House of Steph

Barcelona Skirt (or Freedom Park Skirt)

I finished another Barcelona Skirt on Monday, but I've been slack about getting some pictures of it.

I really love Amy Butler's Midwest Modern line. The color schemes and pattern especially inspire me this time. Sometimes I love her stuff so much that I buy a bunch of it, then don't know what to do with it because it overwhelms me. I've tried getting out of this by making sure I have a pattern in mind--for real--before I buy any fabric! And if not, I just get a fat-quarter of it. :)

My sidekick always has to be in the picture!

I made the size large for the layered skirt I made from this pattern last month, but since losing almost 15 lbs. it has quickly become a little too big. I cut this skirt from the same size but altered the seam allowances to 6/8" instead of 1/2" and it fits great now. Hopefully it will be too big by the time I make the next one (even though I will be a little sad) because I still have about 15 lbs. to go! :) For detail, I left the bottom hem fringed. B and I love the layered skirt because of that little fringed edge. I hoped to capture that same look with this skirt, too.

There was knitting at the park, too. And strangely, the yarn matches the skirt perfectly...

I got a little more fabric yesterday, but no pics to show yet. Sewing Arts Stufio is having a 20% off sale! Not as good as Textile Fabrics' sale, but a sale nonetheless. :)

A new green thumb?

I present to you the new kids, in all of their beauty!

I have a new love for the outdoors, thanks to living in the LOWcountry last year. I brought a little back to my new place. Seems I'm really jonesing for something organic these days. Usually I am the kiss of death when it comes to gardening. When shopping for flowers and plants, it's as if flowers all look the other way, shuddering to think I might take them home and KILL them. Poor plants, I love them so. Hopefully I will have better luck this year.... Hope is not all lost--yet. I brought our ivy plant from last summer back to life by trimming and grooming him. I must say I'm quite proud! The porch is going to be fantastic when we finish replanting everything in their new planters and baskets. Keeping fingers crossed that there will be no casualties until then.

Oh, and lately I've been on somewhat of a crafter's shopping spree! I can't be stopped. Here's a sample:

Mmmm! Fabric and yarn and books and magazines and patterns! I seriously need help. There's no finished objects to show! Hope I don't fall in a slump due to supply overload. SO MANY things in my mental queue...

I gotta say, I really LOVE Sewing Arts Studio! I remember a day when I cursed them for their shop hours, but their fabric selection and stylish pattern choices make up for it ten-fold! I always find something EVERY time I go there, even if I'm "not" looking for anything (...is there ever a time I'm not looking?).

I got the below fabrics at the Charlotte Quilter's Guild Annual Quilt Show last month. I found another new vendor, and she only carries Japanese import fabrics! Hope to talk her into getting some Kokka or Yuwa stuff, because as of now, she doesn't carry it.... These are pretty cute, though!

Okay, now I'm off to make something--RIGHT NOW--even if it's really small. Must have finished object.

Barcelona Skirt

Lucky me? I can't believe it didn't rain on my days off. Things might just be lookin' up. Yesterday was a sincerely beautiful day, and the weather today was even better. I finished this Layered Skirt from Amy Butler's Barcelona Skirt pattern just in time for spring!! I just love Amy's patterns, and of course it's no secret that I love her fabric, too. I was the FIRST person to snatch up this awesome green piece from my local shop. Seriously--the FIRST customer to purchase stuff from her new line on THE DAY it came in. I have been awaiting the day I can wear this skirt since the week I purchased the pattern at Textile Fabrics in Nashville while visiting mom and dad a while back.
I finished the skirt about five days ago, but I dreaded sewing the dreadful hem. Why are skirt hems so damn dreadful, anyway? Maybe I'm just weird. It wasn't that bad after all... Since finishing the layered skirt went so quickly and rather painlessly, I promptly cut out a second Barcelona skirt. This time it will be the A-line version. And yes, I got more of the new Amy Butler fabric. :) The new line is called Midwest Modern and can be found here. Just love it so much! I'm really into the grey-yellow-white combination lately. Very spring. The pattern's all cut out--I just need to sew it up. Should take about an hour or two. (It's been cut out and waiting on the table for a week now.) But I got a little distracted...

Next up: Around the world. (Or I might name it Polly.)

I got the idea from The Purl Bee, a site I love love love and visit every day hoping for new inspiration. Originally I got the fabric with the intentions of making the little quilt from Bend the Rules Sewing... I cut the strips and everything, but I just couldn't make it work. I can't wait to finish this one. :) More on this topic later, because we all know how I love to procrastinate... So many projects, so little time (or time off).

Stuff to show...

I guess I'm in the middle of a bad week, but I can't help but think it's helping my creative energy. I'm staying up until 4 a.m. (regularly) and sewing and knitting as much as possible! So much that my wrist hurts (tendonitis??) from knitting and I'm trying to give it a rest. So much that I'm not doing regular life-type stuff like laundry or dishes (oh wait... Do I normally do that stuff?) Back when I first started knitting I thought I broke something or tore something in my wrist. Given what I was doing at the time, I figured I hurt it at work because I continued to hurt it at work--again and again and again.... Given the pain now, it must be the knitting. The more I hurt the more my brain is telling me to knit. Physically and mentally.

Good ol' sewing machine makes a timely appearance to stand in for the knitting hiatus... And it's a good thing! Check out this bag! (I'm decidedly not going to be modest about this one. I really like it.)
This pattern is my own hybrid--a modified version of Lotta Jansdotter's easy bag pattern with help from the Japanese quilting book and Amy Butler's Madison Bag pattern lining instructions. I love making these things! I like having them around. I had a plan for this one. Really, I did. I like it too much to give up! As usual. Sometimes I have a hard time letting go when I make bags and stuff from pants or other clothing I've cut apart for scraps. Plus, this bag is a reminder of the pieces I've cut for a new quilt. It's the stuff I got back when I visited mom and dad two times ago... Yep.

Mom got me the awesome Knitpicks interchangeable Addi-esque needle set for the ol' birthday! I promptly made a new case for them. The pink/white one was made last Tuesday night and the red/white one was made tonight. I went all-out on both the bag and the needle case--this time, using interfacing and piping. It made the pieces turn out so much better! I still hate working with interfacing, though.

I enclosed the needle cases in a zipper pouch. It's perfect for these needles! I might make another for my Denyse needle set.

Time for bed, now.

Stealing time for myself is very tiring

I just knew we'd get some snow! Yeeeah!

And a self portrait...

I'm so tired. Tired really isn't the word. It's more like exhausted, spent, sold, gone, whacked, worn-out, weathered, bushed, and/or beat. All I can think about when I'm out doing what I do is that I want to come home and make something. Something! I have fabric to make two shirts and the patterns that will make it happen. I have fabric to make a quilt from the Bend the Rules Sewing book--it's really good, too. I want to work on Juliet. Three days have gone by without my working on it. I still lack four rows before I can start the body. I would like to start working on a sweater with the new yarn. I want to make a hat for a girl at work. I want to start some flip-top mittens. I have one flip-top mitten that I made from the pattern in Handknit Holidays but the flap is way pointy. No likie. I intend to frog it. Gosh, it must have been two years ago that I made that thing! Anyway, I'm so TIRED when I get home that all I can do is mope around aimlessly. The things I want to do don't really match the things I need to do, which would consist of giving Roosevelt a bath, doing the rest of my laundry, organizing my crafting supplies, and a whole slew of other random but necessary life things.

I managed to steal an hour to make this sweet little needle roll tonight, and the feeling of satisfaction is overwhelming!

Now I'm going to steal 35.4 minutes to get those last four rows done! And I might squeeze-in just a little bit of TV. Yawn. Goodnight.

Last Minute Gifting

I'm meeting tonight with some work friends who tried to keep me sane during my stay here in the stinky south. We're exchanging gifts. :) Nice. However.... With all the moving, etc., I was not prepared to give gifts until today! Three years ago, these sweet little gifts would have taken me ALL NIGHT long. Now, each one of these took about an hour, cut to finish! And the best part is, they're exactly what I wanted to give!

Rebecca has been wanting a roll-up crochet hook case for I don't know how long, so I waited until Christmas to get one done for her.

Ruthie loves the Amy Butler fabric I used in my pleated bag so I made her a little book bag with the leftover fabric. :)

I would have loved to make her a pleated bag, too, but I simply ran out of time. I also made her a scarf, but it turned out a little too short, so I might not gift it just yet.

Anyway, I'm off to pack a few more boxes and make a run to the trash dump to get rid of some dead weight. We're moving into a slightly smaller apartment, so I don't want to clutter a bunch of shit in the new place, ya know? B wants me to get rid of ALL of my thrift shop stuff in the garage, but we will definitely have to negotiate. He doesn't understand... When you find good fabric, notions, etc., you have to get it or you just won't have it for later. I'm FAR from a pack rat, but there are certain things I will keep on hand (WITH DEFINITE LIMITATIONS, mom!) for later use when it comes to crafting. Maybe we'll be in the new place by the next time I post! Hooray! Only one more day!! Movers come Monday!

Punkins and a Punkin-ish Hat

Happy Halloween was a bust at our house because we only had a few trick-or-treaters and I had to work, of COURSE! However, the pumpkin carving was great! We even made Phil do one! Can you believe he's never carved a pumpkin at age 23?? Guess I can't talk, I was almost 20 when I carved my first one. Mom and dad, what do you have against carving pumpkins?

Hooray for finished objects! I finished another Ann Norling Pattern #10 hat for baby Audrey! :) This one will be to match her Bebe Dress I just finished last week! I really love these hats. :) I didn't realize until now how quickly they knit up! I started this only a day and a half ago. Her other one is getting a little too small, I hear....

Here's the hat. We were playing around with the new Cannon and I can't get the color saturation thing to go back to normal.... It looks cool, anyway.

Turquoise saturation:

And one with the yellow saturation:

I officially have empty needles. Oh, wait... There's still that Knit and Tonic "Flair" I started over a year ago. Wonder if I should pick that one back up? It sure would be satisfying to actually FINISH a sweater... Maybe.

Odessa Hat!

Hmmm... Let's see... I think I tried making this hat about a year and a half ago or more for the knitting olympics... (Actually, February 12, 2006, to be exact!) I was not so successful back then. I tried with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, then with Jo Sharp DK Wool something or other. It was a little too complicated for me at the time, I guess. Even this time, it gave me a little bit of trouble--well, okay, a lot of trouble--but now it's DONE.

I would have used the suggested yarn, but you guessed it: Island in the Stinky South doesn't have it. I used Rowan Wool Cotton instead. It's a great yarn. I got dangerously close to not having enough yarn. I used US 4 and US 6 needles and only had to switch to DPNs for the last two rows. I could have left out about three rows before the decrease section. It's just a little bit too big.

Small head? Not usually... haha... This hat still makes me happy, see?

Don't ya just hate it when you're knitting something in the round...something with yarn-overs and SSK's...and then you realize once you're about five rows into the decreases that you've dropped your place-marker????? And then, you realize that putting SSK's and YO's back on the needles is not an easy task, especially when it's in the round and you don't know where you're starting point might be?? Yeah, that's what happened to me. Be careful, folks. Be very careful. I started Odessa some time last month and almost finished it in a matter of three days or so. Once I screwed it up so bad, I frogged .the.whole.thing. and re-wound the ball. It's been on the needles ever since. But not now. :) I'm done.

BeBe Dress

I have a short visit to Charlotte planned for Thursday.  Which means...  I get to see Shannon and I FINALLY get to meet little miss Audrey Kathryn!  She'll be three months old tomorrow.  I can't wait to see her.  She's the one for whom I made these and these.  :) 

Hooray!  I hope it fits.  If not, I'm sure we can work out a cute little white cardi and some white tights to go with it for winter.  Here's a close up of the buttons.  Vintage and oh so cute. 

I want a dress like this.  Think I could pull it off?

It's good to get back into the sewing room again (aka "man cave", because I'm tuff like dat!).

Momma's got a brand new bag

For those who don't already know, I'm the Momma. Not momma as in mother, but momma as in "hot momma". I don't have kids, silly...

Despite the rain-out, Labor Day Weekend has been a very productive time for me. Yeah--all that rain in the Southeast they've been talking about on the Weather Channel--yep, that's me. Saturday, I stayed home...all...day...long! And for the most part, I stayed in the man-cave sewing and sewing and sewing until 6 a.m. Luckily, I didn't have to work on Sunday until 1 p.m. Oh, the wonderous stay at home day. I love it even better than, well, not staying at home. Productivity is very high this month. I hope to keep this run going.

So many things on the to-make list and so little time.

Oh yeah, the bag. It's the great bag pattern from the book, Bend the Rules Sewing, by Amy Karol. I actually have the same fabric that's pictured in the book, but what's the fun in that? I knew I had to have it the first time I opened the book. Such a great pattern. Thanks, Amy, whereever you are, for coming up with it. So here's the bag's first of many adventures to the beach. The fabric is from Amy Butler's Lotus line, and the grey stuff is some cotton twill I got at the bargain box (TWO YARDS OF 60" WIDE MEDIUM-WEIGHT COTTON TWILL FOR $1!!! I love thrifting!). Brian got the floral print at Purl Soho for me for my birthday back in March. It was a surprise and I love him for it. He approves of the fabric choice for the bag. I winged it on the free-motion quilting, as I have never done it before. The embroidery is the suggested pattern from the book. I think it works very well with the fabric colors. I free-handed it with a pencil. The buttons are vintage from mom's old stash. (Yes, mom, I did say vintage about your buttons. Sorry.) All told, the entire thing took about five hours or so from cut to embroidery to finish. I was very careful to ensure a good finished product.

I can't wait to take it on my trip to Nashville next weekend!