Things happning on my work table (and around the house)

 Wow, it's October? No kidding. Wow. I say this approximately twelve times a year. "Where did my last month fly away?"

Collecting myself, I have been too busy with working on my original pattern making and other chores to write for the blog so long. I am almost there to finish moving my studio from the basement to upstairs. It was very hard to start any new projects when I was in the middle of moving. But the furniture setting is finally decided and many of my stuff which need to be stored in this room got their new home. So at last I can start my work in this incomplete studio. (But now, I have the feeling of success about this move pretty much!) Today I want to share what's going on my work table recently with some pictures you might want to take a look.

I fell in love with this fabric collection "Spring house" by Stephanie Ryan when it was released right away. I didn't have any plan yet but anyway I needed to get some or all of the patterns of this collection! It is rare that I really love whole prints in one collection. This was one very rare thing which happened to me this spring. I wish I could buy all in yardage. But you know, I couldn't. So I got a set of layer cake and conserved (^.^) until a perfect idea flushes on me. I am making a patchwork window treatment for my new studio with these! It is going to be a fabulous, beautiful curtain! I will report you the progress. Please be patient and look forward to it!

Every year, the first day when I feel Fall in the air, I want to start knitting like as many of you do. And also I swore myself to use up my yarn stash or clear them out. So I picked some of my old balls of yarn and just started knitting. This is going to be a long scarf. I will just keep going until I use up the balls. I want to make it look a bit fancy (not only something for spending my stash quickly). I consider this project as a relaxation. So the pattern has to be a fun and also simple enough to meditate! This lacy Rickrack kind of pattern is perfect.

This one below is nothing special. It's practical. I am knitting a pair of leg warmers for Nina. Her ballet school locates in an old building. Sometimes her classroom gets cold in the Winter. She takes two lessons and two rehearsals for Nutcracker a week in the building. Keeping muscles warm until their bodies get ready to move is very important for dancers (and other athletes). I am hoping that these will keep Nina away from injury when she has fun dancing.

Do you remember these old school chairs? We got these from a big school auction. Tim refinished them really beautifully and they are ready to go. We are planning list them in Craig's list soon. Hopefully we will find nice happy homes for them. (To be honest, I really don't want to part with them. Because they are so adorable!!!) Well done Mr.W!

I walk for half an hour in the Wooded Estate every weekday morning. Seeing the nature changes seasons is my favorite. I see some Autumn colored leaves. The most beautiful time in South Bend is just beginning.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this. Have a great week.

Embroider Letters. And other projects

I started a new project. It is letter embroidery. It is a time consuming project but the result is satisfying so far. I am having fun to pick different colors for each letters and it is a peaceful moment stitching alone in the quiet room.

Meanwhile, there are several other projects going on. Black crocheted flowers attached to a fabric with some colors. This is my first experience using a burlap as a foundation of an applique project ( I could name that a "crochet" project, too. Or a "beads embroidery", maybe? ).

This cute animal print has been stored in my stash basket for many years. When my daughter was two or three, I saw this cotton at the store and fell in love with it. It supposed to become a baby quilt for my girl many years ago. And finally! I started to cut and sew that a week ago!

Now I am in the middle of quilting the animal print coordinated with a couple of different solid colors. It is going pretty slowly. But finishing this quilt by end of March is my goal (for now.....).

Did you already see any signs of Spring? Here in Northern Indiana, Spring seems too shy to show up. It is wavering at the corner of my street. We have long Winter so that makes me love more to play with delightful colors in my work!  What project is on your table now? I hope you enjoy your colors on your work as well. Thank you for reading. Have a great week!

Thrifty find / Vintage textiles

I haven't posted about my thrifty shopping for long time. I love to shop at thrifty stores, recycling stores, yard sales, estate sales and even at auctions sometimes. There I want to share what I got lately from those places. Today I focus on vintage textiles like blankets and fabrics. My color theme of this Winter was warm color family. Yellow, red and orange. I am trying to brighten up our family room which faces to North. It is a beautiful room but a bit dark. I think These crocheted blankets do their duty.

The pillow above and the granny square blanket are from my favorite local vintage store "Junk Evolution". And this beautifully made herringbone blanket above is from one of the thrift stores in town. I was so excited when I found these. They are in perfect condition and just what I wanted for the room!

This one below is the gauzy blanket I just got a couple days ago from St. Paul de Vincent. The color and "patchwork" look caught my eye as soon as I reached to the house ware section. It actually is not a piece-worked quilt. The patchwork pattern is printed on a very soft fabric (I think it is a cotton double gauze) but the patterns of each squares are so cute. I actually don't have a purpose for this. But I think it is worth to take a space of my linen closet.

There are some photos of detail.

I found more vintage fabrics at the same store. Some are from pillow cases, some are from sheets. I love the slightly faded color of the prints. And the design of the patterns are so pretty and nostalgic as well.

These are from an estate sale I have been many months ago. The former owner of the house must have liked sewing once. I guess these are from around 1960's.

Well, I guess I made another pile of textiles I need to maintain and organize. I really need to clean my messy studio. It is so easy to get a pile bigger, but its horribly hard to reduce it (you know?). Because these are all so pretty!

I bought four big plastic containers for these after all. I promise! I will REALLY start cleaning my studio TOMORROW!!! (Now, I think it has to happen since I declared it here to you all d-; )

Serger Cover Finished!

I couldn't do any sewing on the past weekend as I expected. But I eventually finished it yesterday and here it is!

The quilted body was done last week. So I started with making two gussets. I layered tops, fleece and backing together. I didn't quilt these parts. The fleece was fusible so I just stuck them together by ironing.

Cut some strips in 1-3/4" for piping edges. They are not bias because there is no curvy spots on the hem.

Nicely covered hem!

All the parts are ready to be assembled!

I attached the gussets to the quilted body and piped the raw edges with coordinated fabric. And Ta-Da! My first cover for serger is finished!

I like it. This project was unexpectedly (because I felt it is my duty to spend or dump my scraps) so fun to me. I am in the middle of organizing my studio in the basement. And I found lots more scraps to make something fun like this. There are already some ideas of use-up-scrap projects in my mind.

I hope you liked to see the progress of this project and it inspired someone who wants to find a good use for their pile of treasures. Happy sewing!

Scrap Quilt / Serger Cover

If you love sewing and fabric, you must have lots of tiny pieces of scrap fabric in your stash. Just like I do. I kept thinking I would use them up somehow for something soon. And the time just went by months and months. The pile of scraps got bigger and bigger.

At last, I thought of making a cover for my new serger and it could be a good chance of using those scraps. Then I just started to sew without thinking too much. (Once I started thinking, it could take forever. I have had that kind of experiences a lot.)

I picked light colored scraps for this project. Many different prints and some solid cottons sorted by color.

I picked out some long strips from the pile. Lined them up to see how it looks together. Then just sewed them up together. It can be a bit wonky. It makes the piece looks more fun.

Pressed the piece and cut them in three 3" wide strings.

Connected them in one string until the piece got desired length.

I made three strings.

Added some solid strings in between the pieced strings. Those solid strings are from Kona Cotton Jelly Roll I purchased online long long time ago.

I machine quilted it "Stitch in the ditch".

How the stitch looks on the top.

On the back.

I still need to attach gussets to the sides. But let's just take a look how it would look on my machine! Pretty good, don't you think?

On weekends, I usually don't have much time to work in my studio because of the people I have to take care of are at home. And this is a long weekend. I will try to update this project as soon as I can. I hope my girl gets a play date or two! So I can finish this and start a new project.

Have a happy weekend and please stay warm if you were in the cold climate!