Happy Fourth!

Made only one thing, not the full outfit for the kidlet I had planned - just a hostess gift for a cookout, with the June design from the Martha Pullen Internet Embroidery Club. But I've finally gotten embroidery on knits down!

Finished!

Well, except for tearing out the Bs in the corner, as the boy this was originally for is now big and our cousin just found out she's having a boy!  But in general quilted and bound. Used thread to match the top, so the back looks fun.  Real non cellphone camera photos coming once I get them off the camera!

Christmas!

I don't know how all these people churn out cross stitch projects so quickly.  Think I can get a half dozen of these by Christmas?

Overalls

I believe a yellow duck is necessary, don't you?

Completed Stars

I never typed this up (or got the photos off of my actual, lovely, non-telephone camera) - I finished the Stars quilt!  Not quite in time for Christmas - I pulled out the pins and trimmed the batting on the way to my parents' house for Christmas morning, and put it in the box with the binding half-attached - but I did finally finish it.

The stars were each echo quilted, and then I stitched in the ditch around all the squares.

Backed with an entertaining Victorian-style flag print from the holidays section at JoAnn's.

I think my mother likes it - and she's put it on the baby whenever she's been napping over there.

Stars progress

In other news, the stars quilt

 has its border,

 is pin basted,

and (pardon overexposure) is being quilted.

If I keep at it, it'll be done for Christmas.

I won! First project: baby pinwheels

I won a few things on the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

The first prize to arrive was this:

a charm pack from from blank pages....

All lovely!  It doesn't quite match the baby's things, and I haven't been sewing for myself much with the option to sew for babies, and it's so fun I don't want to sit around waiting for something to strike me as the right project, so... I have a friend with a baby of as-yet-unknown gender on the way, and the parents aren't too worried about giving a boy things with pink... so I think I'll make this:

the Windy Days Quilt found over at Moda Bake Shop.  I love the scattered nature of the pinwheels and that they're different sizes - looks more random, while still being orderly enough to suit my engineer-brain, and not "wonky," which wouldn't suit my engineer-brain at all.

But with a dark background instead of the white - both makes it a little more modern, to suit the recipients, and much more stainy-baby-friendly!    

A bit of my own stash for one or two of the bigger pinwheels and I should be ready to go!

Cross-stitch Ganesha/Puliyar - and lessons learned

The husband's parents moved to Texas from India in the 1960s-1970s.  They are Hindu, and in fact were instrumental in founding the main Hindu temple in Pearland (south of Houston).  When we were living in El Paso, I had a lot more spare time, and so I decided to make something for them.  

Through the magic of the internet, I found a clip-art Ganesha (known to his family - South Indians - as Puliyar) and converted it to a cross-stitch pattern through some free-trial program.  It was a lovely pattern, very clear, with specific DMC/Anchor threads listed, and so I set to work.

Lessons I learned:

1) it's self-torture to work on black cloth, as you can't see the holes.

2) if a pattern calls for 42 inches of floss, and you're using 2 strands together, you really only need 14 inches of six-strand floss.  Yes, I bought enough floss for three projects.

3) there's a reason pattern designers get paid for their work, and it's not just putting clip art through pattern-creating programs.  My pattern had 21 colors, and one showed up for just 2 stitches, and a few others would have one stitch every four inches or so.  It's all gradations of blue/green/gray, so a human rather than a computer creating it would have made it much more stitching-friendly.  (I did take over the 2-stitch color with another color.)

4) a large project on black cloth with 21 colors unintelligently designed will take longer than the 4 months until Christmas I promised myself.  In fact, it will take around 2 years (conveniently, until the mother-in-law's 60th birthday party... which, to be a more effective surprise party, was thrown at a time of year nowhere near her birthday).

But they loved it, and the husband's dear grandmother takes such pride in showing it off to her friends, and they've installed it in a prominent position in their home, so I feel it was all worth it.

 

(sorry for the bad photo, it's reflective and this was taken during a party - that's me in pink in the reflection.)

Not worth it enough to do it again, though, even if I do have enough thread to make three.

In progress: Wildflower quilt

(ha! excuse the foot!)

My very Texan sister has been living in Virginia for the past few years.  Not bad, as it's sort of next-best to Texas.  But she's moving to Boston.  Now I love Boston - lived there for four years - but I know she's going to freeze and miss Texas.

When I was in Brenham lately I stopped by Stitch Haven and picked up some Moda Wildflowers IV charm packs and a few related fabrics, to bring my sister a bit of country warmth up in the frigid north.

Still plugging away

Number two in progress. Deadline: next Friday.

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Grandparents' Quilt

I finally finished my grandparents' quilt!  It's my first quilt - my first real one, not a tiny baby quilt, and definitely my first with hand-quilting.  I hand-quilted around the designs in the center panel and around the Ohio Star blocks.  The rest - largely due to time constraints - was done by machine.  Lesson learned: can't machine-quilt with hand quilting thread, at least not on a 30-year-old Kenmore.  But it looks good, and, more importantly, my grandparents love it.  (My grandmother's crazy for "redbirds".)

Up next: an applique quilt the in-laws gave me to make (just a foot square, but applique is totally new to me), a star quilt for my mother for July 4, and a civil-war-style to-be-designed quilt for me!

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Longhorn Socks

So, everyone who says that the husbands never notice when you're making something for them right in front of their eyes? True! All the way up to Corsicana and back was working on these:

Otherwise known as Paraphernalia (Ravelry link). He wanted UT-colored socks, and manly ones. The cable pattern is much more subtle on striped socks, no? But I like it.

Hope he does too!

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Quilt!

Doing a combination of hand and machine on this one. (And trying out my camera settings on my new phone!)

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Baby hat

So many pregnant friends... one's due in October and wants hats, so here's a sweet one with laceweight mohair blend from Yarnorama in Paige, TX, my favorite store (if only it were closer!).(Ravelry link.)

Baby quilts

I've never been good at coming up with colors and fabrics that go well together, and I've always been a sucker for kits of any kind (Himself knows the way to please me -- get me sets or kits or samplers!)  So, when I saw these baby quilt sets at Joann's, I had to get them.

2 friends, one pregnant, one I just found out adopted a newborn five months ago.

I do like the way these turned out.  The doggy quilt is backed with the faces from the center top and bottom panels; the duck quilt is backed with the blue dotted flannel.

I especially like that there's no binding involved, just like the self-binding baby blankets I like making.  No batting either, which I don't mind using, but batting is expensive.  Just turn and handstitch the opening closed.  I don't like handstitching either, and I think it looks better with topstitching anyhow, so I topstitch across the opening and all the way around.  A little stitch-in-the-ditch (nasty hard when one side of the ditch is yellow or brown plush!), and you're ready to go!

I'm thinking of making bibs or burp cloths with the extra fabric scraps.  We'll see.

Of course, what did I do but go out and buy a larger-sized actual (with-binding-and-batting) quilt kit for my grandmother for Christmas...

Christmas birds

Can't find the SD card (that happen to anyone else?), so: here's some pictures of little things I made for my cardinal-loving grandmother last Christmas. I love kits!

Bride

Going to a dear friend's wedding in New York. I don't think this'll be finished by the wedding on Sunday, but it's a ton of fun! She's done some massive cross-stitch pieces in the past, so I think she'll appreciate it.

Bless you both, Kate and Dave!

Back from Christmas

and well recovered!  Hawaii was excellent, and gave me time to make things I wouldn't have had opportunity to otherwise.  For what must be a record, I actually finished everything I was making for people, and made a few extra things in the bargain (the tea wallets proved such a big hit, several unintended people got them as well).  Himself will have to wait until his birthday in February for his sweater, but, as he doesn't remember he's getting one, it's all well and good. 

The best gift story of Christmas:

the Tuesday before, my grandfather said that what he'd like for Christmas was, "a white scarf, not too long, like we used to wear in the Army."  He was Army Air Corps, stationed in Okinawa at and after the end of the war.  (With good timing, he graduated from West Point in June of 1945.)  He's not overly easy to get things for, and the photo book I'd had made for him didn't turn out at all, so I figured it was worth a try.  Drove all around town that night and the Wednesday, finding out that not only did no store have a white scarf, but no store had a man's scarf at all -- everyone was sold out.  "Like we used to wear in the Army" stuck in my head, so I called around to some army surplus places in town, and all they had was Army Green.  Everyone I'd mentioned the request to, though, instantly said, "have you tried Col. Bubbies?"  I called them up, they said they had a few, and that if I came down early enough on Christmas Eve morning, they'd still be open.  So, a pleasant drive down to Galveston (with the King's College guys singing to me on the radio - very nice) later, and I had what was actually a white scarf like he used to wear in the Army -- actually an Army Air Corps scarf!  (A bit yellowed around the edges, but still good.) $5 later, and I was set. 

I gave it to him with an explanation on Christmas, and he seemed somewhat tickled, but not overly excited -- a bit tired, I'm sure.  The next day, though, I found out that he'd mentioned the request to someone else, and that the someone else had gone out and gotten some snazzy silk or cashmere scarf from Nordstrom's or something... and that mine was preferred, because it was literally exactly what he'd wanted.  He put it on, and I saw him smile the best smile I've seen from him in probably three years.  Definitely the best gift of Christmas.

Christmas List

Oooh, stuff to make!

-Mother: (she might someday come here, so it's a secret!)

-Father: that's always one I'm stuck on, as he's sometimes difficult and doesn't pretend well if he's not sure he likes something.  He may get a hat, like the rest of the men.  Or a last-minute book buy, as has sometimes happened.  I normally come across something great for him (old scouting book from the used book store, or, one year, a gizmo that turns your Nalgene bottle into a French press coffee maker!), so we'll wait and see.

-Grandmother: Sewing caddy, from pattern here.  And, as she's got fragile skin, lotion, like every year.  Perhaps someone's handmade lotion off of Etsy -- I can make lotion myself, but, well, I'm not very good yet, and... see fragility of skin, as mentioned.  Not good.

-Grandfather: Perhaps some of these.  He loves Churchill.

-Sister: (she might actually check this blog, so it's a secret!  But at least two homemade things.)

-Brother: Shaving kit (from pattern here) and perhaps also skull hat (from pattern here)

-Aunt who likes things made for her: Sewing caddy, as well.  And perhaps a tea wallet, as she's always on the go.  There's a zillion patterns out there, and I've got tons of scraps.

-Aunt who doesn't appreciate most things made for her: something purchased (perhaps purchased from someone else who's made something?)  (I'd skip her altogether, but she *gives* very nice gifts -- that's my only "obligation"-style gift.  Everyone else is a joy; last year I made her a little pillow, though, which did please her and was a joy to make.)

-Uncle who likes food: food :)

-Uncle who likes things made for him: oooh don't know yet -- perhaps another book, although I did make him a day planner last year.  But he's always super-appreciative of any homemade gifts, no matter how awful (he's a schoolteacher, which might help!), so he's a joy to give things to.

-Girl cousins, and the teacher uncle's girlfriend: Rae's Buttercup Bag, in various colors (there are 4 girl cousins)

-Boy cousins: skull hat, as above

-Perfect sister-in-law: coptic-bound book with map of Rome on the covers, as she's going to Italy with her family (may toss in one similar for perfect sister-in-law's little sister)

-Sister's husband (for some reason, I think of him that way, and think of my husband's brother as the brother-in-law): a secret, purchased from the Small Object (we get each other tiny things each year -- last year I made him a head cover for a golf club, and they got Himself a Texans hat)

-Brother-in-law: Don't know, but I got some lovely brownish variegated yarn that I may make into a hat.

-In-laws: no idea.  Worked for years on their last present -- think I'll just leave it to their son to buy them something this year! 

-Himself: perhaps a sweater (the back's done!), perhaps a gym membership -- we'll see.  And, if I can figure it out, a scrub hat with the Texans logo on it.

And some of my melt and pour soap for everyone (Himself won't let me play with lye, so all I can do is melt and pour or refashioned "hand-milled" soaps).  In flower shapes and floral scents for the girls, in herbal or otherwise manly cubes for the guys.

Complete:
One skull hat
most/all of the Buttercup Bags
book for perfect sister-in-law (well, nearly complete - just needs to be sewn, which takes no time at all)
part (each) of what mother and sister are getting
Sister's husband's gift
as mentioned, back of Himself's sweater
soap :)

And to think, some people want my family to go to a one-gift-for-someone-out-of-a-hat scheme (and I *know* I'll draw the difficult aunt!).  They can do it if they want (they usually complain about having to spend money (because they feel bad if they haven't spent a certain amount per person), or feeling guilty when other people give them things), but I get such joy out of making things for other people that I'm not going to let their psychological hangups or financial guilt trips deprive me of that!

One easy solution for someone who's anti-materialism (but unwilling or unable to make things for everyone), financially straightened, and also feeling obligated to have something for everyone, is to do what one good woman I know did once with "teacher gifts" for her child's school -- gave a donation to the Heifer Project in the name of the teachers of the school (all together) and then gave each teacher a card (which she prints herself, using Greetings Workshop) saying, "a gift has been made in your name to the Heifer Project," etc.  I see no reason why it couldn't similarly be done for "The Smith Family," with cards for each.  Print them yourself, costs no more than the cost of the ink and paper, and with good enough paper you'd never know the difference.  (I'm always surprised at the stores -- $4.50 for a simple card?)  Then you've done something good for someone else, haven't spent more than you could afford to ($50 for many charities will do much more good and bring more joy than $15 each to a dozen family members!), haven't given things they probably wouldn't like very much to people who don't need anything, and got rid of gift-giving obligations in a way that the people you give the cards to are obliged to act pleased about!  (And many of them would be, in fact.) Also, if you're making things but stuck for ideas, there are other one-size-fits-all ideas -- cookie-mix- or tea-mix-in-a-jar all around, or (like me with the cousins) one gift for all the girls, one for all the boys, or (as my mother used to do when there was a bumper crop of berries, which there hasn't been for a few years) a jar or two of homemade jelly all around.  If your friends don't appreciate it, your friends don't need gifts.  If your family doesn't appreciate it, too bad.  They're your family, and they know you and your views on things, so they should be happy that you think they're worth any effort at all!  (Well, minor hypocrisy here: if there's someone in your family who doesn't appreciate it, but is a REALLY good gift giver (like the aunt above), it might be worth it to buy something for that person!  But, in general, rule holds.)

As for me, I have to make things, and don't have much success selling the things, so it's good for me to have the opportunity to give them away!  I'm easily pleased, so I love everything I get in return (and usually my favorite gift ends up being something a teenage cousin picked up for fifty cents at a flea market), but I don't keep a tally on who gives and who doesn't, and I don't mind at all if you don't give me anything -- so long as you allow me to give you something!

What's on your list?

Beard Hat!

I don't like buying things I can make myself, so when I saw the beard hat / beard toque for sale at various places, I figured I just needed to make one myself. I looked for patterns online, most of which were Ctulhu or crazy loosely-knit or loosely-crocheted things. My kid brother's going off to college in Colorado, and he's a good sport and also a big hat wearer, so I wanted to make him something that would be warm and hold up to a bit of wear. He's got great red hair and has in the past cultivated some very nice mutton chops, ones that make him look not like a belated hippy but like something out of Dickens, and I want him to go full-out lumberjack and get a big beard. I figured this might convince him, so I made up my own pattern, and here's the result (posed with an authentic Norwegian climbing pick):

I used a basic spiral single crochet hat pattern, then just made it the desired shape. For a moustache, I used Drea's pattern, and it was absolutely perfect. The beard, rather than being a flap, is a pocket that hooks over your chin and keeps your neck warm as well.

Does that shirt pattern look familiar? It's from a tutorial I couldn't find anywhere just now, but I know came through my blog reader sometime last fall (the best I can find is here, but the link afterwards is dead). I wasn't doing freezer paper stenciling, so I just used an iron-on transfer, which was fine.

I made four; they were Christmas presents for Himself, my brother, and both brothers-in-law.

This one's also gotten too small for the beard-wearer, as you can see, so it's mine now.