Santa's Workshop

My little Santa's Workshop has been busy for the last several weeks.  That's why there hasn't been a post on this site in quite some time.  Before Christmas is over I felt I should show a little of what I've been doing locked in my Workshop (Studio/Sewing Room) at night.

I had a few orders for neckwarmers.  This is one that a friend had asked for to give as a gift to her sister.

It's knit from a dark purple brushed Baby Alpaca.

This one was ordered by my beautician for herself.  I ended up just giving it to her as a Christmas gift.

I didn't get a picture of it finished before I gave it to her, but it's a black ruffled neckwarmer with silver buttons.  Just like the dark purple above.

My mother had requested an apron for Christmas about a month ago, and actually picked out the fabric that she wanted it made from.

She picked out the black floral.  I then found these other fabrics that coordinated and I had this good lace that I knew I could incorporate in some way.

The apron is almost done.  I will get it finished tonight. I'll be sure to get a picture of the finished product.

 

I always worry a little in making something that someone has specifically ordered in fear that it won't turn out as they imagined.  If someone is paying me I feel an obligation to  get it exactly right and then always let them know that they are not obligated to buy it if it's not what they wanted.  So far no one has refused anything.  I really prefer to make what I like and if someone wants to buy it, great.

I also made a chunky neckwarmer for my Mother-in-law to match the hat I gave to her.

Here's the hat.  Still need to take a picture of the matching neckwarmer.  I gave her the hat already and now will need to mail the neckwarmer to her.

And I'm still working on the black hooded sweater requested by my son.  It's not going to be finished for Christmas.  Maybe for his birthday in April.  It's something I work on in between other projects.

Can't tell much from this picture.  Black is very hard to work with, too, because it's hard to see.

I wish I could get a lot more done.  Maybe if I had elf helpers!  Oh well!!

Merry Christmas!!

Computer Catch Up Day

Our lives are so computerized now, aren't they?  It's a rainy, cool day in Pennsylvania, My Bob is on the road today, and no grandkids today.  I've been sitting at my desk all day, getting papers organized, and caught up on all my web sites, e-mails, etc. 
I also finally got the quilted Guardian Angel change purse listed on Etsy.  (see previous post) I thought I'd get that done a week ago, but -----.
I finally finished the other green baby booty.  Dee, DIL, and Baby Riley, granddaughter, will be here on Tuesday.  I'm making progress on the pink baby sweater.  I HAVE to have it done by Tuesday, too. 
You would think that was enough to do, but Oh No, I have to always start something new!  I saw this yarn at my yarn store and had to have it.

For all you knitters out there, I'm sure you can relate.  Once I got the yarn home it kept staring at me as I was knitting that booty, so I had to pick it up and start the scarf I wanted to make with it.  This yarn is called Mini Mochi.  It's a thin, washable, wool.  I'm using two strands to mix up the rainbow colors and make it thicker.  It is so soft.  The pattern is a mock cable.  I love this yarn and colors.

You'd think that was enough going on, but Oh No.  I saw this insipiration for pincushions and I just had to make it last night. 

Isn't this adorable.  I'm hooked.  I'm looking through my teacup collection for my next future pincushion.  This particular cup is an antique shaving mug.  You can tell by the base.  It was made in Germany.  I'm going to get pink pearl head pins for in it. 
The last local Flea Market for the year is this weekend and I'm hoping to go tomorrow in search for perfect tea cups/soon to be pincushions.

Creating My Little Heart Out!

Another apron and a knitted bag. I've been busy and having fun. Although it's been taking time from my blogging. It's just so hard to do everything. I started this hostess apron before we left on our trip to Spokane and didn't have that much more to do on it when we got back last Monday. There are some projects that I just become obsessed about when I start them and this was one of them. It was a lot of fun. I thought it would be cute to wear while preparing a girl friend's luncheon or afternoon tea. Now if I only had time to do either of those.

Here's a close-up to show the lace and button on the pockets.

I bought this yarn before I left for Spokane and wanted something to knit that would be rather simple knitting that I could do while riding for 36 hours in a U-Haul. So I decided on a Market Bag that I found a pattern for.

The plain lavender was used for the bottom and trim around the top. This was a great travelling project.

But, this bag stretches, especially after putting stuff in it, and I didn't allow for that. I was just enjoying the knitting and just kept going, so it got a little longer than I really wanted. This bag is great for carrying knitting projects, groceries, beach or pool bag, overnight bag, use your imagination. Because of the large open knit you can't put anything too small in it, so I sewed a small fabric pouch that I attached to the top of the inside to put any small items in. It actually shows prettier and brighter in person than in the picture. I can't wait to make another one that's not quite as large.

More Aprons, Coming Up

My first apron is finished. I've always had this desire to make aprons and now I know why the thought appealed to me. You can be so creative with them. The pattern is really pretty basic and easy, and then you add, change, embellish, etc. and each one is unique and fun. So this is the first and while making this one I had many more ideas come to me, so I'm on to the next one.

Here it is showing it tied in back. I need to get a dressmaker form to model this better or model it myself, I guess, but that means I should dress up a little and put on some make up. I don't have time for that.

Then here it is with the long ties wrapped around to the front and tied.

And here's a close-up of the button and lace embellishment I did on the pocket. I inherited a big tin of old buttons that my grandmother had collected over the years and another tin from a good friend of my mother's. I love just going through these tins to see what's there and how I can play with them.

Now I'm so inspired I have the fabrics picked out for my next one. I think this one will be a hostess or half apron with this whimsical hat fabric as the main body and the green, yellow and pink stripe maybe for the tie and either one of the greens or the pink for the pockets and trim. It will come clear as I move forward.

I think I am going to sell these, but I don't know where, or how, or how much yet. I don't want to have to get into sales tax and that kind of thing just starting out so I don't know how that works if I take them into a few little boutiques that I know of, do they take care of that? And do I need to bother with any legalities or taxes on Etsy? Then I have to account for S&H and what to charge for that. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Works In Progress

I've got some new projects going. It seems I always have more ideas than time, but I like to keep them going in stages. I'm getting started on a project that I've always had in mind that I wanted to do and that is make vintage inspired and embellished aprons. I bought the material the other day for my first one. That's as far as I've gotten, but next free evening or weekend I'm going to make it. The main body of the apron will be this black background with the pink scrolls fabric. Then I think I'll put on a pocket or two with the pink striped. I also got some pink organza ribbon to add somewhere. Once I get started, ideas will come to me. I may sell these, we'll see how it goes.

This knitting project is going to be a pink baby sweater. The other baby clothes I've knitted had to be neutral, non gender colors because I had started them while my daughter in law was pregnant and they didn't want to know the sex ahead of time. Well now that we have our beautiful little baby girl, Riley, I went right out and bought pink yarn. I love pink anyway, can you tell? And now to have a girl is so much fun. I have started the back of the sweater and up to the back yoke. This yarn is so pretty. It's called "Cotton Kisses" by Plymouth Yarn. I'm making the 6-9 mos. size.

This project is almost finished. About another hour or so and I'll be done. You may remember the baby quilt I made from another post. The color scheme for the new nursery is beiges, tans, and off whites. I've had the quilt done for a while. Well, they'll be moving into their new apartment in Spokane in a couple of weeks and I wanted to make a window valance to match the quilt and other bedding.

So I went back to the quilt store and bought more of the same fabrics and made this valance.

Here's a close-up view to see the fabrics used. Notice the first border fabric. It's a white on white print, but the print is a baby motif. Probably no one will ever notice this as you have to look pretty close, but Dee (DIL) and I know it's there.

I would love to go up to my sewing room right now and work on these projects for the rest of the evening (it's 4:00 pm), but it's Friday and I try to reserve Friday nights for My Bob. We have dinner reservations at 6:30. Hopefully this weekend will provide some time if the grandsons don't come over and stay too long. I love for them to come visit, just not stay too long.