Sunshine in the Rockies

For some reason I forgot to photograph my sock during my travels! I made serious headway on the flight home through sets of cables.  And now here at home, I'm making my approach to the heel flap.

 

A reminder....

....of sunny mornings!   
      
Looking forward to more!


 

Roman shades - round three! (last)

Last one to make was the kitchen window!  I was not crazy about the colour of my linen fabric against the wall colour, Sesame (Benjamin Moore).   What to do now? I perused some beautiful, rather expensive fabrics in the stores, but then considered the use of that covering.  I knew it would mostly be up, I was really just wanting that window to look finished, and to add some fabric to the room.  (I could have made just a window topper/valance, but if I made a roman shade I would at least have the option to lower it.)  So with function and economy in mind, off I went to IKEA and found a very reasonably priced "linen look" curtain in white - it looked smashing beside the Sesame!  I cut up one panel to the dimensions I needed,  then went to Smoking Lily for the third design.   Apple blossoms is one of their newer prints - I thought it would look fresh and have kitchen appeal.  I chose two variations of that print, the more solid one in white, the other more outlined print in raspberry.  The result is exactly as I thought it would be, and it works beautifully in the room adding crispness and softness! 

Unfortunately I did not photograph the prints before the blinds were hung, so now it's difficult to get a good image without the flash or backlight hampering the photo.  This one (below) of the blind down shows the vertical seam of the sheer cotton lining.  I am not fussed by this at all since I don't expect the blind to be down during the day.

For each blind, I used white 1.4 mm cord, flat pulleys, and a strong plastic cleat around which to wrap the cord. 

I used painted white metal cord drops which house the knot ends of the cords.  Each blind has a weight rod (steel or aluminum, depending on the width of the blind) in the bottom, and plastic battens (the horizontal rods which ensure proper up and down folds).  All of the supplies I just mentioned were from Terrell Designs.  I had the wood mounting boards cut for me at local lumber yards.  

Making these roman shades was an enjoyable and very satisfying learning experience for me.  There are more in my future!  Next up will be the dining room window, hopefully later this year.  In the meantime....back to knitting!

Roman Shades - round two!

I had lots more fabric to use, so onto the family room!  
There is a print design that I have been coveting for some time now at Smoking Lily, it's the henna medallion.  Without a doubt in my mind, I chose it to star on this shade.  I am so happy with my choice!  (the photo itself is not my best work, sorry about that)

As an aside, I am loving the grey paint colour on the walls, the henna print looks so good with it!    So far we are two for two!

Roman Shades - round one!

I love the trims on all the windows in the house and want to admire them, so roman shades seemed like a good choice of window covering since they can fit within the frame to leave the trim exposed.  Not to mention, they don't use much more fabric than the actual area of the window itself.  I can do this!


I searched around on the internet and found excellent instructions here.  This site was my resource from beginning to end.  I worked on the bedroom windows first since they are small, and would be a good starting point.    


While I love the naturalness of the linen, I thought I could have a little fun with something printed on it.  As you may guess, I called on my friends at Smoking Lily! I love choosing designs with the help of Glenda and Erin at the Main Street shop, we always have lots of fun in the process and I leave inspired, every time.


This time was no exception, here you see the ever-popular gender neutral maple pods making their appearance on the bedroom shades!  We live on a tree lined street and have a couple of maples in our yard, so I thought this was rather befitting.

Since the blinds would mostly be "up," I thought it would be economical to print only the top part that would always show.  I think they turned out great and could not be more pleased with them, I love them! (and so does he).

Roman Shades - the idea

I've been working on this project for a few months, but I am finally ready to share it!


One day I was thinking about my bedroom windows.  When we renovated our home in 2004 and put in the French doors and outer windows, I had had custom full length curtains sewn for them, made of a lovely crinkly linen/hemp fabric complete with dim-out lining.  I liked them...mostly for the fabric, not so much for the style. 

Then over the last two years I contemplated my family room and kitchen windows.  The family room (below) had a venetian blind which was okay (you can see it here pulled up), but I was ready for a change.   It was only meant to be temporary anyway (from our move here in 1999).  

Also, I felt our recently renovated kitchen (2009) was in need of some soft texture, and the window had nothing on it.  

I got to thinking about all the fabric and lining used for the bedroom curtains, and thought to myself, "Why don't I just cut them up and make roman blinds for the other windows?"  I tossed the idea out to Kirk who is very amenable to my creative pursuits, he merely shrugged and likely wondered why I was even asking him.
So I went for it!


I set to taking them down, then machine washed and hung to dry.
I was excited about my new project!  

So I'm into socks...is there a problem?

One of my key favourite ways to re-charge my batteries!
I made these over the winter.  In order, they are Scylla, then two pairs of plain vanilla socks with details here and here.

The mate is still on the needles for these ones:

And some reserves on hand. You know, so I can sleep easier at night! ;o)

It's spring, people!

Cables Galore

Cables in Coastal, courtesy of Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock, my favourite sock yarn ever. The pattern is BFF socks by Cookie A, and very cleverly written with her use of increases and decreases within the cables themselves, they are just so tidy looking!

These socks turned out to be very squishy, a great fit, and so pretty in blue cables, I thought I could be my own BFF on this one!

Canvas art

It started with a new couch in a rich dark brown microfibre!
I thought a nice purply grey would be a lovely wall colour to go with it...but my choice turned out a bit blue instead. Still intending to paint it over grey, I moved on to wall art, and picked up three blank art canvasses.



In keeping with my screen printed theme I have going on right now, I decided to remove the canvasses from the frames and have Smoking Lily print them! It would be a fun, personal and creative project for me (and daughter), and lighten up the wall considerably. First, I had to pull out the staples on the back. I found a potato peeler worked brilliantly, it took less than 10 minutes to remove the staples from one frame.



I gently pressed the gessoed canvasses and headed over to Smoking Lily to make my design and colour choices. That process was nothing short of good times, thanks to Glenda and Erin! The following week they were ready for pick up, here's what I got:





I was delighted with how they turned out, and set about stapling them back onto the frames. As you can see, the folds were still present in the canvas so I just followed them to re-fold the corners which was very helpful.
Then to figure out how to hang them? I was not crazy about putting holes into my new freshly painted grey (over blue) wall.
I was, however, okay with using adhesive! That is, 3M Command Velcro Picture Hanging Strips for damage-free hanging.
I used two per side, adhered directly to the frame...



...then stuck them on the wall! With pencil, measuring tape and level, Miss M and I got these up, straight and positioned, and are feeling extremely proud of our project.
We love it!

Waste not!

Back in the fall, I thought my fabric stash needed to be downsized.
As I sorted through the pieces of colour, I had a walk down memory lane recalling projects made of the fabrics.
They were just too pretty to do anything else with but make more memories!

Remember these?



Their leftovers transformed into these gorgeous aprons, photographed here before I got the ties sewn on:




They were a colourful part of my Christmas gift giving last month!

A special kind of carry bag

This is one of those ideas that brewed in my mind for a long time before I made it happen. It is so gratifying to see one's concept become real!

It started with a pattern I saw at my local quilting shop for a tote bag, called the birdie sling by Amy Butler. Looked like a fun, easy bag I could make, using a beautiful fabric. I tucked the pattern away in my sewing area at home and soon forgot all about it. On one of my purging days many months later, I re-discovered it and put it back in my mental project queue.





I had some IKEA beige fabric sitting around for what I thought were going to be pillow shams for my Euro pillows. Turned out the colour was too dark, but I had 2.3 metres of it. It sat near the sewing machine, waiting for some inspiration to make it pretty.


One of my all-time favourite shops is Smoking Lily. They are known for their locally designed and handsewn (in Victoria) clothes, homewares, and accessories, all silk-screened with funky, quirky, and beautiful images that are incredibly unique, not to mention just plain FUN. The staff are fabulous! Super friendly and helpful, just being in the store is like a tonic. I always leave in a great mood. They print their cool designs on dresses, tees, wallets, skirts, belts, hoodies.....and will even do custom orders on items one may already own. Hmmmm, are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Okay, you get it. 2 + 2 + 2 = silk-screened fabric for bags! :D
I set my plan in motion!


Enough fabric for five bags, I cut out the pieces for the main, outer bag. I took these pieces over to Glenda and Erin at Smoking Lily, and with their help, chose a print and ink colours. There are sooooooo many options, it was difficult to limit myself, but I did it! My order was sent off to the studio in Victoria.

Here they are freshly printed in "Chairs," in two colours. Love love love! I planned on two bags using the blue, and three bags in the pink. Each bag would be printed on both sides (same colour), so I had ten "sides" printed in total. From there I went shopping to select the coordinating fabric for the band and handles of the tote.


For the inside pockets, I looked at my stash of vintage linens, waiting for another go-around of use. I found this, a "hamper" with embroidered pockets! It's hard to see in my photo, but the words on the pockets are "laundry, kerchiefs, and socks." How sweet is that? Completely charmed, I cut it to use in more than one bag, to spread the love around, you know. I used many more bits and pieces of old runners, table cloths, and napkins to make the inside pockets on all the bags.


With all the components now assembled, I set to it! This is the only photo I have while "in sewing process," but as you can see I am pressing the plain coloured lining with vintage pockets added. All the pockets are interfaced and lined, and the bag itself has fleece lining in between the outer bag and fabric lining (constructed according to pattern, with the exception of the pockets - I added more!)

End product happiness! Here's what they look like when they're inside out, so we can see the vintage loveliness:




And outside out!
They turned out great, and the recipients were most pleased with their unique handmade-with-love Christmas presents!