Sophomore Style Update

Now that he's fifteen, D2 has become more style conscious.  Not a slave of fashion.  He's decided on his own thing, which I appreciate.  It's not necessarily the most convenient.  Non-blue jeans and V-neck shirts can be found.  And it was fun to sew him this overshirt from some of Grandma O's material.

But he wanted a new jacket, too.  And didn't like anything available on the department store websites.  Luckily, he did like the Forester Coat pattern from Twig + Tale.

He chose a tan suedecloth for the outside, and soft gray flannel for the lining.

And aren't these the most awesome buttons?  I used Extra-Strong thread to help them stay on.

He doesn't actually wear a jacket very often, but this will be ready for him whether he's going casual . . . 

or dresssing up.  And it was fun to sew!

Dragon Quilt

A few months ago, Rollo asked me to make a new quilt that he could take to college.  The turtle quilt I made when he was six was getting worn and a bit too small.  I thought he might want something more manly(=boring).  So I looked up some simple designs that could be nice.  He wasn't impressed.  He wanted a dragon.  

 So I started with this lovely Kona Bay panel.  I think I was lucky to find one still available.

 Then Rollo picked out three border designs from The Border Workbook, by Janet Kime.  I picked colors to coordinate with the dragon panel, looking for sort of scaly prints.  And some stars.  My boys' quilts always include stars.  I finished this quilt in record time, for me.  I ordered the panel in April, waited to check out the border book in June, and hurried to put it all together in July and August, in spite of a couple of unusual heat waves. 

I finished the straight-line machine quilting around the borders and bound up the edges the day before we left to deliver Rollo to his grandparents' house, where he'll live this school year.  I added some hand quilting on the central panel between shopping trips and visiting while we were there for a week.  And now he has a (really) big hug from me to wrap up in any time.

In other news, Scoot returned with honor from his mission to Belgium and the Netherlands.  He served well and enjoyed it, and we are happy to have him home.  We're also glad he's getting along well with our newest resident, Kasimir.  Both Scoot and the Caterpillar will be pursuing their studies locally for a semester or two, and it is nice to have them around.

And today is the first day of 10th grade for D2.  While he did get to go to the high school building for a couple of months last year, this was his first day to go to the church for early-morning seminary.  I hope he sets his alarm clock for tomorrow.

Complete

 

I recently finished a couple of my longer-term projects.  First, this sweater.  I've been making a habit of crocheting myself a sweater beginning in January, after the bustle of the holidays calms down.  And by the time I finish, we don't have sweater weather anymore.  But I have something new to wear next winter.

The yoke pattern of this Huldra sweater really caught my eye, and it was fun to work with Brava Sport yarn. 

The sleeve motif turned out to be interesting, too.  Of course I made some adjustments.  I started out with the wrong size, and had to add a few rounds to the neckline at the end.  And I found that decreasing once every three rounds was just right for shaping the sleeves.  The roundness of the yoke makes the sweater kind of stand out in back.  I'm not sure what to do about that, except wear it and not worry!

This quilt has been in the works even longer.  I admired the Seville pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew for several years before buying it.  I finally got around to planning out a queen-sized version last June, so actually making it spread over nearly a year. 

I wanted to use Asian prints, but knew I could never choose between all the lovely fabrics available.  So I ordered two ten-packs of fat quarters, trusting to someone else's eye to select them.  They came with a wonderful variety.

The piecing went pretty well.  The straight-line quilting was frustrating, even using the walking foot.  I had to send the machine in for repairs on the stitch regulation system.  It made a difference, but slowed the process down.  I'm not going to show you the back--it wouldn't win any prizes.  But it is all together now, and I am happy with it.

 I'm sure other people could produce these things faster.  Probably I could if I tried.  But I enjoyed having these things to do for a while.  

What should I make next?

Grateful for Creativity

I always like to make things, but in these uncertain times, I have found much comfort in being able to take things I have, or things I can get, and organizing them into something beautiful and useful.  I've been busy!

Since the beginning of March, I've sewn

a dress for a friend's baby, using the last of one of my very favorite fabrics,

an apron, to keep Scoot's white shirts clean,

masks for others and ourselves,

a bookmark with my motto for the year,

a shirt for Rollo,

a weighted blanket for the Caterpillar,

curtains, and a couple of outfits for myself. 

I've crocheted

a blanket for another friend's baby,

a Dragon Neckwarmer, with coordinating hat,

 

and this All in the Family afghan.  I started it in the spring, using yarn I had at hand, and set it aside when it was getting too warm to sit around under an afghan and my colors were starting to run out.  I picked it up again this fall, added rounds in three more colors, and decided it was big enough.

 

I've done some painting:  

I have also enjoyed offering some advice, but mostly watching as the boys expressed themselves

with cakes,

costumes, and other creativity.

I have more projects to enjoy, ideas to realize, inspiration to express.  I'm thankful for the skills I've learned, and the resources to practice them.  It's one way to emulate our great Creator, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do so.

 

What has kept your hands busy?

 

#givethanks

 

 

Spring Flowers Afghan

Spring of 2020 has been an odd time for all of us.  I'm happy to report that my family is safe and healthy.  My husband and the Caterpillar are still working, Scoot is doing creative missionary work in Belgium, Rollo completed his AP tests at home, and D2 sometimes does some remote schoolwork.

I, being an introverted homemaker, am usually happy to spend most of my time at home, but things are different now.  I wasn't used to having most of the family at home with me most of the time.  I don't get to go to the gym or the library, and I'm not sure about the status of the fabric store.  But I still need books to read and things to create.  Luckily, we have a pretty good home library, and I have a pretty good stash of craft supplies.

So I crocheted this blanket for a friend's expected baby.  The stitch pattern is from a Leisure Arts leaflet, More Crochet Stitches & Easy Projects, and has the unimaginative name of "Cluster Stripes."  It looked sort of floral to me, so I used cheerful spring colors for the clusters, and white for the stripes.  I had some difficulty with keeping the edges straight, but otherwise it was an easy, enjoyable project.

I also joined the army of mask-makers to provide some supplemental face coverings for local health-care workers.  Since I didn't jump on the bandwagon until the elastic and bias tape shortage was in full swing, I bought a neat gadget (just the maker, though--the finisher would have made it even easier!), and made my own tape.  The fabric had been donated by local church members for a different charitable purpose, but was made available for this project.

And I sewed Rollo a new dragon shirt for his seventeenth birthday.  He likes the shirt more than he likes to smile for pictures!

What have you been making?

Handmade Gifts

We had a nice Christmas.  How about you?

 In spite of a power outage and an impulsive movie run, I finished these before the last minute.  They are jerseys for the boys' homemade game, Penguiness.  It's kind of a rough game to play in the living room, but they haven't broken anything for a while.

And I made sure I could differentiate the shirts in the laundry.

 I also made a few things to send away, like this watercolor portrait of my sister's cat,

 and coordinating monkey shirts for my other sister's little boys.  I used this pattern, and I liked it.

 

One of those little boys hasn't been born yet, but I know he'll need a blanket.  I made this with my boys' old jeans, and scraps from other projects.

The back is soft and gray, the border sunshine yellow.  I was looking for a rainbow-peeking-out-from-the-clouds effect.  What do you think?

 Some other babies have caught my attention, too.  I decided this little guy needed the Four Corners quilt I made a while ago.  I improvised a couple of  crocheted hats to go with it.

 

Some other friends actually had a girl, after three boys.  I don't know many baby girls, so I was excited to finally crochet the Eloise Baby Sweater.  I hope she enjoys wearing it as much as I enjoyed making it.

 This was fun, too.  I was invited to bring a prize to an '80s-themed bingo party.  After a brief brainstorm for topical ideas, I struck on a unicorn hat, with a rainbow mane.  I used this Sock Monkey Hat pattern for the white earflap hat, then added the ears, mane, and horn from the Unicorn Hoodie in Brenda K.B. Anderson's book Crochet Ever After.

 Even though the unicorn parts were meant for a child's hood, they fit just right on an adult's hat.  And I had all that yarn hanging around already, even the sparkly yellow for the horn.

At the party, I watched people open their wrapped prizes.  Most contained things like soap or candles, the dull things women give to each other when they don't know each other well.  I hoped fervently that whoever picked the hat would appreciate it.  She happened to be sitting next to me--a young horse enthusiast who doesn't remember the '80s, but loves unicorns.  She was so thrilled, it was contagious.  Crochet (and other crafts full of love) for the win!

Halloween 2018

Hope you had a happy Halloween!  Here we are setting out for trick-or-treating.  I know, the boys are big enough to not need my services as an escort very much.  But I enjoyed the walk, and seeing all the costumes.

Speaking of costumes, D2's was based on his hair.  It was sticking up when he awoke in the morning.  He refused to wear any sort of costume to school, but consented to don the old lab coat in the evening.  That little skeleton has been wearing a child-sized bathrobe for the past couple of years, so he got undressed for the occasion.

Photo credit

Scoot found his Chinese jacket at the thrift store.  Doing some research later, he found the same pattern has been worn by influential people in the past. 

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Rollo had a very specific vision for his costume.  He wanted to be a Sandmaster, from Brandon Sanderson's graphic novel White Sand, illustrated by Julius Gopez.

I modified an old pajama pattern to look like it wraps in front, and added a hood from another pattern.  The sash came together pretty well when we found some a couple of cheap belts and some quilting cotton with a suitable pattern.

He was pleased, and did wear the outfit, sans sword, of course, to school all day.

Image

We're all big fans of the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and when I saw her new outfit in the (second) #1 issue, I knew it was a costume I could live with, too.  Thanks, Erica Henderson!

It was fun to make, and to wear.  I even ran a 5k in, well, most of the costume.  Being unbeatable, Squirrel Girl herself would never enter a race with ordinary citizens, so I left my unfairly (dis)advantageous tail behind.

I crocheted the ears, and made the earrings out of real acorns.  When we went to the trunk-or-treat at church, Dandelionslayer consented to wear a tail, too, to be Squirrel Girl's pal, Chipmunk Hunk.  I'm not sure why no one wanted to be Koi Boi.  Maybe next year!