Happy Holidays

Wising you a safe and happy holiday season.

Diana

Lovely Autumn Color

I can never get enough of fall color. I took this photo a few weeks ago. One branch of this maple tree - which is probably a little too close to our deck - was turning red. It was just a little bit of color - a small sample of what was to come. I just love these little peeks of change.

We're much deeper into fall now. In fact, we're well past days of color and now have mountains of leaves to be raked. It's worth it, though.

Have a great week.

January...Really?

A couple of months ago, this was the beginning of a message to me from my Aunt Kathy telling me she missed my blog posts. Nice of her and maybe just what I needed. What can I say? It's been a busy year and it was a particularly busy summer. Now that fall is well under way, maybe things will calm down.

And so I pick up where I left off…knitting.

Alpaca Corded Bundle

I always get the knitting bug when the weather starts to cool down. This year is no different. A couple of weekends ago, I attended a fibers festival called Fiber in the Boro held annually in Murfreesboro, TN. I met two alpaca farmers and both have farms in TN and not far from me. Who knew?! I had no idea but I am quite happy because I love being able to source locally.

I spent a while talking with Ray and Debbie Hansen who own Painted Alpaca Farm in Columbia, TN, and since I have fallen in love with alpaca, I bought this large bundle from them. I plan to knit it into a rug using Addi circulars (as soon as I find them). I expect it to knit up very quickly. I hope I'm right about that.

This yarn was hard to photograph. Of course that could have been partially due to the extra help I had from Gus.

Enjoy your day.
Diana

Knitting

Cooler weather always inspires me to get the knitting needles going again. It also works well with my current schedule and life. I can knit for a few minutes or longer and actually see something happening. ;)! It's great. I'm using Noro here - one of my favorite yarns.

Enjoy your week.

Remodeling

These days, my life seems to be about a lot of different projects - all unfinished. We have been in the process of remodeling our home for the last few months. Since I function as designer, sub-contractor, gofer, and just about anything else that comes up, my sewing time has diminished considerably.

One Sunday afternoon - when I just couldn't take it anymore - I cleared a path to my sewing machine and started sewing. This piece was the outcome of that afternoon and, yes, it's still on my design wall - unfinished. I starting laughing when I stood back to look at it - it looks just like our house. :) So it's appropriately named "Remodeling".

Enjoy your week.

Autumn Color

Loving the cooler temperatures and fall color.

Enjoy your week.

Alabama Chanin Reverse Applique Skirt - It's Finished

I finished my skirt a few weeks ago. It's beautiful and I love it. I can't wait to make another one.

I finished three of the panels pretty quickly. Then spring and summer happened and my sewing declined a bit. Especially during spring. But I so loved working on this skirt that I always found some time to sit and sew even if it was just an afternoon or evening for a couple of hours.

Sewing the waist band on was much easier than I thought it would be. Because I was a little uncertain about how difficult the waist band would be, I decided to use a cross stitch for my stretch stitch. It seemed like a stitch I could learn pretty easily, and frankly, I wanted to finish my skirt. My stitches aren't quite as uniform as I would like but I think they look good. I probably could have practiced the stitch more but I'm more of a jump in and work things out as I go along kind of girl. I figured I could always reverse sew if necessary. Which is exactly what I did with the panels.

 Once I had all the panels sewn together, the skirt was a little too big. I kept thinking it was as I was sewing it together but decided I would go ahead and sew all the panels together and then try it on.

I was right. It was too big. Especially in the waist. I wasn't quite sure what to do at that point. Do I take it apart and make each seam a little bigger? Will the stretch in the waist band take up the extra fabric in the waist?

So I called the Alabama Chanin Studio and talked with Olivia. Everyone is so wonderful there.

Olivia and I talked through a couple of different options and we both agreed having the skirt be too large is a better challenge to solve than it being too small. :) I ended up going with the option of taking out the seams for two of the panels and sewing them back together, making my seams a little bigger. That worked for me because most of the extra fabric was in the waist. And no, it isn't noticeable, which was the thought going through my head at the time.

Now I need a top to wear with it. That's my next project although I have ordered supplies and yardage for a few thousand projects I have floating in my head. I really can wear myself out sometimes.  I do plan to make the top out of a recycled t-shirt first just to make sure the sizing works for me. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Have a great week.