Completed Runner

My runner top turned out great. Really not my style, but I do find the assembly of patchwork very satisfying. And it looks great at my mom's house. I even made it reversible. The patriotic side was much harder to give away than the irish chain.The quilting itself was a little shaky. A lot shaky. It was good practice though; I have two baby quilts in production that will need quilting soon. I started out trying to free motion with my fancy new Viking, but it was to smart for me. I ended up using my old Singer, which was hiding in my closet awaiting it's unknown fate after I upgraded last fall. It turns out it's fate for now is free-motion quilting; when you've worn the teeth off the feed dogs it becomes perfect for that.

Table Runner

And finished! Now to find a backing and quilt it.

Piecing

He's a very good helper, even if most of what he does is play with his Tag while I work. He does like the way the Viking has buttons that beep.

Almost done.

Planning

Playhouse

Just because I haven't posted anything over here in forever doesn't mean I'm not getting anything done. I made 4 pairs of jammie pants for my favorite boys and girl for Christmas, and am wearing what I have deemed "deployment pants" right this minute. The monkey and I have been hard at work too. And our hard work last weekend

and today

is really starting to pay off. Tomorrow, an actual floor for the second level!

Anniversary

This year was Lawyerguy and my 13th anniversary. Traditional 13th anniversary gift is textiles, so I made him a pair of pants. They are made of undyed 11oz hemp canvas. Hopefully they will be indestructible, because that is not easy fabric to sew through. Hemp is a very durable fiber that is supposed to be stronger when wet, which I totally believe because it was significantly harder to get the needle to pierce the fabric when damp from ironing.

My pattern came from a favorite pair of shorts that disintegrated last summer. I had already used them once as a pattern for shorts that turned out very well but were never mentioned here (it was a very busy time). They have some nifty touches, like cool stitching along the pockets and cargo pockets large enough to hold a hefty paperback.

They look really great, but there are a few things to consider should you choose to work with hemp. Get extra yardage, because it shrinks lots. LOTS. Wash it 4 or 5 times before you cut. Also, it wrinkles like linen but is harder to iron.

All in all I think they look great and I enjoyed the project enough to stay up until 2 to finish them the night before we drove to Orlando. I am also lucky that while pants for a leggy 6'3" takes nearly 3 yards of 58" fabric, there is plenty left over scrap to make a pair for me :)

Happy Anniversary Handsome!

Guidon

A few weeks ago Monkey and I met Lawyerguy on base to watch a ROTC Field Training graduation. I was really glad to be there; families are not invited to field training so there are few people attend their parade (military parade, not what you were thinking). I was really inspired after the parade. Too bad the rules just changed and I couldn't enlist (no new dual-military parent families). Instead, I sewed a guidon for our family.

Today Monkey and i went to the bamboo park for a photo shoot/test drive.

Kilo Flight leads the way!