I really love the small circulars. For me, they're fast. And fast is good. ;) Last year I bought two 8", size 10 circulars and I love them. I'm just bummed that I didn't get 2 of each size I bought at Stitches. If I had bought two sets of each size I want, I could cast on both socks at once and alternate knitting each one. That way I wouldn't have one completed sock and then have to cast on for an entirely new sock. For some reason having to start from the beginning all over again is a psychological mine field and it's likely I'll end up with lots of single socks. So, I'll be ordering another size 2 8" circular and two more in size 3. I'll probably do the same with the 12" circulars I bought. Those are a good size to knit socks for myself.

Of course, I bought some yarn, too.

In real life, this one is more purple than pink. I bought 10 skeins of this one because that's how it was packaged. ;) I had my girls with me and I thought they weren't really paying attention to anything at the convention since they were in strollers and because they each brought their favorite stuffed animal with them. But, suddenly, Ellie jumped out of her stroller and grabbed the bag with this yarn in it. She loves purple, so she asked me to buy it and "needle" something for her. I really want to knit Alice Starmore's Secret Garden, but the pattern calls for a worsted weight yarn. The yarn I got is DK, so I know I won't get gauge because I'm a tight knitter. I'll probably get a darker purple something-or-other in worsted weight to knit Secret Garden and save this DK weight yarn for a spring jacket for her.

I also got some Lamb's Pride yarn.

8 skeins in Chocolate Souffle. I want to eat it. This is a worsted weight yarn and would be beautiful knit into Secret Garden, but Ellie won't wear it because it isn't purple. So, I'll just have to suffer and knit something for myself with it. lol. Oh, and did I tell you it was 50% off? Yep. Love that. Y'know, come to think of it, I think they had a few skeins of Lamb's Pride in purple. Doh! Why didn't I think to buy it??!! See? I need to go back!

So, that's what I got at Stitches. I almost bought a Namaste bag, but they didn't have the bag I wanted in dark purple. I'm tired of always buying black bags, so I'm going to order a purple one online. I wonder if I could sneak away for a while today and go back for more yarn??? Hmmmmm...... :)

A Pair of Crazy Bright Capri's

My three year old twin girls love bright, funky colors and prints. So, whenever we go to Joann Fabrics, they always pick out some crazy fabrics and I spend the afternoon sewing shorts, capri's or pants. Yesterday, I made these Snoopy capri's for Elle.

They're very bright and fun. They have a mock front fly which you probably can't see because the print is so busy and they are supposed to have ties at the hem. But, Ellie wanted yellow binding so I eliminated the ties. Bias was quicker to finish, so I didn't mind. Since the bias binding was extra wide double fold binding, I used my adjustable bias binder foot on my sewing machine. Have any of you used an adjustable bias foot before? It's one of my favorite feet to use next to my regular bias binder foot. I'd show you a photo of it if my camera's battery didn't die.


Since Ellie loves her Snoopy capri's so much, she was a very cooperative model, which is always a good thing. Here's the "jumping-on-the-couch" shot.


And the "I've-fallen-and-I-can't-get-up" shot. lol.


Sunny wants a pair just like this pair, except she wants bright blue bias binding instead of yellow. So, you may be seeing another pair of these soon. They are made using Burda 9890, which I reviewed here on Pattern Review, if you are interested.

The Loretto Vest Finished!

Yay! It's done!

Yes, the left shoulder is slightly lighter in color. I was a skein short and when I went back to Joann's to get another, they were out of my dye lot. I'm going to soak the vest and hope it evens out a little. Regardless, I'm proud of this vest because it's the first garment I've finished for myself. And I'm going to wear it proudly to work on Wednesday even if the color doesn't even out. I'm hoping it isn't that noticeable when it's worn.

I do have a photo of it on me, but it's not a very good photo.

See? It's kinda blurry. My photographer is a little inexperienced, so I'll cut him a break. Plus, he's kind of cute.

:)

The Woodland Explorer Vest

Good morning!

In my haste to finish and send in the Woodland Explorer Vest I sewed for the Clothworks contest, I forgot to take a photo of it. So, I'm swiping this photo taken by the crew at Clothworks.


The ad for Clothworks that will be featured in the next issue of American Patchwork and Quilting is here if you want to see what it will look like.

I really loved working with the Woodland Friends II fabric. It's very cute, isn't it??

You can click on the above photo to go to Clothwork's Flickr page. They have a lot of cute photos on their Flickr page of their fabrics and projects sewn with their fabrics, including this cute quilt, which is a free pattern:


I want to thank Clothworks for this contest. It was truly a lot of fun to design and construct the vest! Thank you!

The Loretto Vest....

is almost done!!! All I need to do is knit the buttonbands and sew on the buttons.

I can't wait to finish this one so I can start on a crocheted cardi (the Everyday Cardi from the current issue of Crochet Today).

Also, remember the contest I entered from Clothworks Textiles? I ended up winning it! YAY! You can see it here on their blog (you'll need to scroll to the end of the post). So, my Woodland Explorer Vest will be featured in an ad for Clothworks in American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. It was a really fun contest and I'm very honored to have won it.