The Project that Will Not End

So titled, because that's what I called it during construction.  

My friend is a martial artist.  I was looking for crochet graphs for potential fund-raising projects, and I ran across the martial artist graph.  That graph is intended for filet crochet, and I knew I wanted to use all single crochet stitches.  So I rewrote the graph so that each X on the graph became a 2x2 square on my graph.  Then I started stitching.  This has taken countless hours - mainly because I wanted it to be perfect.  I got almost halfway through the graph and realized I'd lost two stitches somewhere, so I ripped it back almost to the beginning and became much more obsessive about counting stitches.  I ripped the borders off and redid them three times, because I wasn't happy with how they were lying.  Ultimately, there's a lot of work in this afghan.  (It's covering my queen-size bed in this picture - I don't know why it looks so square, because it's definitely a rectangle.)  But it turned out amazing, and she loves it, so....well-worth the headache. 

Twirly dresses!

My niece loves to twirl, and she loves her aunt-made clothes.  And she loves her doll.  So I got a request for clothes that have matching doll clothes.  And I had every intention of getting these done much sooner, but life got in the way, and the sewing mojo vanished.  Doing the baby sling got it going, however, and I finished these prototypes.

I had gone through different pattern websites and run some ideas by my sister-in-law.  Some passed muster, some didn't.  This one did, and I hope my niece approves.  This is a prototype, to see if she likes it and how the sizing is before I use "new" fabric.  I used long held stash fabric.  The stars/lightning print was either a JAF or WM find when Thing 2 was a baby, because I remember thinking about using it for a diaper bag.  The green broadcloth happened to be in my stash, which was great, since it goes well.  I also didn't realize until later that there's totally a watermelon vibe going on here, but that's fine since it's summer.

This is a size 6 - tea length, with the waist ruffle.  Next time, I plan to try piping at the waist instead of a ruffle.  Just for kicks.

Another sling

I work with an animal shelter, and one of the technicians posted a picture of herself cleaning cages with a small dog in a makeshift sling (a towel tied around herself), because the dog wanted to be held close and cried until she picked her up.  I asked then, Do you need a baby sling?  The answer, of course, was YES!

Well, I don't have spare baby slings hanging around, but I do have fabric and skills.  I wanted this to be all stash, so I went digging and found this amusing license plate print from deep stash.  (Pretty sure it was from JAF many years ago.)  Since I was using a novelty cotton, I figured double layer would be best.  And I saw a tutorial for cutting one length WOF and the other 15-18 inches wide, then stitching long ends together.  You end up with a sling around 30 inches wide, but the seams are not on the edges, if that makes sense.

I wasn't going to use my good sling rings, but I couldn't find any welded steel rings bigger than 2" diameter, and that didn't work with the two layers of fabric.  So I gave in and used the ecru rings.  Hopefully I'll see some pics of this sling in action! 

Either way, I think sewing this jump started some sewing mojo....I'd been away from the machine for quite some time, and now I'm back in it - finishing some UFOs and planning more.