table runner

I decided we needed some kind of table runner because
1) the table looks naked
2) I'm getting a little nervous about pitchers and that sort of thing scratching or otherwise ruining the table
3) I forgot that I had meant to make a bunch of trivets, which are what we really need.


Anyway. It's the ubiquitous linen paired with squares of my favorite color combination: gray-brown, aqua, and lime-ish green. I picked out these fabrics during my nesting visit to the fabric store without having any idea what I was going to do with them. I just picked one pile that seemed to coordinate, and that became this table runner, and another pile that worked together, which became a bunch of stuff for the kitchen. And I still have a lot left over from both piles, because fat quarters are always bigger than I think.

After piecing the top, I top stitched the seams, then backed it with some upholstery weight fabric (turned and top stitched). I considered doing more quilting or adding batting (to make it more heat & spill resistant) but I didn't want it to look like an odd-shaped quilt plopped down in the middle of the table.

house pocket and some efforts at organization

I made this little house months ago (it's patchwork, applique, and embroidery living together in harmony), but only got around to figuring out what to do with it. Now it's a little wall pocket type thing that lives on our refrigerator to hold all the crap that would ordinarily be spread out all over the surface of the fridge: contact numbers, coupons I'll never use, the dogs' vaccination schedule, etc.

Scott and I are not naturally organized. He belongs to the "spread all your crap over any available surface" school of thought, and I belong to the "pile it up in baskets until you have a panic attack when you can't find your social security card" school of thought. This blackboard and the little house pocket are part of an effort for us to keep track of some stuff--grocery lists, reminders, that sort of thing.

While I'm on the subject, let me say how much I love the chalkboard paint. It was so easy to put up--I think it was two light coats. I also know that it's easy to paint over because I dripped a lot and got a chance to do some serious damage control. We also painted some on the living room wall for Joseph, which has been predictably fun and messy. I really hope chalk isn't carcinogenic.

bath mat

Why did it take me so long to realize the beauty of square patchwork? It's so damn easy and it looks much fresher than I would have thought. I think that it might be boring to work a huge project entirely in square patches, but it's very satisfying for tiny projects like this bath mat and the laundry bags I've been making.

This mat is destined for the yellow-walled "guest" bathroom, which is in fact used by everybody except me, because I have taken over the master bathroom in perpetuity (thank you, husband, for allowing this).

Of course, my cheerful new bathmat is making the rest of the bathroom look like a prison cell. I want to do something to brighten up the rest of the room. Colored towels are usually not allowed in my home because I find them incredibly depressing (don't ask) but now I wonder whether colored towels could be worse than dingy "white" towels. I also want a fancy shower curtain, although I'm not sure how to make that happen without it being too mold-friendly (although.... hmmm)

The how: the top is just three inch squares. I laid it face down on an old towel, stitched around the perimeter, turned & topstitched. Then I quilted in the ditch horizontally. It was easy, but the towel shifted weirdly while I was quilting it, almost like it was stretching. So there are some lumps at the edges. It's not a big deal, but next time I'll probably assemble it a little differently to avoid this problem.

smock of questionable aesthetic

I've made this smock at least twice before as presents, but this is the first time I've made one for Joseph. Of course truck fabric was requested. I'm really not quite sure that this is what Amy Karol had in mind when she designed the pattern.
This is also the first time I've used store-bought bias tape in a long long time. I forgot how much easier it is to work with than handmade tape. This is a crushing blow. The packaged stuff is just more uniform and the folds are crisper. Perhaps if I got that snazzy bias tape machine my own humble product could compare??
After I finished making the smock (with Joseph helping every step of the way) he demanded to wear it. So he spent the morning wearing nothing but a diaper and a smock. The only way I could convince him to get dressed was to swear a blood oath that he could put the smock on over his clothes. So this is how we spent the rest of the day.

not useless after all

Last week we (finally) brought all the baby things out of the garage. Joseph was fascinated by the co-sleeper. The same co-sleeper that he found intolerably insulting and oppressive as an infant. I think he has slept in it for a total of two hours in his entire life.
Anyway, upon seeing it now, he promptly climbed into the bottom (storage) compartment, which has become his little office. He gets in and starts demanding that we zip it up, which is a little disturbing for me, but he loves it. He brings in his toys and tells them to sleep. It's very sweet. I think he's going to be disappointed when he discovers that the boring old babies sleep in the top.

a vest (or, knitting is magic)

I made this vest as part of Joseph's holiday finery. I'm really amazed when I follow a pattern that seems entirely composed of reasonable, easy-enough steps, but at the end I get a result that blows my mind. The pattern was easy to follow, and cables turn out to be no big deal, yet I feel like such a hot shot for having made a real live cable knit vest. This is why people knit--all you have to learn is a few basic movements and all of a sudden you can transform a tangle of sheep hair into something complex.

The color is totally off in these pictures. It's more of an olive green.

As soon as the temperature goes back below 70, he's wearing this at least three times a week.

laundry bag

In a craft-related moment of clarity, I realized that what this household needs is not another bed-sized quilt, but rather a few smaller and more utilitarian items, namely:

• a laundry bag for Joseph's room, so he can put away his own dirty clothes and feel that toddler-specific sense of accomplishment in doing things the rest of us consider chores
  
• a laundry bag for the kitchen, in which to toss used handkerchiefs, rags, towels, and all the other non-disposable items I feel so smug about using, except when they constitute a pile of filth on my counter
• a few bath mats, floor mats, door mats, etc.
• a table runner, coasters, place mats, etc.
  

With that in mind, I've begun cutting into the pile of fabric I had been hording for various (imaginary) Big Projects.

 The first result is this laundry bag for Joseph's room.

I had intended to use most of this fabric to make Joseph his own roads quilt, but I seriously lack the ambition.  There are bikes, jump ropes, boats, and (of course) trucks.  The trucks come courtesy of some Japanese fabric I bought from Purl, and which is definitely Kokka or Trefle or something, but which I can't find anymore on their website or anywhere else on the internet.  In case you're wondering, scouring the internet for fabric that doesn't seem to exist is a great way to kill 45 minutes and lose your mind at the same time.

The construction:  after I assembled the patchwork top (4 inch squares, arranged 5 up and 16 across), I backed it with white cotton canvas and then quilted the crap out of it with horizontal lines 1/4" apart. The canvas and the dense quilting help it keep its shape, which is good because a floppy bag hanging from a door knob is 1) ugly and 2) hard for little hands to reach into.

I'm very pleased with how this turned out.  I like the blue and red fabrics paired with linen and the solid gray-blue.  I really like the horizontal quilting.  This is one of those rare instances where I was able to actually execute my vision.  I'm definitely making one for the kitchen, colors TBD.