Workroom #114

With Summer being upon us, I imagine that all of you have been equally as busy as I have. Not just with things in the workroom, but ALL the things. Good weather brings yard work to the forefront of our To-Do lists, much to the detriment of most of the rest of the tasks on our lists. While I have been spending much time in the yard,

I have also had time to sneak into the workroom long enough to make progress on some projects. Without any more preamble, lets talk projects:

Red & Purple Quilts:

As you know from last workroom post, both of these quilt tops are complete. As I may or may not have mentioned, my friend DSH, from La Tehadora Blog, has agreed to do the quilting for me. I have measured the length and width of each quilt, folded them neatly, and put each of them in their own pillow case. To the front of each pillowcase I have pinned a note with the measurements and the name of the grandson that the quilt is for. I have also added a twin sized roll of 100% cotton batting to each pillowcase. The only thing left to complete before sending them to be quilted is the backing. Some time ago I purchased a whole bolt of black flannel for backing quilts.

Additionally, I want to piece letter blocks for each of the boys’ names for the back of the quilts. DSH graciously lent me her copy of Lori Holt’s “Spelling Bee”. I used fabric left over from the border kits. The border kits were chosen because of the main color being the favorite color of each Gson. Let’s take a look at what I have so far:

They are still at the individual letter stage. I will need to put strips between each letter to make them into the actual names and then sew them to the black flannel. Before you ask… Yes, I will also be adding a label to each quilt. We don’t want to be anonymous, now do we?

Reusable Produce Bags:

I have started and stopped this project too many times to count. I finally broke down and admitted to myself that I need more practice at crochet before tackling these in that medium. So, back to knitting I went.

I found this free mesh produce bag by Sarah-Anne Lawrence on ravalry. 

I have made quick progress, relatively speaking, with the knitted version.

Do you hear Crickets?

That would be because I haven’t worked at all on the following projects:

• Hidden UFOs in the quilt top tower
• Spinning of any kind

What’s that? Why not, you ask? Well… that would because I started an entirely new project!

Son’s Vest!

My son had mentioned that he would like a vest and I said I’d make him one. This was quite some time ago, and being that He is more important than other random projects I have finally begun. Part of my problem with starting this project is my lack of experience in any form of tailoring or making mock-ups. I usually make the full garment, try it on, take it apart, fix issues, put it back together, try it on, take it back apart, fix new issues, etc. That is fine if I am sewing for myself, and using a relatively inexpensive fabric. Now it is time to put on my big-girl panties and do it closer to correctly. I am starting with a modern commercial pattern:

The first mock-up was made from an old worn bed sheet. This didn’t work out well because the fabric was too soft. It didn’t have any stiffness to it at all. I made the second mock-up out of plain white quilting cotton fabric that had been left over from some project or other. This worked much better!

This is the 3rd mock-up. One of the nice things about using white fabric is I can write notes directly onto the mock-up. The thing that slows this process down is that I make the changes and then have to wait until my son tries on the latest mock-up with the previous changes. It has already been a learning experience for me and I am excited to see how much I learn going forward!!

For your viewing enjoyment:

Aside: Wesley is Pixie’s second born son. :0)