Skirt Frenzy

So it's almost midnight, so I can pretend that this is Saturday's post and not a Friday double. Irish spring has been purchased and now my house stinks. Since I've started making my own soaps--3 years ago now--I don't like the smell of anything but the essential oils I use. The fragrance oils just kinda smell gross.

I will suffer the smell for the sake of my wool. I will suffer gladly for my craft. I will suck it up.

I couldn't wait to get Drew to take these pictures this evening so I could get them posted for all of you avid readers out there. Somewhere. I thank Vanessa of V & Co. for her great ideas and blog. I feel very voyeuristic, but I just found it and have commented once!


So this is the six-gore skirt that I made first--ignore the shirt that makes me look fat. The center pattern has bees and lady bugs on it--I Love It! (That, BTW, was my first link!)
Then I took a page out of Vanessa's book and went the the thrift store and bought some pillowcases and made myself this little(?) A-line skirt.
Embellished with some ribbon that doesn't match at all, but that I've always loved.
I liked the pillowcase skirt so much that I made a trip back to the thrift store the next day and bought 4 more pairs! This is my Ralph Lauren skirt as he designed the pillowcases. Or someone in his employ did and he approved it.

The thrift store was also having a 99-cent sweater sale, so I came home with 7 100% wool sweaters (that are nowIrish Springed) to be felted and used for an undetermined future project. All except the new with tags Woolrich sweater in a lovely shade of blue that now resides in our(Irish Springed)closet. I must have known I needed to replace the forgotten about sweaters.

I'll call it serendipity.
Chef Tade

This picture is for you, EJ. You just might be the first reader of my blog, other than Drew-- who I forced to sit down this evening and read it. He says, "I like it." Rather lukewarm, I thought.

Have a great weekend! (Just who do I think I'm talking to? Right, my imaginary audience.)

Irish Spring

I am so disgusted. Grossed out. Totally have the heebie jeebies. And I'm angry--mostly at myself. I've recently been seeing the dreaded little white moths flying around my living room. I know what this means, but haven't been able to find to source.

I've checked my yarn. I've checked my roving. In all 40 places they are stashed throughout my house. Nothing.

That being said, last fall I went looking through my felted bags for a specific lipstick. I reached into my FAVORITE purse and came out with.....worms. I was so pissed and threw it away and went through all the others which appeared unscathed. I thought it was a random occurrence that I had nipped in the bud--until now.

I just went upstairs to get my felted ballet slippers. Eggs and worms. Went to the closet and discovered more in Drew's old slippers. And in a laundry basket FULL of old wool sweaters that I had completely forgotten existed. Decimation. Holes and eggs and I need to take a shower just looking at them!

So, I am off to the store to buy two or three dozen bars of Irish Spring to replace my lovely homemade lavender goat's milk soap as my moth deterrent. It won't happen again. They're not even supposed to live at this altitude. (shiver, shudder, gross)

One Down!

I was sooooo excited to finish the binding on the cowboy baby quilt since it's leaving with me to go to Texas on Monday. I wove in my thread, looked it over, shivered with pride(I realize it's only squares, and big squares at that, but finishing a quilt means I can call myself a quilter!!!) and ran to throw it in the wash.




Tossed it in the dryer after running some errands and......an entire seam on one of the squares came undone. Operator error, I know. So what do I do? How do I fix it? If I hand stitch it and I feel that's my only option, will it ever be strong enough?

I'm gonna fix it a give it to her anyway--it's not like it's a fatal flaw. Just disappointing.


I discovered something cool though--sewing on the binding isn't so bad! It's like I got to be the first person to "use" the quilt since it's all over my lap. I found it profoundly satisfying that it was looking so good too! I had thought it sucked since my first attempt to sew on a binding looked like my 2 1/2 year old did it. Now I just get to commune with the quilt one more time before it's off to it's new and hopefully well loving home!


My first label!!!!

the quilting experience

So, I bit the bullet and quilted the baby quilt for my brother and sister-in-law who are expecting a baby girl in June--their first.

But to "practice" I took two 10" squares from my layer cake and stippled them figuring I could always use another potholder. I thought it turned out great. So why did I decide to make wavy lines instead of stipple the quilt? Over-confidence. It'll bite you an the rear everytime.

It still looks good, but I've already decided to just do a grid on the other baby quilt I have ready to go and actually PRACTICE the stippling on my whole fabric throw before doing my mom's log cabin.

Maybe I should take a class....

Really, I'll post some pictures on here soon. I know that everyone who's read this(who am I kidding?) is dying to see some pictures. Is there anyone else out there as novice as I am? Anywhere?

So, in an effort not to mess up the two baby quilts that I have basted, I made another foray to the fabric store yesterday to simply get two pieces of fabric to make a whole fabric quilt. I have a new darning foot for my machine and I don't want to screw anything up.





Everyone says with free motion quilting it's practice, practice, practice, but I don't know what to practice on! A friend suggested old sheets from Goodwill, but I want to make a vintage sheets quilt! Alas, if I don't give in and start soon, I'm going to have a stack of to be quilted WIPS reaching to my ceiling!



Because I also bought a Moda Layer cake, and about 4 yards of fabric to make my mom a log cabin--got the greatest log cabin ruler, too!



And three charm packs because I loved them, and a 6x24 ruler because my square is only good for some things.

I literally started the first baby quilt last Sunday! I've become a woman obsessed. I thought my knitting was an expensive habit! At least I'm building my stash--I want to make three queen sized quilts for the beds in my house and of course shams for all of them next.

I ordered these replica handkerchiefs about 6 months ago after seeing a quilt I loved in a catalogue. They're from Moda, but at the time, I didn't even know what Moda was. They will be the squares for my guest room with 30s sashing and borders. I'm actually knitting a vest for my LYS and will trade the labor for the 30s fabric from Julie's enormous stash--how great is that?

I'm finding this very cathartic--just need my husband to show me all the bells and whistles!

Have a great weekend!

My projects

Hello to any and all who may read this--I'm Tara, 31 year old proud mom of one-two if I can count my husband. I've been voraciously devouring some quilting blogs lately and thought it might be time for me to join this crazy virtual world of the blog.

Mainly because I want you all to think I'm cool. Let me know how I'm doing and maybe you can give me hints--like "hot" or "cold"! Then I can back off or go full bore--is that the right bore?

So.....here's some of what I'm into these days. I'll categorize them into lists of what I'm good, better and best at!

Good--

Cleaning--I can do it and do it well, it just doesn't happen very often

Laundry--very much into waiting until it's all dirty to venture near, I have lots of clothes

I'm not really into those things, but I wanted my other categories to be the things I loved! It starts getting better now.

Better--

Spinning--had a wheel for 4 years and have never spun enough yarn to do anything with, but I like it

Quilting--I've made a few pillows, and two baby quilts that aren't yet quilted( so that might make me into patchworking

Braided Shepherd's Rugs--My dear husband got me 11 pounds of white roving for me to dye, braid, felt, and then sew together. So far, I've finished a 10" x 7" trivet, and 25 feet of dyed, braided, felted and waiting to be sewn rope. It's just one of my WIPs.


Those are my new hobbies started within the last couple of months. Here's what you've been waitin' for.

Best--

Cooking--very proficient in the kitchen, I've actually been called a chef--by my son

Baking--Wedding cakes are my forte, please don't tell anyone that I don't enjoy it--I'd rather be knitting!

Crocheting--Learned in my teens, has been a great springboard for the knitting!

Soap making--7 different recipes made fairly regularly and my own laundry soap to wash my knitting!

Lest I forget....

Knitting--a true passion for me, a true fiber fiend, I'm happy to tink or frog, get it?

So, not to go on and on, but my projects keep me so busy. Ill post some pictures as soon as I take some. What would you like to see?