String Quilts

I'd never heard of paper piecing or string quilts before, and ran into those terms on the internet and found the quilt block that's haunting my dreams.

You see, my problems with quilting come from carefully coordinated and purchased quilt fabric. The origins of quilt making are making do with the odds and ends, the scraps. There's something so wanton to me to just buying it all matchy-matchy and cutting it all down into precise little squares and strips and spending fortunes on long-arm quilting machines....

The beauty for me is the imperfections. The idea that you can take a skinny strip of something and save it and piece it, one block at a time, into something warm and useable that'll last generations. I like that the traditional string quilt isn't carefully measured, that you use what what fits until it's gone.

Anyway, it's the first time I've ever considered quilting before.

Tacky Pack

I dropped by Joann's to pick up some fabric glue.

Ha. Twenty minutes later, crippled by the wall of options spread in front of me (even using the handy adhesives guide provided by Joann's) I just got an Aleene's tacky pack of fabric glues and called it a day. It was approx. .50 cents more expensive than most the bottles of glue I was eying, and it's a veritable sampler of glue options. Now when I go to buy a proper sized bottle of glue, I know exactly what I want, and I don't have a giant bottle of something I tried and hated lying around cockblocking my craft supplies.` Relief.

(you know those consumer studies where it's been proven that the more options you have, the more likely you're going to be dissapointed with the outcome since you'll be wondering if you made the right choice? Yeah. Is buying glue the proper time for this kind of reflection? Probably not.)

Capelets

This tutorial on Prudent Baby sent me off on a capelet bender. I don't wear them, just force them off on other people*.

(*person: my nephew. His turned out to be black velvet with maroon lining in time for halloween. Or spontaneous bouts of magic. Phantom of the Opera. Hobbit. Whatev.)

I'm still a little unsatisfied and am considering manufacturing wacky ones with vintage fabric and crazy buttons and military detailing and contrasting linings. For adult like peeps like myself, who maybe need a fall wardrobe pick me up.

Awesome examples of same from etsy: photos click through to their listings.

Queen Ann's Lace Scarf

Otherwise known as "what everyone is getting for christmas this year."

Working on my second queen anne's lace scarf. Found the pattern on Ravelry, then realized that there's about a million derivatives, much like knitting's feather and fan, and felt less like I'd discovered something magical. Well, it's still magical, but also more popular than I realized.

It goes really fast and I think showcases what crochet is really good for, super mobile lacy designs. In. Love.

Bloomers!

Had been reading along on Grosgrain for awhile and she posted a link to a pattern for a couple pairs of awesome bloomers she'd made to go with thrift store camis she'd picked up to sleep in. Adorable!

The pattern is from Collette Patterns, who do the most charming retro things (check them out), and their blog had this cute tutorial.

I, being the laziest seamstress ever, just picked up a 1970's pajama pattern at the thrift store for .25 cents and used the "panty" pattern from that. Once I'd taken two inches for the double elastic casing out of the unfortunately high waist, they turned out surprisingly similar. (with the added bonus of not having to print out and piece together the pdf. Lazy!)

They're super cute and comfy, with the added bonus of the elastic keeping the short where I want to, instead of unnecessarily exposing my flabby upper thigh. Wouldn't they be cute with extra ruffles on the bum? Or under a sassy little bo peep costume?