April 2011 – THORNBERRY

crochet

been hooking

There’s been some hooking over the past couple of months, but nowhere near as much as usual. Full-time work is really sucking the energy out of me. I’m going to bed early, and spending what little spare time I have trying to get other tasks completed. I can’t wait for my husband to get a job so that I can drop back to two days per week and return to doing all the other things that I normally do. But hey, we’re keeping on top of the mortgage and bills at the moment with me working full-time so that has to be a good thing! Sometimes you’ve just gotta do what you’ve gotta do….

I finished this Concentric necklace (Ravelry link) back in January. I liked it better before I sewed the circles together. It was a great way to use up some pretty leftover yarn, but I haven’t actually worn the necklace yet. Don’t get too distracted by the neck wrinkles that show up beautifully in this photo…

The lovely and generous Karen gave me a very pretty ball of pink yarn that has become a simple cowl. 85 foundation single crochet, then around and around with double crochet (working between the stitches of the previous row to create a mesh effect) until I ran out of yarn. Too easy!

I crocheted myself a green Basque Hat that is exactly the same as one I gave to Sheridan …

…and crocheted a grey one with matching scarf for my cousin Freya.

Oh, somewhere in March I also hooked up yet another Granny Shrug – this one in green Wilderness for me.

Now that I’ve put all of those in one blog post I feel slightly more productive! There are also some scarves awaiting photography and and I finally began a Zen Jacket (Ravelry link) on Easter Saturday. It is amazing what you can get done in snatches of time here and there. My crochet projects are all on my Ravelry project page here if you want further details.

Saturday, 30 April, 2011 by thornberry

kids clothing, sewing

twirling and whirling

Last year while Nikki was in the throes of writing her now-just-released book I did a spot of pattern testing for her. Especially twirly whirly girly skirts.

My girls wear these skirts all the time. The instructions for easily making these skirts for any sized child from toddler to teen (and adult if you like!) are all in the book.

I love the bias binding embellishment on the red one – idea stolen directly from Nikki. The blue skirt below has a Farbenmix inspired overlay.

I made even more of these but have somehow failed to photograph them all. These skirts work all year around depending on the fabric that you choose and the embellishments that you use. The girls love their twirly whirly skirts – and I do too!

(That last photo is a year old and Stella looks so young!)

Thursday, 28 April, 2011 by thornberry

adult's clothing, sewing

Prints Charming skirt #1

Like pretty much every other woman doing the shopping trip at SIT in Sydney, I bought a couple of “scrap packs” of Prints Charming fabric. We were inspired by skirts like these that were hanging up there are being worn by the lovely staff.

A couple of weeks ago I was going through my scrap packs and pulled out some of the larger pieces. A few hours and my favourite A-line skirt pattern later, I had this skirt.

I used some linen that I had in stash for the back. And here’s where I show you all the things that I could have done better but chose not to worry about.

Centre back zip. I haven’t lined the yokes up exactly. Well, they were pinned so that they lined up exactly, but without basting into place before stitching it is almost inevitable that they will end up out of alignment by a couple of millimetres.

Rather than hand-stitching the yoke facing to the zip, I just re-stitched over the previous zip insertion lines. And the overlocker thread doesn’t match (Carolyn would be horrified!). But it was finished in time to wear to church (and it would have looked much less wrinkled if I’d taken the photos before church rather than after).

Since I never tuck anything in, and because most people don’t investigate the inside of my garments, no-one else (other than everyone reading this blog post) will ever know about the “imperfections”. I sacrificed finish a little bit for speed in this case. Although the hem is lovely – it’s faced with bias binding – and I think that I pieced together the front well. It’s sometimes difficult to reconcile the competing pressures of time and finished product. Sometimes near enough is good enough.

There will be more Prints Charming pieced skirts to come!

Friday, 22 April, 2011 by thornberry

Uncategorized

exhibition

If you are going to be in North-East Victoria over the Easter period, how about putting Gary Parkinson’s painting exhibition in Yackandandah on your agenda?

It’s on at the Old Yackandandah Court House on Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 10.00am to 5.00pm. Gary is a friend of mine, and his artwork is superb. We’ll definitely be visiting!

Monday, 18 April, 2011 by thornberry

Uncategorized

Wanted – the return of a stolen bag

Wanted

This bag was stolen from Nikki’s stand at the AQC yesterday afternoon. Not only is it a beautiful bag made especially for her new book, the button is a vintage one from her grandmother’s collection. This bag holds many sentimental memories for Nikki and we’d like to get it back! You can get the html for the photo above here. Who knows, it’s a distinctive bag and one of us may spot it!

Sunday, 17 April, 2011 by thornberry

craft, crochet, miscellaneous, other people's craft

Dad, do you think you could make something for me?

Guess what my Dad made!

Some lengths of wood, a CD, some nuts and bolts and some dowel – but put it all together and look at what you’ve got! It’s a yarn swift!

What is a yarn swift, I hear you ask? It’s a very handy gadget that helps you to wind yarn from a skein into a ball. No longer will I have to press mr thornberry into service to hold the skein – I pop it onto the swift and it spins smoothly and speedily as I wind. Fantastic! The directions came from this tutorial. The poplar came from Dad’s wood stash. Stashing clearly runs in the family – you never know just what you’ll need when! Now I need to delve into my stash to make a bag to keep the swift in when it’s unassembled. Thanks so much Dad for making this for me.

Thursday, 14 April, 2011 by thornberry

patchwork, quilting

Jed’s quilt

Over the past few years I have begun my own little tradition of making a chenille square quilt for new babies born to family and friends. These little quilts are very basic – just chenille and fabric squares sewn together, and the backing fabric just sewn on right sides together and turned and topstitched. I do often include a thin layer of wadding, but don’t always quilt it. This time I did.

Don’t look at it too closely – I quilted it without basting first! Surprisingly, there are only a couple of tiny puckers. These are quilts that are tossed onto the ground as a baby mat, dragged around in the back of the car, wrapped up in on cold nights. They have been surprisingly popular.

This quilt is VERY late – Jed was born way back in October! I’ll be handing it over at Easter at our traditional family get-together. I made a similar quilt for each of Jed’s sisters Mia and Zoe. When I look back at the ones I made in 2007 I can see that my patchwork and quilting skills have improved – I much prefer the ones I’m making now!

The gorgeous backing fabric was a gift from Rachel and it is just perfect for this quilt – and was exactly the right size! Thanks so much. I rarely make things for little boys and my fabric stash is heavily weighted to the pink and girly – it was a challenge finding suitable fabrics for this quilt.

Better (very) late than never! Welcome to the world Jed – I look forward to finally meeting you at Easter.

Monday, 11 April, 2011 by thornberry

books, miscellaneous, sewing

feeling slightly famous…

I’m feeling slightly famous by living vicariously through others, thanks to Nikki. Guess what I’ve got – it’s my own personally-signed-by-the-author copy of a brand-new sewing book!

And guess who is modelling in it….

Hey lookee, I made that!

And even if no-one else can tell, it’s my big girl wearing this lovely kid-sized wrap/panel skirt.

There are MANY things that I test-sewed for Nikki last year that I can now finally show you. The gorgeous twirly skirts are among them – I made lots and they are now a staple clothing item for my two.

But it’s not just Clare who is in the spotlight – I opened my copy of Inside Crochet yesterday and found this! Check out the lower left corner.

So both girls had massive grins on their faces seeing photos of themselves in print. Excitement all around!

And finally, lifted straight from Nikki’s blog:

You might be able to win yourself a copy of the book if you pop over to visit Cam. Otherwise, get yourself to the AQC next week, to get one from the author herself. If you’re overses or interstate, the ABC Shop has really great postage rates….

Sunday, 10 April, 2011 by thornberry

miscellaneous

Clare’s rules

Clare shares a bedroom with her younger sister Stella. Last weekend she wrote “the rules”.

Saturday, 9 April, 2011 by thornberry

adult's clothing, crochet, sewing

Simplicity 3964

You caught a glimpse of this tunic in my last blog post. I’ve made this before, but in a regular top length and a very busy fabric. I wear it surprisingly often. This time I thought I’d give the tunic with gathered hemline a whirl – why not!

The fabrics are both from Spotlight – cream allover lace, and brown chambray. It looks more like grey in these photos, but definitely has white threads in one direction and chocolate brown in the other. It’s a departure from my usual style, but they do say that change is as good as a holiday.

I altered the construction a little because I didn’t want to topstitch the lace yoke or inset, so handstitched them in place instead. Otherwise it’s pretty much as per the pattern. After a day’s wear, and with the suggestion of some of the SIT ladies, I’m going to replace the elasticised hemline with a drawstring for a little more adjustability (who am I kidding – when will that happen?)

Looking at these photos it looks a little like it pulls across the top of the bustline below the yokes to the corner point of the inset. It certainly doesn’t feel too tight when I’m wearing it – could be due to the design. It’s not enough of a problem to stop me wearing it but I might tinker with it a little. The back yoke is fine.

There hasn’t been any sewing this week – just busy with work, school council, dinner with the school mums, washing/ironing, and then a day spent in bed sick. Something clearly had to give. But now I’m up and at it again – just in time for another week of full-time work…..but in the meantime, I’ve been published!

It’s a letter to the editor in the most recent issue of Interweave Crochet. I think that Michelle called me a “crochet activist”! And here I was thinking I was just emailing some feedback about their Winter issue…..

Sunday, 3 April, 2011 by thornberry

Month: April 2011