Sewing: Corduroy Kimono

I have been wanting to make Audrey a kimono set or two. I was thinking of using Martha Stewart's pattern but chose New Look pattern 6333 to use instead. I found this great corduroy fabric at JoAnn--I just love red and pink together!

I wanted to use pink satin ribbon as the seam binding and ties, instead of actual seam binding, because I thought it looked cute, but it has some practical limitations--doesn't really stay tied. Thank goodness for snaps!

I made one of these sets for my niece, Kate too. I think it will be fun as a dress with tights or with the pants underneath.

2008 Creative Projects List

I love January! I love the idea of a clean slate, a new year and some space after the holidays. Now that my Christmas craziness is behind me (don't get me wrong, I love it but I also know it's a bit nutty) I can come up with a list of things to do for my family and maybe even myself. I have to write it all down so I can prioritize and keep things straight. And, I confess, since I just bought bags and bags of yarn on sale (rarely can you get it all 30% off so I thought it made sense to stock up--telling myself I won't need to buy any yarn the rest of the year!) I need to make a plan for using all of it. So here it goes, and not necessarily in priority order:

KNIT AND CROCHET PROJECTS

• Barcelona Bolero Sweater for my mother-in-law (knit) FINISHED

I wanted to hand make something for David's family since I made something for everyone in my family for Christmas. It's a bit dangerous to try knitting something for his mother because she has such elegant style, but if it doesn't turn out for her I can always keep it or give it to someone else. I saw the pattern here on Lion Brand (Pattern #: 60353A) and I think it looks beautiful. I chose a Homespun yarn that is shades of beige since that seems to be my mother-in-law's preferred hue.

• Sailor Collar Cardigan for me (knit and crochet) FINISHED

Another pattern (Number: 60705A) from Lion Brand (I had a bunch of pages tabbed from their Fall catalog--I loved it). This is in Wool-Ease Thick&Quick yarn and I thought it would be quick, which it was, as I already finished it! Got started while in Phoenix for New Year's.

• Ribbed Cowl Sweater for me (crochet)

I think this sweater looks so cute, at least on the model! I love cowl neck sweaters. I ordered a great avocado colored yarn from Knit Picks for this. Another Lion Brand pattern (70210A). If it turns out well I may duplicate it and give it to my husband's sister. I know she'd love the color.

• Debbie Bliss Ribbed Cardigan for Audrey (knit) FINISHED

From her Special Knits book. I am going to do this in a dusty shade of purple, Audrey's favorite color.

• Yoked cardigan sweater (knit)

I found this Seamless Yoked Baby sweater pattern on Knitting on the Net and the cardigan looks like something my grandmother would have knit for me--so old fashioned. I bought Bernat Alpaca yarn in the color "Sky" to do this. So gorgeous. I hope it is soft enough for baby. I also bought more of the yarn to do....

• Yoked "Leaf" Sweater for me (knit)

Found this in a Bernat pamphlet and it looks so pretty... Is it too lame to wear a sweater that coordinates with my baby's or is it too fun? I guess I'll have to see.

• Striped Cardi for Audrey (knit)

I can thank Lion Brand for this pattern too. I love that they make all these free patterns available to promote their yarns. I picked up some red, orange and purple Paton's Classic Wool on sale to do this for Fall 2008. I love to plan ahead!

• 8-color granny square Afghan (crochet)

In a twist, I have an afghan on my list. I've never done one before and I think it would be fun to try. I really love the comeback the granny square is making and thought the colors in this Vanna's Choice pattern (# 70139AD) were really cute, so I thought "why not?" I am highly motivated by a yarn sale.

So believe it or not,m the yarn bargain buying stopped there. But, not so with the list of projects. I also want to get to the following knit/crochet:

• Debbie Bliss Pinafore dress for Audrey (knit)
• Debbie Bliss Smock coat in brown for Audrey (knit)
• Debbie Bliss Lace Edge Dress for Audrey (knit) (I LOVE Debbie Bliss!)
• Icelandic Jacket for Audrey (crochet) from Adorable Crochet for Babies and Toddlers
• Fisherman's Cabled Vest for me (Knit)

I want to sew:

• Finish the brown and turquoise jacket I started before I was pregnant with Audrey
• Kimono set for Audrey FINISHED

I want to paint:

• A portrait of Audrey FINISHED
• The Carob tree at my in-law's in Phoenix FINISHED
• Portraits of all my nieces and nephews with my mother (who knows how and when...)

I also need to tackle:

• Organizing the disaster in the basement!
• Audrey's 1st year photo book
• Christmas pageant costumes for the nieces and nephews to play with next year
• Family Night packets about getting to know my grandparents (do extra for my siblings to have)
  

Nothing like a great list to get me motivated for the new year!

Painting: Zoe Dog Portrait for Christmas

After having fun with landscapes I decided to get back into what I've always loved: portraits. I thought I'd start a bit easier with a portrait of our dog, Zoe. (Explanation about Zoe: I got her when I was dating David and then about a year after we married we moved to the Bay Area and Zoe went to my in-laws in Phoenix, we thought for a few months, but it's been about 8 years. When we moved back to Utah, and a fenced yard, we just couldn't take her away from them, so though she still seems like ours she is a pet we visit rather than live with.) I also thought it would be an easy pick of a subject to do a painting for David for Christmas because he loves Zoe!

Well, it was so much fun working on this! I do love portraits. I love the challenge. I can't be lazy at all if I'm trying to get a good likeness and that was the case here. I thought Zoe would be a bit easier but I might as well have been painting my daughter, Audrey, because it seemed that degree of difficulty.

I feel like this is my first strong painting since getting back into it. It's nice to have completed something I'm excited about. It was especially fun to see David's, and his parents', reactions when he opened it for Christmas. They were surprised and loved it. In fact, I should probably do one sometime for David's father because he's always drawn to dog paintings.

This is a small canvas too--8"x10--but because it's a close up it felt about right in terms of brush size, strokes and the level of detail I wanted. Now I know...

Crochet: Christmas Dress for Audrey

I thought this was a sweet pattern when I saw it in Crochet Today. They showed it with a red velvet skirt but I made it all in off-white, because I can't get enough of babies and children in white or off-white.

This was actually a very last minute project because I had so many other fun things in the works for Christmas. I finished it just in time for Audrey to wear to church today. That was even with 2 re-dos on the crochet bodice! It kept turning out too big, no doubt because I never bother with a gauge stitch and I substituted Paton's Divine yarn instead of what was called for. Anyway, I got it done.

This skirt is a babywale corduroy I found at JoAnn fabric store. I love babywale--so soft and yet so much less care than a velvet.

We took these photos of Audrey with our Christmas tree this morning. Pretty adorable Christmas photo if you ask me. She looks like a little angel!

Sewing: Girlie Aprons for My Nieces, and their Mom, for Christmas

This year my family is trying a new type of gift exchange for Christmas: rather than exchanging individual names, or giving to everyone (as, to be honest, I love and prefer it but I guess it's a bit out of control that way) we are rotating through our sibling order and each giving to a family. So my family is giving to my younger sister, Christy's, family. She has two little girls, 3 1/2 and 1 1/2, and they are getting a kitchen playset for Christmas, so I talked to Christy about getting them play food to go with. Found this adorable HABA BIOFINA felt food at Moolka--I'm all about natural materials for toys--and decided I should sew some little aprons to go with. My friend Amy, of OurScoop, showed me a pattern for a reversible child's apron made from fat quarters so that kicked off the project.

I found these adorable girlie fabrics to match the pink play kitchen and I decided to add rickrack to the pockets and a pompom trim on the bottom for extra girlie-ness. Also found some great pink and green striped ribbon that coordinated perfectly for the ties.

I loved these fabrics so much I decided to buy extra and make a little reversible tablecloth, with rickrack of course.

Once I'd finished the aprons and tablecloth I couldn't resist making an apron for my sister, Christy, so they could all don matching aprons and play in the kitchen, or cook for real. I didn't use a pattern, just made it up as I went, mostly using fat quarters. To make it really simple (avoid rolling hems) I folded the fabric for the ruffles, stitched to the apron back, and then covered the seam with a topstiched pink ribbon. So if the ruffles flip up, no messy seams. I love this apron--it's so feminine and flirty! I'll have to make one for myself someday.

I really had fun with the trims--rickrack and pompoms and ribbon. I stopped before making their dad, Justin, one too...sorry, Justin.