Friday Finds and packing up

I should NOT be going to the thrift store at all.  Repeat, NOT AT ALL!  But lo and behold I've stopped by a couple times in the last month or so.  I have to say though that I have usually left with nothing.  That's a good sign, because I am purging my house as we are getting ready to put our house on the market and really I shouldn't be adding anything to my packing piles.

But....I did find a little bit of a fabric treasure last week on one of the sale days.



Paid $9.60 for all the above.
3 Kwik Sew t-shirt patterns for the 3 youngest.
And 6 bundles of fabric, including a fun Alexander Henry piece.
I did put about 4 of those pieces (the juvenile prints) back into my giveaway pile as I knew I wouldn't have a use for them.



Most of the pieces were at least a 1/2 yard each.
So I guess that means I should come up with a fun blue quilt project.
Maybe I'll think up a collaborative project again with some of my friends.  We'll see.

In the meantime I am having a hard time emotionally going thru my sewing "crap".
I have gotten rid of at least 3 large bags of scraps and other items.
You can't tell if you were to look at my sewing room, but I have done it.
I just need to do more.
You would think it would be easy enough for me as quite a bit of my fabric has been given to me.
No such luck.
I can think of lots of things I could do with the fabric, but I need to be realistic.
Just because I could do something doesn't mean I have to. Right?!
Right!

One thing I am doing, in anticipation of packing up most everything in that room, is to package up some of my projects individually in large ziploc bags.  I find these at the dollar store--2 for $1.  They have been great for me.



I put the fabric or fabrics, thread, pattern, and other extras that may go with all in the same bag.  I plan on putting these in one place or box so that if I "need" to sew while in the midst of all this moving madness I'll be able to pull out a baggie and get to work.

Dress Week---working my momma magic

This daughter usually comes to me with a drawing or design idea ready for me to implement it.
For her Easter dress it wasn't any different.

She showed me this picture


And then asked me if I could make it.
Well,... let me work some of my momma magic.







She was going to try and make this herself, but we got in a time crunch and working with a lace overlay isn't always that easy for more beginners.  Hubby said this was his favorite dress out of all the Easter ones this year.

Details:

• Simplicity pattern 2588
• Flat, short sleeve version with smaller yoke band.
• Pink fabric from the stash (I know I bought it at the thrift store for a couple bucks)
• Lace fabric from Jo-Ann's.
• Invisible zipper

Dress Week---another wrap dress

My oldest daughter is a senior in high school this year and will be graduating in June.  In an attempt to get her a little more college-bound we made this dress for her for Easter....and beyond.



Basic mock wrap dress.
Didn't have to adjust the neckline, just pinned it in place so there wouldn't be any gapping.



Details:

• McCall's pattern 6884 basic mock wrap dress
• Fabric from SR Harris for $4.50/yd.
• Lengthened the short sleeve version about 2 inches.

Dress week--My Easter dress this year

I sat down and made this dress the day before I flew out for my grandmother's funeral.  I needed some stress relief from everything happening at the time and really, sewing is about the best way that I can get that. I had plans for it to be my Easter dress, I just made it a little ahead of time.

Absolutely love this fabric.  Purple (radiant orchid) is the color of the year, you know. Bought it here locally at SR Harris for $5/yd.  My favorite fabric store is now no more and so I am adjusting my sewing and fabric habits.  I am also grieving that fact, especially when I broke a stretch twin needle the other day and realized I wouldn't be able to go buy one at the store.  That was the only place that carried them here locally. Now I have to order them online.

Anyway, this dress is an awesome travel dress.  Folded it up in the suitcase and pulled it out right before wearing it and not a wrinkle in sight.  Stretchy knit, so it is super comfy.  Wore it all funeral day and it was lovely.






Details:

• Simplicity 2369 or 1653 View C.  These are the same patterns.  The first one just has a top and pants pattern also included.  The second one is dresses only in 3 different sleeve options and 2 different lengths.
• Fabric from SR Harris at $5/yd.  Bought 3 yds.
• Use a stretch needle.

Dress Week---Easter Dress for the youngest

This year's Easter dress for my youngest daughter is bright and happy.
She is currently going thru a green and blue phase.
I found the green floral at the thrift store for about $3 for a couple yards.
Then I bought a coordinating blue to match and break it up a little.
She is super pleased with it.
And happy day we hit 71 degrees on Easter Sunday.
First time we've seen a 70 degree day since last October.





Details:

• Simplicity 2715
• Contrasting yoke with white piping
• 3/4 length sleeves
• Added sleeve and lower hem bands
• Invisible zipper

Past versions of this pattern to view:

• Butterfly dress
• Recycled Easter dress

Funeral Weekend

Life has been chaotic and busy here at my house with multiple ongoing home remodeling projects and getting close to the end of school.  We have a senior in HS and so we have stuff to do with that, and just plain life in general--like all of you.

I have some projects to post, but today I'll do something a little different.

Last weekend I flew to Utah for the funeral of my 94 yr. old grandmother on my mother's side.

Besides the fact that I left MN with 8 inches of fresh snow on the ground and 32 degrees to arrive in Utah with it being 60 and sunny, it was a lovely weekend and a great time to reflect on a life well lived, as well as the strength and blessing of good family ties.

All 23 Grandchildren of Leona Johnson (from 4 daughters)
First time we've ever had a picture of ALL of us at one time.
Ages range from 20 to 47 (yikes, that's me!)
Me and my siblings are the 6 on the right.

Emily and I will now tackle the task (slowly) of coming up with a memory quilt using her clothing.  When we did it for our other grandma it came together quickly. Emily knew right away how to use her clothing. This time around it might take us longer. Grandma J's style is so much different than Grandma F's that we'll have to think about it.  Guaranteed we'll post when we have a plan, but for now we're just going to enjoy the fact that we had a great weekend of family togetherness celebrating our lovely grandmother.

The Boyfriend Scarf

As you've probably noticed I've been trying out different cabled scarf patterns.  I found this in a book from the library and then found it online.  I was originally going to make this scarf  and even started it, but it wasn't quite doing what the pattern intended.  I think for the yarn I was using it needed to have more than one stitch in between for the ribbing.  You just couldn't see any differentiation. So I found the Boyfriend Scarf instead and it does make me happy.

This scarf, with all the ribbing knitted into it, is rather thick and warm.





Daughter #2 has now put in her order of this scarf in burnt orange.

Details:

• Find the pattern here online. Or it can be found in the book "Chic Knits" by Phuong My Ly, pg. 59.
• I used Red Heart Soft Yarn in Grape, 2 skeins, for this scarf.
• Repeated pattern 8 times plus the rounds of side cables (rows 4-12) before binding off.

This is one cycle of the pattern (rows 1-51)--approx. 9 inches long.

Life Skills---DIY style

Over the weekend we worked on the next step to get our kitchen dining ceiling completed.  Taping and mudding and sanding were on the agenda.

Hubby did most of it as he is more particular about it than I am, which is probably a good thing.  Our youngest daughter wanted a chance and so he taught her how to mud and let her do a portion too.  Shouldn't every 10 yr. old know how to mud?




Tape it all off from the rest of your house before sanding because it will be a huge mess.




Hubby in all his sanding glory.

Our next problem to solve is on the left---painted over avocado green enamel paint = peeled paint and new paint and tile that won't stick unless we prep it differently.  Another yuck job that has to be done.  We'll tackle that one too.  Thanks to The Home Depot paint guys for their heads up on what to do.  I'll tell you about it when we get there.



All mudded and sanded.  This alone makes me happier to look at it.  It is going to be awesome.
Next up some primer and paint--once we get the rest of the kitchen area ready to paint.

Bye-bye popcorn

This past Saturday hubby and I hit it hard and got rid of the popcorn ceiling in our dining room.
What a big ol' pain!

There are always some surprises when you do remodels.  And once again we found out that the builders did not prime the ceiling before putting on the popcorn ceiling.  Before we did our main bathroom remodel we had removed the wallpaper which had been put directly onto unprimed sheetrock.  It just pulled pieces of sheetrock with it. Those brown spots below on the ceiling are beyond the paper of the sheet rock.

Thank goodness for mudding to cover up all that.



You can also see the regular ceiling of the kitchen side (towards the upper right of the pic), and the patch job of the ceiling where we removed the dividing wall some years ago.  It'll be nice to have it all done, albeit for someone else to enjoy more and longer than we will.

Bring on the Ombre

Two of my three daughters are ALL about comfort first when it comes to their clothing.  If it doesn't feel right then forget how cute it is because it won't be happening.

My youngest always wants to "see" the fabric, which actually means she wants to touch and feel it first before she decides if she will wear it.



Recently I made her a fun ombre t-shirt dress for Spring and Summer.  She is getting taller and a good portion of the clothes we held onto from last year for this year will be heading to the giveaway pile because they are too short.

She informed me exactly how she wanted this dress.
White on top
Light blue in the middle
Dark blue on the bottom

Luckily I had all those pieces of knit in my stash.



Used pattern McCall's M6276--which is crazily already out of print.  I swear I just bought this pattern last year. I cut and determined the widths of each section.  You can do this with any good t-shirt pattern and adjust accordingly.

I am in the process of making a color blocked t-shirt dress for me.  Got sidelined a little in that process by house stuff over the weekend.

Friday Finds--Kwik Sew patterns purchase

Haven't posted a Friday Finds in quite some time.  Not that I haven't been scoping out the thrift store, but I just haven't posted about anything that I've come across.

Earlier this week I stopped by my favorite fabric store that is still in the process of going out of business.  I found some orange poly-knit that will match perfectly with a skirt that I made a long while ago, but haven't had anything other than a white tee to wear with it.

I also bought some Kwik Sew patterns for $3.60 apiece.  We all know they never go on sale more than half off so this was a nice deal.

Here's what I bought.

Kwik Sew 3633 Color blocked dress.

























I could've just winged it to make this style, but I bought it in a moment of laziness of the brain.
I will probably make it exactly as is---white, pink, black.  I already have all those colors of knit.

Kwik Sew 3338--good basic t-shirt pattern.  I already have some patterns, but Kwik Sew seems to fit better than some of the other pattern companies I've bought from.

Kwik Sew 3489--good basic knit wrap dress.  Think Diane von Furstenberg style wrap dress.


Kwik Sew 3341--skirted tennis shorts.  I will end up using this as a basis for making skirted swim bottoms for me.


And finally, the craziest purchase I've made in awhile.
Kwik Sew 2881--men's swim bottoms

I've never made men's or boys' swimsuits.  You can buy them for so cheap it isn't worth the effort. However, our oldest son (12 yr. old) swam for the HS swim team this year and had a fabulous time.  They wear the swim jammers (black shorts above) all the time.  Those are not cheap--on sale maybe $25 if you're lucky. And then on Fridays....get ready for this---it's Speedo Friday.  My older 2 daughters just cringe at that thought but my son was so unhappy that he didn't have a Speedo to wear on Friday at practices.

Now we are all ready for next year.  I don't want to make them yet as he is growing like crazy, but he already has some swim fabric picked out from my stash for his Speedos---including a camo print and a gold sparkly piece so he can match the older guys who have their golden Speedos.

I just have to say that teenage boys are so different from teenage girls.
It has been awhile.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Dressing for Spring---10 yr. old style

We aren't quite technically to Spring, but we're having a few Spring-like days here and there.  Last Sunday was one of those with almost 50 degree weather and barely a need for a coat even with the huge piles of snow everywhere.

What to wear, what to wear...

If you're 10 yrs. old this is what you wear.

A fun Spring tiered peasant skirt and short sleeve shirt, with your fuzzy boots.



It's all good.

Skirt pattern--Simplicity 4650 (old Lizzie McGuire pattern)
Shirt pattern--Simplicity 4565
Thrifted sheet.

We're ready for Spring to arrive permanently.

Flared Assymetrical Skirt

This is the second skirt daughter #1 has had out of this pattern.  She outgrew the first one (almost the exact same color) but loved it enough that she asked for another one.



It's a little tricky to lengthen this pattern, but we've done it.




The pattern is out of print, but I did see some on Etsy and ebay.
McCall's 4153
Asymmetrical cut and flared hemline.
No waistband--just a fitted waist and side zipper.

Knit Cable Scarf--version #2

Now I might be getting slightly cable crazy here and not just my daughter.

Maybe it is the stupidcold (all one word) we've been having continually too.  Two days of 40 degree weather thrown in was not enough and made the next round of stupidcold even worse than before.

But really, cables just look so pretty.

And this particular pattern gives you a slight herringbone or chevron look to your scarf.

Quick pic because it was so cold.
If we wait for warmer weather to take pics I may not be able to post until June.

Details:

• Pattern found HERE at Michaels.com
• Red Heart Soft yarn in Tangerine--2 skeins.

Notes:

If you didn't want the scarf as wide as the pattern indicates (approx. 8 inches) I would suggest you adjust the pattern to do the K1, P1 edges only 2 times and not 3.  And/or you could also decrease the K26, P26 down to 22 stitches and then repeat the CB4 and CF4 only 5 times instead of 6.

The house madness begins

Well, we met with our realtor and got down to business with him as what we could do or not do to get the amount of money out of our home that we want.  Talked about projected dates, etc. and now the craziness begins in full force.

First up is our master bathroom (1/4 bath).
We needed to remove the tile, which was PLASTIC by the way.  The kids got into it.  And in fact there might have been a little fighting over who got to do the demo.  Please, there are plenty of tiles for each of you to get rid of.





This daughter wanted us to take out the toilet and sink asap so she could take care of the rest.  O.K. not quite ready for that, but hopefully this next weekend we can have everything in order of what we plan for this space and knock it out.


This view is to determine what space is available for a built in vanity into the wall.  We did that in our main bath and it is so awesome to not have this cupboard or shelving sticking out.  Not sure what we'll do as the space available is only about 14 by 19 because of studs and plumbing, but we'll see.

The next couple weeks will probably be mainly posts about house stuff.  I do have other projects I have done or am working on, but really this should take top priority for the next while.  Hope I can stay focused.  I'd really rather be sewing.

Braided Scarf

I made this scarf at least 2 years ago, but never blogged about it.  I think I was trying to decide if I actually liked it and would wear it.  Just this Winter I finally blocked it out and wore it.  I received some nice compliments on those days.  So I guess I should wear it a little bit more.





I can't remember what yarn I used for it.  But obviously I went 2-tone in greens.
Note:  After making a run to Jo-Ann's for something else, I think this yarn was Lion Brand Jiffy in Apple Green and Avocado..

The pattern is called "Braided Neckpiece" from this book, "Loop-d-Loop" by Teva Durham, pg. 118-119. You can also find in on Ravelry here.

Knit Cable Scarf

I tried another cabled scarf pattern.
This one I happened to see on the skein of yarn itself while browsing the aisles at Michael's.

It worked up really pretty in my sunny yellow yarn.



A little close-up to show the detail of the pattern.
I really like this pattern.  It worked up fairly quickly for as much detail as it shows.

Details:

• Pattern is Loops and Threads™ Knit Cable Scarf
• Actually followed the pattern exactly as outlined.  (I don't always do that)
• 2 balls of Loops and Threads™ Impeccable™ in color Butterscotch.

If you need a little cable knit abbreviation lesson this post is very helpful.  

Knitting Glossary includes some video instruction.

Chunky Cabled Scarves

Daughter #1 has been slightly obsessed with cabled sweaters and would really like to make herself one.  We may do it down the road, but in the meantime we started with something slightly less intimidating and needing less yarn for her first cabled project--a scarf.

I've made cables before, and although they look difficult, it really just involves crossing some stitches as you knit.  And being able to read the pattern directions.  So together she and I each made the same scarf pattern so that I could talk her through hers (at least for the first couple cables) and then she could do it on her own. And I would end up with one too.

And then I made a couple more.....







Working with chunky yarn is a plus too.  Your project works up much quicker.



Details:

• Pattern here free from JoAnn's. Shown L to R above

• Cream one made from Deborah Norville Serenity Chunky color Pristine 2 skeins
• Finished dimensions after blocking 8 1/2 inches x 50 inches 

• Blue one made from Loops and Threads Charisma color Royal 2 skeins
• Finished dimensions after blocking 8 1/2 inches by 30 inches.  We only used a portion of the second one as daughter #2 wanted a shorter cowl version.  One alone wouldn't have been enough for a cowl however.

• With the remainder of the blue I made only half of the width of the scarf until I ran out of yarn.  Daughter #3 got a little cabled scarf that measures 4 1/2 inches x 35 inches.

• Tan one made from Lion Brand Hometown USA color Los Angeles Tan 2 skeins (or as Hubby said, "the color of their air.")
• Finished dimensions after blocking 8 1/2 inches x 36 inches 

• Pink one also from Loops and Threads Charisma.  

• Hat Pattern Here.  Loops and Threads Charisma color Charcoal.