linques design speaks

stop and smell them

I got some flowers tonight from Whole Foods! This is a big deal because I never get flowers. But my mom got some this weekend, and I decided I needed some too! I love them, and I told Derek I want flowers all the time now.

I finished up a few little things today. They were things that had been sitting around waiting for awhile, so it was nice to wrap them up. This little sachet was embroidered in Florida, so all I had to do was sew up the rectangle and ribbon, and fill it with flax seed and lavender. Door hanger for V-day, and hanger-hanger the rest of the time!

I also went to the dentist today. I've been very bad - this was my first appointment in a long time. I had 2 wisdom teeth out the summer of 2004, and I think I had a check up around that time too. Of course I've got excuses: living in NY, school, no insurance, hives...but none of them are good enough. I've got great insurance now, so there really is no excuse. The dentist was very nice, and everyone said I've got great teeth, but no dental attention is bad. I've got 3 appointments coming up- a cleaning and then a visit to fix up the left and then the right side. Again - great insurance...but I'm still left to foot a $600 bill at the end of it all!  Buh-bye sewing machine savings! Oh well. So visit the dentist!!!

revealed part deux

It was nice enough to take some pictures today -- I got my new car on Friday! We're supposed to clean our old car of course before we turn it in, and let me just say that was a fiasco. The interior was fine...but the outside was another story. It had just snowed on Thursday, so the outside needed a bath. I decided to wash it in the morning before work on Friday so it wouldn't get covered in salt again. The only problem is that it was 5 degrees at 7am Friday. I thought that I could dry my car fast enough that the water wouldn't freeze. Let's just say that wasn't the case!! My poor car was a popsicle when I dropped it off, and I was so embarrased and worried. The woman in charge of the cars was very nice though, and we ended up having a good laugh over it. The sun came out and thawed it off, and I got to pick up my new one. I haven't really gotten to drive it much yet, but I love it of course. This one is white with a red interior. Not a bad job I've got, huh?

(and no, I do not drive it in the winter with the top down! this was for pictures only!)

revealed

The little snippet from the last post was a quilt I made for my mom last week. She wanted a quilt for her b-day (in May), but I had already bought the fabric and didn't want to wait that long. So she got an early birthday present. And from her reaction I think she likes it!

She wanted her quilt to be pink and green, her two favorite colors. She actually gave me lots of hints about fabrics she liked, so that was fun. I think all of them came from purlsoho.com, except for the muslin. Again, this is a bigger than lap size quilt. I never measure or plan how big my quilts will be, but they somehow all work out pretty nicely.

I've got my eyes on a new sewing machine, but it's a wee bit out of my price range! It's the Viking Sapphire 870 Quilt. If you haven't seen one, you should check it out! I tested it at the JoAnn's sew shop, and it's amazing. Maybe in 10 years when this technology is extinct I can get one!

I do have another surprise to share, but it was too cold and snowy this weekend to get a picture. Maybe tomorrow?

secret

What in the world is this??? (it's blurry on purpose...)

i finished the quilt

I finished this little guy up yesterday, but didn't get a picture of it. Cosmo has already tried it out, and Derek told me it's his favorite that I've made. So I guess that means we're keeping it!

I was worried that some of the red had bled when I washed it, but after it came out of the dryer it seemed fine. I guess that's the chance I take when I don't prewash my reds.

The back has one row of patterned squares. Originally it was just to push it out to the width I needed, but I really ended up liking it.

I've already got something new in the works, but You can't see it yet!

So Kyuuto!

Here's a closer look at the quilt top, with the previously mentioned dotty binding fabric. Binding a quilt is not difficult, but it usually takes me a few days to get excited about doing it.

For the quilting, I stitched 4 lines in each of the main squares, and then 2 rows on the muslin. By the way, I got a walking foot for Christmas (with some gift money!) and it was so much easier. I did, however, have a harder-then-usual time with the quilt sandwich. Once pinned, I flipped it over and the backing was all bunchy! After I carefully had laid it flat. So I get the top pins in, shifted a few, completed pinned the back, then REpinned the front. Took awhile longer, but the back is nice and flat now. And I think I only have one tiny little bunchy spot from the stitching.

On a completely different note, I picked up the two Kyuuto Japanese-into English books that are currently in print (can't wait for the others to come out). I've been meaning to order them, but never did. I saw one here, and it just made me want them more. I got the only copies at our Borders, and they were so worth it! (I wanted to get an adorable Cath Kidson mending kit-but it was $24 and didn't really give me anything I needed...but it was So Cute.)

In the Amigurumi one (which I have been pronouncing "amee gur ooh me", and the book tells me that is horribly wrong), there are GREAT descriptions. Take the sheep:

Can you read that? It says:

"Sheep from Woolen Planet
We live in the Woolen Planet's garden of princes.
Now, we come to visit the planet Earth."

Huh???? But it's kyuuto none the less.

quilting away

I've been on a big sewing kick these past few days. Here I was yesterday:

You can see the pillow, and the makings of a quilt. Since then, the quilt top has been pieced:

It's bigger than crib size and smaller than a twin. More like a large lap quilt. You can see a tiny bit of the green backing peeking out to the left of the quilt, and I plan to bind it with a blue polka dot. I would like to finish it tonight, but I work tomorrow so I won't be staying up too late. I like being productive at home though!

lotus cushion...and etsy?

I made this pillow today! It's made with the orange lotus print and some great Japanese 100% linen. The top is quilted - it's a nice sandwhich of some batting and cotton muslin to make the stiching pop. The back is all linen done with an envelope flap.

I love quilting! Can't wait to start on another real quilt.

Love how thick this is.

Oh...by the way...this cushion is available in my brand new etsy shop! I figure I will use Etsy for my one of a kind items that don't really fit with my regular site. I'm very excited about this, but we'll see how it goes.

Since this is my first Etsy item, I'm also throwing in some matching 7/8" covered buttons for free!

cute little buttons

I started a new scarf yesterday, but I wanted to make something out of fabric. My sewing table is cluttered right now (due to the fact that I have cleaned the floor in here and am thinking about switching all of the tables around), so I didn't really want to clear it off to sew. So I made these cute little covered buttons instead. There are 3 prints: one cream puppy print, one pink puppy print, and the pink print with houses and apples and things. They're all Japanese, and all so cute! I don't know what I will do with these, but they were fun to make, and turned out much better than my other covered button attempts. These are the .75" buttons, and I think before I was trying to make buttons that were too small.

i made a sweater!

A real sweater that I can wear in public! Wow. I never thought that would happen. Even after I acquired that lovely yarn. This is a cute little shrug from One Skein Wonders. I started it Sunday, and finished it last night. I bet it could be done a whole lot faster, but please remember I am not adept at knitting yet. I think I have finally decided I'm a thrower.

Anyways, this is a really tiny sweater!!! Very tiny. But cute on. I just blocked it tonight (if you can't tell, those colored blogs are pins), so I probably won't wear it until Friday. I'm thinking of adding a tie at center front.

The yarn is wool and viscose, made by Colinette yarns. Each skein (hank?) is 90m/100g. I used more than one skein, probably closer to 1 1/4. But I had 2, so that was okay. Taking my yarn and needles into account, the materials in this sweater cost less than $15. And the time aspect was fun, so I don't count that. I got to catch up on my Martha episodes!

The pattern called for 10.5 needles, but I only had 10 so that's what I used. The sweater still fits, so it didn't make much difference for me. I also learned some fun new things, like binding off in purl and yarn over. Now I think I'm ready to tackle a project out of the designer One Skein book, which is mostly all lace...