A couple of new projects

In between chauffeuring children to camps, caring for injured animals, and trying to keep the weeds at bay, I started a couple of new projects.

My first is a baby quilt for my grandniece.  What a weird concept, having grand---- anything, since my children are still in elementary and middle school, but my sister has her first grand baby, and I am in the midst of making him a quilt.  I have almost finished the quilt top, which I hope to finish today, but here is just a peak of that project.

I am using the scraps left from my shirt quilt project, and adding to those pieces with things left from other sewing projects.  The pattern came from the site of Elizabeth Hartman and her blog Oh, Fransson.  She has some beautiful modern quilt patterns, this one is called the mod mosaic and you can get directions here...

The second project is a collaboration between myself and a friend from my tapestry group.  Rachel is a a chef, turned baker turned farmer.  She pays the bills by making amazing cakes and cupcakes (my children want to know why my cupcakes don't taste like hers, I can only keep trying!).  In her spare time between raising a child and baking she looks after more than a hundred Navaho Churro sheep.  After shearing and sending the wool off to be spun, she dyes it using natural dyes.  I am making her a sweater, which we hope will end up as a kit for her yarns that she can sell at the Sheep and Wool Festival at Monpelier in the fall.

These are yarns dyed with black walnut, lovely aren't they?  I will knit the border in a beautiful yarn dyed with cochineal which you can see at the top of the photo.  I will show you how it  turns out when I finish it.

New Summer Dress

My daughter spotted a dress in a fancy dress shop the other day.  It was a jersey knit, halter type dress with a 60's vibe.  I told her I would make her one rather than pay the $180 price tag for the one in the shop (I don't even buy myself dresses like that!)  My son and daughter are growing fast and things tend not to even last a few months before they are too short or too tight.  My 12 year old son went from a size 14 slim in April to a 16 just last week.  Thank goodness they still put elastic bands in the pants.  He is too big for the 14, and way to slim for the 16's and too tall to boot.

Anyway, I had this little pattern I bought a couple of years ago, so for my slim daughter I made the size 7 dress with a size 12 length.  It turned out really cute.  We found the right pattern in the fabric sold as bathing suit fabric.  For the most part it was an easy sew except the neckline which was a bear because the bathing suit fabric would not hold a pressed pleat.  But, I think it turned out great, and more importantly she loves it.

Finished Quilt

I have been meaning to post these photos for a while, but the summer has flown by.  Mainly, I have been chauffeuring my children around to various camps, but we did get away to Cape Cod for a week. We meet another family up their and our children play in the ponds.  We have stayed out of the ocean since Jaws arrived there.  There are too many seals playing in the waves for me to venture out, but I enjoyed the walks I took through the mudflats to find fiddler crabs, horseshoe crabs, and hermit crabs.

Anyway, here are some shots of the quilt.  As you can tell, I have more work to do, since I now need to  make some type of dust ruffle for the bed.  I have been thinking of one that you can just tuck under, but I am now busy working on a quilt for my niece's soon to be born son.

I am happy with the quilt and it is working nicely providing just a hint of cover for the summer without the overwhelming heat of a down comforter.  We keep the thermostat set pretty high in the summer, but I just can't sleep without some type of covering.  

It did shrink a bit after I washed it, which is a bummer because everything was already washed and the batting I used was not supposed to shrink, but ....  anyway, I am happy with the outcome.