I Was Knit Together In My Mother's Womb

 

Lots of home and garden prepping is being done for the summer ahead. There is always that one day when the weather is perfect and we know without a doubt that there is no chance of a cold snap. That's the day I feel the urgency to shift my focus from inside to outside.  We do have a few goals set for this summer before any significant planting is done....and JR will not let me waver from the "Big Picture."  The backyard tree is down, to make room for the new patio. There will be a new fence and gate, and the house needs to be painted. I have to tell you this has been hard for me.

If you've been reading awhile, you know what beautiful gardens I left behind at the old house, and the fact that I'm starting at square one at this home is exciting, but hard. It means I can't have the pretty stuff until all the foundations for the new garden are in place.

 I am a details person, and I want to get to the details.The year we moved in, we were able to complete the front of the house, which was nice, and I do get to have containers....so I really shouldn't be complaining, right?

JR and I took a little tour of our front gardens a few days ago. He taught me how to see the details through my camera. Small garden, notice the small details. This is what I noticed as the sun was leaving us for the day:

     

Thank you for the lesson, JR. In trying to imagine what my gardens will be someday, I might have never noticed what they are right now.

Whoever thought of combining knitting and sewing is pure genius. And the Cape May bag is just the right amount of each, for a pretty quick project.

 

Of course, I can never leave well-enough alone, and I did make several modifications to this pattern.

1. Bag body:  12 - 5" charm squares instead of 9. I used Amy Butler Daisy Chain which I got on Ebay....already cut into the 5" squares.  After assembling the bag and lining, I gathered the top edge to fit the knit band. I like the effect rather than just a straight flat tote. After gathering the top edge, I sewed on a binding to finish it off before attaching the knit band.

2. Bag bottom:  a couple of simple pleats to create a flat bottom.

 

3. Straps:  I made two instead of one.

Make this bag! It just brings a smile to your face.

On Saturday, I tried on a dress that I wanted in the worst way...but it was $100. It was also a combination of knitting and sewing. And as I do these days, I think to myself, "I can make this. I know I can."

It looked sort of like this:

   (yes, I sketched this on the sermon notes....I had it on my mind...couldn't stop thinking about it and had to get it on paper.)

It has a black knitted (or crocheted ) yoke band with some chunkier beads knitted into it. The dress portion was an underlining of back jersey, with a black and yellow floral print crinkle chiffon overlay. It was floaty and feminine and sooooo pretty. Now I have to make it.  Any ideas for how to knit that yoke?

My plate is so full. And on top ofthat I've been served up seconds and thirds! Dang...it's that time of year, whether you have kids around or not, it seems like we go in twenty seven different directions, doesn't it?

In the next week or so, we have a wedding. So of course, Lynne had to make herself a dress. ( I'm such an over achiever). I'll show you the pictures when it's done....after working on literally a seam at a time some days, I feel like it's been taking forever. It's  a maxi length, every woman's dream dress, right?   So that's the dress project.

And we have taken on the task of decorating the new baby nursery...

 

This is the quilt I made for Baby Girl...I haven't made a quilt in years!  Katie found a crib bumper at Target, made from the hot pink fleur-de-leis fabric that you see. There was also a crib sheet available, so I cut up the crib sheet and  used it in the quilt and crib skirt to coordinate everything.  I'm super excited to finish the other parts of the decor and put it all together for Kate and Ray.  It's going to be so cute! The baby shower is a week from Sunday, and the goal is to have it all done by then.

Oh, and did I mention baby shower? We're throwing a baby shower?

And a Memorial Day picnic???

Wouldn't you know that in the middle of all of this, I decided that I needed to start a new knitting project.  Well, knitting-slash-sewing project.

 

For the life of me, I can't tell you how many times I've ripped out that knitted band. Like it's the first time I've knitted from a chart, for pete's sake. I think it's taken me a week of knitting to finish a 3" band for the top of the Cape May bag. Like I need another bag! During the busiest two weeks of my life!  But, there is hope on the horizon. Time.  Because now that

Joan is the Celebrity Apprentice, and

JT is the Survivor, and

Kris Allen is the new American Idol ,and 

Pam and Jim are going to have a baby, and

Mike, Susan and MJ are safe,

and Jack Bauer has once again thwarted terrorism,

I will have time! The precious gift of time!

Thank you all for your suggestions...about blogging and that beautiful ribbon! I loved reading your ideas. Some I hadn't thought of... woven into fabric to make a bag or as a facing for a knit sweater.  I think I will use it, as many of you suggested, as a tie or belt on a sweater. In fact, I'm knitting a bright pink sweater right now. Am I thinking design change???? Or shall I make something like this?

 

Lane Bryant Jacket or  Sweaterbabe Cardigan.

Now I wish I had six yards of that ribbon!   Anyway, as promised, one of you would get a package, and Estella,  I'm sending it to you!

When Patty  showed us  her finished Cape May Bag I knew that I had to not only make one, but share one as well.  So, I'm delighted to send Estella a Cape May  kit with some other treats , too. I think you do some sewing, Estella, but if not, the sewing is very simple, and I can help you along. There is a bit of a buzz on Ravelry with this bag, too...it's part of the Monthly Adventures Group.

Thank you again for your comments. I get the biggest kick out of all of you, and you all help me to be a better knitter and seamstress.

  Vogue 8249, made with German Cotton Voile from Ann of Gorgeous Fabrics.        You can read my pattern review here.

Isn't it the prettiest summer tunic? You can read my pattern review here.

A few weeks ago, JR cut down a tree in our backyard. So that we can plant two more. But mostly so I can have a patio and gardens. Another place to lounge on the weekends.

He actually said to me, "Honey, it's going to be so nice to have you help me stack that wood this weekend. I love spending time with you doing a project!"

(I'm thinking I would love to spend time with him while he rubbed my feet. Or maybe as he vacuumed and I dusted. Something like that, if there had to be manual labor involved.)

I've got to tell you I was dreading the thought of stacking that wood. Dreading it. I was trying to think of every reason why I couldn't help with this chore. I even confessed to one of our friends (who generously allowed us to borrow his hydraulic log-splitter...this gave me one more reason why didn't want to be a part of this whole thing...I'm not sure I want to be a part of anything that involved the words "hydraulic log-splitter." What if I lost a knitting arm or something?)

Anyway, our friend said, "Seriously, just pick up one log and then hold your back like this. ( he showed me how to fake a hurt back...like I've never done that before. Seriously.)"

I was telling JR about it later, because I really couldn't fake an injury with him, and I wanted to be honest about my feelings....you know, because I've read books like "A Marriage Made in Heaven: the Art of Eternal Communication or How to Say What you Really Mean in a Roundabout Way without Lying to your Mate."

 And after all my agonizing, he simply said. "Honey, you don't have to help stack wood...I'd be just as happy to do it myself!" And he said it like he meant it!  So reclined on the deck in the sun, fetching him some iced tea from time to time while I did some very important magazine reviews. Later, I fixed up the front porch.

 

Really, all's well that ends well....and that's usually the way with my husband and I. I'd rather not help him split and stack wood; he'd rather not help me fix up the porch, either.

Can a girl get a little help here?   Uh-oh, it sounds like a contest to me!

I've been thinking a great deal about my blogging lately. No doubt, we've all been through the blog blahs, and given the last year or so that I've had, there are days when I feel like I'm hanging on within an inch of my posting life. With the arrival of Facebook and Twitter and My Life, Ravelry and Pattern Review  and whatever heck else is out there that is a potential time-suck, I wonder what you think about blogging? Do you think it still draws the readership even though there are so many other ways to connect on line? How do all of those other cyber-relationship sites enhance or detract from the "craft blog?"

I have loved blogging. I try to make it as honest a reflection as I can of where I am currently... not only with my creative endeavors, but with the inevitable inflections of life that effect my creative endeavors.  I wonder  if you read my blog for it's  knitting content? Or for home decorating? for inspiration? for sewing? or for the inside scoop on the guts and glory of my life that I will dish out from time to time? Do you generally like to read a very topic specific blog? Just knitting? Just sewing? Did you enjoy when I was doing swaps and contests?  Would you mind sharing your thoughts with me? Be honest....I value your feedback.

 

5:30 this morning, it was raining, and since a walk was out of the question, I decided to rummage through some of my stuff. Like finding treasures again. Out of my ribbon drawer came two yards of this fantastic 3"wide ribbon. Orange and pink and weighty and wonderful. It got me thinking that it had the potential to be used in a number of ways.

So, tell me what you'd use it for. Whether it's incorporated into a knitting or sewing project,  I'd love to hear some suggestions about how to use this ribbon.

It's a plain shame to have something this pretty hiding in a drawer.

So there it is....a contest.  You have two opportunities to express yourself....your blog suggestions, and your ribbon suggestions.  And I promise, whether you knit or sew or don't, I will make a super fun package to send your way...because I have always felt that it's more fun to send a gift than to get one, and I have missed doing that.

Leave me a comment before Tuesday at Midnight so I can bless you with a fun package!

Mom thoughts to consider:

With Mother's Day at the end of the week, I can't help but express a few  thoughts about some Moms that are on my heart today.

Think of being pregnant, through the swollen ankles and morning sickness, the baby dreams and the glow, your child inside you, closer than you will ever be to any human being.

Think of birth...the smell of newborn. The wonder, love and  protection of a life that is at it's most perfect and precious.

Think of the sleepless nights, a first step, first tooth, first word, first recital, first home run,  a first broken bone, a first broken heart, desperate to still find the face of a sleeping baby in the face of your sleeping fifteen year old.

Think today of a mom, who tragically lost her two year old son to a terrible accident...we watched that wee white casket as it followed a fractured and fragile mother into our church today. That baby boy, released from this cruel world before he can be broken by it.

Think of another mom, who is this very day planning the funeral of her thirty year old son...released from the cruelty of cancer just this morning.

It's ironic that this morning  as I walked into work, I felt an odd pull inside when I made my daily stop at the ducks' nest to see her progress, and there were 14 eggs, motherless...and that mother duck felt nothing leaving those eggs.  She will lay more eggs, the last unhatched brood never to be remembered again, however God's incredible gift of life will continue from generation to generation.

Thank God we feel. For without sorrow, there was no love.  For without love, there is no hope for future joy....when mother will greet her child for the first time, or when they are at last reunited because God's incredible gift  life continues.

Okay, promise, this will be the last of the sewing for a few posts...much of what I"m working on right now is top secret baby stuff...since a new baby is on the way to our family...and I"ve been busy planning, quilting, sewing and decorating for her arrival. Well, maybe I'll give you a peek at some point.

My latest project is from Burda World of Fashion, April 2009, #116.

  I did put a review on Pattern Review with all the details(another way to spend my time along with Ravelry and blog reading...of which I am desperately behind)  I did  some fit adjustments after  making my muslin, but the biggest  modification was to the inside. I eliminated the lining, and did flat fell seams, and a bottom band facing instead. I also stitched down the front facing, after studying a couple of my denim jackets.

 

 

Another wardrobe staple, which cost me about $15 in fabric and notions.

This week, I found the best magazine when I was grocery shopping.  Figure Magazine. I love it because it's well done, fashion forward, and finally, shows some real women with actual boobs, stomachs and hips.   I was so happy to have it in my hands when I got home that night so I could linger over every page. I liked it so much that I subscribed yesterday.

Then, just now, I went to the page to create the link for this post, and THEY'RE NOT GOING TO PUBLISH IT ANYMORE!!!!!   You know, whatever. Real women with real curves should unite and...and...I don't know....do something!   Just when I was starting to get comfortable with my curves. There you go.

Stay tuned for a little blog surprise sometime next week....and go enjoy your weekend!