Dresses can now be formed

I got a new crafty toy in the mail today.



Yes, a dressform! I'm so excited. I've wanted one of these for so long. It's a Uniquely You Dressform. My mom (thank you, Mommy) bought it for me for my birthday from Sew Vac Direct online. It is soft-sided, so I can pin things to it, and we must have chosen the right measurements, because I didn't really feel the need to alter the cover, as the instructions said to do. I'm also lazy and tired after being at work all day, so I figure I can alter it later, if need be. I think I have to do a horizontal dart under the bust -- the instructions made it seem everyone had to do that. Oh, well, that is for another day. It's great! It is sitting in my corner of the living room, next to my computer desk. I can't wait to use it (ooohh, I think I see a weekend project on the horizon)!

Projects coming soon

I have several projects to post about now that Christmas is over and I've already given the presents I made out. I'll get around to that soon. It's been a while since I've posted -- I apologize!

Lost in the world of creating

I can really lose myself when I'm working on a project.

Like tonight.

I've been working on two similar Christmas presents. This evening I got so into them, putting things together and doing detail work, that I lost track of time. I've been setting 10 p.m. as my bedtime, so I can get up for the early bus. But just a few seconds ago, I looked up at my computer screen (which was far out of my eyesight while I was crafting away), and realized it was almost 1 a.m. I knew it was past 10 p.m., but I didn't realize how far.

I have to be up in just a few hours.

*Sob*

I'm already mourning the loss of those precious hours of sleep.

Yarning on the bus

So I'm taking the bus to work now. I brought along my current yarn project, and I crocheted while I rode across the Pali.

But just as I got ready to put away my project in preparation for my stop, I realized I completely messed up -- I didn't turn (or turned twice? Is that possible?) and made two motifs on the wrong part of the item. (I'm intentionally not telling you what it is, because it's a gift. Holiday season really messes up the crafty blogging, huh?)

In the evening, I had leftovers from lunch on my lap, so I couldn't balance crochet again. Oh, well, there's tomorrow.

But the really great news: I sat sideways on the bus while crocheting (for a good 20 minutes), and didn't get the slightest bit car sick. Yay! That's a major feat for me!

Ocean and fishy baby quilt

Ah, I can finally post about this. The baby quilt I made for my new cousin (once removed), Ryder.

He was born October 12, but, in the tradition of me, I didn't have it done. Not anywhere near done.

But I finished it a week and a half ago and mailed it out quickly. My cousin and his wife let me know they got it right before Thanksgiving. Their daughter (Ryder's older sister, who is almost 3) loves it. Oh, well, the baby will come around eventually, once he learns how cool fish are.

Here is the progress:



I've posted this before, but just in case you don't remember or didn't see it, I put it up again. This is the topper without any applique on it.



This is an appliqued fish, before quilting. I posted this one before, too.



This is the topper after I pinned it for machine quilting. This is the first of the pictures I had to hold back, so it would still be a surprise. Below are two more close-ups of it. (I had pictures of the topper done before I set it on the batting, but my old hard drive took those to the lost data afterlife. Remember to back up everything!)





I borrowed K's boss's mom's nice Viking Husqvarna machine, which she leaves here so she can sew during visits, to do the machine quilting. I had the ability to lower the feed dogs and set the presser foot pressure to a low setting so I could free-hand machine sew. I think it worked pretty well. I tried to do the same color thread for the different sections (dark to very light blue), but I accidentally (OK, I did it even though the book said not to) used cotton hand quilting thread for the dark blue section (my last section to quilt) and it messed up the tension in the machine. So I changed to dark grey, then to black when I ran out of that, and it's only noticeable in certain places. But not to a little kid, I'm thinking. I redid most of the messed up tension parts. It's not a very big quilt (about 32 x 42), so I was able to machine quilt it in no time -- during a few hours one evening. And the freehand wasn't that hard, since I just wanted it to look random, like ripples in the water and sky.





The book told me how to make bias binding, which I made from the scraps of the squares, in the bottom three blue colors. It wasn't too awful (I think I only cut myself with the rotary cutter once or twice), but I think you can buy bias binding -- I'm doing that next time. Sewing them together was a pain and I ended up making way more than I needed, so I cut a bunch of fabric into bias strips and sewed them and I can't yet think of a use for them. I had to hand sew it on, too (except for the first time around). Although I dreaded it, it wasn't that bad. I think it didn't take as long as I thought it would. I took it to my yarn group and finished it there. I wasn't entirely happy with how it looked at the end, though, so next time I will be more precise in my stitches and binding techniques. I was afraid the binding wasn't secured well enough, or that you could peek into the underside of it. But that was the only part of the quilt that I wasn't happy with. Everything else went well.







I didn't quilt on the fish and sea creatures, except in the biggest yellow one. It was too large to not have any quilting there. So I quilted a fin on it and the inside edge. I also quilted a circle on the inside of the sun for the same reason. It's hard to see unless you go to the "Original Size" tab on the Flickr page.

The back looked cool, I thought. The middle two sections had a bright blue thread, the top had white, and the bottom dark blue/grey/black (basically, it looks dark :-)). I really liked how it showed through on the green (their baby room had blues and greens, so that's why I chose green for the back).



I finished the quilt the next morning (Friday) by writing on a twill patch in a fabric paint marker and ironing it on to the back in the lower corner. I appliqued it on with stitches so it looked neater and would fray less.



And here's the contrast of the back and the front. I like this one best.



I almost didn't want to give it away. Not because I didn't want my new cousin and his parents to have it, but because it was my first project and it was my original design, which had just popped in my head. I kind of fell in love with it. (*Sniff* I'll just have to make something for myself next time, and in bigger size!) It's all cotton fabric, except for most of the fish and creatures, which are cotton/poly, so it's snuggly (although next time I will use pieces of flannel for batting, instead of polyester batting, as my mom said that is supposed to hold up better). I can't wait for pictures of their kids with it. I was very excited to hear that it was received well.

Stockinette

Last Tuesday I met up with my knit group friend Opal to chat and knit. She lent me three books (and actually gave me on of them! How nice of her!) to look at for beginning projects. I continued to work on my knitting, and she suggested I do stockinette for the rest of the dishcloth that is my first project.

I think it went well, and fast, too (I only messed up and did the wrong stitch for a whole row once):



This is the purl side, which isn't my favorite side:



And saving the best for last, I present to you my favorite side, the knit side!



It's so pretty. The purl side is so boring, I think.

We're going to try to meet up again this coming Tuesday, but hopefully I'll have worked on it more before then. I think I really enjoy working on my yarn projects with other people, so I haven't been picking them up while I'm on my own.

Christmas list, very crafty

I haven't worked on any crafty things this week (so far), except for sewing in that new zipper (which was on a skirt that I wore for a job interview, which went so well I got the job. So let's give another round of applause for hand sewing!). But I did make my Christmas list, which is obviously sewing-heavy.

First and foremost in the sewing category, I asked for cool fabrics. I didn't specify anything other than cool prints and solids in special fabrics are great, and I prefer natural fibers. I really hope people don't get scared away by the broadness of this list item. Cuz I really like fabrics, but can never buy them for myself unless they're remnants, or I have a specific project in mind (that I actually intend to make).

Then I asked for a dress form. I've been wanting one for ages. I priced them, sobbed, and then sobbed more when I looked at the shipping to Hawaii. This would be a very helpful item, and would actually improve the decor of "my side" of the main room of the apartment (where my computer and sewing stuff live). Two for one!

I also asked for cool sewing notions, if anyone comes across them. I have no idea what I'm asking for here, but I thought it covered all the other bases.

I asked for yarn, although nothing of a heavy weight or super warm quality. My new knit/crochet friends have successfully convinced me to make things for myself, as I've rarely done that in the past with crochet. Knitting will possibly turn over a new leaf in my project direction, I think.

And I asked for books and gift cards, which could translate into a whole bunch of surprises, discoveries, and fun mini shopping sprees.

But more importantly, I now know who all I need to buy Christmas gifts for (my extended family draws names so we all buy a gift for a specific person), so I can officially plan out what I'm going to make and buy. I need to get on it. I want to have it all done before I fly home for the holidays, so I have little or no shopping left to do.