Peas In A Pod

Mother's Day Running Stitch Scarf--Pattern Review

I hope all the mothers out there had a lovely Mother's Day!  Mine was an interesting one...I'll tell you more about that on Really Random Thursday.  Today, I'd like to share what I made for my mom for Mother's Day.  (Click on any of the photos in this post to make them larger.)

I made her this linen scarf, with a bunch of different colors of peach floss.  (Yes, I used DMC despite my previous experience, because I had already purchased it prior to my last experience.  So, Mom, be careful washing it!)  The "fringe" on the scarf is the beautiful selvedge on this fabric.  I am happy with how it turned out.

Here is a more full view of it.  The morning sun was pretty bright, so you can barely see the hand stitching on it in this shot, but this shot does give you a feel for the size of the scarf.  The half-way point is at the top of the branch.  It's about 17" wide and 80" long.  It's a really nice size for a shawl or scarf.

I used a kit and a tutorial from The Purl Bee, and you can find the tutorial right here.  This is not difficult to make at all, though it did take a little time.  There is one machine-sewn seam in the entire thing.  The rest is all hand sewn.  So, it takes a little time.  But that was okay with me.  You know, one thing I enjoy about making hand-made gifts for people is that while I am working on them, I am reflecting on that person, fun times we've had together, etc.  So, I enjoyed having some quiet time to reflect on my mother and how lucky I am that she's my mom.

The design is made by a series of lines that are running stitches.  So, this would be a great beginner embroidery project.  Very easy.  And all the knots on the ends are hidden in the side hems, which you do last.  The pattern even provides instructions for how to vary your colors on up the way.  I modified the color scheme from the pattern so that the colors graduate from dark to light as they progress up the scarf.

I was having a fun photo shoot with the scarf, because we finally had a summy morning.  Again, the fringe is super easy to do, because it's already tehre as part of the selvedge.  To make the base of the scarf, all I had to do was tear a yard of fabric in half, from selvedge to selvedge and seam it together.

Here is the seam where you sew the selvedges together.  I'm not sure what you would call this seam.  It's almost like a flat-felled (sp?) seam that you have on jeans.  It's nearly invisible, and there are no raw edges on either side.  It's a beautiful way to join two pieces of fabric together when you want both sides to look equally good.

I liked this photo with the shadows of the tree branches on the scarf.  :-)  This linen was absolutely beautiful to work with.  It was heavier than the linen I had used for my Urban Nine Patch quilt.  I found myself wishing I had found and used this in that quilt instead of what I used.  I think I may need to order some of this yardage just to have in my stash.  I really love the hand and drape of it.  It is Essex Yarn Dyed Linen.  The color I used is Flax.  Yummy.

Purl Bee had kits available, but I see they are currently sold out.  At the time of this writing, their website does say they are getting more, and there is a link where you can request to be notified when more are in.  The kits came in this peach and another with blue thread.  However, you could easily go get the supplies yourself and use the tutorial to complete this project.

The tutorial is well written, with good photos to help you along the way.  Very recommended project, kit, and tutorial.  As I said before, I would put this at a beginner/easy project.

I love how it turned out, and I hope my mom enjoys it.

Until next time,

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Thread Catchers-Pattern Review

Good morning!  It is so sunny and beautiful here today!  I hope it is the same for you.

Recently, my friend Amanda Jean (who you might know as one of the authors of one of my most favorite books Sunday Morning Quilts--so proud of and happy for her!) wrote a pattern for her thread catchers.  I was really excited about this pattern, because I had been wanting to make some.  You might remember she gave each of us one as our "Happy" at our quilt retreat at Gruber's last July.  I've been hoping she would put out a pattern, because I thought these were the cutest little things and would make great gifts.  Well, her pattern is now out.  She gave me a copy (so nice!), and I made up a couple this weekend.  Here they are!  They are about 6" tall and about 14" all the way around (so, around 3.5" on each side).  How cute!

I used my stash of Mod Century fabric, which I got at Marmalade.  (You can get there by clicking the button on my sidebar, too.)  I just love this fabric!  There are lots of great prints in this line, and the linen looks are also wonderful.

Each one is lined, so they are very finished and polished looking.

The pattern includes four variations.  One of them is this one, which has no interfacing or batting in it.  The top is cuffed over, and I used some variegated Valdani perle cotton to do the running stitch around the cuff.  I didn't want to use any DMC floss, for fear it would run if it got wet!  Looking at this closely....looks like I got a crooked stich there in my running stitch.  Oh, well.  The charm of something handmade, right?  I used the turquoise blue linen look from the Mod Century line for the lining.

I like this one, because it's very "crushable."  It's a great little thread catcher for throwing in your travel bag for use on the road or when you're at a sew in.  It barely takes up any room.  And when you get there, you just fluff it back up, and it stands up great.  I love it.  This is the style Amanda Jean gave me at our retreat, and I just love it.  I use it a lot!

I also tried one of the other variations.  This one has no cuff, but it does have batting inside.  There is a strip of patchwork around the thread catcher.  In her sample, the thread catcher was quilted with straight-line quilting, and the base was made of linen.  I used the "linen-looking" fabric that is part of the Mod Century line and decided to practice my pebble quilting.  This is a really nice sized project to practice some free-motion quilting on!  I used some grey Auriful thread for the quilting.  I had fun practicing, and I think it turned out very cute.  Because this one has batting in it, it is more stiff and sturdy, if you are looking for that.

The other two variations are a cuffed version without the running stitch and a fully patchwork base.  They are all so cute!  These took very little time to make.  I think the quilted one took me an hour, and the one with the cuff took maybe 30 min.  And they would make great little gifts.  I could even see these in a bathroom holding Q-tips or cotton balls.  They would also make a nice little trash collector in the car, for all those little scraps of paper that seem to find their way all over my car. 

The pattern is well written and easy to follow.  This is another great beginner project or, like I said, a quick and easy gift project.  (I needed a couple of little gifts for sewing friends in the next couple weeks, so these will be perfect.)  I was thinking they'd also be great for making multiples (thinking of boutiques at your next quilt show) because they are quick and easy.

If you'd like a copy of the pattern, you can get it here.  I'll definitely be making more of these.  It's fun to put fabric combinations together for the project.  And the two patchwork versions are great ways to use up small scraps!

Well, between yesterday and today, you've seen about everything I accomplished this weekend.  We'll see if I have anything else to share this week!  Not getting much done in the sewing room lately!  Hope you have a wonderful day!

Until next time,

Full disclosure:  Amanda Jean gave me a copy of this pattern.  However, she did not ask me to review it in return.  She simply gave it to me as a friend.  Although I paid for the Mod Century fabric myself, Marmalade is one of my sponsors.  I just love Tammy's (of Marmalade) taste in fabric and thank her for sponsoring my requests now and then.  She has great customer service in her shop, too.  Check it out!  Neither Amanda Jean nor Tammy asked me to review these products.  These are just my humble thoughts about them.

 

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Wrapping Up a Casserole...(Breakfast Casserole Recipe and Wrap Up Casserole Carrier Pattern Review)

I wonder how many of you do this....

At about 6:00 pm on Wednesday night, you think about the meeting you have at 8:30 tomorrow morning....the one to which one of your colleagues very often brings a yummy warm egg dish of some sort to share.  And you feel like a schlep because you never bring anything to share--you're too stinking busy during the academic year to be that thoughtful.

This thought pops in your head...."I should bring the food tomorrow morning."

So, you say to your husband (who does all the cooking), "Would you be willing to help me make a nice egg strata of some sort for tomorrow morning?"

If you're lucky, he loves to cook, and eagerly says, "Sure!" and gets his recipe book out.  "I need these things, however:  eggs, bacon...."  You get the idea.   Someone needs to go to the grocery store.  And it's already 7 pm by this time.

So you go.  Because your hubby is kind enough to cook it for you.  You get home around 8:15 pm.  He mixes it all up so all you have to do is stick it in the oven in the morning.  You put your cute kid to bed.

So, then you say to yourself, "I really wish I had one of those cool warmer things to carry this hot egg dish to the meeting in tomorrow morning.  I have a pattern and the fabric downstairs to make one.  I should really sew that up one of these days....Well, there is no time like the present."

And at 9:00 pm, you go downstairs and start cutting and sewing.

So, does it sound familiar?  Or do you think I'm totally loony?  Well, this was my story on Wednesday night this past week!

The breakfast casserole turned out fantastic.  It was a huge hit at my meeting.  I really liked it a lot.  One of my favorites of all egg casseroles.  Even the secretary at our meeting, who is a really picky eater, went back for seconds.

You want the recipe, don't you?  Papa Pea gave me permission to share it with you!

Breakfast Casserole

1 lb. sliced bacon, diced  (we used the thick sliced bacon)

1 sweet onion, chopped

¼ - ½ C. green or red pepper, chopped (optional)

1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)

4 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed

9 eggs, lightly beaten     

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1 ½ Cups small curd cottage cheese

1 ¼ Cups shredded Swiss cheese

1. Cook bacon and onion (peppers and garlic) over medium-high heat until bacon is browned
2. Drain and put into large bowl
3. Stir in potatoes, eggs, and cheeses (add seasoning to taste)
4. Pour into a greased 9X13-inch baking dish
5. Bake in pre-heated oven (350 degrees) for 45-50 minutes
6. Let stand approximately 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

And here is how my casserole dish carrier turned out.  It's cute, I think!

It opens up like this.  The first flaps are held shut with velcro.

The other flaps fold over like this, and the wooden spoons are the handles.  (It's hard to hold something in one hand and take a photo of it in your other hand....especially when you want to show someone how it is held!)

I made this from a pattern and fabric kit I bought at Nancy's Notions a LONG time ago.  I looked at the pattern, and it said it was last edited in 2006.  That sounds about right, in terms of when I probably bought it.  The kit came with the fabric you see on the outside (enough for the outside and inside), the wooden spoons, the Insulbright, and the pattern.  I had purchased the darker fabric, because I wanted my lining to be a different color.  So, I now have enough of both fabrics to make another.  (Boy, my taste in fabric sure has changed over the years.  I would not choose this now.  But I don't dislike it.  At least I'll use it, because I won't be afraid to wreck it!)

The pattern was really easy to follow, and the carrier is fairly easy to create.  It is a good beginner/easy project.  It would make a great gift.  I couldn't find this exact pattern on Nancy's Notions' website.  But I did find a similar one.  I think they have updated it again.  You can see it here, if you are interested.

One thing I would change....The pattern tells you to start the end of the velcro (which you can't see in any of my photos, but you can in the photo on the Nancy's Notions website if you click on "More Views" under the picture) 1" from the edge of the flap.  I would start the "hook" side of the velcro closer to the edge, or I'd make the "loop" strip longer.  I found that with my 9x13" pan, the ends of the velcro didn't meet and I couldn't velcro it shut.  It was sooooo close, but no cigar.  But it was not a big deal.  The flaps did stay closed.  You can just see in the photo where I am holding it that the flaps are not taught against the dish.  I suppose this could allow it to cool faster (or possibly slip out, but I never felt like it was going to do that).

It worked great, too.  I took the casserole out of the oven at about 7:30 am.  We didn't open the carrier and dig in until about 8:45 or 9:00 am, and it was still piping hot!  Impressive!  (People liked my carrier, too!)

The other day, when I blogged the hot pads I made, I said that I used a layer of batting and a layer of Insulbright, and that seemed to get rid of the "crunchy" feeling and sound of the Insulbright.  I got to thinking later, that another reason the crunchy sound was absent could be that the hot pads are made of canvas...a fairly thick fabric.  I wondered how the batting trick would work if the project was just cotton and not canvas.  This was my chance to try.  So, I added a layer of batting to the Insulbright in this project as well.  It really did help the "crunchiness."  It's not bad at all, even when using cotton fabrics.  It's not as good as the canvas, but far better than without the batting.  So, that is good.  I learned something.

I thanked Papa Pea again for making this dish for me to take.  He pointed ad the casserold dish carrier and asked, "Is that what you made last night?"

I answered, "Yes.  And I was done by 11:00 pm.  I made it in 2 hours."

He said, "I gotta hand it to you.  You really bang them out.  Good job!  It's great!"

Good man.

So, I wonder if it will take me 7 more years to bang out the other one I have fabric for.  Maybe I should get it done right away.....

Have a wonderful weekend!  Friday night sew in for me!  (No, I'm not sewing another casserole carrier!)  Woo hoo!  How about you?  What are you up to?  And do you have any good stories for me about last minute sewing like this?

Until next time,

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Sweetwater's Canvas Hot Pads

The sun is shining here this morning, and it's beautiful.  Yay!

Update on red, running DMC floss...I got much of it out, but not all.  I'll do a blog post on that when I reveal the quilt.  Okay?  Long story short, the red just kept bleeding, the more I tried to get it out!  But it is a little better.  Thanks, everyone, for your great suggestions, help, and commiseration!

On a happier note....

A while back, I saw a blog post on Sweetwater's blog that they had kits for these canvas hot pads.  They suggested these would be great Mother's Day gifts.  They suggested that (a) there was still time, and (b) here's an idea of what to do.  What happens to them often happens to me:  I fuss around so long thinking about what to make, in the end there's not time, so I end up buying something.  LOL!  But here they had given me an idea and the tools to execute it, and there was still enough time for me to actually complete it.  So, I ordered the kit and sewed these up last weekend for my MIL for Mother's Day.  (SisLH, if you are reading this, don't tell her!)

My MIL likes to cook a lot, so I thought these would be really cute for her.  I think they would be best used as "trivets" rather than "hot pads."  They are primarily made of canvas, with a little bit of Noteworthy fabric in the corners.  (The backs are just a solid piece of canvas.)  So, they are fairly stiff.

I love the fabric, and the labels really make these fun.  (You can click on the photos to enlarge them, if you want to see more detail.)  The labels look like a chalkboard.  Very cute.

The pattern called for two layers of batting between the canvas layers.  I have a ton of Insulbright laying around, so I substituted one layer of that for one layer of batting.  I figured that would really protect a hand going in the oven or a table from a hot dish.  I left the second layer of batting in there, however, because I think if you just use Insulbright, your item tends to feel "crunchy," and you can hear the Insulbright crinkle in there.  I read on someone else's blog (I'm sorry, I can't remember where), that including a layer of batting helps get rid of that.  So, I wanted to try it here.  It really made all the difference in the world.  I will always do that now.

EDIT:  I made another project with Insulbright and batting.  It was not made out of canvas, but rather quilting cotton.  The batting also seemed to help with the "crunchiness" there, too.  You can read about it here if you want to.

After I trimmed off the little extra triangles in the corners, I made these little pinwheel blocks from the scraps.  Why not?  I already had the two little triangles cut and put together!  I used my new Eleanor Burns Half Square Triangle Ruler to trim them up, and they turned out perfect.  I'm just throwing all these little pinwheel blocks I make from scraps into a drawer.  Someday, I'll put them all together for a cute little quilt.

True to form, Sweetwater is generous with their fabrics in the kit.  I have enough scraps to make another potholder.  That would take care of all the canvas.  Because they gave me a full width of fabric by 4" to make the little corners, and it only takes four 4" squares for the potholder, I have plenty of the cotton left to go into my scrap drawer.  I love that.

This is a super easy project.  I sewed up both in less than an hour.  The instructions are clear and easy to follow.  This is a great beginner project, or just a real quick project if you need one.  I was thinking these would be great hostess gifts over the summer, too.  :-)

If you are interested, the link to this kit in Sweetwater's Etsy shop is here.  I might suggest buying an extra label (which you can do here or here)....You'll have enough scraps to make three and the kit only comes with two labels.  I may order one more label.  It's a great price, too.  The labels themselves are $10 for two, and you get the whole kit for $10...in the kit you get the labels, the fabric, and the pattern.  Very nice!  EDIT:  YOU DO NOT GET THE LABELS IN THE KIT.  YOU HAVE TO ORDER THOSE SEPARATELY.  SORRY.  I FORGOT I ORDERED THOSE SEPARATELY.  I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO A STRIKETHROUGH ON MY TEXT IN TYPEPAD.  :-)

(I have no affiliation with Sweetwater.  I just love their fabrics, labels and projects.  I think their kits are well priced and a lot of fun.)

I've also ordered my MIL a cute notepad with her name on it and five photos of Sweet Pea and her dad down the left-hand side.  Snapfish had a great sale on those the other day, and I thought it would be a great Mother's Day gift.  As soon as that arrives, I'll package it all up and send it off.

I'm still working on my own mother's gift.  I better get cracking!

Have a wonderful day!  I go to the eye doctor today.  I am afraid he's going to say....bifocals.  :-(

Until next time,

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Jimmy Beans Wool Downton Abbey Mystery KAL Finished!

I woke up this morning to 39 degrees and lots of wind.  But it wasn't raining.  So, I decided to go for my walk.  I had to don winter coat, ear warmers, hood, and gloves.  It was a cold walk.  I put on my earphones, opened my Michigan Radio NPR app, and started listening to Morning Edition.

And I heard the news about the manhunt in Boston.  Wow.  What a way to wake up.  I am praying for the saftey of my brother and his family, as well as all those in Boston.  Amazing developments.

(Two quick updates:  I texted my brother and learned they left for Disney yesterday.  Whew!  That's a relief.  And, I saw snowflakes on my way to work.  SNOW.  FLAKES.)

A while back, I finished my gauntlets from the Downton Abbey Mystery Knit Along from Jimmy Beans Wool.  (I originally blogged it here, if you want more information.)  I had a lot of fun with this Mystery KAL.  It was the first one I had done, and it was fun.  I also loved working with the wool (Lorna's Laces) and knitting up this project.  In the photo above, on the left is the gautlet from the top side.  I loved knitting that shell lace pattern along the arm opening.  On the right is the palm side.  You can see the I-cord is threaded through some eyelets in the gauntlets so you can adjust the length of them.  I thought that was a nice detail.

No, these aren't snakes or worms.

You were all grossed out by the snake photos I posted yesterday.  I'm with you on hating snakes, by the way!  ;-)

My students were all complaining yesterday that it stinks outside with all this rain lately.  They said it smells like worms outside.  LOL.  It totally does!

This is the I-cord I made.  It's not threaded through the eyelets right now (obviously).  I wanted to show you this, becuase I love how the colors pooled.  So pretty!

Here they are laced up and tied up.  Pretty, huh?

Here is how they look on me.  I really like them.

And here they are from the side.

You can download this pattern now free on Ravelry.  So, if you want to make them, you can. They are a lot of fun to knit and it's a small, quick project.  The pattern is easy to follow.  I would say an advanced beginner can make it.  All you need to know how to do is knit, purl, yarn over, SSK, and K2tog.  All really easy.  And very satisfying.

I'm so glad I participated in the KAL.  There is a new KAL with Jimmy Beans going on right now.  It's a Game of Thrones KAL.  I got the yarn for that, too.  It's beautiful.  I'll show it to you later.  But I haven't had time to start it yet.  I'm not looking ahead at anything in the KAL, because I don't want to spoil the surprise.  So, if you are doing it and have figured out what it is yet, don't tell me!  :-)

I love Game of Thrones.  We don't get that channel (HBO?), so I have to wait until it comes out on DVD anyway.  I'm trying to decide if I can wait that long to do the KAL.  I think not.  We'll see.  I have plenty of other projects to keep me busy.  LOL. 

We actually have snow in our forecast tonight, if you can believe it.  Sigh.

But warmer and sunny weather predicted for tomorrow.

Have a great weekend, everyone.  Please stay safe.

Until next time,

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