CMS & Colloquium in the new semester!

Today was the first CMS and Colloquium of the Fall semester.  I finished the baby blanket pieces while Robert and I were traveling this summer (but never managed to take and post a picture), so I'm back to working on my blue leaf socks.  I did work on this (the second sock) some this summer, but the most recent photo I can find is from all the way back in January.

Next week for sure I'll finish this sock, and since it's the second one, I'll have to decide whether to start a new pair of socks or work on my lace shrug ...

Bigger, better buttercup bag

Earlier this week I finished making my second buttercup bag.  This one is larger and has a zip closure, an inside zipped pocket, and two elasticized inside pockets.  I love it!  It is large enough to hold everything I need on a daily basis (wallet, sunglasses, pencil case, ipod, home and work keys, phone, chapstick, and advil) PLUS my Kindle in its case, and zip closed all at the same time.  Plus all of the pockets make it easy to find what I need.

The buttercup bag pattern is from Made by Rae here.  I used the small free version and enlarged the pattern pieces to 130%.  (I made the smaller original version exactly as written in the pattern here.)  I used this tutorial for the zippered closure.  There are a bunch of tutorials for the inside zip pocket out in blogland, and I just winged the elastic pockets.

Miniature herb garden

Two of our friends had a housewarming party on Saturday evening.  Robert and I decided to make a little indoor herb garden for them.  We picked out a strawberry pot, four different kinds of seeds (thyme, oregano, cilantro, and parsley), and a decorative pepper plant to put in the top.

It wasn't the right season to get seedlings, or that would have been our first choice, but Robert planted one kind of seed in each side hole in the pot, and we made little stakes to label which seeds went where.

We hope all of the seeds sprout!

A visit from Mom

 My mom visited this past weekend.  We went on a nature walk ...
... and we carried on our little tradition of each piecing a quilt top when she visits.  We each started a half square triangle quilt inspired by one we saw in a shop at the International Quilt Festival last November.  Each quilt is made from two charm packs and some grey solid yardage.  The trimming of all of the HSTs took FOREVER.

 But we eventually finished and laid out my quilt ...

 ... and my mom's.

I think they both look better in person than in the photos.  We ran out of time to sew the tops together, but I'm so excited about my quilt!  I admired the Half Moon Modern fabric for a long time online before I snatched up my two charm packs at the quilt festival, and I've been anticipating making the quilt ever since.  I got the first five (of fifteen) rows sewn together, and it looks great!

A purse and a skirt!

 At the beginning of the summer (around this time) I started feeling like I had too many projects and too much stuff and I made an intention to work through my UFO list and get some stuff finished.  My loose plan was that I should finish two projects for every one I started.  Since then, I have not finished a single thing on my UFO list, but I have started and finished the Lone Star baby quilt for my soon-to-be-niece, the Kindle case for Robert's birthday, this little purse, and the navy skirt at the bottom of this post.  I've also started a larger version of the purse because this one is too small.  As you can see in the picture below, it is overfull with my wallet, ipod, keys, chapstick, phone, and my university wallet/keychain.  With these things in it, it will not close, and I also need it to fit my sunglasses. 

 The purse is the Buttercup Bag from Made by Rae.  It's a free pattern, and very cute.  My plan is to use this one for going to the symphony and other date nights, when I don't want to carry a huge bag and don't need to have so many things with me.

I'm planning some significant enhancements on the larger version - a zipper closure, an inside zipped pocket, and one or two inside pockets with elastic on the top.  I'm not quite sure how to explain the elastic pockets, but I've seen in on some tote bag patterns, and I think it's just the thing to make 3-dimensional space inside the pockets and prevent things from falling out of them at the same time. 

Here's my navy skirt.  This has actually been on my future projects list for a while, and I used some really great coupons at Joann to get the fabric and elastic really inexpensively.  The whole skirt (including thread that I didn't have in the right color) was about $10.  I expected the skirt to go together in an hour or two, but as usual everything took longer than I expected.  I put in pockets and tried to use the rolled hem foot on my sewing machine to do the hem.  Even though I practiced on scraps, the hem just didn't turn out.  I need lots more practice before I can use that tool on a garment.  It took quite a while to pick out the rolled hem and re-do it with my usual "turned under twice and topstitched" hem. 

I couldn't get a picture of myself with the skirt on, but here it is.  The elastic is two inches wide and sits (pretty loosely) on my hips.  I probably should have cut the elastic for the waistband about two inches shorter, and I might go back later and do that, but for now I'm too lazy and it works fine the way it is, especially if I wear a longer top over it. 

Wedding cake topper (& stand!)

When Robert and I got married in April, my mom and a family friend of ours made the cake topper for us - the night before the wedding!  I got the idea for this from one I saw on Etsy, and it turned out really well.  Robert and I decided to save it as a keepsake, and he made a stand for it out of bird's eye maple. 

He used a decorating technique called kolrosing to write our wedding date on it, and finished it with some combination of oils.  Here you can see the gorgeous patterning in the wood.

Here it is on our beautiful wedding cake on our wedding day.  This last photo was taken by our lovely and talented wedding photographer, Alyssa of Dandy As Lions Photography.

A Kindle case

 Robert's birthday was just over a month ago, and I had a great idea for a birthday present for him, except that I didn't think of it until the weekend before his birthday, when I was gearing up to start teaching a three-week class and didn't have time to make it.  I finally had time to make it this week, and gave it to him a month late: a case for his Kindle. 

When Robert and I flew out for my mom's graduation last month, his Kindle was just floating around in my backpack with no case to protect it, so I decided that what he needed was a case for it.  I got this fabric in a scrap pack from Hawthorne Threads, and Robert had admired the boy going to outer space with his dog.  Since one of Robert's favorite genres is science fiction, I decided it was a perfect fit for his Kindle.  I mostly followed this tutorial at Live, love, quilt.  I made it to the Kindle's measurements (different from the iPad in the tutorial), decided not to quilt it, and used a hair-tie for the button loop.  I was worried about making the loop the right length, so I wanted to use something stretchy rather than fabric.  I'm mildly concerned about the elastic breaking or stretching out, but if that happens I can always pick apart the top-stitching and replace it. 

Robert seems happy with it, and I am also happy with how it turned out!