Chenille Blanket

My friend Alli made chenille blankets for her kids.  The weight and snuggle-ness of her blankets caused me to search online for tutorials.  I ran across this blanket at Aesthetic Nest which I just loved enough to jump right into this project.  Unfortunately long lengths of stitching at a machine is quite possibly one of my least favorite activities.  I’ll happily hand quilt, embroider, smock, and bind but running long lines across quilts is painful.  I started this project on my old machine and had to really push to get half done with the quilting—at which point I put it away for at least a month.  I thought it would live in UFO-land forever. Then I bought my new machine and thought of it as the perfect way to run through some strait stitching.  I enjoyed it for three passes.  The new machine brought it out of wretched to bearable and the wee blanket was finished just in time for the arrival of a dear friend’s new baby.  I made it with Joel Dewberry stashed prints (birds and binding) and three layers of cheap flannel I picked up on sale.  When it was finished I nearly couldn’t part with it.  The weight, the soft parallel (mostly) lines, one of my favorite prints, and the movement made me forget about the pain and start a second one right away.  The brown and orange bird blanket I stitched with lines just under 3/8th inch apart.  The new one I did a generous 1/2 inch spacing.  I love the thinness of the tighter lines but I can’t take the redundant time at the machine.  Bird loves using the second one as a TV blanket.  I gave the first one away before she noticed, otherwise, she would have protested.  She really likes these and the magic of taking it out of the dryer for the first time and seeing the colors blend together in the chenille will probably seduce me to make another again. 

Which brings me to: OH. MY. HECK. I bought a new machine!  Yup, the days of sewing on the Toyota are over.  It was with me through a lot of projects—beloved projects that turned out splendidly, but it just wasn’t cutting it anymore.  I wanted a machine that had a large variety of model specific feet available, that had precision stitches, great buttonholes, and was a delight to sew with.  After an agonizing month with many many hours spent mostly with Berninas and Pffaffs before I settled on a Pfaff Expression 4.  She’s a beauty.  I’m enjoying her a lot, while trying to get used to her at the same time.  Little things bug (like the extra step before engaging the security stitch at the end of the stitch) but I think when I get used to those things I won’t even remember them.  I’ll have to be reminded to update on how I’m taking to her.  Things I love now:

Feet and attachment options

Stand alone sewing machine—I’m not really into all the embroidery options other machines are built for

Thread cutter, lovely

Pivoting with the half foot lift (I sensed there was something missing in my life)

Long throat length

IDT (Pfaff, you rock my world)

Needle positions to spare

Long long stitch length to baste/gather

Bird’s Easter 2011 Dress

Pattern: vine/flower motif taken from Beautiful Bishops

Fabric: Linen Cotton Blend (70/30)

Trim: Beading Insertion (stash item), lace trim from local shop next to Quilts Etc. (what is that shop named?), mayarts silk ribbon from Lace Place, pearl cotton Anchor embroidery floss 8 weight

Size: 5

This was such a fun sew.  It came together in less than a week because the weeks prior to Easter were spent with a sick baby.  I love smocking—I never remember how much until I’m in the middle of a project and then I’m usually thinking that I should do some leisurely smocking instead of trying to get it done in just a few days.  There is somewhere around 1850 inches of tucks on this dress.  I sometimes forget when drawing out what I want how long details take, especially when you are using a no-frills economical machine that fits no specialty feet.  I finished this on Saturday night before Easter and went test-driving machines on Monday morning.  There are so many projects I want to start but won’t until I have a new sewing machine, hopefully mother’s day, only I’ve run into a quandary  making a choice between two amazing machines, different brands.  I think I have 11 must have presser feet chosen for either.  My next set of tucks will be less painful and more precise for sure.

Bird loves it.  It is wonderfully twirly and a white dress feels particularly special to her I think. 

Night Sew

I'm Aurelie, the Mama to my three lovely children and wife to a very patient husband. Occasionally, I fit in time to knit, embroider, and sew--usually after my trio has retired to bed. Thus most of my stuff has been sewn during the night, with a foggy Mama brain, a 'night sew'. My daughter years ago recognized this and took to making her requests as I was kissing her goodnight tucked into her wee bed.

"Mama, pwlease make me a pink cindewelly dress tonight when I sweep. Da one da birds make.  Dank you."

Many times items are finished as I'm dropping into bed, already mostly asleep with good intentions to take photographs in the morning light. Thinking of the last 5 years, I've realized how few of those pictures were taken.  Worse, the documentation of those few are scattered among several hard-drives.  Night sew will hopefully be the project to change that. My first goal is to get new stuff up and secondly, to dig into the archives.