A couple of months ago the Modern Quilters Guild put out a call for quilts to send to survivors and the families of the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando.
This last weekend I buckled down and put together the top. I asked my face friends on facebook to join me in a quilting bee this coming weekend and hopefully by next week I will have a completed quilt to send off.
This was fun to put together, rainbows are always my favorite colorway.
Joining Frontier Dreams for KCCO.
Last week The Hubby and I went on a vacation by ourselves. For the first time since 2010. Pictures to follow in a separate post (for the family, you know).
We spent a week in Manhattan and it was tons of fun.
We hit the usual sights: Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and Purl Soho.
OK, that last one was just for me, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit one of my favorite online haunts.
I had to snag a little Liberty of London and a couple of balls of Tosh Merino to make some back to school items.
Since we spent so much time on buses, ubers, trains and just walking around, I got a really good start on a sweater for The Youngest.
By Saturday morning I finally took a photo of my lovely purchases,
and by yesterday evening I had a sweet little sweater.
The pattern is Cascade from a 2010 issue of Petite Purls. I loved the leaf design, but I am not loving th gap at the bottom edge. I think I will make a little patch for that tonight.
What's on your needles lately?
I have a problem, it is of a deep and personal nature.
I am a procrastinator.
Usually my procrastination comes in the form of finding some big project to do in lieu of my actual tasks.
Sometimes it is as simple as winding a ball of yarn instead of folding the laundry
Other times it gets real big real fast like the way I was going to clear off my sewing table for a small thing and ended up organizing the pantry, clearing out 4 garbage bags of crap from my sewing room and making an entire outfit for The Youngest's first day of school (more on that later) rather than get ready for the trip we are taking soon.
The dress is the Birthday Party dress from Oliver + S and I made some matching shorts his morning.
Choosing buttons was a bit of a challenge. I didn't have just the right tone of aqua to match the dress, but I did have a rabbit and it seemed like the perfect choice.
Going through my button collection I found a bunch of lovely molded plastic buttons. The back of the dress has six buttons and I alternated plain and fancy all the way down.
The hubby and I are going on a long-awaited vacation in a bit and so, of course, I needed some traveling clothes.
At the world's best fabric shop I grabbed up some Nani Iro double knit in a fantastic blue. I traced a pattern from a tank top I like to wear, and since it was the Democratic National Convention and I didn't want to miss any of the speeches, I sewed it by hand on the couch.
Then I remembered the need in my wardrobe for a cardigan.
Last fall I went a little nuts and bought a bunch of wrap sari skirts from Darn Good Yarn. The colors of these skirts are wonderful and you can wear them in lots of ways, including a few different dress styles. The only downside is that they are a little revealing of the upper back as a dress and as I burn easily in the sun I wanted to have a cardigan I could throw on over top.
I dug through my library of knitting books (dramatically reduced since our pre-move cull) and found this beauty I had been thinking about for years.
As I can't just follow a pattern, and since I was teaching a sewing camp all week anyway and couldn't be bothered with bringing along the book, I made a modification here and there. The end result was just as I had envisioned.
I knew it had to have pockets, so I made a couple of squares and added the leaf motif from the sleeves.
(Try saying "sleeve leaf motif" three times fast)
I am happy I finally found a project for these lovely buttons from Jennie the Potter, which justifies their purchase 4-5 years ago.
The yarn is Nashua Creative Focus Linen, a cotton/linen blend I got on sale a couple years ago at the local yarn emporium.
I enjoyed using it in general, though I am not completely happy with the floppy nature of the pocket bind off. I should have used a smaller needle. I didn't really notice it until I had sewed them on to the sweater, so I may follow up with a crochet edge to give it some stability or just leave it and remember it's not going to be judged at the state fair or anything.
This sweater used up much less yarn than I anticipated, and I may start in on a second one using this pile of excitement.
I didn't think I had enough here for a sweater given the amplitude of my bosom, but I may yet.
In closing, and on a completely unrelated note, thank you to the Rio Olympics for reminding me to listen to my favorite album of Antonio Carlos Jobim's: Elis and Tom. Please just listen to Águas de Março. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
Columbia University
View from the Central Park Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir
The Guggenheim
Selfie at the Met on our 17th anniversary
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
View from the top of the Empire State Building
Lady Liberty
Central Park Boat House for lunch
Mosaics below the Museum of Natural History
The Flatiron Building
Street art
Katz's Delicatessen
Nathan's Hot Dogs (didn't love the dogs, but the fries were amazing)
The Wonder Wheel
The Wonder Wheel in sand
View from the beach at Coney Island
Gorgeous farmers' market in Jersey City
View of Manhattan from the market
More lovely street art
