knitting, notes, etc

Are you in the midst of endless winter like we are? Argh! I really don't mind winter and having grown up in the Canadian Prairies I'm a big season fan, but this winter is trying my patience. *so. much. cold. so. much. snow.* Proof you say? Well here is my son who is 5'9" shovelling snow at the back door. It's getting hard to know what to do with the white stuff.

It hasn't helped that our crew is sick yet again. Hence my absence from the computer. We are taking it all in stride and doing our best to keep our spirits up. Even if that means mid day basking in the sun from the indoors. For a brief moment it gives me the illusion that everything is green and growing outside. Yes I'm a dreamer.

detours

I started sewing a project last week, that I cut in December. It's been sitting on my desk in a pile waiting to be constructed.  It was supposed to be a hexagon quilt following this tutorial, but I ran into a snag and now it is an accidental adaptation of jaybird's hexagon quilt.



I say accidental because after cutting out a 1/4 of my triangles, I realized that I was cutting them wrong. Duh! I'd like to blame it on the very high fever I had before Christmas while we were all down with the flu. yuck! Sadly though, my only defense is that my brain was on some other wave length. Unexplainable but good for me.



You see normally my perfectionist side would have righted that wrong by starting again. However these days my time is precious and sometimes to complete a project you have to forge through and embrace the detour.

I won't end up with the result that I was hoping for when I started the hexagon quilt, instead I am now on my way to completing a jewel quilt. No matter which way, they are both sweet.

weekend wip

I sewed something and it didn't have anything to do with pant hemming, jacket mending, buttons sewing, and mending, oops did I mention that already? there seems to be a lot of that going on this house.



We started a mudroom project last year that has been a lifesaver for all the jackets and shoe paraphernalia lying about. It isn't a big space but it does provide me that organization that I dream about - have you seen my pinterest account on mudrooms?



The sewing portion of "project mudroom" is one of those little tasks that signifies completion of another area in our home. Yay! I need moments like these when I can cross another thing off my list. Some days those feel far and few between.



I was thinking of writing up a tutorial for this little project but discovered a couple of well done tutorials already in existence so no point in re-inventing the wheel on this one. This is only a sneak peek so I'm leaving you hanging for the finished photo. I'm sure you will kill yourself with excitement waiting for the big reveal. Note: small font indicates that the big reveal is in fact no big deal but I'm dragging out the drama. Try to contain yourselves until I get back here okay?

rain, rain go away

is how I am feeling today. I'm chanting up a slew up positive vibes hoping the weather will soon change from the week-long rain we've been experiencing. Thankfully I've just checked the weather for the um-teenth time and it assures me sunny days are on their way. C'mon Mr. Sun my veggie garden needs planting and I'm raring to get my hands dirty.



...while the rain is a bit of downer, it's been good for tackling a lingering project.



...and inspiration: good ol' Jenga would make a great future quilt.



...all this indoor time calls for some clowning around: cool and scary!

wip: block number 5

I'm pretty much caught up on my free piecing blocks, this is the second block for the month of March. This last block was a girl and you know I couldn't resist making her into a witch given that this is going to be a Halloween quilt and all.



This block involved more thinking for me as I added a few extra details such as the broom and hat.  My original sketch had her wearing some shoes and her hat tipping but my witch ended up too tall to add the extras. That's the thing with free piecing, the work sort of evolves along the way and you have to take detours when things aren't completely working out as planned.



I am happier with my witchy block than yesterday's ice cream meets clown, the verdict is still out on that one. I fussy cut Miss witchy poo's dress to reveal her spidery ways and did the same to show the wee itty bitty spider on her broom. Lots of fun!



For those of you who want to play along, there is still time to catch up, visit the flickr group. Molly just uploaded April's new block and already the wheels are turning for me. I'm signing off for the weekend, hope it's a good one for you. xxx

wip: block number 4

March's block for the free piecing quilt along was a wonky star. I was looking forward to this block as I have always wanted to give the wonky star a go (it looks so cool and rad in a quilt). I assembled my fabrics, sewed, pressed sewed and then bam... my block fell short. I am not totally sure how I feel about this block right now, disappointment is a good adjective, as it is not looking as wonky as I'd like. Instead it looks a bit like upside down ice cream cones that merged with a clown costume.



Since I don't know quite what to do with it I am going to leave it for now in hopes that it will grow on me. If it continues to bother me then I will have to do something about it. Maybe if I interchange the middle square for fabric with more contrast, or redo the fatter star points making them skinnier, or just make it less equally wonky, or ... *sigh* I guess this too is part of the process.

making it work

picture from Patons website

I wanted to love these socks, really I did, the spiral variegated yarn looks uber cool and I've knit with it before. Alas I found myself feeling :meh: while knitting. In retrospect I think what was bugging me was the pattern and it's absence of a heel. At first read, I thought "no heel, sweet, these (socks) will knit up super fast", but as I was knitting it dawned on me that the combination of stretch yarn plus no defining heel would mean the socks might end up slipping off your foot and that would be annoying, certainly not gift worthy.



I was going to scrap the socks but I couldn't do it. Instead I modified the pattern to allow for a heel and now I am in a much better head space. My like has returned and I have just turned the heel corner and am heading for the home stretch. If all goes well, I'll be casting on another in the near future.  Wish me luck!



If you are interested in knitting up a pair you can find the pattern here on the Patons website or on Ravelry, you will need an account for both sites to access the pattern.

wip: block number 3

Phew, made it through the last week. It was spring break here for kids in the school system and we partake by shutting things down on the school front so we can overdose on friends and family. Our week consisted of a 6 day sleepover for my nephew, oodles of late nights, an adult niece sleep over and more visiting with friends. Busy, busy, busy. Yesterday afternoon our house was strangely quiet and the boys went into cousin withdrawal - poor fellows - they all have such a good time together.



While the kids were occupied last week I worked on the next block - a free pieced heart. I went for the high contrast of orange/red with black for my square, I wanted it to be a little creepy. I started reading Dracula by Bram Stoker a couple of weeks ago and I think it might be infecting my work as the point on the bottom of the heart looks sharp like a vampire tooth. I can almost see it dripping blood...Oooo scary {{{shiver}}}.



I'm having lots of fun with this quilt so far and am really enjoying the whole learning process. Today as we be settle back into our daily rhythm I'm hoping to squeeze a bit of studio time in. Next up is the wonky star. What are you up to on this happy Monday?

wip: block number 2

The second block in the free piece study was the good ol' log cabin.



Wonky and fun, I couldn't resist doing a little fussy cut to make sure that sweet little ghost is looking out the window. In hindsight it would have been cooler if he was just peeking out the window but that just dawned on me now while I type this and I don't think I will be picking stitches at this stage. Besides, learning to make it and appreciate the way it turns out seems to be a part of the process, you know letting the art-form take it's course.



I should get back at it, more blocks to be done. Happy Monday all, xxx.

free piecing study

I've been settling in my new studio space for the past couple of weeks and couldn't wait to start on a quilting project. It's not that I don't already have a few neglected projects from the past couple of years, I just needed wanted something fresh.



Sarah from House of Krom, blogger, flickr friend & fellow homeschooler had just the new project to tantalize my senses and get me started on the right foot. She is doing a free piecing study for the first 10 months of 2011 with another blogger Molly. Free piecing is a part of the liberated quiltmaking process of which I am a huge fan. You can check out Sarah's blog post here for some information links.



I am joining late but I don't think it matters too much as you work at your own pace. I'm also taking on a theme for this study: halloween. I've always wanted to make a halloween quilt but seem to run out of time nearing fall. By starting early I just may just finish in time ;)  In the first month (January) they started with the mondo bird. In my block I was thinking of a black bird and I really like how the black, white & yellow play up the mondo bird. Gives it that wee bit'o creepy/cuteness - terrifying isn't it?

It isn't too late to join, there are no sign ups, just come play along and as always upload your photos to the flickr group here.  Yay!

sketching

Oh that puppy, she has been with us for almost 4 weeks now and because of her I haven't had any decent studio time.  Hard to hold it against that sweet (puppy) girl in all her cuteness.  But when she's awake she requires supervision and when she is sleepy she requires holding, that's my personal opinion at least. (Cut me some slack here people, after 4 babies I know how fast these cute moments pass and in the puppy world a couple of months is like a year so cuddle I must).  

I did however, manage to carve out a little creativity with paper and pencil.  Do you ever surprise yourself when you discover another artistic outlet? I never did much drawing when I was growing up, in fact I'm not sure I ever did much of anything crafty, I was an on-the-run-kid who chose athletics as a hobby. Now my adult years are all about making up for lost time in the creative realm.  

My sketching inspiration was a recent thrift store find, a sweet vintage Bambi book with the most adorable images. The book itself is pretty beat up but that doesn't matter as my intention is to use some of the intact images in the girls' bedroom for wall art.  I've been mulling around the idea of (loosely inspired) vintage bambi room. I'm not looking for disney bambi per-say but rather my  interpretation of the beloved story.  

When I sat down that evening for a movie I though I was merely going to be jotting a few design ideas down in my sketch book which up until this point had been it's primary use.  Quite by accident I started sketching.  Within a few minutes my eyes and hand starting working together to re-create the cover art of the vintage book and by the end of the movie there was Bambi and thumper on my page.  Life is filled with surprises :)

hexagon love

I just can't get enough of it.



I've been wanting to try my hand at English paper piecing and I couldn't think of a better place to start than with hexagons.  I'm not alone, I see them popping up all over blogland and flickr, so many little hexagons to be made.



Really aside from knitting it is the perfect portable craft.  One little baggie filled with fabric squares, paper hexagons, a needle, thread and you are set.  I can see how nice it'll be to sit outside on a warm summer day sewing hexagons and not missing a second of summer. Ah...that's the way it should be done...sewing and sunshine.



I used the tutorial from TheSometimesCrafter.  She also has a pdf template for 2 inch hexagons available for download. That size seems just right for me, don't want to start with 1 inch hexagons and completely overwhelm myself.  By the way, I've seen other tutorials where people have trimmed their fabric squares to the shape of hexagons but really this is an unnecessary step and expends a lot of extra time that can be given to hexagon making.  Just cut your fabric squares, fold and sew.  



I'm still unsure what the end product will be.  I was thinking about a pillow cushion or table runner but then again a quilt might be nice.  My kids think I'm making beehive. What ever I end up with, I'll warn you ahead of time making hexagons is addictive.

Happy (Good) Friday, can you believe it April already??

taking time back

I recently hired my son to do some babysitting for me twice a week in the afternoon.   It's a mother's helper situation, where I am still home but it gives me time to myself to do a block of sewing for a few hours in the afternoon without apology.  He takes care of the needs of the littlest ones and I pay him oodles of cash to do so, what a deal!



Yesterday as I sat down in my make-shift studio, and after a hour passed, I noticed a pattern that keeps eating up my creative time.  administrative clutter - ick!  Somehow, most likely unconsciously, I've been using this precious time to organize papers and such, pay bills and generally deal with the clutter that surrounds me...twitch, twitch.  Paper really is my nemesis these days, I'm sure many of you can relate.  And while I've switched the majority of the household bills over to the eco emails somehow by the end of the week you would never know, paper is still making it's way into our home.  In an ideal world I wouldn't even allow paper work into my art zone but right now while we renovate, there is a limited amount of space.



Once I realized what I was doing, I shuffled everything aside and turned my attention to the fabric, pictured above.  I turned the administrator off and instead worked on a new design that's been floating around in my cerebral hemisphere for a few months now.  There are still kinks to work out but I made some real progress on it's direction and I am happy with where things are going.

I realize more and more that I need my creative time, it fuels my right-brain and rejuvenates my energy.  I feel much more centered during my day and that helps me in so many unspoken ways.  I dare say it even makes me a better mumma...or at least a more creative one.  Confirmation came from the hubby when he said "everyone seems to have had a good day"...oh yes...a good day indeed.