Making it With Pendleton Wool

A few weeks ago I posted this image on Instagram...


But then because I was dealing with a junky temporary phone while waiting for my insurance to replace the phone I killed on Halloween, I forgot to post what I actually made.

Sidenote: Don't drop your phone screen down onto a rocky driveway! The worst part about it was I couldn't even share pictures of my adorable flower and her farmer heading out for trick or treating!!

But I can now! Aren't they cute?


Anyway, I participated in our regional Make It With Wool competition again this year and decided to sew something.


I watched Prudent Baby's cape tutorial video then started cutting into my precious wool.


I decided to edge it with some Pendleton selvedge that my LYS friend gave me the last time we were up in Dubois. Then I pulled out my Albama Chanin handsewing book to find a good embroidery stitch to add a little more flair.

Because I am not confident in my garment making I hand sewed the seams. Though I did make french seams for a neater look inside.

Except for the seam stitching the whole garment (accessory?) is 100% wool. Even the yarn I used to embroider the selvedge is wool that I had naturally dyed in avocado pits earlier this year.

We didn't win this year, but it sure was fun to make. And as you can see, Ruby kinda likes it too!


Thanks for visiting!

posted from Bloggeroid

Craft Book Month: "Phoebe's Sweater" by Joanna Johnson

I was so excited and thankful when Lindsay invited me to join in another round of Craft Book Month with Craft Buds!

And then I hit my first snag. I own many beautiful craft books, but nothing seemed to inspire me. Finally last week I was sitting in our chair under the big picture window when I looked up at our regular book shelf I saw a children's book, "Phoebe's Sweater", written by the talented knit designer Joanna Johnson and illustrated by her husband, Eric.

But "Phoebe's Sweater" is not just a children's story, it is also a knitting book with patterns for a cozy hooded girl's coat, a stuffed mouse with dress, and a matching coat for the doll.

I immediately grabbed my skein of Plucky Sweater in Dandy Lion and cast on!



The illustrations in the story are just beautiful! And it's a fun tale about a girl becoming a big sister and the sweater her mama knits for her in the meantime. Even if you don't knit, it's still a great book to have in your collection.

Ruby is still a little rough on books, but with this one she just sits and delicately flips through the pages over & over again.







Yesterday when I was attaching the ears I sewed them too low and realized that as cute as the mouse is in the pattern, this doll would make an adorable monkey for my little monkey! So I made a wool felt monkey face and stitched it onto the head.

The inside of the ears and the dress (still in progress because I've had a sick toddler all week) are made with Plucky 4-ply cashmere in Before You Go-Go. The stuffing I used is a wool roving. So this doll is really the softest, squishiest thing ever!!

I think she likes it!!

Thanks for visiting my blog as you blog hop around! Below are the other places to visit. And be sure to enter your own craft book creations (rules below) at Craft Buds!

2014 Craft Book Month Blog Hop!

Monday 9/1: Fabric Mutt / Lindsay Sews
Tuesday 9/2: Rae Gun Ramblings / Craftside
Wednesday 9/3: The Feisty Redhead / The Fabric Studio
Thursday 9/4: Marci Girl Designs / Small Town Stitcher
Friday 9/5: LRstitched / A Prairie Sunrise

Monday 9/8: Hopeful Threads / sewVery
Tuesday 9/9: 13 Spools / Lisa Liza Lou
Wednesday 9/10: Stitch This! / My Sewcial Hour
Thursday 9/11: The Littlest Thistle / Fabric Seeds
Friday 9/12: Sew Sweetness / Clover + Violet
Monday 9/15: Inspire Me Grey / amylouwho

Link Up

9/1-9/30: Link up your craft book project at Craft Buds from your blog, instagram or Flickr account, and enter to win prizes. To participate in the month-long contest, just link up any project you've made from a pattern in a craft book. That easy! You'll tell us a little about the book, the project, how you personalized it, etc. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, October, 1!

Rules

1) One entry per person. 2) Your craft book project must have been completed in 2014. 3) Create a new blog post, instagram or Flickr photo (dated September 1, 2014 or later) and link back to Craft Buds/Craft Book Month in your post or photo description (tag #craftbookmonth for instagram). In your post or photo description, make sure to list the craft book you used and provide a link if possible. 4) All winners chosen via Random.org. Some prizes available to international winners, so please join us!

Prizes

Visit Craft Buds and link up your craft book project during the window of Sept 1-30 and you'll automatically be entered to win some fantastic prizes from the Craft Book Month sponsors!

Technical Difficulties

Hi there! If you're here for my Craft Book Month post please be sure to stop back again a little later. I'm having technical difficulties (or I should more accurately say toddler difficulties) getting my post up.

Thanks for visiting and I hope that you do come back again this evening. I have a great children's story/craft book to share with you!

posted from Bloggeroid

"Sunday" Drive

Jake finally seems to have a set schedule at work, Thursday and Friday off. But since he works nights we have almost 3 full days to do stuff. Friday was our "Sunday" so we decided to go for a drive and look for good fishing spots. Now that we live near the North Platte, Jake is picking up fly fishing again and I'm learning how to fish too. We even got Ruby a cute Buzz Lightyear kid's pole last week!

We took the back roads down to Glendo Reservoir, stopping at turnouts along the way. The lake has been drained really low this year so we just watched the boaters for a few minutes before getting shakes at the gas station in town.

On the way home Ruby got sick so we pulled off the county road to clean her up and take a little break. While we were there the train came by, which Ruby really enjoyed. Honestly, we all enjoyed it. Very much!

posted from Bloggeroid

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

I don't even know where to begin! Things have changed so much for us in the past few months. The super short version is Jake got his commercial driver's license, he now drives truck in the oil fields & often works 70-80 hours/week, we bought a house just outside of town, and Ruby is a 15 month old maniac! :)

Now that we're all caught up I feel like I can finally move forward here. I have written so many blog posts in my head it's ridiculous! But I always feel like I need to explain where I've been hiding first and just couldn't come up with the right words.

So let me show you...


Goodbye "drafty, mouse & black widow infested, empty for a decade, falling apart" ranch house! :)


On our front porch right after we closed.


Leading Grammy Leigh up to her new house.


Peonies from our yard!


Playing in the (overgrown because it was neglected for 2 years and I haven't decided what to do with it yet) garden.




Enjoying having her own room!

posted from Bloggeroid

Back at the Spinning Wheel

Last week I found a new hashtag on IG...#spunday hosted by @threadybear. I haven't spun since Tour de Fleece last summer and even then it was only a bobbin or two. I've been itching to get my wheel out, but I was worried that Ruby would want to play with it too much. Once I saw the #spunday hashtag I knew that it was time to start spinning again.

So I spun...



And spun...





And spun!





And Ruby did great! Her favorite thing is either sitting and watching the wheel turn or standing between my legs to watch me draft the fiber.

In shop news I still have some handspun yarn listed and I just added stitch markers as well. They snag-free markers made with gorgeous book charms & accent beads and fit needles up to US10.5 (6.5mm). And there are lots of "books" to choose from! :-)

Thanks for visiting!
~Sharon~

posted from Bloggeroid

Ruby's Spring Catnap Dress

A few weeks ago I discovered that my favorite fabric designer, Lizzy House, was hosting a dress making contest in her newest line, Catnap. I had just done a fabric swap with Maggie (@legs_benedict) and had a 1/2 yd of butterflies & fat quarter of playing cats that needed the perfect project.

It started with a simple sketch (well, more of a doodle really). I decided that I wanted to do as much handstitching as possible so I pulled out my copy of "Handsewn" by Margaret Rowan to get tips on smocking and buttonholes.

I did serge the edges and machine stitch the hems to give the dress a clean look. Then I went searching online for a tutorial for hand pleating. I found Marie Grace Designs, which was really lucky because now the website seems to be down. :-(

I used the American Honeycomb stitch for the smocking, in two colors. I chose to put the buttons on the front since the skirt (cat) fabric had to be seamed and it drove me crazy to think of that seam being in the front. I think it added a fun little touch to the dress.

I made it big for her to grow into this summer, but unfortunately I made it too big and it won't fit her for another year or so. But at least it is too big and not too small!

It was really fun to design & make this dress and in just a couple weeks too. Thanks Lizzy for the fun challenge! :-)

And thank you for taking a look!

*Sharon*

posted from Bloggeroid

Work in Progress Wednesday

This week has consisted of many late nights with a baby who apparently thinks that midnight is an appropriate bedtime. The nice thing about it is that she only wakes once during the night. When she was getting to bed earlier she'd wake more & it was a bigger fight to get her back to sleep again. She's like the Energizer bunny and just goes forever (or until she can barely keep her eyes open). She naps well during the day so I know she's getting plenty of rest.



But because of Ruby's late night parties I haven't had a chance for much stitching recently, but I have done a little. I've put a few more rows on my mom's Rocky Coast cardigan.



Finishing my sister's socks rekindled my love of sock
knitting so I pulled out a year old WiP and hope to have some new merino/cashmere blend socks in another week or two.



I also finished the top to Ruby's Briar Rose Rainbow Quilt. It was such a fast pattern to put together and looks great. Rae (Made by Rae) designed the quilt and it showcases Heather Ross' fabrics perfectly!



I will be tying it with perle cotton for now, but may eventually hand quilt it thanks to Katherine's suggestion. :-)

With all these WiPs I have going I hope to be able to show you some finished projects soon. Thanks for letting me share!

~Sharon~

posted from Bloggeroid

Work in Progress Wednesday

I know it's now Thursday, but apparently my post didn't fully publish last night before I closed Bloggeroid. I guess I need to pay better attention when I'm using this app.

~ ~*~ ~

Last week I mentioned wanting to finish my current x-stitch before I started a new one, but I broke down when I saw how cute The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's new Once Upon a Time sampler is. Ruby & I have been reading a lot of fairy tales so I thought it was an appropriate distraction.



To prep for the new sampler I tea dyed some white aida cloth that I had on hand...



...washi taped my hoop for more visual interest. And in true "make it work" fashion used some hoop earrings to hold my embroidery floss.



It is a fun & quick stitchery and once I finish January I can get back to my ABCs of Aging Artfully until the February fairy tale comes out.

My parents came out for a visit from Southern California this week, which was lots of fun! Mom & I took Ruby to a pottery shop over in Casper and made a couple belated Christmas gifts. Dad is getting a dish for his keys & wallet (pictured below), Grams Sally (Jake's mom) is getting a handprint plate, & I will finally have a yarn bowl!





I also finally started piecing my Briar Rose rainbow quilt. It's been cut for a while now, I just don't get upstairs to sew very often.



I did get my sister's fibonnaci socks done this week at least! I forgot to take a final finish picture before I sent them back with my parents, but I assure you they are done. :-)



Ruby turned 9 months old this week and is as busy as ever. She's very close to walking, but has been sidetracked by climbing and now jumping. I've started calling her Little Roo (Winnie the Pooh) because she loves to bounce so much!



She also loves her books! ♥

Thanks for letting me share!

~*~ Sharon ~*~

posted from Bloggeroid