2016 Year End Totals

I don't want to talk about whether or not 2016 was a good year. I thought it was better than 2014 (among others), but apparently just letting that idea cross my mind jinxed me and now we're dealing with "new ways to have fun" that will probably take us well into January. So I'm done with the score keeping and comparing, at least when it comes to good and bad luck. 

It's probably better to think of bad moments instead of bad days or months or weeks or years... (That idea comes from this post by Sandra Dodd. A lot of the things she has to say about parenting also apply to just living life as a human being.) 

Now let's get on to the happy and productive things that happened in my sewing room this year! 

I mostly conquered my fear/hatred of zippers by making a bunch of different bags... 

I made another seventeen pairs of socks...

Three of these pairs were "competetive sock knitting" which meant following the pattern exactly as written while trying to either meet a deadline or beat other knitters. Trying to learn a new cast on, especially one with beads, on a deadline was scary and fun and I'm sure I'll be signing up for both Sock Madness and Super Sock Scarefest again in 2017.

There was also a shawl, and 1000 yards of old green acrylic that I knit into squares for a Minecraft inspired afghan that got abandoned along the way.

I did a little bit of quilting...

There were two other baby quilt tops that didn't get quilted because when I tried the Janome threw a hissy fit. I started some new quilting projects that I'm still excited about.

I can't wait for the Row by Row Experience to start up again next summer. The plan is to head up into Washington to visit some shops we haven't seen before.

Final Stash Report of 2017

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 7 1/4 yards
Fabric added this week:  0 yards
Fabric added year  to date: 30 1/4 yards (+4 sheets)
Net added for 2016: 24 yards

Yarn used this Week:  0  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 7950 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 9518 yards
Net added for 2016: 1568 yards

Those numbers are NOT bad. For years I've been thinking I should try for a year where I used more stash than I bought. Don't look at how much fabric I used, that's just sad. Look at how little I purchased! It would have been even better if I hadn't bought five yards of brown print for a quilt and then chickened out once I took a closer look at the pattern.  I'm happy with the yarn added because what I did buy was good yarn at great prices and I've been burning through my yarn stash like crazy. (If I'd finished that afghan and the pair of socks I thought I'd have done by the end of the year, it would have come out almost even.) 

What can't you wait to do again in 2017? Are you starting new projects or finishing off the UFOs? Buying new stash or playing with what you've already got?

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {12/30/16)

I apparently can't read a calendar. Last week wasn't the last Friday of 2016, this week is. I'm sure everyone but me managed to figure that out!

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

A Bit of Practical Sewing

Would you believe that the first thing I used from Ila's wonderful package of goodies was an old-fashion iron on patch for my jeans? (That's also what I thought would be the absolute last thing in the box I'd ever use!) The hole was big, so I took a piece of denim from a pair that was too  far gone to save and put the patch behind that, then stitched around the frayed edge several times.

It's the first time I've patched my own jeans, but they fit and I really didn't want to shop for a replacement pair.  And it's not like I'm headed anywhere classier than Walmart.

Too Good to Cast on With?

This yarn (Elann Esprit) has been sitting in my stash for years. I originally bought it for a completely different non-sock pattern that's never going to happen, and I've been happily knitting away with the best of my sock yarn for quite a while now, so it wound up on the needles.

Don't you just love it when yarn is just as pretty in the knit project as it is in the skein? That's such a rare treat!

I'm making slow progress because the yarn is a cotton/elastic blend and I have to watch the tension more than I would with a regular sock yarn, but the results are definitely worth it.




The Twilight Wife by A. J. Banner
A woman who survived a diving accident is taken back to her island home by the husband she doesn't remember... The plot sounded good, but I was well into the book before I started to feel much for Kyra but annoyance. Obviously there's something going on that she doesn't know about, because otherwise it wouldn't be the plot of a book, but she jumps to sinister conclusions about some of the smallest things. (Or maybe I don't have a particularly suspicious mind and wouldn't see the signs that something was wrong in my life?)  Once the plot did finally start to gain momentum I was anxious to find out what was really going on and how Kyra would deal with it, and I didn't see that ending coming.

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copy by the publisher. All opinions are my own. This post is linked to Patchwork Times Frontier Dreams Stitch Along Wednesday and Yarn Along 

{Thrift Shop Temptations} More Stuff I'd Never Seen Before

I ducked into the thrift shop while Christmas shopping because one of the boys had added a book to his list that I was sure I'd seen there earlier. What kind of sense does it make to spend eight bucks on a brand new paperback when I can get the same book for seventy-nine cents? (And when the child in question understands that used book = more money for other presents.)

It was a quick trip, but I did stumble across this. 

I had to turn it sideways to figure out that the flowers are made up of painted nail heads. This is one of those things that Great-Grandma totally would have made back in the day. Makes me wonder if she never saw the pattern....and that made me want it. I left it for someone else who has more of a love of vintage projects and a better idea for getting rid of all of that dust.

These were more tempting. I see Aunt Martha's transfers now and then, but rarely so much Vogart. Most of them were run-of-the-mill embroidery patterns, but I'd never seen those peacocks or ladies before and I do plan on learning to crochet and they were cheap. So those two are mine now.

It was a good day for things I've never seen before.  For someone who has this particular vintage record player these would have been a good find...if the picture strips of every last one weren't missing. I'd never seen one of these before, but if you're as curious as I was, you can find youtube videos showing them in action.

Have you found anything interesting lately, or were you too busy with the holidays?

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {12/23/16}

It's the last Friday of 2017...do you have anything else to show off before we start the new year?

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

This Week, We're Learning About Electricity...

Specifically, we're learning what happens when you leave town for a couple of days and come home to find that the winter weather knocked the power out and when the repair crew fixed it they left you with no power to half of the house and 220 coming out of the 110 outlets in the rest of the house.

It's not good.

Five days later, we're still trying to sort things out. The new modem came and I just got the internet connection back, but I'm out of scheduled posts, so I'll set up the linky party for Friday and try to be back to my regular schedule after Christmas.

We got lucky. If we'd been home when it happened, we would've probably lost both laptops and my sewing machine (not to mention  the Kindles...and the portable gaming systems... and the phones...)

I did not have time for this!

Dark Red Socks for Christmas

The holidays stress me out...knitting soothes my nerves...I've got another pair of new socks...

Yarn: Drops Fabel Dark Red/Bourgogne  

.One of my readers asked if Drops yarns were only available online. They've got a store finder on their website. For those of us here in the United States, it looks like the only one is in California.  I bought mine from Nordic Mart last spring when it was on sale for $2.00 a skein. The price and colors seemed too good to be true, so I "only" ordered enough for a dozen pairs.

Now that I've knitted with it, I'm hoping that it will go on sale again and I can snap up the rest of the colors. Even full price, it's super affordable. I've finished three pairs with it so far and while I haven't worn them enough to form any opinions about their durability (I like knitting socks much better than I like wearing them) I haven't run into any trouble with the yarn itself. It's thinner than other brands I've worked with and maybe not as soft...but it was also two dollars a skein. And did I mention how amazing the colors are?

I See Potential Here

I can see this working out once I add a lot more different prints and play around with the color placement. It's definitely going to be a utility quilt and not a work of art, but I can always use more utility quilts around here.

It's using up stash and the blocks are fun to piece!

Stash Diving

It's been a year since I last found a scrap bag worth buying at the thrift shop. Maybe they aren't as plentiful as they once were -- or maybe I've just got bad timing. I can't complain too much, since the fabric I found last November has been sitting untouched in a tote ever since.

Now a bunch of it is cut into 2" strips, ready to be assembled into sixteen-patch blocks for the new experiment. And in one of those flashes of luck that you only get with scrap bags, a lot of the fabric was already cut into pretty accurate 3 1/2" strips -- which means that I divided each into a 2" strip for the experiment and a 1 1/2" strip for Scrappy Little Trips.

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 7 1/4 yards
Fabric added this week:  0 yards
Fabric added year  to date: 30 1/4 yards (+4 sheets)
Net added for 2016: 23 yards

Yarn used this Week:  400  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 7950 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 9518 yards
Net added for 2016: 1568 yards

Getting on my Soapbox for a Moment...

It's apparently the season for those PSAs about "buzzed driving" and how getting caught can cost $10,000.

Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money, but compared to what our family went through after Hubby's head on collision with a drunk driver three years ago, it would have been a walk in the park. I realize that comparing the fines that the drunk driver pays to what their victims have to cope with is comparing apples and oranges...but I can't stop making the comparison. Seems to me like the argument they make in those PSAs should be "You could KILL SOMEONE"  or "You could injure someone so badly that they can't do their job anymore" instead of just "It'll ruin your budget and maybe embarrass you" (A friend has explained the logic behind those ads, but it doesn't mean I have to like them.)

Over the past few years, I've heard a lot of horror stories. I may not know much more about the parents of my kids' friends, but I know about their accidents and their injuries. People get hurt. They lose their only means of transportation. If there is insurance, it usually isn't enough to make it better.

As bad as that picture looks, and as bad as it was, my husband is lucky. He'll never be the same as he was before that other driver crossed the center line, but he's alive and on his feet. 

I don't think I need to ask any of you not to drink (or take meth or oxycodone) and drive. But maybe we'd all be safer if society didn't treat drunk driving as something that's okay if you don't get caught. Or something that a good lawyer can get you off the hook for. 

Please drive safely. And please take a look at your insurance coverage and make sure you've got enough to cover a bad accident. We had a good policy and it still wasn't enough to make up for the medical bills and months of lost wages.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {12/16/16}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

{Throwback Thursday} This is How it Started...

Before the kids were born, I spent quite a few years working night shifts in a call center. Late at night, there were long stretches of time to fill between emergencies. I worked a lot of solo graveyard shifts and read enough books to finally discover that, even for a lifelong bookaholic, there are limits. 

Some of the operators knitted. One did needlepoint on gorgeous, impossibly expensive (for my budget at least) hand pained canvases. And at some point shortly before I quit working there, I stumbled across the kit for this embroidered angel doll.   

I can't remember where I bought it or why I bought it, but I do remember the number of hours I put in trying to get her done before Christmas (probably of  2000 or 2001.)  Now I'm trying to figure out how I managed that project, which includes stitches that I probably couldn't do today.

For Christmas that year, I asked for a needlepoint kit. Hubby bought me a counted cross-stitch kit with a gorgeous desert scene. I started it, made a complete mess of things, and gave up. But that's what led me to cross stitching... and then to knitting... and then to quilting.

Ugly Purple Socks

I have such mixed feelings about this pair of socks...

Pros
They fit well.
The yarn, Knit Picks Sock Landscape in Rocky Mountain Dusk,  is warm and thick.
The pattern, Express Lane, was fun to knit.
If the colors had to do something obnoxious, at least they did the same thing on both socks.

Cons
The yarn flashed and pooled and did obnoxious things.
All of that flashing and pooling  completely hides the pretty stitch pattern (which says that it's good for multicolored yarns and has plenty of pretty pictures on Ravelry to prove that it's true.)
There were three badly spliced spots in the  first skein and one in the second.

 

My 2017 Planner

When it was time to find a new planner for 2016, I couldn't  find the style I'd been using for the previous four years. The one I finally did settle on was awful, to the point that I was ready to ditch it mid-year and start over with almost anything else.

Then I started seeing things about planners and bullet journals. Remember how in last year's planner post I said that there was never going to be a planner with spaces for tracking everything I need to track? It turns out that the solution is making up my own trackers as I go along...and as a bonus, I can make the weekly pages fit my husband's eight-day work cycle and have exactly as many pages in between as I wind up needing for project notes and shopping lists.

A bit before Halloween, I grabbed an empty notebook and drew out the days for the next couple of weeks. This is working so much better than anything I've done in previous years! I'm not terribly consistent and my handwriting isn't pretty, but it's working well so far.

I've got a nicer journal to start using as soon as I work up the nerve, along with some washi tape I found on sale at Hobby Lobby and some I'd bought a few years back and then forgotten in a desk drawer.

When I write down what we had for dinner every night, it keeps me from cooking spaghetti twice in the same week and also keeps me from killing the kids by feeding them leftovers that are past their prime.

How about you? Do you have a fancy pre-printed planner? A cheap notebook like I'm currently using? Something in between? More importantly, does it work for you?

A Little Bit of Busy Work

I had plans for the sewing I wanted to get done over the weekend, then the low grade migraine started...and the nausea... As I type this, I'm on day three and I've already taken more Advil (2 doses) than I technically should have. That stuff works great...and then it wears off and somehow that's worse, knowing that I've used up my eight or so hours of pain free time. 

So that pretty zipper bag didn't get cut out and the straight line quilting didn't get done and neither did my next Be My Neighbor block. Before my quilting time ran out, I was feeling just better enough to cut and trim the half square triangles that I've done as leaders and enders with the other house blocks. 

Something is better than nothing, right? 

This Might Be Better Than Christmas Presents...

I am absolutely giddy! A little over a week ago, Ila left a comment that she had some zippers that would like to come stay at my house. Of course I accepted her wonderful offer and when the box got here it was absolutely stuffed with zippers and other vintage sewing notions. 

There are a ton of zippers in all sorts of lengths and colors, with metal teeth and plastic teeth. If I ever decide to replace the zipper in a backpack, I've probably got the kind to do it with. (But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen!)  Along with the zippers came bias tape and lace seam binding and all sorts of other goodies. That Holly Hobby looks like she's from the same fabric as my childhood bedspread.

I came up with so many ideas while sorting through all of this!



 Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 7 1/4 yards
Fabric added this week:  0 yards
Fabric added year  to date: 30 1/4 yards (+4 sheets)
Net added for 2016: 23 yards

Yarn used this Week:  400  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 7550 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 9518 yards
Net added for 2016: 1968 yards

The Future Architect's Tool Kit

Quinn and I were both excited to get our hands on The Future Architect's Tool Kit by Barbara Breck. It looked like it might be something fun for the boys and it definitely delivers!

The book explains how to create plans and a model for a house, including site plans and floor plans and elevation. (It builds on the information presented in The Future Architect's Handbook, which I haven't seen yet.) I like the way the author presented so much solid information without overwhelming the reader. The imaginary clients at the end seem a bit too silly, but when I handed the book over to my future wildlife rehabilitator, he happily designed a dream home with rooms for possums. And a craft room, because in his mind all houses should have one.

Along with the book is a scale ruler, eraser, pencil, and sharpener. The box that holds it all is sturdy and has a velcro closure, perfect for keeping everything contained on a bookshelf.

I definitely recommend this one for creative kids.

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copy by the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {12/9/16}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

Now My Pens Are Safely Hidden

I'd forgotten that non-Crayola felt tip pens were a thing. Now that Pinterest has reminded me, I'm absolutely in love. Those little white stars at the top of the cap make me happy and conjure up vague hazy memories of red pens in my dad's desk at work.

To keep my pens mine, I needed a little bag to keep them contained in my bigger bag. The fabric choice kept stopping me in my tracks. I've got all kinds of cute novelty prints, but they're all sewing themed and that didn't seem right for office supplies. I'd finally settled on the American Jane ruler print and has the pieces cut before it registered that these are not rulers...

I'd say "oops" if  this print wasn't an even better choice for a pen bag. Measure twice, cut once, and actually look at the fabric you're using!

I'm Loving This Yarn

Have I mentioned how much I love Drops Fabel? The colors are gorgeous and the price can't be beat.

As for the purple socks, at least the yarn is misbehaving the same way on the second sock. I'll settle for that.

Deepwood and Bush House

A while back, one of the bloggers I read posted pictures from her visit to Deepwood in Salem, Oregon. There were so many amazing details that I'd never seen on my own visits to the house, but at my wedding twenty-five years ago I was preoccupied with getting down that gorgeous stairway in one piece. I've been wanting to go back for years, but I never quite got around to it.

On Sunday, admission to Deepwood and nearby Bush House were both free, so I packed up the boys and headed to town. Deepwood was too crowded to get pictures without strangers in them, but I did come away with lots of inspiration for future dollhouse projects.

We roamed the grounds and got plenty of pictures outside.

And found a stolen shopping cart on on of the trails. Isn't that just a stupid waste? I was barely tempted to rescue it, mostly because there was no way to manage that without looking really stupid. But it really doesn't belong there!

I'd never been in Bush House before. Compared to Deepwood, it's even more impressive. I think part of that is the twelve foot ceilings and part is because, unlike Deepwood which has an oddly mid-century bathroom, it was only used as a residence until the 1950s.

It was easier to get pictures in Bush House since visitors aren't allowed in many of the rooms. Look at that gorgeous velvet quilt...

And this signature quilt! I've never seen one made from hexagons before...and I think that's metallic thread that the names are embroidered with.

Just a glimpse of this quilt because the rest of the room is so gorgeous. All of those windows and that great light!  And that bedroom is so huge...

The houses are free again next Sunday (December 11, 2016.) If you're in the area, you really should check them out.

Be My Neighbor - Two More Houses

I'm piecing more houses and, yes, I'm going out of order and picking easy ones first. Because that's the kind of day it was. Block 11 has far too much small scale floral there, but I'm leaving it as is unless I finish all of the houses and decide that I should redo it.

Have I mentioned that these blocks are ridiculously big? And how much fabric you lose piecing those rooftops? I'm saving bonus triangles in case I can incorporate them in the backing.

Weekly Stash Report

I've been drooling over this cross-stitch ornament kit for years!  Back when I ate breathed and slept cross-stitch (that was before I learned to knit or quilt and my creative time was split in quite so many different directions)  my favorite projects were the large ornate houses and landscapes with every last bit of fabric covered in stitches. These are exactly that, except smaller and -- maybe -- more manageable.

The kit is finally in my sewing room, but I doubt that I'll get even one of the ornaments done in time to hang on this year's tree. There are too many other projects calling out for my attention. I seem to be falling in love with every free Christmas pattern out there. The same way I fall in love with every Halloween pattern starting October 15th or so.

Do you start seasons projects just before the holiday and work on them a month later? Start them and abandon them after the special day? Work on them a few months ahead of time like a reasonable person who isn't me probably would?

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 7 1/4 yards
Fabric added this week:  0 yards
Fabric added year  to date: 30 1/4 yards (+4 sheets)
Net added for 2016: 23 yards

Yarn used this Week:  0  yards
Yarn used year to Date: 7150 yards
Yarn added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn added Year to Date: 9518 yards
Net added for 2016: 2368 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Little and Littler Churn Dash Ornament Tutorial

Earlier this week, I was in the mood to piece itty-bitty quilt block ornaments. They go together quickly and use up small scraps of batting and I'm going to need prettier stuff to hang on the tree once we get around to setting it up.

The first Churn Dash ornament I made  finished at 3 1/2".  I knew I could go smaller, and the tinier one finishes at 2" square. At that size, any little innacuracy is glaring, but I don't mine my ornaments a bit wonky.

2" Churn Dash Instructions 

Using the Easy Angle ruler, cut four light and four dark half square triangles from 1" strips. Cut one light and one dark 3/4" x 4" strip and one light 1" square (not shown.)

Sew the 3/4" strips lengthwise to form a 1" x 4" rectangle. Press and cut rectangle into four 1" squares.

Assemble the light and dark half square triangle units, press, and trim. Arrange the pieces into a churn dash block as shown. Assemble and press.

Layer backing, batting, and your pieced ornament, then use rotary cutter and ruler to trim them all to the same size. Edge stitch the layers together with a narrow zig-zag stitch and matching thread. I used narrow binding for the Dutchman's Puzzle Ornament tutorial, but it was clunky and has bugged me ever since.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {12/2/16}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

{Thrift Shop Temptations} Shiny Metal Things

I had a plan when we visited the thrift shop for the second time this week, but the shiny things distracted me. 

First it was this little doggie. He either needs to live in the sewing room to hold patterns or maybe in the house to hold mail. One way or the other, I'll use him. 

Then there was this!

A couple of years ago, I found a full size shopping cart at a barn sale for five bucks. And my husband was wonderful enough to load it into the back of our SUV.  Now it lives in my barn, at least until I make a good space for it in the sewing room and convince the boys to maneuver it up the stairs for me.

This one is the perfect size to sit on a table top and fill with yarn or pretty fabric scraps. They had them at Craft Warehouse a few years back and I had to keep reminding myself that I didn't really need an adorable little shopping cart and that one was definitely not in the budget. At the thrift shop, for $2.99, the budget argument no longer applied.

This fella, as wonderful as he is, didn't come home with us. He appeared handmade and wriggled from side to side as he rolled. But I don't have kids the right age to appreciate pull toys.

I also don't have a place to put a table like this one. I keep seeing them and swooning, though. They're just neat.

This was labeled "Play Kitchen." It's not one yet, but it's the perfect candidate. I need a play kitchen even less than I need a wriggly alligator.