B now has a new pair of pajamas, sewn in 20 minute stretches over the past several weeks. Or months, but who’s keeping track? I love this pattern; I think it’s because they remind me of baseball uniforms. Seriously cute, without me having to mess with setting in a collar. The pattern is New Look 6131, and I picked up the fabric some time ago at my local Jo-Ann Fabrics store.

This boy grow up much faster than he does out, so I’ve gotten crafty with the bottoms. I added three inches when I cut them out, and made cuffs at the bottom of his pant legs. So, the first time he grows out of them, I’ll simply let the cuff down (they’re simply tacked up at the seams.). That will leave a deep hem, which I can let down for the second growth spurt. I think I’ll be rather lucky if the pants make it that long without getting worn out in the knees. But, he loves them, so I want to make them last as long as we can. Now his brother is asking for a cuffed pair of PJ bottoms, as well.

I have been knitting and spinning a little, and working on a quilt for charity. I’ll have some picture to show you all soon!

Book covers are another quick gift idea for kids or adults. I just realized that I never shared my first two book covers with you; they were paperback covers for my boys. This particular cover is for a composition book. I hope it will make a nice place for the hopes, doodles, and lofty plans of its new owner, who wants to build and fly airplanes someday.

I used the same basic design as I did for the paperback cover. My brilliant mother-in-law used to sell them in craft shows way back in the 80’s, and she taught me this method. Each cover has a ribbon bookmark sewn in at the top for ease of use.

Since composition books aren’t variable in size, I didn’t have to worry about an adjustable back flap. I sewed pockets on both sides for the cover to slip into.

I decided to go for a magnetic closure for the ‘wow, spiffy’ factor. It really added to the cost of the cover (the closure was about $5.50 at my local fabric store.) My boys each want a cover, but I think I’ll try to find a regular magnet and piece of steel for the next ones. This particular closure has little pointy bits on it, and I’m afraid they will wear through the fabric eventually. If, like me, you are sewing on a metal-bedded sewing machine, please make sure your sense of humor is in place before sewing anything containing a magnet. It helps. Also, if anyone has advice on other ideas for a magnetic closure, or a good source of small, strong magnets, please let me know.

Here’s a quick shot of the inside of the cover. I didn’t bother with a lining fabric, as you don’t see the white of the interfacing when the composition book is in place. I was hoping to put a pen pocket along the spine, but I ran out of time. Birthday presents are like that, sometimes. Hopefully I’ll get it worked out for version 2.0.

Time for the annual Halloween recap. This year, we had a ghost and a skeleton in our midst.

The ghost costume is about eight layers of tulle put together in the fashion described in this tutorial. However, it looked nothing like the photo. You could clearly see the little ghost’s front, as it came out basically like a cape that covered sides and back. So I took leftover tulle and made about eight layers, enclosing one end in material that could stretch across J’s chest. I sewed one end to his white zippered sweatshirt, and pinned the other end after he zipped the sweatshirt closed. He thought he wasn’t white enough over his legs, but he wanted dark pants so he looked floaty. I whipped up a ‘ghost skirt’ from some stash knit fabric (I have no idea what I originally bought it for) and then snipped the bottom for a rag effect. He giggled, but it did what he wanted it to do. We took this photo right before trick-or-treating. After about 10 minutes, we figured out that he had the cape on inside out – the fabric actually floated around more than this as he walked around, and away from the porch lights he did look rather like he was floating. Spooky!

The skeleton costume is simply paint and a black sweatshirt and sweatpants. I tried glow-in-the-dark paint, but it wasn’t showing up. Two coats of the white fabric paint did the trick! For this costume, I sketched out skeleton bits on paper, cut a stencil with an xacto knife from thin template plastic, and then affixed the stencil to the fabric with re-positionable adhesive. B and I painted the bones with foam brushes. The skeleton actually lines up well – he’s all fractured here because he was running about like a maniac and had twisted his shirt a bit.

Another year done! Next year, I need to start in August.

Last night, I sat perched on my chair in a corner of my living room, bare toes working the cool iron of my newest toy, a Singer treadle sewing machine built around 1918. She followed me home a few weeks ago, and I am in love. She’s simple, elegant, and I am utterly entranced by her. She’s making me want to sew.

She’s been christened Ellie after my aunt, one of the kindest and most generous souls I’ve ever known. Isn’t she beautiful? I’m amazed by how little has changed in the basic mechanics of sewing machines. The bobbin looks like a bobbin, it threads like my modern machine, and both the bobbin and top thread tension work in the same way. It even takes modern sewing needles.

Here’s the bobbin winder, over by the hand wheel.

Already Ellie has helped me with rice packets (for moisture absorption in my sugar storage), book covers for the boys, and a pair of pajama bottoms. Next up: pajama tops!

If you have a penchant for sewing and a love for old pieces of engineering, a machine like this might be right up your alley. If you’re considering one, or already have one, I highly recommend the Treadle On site.

We’re well into the rhythm of summer around here. Lazy mornings, no school, games, lego, reading, and a little crafting jumble together with camping trips, visitors, and finding ways to avoid the muggy heat (thank you, central air!)

My latest finished project is this scrappy baby quilt. When I look at it, I see bits of things I made for my own kids scattered throughout, which is an extra layer of fun just for me.
This is from the Quilt in a Day series of books, though that title is laughable from my point of view – this project was started the same year this blog was. Three years ago.

As my first all-machine pieced and quilted quilt, this little gem has more mistakes than I can count. No, I’m not telling. This year, I’m concentrating on finishing things. My thought is that something imperfect but done can be loved far more than something perfect but unfinished.
So far, so good – the tyke that received this ocean quilt loves it. It’s been gone out of my hands less than 24 hours and it’s been napped with, shown to Daddy, and used as a playmat while playing games. I’m pretty sure he’s not looking at the crooked stitching.

Details:

Started:	Jul 2006
Finished:	22 Jul 2009
Pattern:	Spider Web Scrap Quilt from Scrap Quilt: Strips and Spider Webs by Marcia Lasher.
Materials:	100% woven cotton fabric. Scraps left over from kid hats, shirts, vests, curtains, a picnic quilt, and I Spy Quilts. New fabrics were added to complete it (white sailboat print, backing, and some of the sea prints.) Cotton batting is Quilters Dream Cotton, Request (thinnest loft) from Kelsul, Inc.. Cotton-covered polyester thread (Coats Dual-Duty).
Notes:	Finished quilt size: around 42″ square. Machine applied the entire binding. Originally bought binding, but couldn’t figure it out and made my own. You Tube has a lot of binding application tutorials. Of the ones I saw, my favorite is this one. I also used a booklet I had at home, Happy Endings: Finishing the Edges of Your Quilt by Mimi Dietrich.

I can never find a purse small enough for me! I’m one of those wallet, pen, phone types of people. Don’t get me wrong – I’ll stuff any size purse I decide to carry around, eventually. Then it hurts my back and shoulder to lug it about! So, smaller is better.

After scouring the ‘net for a pattern, I ended up with this wristlet. Turns out the lady who made the pattern lives all of about 30 minutes from me – small world!

The fabric is two fat quarters that my sisters gifted me with years ago. They haven’t made their way into a quilt yet, so they were fair game. I made plenty of mistakes putting this together, but I’m not about to show you what they are! It’s serviceable, and the fabric hides a lot. Whew.

Started:	1 Feb 2009
Finished:	13 Feb 2009 (ish)
Pattern:	Boxy Wristlet from Sew Spoiled. Link to pattern in Etsy store here.
Materials:	100% cotton quilters fabric. Interfacing that I had lying about. Zipper from the local sewing store. Hardware bought in a kit from Tantalizing Stitches on Etsy here.

Somewhere in the bowels of my mother’s house lies yards of carefully folded blue fabric, half cut into a prom dress that never fully materialized. She had the best of intentions when she started the project, just as I did on the many projects that languish in my own home.

This one was never completed, and I’m aiming to finish this one in time for the little tyke’s third birthday. Ahem.

That said, this weekend I polished off a pint-sized pair of procrastination PJ’s that particularly please me. My sis started this pair of jammies for her eldest, now almost a teenager. He grew too fast, and somehow her second son blew by them, too. She gave them to me over a year ago (two? I’ve lost count) when my boys were still ridiculously small for them. She is wise. They languished in a bag for a long time, came out for a weekend of quick sewing, languished again… repeat as needed. They’ve been complete but for their buttonholes and buttons for over a month. It’s crazy! I finished them up this weekend, and I think they’re cute as can be. They are reported to be “comfy!”

Earlier this year I wrote down every half-finished project I have that I have any intention of finishing. The list isn’t quite so bad as I thought it would be – thirteen projects, two of which have since been completed. If the list is smaller every year, I’ll be happy.

Details: Started: Who knows when?! Finished: 18 Apr 2009 Pattern: Simplicity 6131 size 7 Fabric: Gifted flannel. Notes: Buttons are La Mode, 5/8″ (16mm) Style 33550. Three left over for the button jar.

In the midst of our holiday preparations, please take a small trip back in time with me to last October. October was a time of costumes for us, and I was so busy that I forgot to share! So, for your entertainment, here is The Costume Post.

The Wizard of Oz

Our first ’school play’ was The Wizard of Oz, adapted and directed by a brave mom in our local homeschool group. My boys were Leafy the Tree, and Scarecrow #2.

Leafy’s costume was more time-consuming than Mr. Scarecrow’s. I made his hat from paper mache following the instructions in this video series, then hot-glued a bunch of leaves on it. Were I to do it again, I’d add extra space before making the hat, and then glue felt bands on the inside if necessary. Two of the three tree-hats I made were a little too small and had to be altered. Leafy’s trunk is made from felt, folded at the shoulder seam, sewn up one side and closed with velcro tabs on the other. I constructed leafy wristlets by covering some elastic with green fabric, and then sewing leaves on. Leafy and the other two trees in the play (Shady and Branchy, if memory serves) got to throw the apples I told you about in this post. The scarecrow costume was almost no work on my part. I did make elastic bands covered with fabric for his wrists and ankles. I left the fabric straight, and put in a gap so the elastic could stretch for pulling them on and off. I hot-glued some raffia on as straw and called it a night.

On to Halloween!

With two costumes done in October, I secretly hoped that I’d be taking a tree and scarecrow trick-or-treating. Naturally, the boys ended up wanting to be something else entirely. Leafy morphed into Wall-E, and the scarecrow became a black cat.

Wall-E’s costume is a big ol’ cardboard box; the goggles are made from pop-tart boxes cut and glued onto a cheap plastic mask from Michael’s. The pincers are sewn from a piece of felt each. If you decide to make pincers for your little robot, keep in mind that your fingers join higher on your hand than your thumb. I originally made them symmetrical, and it wasn’t until Wall-E tried them on that I realized that, uhm, human hands aren’t like robot hands. If anyone needs more exact pincer directions, I can post them later – just give me a yell in the comments.

Our resident black cat is sporting a knit hat; you can see the details, below. His gloves are $1 gloves from the Target bargain rack, with felt pads sewn on. We originally tried craft glue, but as this particular kitty likes to smack and rub his paws, they didn’t hold well. I ended up wearing the glove on one hand and sewing with the other so that it would be stretched out while I sewed. I only ended up bleeding a little. Kitty’s tail is a dollar-store scarf folded and half, rolled jelly-roll style, and then whip-stitched in place. The fringe on the scarf made a nice tail end.

Kitty Hat Pattern Details:

Started:	Oct 22, 2008
Finished:	Oct 24, 2008
Pattern:	Official Kittyville Hat by Kitty Schmidt
Yarn:	Black – Patons Shetland Chunky, Pink – Caron’s Simply Soft.
Needles:	US 9 / 5.5 mm
Notes:	I modified the pattern for a child’s head, and to used chunkier yarn. My kitty’s age is 8 years, and his head circumference is 19.75″ / 50 cm. Cast on 60 stitches instead of 84; place markers after every 10th stitch. After the decrease rows, there will be 6 stitches left on your needles. Earflaps and ties: count 5 stitches from beginning of round, and pick up 14 stitches from that point. My earflaps ended up in this position: [Center back] [5 stitches] [ flap of 14 stitches ] [11 stitches] [Center front]. Ears: I picked up 10 stitches instead of 12. Since my pink yarn was a slightly thinner gauge than my black, I ended up with a black rim showing on the outside of my ears. I’m okay with that. See this hat on ravelry.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled December.

Time for a little show and tell. This time, I’ll show you what got sent off to my Hogwarts Sock Swap pal.

Meet Mirabella.

I spent a lot of time monkeying with the pattern at first, because I couldn’t seem to get anything to look right. I finally realized that I needed a smaller needle and more stitches, which was a problem with the lace and cables. After investigating several other cabling options, I decided to widen the lace panel to 21 stitches.

It all worked out, thank goodness.My favorite part of these socks is the twisted stitches up the side, which I accented by using the toe/cuff color.

Started:	October 2007
Finished:	October 2007
Pattern:	Mirabella by Mary Joy Gumayagay
Yarn:	VanCalcar Acres Sock Yarn
Needles:	Skakel size 0
Notes:	Modified to work on 64 stitches with a size 0 needle. Modified lace to 21 stitches instead of 17. Cuffs: worked 12 rows of k2p2 ribbing. Didn’t work k2tog on each side of last row before cuff; instead, k2tog on each side of cable in stockinette on back to allow cable to flow into ribbing.

The other “must haves” for the swap were yarn, a pattern, and a bookmark. I found a lovely blue and purple handpainted yarn at my LYS, and included a Red Bird Knits fair isle pattern in the box.

For the bookmark, I chose Ravenclaw-colored beads from my local beading place. The brown bead is agate, and the blue/bronze one is porcelain. The bookmark came together quickly and looks useful – I see more of these in my future. The pattern for the book mark was Book Thong.

Finally, I sewed up a quick knitting bag in house colors. This drawstring bag is based on the Yarnmonster’s bag tutorial. Instead of leaving an opening for the drawstring in the top seam, I put buttonholes on either side of the outer bag and fed opposing drawstrings through. I’ve always liked the ‘cinch it from both sides’ kind of bag.

I’d show you photos, but we had a drive failure and I lost about 10 days of photos. Ah, well.

That’s it! I’m done with swaps for a while; time to sit back and knit for my family for a bit.

Well, my Hogwarts package is wending its way to my swap partner. I actually cracked out the sewing machine and whipped up a sock bag to send along. I used this great tutorial from 2paw. I must have made some sort of error with the size of my top and bottom circles, because it really gathered. Other than that, I’m happy with the bag. It’s the perfect size for socks in progress. The top is embellished with the HP logo, and the handle has a little-known spell for summoning fleece: Accio velius!