So far, I'm making fairly good progress. I even figured out a way to streamline the process, by "chain stitching" (I'm not sure if that's actually what you call this) my squares - it saves time and thread!
Three squares down, with many, many more to go. But a good start!
My first quilt was a few years ago now, and it never ended up actually getting quilted. (I can't figure out how you're supposed to be able to do that, by machine. Where do you stuff all that material when you're working on the middle?) Since I stopped working on it, I've moved twice and have carried it with me, in the hope of someday taking that last step. But, nothing.
It can be hard to finish things when you didn't really like how it looked all that much in the first place. Plus, it's small; a lap quilt at best. Who needs that? But now, I have new plans! Start from scratch! A quilt I'll want to use for my bed, and that I'll be proud of! This time, I mean it. So here's how I'm planning to make it stick this time:
1) Nicer, more interesting squares - I'm using some sample square patterns from a webpage on finite geometry. I didn't like how plain the squares were last time, so even though it will take a lot longer this way, I feel like I'll be more likely to persevere with the quilt if the end product will look great.
2) Planning - I kind of did this before, and it was worth it. Figuring it all out mathematically makes me feel safer - what if I did all this work and then found I hadn't measured right and it was lopsided? No, thanks. So I've got five kinds of square patterns to start with chosen from the link above, and have broken them down to figure out what pieces I need, how many, and which colours.
3) Sentimental/great fabric - I'm using fabric that my Mom brought for me the last time she visited - it's all stuff that she found when cleaning out the linen closet, stuff that's left over from when my brother and I were little and Mom made a lot of our clothes. (I know, so great. My mom is amazing. She used to make her own yoghurt, too.)
4) Accountability - Instead of posting after the fact, like last time, I'm starting now; this way, I will have to report to someone and hopefully that will keep me on my toes.
It begins. One square down, over a hundred to go. (That's how many I'll need if I intend to keep the final quilt at a double bed size.) Yeesh. What have I gotten myself into?
Wish me luck!
This past weekend, Lindsay and I were in the same city for a change, thanks to her work, which brought her from Ontario to Vancouver. As everyone kept quipping, Lindsay brought the snow with her: surprisingly, it snowed in Vancouver... but, unsurprisingly, about 24 hours later it rained and melted all the snow away.
So what happens when Magpie and Cake are together (A) in the same city and (B) in the snow? We christmassed it up and made a gingerbread house!
As we built a house together, I learned two new things about Lindsay (which is pretty incredible, as we've known each other for 15 years):
1) Lindsay had never made a gingerbread house before!!!
2) Lindsay prefers having a plan (ie.measuring and cutting out paper shapes to plan the house), whereas I was just going to cut out shapes randomly and hope they all fit together in the end.
All the pieces did end up fitting together in the end (thanks to Lindsay's measuring!), but once the icing, smarties, and jujubes came out, we both got a little out of control...
When the mini-poodles came out, we were waaaaay past rules and restraint. Poodles will do that to you.
Every gingerbread house deserves robots, unicorns, crocodiles and poodles.
Oh, I've been so out of the crafting game for the last two weeks - things have been so busy that I haven't even been able to think about the projects I have on the go. But now one of my year's biggest activities is done, and I can start to readjust my life accordingly. Whew!
The other day I was secondhand shopping and found this lovely child's dress. It's actually fairly large (about a size 10?), but the material is really what caught my eye. I'm not good at figuring out what kind of material something is, but it seems to be a heavy twill or a light canvas. It's thick and durable, anyway.
Now my question is... what do I make with it? Maybe it's because I'm so out of it after the tournament, but I can't think of anything that I really want to make - so my only choice is to hang onto it for now and hope something comes to me. Anyone have ideas?
Today marks the first day of posting back in October 2005... one year old already! Aw, they grow up so fast. To celebrate Magpie & Cake's anniversary, Siobhan and I did some long distance designing, resulting in this fancy new design! Thanks for visiting us during our first year. We're pleased as punch to have you.
Lindsay's Hallowe'en Costume 2006: A Monster of Love.
This costume came together because of a few things. I love the idea of a furry hat with ears. I love faux/fun fur. Pink fur was double half price off at Fabricland. And, Leonard Cohen has a way with words:
What is a saint? A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love. ... He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love. - Leonard Cohen, Beautiful Losers (1966)
So I decided to combine them all.
Saturday afternoon, I sat down to make my costume. I'd found this tutorial, which helped me to begin. (I ended up having to make a number of adjustments to it, as it seems to be intended for a much larger head than my own.)
It was a good idea to line the head with another material (I used a sheer piece of pink material used to make saris that I picked up in Vancouver awhile ago. I figure you can use anything - anything is better than the itchy wrong side of faux fur.)
Before I knew it, the head was together. However, it was much, much too big, so I pinched it in the top middle and folded it in, taking out a triangular piece about 3" at the base and then folding it up some more to enlarge the face area. It fit better after that, but I still had to wear a toque underneath to prop it up enough so I could see. This turned out to be good for keeping it in one place, too - satiny inside plus too big equals slipping around while I dance.
Then I made some horns. I used a white satin that was also on sale at Fabricland. It was a little bothersome to work with - I had to make a few horns before I got it to cooperate. I cut a little slits in the headpiece and poked first my finger, then the horns (which were about the same diameter) through. Since the horns had that neat circle at the end, they kind of stayed in place on their own. When I made the ears, I sewed them close tothe horns and through some of the circle part to give them a little extra stability. (I forgot to take pictures of the ears, but they're pretty easy. I made them up, though; I didn't use the ears (which look more like elf ears or something) from the pattern.)
I also forgot to take pictures of the monster mitts. Here's what I did, in case you want to make some for yourself. I traced my hand, cut out pieces of faux fur to fit, and sewed them with the right sides together with a fold (i.e. not a sewed edge) at the fingertips. I then put three little slits on each end and poked claws (made from triangles of the same satin used for horns) through (point side down, so when I turned it rightside out, they'd be going the right way) and sewed along the fingertip/claw edge. I turned the mitt rightside out and cut a slit in the paw for my thumb and fingers to poke through so I could hold things (e.g. my beer). Done!
There was a Hallowe'en party on Saturday night, and I've got to say - my costume was quite a hit. A lot of people thought that I was either a pink cow or one of the monsters from Where The Wild Things Are (now there's an idea for a group costume that would be fantastic... all you need is a Max in pyjamas and a crown, plus a bunch of monsters), but you can't blame them, considering I made this costume up.
So I made a shirt out of an old skirt this evening. I took a t-shirt that fits well, pined it on top of the skirt (bottom to bottom), and sewed around it. Then I tried it on, modified, tried it on, modified, and so on until I got the above. It ended up pretty neat, because the pockets are up near my shoulders and the skirt's zipper goes right up between my shoulder blades. While it looks a little less than professional, I sort of like that about it. It gives it some energy.
Now, while it turned out pretty well, I had a problem with the sleeves. I've been making shirts out of other things for awhile, and always have issues when I get to the sleeves. They're usually either too loose or too tight or at a weird angle or whatever. Tracing t-shirt sleeves is not enough - they have to be their own pieces. Does anyone have advice?
Back in January, I started a quilt. I looked online at various quilts I liked, planned, and drew out the layout of all the squares with careful colour coordination. I started cutting. I cut about 120 squares. I put them together - first in pairs, then in squares of four.
Then, I got busy. Over the next eight months, I've had time to put some of the four-squares together, but that's it. I had a load of excuses, but as of last week - no more!
Now I have all the squares sewn together (so what if not all of them line up perfectly? That just adds charm!) and am working on choosing the border. I have a nice purple stripe planned (as pictured), but I think it needs something else... maybe a white or cream? A nice dark blue? I wouldn't mind putting a lot of stripes around the centre part... the quilt ended up being smaller than I anticipated (even though I planned it as a lap quilt, it was frustrating to have done so much work and to end up with something so small!). Comments and suggestions welcome!
Magpie and cake has gone dot com!
In a fit of mad power, I registered the URL www.magpieandcake.com. So you can now access this site via that address.
Just after I registered, I went out to do some errands. As I was walking around, a crow flew across my path - carrying a muffin liner in his beak! Not quite a magpie and cake, but a crow and muffin liner is probably as close as we're gonna get. I say it counts as a good omen.
I was given this terrific Sharpie shirt as a gift awhile ago. It was purchased online, though, so when it arrived it turned out that "small" meant Men's, not Women's. I've been using it as a pyjama shirt while longing to wear it in the daytime. Tonight, I took action.
Turning it inside out, I used a favourite shirt to trace an outline (with a Sharpie... thought it was appropriate given the shirt in question, but it bled through... note for next time...). Then I cut and sewed and fiddled with the sleeves and neckline, and before I knew it... it fit! Not a bad start to my make-your-own t-shirt plan!
Two firsts: I knit with Alpaca wool (so, so soft) and I made a baby hat. My coworker is expecting in April, and we're going to have a mini-shower as part of our potluck this Thursday. My favourite part is the little knob on top, and it was much easier to make than I thought it would be!
So I'm taking a break from knitting the most frustrating socks ever (very fine black yarn + tiny needles + big foot = argh) to make some mittens for one I feel needs them. I picked out a beautiful pattern, bought some bamboo needles (so pretty & great to work with) and some yarn that I'd have to double up on to fit the constraints of the pattern. Or so I thought! I am half done the pair and have a monster mitten on my hands.
Now, I feel that this is pretty funny, but I'm also frustrated, as I wanted these mittens to be perfect. Sure, they look good, but they're going to be the size of oven mitts! Of baseball gloves! It's incredibly frustrating to get to this point, after having put in (half) the work and having followed the pattern so carefully. Seriously, what happened? Is it because two strands of chunky are not equal to bulky weight, as I was assured in the knitting store? That's all I can think of.
Luckily for me, the mitten recipient is very understanding and seems to like them anyway.
More on my quilt when I have a chance to get back to it. Maybe this weekend.
Since she's so modest, I - Siobhan - want to show off the mad knitting skillz of my fellow magpie & caker, Lindsay. Look what she crafted up for my xmas present! So pretty! Ahh, this girl's talented with the needles, that's for sure.
Just this weekend I was pondering what her knitting secret is. I was knitting - or trying to knit - but things kept not working out, so after unravelling and restarting oh, say 152 times, I reverted back to the ol' K1 P1... Maybe I get distracted and lose count with the fancy pants stitches? I feel like if I could figure out why patterns knit up the way they do, it would be much easier. The good news is that in a couple of weeks, I'll be in Toronto with Lindsay, so I can learn from the master! And the even better news is that I am lucky enough to benefit from Lindsay's knit-attacks. Thanks, Lindsay!
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