Knitting Knitting

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I'm participating in The Loopy Ewe's Camp Loopy this summer.  Each month (June, July, & August) they give us a different challenge and we have one month to complete it & post it to the gallery.  If we complete all 3 challenges on time we'll be eligible for an extra special prize!

June's challenge was to use at least 400 yds to knit up a pattern from a designer who lives in or was born in a different country.  I chose Martina Behm's Hitchhiker scarf & used a beautiful sock yarn from Lorna's Lace in Turtle Rodeo (green, teal blue, purple, & orange).  I love how the colors look in a garter stitch!

Hitchhiker scarf using Lorna's Lace sock yarn in Turtle Rodeo

This month's challenge is to use at least 800 yds using at least one color from our country's flag.  Since I can't wear red, and white & I don't get along, I chose blue.  Normally I go for teal blues so I went out of my comfort zone and picked a true blue.  I cast on a tank top, but quickly changed my mind.  Instead I went with a geometric lace shawl, Hex by Andrea Rangel.  This is my first lace project and my first time using lace weight yarn.  What was I thinking??

It was a struggle to get going, but now that I can see the pattern taking shape I am in love!  And the Malabrigo lace is amazingly soft, I can't wait for autumn when I can start wearing my shawl!

Hex shawl using Malabrigo lace in Azul Profundo

I've also been doing a little gardening.  I got a late start, but I do have a couple things starting to sprout/flower.  :)

Radish sprouts

Alyssum from seed!

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful summer.  It has cooled off just a bit here, and I'm looking forward to having the next 2 days off.  There is lots of knitting and sewing in my near future!

The Summer Heat

The past couple weeks it's been...

Hot!

And smoky!

Last night it was cool enough to sew, so I whipped this block up.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with it yet, probably a pillow or wall hanging.  I was just trying out a mini version of a quilt I have in mind.  I'm very happy with it so hopefully you will be seeing more wonky stars from me soon.

I also finished 2 picnic sized quilts over the weekend.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures before they were given away.  I'll try to get the recipients to send me pictures, I'm pretty excited with how they turned out.  The teaser picture below is of the quilt that went to a dear friend who means the world to Jake & I.  The other quilt went to Jake's cousin and her husband for all their help dealing with my father-in-law's passing.

I got Jake's socks done too!  I used the Winter Wheat man's sock pattern.  They're pretty cool looking & a great pattern for a man. 

If you follow me on Instagram then you already know, but I have a guest staying here for a little while.

Her name is Dorset and she came up here from Texas for "summer camp."  I've been knitting hats for her & her friends around the world and she's been trying them all on.  She is just beautiful and I'm having a lot of fun changing her outfits & taking her picture.  Thanks Amy for letting her come visit!  :)

Hazel Dress

A few weeks ago I heard that Colette Patterns had just released some new patterns.  I've heard so many great things about them that I thought I'd give 'em a try.  I fell in love with the Hazel Dress, but was a little concerned how it would look on me given that I'm much larger than the model.  

Please ignore the goofy look on my face, I really like how this picture shows the shape of the dress

Friday I took the plunge and cut into a cute turtle shell print from The Nature Collection by Jennifer Sampou.

The pattern is well written & everything goes together so quickly!  The part the took the longest time was deciding how to alter the skirt for my shape.  Gathered skirts are not very flattering on me, but I'm not too familiar with pleats.  Yet.

After taking to twitter I decided that pleats were the way to go, especially considering I had already cut the skirt & installed the pockets.

Besides that the only change is that I will need to shorten the straps a bit.  We were trying to get to a dinner on Friday night so I didn't have time for final adjustments.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this dress and have already worn it twice, to dinner Friday & to meet some friends for lunch today.  It is perfect for these extra hot days we've been having and even when the wind is blowing ferociously I don't have to worry about the skirt showing too much!

 

Next up:  Simplicity 2215 and another Hazel in Hello Pilgrim Butterfly Sky in Blue

Hanging with Festus & Cord

I almost forgot to mention... I think I'm now in love with invisible zippers thanks to this tutorial!

WiP Wednesday

Well, as usual I've been starting more projects before finishing the ones I have.  But I did actually finish one today.  A few weeks ago Bree & I were chatting about all the awesome DS prints that her Joann's carries and she was sweet enough to pick up a couple fabrics for me.  

I've been wanting a real tablecloth for some time now so when I saw the plaid print I knew it was meant to be.  My table is 48" so I squared off the 42(ish)" wide fabric & added a 14" border of these great sprinkles that I found at work.

Normally I'm a cheater sewist and don't finish my seams properly, but I knew that this would be washed often so I put a zig zag stitch on all exposed seams, top stitched it, & did a proper mitered edge on the hem.  

I'm loving my new tablecloth & it is inspiring lots of ideas for more handmade items for the kitchen!

Close-up

Mostly, though, I've been knitting lately.  Here are my current knitting WiPs.  I'm trying to get both pairs of socks completed before June 27th, when the next Camp Loopy challenge starts.  That will be my first project using lace weight yarn, as well as being my first fitted garment, so I will need all my brainwaves going towards it!

Jake's second sock, almost ready to start the heel.

Diamond Gansey socks in Malabrigo Persia

I've also been slowly working on a picnic quilt for Jake & I...

...and a couple of gift quilts for friends.

 

 Be sure to check out WiP Wednesday - Sukie style over at Freshly Pieced to see what others have been working on!  And if you haven't visited Sukie's blog, be sure you do.  She's the best!  :)

New Design Walls

When we first moved here I claimed one of the extra bedrooms as my sewing room & Jake got the other one for his leather work and library.  I immediately went to my LQS, purchased some 108" white flannel and pinned it to one of the giant blank walls for a design wall.  

It's been wonderful, but it seemed like there was a lot of wasted space.

Old design wall

For the past couple months I've had this idea kicking around in my head to cut up the flannel & attach it to the doors.  Well, I finally did it over the weekend!  

I cut the fabric to the width of the door plus the thickness (times two) to wrap around the sides.  I then tacked the flannel to the top of the door. From there I folded the corner down flat and tacked the fabric to the sides as well, cutting it so it fit around the hinges and door handle.

I am so happy with the results and now I have room for another shelf & more embroidery hoop art!

My new design walls

Back of sewing room door with some old gymnastics memorabilia above

Closet door & some new shelving

WiP Wednesday

Hey all!  I bet you thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth.  Well, not quite, but living on the prairie sometimes I feel like I have.

I just haven't been very chatty lately, both online & in real life.  Although I did just recently discover that Instagram is now available for androids.  Wahoo!!!  So I've been trying to take more pictures & share that way.  If you're on IG leave your username below & I'll check out your pics.  I'm "aprairiesunrise."  :)

I've been trying to finish WiP's that have been sitting around forever just waiting.  Here's what I've been up to.


Completed: Mom's 2-sided tablerunner

An attempt at free motion quilting

Completed: A Morris Tapestry quilt

Completed: Spring Prairie socks!

In progress: I've finished one of Jake's socks and hope to cast on the second one tonight

Jake's Winter Wheat sock #1

In progress: A new wardrobe! I hate shopping for clothes and many of my clothes are wearing out.  So I've decided to try and make some new clothes.  First up, the Wiksten tank.  I've made 3 so far, I'm still trying to figure out the perfect alterations for my body, but I love them all.

I also have yarn for a couple new sweaters.  I made the Abalone cardigan (below) and am thinking about the Mesh Panel Tee next.

Wiksten tank "muslin" & Abalone cardigan

Wiksten tank #2

Wiksten tank #3

New HiyaHiya interchangeable needles

 Thanks for being patient with me.  Hopefully the For the Love of... linky parties will begin again soon!  I'm linking up to Freshly Pieced and WiP Wednesday.

{Sew} Modern Monday

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! It was in the high 70s here & I was wearing a sundress yesterday!! Today it's in the 30s & trying to snow. You gotta love springtime!

For me it was a weekend of quilting firsts for me.

Saturday I used 505 spray basting for the first time, I'm in love! It's so quick & easy to use.

And I got the vertical lines quilted on my Tula Pink couch quilt. I decided to use some of the Aurifil thread we got from Sewing Summit last October, used the 28 weight in lime. What a great thread!! I will definitely be buying more in the future.

This was actually my second attempt at quilting a large quilt on my home machine. They first time was my very first quilt & it was pretty much a lumpy disaster. The nice thing is that quilt was just going to go in the car so it didn't matter how ugly it turned out. At least my corners matched up! ;)

Since I only have about 20 yds of thread left after finishing the vertical quilting I will be doing the horizontal lines in a reddish brown some time this week.

I also finished my black & neon quilt top (second picture down on linked page) & will be finishing that up hopefully over the weekend.

There was also some dyeing (above) and redwork (below) going on over the weekend!

Linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations