Tactile Textile Pleasure, 2016

A big storm is coming this weekend...well, big for South Carolina.  One to five inches of snow and ice.  This means that I'll spend the weekend outside, taking long walks with my camera and one very excited dog.  That won't leave me much room for my "year-end craft roundup" photos, so here is a supplemental post of last year's gift crafts! 

In 2016, I completed:

- a bulky-weight herringbone cowl
- a quilted wall hanging for the living room
- a pair of fair isle socks
- several pillow covers
- several sample quilt squares
- an embroidered shelf liner for our dining room hutch
- an embroidered sign for Todd's office
- my first vintage skirt
- a pair of mittens
- a lined baby cardigan
- a quilted pillow
- most of a quilt
- most of a shawl
- a set of embroidered napkins
- a cross stitched pin cushion

And, the projects below, kept hidden because they were gifts. First, I embroidered this garden journal cover for a friend, but loved it so much that I made another one for my mother-in-law (size is around 8" x 10").

I love all the little details and had a lot of fun making it.

I also knitted this hot water bottle cover for my mother-in-law.  I LOVE it, especially the pom poms, but it's knitted with fingering-weight yarn and took a little longer to knit than ones I've made in the past with thicker yarns.  Still, POM POMS!

I knitted a few small ornament-sized mittens and made little felt animals for the fronts, to send to a few friends.  I'm looking forward to doing more with felt in 2017!

I knitted this cardigan for our niece.  I made it a little oversized so it could bridge two winters.  I really like it!

I quilted this cheerful table runner for a friend.  It might be one of my favorite projects for 2016.  It was so much fun to make and I think I'm going to do one for our house!

 I knitted these mittens for a friend.  I had a terrible time with them because I made the mistake of using silk yarn (the mustard color) with wool yarn (the rest).  The tension was wonky and I didn't think they looked right at the end.  But, they do fit!

Finally, a failed project for myself.  I got a Kindle Fire mid-December and found an online tutorial for sewing a cute padded case.  A lost afternoon and two too-small attempts later...

...and I realized that my Kindle was possibly a different size than the example given.  Sigh.  I ended up making a padded pouch with a ribbon top.  No pattern, nothing fancy...except I did use one of my sewing machine's fancy stitches across the top.  I originally wanted a button-close top, but my machine ran out of thread mid-buttonhole and it took me 20 minutes to pick out all the thread, and when I surveyed the mangled remains I didn't have the courage to move forward.  I cut off the offending bit, hemmed the top, and inserted the ribbon.  It's perfectly functional!

By the way, am I the only one who can't say "fully functional" without thinking of this Star Trek episode?

So those were my 2016 gift and end-of-year projects.  Looking ahead, I have two embroidery projects I want to try.  Both are stockings.  The first is a plain white stocking embroidered with trees in several shades of green, with bronze beads as accents.  So pretty!

The next is also a stocking, but it's not a seasonal one.  I think it's so interesting and will enjoy seeing it up all year long!

Finally, my brother surprised me with this quilt kit, everything included.  It's folk art and not normally my style, but I love cats and, although it's hard to tell from the picture, the kit contains beautiful soft flannel fabrics in lovely earth tones. 

Here is January:

My goal is to quilt/embroider one square per month.  I need to pick up some interfacing at the store before getting started on this one.  Hooray for cats! 

I received this book for Christmas:

It contains the pattern for the dress that sparked my interest in vintage dressmaking:

Here's another variation:

It's a huge book and I anticipate that it will take me several months to get through it, going slowly and carefully, but I want to make this dress for next winter, to wear with a cardigan and tights.  Red plaid, like the fabric of my Kindle case.   So those are three projects, and I also have other knitting projects (I'm in the middle of a pair of socks and a shawl right now), and other craft projects in general, not to mention finishing my "butterflies and snails" quilt from last year.  It's hard to find time, so I've scheduled out 30 to 120 minute blocks of time throughout the week to keep me on task. 

Phew!  That's a lot, but I love to do it and my hands are always busy, even when I'm watching T.V., so I find little moments to get things done.  

Here's to another year of tactile textile pleasure!  :) 

Skirt Darts & Knitting Charts

I know I sound like a broken record, but...hot. Hot. Hot.  I have been staying inside except for my daily trips to the gym.  Working from home has its perks, and not having to be out in the heat is definitely one of them.  In my free time, I've started a few projects.

I'm taking a class to learn how to sew vintage skirts!  Thanks, Jamaica Thrift Store, for the super cheap patterns.

The class skirt is not a vintage style, but a straight knee-length skirt, very basic.  Well, I'm beginning at the beginning, so it's good practice. 

Look!  My skirt has darts!  And I'm installing a zipper by the weekend.

I've been working on my quilting skills, too.  I sewed this placemat together with hand-cut pieces.  I'm still frustrated by my inability to properly pair patterns/colors, but I suppose practice will improve that.

The most important thing is that my sewing is becoming more precise.  Look at my tidy squares! 

I knitted this (secret) project for a friend, playing with stranded knitting and various color combinations...

...and I'm knitting a pair of mittens for myself in the traditional 'feather and fan' style.

The issue is that I have tiny wrists and have to knit with size 0 needles (aka toothpick width).  They're killing my hands and I think I'll only be able to work on this sporadically.

I'm a puzzle fanatic and probably finish a 1000 piece puzzle every week.

It doesn't take long at all once I sort the pieces into helpful groups.  On the weekend I'll occasionally sit down for an hour and work, but mostly I sit for 20 minutes in the late afternoons and "puzz," as I say.  It's so relaxing after a day spent online. 

I've been trying to take advantage of the in-season produce, too.  I cooked down blueberries and blackberries last week and, when the mixture was chilled, mixed into coconut milk and froze in the ice cream maker for an absolutely delicious "ice cream."  Recipe here. 

I've mainly been making huge salads for supper every day, which Todd loves.  I am excited about branching out into ingredients that I'm not used to using on a daily basis.  Here are links to some much-loved summer meals around here:

Blackened fish tacos with avocado-cilanto sauce
Quinoa salad with mint, almonds, and cranberries
Shrimp and couscous packets with mango-avocado salsa
Chopped salad with feta, lime, mint, and sunflower seeds
Orzo salad with chickpeas, cucumbers, lemon, dill, and feta
Spring vegetable stir fry with lemon ginger sauce
Greek tortellini salad

I thought I'd be buying a lot of specialty ingredients and only using them once, but it's mainly a steady rotation of fresh herbs and veggies that are used from meal to meal.  While I sometimes grill chicken to chop up and toss in any given salad for some extra protein, it's mainly vegetables, so it's a lot less expensive than the meat-heavy winter stews I make.  Win-win!

That's all the activity around here this week...taking my nature inspiration from indoor things, like fresh eggs from the farmers market...

...and adorable kittens...

(the original Grumpy Cat?)

...or things glimpsed through a window, like this female hummingbird.

Hopefully we'll get some rain - or at least slightly cooler temperatures - soon.  Have a great week!