Crochet Study

I learned the basis of crochet from my mom, when I was a kid, but I had not given it much of a thought for over twenty years.

Recently, I couldn't help falling in love with these pillowcases made by Beata, and when Cassie annonced her project, I knew I had to join in and make my very own. I knew just which fabric to use and could already picture the final result.

Then I thought I'd better give a try to crochet before the time came to actually make the pillowcase border. I unearthed the only hook I've ever owned, bought a couple of yarn balls, looked at some directions on the internet and was ready to crochet away...

Until I realised that this whole crochet business, which seemed simple enough when I was twelve, just got a lot more complicated with the years. It took me forever to understand how to make the double crochet, and even after I got the hang of it, I still can't figure out how not to lose any stitch as I change rows.

Last night I crocheted a piece that could have become a nice triangle, had I kept going, and I thought it was pretty funny too, but then I was also very tired. I know it is just a matter of making "spare" stitches when I switch from simple to double crochet, but the answer still eludes me.

Hopefully I can find it in time to crochet a border to my pillowcase. I am off to once again undo my almost-triangle piece and start over again. They say practice makes perfect, but what I actually wonder is just how much practice will get me anywhere near good enough...

Have a good week!

My Creative Space

I may have totally lost control over the studio lately, but at least the quilt is progressing, though not as readily as I would have hoped.

My blocks are all done now and for some reason I've been avoiding them for the last week, always putting off the crucial step of assembling them together to another day. They are an intimidating bunch...

Meanwhile, I've been pursuing lighter projects, like the little green container in the picture. It is actually an empty can of cashews that I saved just before it jumped in the recycling bin. Though it is made of cardboard, it is sturdy enough to hold small items, and a piece of scrapbook paper glued around was all it needed to be given a bright second life.

Ready, Set, Quilt!

About a year ago I got a revelation, while reading some gorgeous quilting blogs. I got it in my little head that I, too, was going to make a quilt. A wise voice (don't know where that came from) was telling me that it was a silly notion and that I should wait until I had more sewing experience, and so I put it off for the time being.

Las December, on Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day, I was very lucky and won this, thanks to Leisel. Amazing, isn't it? I was very excited because this it one of my favorite collections and I already had a few of these fabrics, but did not know what to make of them to really show them off.

I am sure you can see where I am going. It only took the right quilt pattern to get me started. So now it looks like I really am going to make a quilt, even though the wise voice (still don't know where it comes from) keeps telling me how crazy I am.

I got all my squares cut in the last week and have been playing with them, trying different layouts. I still have about a zillion pieces to cut for the borders, but at least I've got a start.


I am pretty confident about the cutting and piecing and binding parts. What scares me is the actual quilting, on which I don't have much information.

Luckily, I came across this book at Winners for just 15$. It is actually the French translation to this one. It may not be the greatest sewing book, but I found in it a few answers and now feel a little less scared about the whole thing.

The rest, I guess, I will learn as I go.

Wish me luck!

What I don't like about sewing...

Is new fabric.

I mean, I love new fabric, though it might be better if I didn't because then it would not cost me so much money. But there is something about new fabric that I don't like, and it is the washing. I wish it were as simple as you buy the fabric, you cut into it and sew it into something fabulous - or at least decent! But the process of washing all of it before and having to face it all wrinkled and mingled in its own thread is distressing. It always gives me a pang in the heart when I take it out of the washer and it looks like nothing but a pack of threads.

By the way, does anyone know how to avoid this mess when washing cottons? I've read somewhere that you need to cut the corners, but I haven't brought myself to do it yet. How exactly should it be done anyway?

So, this is how I spent my afternoon, washing, cutting thread and then ironing it all. But as a reward, I now have all this pretty fabric ready to use. And what fun am I going to have with it!

Have a great weekend!

Sylvie

Easy weekend

We did a lot of this over the weekend. For once we did not have a thousand errands to run and so we had time to just hang out at home in our pajamas, play outside in the snow and obviously do some sewing (I did, Patrick did not!). I finished my winter placemats so that we can use them for supper tonight. It was a fun little project to make.



Now getting ready for another week of work. Hope everybody has a good one.

Sylvie

Is it too late or way too early for Christmas stuff?

Honestly, I think it doesn't really matter as long as I enjoy what I am doing.

I realised, a few weeks before Christmas, that it would be nice to have some placemats for the season. Problem was, I did not have any holiday fabric and anyway I was much too busy with getting everything else ready for Christmas. Still, I ordered some fabric and received it during the holidays, but it is only now that I have time to sit down and sew what I had in mind.



My boyfriend wanted something very traditional as far as colors go, so he chose solid green and red fabrics to go along with the penguin pattern.



I, on the other hand, have a thing for the Be Merry fabrics, so I opted for brighter colors. I still need to quilt and add the bias, but I already am pretty satisfied with how it turned out, knowing that I did not use any pattern.

I am hoping to have time to finish them during the weekend, but today on my day off from work, I will definitely go play outside as the sun is finally back for a visit with some warm temperatures.

A NEW START AND A LITTLE LOOK BACK

A new year has come, with all its hopes. We are quite glad to put 2009 behind us and start afresh around here. My boyfriend has taken the road to school this week and I am confident that this will be a brighter time for him.

I started this blog in March of last year, full of good intentions and postings ideas, but most of them got lost somehow and my blog remained bleak and sparse until I almost deleted the whole thing in December. I felt that nothing I had to say could ever be of interest to anyone, or that my English was not good enough to truly reflect my thoughts and who I am.

Then my boyfriend - thank God I have him! - helped me realise that I should not view my blog as an advertisement of what I can do, but rather as a journal of my own crafting journey. He told me to do it for my own pleasure and remain true to myself without stressing about what people might think of me, and that that's what would appeal to those with similar interests as mine.

So, I am starting a new blogging year with a more open mind, and about a thousand of projects to try. As a personal reminder of my proposed agenda for the new year, here are a few of my plans:

1. Learn how to properly use my new camera. I've had it for six months and still cannot make one good picture, unless it's taken outdoors.
2. Stop buying so much fabric and start using what I already have.
3. Get a new cabinet to store all of my fabric, which is currently located in some very unpractical plastic containers.
4. Finally rearrange my studio. We repainted in November, and it still looks like a complete mess in there.
5. Explore new territories for a chance to meet new-to-me bird species.
6. Prepare new flower bed in my backyard and plant bird and butterfly-friendly flowers.
7. Sew a few items of clothing for myself, or at least try, even with no guarantee of the result.
8. Read more classics (currently reading Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë.
9. Get back on the cooking scene now that I can not rely solely on my boyfriend to get all the meals done (although I enjoyed it very much!).
10. Obviously, write more often on my blog and report progress on my plans.

Ok, ten sounds to me like a reasonable number, at least for a start. One of my main problems with posting last year was that whatever project I had accomplished, I never felt like it was worth mentioning to the world. I may have been very proud of myself for sewing a nice little bag, but I thought it looked nothing compared to all the beauties out there in blogland, and so I finally gave up showing any of them. Confidence problem, one would say.

I am still proud of my humble accomplisments, however, and took the resolve not to compare myself to anyone but myself in the coming months. And just to recap what I have been up to when I was so quiet, here are a few, though rather bad (remember I can't use my camera just yet) pictures of some of my little projects of 2009 that did not make it to the blog:









This is it, the "kid" is back from school now. I'll be back shortly with what I am currently working on.

Good week-end to all!