Sewing - the next frontier......

Yeah, I know the title is lame - but it is what popped in my head.

   Last Monday, I headed to my parent's house to spend the day sewing with Mom.  I gathered up my new machine and a few of the projects I had recently bought and headed north.  On the way I stopped in Dubuque at a quilting store to see about getting a quarter inch foot for quilt-piecing and ended up picking up two of them to try out.  However, once I got to Mom's and actually got the machine going it ended up that the needle position is adjustable and two of the many programmed stitches are used to sew a quarter inch from the left and right of the basic foot it comes with.  That is an awesome feature to have built in!  Mom is going to take back the more expensive of the two quarter inch feet I bought, but it was still inexpensive enough that it wouldn't have been any big deal to keep it.

   After winding my first bobbin I went to town playing with a small piece of muslin to try out the basic stitches.  I bought a Brother CS-6000I, and it is really a nice machine.  Mom uses a considerably more expensive machine and she even was impressed with the things mine could do for the price.  After getting the hang of it I decided to cut out the pieces to make the sewing caddy I had planned out.  We talked it out between us and I got busy, ending up with a finished item in only an hour or two.

   It is very basic, but accomplished what I set out to do, which was relearn things.  I used a decorative stitch to topstitch the purple background piece.  There is a small piece of quilting batting between the two layers.  Each of the pockets was also two layers I sewed on three sides and then flipped rightside out to give some more stability.  It turned out well enough for me to be happy with it. 

   Next up was a lining for the knitted bag I made for my sister-in-law for Christmas.  The bag is done, but not blocked.  I cheated and stretched it out to a size that looked good to me and measured that as the finished size.  We'll see whether that bites me in the butt later I guess.  For the lining I just used a double layer of fabric and made a piece I turned inside out again to feel more finished.  That way it has a double layer for strength inside the knitted bag.  Not pictures of that until the bag is completely done though.

   Finally, Mom and I started working together to make a fabric bowl.  She cut out enough pieces to make two bowls and between the two of us we got them both started.  Once it got to the point of doing the satin stitching I took over and ended up finishing my bowl.

   It is a very shallow bowl, but it turned out well.  Here it is from the bottom:

   Finally, here is one a little closer to see the fabric itself.  It is kind of a multi-colored peacock feather design.

   I still have the purple, yellow, and green fabric that was orginally intended for the bowl.  We didn't buy the pattern for the bowl we saw at the quilt store we were at that day and I may go back and get it sometime to use with this fabric.  Or it could get used for something else, who knows.

   In the meantime, I went to Hobby Lobby the other day just to look around and found these fabrics that I couldn't pass up:

   Is anyone else starting to worry about me having to find space for another stash???  I'm having an urge to take these 2 fabrics to the quilt stores to find coordinating fabrics - for what I don't know.  Oh wait!  I have those 2 bag patterns I bought recently that I could use these for. 

   I have been working on the increases on Glee when I get a chance here and there.  It was a long road to get to the 390 stitches needed before seperating the sleeves, but the goal was finally reached the other day.  Last night before work I knit the next row and put the sleeves on waste yarn.  Now the rows should seem considerably smaller with almost half as many stitches to work each time.  I'm loving the fabric the Manos silk is making.

   While at work I have been scouring Ravelry to find just the right yarns for a couple of patterns that are in my queue.  One of them calls for a linen blend, which is something I haven't used before.  It is tempting to use linen in some form just to try it out, but it seems so stiff to work with that I haven't tried it yet.  Laurel is supposed to be getting in a linen or hemp yarn one of these days at The Yarn Shoppe, so I'll have to try it out then.  Other than spending hours of time on Ravelry to kill the working hours that is about all that has been accomplished knitting-wise.  Not enough time in a week, let alone a day.

   DH and I played in the local tournament for our pool league this weekend and our team ended up winning first place again this year!  It is a different set of team members than last year, other than DH and I, but we did very well and are looking forward to another trip to Vegas in August.  I'll have to call Mom and Dad before they can read this to see if they will watch the boys again then.  They have been incredibly helpful and have watched them the last two times and I feel a little guilty asking again so soon, which is why I haven't said anything to them yet.  At this point I am almost wishing that the tournaments were held in different places each time because we are going to get Vegas'd out at some point. 

   This entry has taken two days to write because of work things popping up at the last minute, but I think it is finally done for now.  TTFN!