liberty of london - coral meadow blouse

I am adding this blouse to the shop today. It is a size 3T but it would fit a 2 or 3T perfect. It's a peasant style with elastic at the arms and neck. One of my go to styles that always looks beautiful for everyday or special days. The print is called Coral Meadow. I made this fabric into a sweet summer top for my daughter and was happy to have enough left for an item for the shop. If it does not sell it will be with me on December 7th at the Bizarre Bazaar at The Woodland. The Abominable Snowman will be there so you have to come.

knitting with warm wool for babies

Here are 2 finished knits that I dived into the past few days using wool that I purchased in Rhinebeck, NY.

The hat is made with naturally dyed wool from Fiber Craft Studio. Sorry, I don't know which dye was used but, perhaps osage orange, myrobalan or turmeric. I made up the pattern for an ear flap hat for size 6 months. I love this shade of warm yellow. I tried walking away from it but, returned to pick it up with a lovely peach. I've talked about Fiber Craft Studio here before and would love to visit someday, it's located in New York State.

The romper is size 12 months and I used 0-wool which is an organic merino wool and is a wonderful environmentally friendly and affordable yarn that I really enjoyed knitting with. The company is situated in Philadelphia, PA and they use wool from South America and Australia. If you go to their website you can learn more about this company. I do have a beautiful red from here too. I see this romper paired with tights and a pretty blouse. I finished with vintage buttons the back.

I will be selling my handmade items next month at a local event in town. More on that soon.

puck

When I let time pass, things build up and then I forgot what I wanted to blog about. In the 'old' days when I blogged more often I could keep track. So, today I'll show you something I finished in the first half of October. I didn't take pictures of this at the time on my son because as I was finishing it that was the day he fell and got a big gash on his face which is still in the healing process but does not look as awful as it did the first few weeks. Since then I've also finished and destroyed a sweater I made him. This one, Lancelot, as I had an error in it I could not overlook. I am having trouble with the directions and it's not the technique since I've done short rows dozens of times. It's after joining the sleeves and working the yoke. The directions do not make sense to me. I did and still do have a fever so I'm going to wait it out and maybe rewrite the directions. It's certainly frustrating after 2 weeks of knitting to finish then unravel and cut (my goodness). It's now sitting in another room in a sad state. We are taking some space from each other till I work up the nerve to try to revive it.

This hat though, such a nice pattern, is called Puck and it was a fun knit using some fingering yarn I had in my stash. An unusual pairing of colors but, nice and autumnal. This boy gets excited about handmade knits. Here is the link to the hat. Design by Dani Sunshine

bright spots in the snow quilt

I am finished with this quilt using the snowball block and all solids. The quilting took some time for me because my machine is not cut out for quilts this size and it was a pain to get it through but I did it and it's bound.

The specifics of this quilt: it measures 60" x 78". The blocks are 10" square and there are 20 of them. The sashing in between and on the border are 4 1/2" wide. The fabric is Robert Kaufman in Snow and the colors pieces are a mix of Purl Soho's Spectrum Bundles

This was a fun quilt to make... choosing the color combinations and seeing it all pop against the white. I think it will be very cheerful on cold days.

olive juice skirts

Olive Juice Kids whose designs I have loved over the years is now selling some fabric from their clothing line. I took the opportunity to purchase some corduroy fabric in British Tan and Bittersweet as well as Brown Plaid in 100% lightweight cotton and pink tweed. I have had the pink tweed before in the shape of a dress three years ago and knew the weight and feel of it. It's a nice heavy winter fabric. The other three are lighter but perfect for Autumn/Winter wear as well. There are lots of skirt and tights days here. I used the whole half yard, made an elastic waist and finished with a nice wide hem. The one seam in the back is serged. They are quick and easy to make and best of all I know they will get lots of wear. I finished them with a label with my name which I know will bring a smile.

Rhinebeck 2014

Rhinebeck 2014.

We made our annual trip to Rhinebeck for the Sheep and Wool Festival. We spent about 5 hours there and I still felt like I only saw half of it. This festival is really something and there are great vendors from food and wine, to wool, woodcraft, basketry, recycled wool fashion, ceramics and more plus animals! M took a turn leading an alpaca. He may be a bit shy with dogs but, alpacas not at all. My kids love to watch the dog frisbee, dog herding and other animal related activities and the food so I usually go off on my own for a bit to shop for wool and other trinkets.

Here is the wool I came away with and a beautiful Swedish cottolin hand towel.

I also bought some lovely ceramic buttons as I have done in the past from Melissa Jean and a few pieces of wool from Heavens to Betsy. In the rush to get out the door I forgot my camera and then once I got there I was too distracted to shoot much with my phone.

dream dress

This dress is from one of my favorite sewing books, Carefree Clothes for Girls, and was sewn on Monday of this week. Wednesday was the first time she actually got to try it on and play around outside in it. This dress has sweet details like lace trim at the bottom tacked on twice, once by machine and as a special detail again with pure silver thread. The empire waist top is Liberty of London and buttons up the back with vintage glass bauble buttons and looped buttonholes made from embroidery thread. A tiny pocket for posies is sewn onto white cotton on the full length skirt. Lastly a bit of silver thread is sewn at the top neckline. Little details and slight imperfections give this that fairy tale quality, traipsing through the house and outside in your own little world as she is wont to do.