My nephew Miles turned 5 on Saturday.  He only asked for one thing: a sock monkey.  I was happy to oblige.

 

I used the instructions found in Sock and Glove by Miyako Kanamori.  This book is great.  Softies are not my forte, but the directions and simple materials used to make the animals in this book give me a little more confidence every time I make one up.  My friend Jodi helped me - she stuffed, I sewed - and we had this guy complete in about forty-five minutes.  I also had everything I needed on hand - socks, stuffing, buttons, thread, embroidery floss.  Easy peasy and super cute.  I need to remember this book for the random gloves and single socks that accumulate over time.  Sewn up with a little stuffing, they make great and fast gifts.  Just my speed.  There's another book, Happy Gloves, by the same author.  I don't own it, but have seen it at the book store.  It looks like it might have potential, too.  If anyone has used it, I'd be interested to know what you think.

For the record, the sock monkey was not in the unfinished project pile - I made it on Saturday before I decided to finish what I have started.  And on that note, I made 12 more quilt squares yesterday.  That brings the total to 65 with 21 31 left (bad math and wishful thinking).  I can see a tiny light at the end of the tunnel.

I'm still waiting for TypePad to test my blog.  Just thought I would mention it again in case the comments disappear.

I've been in a little bit of a craft rut recently.  I have lots of ideas swimming around in my head, but I am having a hard time executing them.  Now that this last batch of camera straps is completed and mailed, I have some time on my hands.  I went up to the sewing room to find something and got completely distracted by a pile of unfinished projects.  The amount of WIP around here is staggering.  So with the exception of what I am doing for my local craft swap, I'm declaring September the month in which I will finish (some of) what I have started. 

 

First up:  Kate's Single Girl quilts.  I started working on these in April, 2008 and finished the arcs last October.  Uh, yeah.  Time to finish.  This weekend I pieced about 20 squares.  That makes 53 out of 96 squares - more than half way.  Most likely I will find someone to do their long arm magic on these quilts instead of quilting them myself.  I just need to get the tops finished first.

 

And since I have a hard time keeping track of which piece of the ring goes where, I finally labeled them.  I couldn't do the 1, 2, 3, 4 that the pattern recommends because it's just not logical to me.  I mean, do the numbers go clockwise or left to right then top to bottom?  I keep forgetting which I chose.  This time, I labeled them like a compass - N, S, E, W.  I can't forget that, can I?

In other news, Lisa interviewed me over at Polka Dot Cottage as part of her morning coffee series.  It was fun to be on the on the other side of a Q and A and I am amazed that I didn't make a complete fool of myself.  If your interested in what I have to say about blogging, go have a look-see. 

Also, TypePad is going to be doing some testing on my blog.  Hopefully, it won't be for very long.  If the comments mysteriously disappear, you now know why.

OK - back here tomorrow with some other small tidbits.  See you then.

 

 

 

 

Just so you know, I just updated the shop with 35 camera straps - 7 of each of these colorways.

All right, now I am going to vacuum.

There hasn't been much happening around these parts except sewing and I like it that way.  Of course, my family would probably love it if I would stop long enough to do the dishes or the laundry, maybe even vacuum.

Shop update will be Thursday, September 3rd at 1:00 p.m. EST (New York time).

Back to the sewing machine.  Maybe back here tomorrow.  Maybe not.

I've been stitching on this skirt slowly.  I pick it up when I have a few minutes - in the carpool line and other times while I am waiting for the girls.  It lives in this bag, with the Alabama Stitch book, thread, scissors and a pin cushion.  It's a project that has a nice pace to it.  Easy to pick up, and equally important, easy to put down.  I'm a little more than half finished with the reverse applique so, fingers crossed, I will be wearing it some time this fall.

And not as slowly, but definitely as surely, I am making camera straps and some other goods to sell in the shop.  As of right now, I plan on re-opening the shop on Thursday, September 3.  I haven't set a time yet, but as soon as I do, I will let you know here.  Sound good?

I am trying to finish up my blocks for the Virtual Quilting Bee.  This one is for Eren, who sent the leafy print on the bottom left and the yellow and white print on the top left, as well as the off white solid.  I took a good look at the our flickr group and picked some other prints that I thought would go well with the other finished blocks.  I didn't have enough of the off white to put it in the center so I chose this aqua out of my stash.

This was my first attempt at paper piecing.  I used the great instructions found here by Christina at The Sometimes Crafter.  It was easier than I had anticipated and now I wonder why I waited so long to try it.  I can totally see this block done in three monochromatic solids - wouldn't that be cool?

Happy Monday!

According to the random number generator, the winner of Crochet Adorned is number 63.

Melissa!

Email me your address and I will get the book off to you.

Thanks you all for your enthusiasm about my pillow and the book.  I think there is much more crochet in my future!

Hope your weekend was as nice as mine.

Crochet Adorned is the new book by Linda Permann.  If you follow Linda's blog, you know that she is a master with yarn and a crochet hook as well as a talented seamstress.  Her book is just as lovely as she is!

 

And if you have been reading this blog for awhile now, you know that I don't really crochet much at all.  I taught myself how to do it just so I could make granny squares.  And really, that is about all the crocheting I have done.  This book has given me the confidence to move beyond the granny square and try something new.  Linda gives wonderful advice and directions for beginning crocheters and lots of illustrations to help you get going.  The back of the book has an immense stitch glossary - trims, motifs and stitch patterns all written out and charted.  I had an epiphany when looking at the charts!  Crochet started to make sense to me and now I know that with a few basic stitches, I can probably make anything in this book.

So of course, I had to try to make something!  In the book, Linda shows you how to adorn store bought and hand sewn items as well as to alter clothing you might already have with crochet.  The possibilities are endless.  I took the same trim that Linda added to this trench coat and crocheted it to add to a pillow for the window seat in Jane's room.  I had never made anything with a foundation chain before so I was a little worried that it wouldn't come together properly.  With Linda's written directions and the chart, it was a breeze.

 

 

It's super cute and it received the Jane stamp of approval.  It was also a very quick project which means I will definitely be making more pillows for her room with crocheted trim.

 

 

Some of the other projects that I really like are the tote bag with trees and the apron with a butterfly.  But I think the butterfly might end up on a t-shirt and the trees might end up on a pillow.  Like I said, these projects are versatile and will get you thinking about how you can use crochet to adorn different items.

Linda has been kind enough to offer a copy of her book to one of my readers.  If you'd like a chance to win Crochet Adorned for yourself, leave a comment on this post before 3:00 p.m. EST on Sunday, August 23.  I will announce the winner next week.

. . .

In other news, I've been working on camera straps so there will be a shop update within the next couple of weeks.  When I have a definite date, I will post it on the blog.

Thank you all for the kind comments about the plight of my tomatoes and the girls' first day back at school.  It's been a full week around here with its share of ups (school starting, gifted tomatoes from a friend, riding bikes to school) and downs (late blight, the kitchen faucet that broke off in my hand).  I am so glad it's Friday.

Happy weekend, everyone!