PJ Pants

I made my mom these PJ pants for Christmas and although she loved them - they didn't fit that great.  (I tried to make them less 'wide leg' and ended up making them less 'comfy pj' at the same time - ugh!)

So, I told her I would make her a new pair (that hopefully fit).  That was, eh, six months ago (sorry Mom!)  But I finally did get around to it and finished these the other week.  I sent them to her and she LOVES them (and they fit!)  yeah!!!

(yeah, that is me in them - but I wanted to get a pic before I sent them - you can see they are too long on me - that is how I know they have a better chance of fitting her).  The fabric is all Amy Butler Love and the same In Stitches Wide Leg Lounge pant (this is pair #3? for me!)  My mom picked the trim when she was here a couple months ago (good choice! - I think it makes the orange in there pop more!)

There is some fun stuff going on in my life - keeping me out of the sewing room - so I am sorry to not have posted very often - but between happenings and the External Hard Drive crash - I am still catching up.  Hope to see you in this space more often in the next couple weeks.  Happy Weekending!!  :)  xoxo, Nikki

I Knit

Yup!  I do, I knit!  And for Christmas this past year my big brother bought me a shirt to let the whole world know (from Etsy).  I LOVE this shirt and was uber-excited that it fit (there was only one - in a European size - I don't know what size I am in Europe).  Problem was at the time there was snow on the ground and it was a short sleeve shirt.  But warm weather has appeared and the I Knit Shirt made its debut (on date night!) the other night.  Just thought I would share....

(please excuse the unmade bed)

 Thanks Chad!  I love it!!

Also - I didn't forget my promise to show the Christening Blanket - I just haven't gotten finished like I thought.  Turns out a possible side effect of my antibiotics is nausea and I found that out in the car while trying to knit Friday night - and didn't pick it up again all weekend.  Getting more done this week though.  Its lovely!  Finally I did finish some sewing - THAT I will get to this week!  :)

Friday Eye Candy

Oh what?!?  It isn't Friday?  Well I owe you one from last week - and believe me its not from lack of trying.  I tried to load these pictures to blogger (or even save a post) all day on Friday and all to no avail.  So my promise of fabric fun is coming a bit late.

 

I found a great fabric shop in Chicago that I wanted to visit - and I was really excited when I found out it was just a couple miles from my brother's house.  Unfortunately I didn't look it up sooner b/c they also have some amazing class offerings. Once I was there though I found amazing things I haven't been able to feel and see anywhere else (I do most my fabric shopping online and its hard to tell scale, how something feels etc from any description).  So while at the Needle Shop I was ecstatic to see Echino, and AMH's voile, more of AB's Love fabric and lots of amazing patterns.  I'm a bit on a budget b/c I haven't been making much lately (did you notice that too) so I bought only some 

Echino Scooters

And some AB Coriander in Blue

I finally got to touch AMH's voile fabric and I can tell you with much certainly there will be Voile in my future!  That stuff is AMAZING!  The hype I hear is real!  I really wanted to make AMH's new dress pattern, but as I've never made anything to fit my body (yet) I think starting smaller (with less expensive fabric) is in order first.  But let me just reiterate about her Little Folks - WOW!

Hope you had a fantastic Easter weekend.  We certainly did around here.  We had gorgeous weather, the message of Good News (He is Risen!  How great is that!) AND I had my MIL in town to help me with a different type of crafting, and its garden season again!  :)

Friday Eye Candy

A week late and a dollar short right?!?  Sorry!  I've had a pretty bad case of the winter blues - keeping me from sewing and posting to the blog - but I'm trying to pull myself out of it.  Maybe eye candy will help us all!

 

My very very FAVE from this stack (AB - shocking huh?!)

 

and finally some ADORABLE fabric from Fabricworm

 

Have a great weekend.  I am headed to the middle of nowhere for a quiet knitting weekend with some good 'fiber friends' of mine!  We have a cabin, 4 bottles of wine, no cable television and snow on the way!  We should manage to have a really great time - and in light of the fiber weekend - I'll share some yarn eye candy too ( my BFF bought me this so we can make Calorimetries together as she learns to knit!)

Happy Weekending!  :)

Weekend Sewing

So.. I did sew this weekend - I didn't get the whole quilt done as I had hoped... but I got the back made,

 

Laid the whole thing out and basted

and then I froze again (well, not completely.  I did quilt a few rows - and I'm not happy with it.  I love this quilt front and I don't want to mess it up with my crappy quilting skills...ugh!) (and please forgive the crappy pictures too - seems we have very little natural light ANYWHERE in our house).

Anyway - I decided on Sunday to procrastinate some more and made some squares for the quilt along.  I have been really interested in joining an online quilting bee - but I am still a little nervous that my piecing skills aren't up to par for sending out to other people.  I did add them to the flickr group though, and I am feeling very official.  Ha!

 So how do you think I did?!  Am I an official quilter (or quilt top maker anyway!)  High hopes for the rest of the week - we'll see!

SAFF

This past weekend I had a VERY fun crafty weekend with the bestest fiber friends a girl could ask for! We went up to the NC mnts (again) - this time to Fletcher for SAFF. Morgan and I were a little behind Millie and we got a text that said "OMG! WOW!" and yeah, that pretty much sums it up!

Walking in - you see literally an entire ARENA full of yarn (be still my heart!)

We walked and shopped and took classes and shopped. We oogled alpaca and shopped some more! The best part about SAFF is not only seeing all the unique yarn but also the unique handknits that everyone is wearing. What a great way to show off your handknits. First of all, I think all were required to wear handknit socks...


Millie wore her GORGEOUS Noro Entrelac scarf (actually makes me want to buy Noro! gasp!)


Lindsey wore a beautiful teal Rusted Root...


and I had on my new Springtime Bandit (finally finished and blocked!)


and the amazing back...


Saturday night we hung out in the room a bit - with the matching hat twins... :) (isn't it ironic that this is called the unoriginal hat?!? - hmmm)


Learned how to make recycled T-shirt yarn (this could be another post entirely). And then went out to a great sushi dinner, coffee and desserts.

Sunday we went back for more classes, a little more shopping and finally a whole group picture

(r-l Millie - in her recycled T-shirt yarn wrap!!, me - in my February Lady Sweater (note to self: knit with something other than pink!), Morgan - in Araucania - soo jealous!, and Lindsey in HER Noro Entrelac scarf.)

It was such a great time and we are now thinking Maryland Sheep and Wool - who knows?! Maybe Rhinebeck is even in our future - it was too fun!

As promised

Eye Candy... compliments of Anna Maria Horner... Love!


This is my sunlit spectrum fabric stack - yum! Here they are laid out so you can see them. This is what I am hoping to make with them (but bigger, and for me...all mine!)


and finally my new favorites (that I found a dress I might have to buy more fabric for and make - here). yeah! Now, if only I was going to be home to sew this weekend.


Sadly, I will be doing this instead (well not sadly - it WILL be alot of fun - but its certainly going to limit my crafting... but fresh shrimp and grits is certainly worth it!)


Hope ya'll have a great weekend too!

Craft Weekends

My best friend Brandy and I are quite a bit alike. There are a million things we agree upon and have in common, but sometimes one of the most fun ones is how much we like to craft and make things. The first time we had craft weekend it was about four years ago...


We crafted with our OLD hand-me down machines and in the living room at Brandy's first house (her mom is there helping us b/c after two days straight of sewing we needed some help!) lol! All is well that ends well though and we had ALOT to show for our three days of crafting...

BK and her finished rag quilt



Me and my finished rag quilt!


Well, we had a blast and vowed to do another one someday - but it took us four years to commit to another whole weekend with no boys (and no babies - oh how life can change!!) and just the two of us crafting! We also had a new and improved craft room (as seen below:) to use and now only one day instead of three! We had big (quilt-sized) ambitions again - but we ended up making smaller things - but still having just as much fun!!

BK enjoying the craft room


Our finished key fobs! (fun and VERY easy!! - can you say church bazaar?)


And my finished camera strap (Brandy's was a gift for her SIL so I wasn't allowed to show it!)


We ended the evening with sushi (yum!!) and then Brandy had to head back to her kiddos. We made promises again of another crafting weekend and I have high hopes the next one is not another four years away!!