Sewing!

I crochet and knit , I am not to good on the sewing machine !! LOL I am in the middle of a baby blanket for my niece who is expecting

I like to sew, but not that great at it. I design and sew fancy dresses, funky blouses, pants and other stuff for my kids. Most of it is only worn around the house for playing dress up, but they love it because made it for them.

I knit. It gives my hands something to do in the evenings besides absently shoving food into my face. :bigsmile:

Getting ready to create a pieced quilt for my grandson (only my 3rd one). He'll be 2 next month. My strategy is get the quilt to them after the projectile vomiting and explosive bowel movement stage is well behind the grandbabies so the quilt has a shot at being a decent keepsake I found out I really love choosing the fabric patterns and colors using flannel and minky and making a beautiful quilt. My daughter has been thrilled with the first two.

I crochet - currently working on a simple hip-scarf for my dancing - and I do a little bit of sewing when I'm home from school and have access to my mom's sewing machine/stash of fabric and notions. I'd love to get better at tailoring, though, especially as I don't want to have to toss my whole wardrobe as I shrink and it doesn't!

Baby blankets are the best! They are easy and super appreciated!

I am working on a little quilt for my neice that just turned 3. Pink and cream!

Unless you use the wrong gauge yarn and it turns into a big kid blanket... *lol* what's what happened to me... I'm still not done with the blanket I started for my DD before she was born.

I wish....

Story time!
My great-great grandfather (maternal grandmother's grandfather) was an immigrant from Tipperary, Ireland who made his way to the states via Canada, down into Toledo and eventually to Detroit. The man was a lumberjack. As a young lumberjack, he fell in love with a girl who happened to be the daughter of the Mayor (or some other small-time political office) of whatever small Canadian town they lived in. But, lumberjacking (?) was apparently not a respectable enough position for a city politician's daughter's suitor to have so he--this manual laborer who was well over 6 feet tall and had the hulking hands of a lumberjack--became a seamster. A maker of fine women's clothing.
It worked. They married.

My grandmother (or Nana, as we call her) was born in 1930--right into the Great Depression. Her father was an engineer and at that time blueprints were drawn up on these sheets of incredibly starched linen. Her father used to bring home the extra bits of blueprint linen, and her grandfather would soak them in the tub for hours until the starch dissolved off--leaving the fine linen-- and would then make all her undergarments and little linen dresses out of the material. Middle of the Great Depression and my toddler Nana was sporting custom tailored linen underwear.

So this talent for sewing was passed from my great-great grandfather, to his daughter, to my Nana, to my mother (who made all my clothes when I was young and a few of my high school homecoming dresses), and then... it got to me--the only girl in my family--and DIED OFF. I have not even the slightest skill when it comes to sewing and I feel like I have failed this wonderful family legacy.

OTL

I just got a sewing machine for my birthday last month...I'm determined to learn to sew and knit in 2014! I had my sister-in-law save all of her favorite onsie's from my neices first year and I want to make a quilt with them for her for Mother's Day. Guess I better get a move on!

I've tried to sew and crochet. No bueno.

My hands were meant for other things, I guess.

I enjoy it all!

Crochet - Baby blanket for my daughter that is due in May. Squares are completed and I am about half way done with attaching the squares together. Using the flat-braid method which is my favorite. I then just need to weave in ends and add the border.

Knit - Put on hold for baby blanket, but once that is complete I have the yarn to make another Miette cardigan. It will go with my dress I have planned for Easter.

Sewing - There are so many projects and I need to sit down and start working on them. I have three pairs of pants cut out for my oldest, a shirt promised for my youngest (material is bought and prewashed), I have maternity dresses I need to be making for myself (material all bought, prewashed and pattern traced - just need to start). Once these are complete, I will start working on cloth diapers for the baby between making Easter shirt for my husband and outfits for my sons.

I love to sew but that is usually completed on my day off or weekends which there has not been much time for. Crochet/knitting I take with me to doctor appointments, car rides, and always work on them in the evening while watching a movie or being read to by my sons.

I do cross-stitch (I've made wedding records for many friends and family over the years....and someone usually gets a framed piece each year for Christmas). :happy:

This year, I made latch-hook pieces for my SILs. I also learned how to finger-knit this year, and made a couple of scarves as gifts. :happy:

Last year for Christmas, I gave homemade soap and body scrubs as gifts. :happy:

I quilt. The quilt on my bed is entirely hand-pieced and hand quilted. It's a modern take on a fan pattern with Japanese images quilted in the negative space.

I just began work on a kaleidoscope quilt that will be entirely hand-pieced and quilted, made with Japanese blue and white cotton yukata fabrics, some of which I picked up at a quilt expo in Tokyo and are older than I am.

When I'm finished using up all the Japanese fabrics I have, I will switch to something more modern.

I'm very good with my hands.

I really should work on the quilt for my nephew's birth, he's 16 months now...

But my current project is more reenactment gear, specifically, fencing armour and horse barding - full caparison!