I have too many things going on, but the one on the sewing table right this minute is a cute little jumper I want to have done for my 5yo by Saturday morning so she can wear it to her friend’s fairy party. It’s a very sweet jumper with cherries embroidered on the yoke and pocket and a pink ruffle, so I figure it will fit right in.
I just finished an acid green and black quilt top, with dupioni silk and velveteen as well as cotton. I think it’s cool! But it might need a border, so I’m sleeping on that.
I need to finish three book bags with book covers in them for the library craft fair.
Also a yummy brown velveteen dress for my younger girl, currently half finished.
I’m finishing up a Christmas stocking for my nephew, Santa on a motorcycle. After that I’m thinking I may make some sort of paper mache turkey or other Thanksgiving centerpiece. Ever notice there’s not a lot of cute Thanksgiving stuff out there?
Wow, that’s a lot of projects. All I’ve done lately is to hem and trimseveral pairs of pants. But it’s winter now, and I usually sew more during the dark days…
Heading into summer here, where I usually put away the sewing box - but my best friend since 1971 is having her first grandchild and I’m filling up a large gift bag with knitted hats, booties, clothes and a cot quilt in a pink and blue harlequin pattern with lilac trim (she won’t find out the gender).
Christmas dresses. I have three to make in beautiful jewel tone sari fabrics. Next I will get going on the hand made gifts. I do one handmade gift for each child every year and if I have time, pjs too. I usually put them off until the last minute and drive myself crazy trying to get everything done.
One dress is done, plus a matching doll dress, another has the skirt done, but not the bodice.
Eventually I’ll get to my handbag I started 2 months ago. I’m making the pattern myself and that always slows me down.
Ooo!Ooo! I am working on way too many things, but then I wouldnt be happy any other way.
Started embroidery on what will be a quilt top…Im giving myself a year or two on this one
Knitting two sweaters, one of which should actually be finished soon
Making a cute halter top dress for my roommate last year…its really adorable, and I didnt use a pattern. I think I may have done away with ever using sewing patterns for anything besides pants
speaking of pants, I bought awesome fabric for pants last year and I found a good pattern, just havent done it yet
I’m knitting a shirt for myself, a sweater for velociraptor, a scarf, several pairs of socks, a shawl or three (I’ve forced myself to put two aside and pick at one at a time to get one done at least.) and I plan to knit a couple pairs of convertible mitts, a tea cozy and crochet some finger puppets for Christmas. The rest of the stuff can wait, I’m starting my Christmas stuff in earnest this weekend (going on a retreat) as they are easily done while chatting/drinking.
I’ve just finished the last strip of the afghan I’m knitting. It’s a wedding gift for a young friend. I don’t need it until May, but I figure if it’s done it will be easier to keep track of as we’re packing and moving. All I have to do now is the last two seams to put that strip in. I plan to wrap and box it so it’s all set to go.
The ever-present crochet afghan, which starts with two granny squares, joined into a rectangle, and then just goes round and round in random colors. Actually, I have two of those going right now, since one of them is about done. The other is just getting started, so I can use the smaller balls of leftover yarn in it. That’s what they’re for, using up the leftovers.
Within the next week I need to finish my daughter’s curtains. Since she’s back from college and actually using the room, she needs something at the window.
I’ve absolutely no money, so have started making Christmas presents from a bag of embroidery thread and cloth I had lying around. It’ll be an interesting collection of subversive cross-stitch hangings, some of which are:
“Anguish, anguish is my heritage” (a Pär Lagerkvist quote)
“Don’t forget the VAT” (for a friend who started up her own company)
Sewist seems to be popular on the web, on account of sewer doesn’t look right. I like seamstress myself, but it seems to have a more professional connotation. I was going for a ‘short’ effect.
I am totally uninspired for Christmas presents. I have a whole passel of nieces and nephews age 5 and under, and can’t think of a thing to make, even with Sew Mama Sew to inspire me. Maybe I’ll buy books over at the teacher discount store.
A friend sent me an Elvis panel, as well as some cool little patches with bits of Elvis-related news printed on them, and some Army patches. I’ve never worked with panels before, so mostly I’ve been thinking about how to design this quilt. I don’t design – I follow instructions. If any Doper quilters have worked with panels, I’d love to see a photo of the finished product.
I’m doing the Swallowtail Shawlfrom Interweave. It’s just for me, though. My family lives in Florida so they don’t need knitted gifts. Right now I’m up to the last pattern repeat before the border starts. After that, I’ll probably make a quick neck warmer out of a skein of really nice merino wool using a cable like this one. I kind of want to make mittens or hand warmers also but I don’t have any appropriate yarn in stock. I also really want to make a sweater but nice yarn is so expensive.
Not much atm. I’m supposed to be crocheting my brother a stuffed Ewok for Christmas, but I appear to have mislaid the bag with that particular project in it. I need to dig that out so I’ll have it to work on at that show Saturday…
At some point in the next week or so I’m making my adorable niece a smaller version of the cathedral window purses I’ve been making. She’s at that age where she likes all the colors, pink and purple, so the body of her blocks will be pink with multicolored sparkly butterflies, with hot pink satin for the insets. Then I’m painting the magnifying mirror in her little compact, and Miss Thang will be all set for the holidays. (It will be makeup colored, and I found a big blush brush for a buck, so she’ll have her own stuff to play with and can stay out of Mommy’s.)
Beyond that, I really don’t know.
Dangermom, I don’t have any ideas for little boys, but doll-sized diaper bags are a huge hit with girls that age. They’re insanely simple, just a rectangular tote with gussets in the corners and a loop of elastic to hold the bottles in place. When I make 'em for gifts I put in a set of bottles and a pack of doll diapers, and throw in a matching doll blankie, and I think my total cost is somewhere right at $10. You can also make your own reusable fabric diapers, and your siblings won’t cuss you because the kid’s constantly nagging them about being out of doll diapers. (My niece had almost her entire pack used before the birthday party was over. It was ugly.)
Little stuffed tea sets are huge, too. This past birthday I made a princess outfit that was really simple–trace a loose-fitting tshirt for the top, draw a partial circle based on the leg length for the skirt, cut two pieces, sew 'em together, put in hem, make a cone for the hat. I won the party, but this might be overboard if you have a lot of them to deal with.
I do have a cross-stitch going, and it’s going to take forever. I’m about a fifth of the way through. It’s one of those long sampler patterns, and it kind of goes through a story. So there are 4 landscape pictures, interspersed with the lines of a 4-verse song and innumerable lines of different kinds of stitching or small patterns. It’s going to be about 4 feet long on 18-ct linen. I’m a madwoman to take it on, but I like challenges.
I may take a break sometime and stitch my next project, which is going to be an Indian cow with the words “To be literate is to possess the cow of plenty,” which is the motto of the Madras Public Library and the best motto ever. It took me a long time to find a properly Indian cow.
Quilter here, and I’ve got two projects going. One is based on
and is black/gray/deep dusty rose with cream color for the “chain”. All the fabrics have gold metallic in them.
But the other is where I escape the confines of geometry. Our guild is having a challenge “Under the Boardwalk, Down by the Sea” and I am doing a wallhanging, maybe 36x50 of sky/beach/sea. I am just fusing the background pieces and they are batiks in pale blue, pale tan, and four shades of blue from light at the shore to deep at the “bottom of the sea”. I am fusing basic shapes and then embellishing:
octopus: gluing on suction cups from those things you stick to the bottom of the tub
hangglider with tiny doll attached
boat with net
same net in volleyball net on beach
and the piece de resistance: half a hand-size pink inflatable ball like this http://www.balldynamics.com/images/FBSB6.jpg as a pufferfish!
I also can’t resist a good pun so I fused the corner of a dollar onto the beach for “sand dollar”. Others:
gluing quarter, dime and penny in the deep sea part for “sea change”
gluing tiny red pom pom on the nose and attaching balloon buttons on one of the fish for “clownfish”
Attached little toy men to the chain and anchor off the boat for “anchormen”
