new books

Look what arrived this week! I have been feeling in a shoppy mood lately, and I found myself wanting some fun non-wearable projects to contemplate. Mom told me about the animal book a while back, and I can't remember where I first saw the blanket one. These will be fun, for sure. 

I am quite enamored with the bright colors and geometric patterns in the blanket book. Also, it's a library of 100 patterns for strips - endless possibilities! It is a bit overwhelming to consider "the" design I want to do, so I may make a few strips here and there in colors that I like and see what happens in terms of turning them into a finished blanket or two. Some of the strips in the blanket below are appealing - that pink and white one especially. And the pom poms!

Pretty much the first thing that caught my eye in the mythical creature menagerie was this unicorn. I mean... c'mon. It looks fiddly but fun, just like the rest of the book. Not sure if I'll start there or if I need to do a dragon first. There are a lot of super cute options - I may need to pace myself. 

Speaking of which, I do still have a few yarn projects going that I want to finish before starting any of these. Granted, this is crochet, but I also have a couple small crochet projects started, too. Maybe if I finish one of those, I can start one of these. Either way, I am very excited that both of these books have now nestled into my library. 

bag lady reprise

Late in the evening of my "bag lady Saturday" I found myself wondering what would happen if I downsized the pattern I was using for the zippered project bags to make smaller ones. Voila! They are super cute.  I used a fun stripe print for the inside, and combined a pretty purple flower print with some sassy alpacas.

I was inspired by the piles of scraps leftover from the baby quilt I made recently, and I sort of improvised my way through the sizes based on whatever the scraps told me. I suppose I could measure and try to replicate this again, but of course I didn't write anything down so this could be like those dinners you sometimes make only once because there's some random combination of leftovers in the fridge. 

I made two, one for me and one for a friend. I think I'll keep the one with the little tab and give her the one with the purple zipper. 

bag lady

Today was quite a day! I spent the lion’s share of the day in my sewing room bookending a big organizing/clean up with sewing these perky springy bags. 

The first finish was the veggie quilted tote bag. I saw a tutorial on YouTube a while ago for a quilted tote and this has been on my mind ever since. Last night it got downright distracting - all I could think about was how much I wanted to make it! So this morning after watering my herbs outside, I sat down to realize the vision. It does not disappoint. I’m looking forward to using it at the farmer’s market next week. Both fabrics were from a box mom sent me, they must have been in her stash. (Bottom row, second over for the adorable tiny vegetable lining fabric). I was too lazy to make the fabric straps as called for, but I did have some navy cotton webbing in my stash which looks great. I ended up ordering some more webbing online because this was such a good solution, and I’d like to make more. 

 

The other three bags are project bags for hand stitching (or whatever, I suppose). Mom introduced me to these the last time she was here for the holidays, and I rewatched the tutorial so I could make some more. This is from an Elizabeth Ann Can Stitch video, and they are kind of addicting once you get into it. I loved pulling together the different fabric combinations and using the zippers as extra pops of color. These are all somewhat “precious” fabrics to me - I have resolved to use the lovelies instead of letting them sit around in piles. That bright blue bird print is a Tula Pink impulse buy from Golden State Quilting and I LOVE it with the royal blue zipper. I’m going to be keeping the gray/green birds with the eye watering neon lining and the other two will be gifted to mom and Samara. 

It has been a while since I have felt this relaxed and spacious. I had other adulting things to do too, which usually gets in my head, but none of it was urgent and I was actually able to put them aside for the day. That is pretty much unheard of. So proud of that and happy to have gotten some color play in today. Just look at them! Spring has sprung! 

another new cast on

I seem to want to start all the things this spring. Tonight I finally sat down to figure out how to get started on my Clint shawl, which has been #1 in my queue since I wound yarn for it a month ago. Somehow that green and pink sweater jumped the line :) 

It does require some attention, at least for now until I kind of internalize how it works, and the pattern is complicated enough that I just printed it out and tucked it into the handy outer pocket on my project bag. Having e-patterns is nice, but sometimes I don’t want to keep refreshing my phone screen or worrying if my iPad is going to run out of battery. Let’s enjoy some analog in life, eh? I can tell this is going to be potato chip knitting now that I’ve gotten going and I can’t wait to see the quilt block grow. I have three of my four colors knit into it so far and I can say that I’m really pleased with the palette. Adding the pop of fuschia is going to make it even better. 

I now have five things going in the yarny world, so I think I’ll cool it on the cast ons until I finish something. I do have a lot of projects planned with some more very pretty yarn crawl yarn, so I’m motivated. Plus I think all of them are going to be great and I’m looking forward to being able to have the finished objects. Onward!

geddy tee progress

I have been absolutely enjoying working on this project. The combination of colors makes me happy, and the yarn has been a dream to work with. I am particularly tickled by the way my granny square shoulders turned out. From the little yellow nuggets in the middle to the sparkles in the fuchsia, they are just perfection.

The main color green yarn is as soft to work with as it felt in the skein, and it has beautiful stitch definition. I ended up using metal needles for this which was a great choice - like buttah! I’ve been using my lovely rosewood needles for everything so I forgot how slick and quick these metal ones are. I have made a lot of progress with very little hand strain. 

These photos were taken on Sunday and I am all the way down the back to where the arm holes end and the body will be joined in the round when the front is done. Time to pick up stitches on the front next! I’m really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.

outta dodge

I took a much needed day trip down to the Monterey Peninsula this weekend. Among the wave watching and pelican photography visits were of course made to my two favorite local establishments, Back Porch Fabric and Monarch Knitting. 

I enjoyed a browse around all of the colorful fabrics in BPF, as always. It was tough to not bring many things home with me, but I stuck to a few larger cuts that I imagine may be made into bags or similar non-quilt projects. I am not usually drawn to oranges and reds, but it was a vibe this time. I am looking forward to using that colorful kaleidoscope print especially.

And I couldn’t not come home with this yarn. It is so very Wicked in its appearance, I splurged. I have often seen but never purchased Spincycle. It’s a bit itchier than I would normally choose, but their colors are quite fantastic though I’ve often wondered if it just turns out looking muddy. There was a hat knit up that looked really striking just in stockinette (with shaping, of course) and it had a different lining yarn that was softer so I am wondering if I could do the same thing, potentially with any leftovers from the sweater I’m working on right now. It would be a green extravaganza. 

Along with that, I kept passing by the display of squishy ikigai yarn. I LOVE the colors and the last few visits I have eyed these skeins. Since I was viewing this as a “Yarn Crawl Addendum” for myself, I did decide to splurge and get some. I think they will end up being a scarf after browsing around a few patterns. Whatever it is, it’s going to be beautiful and so very soft. 

Besides the bright and bold fabrics, I found a cute snail print in the sale corner that will potentially be pajamas, and I impulse bought a set of 8 fat quarters that are all different prints of bright kitties. No idea what they will end up being, but whatever happens it is going to be so fun. 

springy table topper

Last weekend I had a hankering to play with some more scrap sewing. I am really enjoying the stash of “precuts” I made for myself and squirreled away (this reminds me I should do it again with the growing stash of scraps from recent projects). I wanted to make something to grace my dining room table for spring/March so I pulled a quantity of greens and found myself a neutral linen (not surprising for me) to cut to match for patchwork improvising. 

 

I wanted to make simple four patches and combine them to make a sparkly patchwork panel. It was a lot of fun on my design wall moving things around for a couple of days. I bordered it with a great plaid that I think just takes it over the top straight to St. Patrick’s Day. That gave me a goal, to finish it before the holiday today. 

I used this pretty linen-ish garden print for the back and, as has been my habit lately, decided to hand stitch the binding down to the back. It took me a little bit longer, but I finished it by Friday the 13th! I’ve actually been enjoying the slower approach to binding. The hand stitching without need for a pattern or planning is meditative. 

I chose to do crosshatch quilting, in the light gray thread that was already on my machine. It was quick and simple, pretty much the same as the patchwork. This is not an overthinking project. 

It took me a few days to actually “style” the table so it looks festive, but here’s my springtime table scape! Shopping around the decor and things I recently organized was satisfying and fun. I love how it turned out, and I am really pleased with how the handmade items I’ve been pulling out and creating new have made my home cozy and full of personality.