The Start of Something

I've started an I Spy quilt for baby M. Thanks Katelyn for some very cool small peices. I have a few more to add and then I get to decide where I am going with it. I think I need a better design wall than the grass in front of my apartment.

Sunday night You Know Who and I finally left the house after home work and the world cup game were over. We walked down into Boeblingen and had dinner. This was our backdrop for the evening.

I do love it here when summer finally arrives.

Dress for Jessica

I started with McCall's 6031 and more lovely jersey knit. I was not enjoying the way the pattern directed you to sew things together, so I went a bit more my own way. Sorry for the blah photos. One day I will have good light....  

I added a bit of pleating in the front hoping to give the little one a bit more room. It has been interesting trying to accomodate a growing baby with patterns that don't. The collar detail in the pattern seemed too large when I started so I decided on some gathered, pleated and twisted peices.

I hope you like it Jessica.

Understanding Knits?

Or, when things turn out but they don't or don't but do or gee I love this fabric.

This is for Jessica.

 Jessica's going to be giving me a grandson in a few months.

OK, Mc Call's 6120 is not a maternity pattern but I thought (?) if I cut the lower bodice larger....

Jess, I know you thought this would be better as a dress. Don't let the length you see here mislead you, you might be able to wear it as a dress. You will be able to wear it now, this fabric super soft and super stretchy. Good news is, you can wear it afterwards too.

key necklace by Jenny aka pearlswirl and is sold in the shop.

I learned two important things while making this.

1. I could live in this fabric.

2. I know nothing about knits.

Butterick 4789

Is is ok to love something you've made?

A lot?

I found this knit a few weeks ago at Hilco. I knew what I wanted it to be but I had to wait for the pattern to arrive.

It did, yesterday.

Thanks my dear Jessica.

I might make a hundred more of these.

Earrings by Adrienne at All Wound Up

Hexagon progress

A lot are a gift from Kelly. Some are from projects recently completed. 

This is what a hundred look like?

A swap from isisjem22. So I am + about 150 this week.

Newest reason not to do other things. Trying needlefelting again. Not sure what it will be.

More Oliver + S and A Nice Surprise

Oliver + S Sketchbook Shirt and Shorts.

For my Grandson.

Size 6 - 12 months.

Kaufman organic cotton canvas for the shorts.

The shirt is in Recess by Sandy Klopp for Moda.

Ridiculously cute? I think so. Yes, it's another good pattern from Oliver + S.

Excuse the terrible photos. Adding to the no sun issue we have here in Germany right now, is the plastic wrap situation I find myself in. My windows are covered in plastic wrap. Our apartment building is being painted on the outside. World cup is in session. We have been wrapped up since Thursday. Coincidence? I think not. Yucky? Oh yeah!

~

In the nice surprise catagory, I came home to an e-mail telling me I'd won a $25 gift certificate in the 3rd week drawing on Sew Mama Sew's Make it Wear it Challenge month. How cool is that? Yes, I already shopped.

Simplicity 2975

Made with a gorgeous linen in one of my favorite colors. I added pockets on the side seams instead of the front patch pockets it called for. Sorry there are no closeups.

I love this tree. It hangs over a pond in the gardens by the theatre district. You know who thinks I am a huge goof for wanting a photo of myself here. I thought I could walk out farther..... the water is shallow and very not clean. Yeah, he also had to help me down.

Hope you've had a great weekend!

29 Years Ago Today

We were joyful.

I think we've still got that.

Only time will tell.

Didn't mean to be gone so long

It was a long week. It was a good week. It was a not so good week. For those of you who dropped by Wednesday after seeing me here and here thank you! I was hard at work getting more things done but was having some difficulty getting things photographed and posted.

Thank goodness for weekends.

I am not a sports fan but when the world cup happens and the weather is good, it's fun to go sit outside and watch a game or two. It's fun to watch people get crazy. Seriously crazy. This place is a short walk from our apartment. I'll miss it.

 I've had this toile for years (thanks Sherie). I'd been wanting to make it into a skirt but was having trouble thinking of a shirt I had to wear with it. Kelly wore her Cabo halter last week and a light went on. I made mine with Kona Cotton in a shade of blue that I've forgotten.
The skirt is Simplicity 8664. I did a bias trim for the hem because I cut it a bit shorter than I meant to. Mistake? Opportunity?
This detail is around the top of the skirt. I pulled the facing up just enough to make it look like cording. It may never be seen but I know it's there and I like it! By the way, I used my ever quickly dwindling supply of Wonder Tape for both zipper applications. The skirt was a sort of lapped version ( sorry totally meant to take a close up) and the shirt has an invisible zip. It was wonderful for both. Seriously, as Jess said, it changes lives. Well, mine anyway.

Three more of the shirred skirts. Two for Jess, one for me. Hers are out of Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt and mine is Pastry Line voile from Anna Maria Horner.

Last and maybe least is a project that turned out differently than I had planned. Not bad, just different. I took a tank cut it off and attached the voile skirt. I did five rows of shirring around the bodice and skirt to give it a more fitted look. If I had a garden, this would be my gardening dress. Right now I have scaffolding, a dying rose and soon to be very, very bright yellow walls outside.

A Full Weekend of Sewing

This is what three hundred and five 1" hexagons look like. I am out of scraps.

Sunday's additions.

Jennifer gave me some knit fabric a few months back. I made a shirt for Jessica out of some and this is what I did with the left over. I greatly modified an old pattern. It's comfy but not too frumpy....

I promised I'd try using the wonder tape to insert a zipper. I got around to that today. I pulled out some Japanese damask that I'd gotten peices of a couple of years ago. I've been wanting to make something with it. No one was here to tell me I shouldn't, so I did. First though, wonder tape works great!

Tape on the zipper.

Zipper taped to skirt.

Sewing zipper in on the right side of the skirt. Finished zipper. I will definitely do this again.

Photo session with myself. I crack myself up. Look at this hair.... tomorrow it's gone. Well not all gone but shorter.

Hope your Monday has been happy!

Sweet Harmony meets Hope Valley

I love this purse.

 I love this fabric.

 We received both at the shop a few weeks back and I finally took the time to start the bag on Tuesday. It was a long week and I was kinda tired and kinda slow so it took me until Thursday to finish. The pattern is not hard. There are just a lot of peices and prepping each one is important. The directions are fairly straight forward. An intermediate sewer should have no trouble.

I never showed my funky glass mushroom that I wish now I'd gotten more of.....

I opted for a zippered pocket on one side and an open divided one on the other.

I love piping.

Bad blurry mirror shot for scale.

Yesterday started off sunny for a change. This is a favorite spot in my drive to work enhanced further by my cute car jewelry.

Jess and I found the crown at Hohenzollern, a castle on the edge of the Swabian Alps..... such tourists we are. The other was gift from Adrienne.

Hope you're having a great weekend!