A day of celebration

Recently my mom turned 80. We planned to surprise her with a get together after I got back from vacation, so yesterday was the day. My family and I, my brother and his family and mom's best friend gathered in the back yard and surprised her; she had no clue, mission accomplished.



I had hinted before that I was working on a sewing project that I couldn't talk about and the quilt I made for her was it. The panels were embroidered by my mom quite a few years ago; she thought she was going to start quilting but didn't like the cutting and piecing involved, however she loves to embroider so she had bought the redwork designs for this quilt and then she gave me the panels. I have had them in storage since I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them and then I thought it would be a great gift for her 80th celebration.



I embroidered the center panel with our initials to show our joint cooperation and to highlight her beautiful embroidered I decided on simple framing in red. The hand quilting was done freehand and then I machine quilted in the ditch around the frames. The backing fabric is muslin I didn't want any color or print to come through to the front panels.



We had a lovely afternoon, we talked, the kids played (well the youngest played and we were entertained) and we enjoyed the food we all worked hard at getting ready. All in all a successful event!

A swingy tank top from Verena Knitting

I started to work on this project from Verena Knitting Summer 2009 last month. I wanted to use the linen blend yarn I bought at the MD Sheep and Wool festival. Andrea and I bought the same yarn, it was a great price and it has wonderful drape.




Even though I took this project with me on vacation I was not able to work on it. I have been having back/leg pain for a while now and sitting is my less comfortable position, especially for any length of time. I'm going to my first physical therapy evaluation/session today in the hope that I will get some help. As much as I am on the move during my day, it is necessary to sit every once in a while ;-)

Have you seen this fabric?

Image from Anthropoloy.com

What can I say? I love striped fabric...and irregular size multi color stripes? Oh my

If you come across similar knit fabric, would you let me know?

Back from vacation!

My family and I took our vacation early this year and we spent a week at Emerald Isle, NC. We have been going there for many years; we seem to schedule our time there when we need a break from a high energy vacation.


Sand sculpture at the aquarium

The weather was beautiful and we got to do everything we had planned the aquarium, the beach, miniature golf, the marshes hike and a visit to Wilmington, NC (I have plan another post for that visit!)


Marshes at the aquarium

The beaches there are like the ones of my childhood, clean sand, warm water, no boardwalks. Being there transports me back, and I reacquaint myself with that little girl.


The four of us proudly showing off our beach hair!

Burda Style 4/2011 114

I was inspired to make this top after seeing Lucky's trend "article" below.


I had liked this simple design when I saw it in Burda and I had planned to make the dress version. I found the striped almost sheer silk remmant and I decided to try out the pattern first as a top. I think it turned out cute to wear with capris and slim fitting skirts.

If you look at the magazine picture you can see the sleeve minicap fits closely on the model. I get a little bit of a wing which I think it's courtesy of my very narrow shoulders, even though I made my usual 38 for the shoulder area.

The armholes and neckline are finished with narrow facings which I finished using the technique that The Sewing Lawyer recently posted about. I have been doing my facings that way for a while, it gives a very clean finish. I believe these facings are so narrow that they caused problems insisting to flip out (even after understitching) so I topstitched to make them behave.







This is the first of my planned simple sewing, next up a dress!

A note about my commenting

First thank you all for your nice comments on my crochet dress, I'm glad you liked it!

I have been having trouble commenting on blogs that required you select a profile. I cannot leave a comment at all if I'm using Firefox, if I use Internet Explorer I sometimes am able to leave a comment if I select the Anonymous profile. In that case I leave my name and my blog address so that you know who I am. I apologize for not leaving more comments but that is the reason why. I hope my husband might have some suggestions for me or maybe one of you has encountered the same problem?

I finished the Burda magazine top I was working on and hope to have pictures soon.

Vogue Knitting Crochet dress

This is the Michael Kors crochet dress from Vogue Knitting issue Winter 2006/2007, that I blogged about. The yarn I used Gedifra Mayra was a pleasure to work with and I adore the color. It took me a while to figure out the right size to make since my yarn was a substitution, but once that was done the different stitches are easy to memorize. The skirt is worked in the round, the front and back separately but attached to the waistline, and then the sleeves are made and sewn in. This is the Ravelry link







Reverse single crochet edging




Hem detail


Reverse single crochet is used on the neckline and the sleeve hems

Am I proud of my dress?, oh yes! I really like how well the dress fits. This is my second crochet garment, the first was this skirt.

Sewing goodies in the mail

After commenting in Kyle's blog about the Christine Jonson pattern she received as a gift during PR in Chicago, she offered to send it to me since it wasn't her style. So here it is with other goodies she picked up in Chicago and another sewing event she attended. Thanks Kyle, it was a treat opening my mail yesterday!

My crochet dress is finished, just have a few tails to weave in, I am thrilled with the fit! So pictures coming soon!

I traced this Burda top but haven't been able to do much more, gardening is taking priority. And speaking of gardening, here are a few pictures of what is looking nice right now


Coral bells, seedum with yellow star flowers and a shrub I can't recall the name of. The shrub has never looked this good, it is 3 years old in that spot and I think it is going to do great there.


These are Japanese painted ferns and a few perennial foxgloves growing among them.

19 years and counting

I am one year away of having spent half my life (we dated for 4 years, engaged for 1, married 19) with my husband, wow. To celebrate on Sunday we went to a wine bar; we love this place, it is comfortable with good food and delicious wine. Yesterday we went with the kids to the National Zoo; because of the high temperatures (90's) we concentrated in looking at the indoor exhibits. We managed to do all we wanted and came home to rest and get ready for the week.

My crochet dress is almost done, I'll post a picture soon. I hope to make a quick top this week, I'll see how my week goes.

Keep cool and keep on sewing!

Simple designs

Burda 4/2011

Recently the trend has been for extremely simple, and easy to sew garments. Burda Style magazine is showing this trend as well as all the pattern companies. While I enjoy sewing complicated construction garments I love the look of simplicity, in the right fabric they bring a certain elegance. These designs sometimes mask our body shape but I'm okay with that I like wearing different silhouettes. From the latest Burda I like this elastic waist pants, I know some of you will gasp at elastic waists, but how comfortable to wear these pants will be in the summertime!

Burda 6/2011

This simplicity reminds me of Claire McCardell designs. A while ago while trying to find out more about her I purchased this book; I bought mine from The Strand in NYC using their website, but not at the current prices! I think I payed less than $15 including shipping. I have enjoyed reading about her life and designs, and I just pulled the book out again for inspiration.

I'm in the middle of a non-garment sewing project that I won't be able to share with you for a while, but soon it will require hand sewing so I will be able to start on a new garment...You can bet it will be simple!

Vogue 1224 Tracy Reese dress

This weekend I finished this knit dress and wore it to work today. I love this dress but I had the hardest time getting a picture that showed what I was seeing;it is a grey and humid day, my hair is "on the frizz" and the camera did not want to be my friend. Anyways on to the review.

This dress has a high waist, I added my usual 1.5 in in the Big Four patterns and it sits above my natural waist. It is a very easy dress to construct what takes the longest is inserting the elastic and the elastic/ties. I will be shortening the length of the elastic in the neckline to close it in some. I also addded 4-5 in of length to the skirt (I'm 5' 6");the camera angle makes the hem look to be below my knee but it is really mid knee on me.



As you can see I added the lining in the skirt as instructed since my rayon knit is lightweight. I had a chance to play with my serger and reproduced the picot edge finish Ann showed in her blog.

I know my bright print prevents you from seeing a lot of details but this pattern is super cute!

Another almost identical pose...I need to be more creative when posing

Meeting up with Andrea

Photo courtesy of Andrea

So what is better than spending the day at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival with a knitting buddy? Spending the day with a knitting buddy who also crochets and sews! Conversation was never lacking!!

Andrea and I met for the first time at Philadelphia's Pattern Review weekend a year ago, and we made plans to get together this year at Sheep and Wool. We both had similar plans as to what we were looking for so we kept each other in line ;-) The weather cooperated and we had a gorgeous day. She drove down with her knitting group and they had set up a space under the trees so we had a relaxing spot to meet and rest and chat.

This year the festival was the biggest by far, many more vendors than in previous years, I agree with Andrea that Ravelry has had a lot to do with spreading the word about this fantastic event.

I had commented on her blog about Burda 7866 and how I couldn't find it locally, so she brought me a copy! She was wearing her version of this pattern, and I really liked it. She showed me how she treated the neckline, clever girl!, I believe she'll share on her blog later.

I'm almost done with my son's pjs and I look forward to working on the Vogue 1224, but first I have to finish working on my planters since I bought my herbs and annuals yesterday.

Happy Mother's Day!!

What I'm working on

I am really excited how the skirt of the Vogue Knitting mag winter 06/07 is coming along. The yarn I'm using Gedifra Mayra is slightly heavier weight than the yarn that the pattern calls for so I played with gauge swatches to determine hook size and the size that I needed to chain for.

Below is a picture of the design,



I'm working on pjs for my youngest son, who after outgrowing his present pjs decided that I could make him a pair. So I'm using a pattern from my stash. The fabric is a cotton jersey from Fabric Mart.



I also have the pattern ready to cut Vogue 1224. I think you probably have seen this pattern made up by quite a few sewists and I'm sure the fabric is familiar too, it is a rayon jersey from Joann.



I don't have to work today until this afternoon so I'm catching up on housework and maybe get some sewing in.

Stay well!

Burda Style 10/2008 116

These pictures were a long time coming so Ta Dah!

For this jacket I used a double knit from Fabric Mart, I love the color and I originally was going to make a dress and then I came across this pattern and my plans change.

The jacket is unlined, I'm not showing you the inside because my serger thread is grey, so far the only color I have, not much of a match for this beautiful purple. No changes to the design or order of construction were made, just followed Burda's instructions. I did stitch the neckline facing down by stitching in the ditch, no flopping facings for me! I chose a black separating zipper, since I thought it would look nice with a black belt.

Do I like this jacket? Oh yes! It will fit very nicely with my existing wardrobe.

Worn here with Vogue 8663

I'm still here!

Well, I got a nasty cold, then the allergies hit me, at the same time last week was one of the busiest ever! I guess because school is off this week everyone was trying to get their meetings done.

I have made progress in the Burda jacket, it is going well. I'm finally done altering the prom dress; my son's friend was ecstatic with the fit when she tried on her dress on Friday, what a difference good fit makes!

I have been playing with crochet swatches for a couple of different dresses, I have wanted to crochet a dress for a while so when I'm done with the finishing on the knitting projects (winter wear) I will commit to the dress. I couldn't find the magazine picture online but here is the Ravelry link of the Winter 2006/2007 Vogue Knitting Crocheted dress by Michael Kors. I also ordered yarn for this Interweave Knits design



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I promise to get pictures of the jacket this week, I should have plenty of time to get it done.

Burda jacket is cut!

Yesterday I had some time and I was able to cut the jacket. I also stabilized neckline, armhole and front with fusible bias tape. Next I get to use my sewing machine!

This and that

Yesterday after work I went to DSW to find comfortable black flats, I was pretty lucky and came out with a great comfortable pair. I love fashionable shoes but some days you need a comfy pair that will take you through hours of standing at work. Anyways, on my way out I noticed that they had opened a Hobby Lobby on the same shopping center. I have heard of this store but never been in. As you can expect most of their merchandise is the crafty kind you find at Joanns and Michaels, but they do sell McCalls and Simplicity patterns. The cabinets were new and opened without a fight and the inventory was excellent. McCalls was on sale for 99c so I bought two.

McCalls 6341

McCalls 6282

As some of you know I also like making quilts and these crooked log cabin designs have attracted me for a while. The knit dress I think will look great I like the ruching on the sides.


I haven't cut my jacket yet I have been altering a prom dress for a friend of DS1, not fun, and I have been patching up DS2's pants, also not fun.

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On Sunday I made cinnamon scones. I used a recipe from Simply Scones: Quick and Easy Recipes for More than 70 Delicious Scones and Spreads. The recipe is for a fig and walnut scone, I left out those two ingredients and added cinnamon and nutmeg to the dry ingredients. I used to add cinnamon chips but they have disappeared from my supermarkets =(. I also don't shape the dough into a round and double bake it (traditional instructions for scones) I just "drop" them on the baking sheet. There were two left by Monday morning which my sons had for breakfast before going to school. I highly recommend this little recipe book!

So where is my jacket?

Well, I have been playing chofer for my son who was part of the stage crew for his high school spring theater production, in between I got sick (24 hr stomach bug), I worked, tried to keep up with laundry, made family meals...you get the picture...no jacket.

I did manage to finish knitting the Swing Cardigan that I was knitting. It came as a kit and I ran out of yarn to finish the collar. I was able to find another skein and now is awaiting sewing up the side seams/sleeves and other finishing.















I also added a border to the Happiness blanket, and now all that remains is to weave in a couple of ends.






I love it!

Mrs Obama wears a crochet dress

Picture from http://michelleostyle.blogspot.com/

and how pretty and chic does she look? Just another reminder that crochet is not just about Granny Squares (which I love for home decor!)