Crochet again!
As I sit here on the train, I realised it has really been a long time since my last post. So I thought I would a least post a couple of my recent finishes.
Some time after the first season of Outlander aired and the internet was abuzz over the show, Lion Brand released some patterns inspired by the costumes. I bought two and then forgot about them until LB decided to update their website. The change meant that purchases would be lost, so they forwarded the patterns to my email. I’m procrastinating starting the next quilt, so it was a great opportunity to make something for myself, haha.
The first one I made was this cowl/infinity scarf. Ah, I see they’re calling it an infinity cowl. It was a lot of fun working with a chunky yarn!
The second pattern was for wristlets. I put in a space for my thumb but I’m considering sewing it up as it just makes my thumbs feel extra cold. 
They’re a little scrunched up in my photo, but they really do look like the pattern photo, I swear!
Indigo Star Variations
Yeah. Because it’s not enough to make the blanket according to the original instructions. And actually, because I opted to use Inklingo to create the shapes, it’s already different and adding a few more of my own choices make the blanket truly my own. Right? Right!So I recreated the original pattern in EQ7 so I could try a few tweaks. This uses the 6″ Le Moyne star collection and measures out to 62″ x 80″.
Ideas I had in mind included a medallion, like the carpenters Star, Waltzing Matilda star, or the Inklingo star. But the medallion looked too small at 12″, So I tried a 12″ block in each corner in addition to one in the center. 
Then it occurred to me to try reversing the colours so that the blocks were more obvious.
I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do!
Liesl and Co. Maritime knit top
I finally squeezed in the time to make this shirt. As I learned with the Oliver + S Secret Agent Coat, the instructions were excellent and I didn’t have to unpick any seams. One thing that wasn’t clear, but only because my experience with sewing knits is minimal, was whether I should be sewing with a stretch stitch or straight stitch. Of course, if I had read the instructions all the way through before starting, I would have seen that stretch stitch is specified when required. Sigh. So I have stretch stitches where I didn’t need them, but that’s not a disaster on my first try.
I had intended to reverse these colours, but I underestimated my yardage. The short sleeves are fine, but I think the three-quarter sleeves will be more flattering. I also did my first full bust adjustment and while I think the dart is a little low, I think it worked out over all.
I’ll definitely make more when I can squeeze some more time out!
This thing called boro
This style of mending seems to be trending at the moment. The Japanese call it Boro and it seems looks to be related to sashiko. When the boy tore his pants, I saw an opportunity to try my hand at it. I put a piece of cotton jersey behind the tear and blanket stitched the edges to the jersey. Then I outlined the patch with a running stitch to secure the patch. I finished off with running stitches quilting the patch to the pant.
I’m really quite pleased with the result!
Next!
I should be making new clothes for myself (Liesl + Co is 25% off today!) or for the kid, or sorting my scraps, or finishing a quilt that was started for someone not in my life anymore. Should. But my sister has been waiting for her promised quilt for a decade now. So I’m prepping to print Storm at Sea using red and black fabrics for a scrappy look.
Something like this:
Mocked up in EQ7, this measures 83 x 92 inches, including a one inch and 3 inch border and using the 9″ Storm at Sea Inklingo collection.
Winding Ways completed and delivered
So I finally finished this quilt! Technically, I finished this on September 29th, but I’ve been slow to post because I had a minor disaster with my photos. I lost the majority of my photos from our recent trip to Hawai’i and the quilt photos were amongst the lost files. I’ve finally given up on recovering the RAW files and I’m making do with the previews I could recover with Jeff Friedl’s plug-in for Lightroom. So here we are, a month and a half later, celebrating a finish!
I started planning this December 1st 2013 according to my post! Now, I did quilt another queen-sized quilt and made several other things in the meantime, including my little jerk! He takes up SO much time! So, nearly three years later, I’m closing the book on this quilt. It was full of easy curves and hidden circles. I love the precision afforded me with Inklingo. It soothes the perfectionist side of me.
And delivered!
Next up is Storm at Sea for my sister. It’ll be scrappy-ish and I’m in the planning to print stage.
2 corners done, 2 to go
Not much to say other than this quilt will be done very, very soon!
Quilting complete!
My October deadline is looming, but I put my head down and got the quilting done! And the binding made and machine-sewn on! 
You can still see the blue lines I drew for the inner circles of quilting. Can’t find my spray bottle, so I’ll soak it in cold water after I sew down the binding to the other side. 
I decided to use the fabrics from the top to make a scrappy-ish binding instead of the backing fabric.
Hellboy Costume
We had a superhero costume party to go to and Hellboy was suggested as the costume to make. I knew that Oliver + S had a trenchcoat pattern, and thanks to Alabama Chanin and the tea party dress, I’ve been eyeing off their patterns for a few years now. So I jumped at the excuse to buy one of their digital patterns.
One of the things I love about the Internet is being able to download a pattern and start sewing right away!
Well, by sew right away, I mean, print out the pattern, cut out and tape the pattern, lay out the pattern on the fabric and then start sewing right away. Â And of course, I only gave myself a day and a half to do this. The secret agent coat is complete just enough to look like a real coat. The remaining items are some extra buttons and the button holes. I still haven’t gotten around to finishing it. Or getting better photos of it. But I do have some candid shots to share:
Quilting progress
So here are a few photos of the quilting done so far. Do you think I should add another inner circle of quilting?
Technically, I think this enough quilting for the batting, but I do feel that it could use more from an aesthetic point of view.