The Days of Wine and Posies

Vintage Stitchers met this past week.

You may remember this quilt of Janet's. She had custom quilting done on it, and it turned out great. As is often the case, you can see the quilting better on the back.

Rebecca has continued to work on her Borboletta BOM quilt blocks. She was working on this one.

Julie had a new embroidery project. It has batting and backing. We wondered why and decided it was to hide the traveling strands, although we all said we don't travel across the back with their embroidery floss.

Janet is making progress on this "Sunny Side of the Street" quilt from Davidene's. (On the website, you will need to scroll down to see the quilt.)

Marilyn had finished this quilt in her usual bright primaries palette.

Diane had finished this Redwork quilt.

I continued to work on my Spring Flowers quilt. I've been making some progress, between packing and knitting. I packed away my whole cloth quilt, which is perhaps 30% finished. It went into a Chewy (online dog food) box with some other quilts. More on that later.

I finished Vroni's Russian Dress, a test of the pattern, which is now available in more or less completed form here (in blog post form) and here (as a downloadable pdf from Ravelry). I made Vroni's with the balance skirt, rather than the swirled version of the original. My sewing machine was packed away and not available, so I didn't make a petticoat. I used two sets of dpns to do the skirt, so I could tell people it works. (It does.) I had two panels on each of 9 needles and knit with the 10th. Some of my needles were 6" and some were 7". I found the 6" needles acceptable, but I had to be careful not to spread out the sts too much. (If you're wondering about Cleo the goldfish, who is usually on that little dresser, she got packed, too.)

Someone on Ravelry used my pattern to make the dress for one of her dolls, the Asian Hannah. She made hers with the swirled skirt. 

Now all three girls have one of these dresses. I want to make one more for Lotte with the more fitted bodice when I have a chance. I think her dress will fit Dolly or Gabi, or I could send it to Miss Daphne for her doll.

I had planned to take a group photo outdoors, but it turned cold again and rained for several days. 

Speaking of Dolly and Gabi, they and Alister are on their way to Bend in a climate-controlled vehicle. When they arrive, they will have climate-controlled accommodations until we find a house. They (and most of our boxes and small stuff) are packed away in large boxes or pods, which were picked up on Friday and taken to Salt Lake City to be loaded into a semi. They should be there in a few days.

The Götz girls will go with us. It's Lotte's turn to be the traveling doll, and Vroni and Mandy will sleep in their "coffins" under the bed in the trailer. (They refer to them as "coffins," because they hate the boxes they came in.) Lotte is hoping to pick up more pine cones, ever since I tossed her the tiniest one from our collection, which I was dusting and packing in plastic bags around the girls' dining room chairs.

We continue to go through things, doing some finishing up on the downstairs bathroom and getting ready for our garage sale. On Saturday I went to the Acorn Antique Fair in Ogden to collect cards of antique dealers who might be willing to come to look at our stuff. I gave DH a list of what I was willing to part with. He scratched off some things, and we now have a list of furniture and other antique items we agree to part with. Anything the antique dealers don't want will go into the garage sale.

For some cuteness this week, granddaughter Daphne and grandson Zachary completed their year of dance lessons.

They tried out for the Alice in Wonderland ballet and were accepted. They will play snails (how do snails dance?) and hedgehogs. It's good to get experience performing in front of a large audience while you're still too young to get nervous.

Happy 8th birthday to Miss Daphne today! I hope you love your Götz Katie doll!

ETA: Daphne has school and dance practice today, so she opened her presents yesterday. She has named her Katie doll Bella. You can see that doll and clothes had already been out of the box when this photo was taken, but Bella is looking around at her new home.

What's on my needles: Still the Coastal Skies, a little more progress made, and the Cabbagetown Jacket for Matti.

What's on my Featherweight: On its way to Bend.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, coming along slowly.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is still in hibernation. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Young Clementina by D. E. Stevenson. I haven’t had much time to listen this week, but I’ve listened to most of it, and it’s very good.

What's in my wine glass: A Trader Joe’s Grower’s Reserve Petite Sirah, 2016.

What's my tip of the week: Geranium plants in a box can be pruned and kept for many years. You can bring the box in when the weather is too cold outside and keep them near a window where they can get plenty of light, then take them outdoors when the weather warms up and leave them outside all summer to brighten your porch or patio in a spot with not too much sun. Bring them back in as needed in the fall. We have had ours for about 15 years. We will be leaving them behind, but they are going to a good home.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Time Marches On

Let's cut to the chase: Common Threads.

We met at Karan's on Thursday. Margareth came fully equipped to draft some patterns.

Georgette had just started this needlepoint project.

Ginny has made some progress on this needlepoint design.

Karan had finished this redwork quilt before Christmas.

I showed off my finished "Peggy's Sistine Chapel," which this group hadn't seen yet. I was working on a pullover for Vroni for her birthday. Lynda was knitting a sock, but she frogged it before I could get a photo.

Mandy came along to supervise me and to show off the slacks I made to go with the pullover for Vroni. (Mandy was my model, so as not to spoil the surprise.) The sweater she's wearing is my "Wonderland Turtle," not the surprise pullover.

I had to alter a pattern, so did a dry run with a different fabric. I discovered that I couldn't just fold the fabric over, cut out through two layers and then be able to match up the pattern (stripes). However, the fit looked good.

When I used the fabric I planned on, I was able to get the stripes to match fairly closely by cutting out one pattern piece at a time, rather than two layers, then matching the second one to first before cutting it out. Here's an example of what I did (with different fabric). You can just barely see the paper pattern (I use freezer paper) under the first piece I cut.

I turned the fabric over to cut out the second one. This is important because the stripes may not always be symmetrical, and with this fabric it was even more important, because it was a brushed cotton, so the sides of the fabric were not the same. (If your fabric is the same on both sides, make sure when you sew the pocket facings on the fronts that you aren't making two identical pieces. I did that once. You want mirror images.)

In the photos it looks black and white, but there is a little strand of turquoise running through it.

The pattern for the pullover was Cataddict's Steampunk Blouse. (Not a download, but I could copy and paste.) Here's how Vroni looked in the finished outfit, with her birthday shoes and necklace. (The necklace was made from an orphaned earring, some chain, rings and clasp from Michael's.)

I wrote a little story about Vroni's birthday party (photojournalism). I won't take up time/space here, but you can find the whole story here. One of Vroni's presents was a picture book, which the girls read and discussed. (How do you discuss a picture book? Maybe they were discussing why Matti gave Vroni a book called Puppy Love.)

To reward Mandy for doing such a great job helping me by acting as my model, I made her a pair of slacks on Saturday, using the same pattern. I also have the same pullover on the needles for her, but in Turmeric, sort of a soft gold. It will look good with the colors in her slacks.

For the slacks, I started out with the Pixie Faire's Boot Cut Jeans pattern. It's designed for American Girl dolls, so it's a bit too big for Götz dolls, like Vroni and Mandy. Also, the legs were flared, and I wanted them straight. I discovered that I could use the pattern for the front and front pockets exactly as it was designed, but I could remove the flare in the leg and some of the width in the...um...bottom...by making a new pattern piece for the back. The original pattern also had a top-stitched fold and back pockets, which I didn't think I needed, so I accounted for those as well, and the center-back seam had a strange kink in it, required by dolls with...um...stuffed bodies. I ended up with this. (Grid lines are 1".)

Feel free to use my "pattern," and the waistband is also smaller. In case you can't read it, you cut a piece on the bias, 11" X 2". Then follow the directions in the original Pixie Faire pattern.

Another person on Ravelry, "Weavespinner," made my first Fair Isle cardigan pattern. We had a few chats on the phone, so she would feel certain of what I meant in my instructions. Then she cut the steeks, knit the neck band, button band buttonhole bands, then picked up and knitted the sleeves. On Saturday, she posted this photo.

It's very exciting* for me to see my little designs show up from time to time, but the steeking project is special, because I know each person who makes one of these doll sweaters has learned a new skill (if they've never steeked before). She used colors similar to the sweater I made for Vroni, and I think she did a wonderful job, rating the famous "Steeking Badge," made for me when I made my first steek, by NoKnitSherlock on Ravelry. (Steeking badges? We don't need no steeking badges!)

But I did.

We visited Run-A-Muk Dog Park twice this past week, and when we were down in Salt Lake City to visit the upholsterer, we took the pups to Big Cottonwood Park, where they ran and played on grass with other dogs. Run-A-Muk doesn't have much grass right now, but it isn't covered with snow, either. More like slush and mud, so Run-A-Muk lived up to its name. I guess it will be a short winter for us.

Oh, and we probably will have to refinance our home to get the reupholstering done...on two Finnish armchairs. Watch for them about March.

*Seriously, this is really exciting for me.

What's on my needles: ZickZack Scarf, but I think I'm going to frog it. I'm finding it takes more concentration than I can handle without having lots of stuff going on (ADD issue). Also Mandy's Steampunk Blouse pullover.

What's on my Featherweight: Doll pants, shirts and skirts.

What's on my loom: Scarf to use up last of the warp.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is hiding under the bed.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens, a Deal of the Day from Audible. Now listening to Murder on Black Swan Lane by Andrea Penrose.

What's in my wine glass: Twisted Old Vine Zinfandel 2014. Appropriate for drinking while spinning. (Maybe that's why Stanzi is under the bed?)

What's my tip of the week: It will be easier to get seams to match if the seam allowance that’s on top goes toward the needle as you sew and the bottom seam allowance goes away from the needle. With quilting, you can't always do it this way, but if you can't, a pin will help. Being aware that the seams nestle together better that way helps know when you need pins. This also goes for any sewing project (like doll clothes) where you don't press the seams open. (That's a whole other story.)

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Pieces of Mind

Barbara hosted Vintage Stitchers again on Thursday. She had just finished this quilt top:

Barbara used It’s Sew Emma’s Fat Quarter Style: 12 quilts that never go out of style, by Kimberly Jolly, Jocelyn Ueng and  Sarah Price, but she used totally different fabrics from the quilt in the book.

Then she showed us this redwork quilt she had made as a gift.

Remember the redwork quilt that cost her an arm and a leg for the quilting?

The quilting is gorgeous, but she couldn’t afford to do another one like that, so she asked the quilter for less heavy quilting. It will looks lovely, though.

Marilyn was sewing the binding on this machine-appliqué quilt.

…and Brenda was doing the same with this machine-appliqué quilt, a pattern by Edyta Sitar.

We had to go outside and admire Barbara’s beautiful back garden. What a work of art!

Ellen is back in town for a few weeks. I picked her up and brought her to Barbara’s. I hope we can do something else fun together after we get back from our camping trip next week.

I managed to get a little more spinning done, but not much. I finished Mandy’s French Back-to-school Cardigan, started last week. The yarn is Knit Picks Palette in “Custard.”

Then I made a comparable one for Carter using Palette in “Tidepool Heather.” 

 It’s a very quick pattern, once you figure out what you’re doing. I’ve made enough of these now that I can do one almost without looking at the pattern, which I’m rewriting to include an increase that doesn’t show up in the seed stitch and markers, to keep track of where the other increases go.

I did more doll sewing, too. I just heard that the Habitat girl will be a blonde, and she's on her way, coming to join Carter. This will go into her wardrobe:

Then this will be put aside for Daphne's dolls for Christmas.

We went to the Deer Valley Concert on Friday night, outdoors, and all lovely Gershwin music. People take blankets and quilts, and bring food and drink, so it’s a picnic, too. Unfortunately, it was pouring down rain at the house when we left. It wasn’t too bad during the first half of the concert.

Then during intermission, the sun came out, and we saw this:

We’ll be camping next week, and I’ll be out of internet range. (Even out of cell range, I suspect.) I have a special blog post set to appear on Monday morning at 8:30 Pacific Daylight Time, but I won’t be here to remind you, so set your alarm! It will appear in the same place as this one. Next week’s blog post is about doll faces, and how they express emotion, in spite of being fixed. There’s a little game, so you’ll want to see it.

I’m hoping to be able to show photos from our camping trip in July 31’s blog post.

What's on my needles: Ready to CO another doll project.

What's on my Featherweight: Still doll clothes.

What's on my loom: Still waiting.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is out and at work. I had planned to take photos, but I’m writing this right after learning that the cleaning lady I’ve been trying to get for a one-time cleaning is coming the next day. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to Between Heaven and Texas by Marie Bostwick. Now listening to Apart at the Seams, the next book in the Cobbled Court Quilts series by the same author. On the Kindle app, still reading Undeniable by Laura Stapleton.

What's in my wine glass: Charles Shaw Shiraz (Two-buck Chuck). Always a good value.

What's my tip of the week: Cleaning copper or brass? A cheap and effective tarnish remover is white vinegar mixed with salt. You can put the vinegar on first with a sponge, sprinkle salt (sea salt or cheap salt, it doesn’t matter) on and wipe gently with the sponge.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.