SEWmuchKNITting

  McCall's 6221

A friend of a friend of a friend contacted me a few months back about the possibility of finishing a T-shirt quilt. The quilt had been started several years ago for her daughter by the daughter's Grandma, but Grandma had passed away before she could finish. Of course I would help! This quilter had already fused the T-shirt blocks, and purchased the fabric for the sashing, cornerstones, and borders, along with the batting. My contribution was the purple pin dot fabric for the backing which I thought was a nice compliment to the fun, bright quilt front! Love my new Juki for machine quilting!!!! I like to use a meander stitch in the quilt blocks, but to keep it fun and interesting (for both me and the recipient!) I like to isolate a motif in each block if able. This can best be seen by looking at the back of the quilt: Both my client and her daughter were pleased with the finished product, and so happy to have Grandma's work to remem...

Quite a few (!) years ago I attended a workshop with my local quilt group and made this Snail's Trail wall quilt. It was fun to dive into my collection of batik fabrics for this project, and I love how the colors worked out. This project lingered for quite a while as I just couldn't decide on a pattern for the quilting. I ended up quilting simple spirals, which I think enhanced the circular motion of the design. This one hangs in one of the treatment rooms of my husband's dental office.  Batik Snail's Trail  size: 40.5" X 40.5"

What a fun and on-trend design from Trudy at  Hotpatterns ! I was stepping a bit outside of my comfort zone with this one, since I think I am usually fairly conservative in my wardrobe choices....although I am trying to work on that LOL! This top was a lot of fun to put together too, thanks to Trudy's design and instructions. Note that the elastic runs from shoulder to shoulder, across the back and shoulders only, with a solid band at the front 'neckline', and also has side front bust darts. That appealed to me as tops that are gathered across the front are not figure flattering in my case. Also, the cut of the neckline is spot on....after wearing this top out to dinner I found I never felt like it was slipping out of position, and was very comfortable. I had no issues sewing this up straight from the pattern....no alterations needed. And I loved the floaty ties at the sleeve edge too! This fabric has been languishing in my stash for mor...

Oh boy, life can get in the way of blogging sometimes! I was determined to get the posts from my daughter's wedding finished at LEAST by her one year anniversary......coming in just under the wire! I volunteered to make the little Flower Girl dress for the groom's niece, because I knew it would be so much FUN! There really aren't too many patterns that fit the bill, but no worries,  Vogue 9072  was perfect. My daughter, the bride, had a vision of the dress for her flower girl, and wanted a sash with a big bow on the back, in a color to match the bridesmaids dresses. Although I had the flower girl's measurements, she lives in Illinois, and I live in Michigan, so it helped  to pull up some information on the David's Bridal website to reference their sizes for a starting off point. Luckily, my local JoAnn Fabrics had the perfect dotted tulle for the skirt overlay, and the satin for both the dress and the bow. I was able to source the lining from my ...

The summer of 2015 was one of wedding preparations in our house, anticipating our daughter Kristen's August wedding to her fiance Brett. Knowing that making a wedding dress was far outside of my skills set, I offered to make Kristen's rehearsal dinner dress....and she agreed! What fun for the Mother-of-the-Bride! I chose four different dress patterns that I thought might work with the Bride's wishes, and she liked  McCall's 6741 , View B. There is a lot to like about this design: it's a contemporary silhouette, it's lined....and it has pockets! Using an ivory ponte as the base fabric, I found this lovely lace from JoAnn Fabrics in my stash to place as an overlay on the side panels.  We both loved the fit and flare: A big Thank you goes out to the sewing goddesses who were looking out for me, a perfect invisible zipper on the first try! Those useful pockets are tucked into the princess seams....love that! ...

July 2015 found me knitting away on a Wedding Shawl, for my daughter Kristen, for her wedding in August 2015. I had been saving this pattern to knit for her:  Haruni by designer Emily Ross, as I knew Kristen would love the vintage style of this design. I also knew that I would love knitting it! The beautiful floral border was perfect for the addition of the small, clear beads that I love to add to wedding shawls. And the easily memorized pattern gave me the opportunity to fill the knitting with loving thoughts and prayers for the Bride and her Groom.                        Look closely, and you can see the beads placed along the spines, easy to add                                          to the stitch (before knitting it) with a crochet hook:                ...