How come?

People now use the word "sewist" instead of "sewer"?  I'm not a sewist; I'm a woman who sews, badly, but I persevere.  My mom would never use the word "sewist".  She was a sewer.  Oh wait, could the problem be that sewer could also mean the place where sewage goes?  Ack.   Do we say that a knitter is a "knitist", or that a crocheter is a "crochetist"?  Strange, bizarre. 

Way back in the middle ages, when I began to embroider (stitch?), those who did this were called "embroiderers".  Then somehow, embroidery became a no-no, and so people then became "stitchers".  I don't think they've become "stitchists" yet, but I could be wrong.

Enough of this bloedel (badly typed Viennese German for "foolishness")!   Here is what this sewer, sewist, sewing person made this week.  Notice that you are looking at the good side of the garments, and not at the inside or the backs.  Velcro and I have a hard time together, but the dolls don't care.

Left outfit:  The t-shirt is made from an old tee of mine.   What I learned:  Don't forget to change your needle to a ball-point needle; use the actual hem of my tee to make the hem of the shirt.  Sometimes I'm smart.  I should have used that part of the shirt also for the sleeves.  Next one.

Middle outfit:  This is a cutie tee shirt from Liberty Jane that I lengthened into a dress length and added a border to match the sleeves and belt.  The real pattern has elastic around the sleeves, but I'm too lazy to do that and anyhow, it's easier to get on the doll this way and more fun to do.  If you take the belt off, it looks like a nightie.  Hey, a multi-purpose dress!

The dress on the right drove me bananas!  It has a complex instruction (at least to my non-sewer/sewist mind) of doing the waistband.  Never again.  I like the dress, but the next time I do it, I'm attaching the gathered skirt to the bodice, and then making a little belt that I'll either sew on, or tie on in the back, maybe with ribbon.

So now, when Miss P comes, she'll have 5 new outfits to use on the girls.

And now here is my very first quilt top.  I haven't gotten the courage up to start the quilting process.  Right now I'm admiring it as it.  Yep, there are places where the points don't come together, and my perfectionist self finds every one of them, but I like it, and am not ripping it out.  I hope I'll get better as I do more of these, but I'm afraid that this is my peak patchwork talent.

The fool thing came out smaller than it was supposed to (and I'm not surprised at this.  I told you that this is not my great talent.), so then I had to fudge all the borders, but as a good knitter, I can fudge with the best of them.  If you embiggen it, you'll see my non-meeting points. Just smile and look at the rest of it.

I've loved doing this so much, that I've cut out another Schnibble pattern, with 10 zillion little pieces attached to the corners of blocks, stitched, and then cut.  I spent a chunk of time just drawing the sewing line on the little pieces.  I think the best part of all this patchwork stuff is handling the fabric and admiring it.

Did you take a peak at yesterday's post about brand new Lili Lace Yarn?  Go and do it.  The pics on the blog are 100 times better than the ones in the Etsy shop!

Sharon V - You poor thing, if you think you can learn something from me when it comes to sewing. I'm a frogging sewer, and everything I sew, gets a couple of seams ripped, sometimes more than once. But I'm having fun, and the grands are a bit impressed.

Go, grab a towel.

Why? Because you'll need it when you look at the latest lace yarn and colorways! This is drool city here! The pictures will not do the yarns justice, but then they never do. In real life, there is so much vitality to each colorway. And if you don't buy them, then they are Mine, all Mine! Mwahahahaha!

The new yarn is called Lili Yarn: 100 grams, approx 875 yards, 100% SW merino*, and a slightly heavier lace weight than my usual lace yarns. If you've been reluctant to try lace yarns, this is a great place to begin. There's more heft to Lili Yarn, and yet it still is pretty skinny. I'm knitting up a design on it, very very early stages, and as usual I've frogged it at least 5 times. The yarn looks as good as new, and is so pleasant to work with. I may never go back to lighter lace yarn again!  Price?  $33 a skein of incredible wonderful yarn, hand dyed by me, and in one-of-a-kind colorways. 

*About that superwash merino: I would never wash a shawl in the washing machine, especially one is lace weight yarn. So why even buy sw yarn for dyeing? Because it takes color so quickly and so easily, and I love dyeing it. So it's there for your information, but I never machine wash lace.

So here's the yarn.  Get your towel ready so you don't get your keyboard soggy!  You might want to click on them to get the full effect.  Each colorway consists of at least 2 colors, and  the greens have 3-4 colors in each skein.

In order: Carnation, Pink, Grape Juice, and Wild Orchid.

In order: Sea Spell, Evergreen, and Grass.

In order: Toffee, Rose Bouquet,  and Light Coral.

OK, all yarns are now posted in my Etsy Shop.  Go forth and buy!

Henya - I live to be a wicked enabler!

The girls ain't nekkid anymore.

Did that get your attention?  Do you think I might be on the banned blog list from now on?  Evil laugh.

Here are 2 of them.  Doll on left is wearing a mini skirt and the Poet's Darling Top from Liberty Jane.  I don't bother with fancy front seams on the skirt, and the original patterns is too short for my liking.  I kind of like the skirt to cover the doll's bottom, so I made a teeny adjustment and now I have it at the right length.  It's my go-to pattern for easy skirts.  The top was a bit of a challenge for me, but now I understand it, and want to do it again.  However, I think that the sleeve is way too small at the top, so I will make it a bit longer.  And I'll also try for a short sleeve.  I did get to be an expert (!) in attaching bias binding.  I think I might actually understand it after attaching it in this pattern.  I think I will use a contrasting binding the next time, just for the fun of it, and maybe put a border on the skirt in the basic fabric of the top.  I can't tell you just how much fun this is, even with my cursing at the bias binding.

Next to it is the freebie doll dress.  This was my first attempt at attaching bias binding, and I didn't do a great job of it at all.  Now I understand the method.  There's a lot of fudging  in that binding here, but I don't think it's noticeable, and anyhow, does the doll really care? This is a pattern that can take a lot of playing around.  Make it shorter and you have a cute summer top; use a contrast material on the straps, make it shorter  and then add a ruffle to the bottom.  Put on a pocket.  Whatever.  I find that I'm using knitting knowledge on the sewn clothing and sewing knowledge on the knitting.  Cross-cultural experience.

I've been buying most of my patterns on Liberty Jane, and for the most part, I think they are very well done.  Plus I like the more modern feel to the patterns.  I can't see the grands liking froofy goofy dresses and 2 layer-ruffles on the bottoms of pants.  I also like Joan Hind's patterns very much.  She has good instructions that I can understand, and her designs are also contemporary.  Another great designer is Carpatina.  Her dolls are simply lovely; they are skinny 18" dolls and need their own patterns, but she makes her patterns to fit both her dolls and the AG doll.  Haven't made any yet, but I have some of her historical patterns.  I'm not ready for them yet, but my knowledge increases with every garment, and I think I can tackle her patterns in a little while.

The quilt is coming along.  I'm about to attach the inner border, and then work on all the little pieces for the next border.  I'm truly loving this, and I'm constantly looking for new patterns.  But first, I'd like to make my way through a bunch in the Schnibbles book.  I'm using charm squares because the quilts are wall hanging size and a lot cheaper for a beginning quilter to make.  I'm still doing a lot of cutting and sewing, but I like doing small things (hence the doll clothing), and it's easy enough to make any of these with layer cakes, which are 10" squares.  Same technique, only bed-sized quilts.

Here it is, ready for the first border.  Nope, it's not perfect, a couple of seams don't match very well, but I'm happy enough with it.  I tend to be a perfectionist in these things, so ridding myself of that silliness is good for me.

Here are a couple more projects that I've completed:  a couple of pillowcases to match my new sheets, and a wonky little bag that I misread the instructions on, and cut it a lot smaller than it was supposed to be.  But it came together OK, and only you know what a mess I made following the instructions.  BTW, I cannot follow directions.  Neither can my mother.  So following any directions for any of these projects is really hard for me.  Still, it's good for my brain.

The other pillowcase is the opposite of this one.  The border of this one became the body of the other one, and I switched the border also.

Knitting is going along fine.  A mystery project.  In fact, the next project in the Light And Dark Lace Club series. 

Dyeing:  After a long spell of not dyeing, my mojo came back and was influenced by some batik fabric I bought.  Here's a pic of all of them, and they are all available on Etsy, of course.

scrapperjen - Thanks. Aren't they fun?

Scrabblequeen - You know that I cannot read directions, and it took me 2, yes 2, hours to figure out how to cut out this simple pattern. Next time I'm going to use tissue paper and make a real pattern up. Once I started sewing, it was a piece of cake, but you have to see me cutting to see real confusion!

It's good to be back again.

I just haven't been bloggy lately.  Not in the mood, I guess.

My MIL has been very poorly and is in the hospital undergoing all sorts of treatments for all sorts of ailments.  She seems to be coming along, we hope, but she is 87 and not in great health to begin with.  Very sad and very worrisome.

On a much lighter note, I'm still knitting on a secret project and crocheting the never-ending afghan.  All the doll clothing is now given to the grands, and the poor dolls are nekkid.  Gotta make some more.

What's obsessing me these days is patchwork.  I bought a book called Schnibbles Times Two: Quilts from 5" or 10" Squares.


I love it!  It tells you how to make quilts from either layer cakes or charm squares.  it seemed easy, so I'm making the first project in the book, Bennington, out of charm squares, and it's adorable.  Since I'm a beginner here, and I don't have any sense of what is hard or easy, I just went with it, and so far, so good.  I could do this kind of work for hours.  Indeed, as soon as I get off the computer, I'm going back to it.


Here's a pic of a bunch of the blocks laid out just so I can get a sense of how they will look. This is a bowtie pattern, and the original called for the bowties to be done in dark colors, and the rest to be done in lights. Naturally I reversed it, and to me, it looks like Japanese temari balls.

So that's what's going on.  I didn't want you to think I'd dropped off the face of the universe.

Kv - I think I also lost my bloggy mojo.
FoFo - Thanks for your prayers.  We do appreciate it.  This is such a little quilt that I'll probably finish it, if only to see what it finally looks like.

Henya - The dyeing is really sleeping.  All I want to do is sew.  I've gone over to the dark side here!

Infinity Quilter/Knitter - Thanks.  I joined up all the blocks yesterday.  I made a couple of goofs, but I'm pretty satisfied, at least for the first one I've done. 

LivvyLove - Well, your comment makes me want to go back to the quilt.  I think we have our own support group.  

The Dolls, yet again.

What can I tell you?  I'm obsessed with sewing.  It's not my fault.  Blame Miss P, who started me on the downward spiral of sewing.

This is all I want to do.  Forget meals. That's why eggs and yogurt were invented.  Laundry?  Hah!  Errands?  Only if they include a quilt shop or Joanne's.  Straightening up my mess?  Are you serious here?  Whatever is the point of it?  I'll only make more of a mess tomorrow.

So, here are the latest dolls and their clothing.  His Most Royal Hubboness, He who shops at rummage sales, found 2 AG dolls, both with "hair cuts".  One of them is Kit; I'm not sure who the other one is, but she's lovely.  2 dolls for a total of $15!

Kit, on the left, is wearing an outfit from the last post, but this time embellished with a teensy weensy yo yo.  And the unknown AG doll has a yo yo on the top of her little dress.

Here are the 3 "embellished" ladies.

So, now I spend my time looking at patterns for the gals.  And I'm also getting ready to actually attempt to sew a knitting project bag.  Given that it's a bunch of straight lines, it should be much easier than  little armholes and such.

And I'm seriously thinking of starting to do some patchwork.  My poor knitting and crocheting are languishing.  But looking at all the fabric colors makes me want to dye yarn.  I'm thinking of a summer collection in Bambi, merino and bamboo.  Maybe bright summery looks, with the bamboo, which doesn't take the dye, to soften the colors.  Hmmmmm.  I need an 8 day week and a 30 hour day.  The more I play, the more I want to play.

Wall-to-wall books - In your dreams!  Making the little outfits is more than enough.  I'm not particularly good at this.  Yeah, they look fine on the outside, but turn them over and we have a mess.

Dolly Friday

I'm having such a grand time sewing these AG doll clothes.  Not that I'm a great sewer, but these little items don't have to be perfect, and anyhow, I'm an expert on ripping out.  I'm so used to it with knitting design, that it doesn't even bother me any more.

So here are the girls in their new outfits.  Most of these have been made twice:  the first time I ripped, and then almost got it right the second time.  tee hee.

This skirt was a pain in the neck to do.  I used a pattern that called for charm squares (5" squares), and I bought a package at Joanne's.  Some of the squares were not square, and it drove me batty.  Plus there were cut with a pinking shears, which also did not make me happy.  So I had to attach them to each other, then do a bit of ruffling (which I kind of like), and sew all those seams.  I'm not fond of how it wants to stick out at the end of the first tier.  I'd like to do something like this again, but either do it with my own 5" blocks, or just use large strips of fabric.  I was smart enough to measure each finished strip, so I can do this again.  The top was kind of odd to do, but all in all, it seems to work, and The Principessa will like it, I hope.  And if she doesn't, I'll take it back and give it to Miss P.  Between the 2 kids, somebody will like something. 

I loved doing the little halter top and skirt. That's the one on the left. I used some batik also from Joannes, and the pieces were fun and easy to do.  I may not have actually ripped this one the first time.  This one will go to Miss P.  I want to do one in pinks for the Principessa, since she is at that stage of loving pink.  Miss P has moved past pink and onto maybe greens?  I don't know.  Again, if it doesn't please her, I'll take it back and give it to the Principessa.

Aren't these cute?  The tops are done with that little top from the first outfit I made, and the skirts are miniskirts from somebody's pattern.  The left on is for Miss P, and the right one for the Principessa.  I got both outfits out of 2 fat quarters.  I love fat quarters.  Inexpensive, and fun and enough yardage for lots of things.  I think the fabric came from a wonderful quilt shop on the Cape - Heartbeat Quilts.  An amazing shop with more fabric that you can begin to imagine.  A bit pricey, but wonderful stuff.

This last little outfit is a combo of 2 patterns.  The top is from Liberty Jane, and I do not like the fit.  It is awkward to get on and way too tight at the bottom.  So tight that I can't get it over the skirt.  Plus turning under the edge at the armhole (on the right) was a huge pain in the butt.  With these little 1/4" seams, there not much space for cutting, so I had to seriously fudge.  I think the pattern would work well in a knit, but I suspect that the bottom would still be very tight to put on.  I'm going to add a bit onto each side of the pattern to get it to fit better.  But I don't know what to do about that armhole.  I do love almost all the Liberty Jane patterns, so I think this was me trying to work a woven into a knitted pattern.  Oh well, I bought the fabric at Joanne's, and I know there is more out there.  I kinda like the way the top looks with the little ruffle on the skirt, but to really work, the top needs to be worn outside and it doesn't fit over the skirt.  Grumble grumble.  Whatever.  I can give the skirt to a kid, but they will scream with frustration with the top.

And that's the story, Morning Glory.

Whoops, I didn't tell you all about this year's trip to Cape Cod.  I'll post that another time.  It was beyond wonderful.  I could go back in an instant.  And I'll tell you all about The Platinum Pebble Inn.  I'm in love.

Scrabblequeen - We knitters are experts at ripping, aren't we.  After you do it over and over, it ceases to be a pain and just becomes part of the project.  Sounds good, doesn't it?

Wall-to-wall books   - I'm having such fun doing this.  Now I'm looking into a bit of quilting, maybe a log cabin.  Also going to find fabric for a sock project bag and a large tote.  I need my head examined.  Clearly I'm on the road to ruin here.


Wall-to-wall books - Me too.  Now to get the courage to actually make a block!  I'm such a scaredy cat.

Henya - Thank you.

Avira is published.

Here she is in all her glory:  Avira.  A lovely shawl knit from the bottom up, so that your rows get shorter and shorter.

Avira was the first shawl for the Light and Dark Lace Club, and now she's making her public appearance.

Would you like a copy?

Here's where you can buy one: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/avira

Avira is knit in PennyRose Yarns Benji, 3 ply fingering weight with approx 450 yards.

Henya and Scrabblequeen - Pshaw, it was nothing.