it’s that time of year

It’s just eight weeks from tomorrow!

I know it’s getting close because of what's coming off my sewing machine:

First I made this apron (on behalf of DD) for a “Secret Santa Swap” at Caring Hearts Community Quilters. DD was given the panel (called “A Christmas Gathering”) but there’s no way she has time to sit at the sewing machine with two very active under-threes! I’m sorry some of it is missing but this is as much as WM took! I love this so much I’d like to keep it for myself! So would DD (who was conveniently wearing a red tee-shirt when modelling)!

 Secondly, this book which I started last year and never finished -- a gift for the Grandsons who both love books. Older Grandson will love identifying the animals and Younger Grandson needs cloth books because he still puts everything in his mouth and his teeth damage cardboard books!

 This has nothing to do with Christmas but I am so glad to finally have it finished!

First the inside view with its two generous pockets. My teacher, Kerry, and I designed this bag as we went along.

It had to fit this panel (designed by Kerry, embroidered by me) and will be used to carry my sewing/embroidery supplies.

It may look small the way I’m holding it but in fact it is 38cm (15 inches) wide, 35.5cm (14 inches) tall and 18cm (7 inches) deep.

It is actually a very deep purple colour as shown on the sunlit (right) side of the bag, not the royal blue shown on your left!

Goodbye to the green eco-bag from the local supermarket that used to carry my sewing supplies!

What about you -- are you crafting gifts for Christmas?

on and off the needles

Last month I didn’t do much sewing but I definitely knitted!

a black beanie ( no photos – sorry)

a cowl which I designed on a train while taking my mother to Strathfield to meet her country train – it’s hard to see but it has a textured zigzag pattern

a blanket for a local animal shelter (approximately one metre – 40 inches – “square”) – unblocked because I don’t think animals care!

a pair of socks for mum (Baby Mock Cable - which look so much better than this photo shows)

a pair of “plain vanilla” socks for me (Patonyle, purchased 2008)

four sample socks for the workshop I gave on 16th June

a single repeat on these socks (pattern: Ribbed Ribbon Socks from “Socks from the Toe Up” by Wendy D Johnson)

and 40 rows (8,000 stitches) on this blanket (not 80 rows - 16,000 stitches as stated on my progress report – I counted the ridges and doubled twice but some thing told me that couldn’t be right!). I have added another 26 rows (5,200 stitches) to that this week.

And to think I nearly frogged it when I was just past that pink stripe!

I frogged this blanket (which wasn’t working for me).

On Thursday night I cast on and knitted twelve repeats of Wendy D. Johnson’s Lacy Rib pattern on a bed sock for DD.

I think there are two problems:
1) the toe shaping isn’t quite right for DD’s narrow feet and there are too many stocking stitch rows before the pattern begins
2) I’m knitting DK weight on 2.75mm (US 2) needles; I think the fabric is too tight for bed socks and I need to go up to 3.25mm needles (which DD has and therefore I couldn’t use them in the first place)

What do you think?

two more baby blankets

Yesterday I went to my weekly quilting class.

My previous teacher always said it was better to try something new in class than to do things that could be done at home without help. I agree with her. After all, I pay the teacher so I can learn something.

So yesterday I took one of flannelette baby blankets to class. I basted it at home so I only had to do the quilting.

Then I learnt how to use the backing fabric as the binding!

The mitred corners were so much easier than I thought they would be.


I also changed the quilting slightly from the previous blanket with the same fabric - see those points!
I enjoyed the process very much - probably because it eliminates a whole lot of basting, pinning, marking, seaming and cutting; all of which worked well but added a long step to the process of making blankets and was therefore not very time efficient.

This 'new' method (to me at least) also eliminated that "turn it to the right side and manipulate the seams to lie flat" process which I find tedious (although I did discover if I press the seams open and flat against their respective fabrics, it works a little better!)

So, last night I ironed and basted another pair of fabrics - here is the final result; far from perfect but done (and the baby won't care!)

The colours are a bit washed out in the big photo, the one below shows the true colour. The thinner binding was a bit more fiddly but it was all the excess fabric I had!

BTW, I washed the first blanket - the one which the iron spat brown gunk on: the nine inch quilting was fine!

I think I've gotten flannelette under control now!

stash enhancement

While checking the Angels for the Forgotten website, I saw that they had almost reached their target for bags but were only about halfway to their target for blankies.

The deadline is next Wednesday, 31st August, and there is no way that I can knit many more blankets. I have one on the needles (see yesterday's post), and I might get another one done before next Wednesday.

I decided to buy some fabric to sew some lightweight blankies. Babies still need to be wrapped in summer, right?

So I bought this flannel fabric which is enough to make eight blankies of the required size (90cm - 36 inches - square) with the print on the front and the plain on the back.

two metres of each print, four metres of the blue



two metres of each fabric


I just need to find the impetus to sew between now and then - the sunshine is back but I still feel "woolly headed"!

While I was in the Big Box Store, I visited the yarn department. I found some Panda Comfort Wool reduced to $3.00 for a 100g ball. I'm not sure what the recommended retail price is, but $3.00 for 100g is a good price so I picked up all the balls they had left: six balls of blue, two balls of pink and one ball of charcoal.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I reached the check out and found the yarn had an orange spot on it and was therefore reduced to 50% off the marked price - wool for $15.00 a kilogram; you've got to be kidding me! Bargain!