baby shoes

early last week i finished my second of the knit baby shoes gone bad. they are actually pretty cute, just WAY bigger than i wanted. i'm really curious to know what age kid they will fit. they are 5 and a half inches long! this picture really shoes how long and goofy they look. they looked way WAY better after i blocked them though. (as you can see... i also blocked the baby bib- it also looks much better). 

i am glad that i made the second one though. they look pretty cute sitting in my craft space...

details:

pattern - seed stitch baby shoes from the book Beginner Baby Knits by Debbie Bliss

yarn - lily sugar 'n cream 100% cotton in white

flair

this is my progress as of mid-last week on my first knit cardigan! i made some huge (for me) progress this weekend, but the weather is crap here today so i won't bother you with new, badly lit pictures. 

this, if all goes well, will turn into the flair cardigan. i originally saw it on philigry and liked that she said it was a good beginner pattern. and so far she is totally right - i did spend three hours one night adding 18 stitches with the backward loop method and subsequently swearing and ripping them out when i ended up with 18 inches of extra yarn between my needles. little did i know that most people find that method of casting on obnoxious... thankfully i tried a different method and was able to move on. 

i was planning to go with a neutral - grey or tan, but then i decided it is almost summer so something more punchy would be best. i was thinking a green, but grant liked this. i'll keep you updated on the progress!!! 

baby quilt

my husband was gone at a conference for SIX days. needless to say it was WAY hard to be completely alone for that long, but on the bright side i got a lot of crafting in. i've been slow to take pictures and post, but i'll get things up in the next few days. 

the first thing i worked on and completed was my quilt! its far from perfect, but i am really happy with how it turned out. 

it took me hours and hours to pull out all the stitches from the first time i tried quilting it, but once that was complete i pinned and pinned and pinned. i bought quilting pins and i really like using them over regular safety pins. my lines aren't very straight BUT there are no puckers!! 

i really like how the diagonal lines look. and i'm really glad i didn't try to stipple it - i'm pretty sure that would have been a disaster. 

as you can see the lines aren't all that straight, but it works. 

there is that backing with no puckers!! ok so there was ONE but it got cut off when i squared the quilt off... 

and lastly the binding. i was a little nervous about this because i had heard it was hard, but i actually found it to be quite easy. maybe because i've done mitered corners before??

so that is it! the kit i bought a year ago is finally a quilt! 

PSif you haven't clicked over to kelly mccaleb's shop before - you should! 

so great

i learned about this poster company on apartment therapy today and i'm so in love! when we left oregon i had no idea how deeply i would feel the need to stay connected or how much i would miss the little things. so i've been wanting to incorporate oregon somehow into our new home. 

i'm thinking grant's office will be the best place. i was originally thinking a big map of the state framed on the wall, but i REALLY like this PDX poster.

 the heart is pretty awesome too. i used to teach human anatomy and my husband is a physiologist who primarily studies the cardiovascular system so it fits. remember the heart i embroidered for him? 

which one do you like?? i feel like they are a steal at $20-$22! 

doily pillow

i have a serious love affair with doilies... 

they are so beautiful and each one is unique. i used them to top the stumps that lined the aisle at our wedding. did you know that you can get them at the dollar store?? pretty awesome. they aren't as great as the vintage ones, but good when you are in a pinch. 

i have been thinking of ways to use all my leftover doilies and then i came along this post (love everything on there!). this pillow is one of the things that she links to... can you believe how simple and cute? the stars aligned - i had a few pillows lying around that needed covering and some (fake) linen. i started picking out which doilies looked best together. (my pillow was sort of big - 20x20)

i affixed the doilies with pins and then used an embroidery hoop to keep the fabric taught. then i just hand stitched the doilies in position! do this BEFORE you sew all the pieces of the cover together. 

for help with the cover i turned to the maker of that inspiring pillow she happened to have a  pillow cover tutorial on her blog!

i am super impressed at how easy it was to make what, i think, is a really professional looking cover. 

welcome!

thanks for coming over!! i love crafting and blogging a lot so i decided its about time i started a craft blog. i have been trying to think of a name for this blog for what seems like forever. 

a few weeks ago i was reading some blog (wish i remembered it...) and the writer described a project she was working on as creatively satisfying. that description really resonated with me. that is how i feel when i make things. albeit after the sweating, swearing, frogging, and seam ripping are over. so that is how this blog came to be named...

i've archived most of my craft & wedding posts from my other blog so all the craftiness is in one place, but if you can't find something - just ask!

i hope you enjoy!

archived: spring bird

i hope everyone had a fun and festive weekend!

do you like my bird? i'm in love with her. i found her here and had to make one. she is so springy and happy.

i could never design anything like this with all these colors. i would go crazy trying to figure out where to put what. but i LOVE copying someone who isn't so anal - it makes for a beautiful result!

i heart french knots...

this will go in the mail tomorrow for a special birthday girl who i *hope* isn't reading this!

happy monday.

archived: quilt top

i spent yesterday afternoon finishing my quilt top. its FAR from perfect, but i am totally ok with that. i'm never going to be a seamstress that is super exact. its just not going to happen so i need to get over that now. above is just after i got all of the rows sewn together.

and then here is with the border. doesn't it look so much different with the border?? all these fabrics together are so sweet.

and here is where i show you the most annoying mistake EVER. in the last row i somehow mixed up the first two squares and didn't notice it until i was taking these pictures after the border was on. i'm way too lazy to pull all those stitches out so they are staying that way - forever taunting me.

on to the quilt sandwich.

i actually did all this and started quilting and it looks HORRIBLE - the back is very puckered. i didn't have enough pins nor did i have a non-carpeted floor to lay it out on. i will be spending the next day or so pulling out HUNDREDS of stitches and trying again. needless to say i got more safety pins....

archived: home free

i took my test today (it went well, thanks for asking...) so i'm taking the afternoon and tomorrow completely off! i'm very VERY excited about it. i will spend my time with a glass of wine and all the goodness pictured!

description (counter clockwise):

my collection of domino (RIP) and weekend decorating magazines

i plan to pour through these and every other online and library decorating source to make plans for paint colors and DIY projects. for what, you ask? our new house! if all goes well we will be home owners next month!! i'm VERY excited to make it our own. it will be on a VERY tight budget, but i think we can make it cute.

yarn and gauge swatch to make this cardigan

super cute, huh?? i'm excited, but nervous about knitting something so big. i've been going to michaels daily with 50% off coupons to buy the yarn. one skein at a time. i know its ridiculous, but i can't imagine spending twice as much just to avoid the daily drive. my husband even came in with me on friday and checked out separately with his own terra cotta yarn - that got me two in one day! now just one more skein tomorrow, and the circular needle on thursday and i'm home free!

beginnings of the second baby shoe

i think you all are right... just make the other one. i'm sure it will knit up pretty quick.

and lastly the quilt top

i am still SO in love with how all these fabrics come together. i got all the squares sewn into rows in quick bits of time between studying - one or two squares here and there. i hope to get all the rows sewn together without too much trouble!

thats what i'm up to the next few days... how about you??

archived: lesson learned

since i'm more pleased with this project and the pictures are prettier. i'm going to share this first.

i've started piecing my kelly mccaleb baby quilt kit! its only been a year since i bought it - i figured it might be time to start it. i dont know what is up with me and baby stuff, but i just loved this kit so i bought it. hopefully we have a little girl some day.

aren't you in LOVE with the fabric that has the sleeping baby?? so sweet.

it took me a long time to decide where all the pieces should go, but i think it like what i ended up with. i'm in love with the random but cohesive look of all these fabrics together. i dont know if i would have been able to pick them and be convinced they would look good. i've sewn the first three rows together and hope to get the whole top together this weekend. should be a great distraction from studying...

in other news...i've been working on the debbie bliss seed stitch baby shoes. i am still drooling over seed stitch. its my new fav. i was really proud of myself while i was making this first one - the pattern is the most complicated i've tried and i did it! i don't even think i pulled out any stitches!

only problem was that i was trying to make the smallest size, 0 to 3 months and as you can see mine is as big as the example in the book! you would think that would have been a clue that somehow mine weren't going to be the intended size. nope. i was totally pleased and ready to seam them up.

that is when i realized... i should have checked the gauge. i convinced myself i didn't have to because i wasn't going to buy special yarn for this project and all i had on hand was 100% cotton.

poor choice. they are huge! like they would fit a 3 or 4 year old. i'm annoyed because in the book doesn't specify the weight of the yarn they are using just the kind of debbie bliss yarn they used - a ploy to get you to buy her yarn. i know if i had checked the gauge i would have overcome that, but really! how annoying!

i'm struggling with whether i should make the other one. the idea of the shoe is cute and it probably would be cute if it were tiny, but i'm not loving these big ones - the seams are lumpy.... what do you think? make the other one or not??

i also thought i'd share that i made my own center pull ball . aren't you impressed?? for some reason i was so tickled that i could do this! i don't know why but knitting from a ball is so much better than knitting from a skein or hank, don't you think?