Audrey Hepburn: A Quilt of My Friend's Very Own

This is me:  Let's buy that yard of white fabric I have needed for over a year so that I can finally get down to business on Camden's Broken Herringbone quilt.

Also me that same night:  Wow!  Thank goodness I happen to now have a yard of white fabric so that I can ALL OF A SUDDEN whip up a quilt for Elissa (of The Rarest Bird!!!), my friend!

My second quilt is officially a gift.  I surprised her with it yesterday, and I'm so glad she loves it!  I don't recall if blood, sweat and tears were involved in the making of it, but wasted fabric, rust stains and cussing were!

I figured it would at least be easy enough to use the Audrey Hepburn panels she had given me - turn them into a basic rectangles quilt.  I sashed each panel, having to rip out when I misplaced the wider vs. the narrower strips of white, and then I had to figure out where I wanted the mini panels to go, and I went with the sides of the quilt so that I wouldn't end up with a crazy long and narrow quilt.  In doing that, I also had to rip out and then buy more white fabric, but the math wasn't too awful, aha.

The only other near-fatal accidents with this quilt involved not making the backing quite enough.  It was wider than the top by about 6 inches, but it BARELY met the length of the top, and that was a bit scary, as I kept moving the top around to match the backing underneath the batting, not wanting to warp the top, clearly, but wanting to stretch it as far as I could. 

Lastly, when I ironing, I knew I was temping the fates because when there is water/steam involved with an iron, it sometimes lays down a rust mark, but I REALLY wanted to get out the pink pen marks (by the way, I love that pink pen, but it's a wash-out, not an iron-out; use Frixion pens in your quilting!!) without washing it.  Anyway.... you see where this is headed.  I lost my ever-loving mind and threw that quilt in the washer, knowing that the open seam where I had sewn the binding on would likely fray quite a bit in the wash.... and it DID.  After washing and drying, I then had to go back and re-sew some of the binding where it had frayed too close to the seam line.  That wasn't awesome, to be honest.

The only really flat photo of the front

Anyway, it took a few days to hand-sew the other side of the binding down, as life is crazy right now with tons of driving to and fro, but the quilt overall is done and awesome and it is loved.  I so love surprising people!!!!

And so.... days in the life of!

She has a thing about cleaning threads out of chair wheels....

Birthday posters for Meagan!

Finally starting to hang our art from The Rarest Bird!

Helping make Vegan Snickers Pie! 

For cousin Helen!

Second day this week of their camps!

Tiberius wanted an army helmet, of course

I just keep making MORE bags!

A Blur of Sketchbook Shirts and Treasure Pocket Pants

A cheerful soul!

I'd forgotten about the days of yore....the days when I had to try and photograph a crazy person.

WHEW.

Photographing Tiberius is a LOT of work, if I actually want something I can use - when it comes to blog posts and getting non-blurry details on things I've made.

So, I tried and tried again, but there's only SO MUCH I can do, folks.

I have several one-yard cuts of fabric meant for the Sketchbook shirt by Oliver and S.  I've clearly taken QUITE a while to get around to sewing Tiberius a fun outfit, other than THIS version of the same combo and then his pajamas (which, along with Camden's, I apparently never blogged about).

I managed, then, to sew up TWO shirts and one pair of pants in ONE day!!!  Well, that's a semi-lie:  I did sew part of the black shirt during a two-hour hang-out session with my mother-in-law.  We sewed at Modern Domestic for a bit on a lovely afternoon, and it was AWESOME.  Y'all know I love MD with all my heart!  THEN????  How'd I manage to do the rest of that sewing??  I had a sewing VACATION!  YES, I did!  Tiberius stayed with his grandparents for a few nights, and Camden was at at a sleepover, and I was able to sew from 11:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night.  Granted, I should have quit the day much earlier than I did, but I knew it'd be a while before I made myself sit back down and complete the job, and I wanted a whole outfit for my little guy.  Plus, it broke my back a bit to sew those buttons on that late at night, as I have a habit of sewing shirt buttons while sitting on the floor, all hunched up, aha.

Anyway.

No, f'real.  Best sewing day EVER.  I ate Vegan Snickers Pie and salad all day.  And by THAT, I mean that I ate ONE salad and had a few helpings of the pie ;)  Go make it!  It is awesome!

The shirts went together pretty fast, as it is a simple enough pattern.  I was a fool and cut the black math shirt fabric out upside down.  Fool.  Ah, well.  And I knew he'd get excited about a pirate shirt, as he is kind of into pirates right now.  I lengthened the black shirt a wee bit, and I think I went even longer on the pirate shirt, just because sewing a small hem in areas like the button placket is tricky, so, I wanted to make it more of a 5/8 inch hem.

As for the lovely Treasure Pocket Pants, from the book Sewing for Boys, I used a lovely turquoise corduroy.  It was tricky to pair the corduroy with a panel that also matched shirts/wasn't too bright/busy.  I managed to grab two small cuts of some Cotton and Steel Basics while I was at Fabric Depot, and I ended up using both of them, as the gray wasn't enough to cover all areas (I was cutting against the grain).  That worked out well, and sewing the pants WAS a last-minute decision, as I honestly hadn't thought I'd get around to starting them.  I probably started after 6 that night.  I also had a hard time finding pattern pieces and went with a size that I hoped would fit him well, if I just lengthened them a bit.  It all worked out, and they match both pants okay enough - works for me, anyway!

As usual, the pattern was easy enough.  It is always important to remember that one of the side panel pieces has to be printed off the internet, as the original piece isn't sized correctly.  And I do cut my own hem facing, as I believe the one from the book isn't sized correctly, either....or something like that.  No biggie.

Now...getting him to wear what I've made isn't as easy as it was with Camden.  First, he has some Hannah Andersson pajamas that he loves to wear all the live-long day, and he is just more particular.  I had let him pick out the fabric for the black shirt, and I knew he'd like the pirates, but he still goes nuts and doesn't necessarily want to wear those things, so, it can be a bit of a battle.  But he sure is super cute in his new clothes!

And fall days in the life of....

Always fun with friends!

With Aaron Reynolds, author of Creepy Carrots!!

With author Ben Hatke!!!  (He writes the Zita the Spacegirl books!)

With author Lucy Bellwood of Baggywrinkles fame!

Yes, Socks Receive Their Own Blog Post

Though socks for a child are but wee, I felt that since I knit two pairs for Camden this year (well, over the past 8 months), they get their own blog post.

I used quite lovely yarn on both pairs, which makes it totally worth it ;)

I finished the pink pair way back in June (project page)...and they were slightly long, which I planned for...and they still are - oops!  The yarn is Cyborg's Craftroom in the Assockilate base, and the color is Unicorn Rainbow Fight.  They knit up beautifully, and I kept wanting to stare at them - and the other pair - while taking photos, aha!

Here is my thing with socks:  they are tricky in that, to get gauge, I originally had to go down to a size 000 needle, and I either use metal DPNs or my Karbonz DPNs (I buy the Karbonz from Handome Fibers - you NEED to order from them!!!  They are always so fast!).  BUT...I started tensioning my yarn a bit, because of my loose gauge, and I now wonder if it's just too much.  For example, you can see that ON, the socks fit super well, but they ARE snug to get up over the gusset (and I always knit a gusset and heel flap)...even though I knit my heel flap several rows longer, to accommodate for my crazy tight row gauge.  I don't necessarily want to move back up to a size 00 needle, but I am wondering if I should give that a try on the next pair of socks for one of the kids.  I love the final product in a 000, so, I'm not sure what to do.  I wonder if maybe picking up even more gusset stitches would help.  Hmmm....

For both pairs, I used the same pattern I always use for stockinette socks (paper copy, by the way!) - the Easy Lightweight Sock Pattern by Knitting Pure and Simple.  It is pattern #245.  I use the adult version for my socks, clearly, which is a different number.  One detail to note is that I used to kitchener toes closed, but I honestly have been finding I like the fit of the gathered toe better.  I also DO like to try out different toes on socks for myself, but for the kids, I keep it simple.

The other pair is knit in Hue Loco on the Spun Sock base in the Lucky Charm color way (my project page).  The colorway is gorgeous, and the socks are really quite bright and fun!  Nicole is getting back to dyeing more yarn, after having given birth to a gorgeous baby girl, so, go snag some yarn!  She has some lovely colorways in stock, like this one!

Of course, Tiberius feels HE needs a new pair, and I'd love to cast on some on, BUT.  I really need to finish a few projects I have going - including a pair of socks for myself.

Other shenanigans we've been getting up to....or NOT.  Honestly, we truly need to escape this house.  We hit up the bouncy house a week or so ago, and Camden and her dad went ice skating a few days ago, but we've just been so cooped up.  I need to get out and simple walk.  My knitting body is dying a bit.

Squeezing in a game of Outfoxed

I try to relax in baths...but when I've read a bit, I just want to escape, aha!

When Tiberius takes charge...

Matt is working on a quilt!

He may finish his first quilt before I do!

Camden says real artists wear berets

Contemplating life over Snickers Pie