Category: Sewing

Warm Wishes and Unveiling of Presents

Marie Haigh8 Comments

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day and a Happy Holidays the whole week long.

Mine was lovely, filled with food, friends, family, presents, and spiced drinks. What more can you ask for?

To start the holidays off right, I received a package filled to the brim with ornaments a few days before Christmas. 

They were handmade by Kelly Marie of Ellaluna. All of them were rapidly placed on the tree except for the lavender sachet (first ornament from the left). The sachet was dropped into my fiber stash; one can never have too many.

Yesterday was our first day of complete relaxation and as luck would have it, I woke up with a sore throat and head cold. Thankfully, I was able to spend the entire day in my pajamas. It was so nice.

Now that Christmas is over (well, almost over. Dan and I do swap one more present on 3 Kings Day), I can finally show you what I got my MIL.

It is a knitting needle case with an entire collection of double pointed needles.

I followed the basic design of the needle cases I own and just appliqued the numbers on. It was fun and easy to do.

In return, she spoiled me rotten: 1 pair of handknit socks, 1 pair of handknit slippers, 2 handknit bags, a handknit vest, a yarn cone holder, and the latest knitting book from Nicky Epstein, Knitting on Top of the World.

The Tigger didn’t come from my MIL. I have Tim, her sweet husband, to thank for him.

To think, I was just starting to cave to the sock craze and wishing I had the time to knit myself a pair of socks. MIL to the rescue! Instead, I can focus all my attention on designing something for the twin babies Dan’s uncle and aunt are expecting. Woo.

Dishcloths and Maybe a Tie

Marie Haigh5 Comments

I’m on a mission to knit dishcloths in as many ways as I can think of for the class I’m teaching in January: Dishcloths – How to Design and Knit Them.

Here are 2.

Stats:
Sugar ‘n Cream by Lily
Color: Jewels (I just love this color).
Designs: See below
Time frame: Just a few hours
 
The top one is a simple garter stitch square.
Cast on 32 stitches.
Knit for 64 rows or 32 ridges.
Bind off.
Couldn’t be easier. In fact it was so easy, I was bored to death. By the end, I was bribing myself with chocolate just to knit another 2 rows. Oh, the things I’ll do for chocolate.

The bottom one is the infamous Grandmother’s Favorite. (Non-Ravelry link). It was such fun to knit. The yarn overs and the short rows egged me on. I started it in the evening and finished it the next morning.

I have enough of the Jewel colorway to knit one more dishcloth in it. I plan to knit a variation of Grandmother’s favorite, since I found it so enjoyable.

When not knitting dishcloths, I am working on a new design idea, finishing up Dan’s 2nd knee warmer and learning how to sew a tie.

The fabric was brought back from one of my SIL’s travels. I forget exactly which country she brought it back from: Peru or Ecuador. Let’s just say it came from South America. It is hand-dyed silk. I’ve kept it hidden in my fabric stash for a few years now, not sure exactly what to do with it. Then, a week ago, a light bulb went off in my head. It would make a lovely silk tie for Dan just in time for Christmas.

Dan isn’t one to wear a lot of ties. His job doesn’t require it. Still he has a collection of at least 20 ties. You wouldn’t know it though. He wears the same 2 ties over and over again whenever we attend a function together. I’m sick of looking at them. If only to keep me sane, it’s time for a new tie.

Brooke Bag for Gran

Marie Haigh6 Comments

I purchased the Brooke Bag pattern from Marie-Madeline Studio and made this bag for Gran, Dan’s grandmother.

The reverse side:

Like most of the quilts I make, this entire bag was made from scrap fabric. Because it was made from scraps rather than new fabric, it has a story to tell.

The tie-dye fabric was leftover from the apron I made for Miss C.

The denim was leftover from my very first published pillow design.

The purple fabric came from one of Pop’s shirts. Pop is Gran’s late husband.
The small flower print fabric came from Jo of Blissed Out.
The large flower print was gifted to me by my MIL, leftovers from the quilt she made for Dan and me.
The plain white fabric was an old sheet I used before I bought my beloved water bed.

This bag was a joy to make. I won’t be even the least bit upset if Gran never uses it. Watching the bag come together was all the entertainment I needed.

I did make a few changes to Marie-Madeline’s pattern.
The pattern called for one piece of fabric for the backside of the bag. I thought it would be much more fun to have both sides made from patches of fabric. I also purposely used different layouts on each side of the bag to keep things interesting.
I used denim for the lining rather than the recommended medium-weight cotton. I also adhered interfacing to the bag straps. If I am going to spend several days sewing a bag together, I’m going to take the time to make it durable. Surely a lot of people are like me; they expect a bag to be able to handle the daily abuses of being dropped on the floor, dragged hither and yon, and banged into goodness knows what. I’m not a big fan of bags that are only good for decoration.

Other than those few small changes, I followed the pattern to a ‘t’. The instructions were well laid out and very easy to understand.

Fitting a Sweater and Contest Winnings

Marie Haigh7 Comments

When I first moved up to the Philadelphia area from Memphis, TN, I came ill prepared. I didn’t own a proper winter jacket and didn’t own more than two sweaters. My soon-to-be-MIL at the time took pity on me and passed along many of her sweaters to me.

This was one of those sweaters.

It’s incredibly warm, being made of wool and it’s a lovely deep green. Yet, I rarely wear this sweater out in public. The trouble with it is the tight ribbing at the hip area. Goodness knows that is not an area I need to be drawing attention to. It doesn’t help that the rest of the sweater is baggy.

After being inspired by One Pearl Button’s blog, I decided I would finally tailor the sweater. I’m not quite as ambitious as Alli is though. I stuck with just cutting off a lot of the excess fabric along with the annoying ribbed edges and adding a clearly defined waist and hip area.

If you are wondering how I made the flower decoration, it was easy peasy. I just cut a daisy shape out of fleece fabric and stuck a big button on top. The only stitching required was sewing the button onto both the flower and the sweater.

I even wore the sweater out today … in public.

When I got back home, this little package was waiting for me.

My contest winnings from Sew Spun!

It’s a mini pincushion and a needle book. She also enclosed her most recent purchase: a Moo card. I have got to get me some of those.

Thank you, Mandy! I just love them and plan to put the needle book to work right away.

Design scrapped and Chili coasters

Marie Haigh3 Comments

Just to prove that not all of my crazy ideas come out smelling like flowers, behold my latest design.

My idea was to create cutouts shaped like diamonds in an otherwise simple scarf. It seemed like a great idea until I started knitting it and had to maneuver 3 balls of yarn.

Perhaps blocking would correct the distortion of the diamonds, but it would take some major redesigning in order to make it fun to knit. So, I’m moving on.

Last night, I realized I hadn’t bought a Christmas present for my brother-in-law. So, I whipped these coasters up.

They were so easy to make. It only took two pieces of fabric and one piece of low loft batting per coaster. All pieces were cut into 5-inch squares. Then, the fabrics were placed together with right sides facing and the batting was laid on top of the fabric. I stitched around the squares with a 1/2-inch seam, leaving a 2-inch opening on one side. Next, I cut the corners and trimmed the seams. Then, I turned the squares right side out and hand-stitched the opening closed. Voila. Coasters.

I wish all gift giving was so simple.

Meet Maria and her Diamond Dish Scarf

Marie Haigh9 Comments

It came yesterday!

It’s an adjustable dress form! I’ve wanted a dress form for years, but (1) could never find one that had my exact measurements and (2) could never find one that was reasonably priced. The beauty of this dress form is that you can adjust the bust, waist and hips to your exact measurements. I found it on Amazon of all places with free shipping.

I named her Maria. I didn’t like the idea of having two Marie’s in the house. That would have been weird.

Maria is sporting a skirt that I made for myself a few years ago as well as a sweater made for me by my MIL. The sweater was crocheted and given to me as a Christmas present. It’s so warm and fits me perfectly as Maria so kindly proved.

Note to my MIL: I removed the buttons because – to be frank – they wouldn’t all button this year. Dan isn’t the only one gaining weight from my cooking. Yet, I really love the sweater like this. Thank you!

In knitting news, I finished the scarf I had been working on.

Of course, I had Maria model it for me. She doesn’t fidget quite as much as I do when standing in front of a camera.

Since it was such a simple design, I am offering it as a free download.

Back to Sewing

Marie Haigh3 Comments

As soon as it starts getting warm outside and buds start to open, I spend all my free time outside in the garden. Now that the weather has turned colder and all my plants are hunkering down for the long winter, I have been yearning to sew again.

I finished my first project since Spring, tailoring not included. Though I would love to show it off to you, it’s a Christmas present for one of my blog readers. I can’t trust him/her not to peak. I know I would peak if given the chance.

Instead, I’ll show you the next project I plan to tackle with the goal of completing it before Christmas.

The pattern is from Marie-Madeline Studio’s line and is called the Brooke Handbag.

If finished on time, it will end up as a Christmas present, but I’m not sure to whom. Rarely do I know who a project is going to be for until after I finish it. It makes sewing much more enjoyable if deadlines and strict instructions can be tossed out the window.

By the way, Marie-Madeline is having a giveaway on their blog.

Since we’re speaking of Christmas, I can’t help but brag a bit. Don’t hate me, but I’m almost done with my Christmas shopping. Wait. Let me rephrase that so the family doesn’t think ill of Dan. Dan and I are almost finished with the Christmas shopping. Right.

It’s true I do the lion’s share, but then I love to hunt and to track down the perfect gift. Dan acts as my sound board and my cheerleader. It’s a good marriage.

Those are just some of the kids’ gifts … and we don’t have any kids of our own!

I hope to complete shopping by Thanksgiving, so I can dedicate the entire month of December to Holiday cooking and baking. I missed baking cookies one year because I had waited too long to shop and prepare for Christmas. It scarred me for life. I will never let that happen again. Food is a big part of what Christmas and the Holidays mean to me.

Baseball and Jo’s Brooch

Marie Haigh5 Comments

Before I go on about baseball and brooches, I want to thank everyone for their kind and generous comments about my tree skirt. It really meant a lot to me. I’m thrilled that you like it. Dan had said the same thing, but he’s biased and can’t be trusted.

Speaking of not being able to trust Dan, last night he told me he felt in his gut that the Phils would win the National League playoff series. This is the same man who informs me at the beginning of each season which is his favorite player on the Phils. At the start of the next season, that player is no longer on the roster. It’s happened 3 years in a row. Patty (Pat Burrell) is his new favorite and wouldn’t you know Patty is a free agent at the end of this year. So, don’t you see? Dan jinxes the players. I won’t have him jinxing our playoff hopes. I just won’t.

We did win last night. Hamels pitched a great game. Lidge had us all on pins and needles in the 9th inning, but managed to pull out the win. Score: 3 to 1.

I don’t have any pictures of the game last night, because we weren’t there. We watched the game from home with Jake bouncing between us every time we cheered.

I do have pictures of the game we went to see on Saturday, Sept 27th though.

Dan and I traveled into New York to catch a Mets game.

Allow me to set the stage:

It was the 2nd to last game of the regular season.
The Mets were 2 games behind my Phillies for the NL East Division Championship.
If the Mets lost their game, the Phillies would clinch the title.

The Mets were playing the Marlins. Guess which team I was rooting for.

Rats. I don’t have my baseball cap on in this photo. Well, take my word for it; I wasn’t rooting for the Mets.

By the 8th inning, I found it hard to not root for the Mets. No, I didn’t want them to win the title. I wasn’t feeling that generous. Yet, I was just amazed by the performance put on by the Met’s ace, best starting pitcher in their line-up. Johan Santana was on fire! He pitched a shut-out game on a 3-day rest (typically a pitcher gets a 5-day rest for you non-baseball fans). It was just a splendid and awe-inspiring performance by a very talented baseball player. As Dan said, “It was a privilege to be able to watch a game like that in person”.

Of course, later that day, the Phills won their game, clinching the title anyway.
The next day, the Mets lost their game and with it their hopes to sneak into the playoffs on the Wild Card.

I normally don’t write that much about baseball on my blog, but these next few days I may have a hard time shutting up about it. We’re in the playoffs, baby!

Just so I don’t alienate the non-baseball fans, allow me to show off what I did with Jo’s brooches, Jo of Blissed Out – that is.

I quickly sewed up some tie-backs for the dining room curtains and pinned the brooch on it. I think it adds a bit of whimsy to the otherwise formal curtains. Since Jo only sent me the one brooch in my contest winnings, I snagged the last brooch from her Etsy store for the other tie-back.

Buttons, Brooches, and Pillowcases

Marie Haigh6 Comments

I received a lovely package in the mail yesterday from Jo. Take a look!

Two handmade Flower Brooches
One handmade Button Bracelet
One Fat Quarter of fabric with small navy blue flowers
One shimmery card

Many months ago, I had won a prize on Jo’s blog: Blissed Out. The prize was to be 2 flower brooches. Unfortunately, they were lost in the mail. Since I am an avid blog reader of hers, I knew her wedding was coming up on top of juggling a million other things. I was determined not to say a word. Well, as my luck would have it, the silence gave me away. Jo sent me a note asking why she hadn’t heard from me about the brooches she sent. So I confessed that I never received them. Then, I made a pitiful attempt to assure her that she didn’t need to send me any more brooches. The thought was sweet and I enjoyed participating in the contest. Jo wouldn’t hear of such nonsense. She was determined that I would receive my very own flower brooch and that I would like them.

And like them, I do! Thank you, Jo!

Ooh, I almost forgot to show you the best part of the package.

Buttons!

Of course, receiving such pretty sewing notions in the mail, I was inspired to sew this morning.

Just yesterday, I had seen a sewing machine cover on Alli’s blog during the 10 cent tour of her craft room.  It was made from an old pillowcase. I just happened to have an old pillowcase laying in the pile for Goodwill. (Actually, it’s the pile for Purple Heart, but old habits die hard).

The pillowcase was made by me from an old nightgown, but it never really fit my pillow. It was too short. I had just purchased a new pillowcase and decided it was finally time to get rid of the nightgown-pillowcase.

Or was it?

You may notice that it doesn’t fit exactly, since it is a bit too narrow for the bottom edge of my sewing machine. Maybe one day, I’ll make a cover that fits perfectly. Until then, it will work fine for my purposes, saving me from dusting.

Great Ending to Summer of Love and an Heirloom

Marie Haigh5 Comments

I received my 3rd and final package for the Summer of Love swap.

Details:
100 More Afghan Squares to Knit book
Vogue Knitting magazine
Honey Bee pouch
Earrings
Birthday cake measuring tape (Isn’t it the cutest?)
Silkroad Aran Tweed by Jo Sharp
Evolution by Chameleon Colorworks

Close up pics of the yarn:


 
The best part about this package isn’t the yarn or the cute measuring tape. The best part is that the package didn’t come in the mail. It was hand delivered by my swap partner – to be known henceforth as Tamsie. Isn’t Tamsie a better name than Piney? I think so too even though I am partial to trees.

Tamsie was in town for the Philadelphia Folk Festival, so we had lunch together at the Brick House on High Street. It was wonderful to finally meet the person behind all the lovely packages. She was even nice enough to haul my package back to my house, since there was no way it was all going to fit in my little bike pouch. So, even Jake got to meet Tamsie. He wasn’t even the slightest bit disappointed that she didn’t have a bone to give him. You see, he has all the delivery men trained in town from the mailmen to the UPS guy. They all know to bring Jake a little bone when they stop by.

Thank you, Tamsie!

The very next day after meeting Tamsie, my neighbor bestowed one of her family heirlooms to me. Let me back up and tell you the whole story. About a week ago, I found a thread rack in Walmart of all places. I was ecstatic. I bought it immediately. I had coveted a thread rack ever since I saw it on Flossie Teacake’s blog. Well, of course, I had to dash over and tell my neighbor about it. Imagine my surprise when she announced that her husband had made her a thread rack many years ago. It was downstairs in her basement. So, we trekked down into her basement. It wasn’t a thread rack. It was a complete sewing cabinet. She asked me to take it. I politely refused. Her husband had made it. It should go to one of her daughters or her grandchildren. She insisted her daughters didn’t want it and her grandchildren were all boys. It wasn’t being used except by the house spiders. She wanted it to go to somebody who would appreciate it. We agreed to think about it for a few days.

A few days later, I took cookies over to her. She asked me again to take the cabinet. I willingly agreed.

The lid does fold open to provide a longer working surface. However, the sewing machine as well as the mechanism to support the machine was removed leaving a gaping hole. So for now, it will remain folded up.

The thread rack which started the whole journey: