I was super excited to get home today and find my Amazon order waiting for me — not only do I now have a 2012 calendar and thus know what day of the week it is, I received my copy of the Colette Sewing Handbook!

I’m really excited for this book. I’ve browsed sewing books before, but I’ve always found issue with books that take your through projects of increasing difficulty; the projects were frequently things that weren’t my style or that I had no use for (kids clothes are adorable and quick, I’m sure, but only useful if you have children) and I didn’t want to get a book only to jump into the difficult problems and drive myself nuts.

But this book? I want to wear all of the patterns they use. There’s a skirt, a blouse, and three dresses and I can easily imagine all of them working my dream wardrobe. I’ve already started reading, and I envision a trip to the fabric store in my future. And hey, at least sewing is quicker than knitting, right?

I’m pretty happy with it–there’s a bit on the waistband I’m not wild about, but I think it can be fixed. It feels weird to have a waist band with the tie threaded through it; there’s a bulky bit where it wraps. I’m not entirely sure how to fix that. One thought I had was to create a tie by attaching ribbon or fabric the same way one would do a quilt binding, over the top edge rather then creating a channel to thread the tie through, and then creating a buttonhole or a grommet to thread it through.

That seems to make the most sense, but it also seems like it would be complicated. Oh well, I can worry about it if I make another. Overall, I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. It’s a nice, summery skirt.

Now, if only we’d have one of our rare summer days, so I can wear it!

So, during my sewing adventures, I also cut out material for more skirts. Unfortunately, I didn’t measure one of them correctly, and realized it wouldn’t have fit. So, I thought about it and decided to turn it into an apron. Two aprons, actually, one of which I sent off to Mary as a surprise. I didn’t want to blog about it until she opened it, but the package arrived today!

Again, it’s probably hard to tell in the blurry photo (I hadn’t had coffee yet, and the cats kept pawing at the camera) but I love how this turned out. The main fabric is this great retro print I had stashed, and the ties, border, and pocket are all from the same material as my tiered skirt.

Tarot Card of the Day: Queen of Pentacles

(Turns out, reading the manual actually helps.)

First up, I sewed a curtain for my bathroom. I have frosted windows, but the previous tenants had a paper blind up. It was very pretty, but paper + moisture and heat = torn blind. So I’ve been meaning to put up a curtain for a while.

I goofed, because I actually bought this fabric for a skirt. Oops! Oh well, it looks cute as a curtain too. The seams are a bit puckered, and I didn’t take, um, gravity into account, so the edges are tacked up with nails.

I did get to use my grommet maker though. It was fun.

I think, eventually, I’ll use the actual curtain material and sew up another one, sans puckered seams, that has a dowel on top, with the grommets underneat so that it hangs more evenly.

I also sewed–a skirt!

I actually sewed two skirts, because the first one failed to take into account, you know, my hips. I’m used to knitting, where things stretch more! It’s still a cute skirt, so I’ll probably end up giving it to someone who has a daughter who’s still skinny enough to wear it.

The skirt is a tiered skirt, white with sparkles. It’s for Imbolc, and I really like how it turned out. I’d do some things differently, if I do another one, but it was pretty easy to sew once I got the hang of it. And it’s cute!

I also worked on a few other sewing projects, but didn’t quite get finished…I have the feeling this is going to be a new hobby.

Tarot Card of the Day: Nine of Swords

Of course, the state my apartment is in means that I actually spent most of the weekend cleaning (Someday it will be suitable to, y’know, let people see. Not that I know many people here to invite over, but still.)

I did break out the new sewing machine. I found a tutorial on making tote bats, so I decided to try it. I cut out two, but I couldn’t figure out the suggested way to do the handles, and wrecked the first one trying, so I went to plan B for attaching the handles on mine. It works just as well.

The lamp was most helpful in modeling the bag.

I went on a bit of a baking binge, so I’m going to be taking some treats into work Monday.

The abundance of pumpkin flavors is one of my favorite things about fall (I’m a pumpkin spice latte junkie) so I made pumpkin bread.

I also made pecan bars, because the idea intrigued me.

I also tried a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I’m not sure how they’ll turn out; I made some substitutions, and they didn’t turn out quite like I wanted. But I think they’re okay.

I also kept knitting away on Sizzle. I’m starting the front now, and it’s going pretty fast.

First up, we have the eye-bleedingly bright pink Ribbon X-Back. This is actually take 2 of this particular project. I’d run into a problem a lot of people seem to have had: even though I got gauge the first one ended up waaaay too big! The yarn in the original pattern didn’t have much stretch, but the yarn I substituted (Moda Dea Ticker Tape) has a lot. So I went down a needle size and a size in the pattern. And I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

Next we have the first of my original designs. Because I am just that original, I’m naming it after the character that inspired it, so I now present you with Calleigh:

Here’s a close up of the lower edge, I chose this stitch pattern because it made me think of sunsets over the ocean. And since CSI: Miami is set in, well, Miami, it seemed fitting.

And now for some non-knitting craftiness. This weekend I’m learning how to quilt! It’s very exciting. In preparation for the quilting, I went out and bought fun material to quilt with. I’m starting out with smallish, wall hanging type things so I didn’t have to buy too much fabric.

The pinks, I think, are going to become a wall hanging with sort of a breast cancer awareness theme. The fabric on top of the pile says things like women and health on it–I think it’s meant to be for heart health awareness, not breast cancer, but I’m calling it creative license.

Here’s the red fabrics. They don’t seem to flow together quite as well as the pinks, but I like them. I’m so excited to learn quilting! (I am SUCH a geek.)
That’s it–a very pink and red post, which seems odd to do on St. Patrick’s Day. So go have a glass of green beer (or Guiness) to compensate.