Tour de Fleece 2018

Tour de Fleece finished on Sunday (a three week spinning event held during Tour de France).

This year I spun over a kilo of yarn! All from raw fleeces that I was given, and prepared myself.
All 2 ply, about fingering weight yarn.

710g, 2441m of yarn with high twist. I plan on dyeing this for a weaving project.

This was part of a brown fleece that was lighter. 161g, 361m that I spun in the reverse direction than normal for a twined knitting project.

After cleaning and combing the fleece, I drum carded some white fleece with a small amount of brown fleece. 92g, 265m.

80g, 210m. I have no plans for these last two skeins.

I really enjoyed working with different coloured, natural fibre this year.

All the best!♥︎

Sewing Tops

This past week I made a couple of tops -

The pattern is from Jalie - Sewing Patterns , another Canadian designer, this one is the Adèle Flutter Sleeve Top.
I enjoyed making the first one so much I had to make another! The pattern was very easy to sew, and well explained. It has some great details that worked out so beautifully (maybe it has been such a long time since I have made clothes, but the new patterns seems magical!).
The first one I made was the light pink one, out of handwoven Thai silk that I had bought earlier in the year at the local quilt show. I found the fabric a bit too stiff for this pattern (although the fabric is not really stiff) so the ruffles stand out a bit.

For the red one I used a very lightweight rayon that was perfect. I decreased the width of the ruffles to about 2.5 inches, and I am so happy with how it turned out.

All the best!♥︎

Monday Update

Here are my two quilt along blocks for the week.

The Moda Blockhead block #6 - Path Through the Woods, a 12" block. This was much easier to sew than I thought it would be.

The 1880 Sampler Sew Along block from the Temecula Quilt Company, a 4" block.

Here are all the blocks I have so far. Last week's Blockhead block is really large and definitely needs some appliqué.

I do have a few hexagon flowers I could add....

These are all the blocks with the same beige background....

I have given myself until the end of the year to make blocks, or until I run out of the beige background fabric, then it will be interesting to see what kind of quilt I can make!

The first week of Tour de Fleece is over and this is my total yarn so far - 444g (almost 1 lb), 1447m (1,582 yds) of two ply yarn (averaging about fingering weight), all from the same raw fleece.

All the best!♥︎

Flying Geese

Both of the quilt along blocks for this week had the same size Flying Geese blocks.

The Moda Blockhead block #5 (Impact) is a 24" block (the centre square is 8").  Since it is so large (and I am not making the actual quilt) I plan on adding appliqué to this block.

The Temecula Quilt Company 1880 Sampler Sew Along block is 4".

For other sewing I made some pattern weights. The pattern/tutorial is from Tea Rose Home

They are so cute and tiny, plus they were very easy to make. I used scraps of Liberty Fabric (there is a Liberty Scrap Challenge on Instagram with Ava and Neve). They are stuffed with BB's and crushed walnut shells. I am going to have to make some more!

Tour de Fleece (a spinning event over on Ravelry that takes place during the Tour de France) started this weekend. This is the fibre I hope to spin during the three weeks. All raw fleece that I washed and prepared.

I am working on the biggest amount first. I am spinning it with a lot of twist for a future weaving project.

For knitting I started an Entrelac project just because it had been so long since I have knitted this technique (using Merino I dyed and spun recently).

 All the best!♥︎

So Much Sewing

This past week has been a great week for sewing -

Three quilt along blocks and,

two cardigans!

This first block is the June block of the month, Madame's Star, for the Antebellum Album from Civil War Quilts (a 12" block).

The Moda Blockhead block #4, Roman Cross (another 12" block).

Last, but not least, this past week's 1880 Sampler Sew Along block from Temecula Quilt Company (a 4" block). 

I put more thought into fabric choices this week and tried using fabrics I am not too comfortable with - strong directional, stripes, and large scale prints. I am really pleased with how they turned out.

The cardigans I made were from another pattern from Helen's Closet - this time the Blackwood Cardigan. Like the dresses from last week, this was another super easy, well explained pattern.

The first one was made with a very light weight, stretchy rayon. I ended up cutting about 4" off in the length because it stretched so much. All the sewing for both of the cardigans was with a serger.

This one I made with a scrap of fabric from about 30 years ago! I just wanted to try the pattern again, it was so nice to sew. This one only took about an hour to make. The fabric is a light weight cotton/lycra (?), very stretchy too, but easier to sew.  It is the length that it is because I used all the fabric I had.

Both are size large, because I wanted to be able to wear them over t-shirts (there is a post for choosing sizes here). The only changes I made for both was with the length - both are view A, and I omitted the pockets and top stitching because I thought that the fabric would ripple too much.

There is a blog post showing a round up of the testers cardigans here. I know I will be making this cardigan again.

Lots of sun and rain, and the garden is really growing.

All the best!♥︎

The Sweatpants of Dresses

This week I sewed a couple of dresses.

The pattern is the York Pinafore by Helen's Closet - a Canadian designer! 

The dress is perfect for putting on over a T-shirt for the summer. It was incredibly easy to make and so nice to wear - that's why I made two. And check out those pockets!

 The green one is the first one I made. I used some cotton twill I had at home.

Then I wanted to try it out in a lighter weight fabric, so the blue one is the second one.

Here are my thoughts and some changes I made -

I made size medium. The pattern is designed for someone with a B-cup, I am definitely not a B-cup, so I added length to the front straps like the pattern suggests (I added even more for the blue one - green one about 1/2", and the blue one another inch). I also made the blue one a bit wider in the 'bib' front. 

The dress is a cocoon style, which works in the twill, but I ended up taking some of the roundness out  of the blue skirt, it just didn't sit right.

I knew going into this that this style is not the best for me - I love tunics, overalls and loose fitting tops, but they 'ski-slope' off my boobs and look like maternity clothes. To help a bit I added a piece of elastic in the back (about a 6-7" piece at my waist).

I used a 3 stitch zig-zag stitch to sew it in.

For the binding I just made single fold bias tape,

I made so much that both dresses have the same (and why the second one was so quick to make).

For me this is a perfect home dress. Easy to wear and so comfy. The pattern is wonderful. It has very clear directions. Indie designed pattern are so nice to sew because there always seems to be lots written about them - tips, changes people make, sew alongs, tutorials, hacks.... There is a post on the designers blog showing the testers dresses here.

For other sewing -

This is the Moda Blockhead block - a 6" block.

And the 1880 Sampler Sew Along block - a 4" block. For this one I just picked out random fabrics without much thought, I think it shows but I am trying to step out of my comfort zone.

I spun a skein of yarn from some Merino fibre that I had dyed recently.

The yarn is about fingering/sock weight - 168g and 649m. I dyed and spun it for an Entrelac knitting project.

the roses are at their peak

All the best!♥︎

Another Quilt Along!

I decided to start another quilt along!

This one is called Moda Blockheads 2, a block of the week that started on June 6th, and ends next April (I am sure that I won't make them all, but I enjoyed making the first two).

The first one is Stellar Star, a 12" block,

and the second is Buckeye Beauty, a 6" block. I am using the same fabrics as all the other blocks I have been making recently, and these will be added to those blocks.

I dyed the yarn I had finished spinning last week.

I also did some practical sewing for a change - mending a well loved pair of shorts for my son.

This past week my sister and I volunteered for the Manitoba Sheep Association at a local fair.

There was a pair of lovely sheep to see,

and I enjoyed chatting with people about spinning. There was lots of great reactions - one little boy yelled at me from the other side of the barn that he knew what I was doing, I was using an old fashioned sewing machine!

All the best!♥︎

Finished Fleece

I finished spinning the third raw fleece I was given last fall.

1583m and 639g of yarn! I will dye most of this yarn.

This is how it all started - the raw fleece before washing, combing and spinning.

Here is my 1880 Sampler Sew Along block from the Temecula Quilt Company for this week (a 4" block).

My stack of "orphan" blocks is really growing. The plan is to make blocks until the end of the year, and put them together into a quilt top.

Because I missed having a crochet project to work on, I started another Granny Stripes blanket, this time using leftover handspun yarn that is all about fingering weight. This one is about 70cm/28" wide.

a pair of Goldfinches at the feeder

All the best!♥︎