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?