Tuesday

This Tuesday brings this finished item(another challah cover) and two hats for the charmed knits knit-along. I'll be sending those off later on this week.

What I've been up to

What I've not been up to is posting a lot lately, but.... What I have been up to is this:I made a skirt out of Sew What! Skirts.
This is an absolutely fabulous book. I can't recommend it enough. The amazing thing about the book is that, rather than just providing you with patterns, it teaches you how to draft a pattern based on your measurements. The book is full of helpful hints. For instance, it has the simplest and clearest directions for sewing on zippers that I've ever seen. It suggests and gives clear instructions for a variety of waistbands and has lots of inspiring photos of ways you can vary your skirt patterns. I've already bought fabric for another skirt for myself and one for my littlest. Also, I'm planning on dyeing and batiking some yardage to make a skirt from my own fabric. Can you tell I'm really excited about this book?
But. Wait. I've been doing more than just sewing. I've also started a beret for the Charmed Knits knit-along.

I'm using Knit Picks' Andean Silk. It's a terrifically soft yarn and knits up very quickly. This picture was taken this morning, but I'm practically done now. I ordered two balls of each color, so I'll have plenty to make a second hat.

Remember When...

Remember when I said I was going to turn my African Folklore Embroidery into a flap for a bag? Well, I did! And I'm so happy with it. I had really been stumped as to what kind of fabric I wanted to use for the body of the bag. Should it be some of my own hand dyed or a commercial fabric I already owned? I just couldn't decide and, also, nothing seemed quite right. Then yesterday, as I was driving to the fabric store to pick up some other stuff, it dawned on me. I wanted the body of the bag to be made out of a Japanese brocade. It just suddenly seemed to be the perfect mix. When I got to the store, it must have been kismet, because I found the perfect fabric in terms of color match. I just knew it was right the minute I saw it. I was so excited, I practically ran home and spent the evening making my bag and here it is:

I'm Still Here

I have been a very bad blogger this past week. Though, my husband says that he doesn't like it when people spend time on their blogs lamenting that they haven't posted lately. I'm not exactly lamenting, but, I do enjoy posting, so not having done so for a while is a bit of a bummer.
Today's entry is a bit of a cornucopia(whew, I didn't think I knew how to spell that). This is my completed, quilted and bound, on three sides, African Folklore Embroidery. I only bound it on three sides as I'm planning on using it as a flap to a book bag.I've also been dyeing and dye painting a lot of fabric lately and am planning to use most of the larger pieces to make bags.
Here's a view of the inside of the bag with an elephant peaking out from the pocket.

Tuesday's Posting, One Day Late

I couldn't post my usual Tuesday update yesterday because it was the first day of Passover, so here I am today. I made this challah cover for a customer and wanted to make sure I got a picture of it before she picks it up tomorrow. Anyone know what it says. Hint: It's in Hebrew, so make sure you read it from right to left.

Finished in Time

I finished another quilt yesterday. I was very relieved as I needed this piece to be part of my entry to three different shows. Two of these shows have an April 1 deadline. I still need to take some digital images, but, this morning, I got most of the pictures taken. I love the feeling you get when you've finished something on schedule. It makes me feel so organized. It's all an illusion, of course, but I'm OK with that. At least temporarily.I'm also posting a better image of the quilt I finished a couple of weeks ago. I had to move some furniture in my studio to get back far enough back to properly light this piece, but I'm happy with the photograph.

The Porch Upstairs

We're lucky enough to have both a downstairs and an upstairs porch. At our old place, we had a porch(just one) and a terrific porch swing that we had painted purple. When we moved to our new house a couple of years ago, I thought it would be fun if we had a swing in the upstairs porch. My idea initially met with a little resistance, but, eventually, we bought a swing, painted it purple and hung a swing in the upstairs porch. It is magical to sit there on a weekend morning and look out to the street or just read the paper.
Yesterday, I decided to take pictures of some of the fabric I've been making lately and the upstairs porch seemed just the right spot to lay out my stuff.Here's Abi proving that the swing does actually work. The fabric on the table is some new batiked stuff that I'd just boiled out.We put this wonderfully weathered teak bench on the porch as well. That way, there's enough room for the whole family up there(though that rarely happens). I love the way the gray in the bench looks with these batiked and dyed fabrics.