Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Some Little Sweaters

 Here are some (more) sweaters I have knit for my Little One.

Child's Placket-Neck Pullover by Joelle Hoverson

A Simple Baby Pullover by Erica Kempf

Baby Boy 5-Hour Sweater by Gail Bable 
 

 All of these patterns were free.  Yeah Ravelry!


 As Always,
Augustsnow





 

My first Zig Zag Quilt Post #1

Alright.  I have these left over parts of quilts and scraps.  I decided that I would make a zig zag quilt with the rectangle technique.  Only I wanted a skinny stripe (red) and a thick stripe (black).  Since my left overs were already cut into strips and some sewn together all I had to do was cut the red fabric in half and in some cases unstitch two black fabrics.  Then I cut them all into lengths.  Laid them on the table.


Looks nice, right?
Have you noticed the problem?
Think about how that is going to be sewn together.  Oh!

My choices are cut down the black portion of the fabric so I have an easy sew together but no more thick stripe, or sew together with half sewn joints at every corner...... what to do?

I want my thick stripe and I want to maximize the fabric.  So crazy sew together it is.  But I have made a compromise with myself.  I already have these other table runner size portions of left over quilt that I will sew to the top and bottom of this lap quilt so I will only do the zig zag crazy sew in the middle and not the whole thing. 




 Current state:

As Always,
Augustsnow


Sunday, March 25, 2012

Wedding Present for Mrs. Muerl

47" by 63"

Close up of the white fabric design

This is a lap quilt for a friend who got married August of last year.  I didn't really 'quilt' it, I ran horizontal stitch in the ditch every two rows.  The batting I had on hand was a kind of polyfill that I doubled over to make it a more puffy.  So because of the minimal quilting it has a nice bounce to it. 
I called the recipients today to tell them that I have their gift and they seem quite excited.  They'll get it on Thursday.

This is the last top of a series of quilts that I made for wedding presents over a year ago.  The year I got married we had 7 other weddings that we went to.  I contracted out 2 of the tops for a friend to make for a reasonable fee.  Now I have the left over fabric from those quilts that I have a couple plans for.  A Zig Zag quilt should look nice.  All I have to do is cut the squares into rectangles.  Should be fun piecing them together. 

As Always,
Augustsnow

Friday, March 23, 2012

Come Here Little Mice

I have a cat and I have scraps of fun fur/ stringy yarn.  These things have decided to come together to become toy mice for my ever loving Graham.
The stingy bits that stick out from the completed mice tickle the face of my cat and causes him to go into hysterics of must get this mouse fun.
The first mouse was made with increasing stitches twice on probably size 4 needles.  The second mouse was made the same way but on size 2 needles which incidentally was much to small.  The third mouse was made with 3 increases on size 5 needles.  I like the 3rd mouse, the size is just large enough so that the cat doesn't get the mouse lost under the TV console. 
Pattern found here.



Update on Crazy Quilt
I have 125 completed blocks.

Well that is all for now.  I'm an linking up with Crazy mom quilts for the finish it up Friday.

As Always,
Augustsnow

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Quilt ideas

I am way past due date on making several quilts.  I like to make lap quilts as wedding gifts.  I don't know, I just decided one day. 
I am behind on 2, and coming up this year 3 more!
I want to find a way to use what I got on hand with only buying batting and backing.  I came across this idea.


http://www.sewingoverpins.com/2012/03/finished-terrain-baby-quilt.html

I won't be able to do big blocks like this one because my fabric is already cut out in 5" blocks, I think.  And some of them will have to be unsewn from each other.  But I have left overs of blacks, whites, black n whites, reds, and teals/aqua.  Maybe do a "fade to black" quilt.  If I do white sashing I won't be able to use the white style blocks.....
I am also trying to find ways to use up this scrap fabric that I inherited.  I started a crazy quilt.  I really like how the blocks are coming out.  It is fun, easy, and it feels like I'm zipping through making them.  I worked most of a Saturday and got about 60 blocks done.  I have a queen size bed and I would need 252 5" blocks which sew down to 4.5" to cover the top of the bed (60"x80") .  That's a LOT of blocks.  If I could dedicate many more Saturdays to crazy quilt block making, where I made 50 blocks a day, I would need 4 more Saturdays!  So I tried to think of other patterns that would be fun and look great to.  Because the crazy quilt creates 'diamonds' I feel it is best to try to but them in rows of 2.  Here are some of the designs I came up with.  Please let me know what you think.

Design 1; 205 blocks needed

Design 2; 197 blocks needed

Design 3; 233 blocks needed

Design 4; 152 blocks needed

Design 5; 208 blocks needed

Design 6; 197 blocks needed

My favorite is design 4 or 5, but I think 5 would be better.  But I would only be saving myself 44 blocks.  I don't know what I'm going to do.  I am going to need another 150 blocks though.  Maybe this is a project that takes awhile and goes on the back burner a lot.  I guess I'm okay with that.  Not what I thought I was doing but that's life. :)

Other Ideas for using up these scraps:


http://mychellem.blogspot.com/2012/03/one-of-shiny-things.html
 
http://craftinmechanic.blogspot.com/2012/03/red-and-aqua.html
  
http://www.etsy.com/listing/63998112/zig-and-zag-quilt
These would be lap quilt size ideas. 

As Always,
Augustsnow

 






Sunday, March 11, 2012

Crazy Quilt (in progress)

I received a bunch of random fabric from a Great Aunt when her daughter passed.  It was nothing I was particularly interested in but my mother saw a visit from my brother as an excellent opportunity to unload this miss-match of stuff on me.  I was none to please since I live in a 4 room apartment with no storage for piece work fabric.  Regardless I have held onto it.  I still need to pick and poke in it and throw away the fabrics that are gone by (stained, worn). 
I have been seeing a lot of people making quilts specifically to use up there scraps.  It inspired me to go through and find my inherited scraps and do the same. 


My table laid out with all the scraps from one tote.



Piecing together on 5" blocks.

Pre trimmed.

Pre trimmed underside.
 

Trimmed pieces.
 There is quite a wide variety of fabrics in the pile and has made for a diverse selection of blocks.



 I had to clean all this up so my husband and I could start on another project.  Homemade butternut ravioli with mascarpone sauce!  Yum.  I forgot to take pics of the final product but here are some fun ones of use making them.

Dear Husband working on the filling and sauce.
Getting the sheets rolled out.
getting the right thickness on the sheets.

Aprons are a must, especially when your prego belly keeps getting in the flour!



 As Always,
Augustsnow













Saturday, March 10, 2012

SunnySide 0-3 months

Just the sleeves left to do.
Front side.  Still needs buttons.  Cables turn toward the front.

Cables turn toward center back.
 I found this pattern on Ravelry.  Sunnyside by Tanis Lavallé.


This pattern is good and I will share what I figured out as best as I can. I am thankful for free patterns. I also love this design.
I wish this pattern did the math for you. Instead of saying “increase 6 sts evenly” since the writer had to figure out where evenly was they could have written it into the pattern. Also increase how? Does it want a yo, m1r, m1l, co1; There are lots of options.
Here is my re-write or at least helpful to those who are not advanced knitters.
I made the smallest size so all instructions are for that.

Cast on 52
Rows 1,3,5, 7,9: Knit
Row 2: k6, m1r, k8, m1r, k8, m1r, k8, m1l, k8, m1l, k8, m1l, k6
Row 4: k6, m1r, k9, m1r, k9, m1r, k9, m1l, k9, m1l, k9, m1l, k7
Row 6: k7, m1r, k10, m1r, k10, m1r, k10, m1l, k10, m1l, k10, m1l, k7
Row 8: k7, m1r, k11, m1r, k11, m1r, k11, m1l, k11, m1l, k11, m1l, k8
Row 10: k8, m1r, k12, m1r, k12, m1r, k12, m1l, k12, m1l, k12, m1l, k8 82 stitches

Work a Buttonhole row by doing k2, yo, k2tog, k1, on the 5th row and then every following 20th row (every 10th garter ridge).
30 stitches increase, 82 sts total.
Next row (rs): place markers for pattern portion and raglan sleeves as follows (this is row 1 of charts):
Size 3-6 mo:
Row 1: insert from original pattern
Row 2: k5, knit the k’s and purl the p’s as they appear until 5 sts remain, k5 (row 2 of chart)
Row 3: increase row: (row 3 of chart)
k5, slip marker, work chart over next 8 sts, slip marker, knit to 1 st before next marker, m1r, k1, slip marker, work chart over next 8 sts, slip marker, k1, m1l, repeat from 3 more times. Knit to next marker, slip marker, work chart over next 8 sts, slip marker, k5. (8 stitches increased.) 98 sts total.
Repeat rows 2 and 3 for 14 times working appropriate chart row between markers and remembering to work a buttonhole as indicated until there are 210 sts.

Key:
BH = buttonhole row
^ = Increase row (row 3)
& = regular row, k the k’s & p the p’s (row 2)
cable = C6F for the first 3 cables and C6B for last 3 cables. I like to have my cables face each other instead of all going the same direction. F= front, B= back.
4:&
5:^ cable
6:&
7:^
8:&
1:^
2:&
3:^
4:&
5:^ cable
6:&
7:^ BH
8:&
1:^
2:&
3:^
4:&
5:^ cable
6:&
7:^
8:&
1:^
2:&
3:^
4:&
5:^ cable
6:&
7:^ = 210 sts total
8:& separate for sleeves.
When the sleeves are separated from the body it splits the cables in half which is great b/c if you wanted to you could continue a cable down the side of the sweater underneath the armpit.
All rows now are knit the knits and purl the purls unless it is a BH row or a cable row. So I’m going to mark the rows as whether they are mostly knit rows (right side) or mostly purl rows (wrong side)
This is the exact number of rows I did to get my 5 inches plus a couple extra to fit in my last BH row.
1:k
2:p
3:k BH
4:p
5:k cable
6:p
7:k
8:p
1:k
2:p
3:k
4:p
5:k cable
6:p
7:k
8:p
1:k
2:p
3:k
4:p
5:k cable
6:p
7:k BH
8:p
1:k
2:p
3:k
4:p
5:k cable
6:p
7:k
8:p
1:k
2:p
3:k
4:p
5:k cable
6:p
7:k
8:p
1:k
2:p
3:k BH
Work desired hem.

Sleeves:
I found these directions to be straight forward. One tip would be to count how many rows makes that first inch so you do it the same on the other sleeve.

Happy Knitting.













               








Friday, March 9, 2012

Ribbed Baby Jacket: Finish up Friday

I have been working on baby sweaters recently.  My latest creation is the Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss.  I got the pattern here.  It is a weird page but wait a few seconds and then download the pdf.  If you are on Ravelry you can also search for it that way.
 This should fit a 6-9 month old.  
I still need to add a button about half way down.

 As you can see the body is knit in one piece and then you pick up stitches for the collar.  Seaming is in the underarm from wrist down the side to the waist. 
With just the collar to be put on.

Before my Gram passed I was given her totes full of craft stuff.  So I have pounds of yarn that is good washable yarn that I am trying to use up.  Baby sweaters are perfect because I don't have to worry so much about having enough yardage to finish the project.  Thus I have been searching high and low for patterns that use approximately this yarns weight. 

Monday, March 5, 2012

Valentine's Day


I have a friend that likes Valentine's Day and last year She invited myself and husband to a V-day party at her house.  It was such a lovely time.  She has a great big island in her kitchen that looks beautiful when spread with all the V-day themed items. 
This year when I got the invitation to her party I couldn't help but think of a gift that would be holiday party appropriate.  I went to my local JoAnns and picked from what they had of said themed fabric.  I got started on Cocktail napkins and a table runner for that gorgeous kitchen island.

 I machine sewed the hems.  I have been wanting to do napkins for while because I get all these ideas from Purlbee.com.  Specifically I made these ones as x-mas presents one year.  But check out all the other napkin ideas they have... I think my napkins would have come out better if I had followed these instructions instead for the Simple + Spooky Cocktail Napkins.  

If you would would like to use fabric paint and design your own take a look at these napkins
These nautical flag napkins would also make a great quilt top.

Next the table runner:

Finished!

 I don't normal quilt my projects, I will hand tie my quilts.  But a table runner, in my opinion, doesn't work if it has hand ties- so this is how I did my machine quilting.  I also prefer that not all the quilting show through to the back of the batting, I chose to do most of the quilting with just the top to the filling.

This is a close up of the quilting I did with just the top and filling.

 This is what it looks like on the bottom.
 
Finished quilting show from the backing.
 Finished quilting from the top.

Well there you have it.
We went to the party, had another wonderful time.  The gift was well received.  I have been told that now her husband wants her to make one for St. Patty's Day for his family!  I'm just glad they enjoyed it.  I wish I had brought my camera to the party so I could show what it looked like under the heart shaped cookies.

As Always,
Augustsnow


.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Books

I started a book about 6 years ago and I'm still not finished.  It is one of those "I'm book ten in this adventure series and then the author died so you feel compelled to finish" books.  I picked it up again, committed to finishing it, because it isn't even my book.  It is the longest book loan ever.  I was about 1/5 of the way through before and now I'm about 3-4 /5 through.  In my excitement to be reading again I joined the book club at work.
Now that I have all these other books to read I haven't picked up this other monster since I had set out to finish in the first place.  agh!

Anyway here is a list of the books I have read since December 2011:

Unassisted Childbirth By Laura Kaplan Shanley
The Broken Kingdoms #2 By N.K.Jemisin
Ina Mays' Guide to Breastfeeding By Ina May Gaskin
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman By Robert K. Massie
Girl in Translation By Jean Kwok
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms #1 By N.K.Jemisin
Pride and Prejudice By Jane Austen
The Hunger Games By Susanne Collins
Sarah's Key By Tatiana de Rosnay

Can you tell which ones are on the book club list and which ones are mine?  Yeah, yeah the pregnancy ones are obviously mine, but there are others...

7 Months Pregnant

I am almost 7 months pregnant.
I thought I would warn you.
There might be posts about baby stuff.  Later there will be pictures of the darned thing. 
For now here is a picture of me:
I know, I know because I'm not turned sideways you can't see how big my belly really is.  However, no one really looks good in a side pose anyway.

Being an active member online

Part of my reason for making this blog is because I am an active member of many different sites online. 

Goodreads.com    For reading books
Ravelry.com         For knitting and crocheting
Pintrest.com         For bookmarking all those interesting things you find in other people's blogs.

I wanted a place to keep all of my goings on in one place.  There doesn't seem to be a site for quilting/sewing but I have been stalking several quilting blogs.  These quilting blogs inspired me to do a craft blog, mostly for myself, but to also keep track of my projects over the year.  I realized that I do more than craft, and figured that I'll just do a life blog and readers can sort, or not, through it. 

As Always,

Augustsnow

Cooking Urges: Small Quiche Success

I get urges.  I get urges to sew, to cook, to walk.... Well Friday I got the urge to cook  - This urge wants to cook a lot.  So on my way home from work on Friday I stopped at the store to pick up several items that I was going to need for my habit.
Milk
Butter
Mollases
Salmon
Artichokes
Asparagus
Mascarpone Cheese
Half n Half
Bananas
Cream Cheese


This will make a couple different meals/items.

First things first.  We buy all our spices at Pensey's Spices.  We get the catalog which comes with recipes.  My DH (Dear Husband) had seen this recipe for salmon fillets with Foxpoint seasoning on it and Had to have it.  I was making a list of what we needed to stock up on and things I wanted to try.  Well the Foxpoint made it on the list but the fish was never bought nor a plan to make this meal that was so drooled over by my DH.
My urge to cook this weekend started with Butternut Ravioli.  Which, of course, was going to include a Mascarpone Cream sauce, and at the bottom of the screen was a little icon for Salmon Penne with Basil Pesto Cream Sauce, Artichokes, and Asparagus.  Yum. Knowing that I had leftover pie dough and ham the only thing missing from a delicious quiche was Asparagus. Three meals in one, perfect.

Friday Dinner
Salmon Fillet poached with lemon, covered with Foxpoint Seasoning and garlic in the fish poacher.
     A poacher is not necessary but we got one as a gift.
Roasted Red Potatoes with onion, garlic, salt, pepper
Roasted Asparagus, Olive oil and cracked pepper


Since I made a pound of asparagus I had leftovers to go into quiche.

I am on Pintrest.com and I had found where someone had made quiche in a cupcake pan for taking as breakfast.  Brilliant.  I had left over pie dough from last time I made quiche, I had left over ham steak, and now leftover asparagus.  This morning I made cupcake size quiches.

Ingredients:
Pie dough
3 slices bacon
medium onion, chopped
~6oz of ham steak, chopped
~8 pieces cooked asparagus, chopped
cheddar cheese
6 eggs
1.5 cups half and half
 nutmeg, salt, pepper to taste

 Hint: Do not thaw dough in the microwave.  I didn't wasn't patient and it kind of cooked it.  I used it anyway.  I pressed dough into just the bottoms, then ringing with bacon. I cut the bacon slices in half and then ripped length wise in half again. 

 I added my veggie/meat mixture (onion, ham, asparagus), topped with cheese.

 Added my egg mixture till each cup was full.  Eggs, half n half, nutmeg, salt, pepper whipped.  I used a 1/4 cup measuring sup to spoon out the egg mixture into my pan.  If you run out of egg mix just add a couple more eggs, some milk, whip it up and continue. 


Bake at 350 for ~25 mins.  
As you can see I spilled some egg and I sprayed my pan all haphazard.  The goal was to make delicious quiche not to have a clean pan at the end!  And they did come out beautifully.  I had two for lunch.


Enjoy
Augustsnow