After work I put the finishing touches on it and found a ribbon to use in place of the ones I’d made that morning. I couldn’t quite figure out how to turn them right side out and didn’t have time to have anyone show me how to do it before I left. I ended up using some leftover ribbon from my wedding dress which worked out really well!

I basically cobbled together these two patterns: Easy Drawstring Bag and Lined Drawstring Bag making them the size I wanted. Then I decided to add coordinating pockets on the insides. I really, really like how the seams look from the lined tutorial, it also made it a lot easier for me to add in the pockets.

Once I got home and went to knit night they showed me how to turn the ribbons right side out and I was able to take FO shots. I am still toying with whether or not I want to square off the bottom like she does in the Purl Bee tutorial. Maybe on the next one.

I made the ballet neck dress pattern from one yard wonders. The pattern uses an entire yard of fabric to start with and then utilizes elastic to gather the fabric to give it shape. While cutting it I sometimes wondered if I would just be making a tunic for myself. Since it seemed so large and because I wasn’t sure at what length to hem it I had my sister bring my niece over for a little try-on. Once we got over her confusion of thinking it was a nightgown and that she had to go to bed; she decided she wanted to help me pin the dress with the “sharps”.

Helping me pin her dress

Since that wasn’t overly helpful I took a measurement and hemmed up the fabric later. I hemmed it without cutting the length off so the dress can be let out in the future. I also sewed the waist band a little lower so it would be more of a drop waist for now (can you even really have a drop waist on a toddler?) and then will be in a better spot for her next summer and the following. I also used the bias tape I made for the waist and put it on the sleeve caps to clean up my poor hand sewing. Shhh!

Modeling her new dress

At the party she tried the dress on for me and I think it turned out pretty cute. I also think it will fit much better next summer, but that’s ok, this summer – I am sad to say – is almost over. If I were to make it again, I would probably consider cutting the fabric down to the dimensions of a standard or queen pillowcase and then work from that rectangle. A yard of fabric turns out to be as big as or possibly bigger than a King pillowcase. Who knew?

Playing with her new helicopters

Shed with dormer window - almost done!

Tonight they will finish the last two little trim work things for the outside. I am quite pleased with the two of them, they built the entire shed from scratch and some pictures of what we all liked. The next step is for the boy and I to figure out the layout of the inside and get the shelves, loft and work bench built. I am really looking forward to having a workshop space for us to work on projects for the house.

I will say though that seeing the shed go up made me stop to think about the amount of stuff we’ve accumulated (especially me) since we moved into this house three years ago. I decided it was past time for me to do some de-cluttering. So for starters I have a very lazy gal destash going on over at Ravelry. I put prices on several yarns that I doubt I will get around to knitting in the next year or two so that they may find homes where someone has a more immediate need or use for them.

Yarns for Destash over on Raverly

In other news, I am working on some languishing WIPs in a couple different mediums. I finished binding off Manu on Saturday then wove in the ends and blocked it on Sunday (it’s still drying). I finished spinning and plying up Garland yesterday – the last fiber I was working on for Tour de Fleece in July. I washed and whacked it this morning so it’s drying right now. I am also trying to knock out my WIP bin in the sewing room which includes a dress for my niece’s upcoming birthday and a duvet cover for our bed that I have had all the materials for, for umm at least two years…my how the time flies!

Peanut the Elephant at my house.

For Christmas this year, I didn’t feel like I was making a whole lot of handmade gifts. Just a few small items for my nieces. My mother ended up asking for a blender cover to place over her tea mug rack to prevent the grease build up from the stove. I decided that could pretty easily be made so I decided to take it on as well. I finished everything with plenty of time. Well, ok so I was sewing the hem on my mother’s cover Christmas Eve that was purely due to procrastination on my part.

Mom's new Tea Mug cover, performing its duty.

For my niece S I made two hats, and a patchwork elephant. She wasn’t as keen on the hats when she opened them Christmas morning but she is wearing them so that works for me.

My niece S sporting her new snow pants from Uncle and the hat from me.

However, her response to the elephant was beyond cute. First she squealed with delight, then she threw herself with the elephant into her uncle’s lap, then rocked back and forth hugging the elephant. Finally, she declared “pillow!” Which isn’t entirely accurate but I’ll take it. If she continues that kind of response for the things I make her there’s a very good chance this auntie will have a lot of projects in her future!

My niece S clutching her new elephant!

For my other niece T, I made the Ishbel beret to wear over her darling little curls. I haven’t seen her yet but hope to deliver her gift this weekend and snag a picture of her wearing it.

After that discovery and my second or third (doh!) moment of the week I decided to focus on sending out requests for donations for Sticks N Stitches. Keep your fingers crossed that I am not the only one going into work tom’w! Hopefully we’ll hear back soon.

I had debated going home and dog proofing the house first, since of course I didn’t think of doing this earlier in the week, but I decided against it. Of course as soon as we walked in the door with her I could see everything in our house that was in just the right spot for her to get into. So we set about putting things out of her reach and doing some general picking up. While picking up I made some great headway in adding more clothes to the pile to donate. My sister came over and relieved me of many of the camisoles that are too short for me anymore.

Then I set about putting away a box of crafts that has been sitting around unpacked since our move. While going through the box I found something that I had been requesting as a Christmas gift – a walking foot for my sewing machine. Turns out I no longer need one because umm I’ve had one for 5 yrs. It seemed odd to me that that my “quilting sewing machine” didn’t come with one but came with all the other optional accessories. I attributed it to being a cheaper model or something. I’ve reached a point in my sewing where I thought it might be useful to have one so I located the part online and noted the location for the boy requesting it for Christmas.  It was in my room the whole time. Silly me.

For whatever reason, trying to get into quilting is making me completely devoid of all confidence. It’s a rather odd reaction for me. Especially when it comes to sewing. I generally barrel through things figuring I can do it. I think it’s the precise nature of quilting, that and people showing me that I have been doing it wrong when it comes to cutting fabric. Now I am afraid to cut for fear of not being square. (hahaha, does that crack any of you up as much as me?)

At any rate, Saturday I had to do some quick mending for a Halloween costume and just sitting there barreling through the sewing on this dress so that I could wear it that night got me excited to make sewn items again. So Sunday afternoon while the boy was attending his weekly Mario Kart gathering, I sewed quilt backings together. Then after some yard work I basted the smaller quilt using up all my quilting safety pins and googling furiously to try and figure out what I was going to do with the extra fabric. Apparently the extra fabric is there in case you need it and when you are done and before you put on the binding, you just cut it off. (Now why couldn’t my book just tell me that?) Then I went to another room and laid out the quilt sandwich for my OU quilt. It’ll probably sit there for a short while since I don’t have any pins to secure it right now. I also need to learn how to do this whole quilting bit so I can get the pins out of the smaller quilt. But enough rambling, you want to see photo evidence, don’t you?

OU Quilt laid out as a Quilt Sandwich

Six of One, A Half Dozen of the Other Quilt all basted

I will say that I did a pre-test of the small quilt and laid under it. It felt warm to me. I really do dig the colors too!

After hanging with his cousins we drove closer in to DC to visit my friend who is working up there on a TDY from her TDY. Ahh government jobs, they always keep ya on your toes. We had a good visit and she took us out to eat to celebrate our engagement. The boy spent a lot of time playing with her cat by getting the cat to chase a laser around the hotel room. It was rather fun to watch. Sunday we moseyed into town and I finally got to go see the wonder that is G Street Fabrics. For those of you local to the c-bus, it’s a fabric shop that is probably bigger than the old Lazarus basement. I was a bit stunned at all the selection. I wish we had such a shop closer to home. Alas, the only project I knew the exact quantities of fabric I needed, they did not have the fabric I needed so I left without buying anything. But I did take a picture.

G Street Fabrics - View down 2/3 of the store

Then we headed into Alexandria where I went to Knit Happens and snatched up some Yarn Love – Charlotte Bronte Worsted. I have been wanting to try their yarns for awhile and I finally had a chance to see them in person before buying. I also snatched up a lovely little shawl pin to use with the shawl I was working on during the road trip. (More on the shawl later) All in all it was a good visit and I was happy to make it home and fold myself into bed.

Once back home the boy and I decided to go for a walk. We walked to the park but alas there were children on the swings so no swinging for us. As we were walking I suddenly realized a ton of our neighbors own Hondas. I counted 20 Hondas during our walk. Also many of the homes with Hondas had two, go figure. The walk was nice and I would really like for us to try and do that more often.

Upon returning home it was definitely time for ice cream. I took my ice cream upstairs to finish the sewing and the boy headed to the basement. I am pleased to say that about 22:30 I had completed all three blankets that I wanted to get done for this weekend. Now the question is, is it odd to give someone three identical baby blankets? Hmm. I shall ponder this as I drift off to slumber land.