Remember that massive pile of scraps I tipped out onto my sewing table yesterday?
I started picking out bits by colour and building new fabric. I started with black, then moved on to pinks and purples, then blues.
This is very satisfying! I burned through 5 thread spools and 11 bobbins that were low on thread.
And this is what’s left.
A small pile of not-too-tiny scraps and some decorative selvedges. I did toss the tiny scraps into the trash.
I think I should tackle my fleece remnants next!
Since my yarn stash flash, I was considering doing a fabric stash flash, but that isn’t quite what I ended up doing this afternoon.
The quilt cottons had got a little out of hand. I’d been rooting around in the bins, taking things out, putting them back, and generally making a mess of the shelves, so today I had a bit of fun sorting them out.
I originally put two colour groups in each bin, e.g. purples and pinks, blacks and reds. But some bins were getting too full and the lids didn’t close. So I had to review.
The above groups are new to the stash. Obviously there’s no rush to use up the Christmassy ones but I grabbed them on sale after Christmas.
The snowman panel and odds and ends of the coordinates have been in the stash for some time. Must use! And the blooming ocean panel and coordinates are absolutely fabulous and I will come up with a project for those soon.
I have a massive piece of the purple so it’ll make a good quilt backing. The “cut sew repeat” print pulled me in just the other day. That would make a great bag lining. And the animal print is cute as heck!
And these are just a few more that made me go Ooh!
All tidy! The green thing top left is my pattern box, which is just a cardboard box covered in fancy fabric. Next to that is a bunch of stuff I’ve made which I need to assess again to see what I really want to keep.
The lowest shelf in the photo has the water bottle for topping up my iron and bags of elastic, cords and zippers.
Then I set up my sewing table for some scrap attacks. I tipped my bag of scraps out, put a cutting mat, rotary cutter and scissors on the left of my machine, and the iron and pressing mat on the right, and grabbed my thread and bobbins. Scrap projects are a great way to use up spools that don’t have much thread left on them.
A bit of sewing followed and currently I’m at this point. Building new fabric from scraps focusing on the black and white ones.
This is obviously going to be an ongoing project as the pile of scraps is huge!
This crocheted amigurumi was my weekend project. I used a free pattern that I found via Ravelry but adapted it to be Edna Mode from The Incredibles. The person I made it for was delighted!!
And that’s my crafty catch-up! Excuse me while I go and cook dinner…
I only just got around to taking photos of these PJ pants, but they were finished before Christmas. I made them for Mr Fixit and didn’t want him to know I’d made them.
I used this pattern which I’ve had for a long time…
The blue tie dye ones are French Terry so he’s been wearing those to sleep in. The thin fleece ones with a Christmassy vibe are more for lounging in. I was surprised that the inside leg on the pattern piece was only 30 inches so extended them a couple of inches. I didn’t want them to be too short, as that was his main gripe about the shop-bought ones.
This isn’t a great shot but it was evening and I forgot to get a daytime picture before taking this coat to work. The colour is a deep magenta.
This fabric is called Nubby Boucle and is 100% polyester. It’s retailing for $50 a metre so the only way I was going to sew with it was to do a display project for work. I get to bring it home after a month.
Sewing with this fabric was mostly straightforward though I did break a needle when it had to get through four layers. And if I made it again I’d only interface the part of the front bands that’s hidden inside. I ended up having to trim back some unsightly white interfacing that was showing when the front of the coat flipped open.
I was also surprised by how narrow the sleeves were. My arms are pretty average and yet there wasn’t much room, especially if I wanted to wear a sweater underneath. Note to self: if I make this again, make the seam allowances smaller.
The instructions include three buttons and buttonholes. I thought I’d stick with just one button because I wanted it to drape nicely if I was moving around and sitting/standing. As the button I chose is huge I opted for a piece of cord to make a button loop. Much easier than sewing a buttonhole.
I fully intended to play in my sewing room again today but life got in the way. I stayed up late last night so slept in late this morning. Then I spent an hour taking down the Christmas decorations, tossing out the poor dried out tree, and vacuuming up ten tonnes of pine needles. And then I had to make a meal plan for the week and go out for groceries. And then it was time to make dinner. I had some help. We made sushi and miso soup and tested out a recipe from the VegNews magazine – Spiced Gingerbread Brioche Cinnamon Buns – which were as awesome as they sound and have about eleventy billion calories in them. Divine!
I think the rest of my evening is going to involve reading a Dean Koontz book from the library.
Mr Fixit and I have been out walking the last couple of days. Today was gorgeous. Two degrees above freezing, and the sun was brilliant, and we didn’t even need full coats, just puffer vests.
There’s still a lot of snow and ice about so you have to be careful not to slip.
It felt good to burn off some of the heavy lunch though.
We had a lentil and chestnut loaf, roast potatoes and veg with gravy, and I also baked an apple mincemeat pie to finish off the mincemeat in the fridge. There was enough food for lunch AND dinner! Which was great, as I needed to finish sewing a coat and I appreciated not having to stop in the middle of things to cook a meal.
Every year on Ravelry there’s a Flash your Stash thread in the Yarn and Fibre forum. As no one else had started one by today, I did it myself!
It’s already attracting some flashers and as I spent a happy hour in my sewing room pulling everything out to take photos for that thread I thought I’d blog about it too.
I grouped things for separate photos as the stash wouldn’t fit on my sewing room table all in one go! I started with my cardigan-in-progress and the ongoing dishcloth project.
I have three sweaters planned for the coming months. No specific patterns picked out, but my brain is turning over ideas in the background. From left to right: Scheepjes Truly Scrumptious, Wendy Husky Super Chunky, Michaels’ Craftsmart.
This pic is mostly plant fibres and blends. The packs of white cotton were bought for dyeing. I did a bit but then forgot about it for a few years. The colourful balls top left are my new ones, Scheepjes Softfun.
These are worsted weight acrylics that aren’t dedicated to a particular project. The Craftsmart skeins on the left would work well for a blanket sometime. The grey ones are what’s left from my recent sweater and beanie. The two big cakes are new (Järbo Cookie).
And then there’s all this DK. A lot of Stylecraft Special, some Lion Brand Mandala, etc. Plus my new Universe Christmas cake on the left which didn’t really fit in any group.
I need to plan a stash/scrapbusting blanket or something because these DK yarns have been hanging around for far too long. Maybe with a big hook and multiple strands.
The first day of a new year does seem to focus the mind on organisation. I asked ds3 if he would move all the Lego (we have a LOT) from the family room to its usual spot under ds2’s bed. He did it and has proceeded to clean up a lot of other stuff in there. This is great because we have fitness equipment in there and we needed more room to use it.
I’ve decided it’s time to get rid of the piano, and ds1 has an electric guitar that’s been sitting gathering dust for years.
Tomorrow is housework day. The Christmas tree is shedding needles like mad so I’m going to vacuum (again) and will plan to say goodbye to it next weekend.
A quick roundup of my FOs for this year.
Just screenshots from Ravelry – if you want a better look at my project pages just head on over and have a poke around. https://www.ravelry.com/projects/NicolaKnits
I love tracking things on Ravelry. It’s always interesting to look back on the things I’ve made and sometimes my project pages have helpful notes so I can make the same thing again. Some years I’ve finished 60 or even 80 items! My production has slowed as I make fewer accessories now and more sweaters which take longer. And that’s OK.
Yes, we’re in the no man’s land that is the period between Christmas and New Year, when many people are off work and the rest of us wish we were!
Christmas Eve dinner worked out great. We had the Vegan Wellington recipe from The Happy Pear, but with homemade shortcrust rather than commercial puff pastry, accompanied by roast potatoes, roasted parsnips, carrots and Brussels sprouts, gravy and broccoli.
I finished opening my yarn Advent, and officially gave myself the Hobbii yarn that I bought a month ago!
The sparkly cake is Hobbii Universe Christmas, and the other two are massive 200 gram cakes of Järbo Cookie.
Christmas Day was easy and relaxing. I cut out the pieces to sew a new coat. And we all went to the movies to see Avatar in the evening.
We’ve had milder temperatures so there has been some melting on the roads, but at around 4pm today it started snowing again!
My view from the sewing room downstairs is semi-obscured by snow now.
The Elevation Cardigan (from Make & Do Crew) is coming along nicely. I’m up to the upper body sections, so have split for the armholes. It looks like I may have enough yarn after all. I have a lighter shade of orange still to use, plus a yellow. Once the shoulders are seamed, it’ll just be sleeves, front bands, and pockets left to do.
I hope you all are having a good end to 2022 and I’d like to wish you a happy and healthy 2023.
We are having a cold snap! Minus 20C today and expected to get even colder tonight. I am so grateful for a warm house!
Yesterday it snowed all day and in addition to the roads being hairy scary we had to deal with whiteout conditions on the highway. The visibility was down to 50 metres at best. I ventured out to see a friend for a short visit then went back home. There was a lot of snow shovelling and some soup-making.
I made some awesome ‘cheesy’ vegan scones without a recipe. Best scones ever! (I used a snowman-shaped cutter.)
Here’s one of my fruit cakes complete with pecans, dried apricots and apricot glaze.
Some days that’s all I’ve eaten for lunch! What? It’s OK, it has fruit in it 😉
We’ve also been indulging in a few vegan marshmallows with our evening hot chocolate. And some mornings I have made a pot of tea, rather than a single mug, just because it feels good.
In yarny news, I have fallen behind with opening my little yarn bags.
And I’m adding to my Elevation cardigan tonight.
I’m up to the third colour (of six). I still think I may need to get more.
So it’s the 21st and I still haven’t decided on the menu for our Christmas Eve dinner. I’ve done my last pre-Christmas Costco shop but I do need to go back to the regular supermarket for a few more things. I’m working the next couple of days so it looks like it’s all going to get done at the last minute.
It’ll probably be some sort of loaf, roast vegetables, gravy, something green, some mince pies and a secondary dessert for the weirdo in the family who doesn’t eat dried fruit 🙂
These little yarn balls are better than a chocolate Advent. Calorie-free and they last longer!
The Solstice and Christmas are nearly here. I baked two vegan gluten-free fruitcakes last night and I plan to tart up the top of one with pecans and dried apricots to make it more special.
I had some gifts to wrap and because I felt like I was running out of time I cheated and went to the dollar store for gift bags. I did see some gorgeous paper ones for $1.50 each, and had them in my basket until I saw these fabric ones with red snowflakes on. They have a jute drawstring. I was sold! They look very pretty under the tree and I think that even if they didn’t have gifts in them I’d fill them with random stuff and put them there just to look nice.
I have friends coming over tonight so I have a couple of things to do this afternoon but right now I’m having a nice cup of tea, made in a teapot no less!
It was a snowy night and when we drove home this morning the first 15 minutes involved some pretty deep snow on the road.
Once we got to the highway, it was just wet so it was a straightforward drive, going through rain by the lake and then finding ourselves back above the snowline at home.
It’s falling now and looks like it’s set in for the day.
One of the first things I did when I got back was line my beanie. Crochet lets the wind through a bit too much when it’s below freezing so I found a remnant of turquoise fleece, measured my hat, and ran up a quick liner.
I measured the circumference at the brim, with the hat lying flat on the table. It was 23 inches. I also measured the depth from brim to centre top which was about 7.5 inches. So I cut a strip of fleece (with the stretch going the long way) that was 23 x 8. I wanted the finished circumference of the lining to be a bit smaller than the hat, and once I’d sewn the two short ends together with a half-inch seam allowance it was just right. Once the seam was sewn, I laid the tube on the table with the seam at one side and eyeballed a curved corner at the top right. I folded it in half so I could cut the opposite corner the same. And then I opened it up and refolded it so the uncut corners were at right and left and cut them the same way. Then I sewed two sections together along the curve, followed by the opposite two sections, and finally the seam that went across the top of the head.
It worked perfectly and all I had to do after that was turn a small hem and handstitch it in along the brim.
My Elevation cardigan by Make and Do Crew is coming along. I’ve finished the first 200 gram skein of brown and now I’m onto the cinnamon.
And I have opened today’s Advent yarn…
The colours are so pretty together.
NICOLA KNITS 