Quick Fall Fix

The weather's been gorgeous in my corner of the world this past week. The leaves are all changing but the temperature's been rather warm. Bright blue skies and vibrant fall leaves are so pretty together, don't you think?

So I made a trip to the Arboretum the other day and felt like doing some autumn crafting afterwards. I decided on a quick fall fix and knitted up this leaf dishcloth from a free Ravelry pattern.

 

I love how fast dishcloths knit up and how you can put them to practical use right away. Eventually I'd like a rainbow of dishcloths, and this will be my orange.

While I have some bigger projects in the works, this seemed like a good fit for Stitched in Color's Celebrate Color event. Bright orange leaf? Very colorful and  autumnal-y. Check out the event, it's fun seeing what everyone is inspired to create by the loveliness of fall colors.

Hope the weather is great wherever you are and that you're enjoying the fall!

Two, Two, Two skirts in one!

Confession: I have a lot of trouble sewing clothes. I don't know what it is. I pick out pretty fabric and what I think will be a cute (and hopefully not too difficult) pattern. In theory, all should go according to plan. In reality, I always struggle. Perhaps it's the fact that I like to change things around from the pattern. And that I'm often trying to squeeze the most I can out of a small amount of fabric. And maybe easy patterns are really meant to look like maternity wear. (Not a problem if you're expecting of course, but I'm not!)

 

Take this skirt as an example. I loved the look of Anna Maria Horner's Flirting the Issue Skirt. The pattern's a free download, and it looks so easy and cute! I also had been wanting to try out sewing with voile, and I love Anna Maria's Innocent Crush line. Seems like a perfect match, right?

Well. The voile is gorgeous. So gorgeous that I couldn't decide which one to choose. But then I hit upon this happy thought: why not get two patterned fabrics instead of one patterned and one solid? That way I could make my skirt reversible!

It all worked out in the end but let me tell you it was a bit of a pain getting there. Mostly I tried to follow the pattern, though of course it changed things making the skirt reversible. I also changed out the band a bit since I had a different elastic at hand. And of course I waited until almost the end to try it on, and it was HUGE. Like a small panda could have fit in there with me. I debated leaving it extra poofy but decided I'd be happier taking out some bulk. And I was.

It's funny, I was especially drawn to the little flowers on the "Maybe" pattern. But as a skirt I kinda like "Turn of Events" and its bold floral print. I like that I can wear it with a shirt tucked in or out. And that I could do a fast change in an elevator like in the opening of  The Pink Panther. (The Peter Sellers Pink Panther... the scene where the inspector's wife has to make a quick getaway so she reverses all her clothing while in an elevator to throw the police off her track! I always thought that was too cool.) So, all things considered, I'm happy with my finished reversible skirt. And the next clothes I sew? I'm not getting cute or clever with them!

Cross Stitch is Cool!

Years ago I used to cross stitch. I made several projects for wedding presents, you know, with the couple's names and wedding date in some pretty pattern. But for some reason I got out of the habit of cross-stitching for a while.

Now, I think cross stitch is cooler than ever! This is helped in great part by all the fun patterns I've been discovering lately. One shop that has tons of cute patterns is The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. I made this Toast BFFs project from one of their patterns.

Another fun cross stitch project I made is this super cute and geeky one of the Star Trek TNG characters. The pattern was not made specifically for cross-stitching, but is one of iotacon's  pixel designs. The simplified and squared off characters work great for translating onto aida cloth.

 
I really love all the geeky patterns out there for cross-stitch. Here's a free one for Doctor Who's David Tennant. And another one I want to make from Day of the Tentacle. There's lots of Etsy shops with great patterns, too. I love the pixel people of weelittlestitches (new Star Wars ones available!) as well as the nerdy stitch options of bombastitch (like this TRON one).

Ah, the simple pleasure of stitching tiny Xs that turn into fabulously cute and geeky things. Don't you think cross stitch is cool?

Free as a bird

I love birds. And free stuff. And crafting. So you can imagine how happy I was to find these free crafty birdie patterns!

The embroidery pattern is from Gennine's Art Blog (you can find it in her sidebar). I've long admired her style and have been wanting to buy some of her art. But until I can afford that, I've made my own art based on her design.

I used white on blue fabric since I love Gennine's style of using light lines on a dark background. I haven't decided yet if I will keep this in the hoop or if I will sew it into some other project. But it makes me happy just looking at it. AND it rekindled my interest in embroidery (and cross-stitching, which I used to do a lot of, but haven't in a while).

The other free pattern I found was for these little bird stuffies! It's from Spool (again, pattern in sidebear) and apparently many people used the pattern to make bird mobiles for babies. Would it be weird to make an adult mobile just for me?

I love playing with the fabric combos and the sweet contrasting bellies. I've tried these both with hand and machine sewing and either way works. Machine is faster, of course, but the hand sewing is kinda relaxing.

AND you know what's neat? The bird pattern was just the right size to cut out of some of my new favorite Innocent Crush fabric. How cool is that?

Let me know if you find any other free birdie patterns out there!