WIP

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Making Time

September 29, 2011 in Sewing, WIP | No comments

My kids are finally at the age where they can start reading a clock. Actually, my 5 year old has probably been ready for a while now, but we have so few clocks in our house that the opportunity to practice seldom arises. I came across these adorable clock pillows the other day and knew immediately that I wanted to make one for the girls.

It’s still a work-in-progress, with progress being halted until I can get some Wonder under or Steam-a-Seam. I can’t wait to finish it and show them how to move the hands around to make different times. In the meantime, we’ve been practicing reading time with this clock-matching game.

It’s funny how things have changed since the girls started school full-time. Before, I would spend much of my day trying to fill up the time with the kids; reading, playing games, going outside. I yearned for more time to indulge in my sewing. Now, I have all the time in the world for my making, but little time with them to actually use the things I make or play the new games they’re learning in school. Making time for us has become a priority. It’s a must in order for the house to continue to run smoothly. Without our time together we easily become disconnected to one another, resulting in moodiness and impatience all around. Do you notice the same thing in your household?

So, first I’ll focus on making the clock, and then I’ll focus on making the time.

Pins and Needles

March 9, 2011 in Quilts, WIP | 5 comments

Taking a little break before diving into quilting this thing. This is my second attempt at pinning. After my first go, I tried running my machine over the layers only to make a big puckery mess. I then removed all the pins, ripped out about four lines of quilting, starched and pressed the top and bottom, and re-pinned the layers together again. I’m hoping better preparation of the layers will help cut down on the puckering, but I think it’s only part of the problem. The other part of the problem would be the backing I chose. It’s all lose and shifty no matter how many pins I jab into it, but I’m too far into it at this point to pick something else. Drat.

Sidetracked

March 27, 2010 in knitting, Sewing, WIP | No comments

You may notice that this is not the dress I was supposed to be making for little Annabelle (who, by the way, is nearly four and really not so little anymore). Anyhow, I took a slight detour from the other dress. This little number has been peeking out at me from a box under my workspace where I keep various WIPs. I started it last summer and have gone back to it once or twice since then, but kept getting hung up on the shirring. I read through half a dozen tutorials with folks declaring how easy it was to make a shirred dress, but still found the elastic thread to be a tricky sort of thing to work with. So, the other night I decided to give it another look…and eureka! After a bit of fussing with the bobbin thread tension, I too was in pure shirring bliss!

shirringpractice

While some tutorials stated the opposite, I found that I had much better results with the elastic thread wound nice and snug around the bobbin. Not incredibly tight, but no looseness either. You can see the difference in that picture up there. The elastic thread should look like a nice straight line pulling the fabric together.

It’s just the tiniest bit too big for her still, but I’m hoping she’ll be able to wear it by the end of the summer. And if not, there’s always next year. :) I’ll take too big over too small any day!

And I started a new knitting project. Nothing big. In fact, I’m still not sure what it is. I was following a dishcloth pattern, but soon realized that it was wayyyy to big to be a useful dishcloth. So, I’ll just keep knitting along until I decide what to make of it. I’m thinking it might make a good mat to put our pets’ food and water dishes on. Seems to be just the right size for that, but we’ll see. In the meantime, it’s just the right thing to help me feel productive while I watch old movies.

Have a great weekend!

Piecing

February 5, 2010 in Sewing, WIP | No comments

I’m finally trying my hand at paper-piecing with these little hexies. In the past I’ve tended to shy away for hand-stitching, and I don’t even know why, now. The basting went very smoothly and now I’m just hoping the rest goes as well! Once they’re all pieced together they will be making their home on a little doll quilt I’m making for a friend’s daughter. I’m totally excited about this quilt as I am also hoping to incorporate some hand printed blocks!

FYI, I followed a tutorial from CraftSylish on how to piece these which also included a link for printing your own hexagon template. You just customize the size, print, and cut!

Progress

January 17, 2010 in Books, knitting, WIP | No comments

knitting scarf, originally uploaded by hickety_pickety.

Slowly making progress on the scarf. It’s been a nice change of pace to use a pattern that allows me to knit while getting caught up on a little tele time. We don’t have cable, so Hulu has been my best friend this past week. :) I’m actually a slow knitter, but I’m clicking away just as fast as my little fingers will go as I am anxious to get started on some other projects. This book in particular has been incredibly inspiring: