Where the Streets Have No Name - U2 cross stitch

Catching up on blogging some of my cross-stitch finishes on the last post made me think that I should put more of them on here.

When we went on our first big vacation a few years ago, I decided to start a new project. Cross-stitch is very portable, as there's not a lot of big bulky supplies (like a few/many skeins of yarn, for example), so it works out well to take on an airplane flight. I decided that I wanted this to be something for me, so that I would be potentially reminded of our vacation when I saw it. Or at least, that was the theory. 

I saw the U2 design by Pixel Power and knew that I needed to stitch it. U2 is my favorite band and has been since I was a teenager. And I enjoyed thinking about what lyrics I would what to add when I finished. In the end, it had to be Where the Streets Have No Name. I mean, that was just a no brainer.

I had this framed professionally at my local Joann's, and I was thrilled to see how it turned out. One of my favorite workers there helped come up with the matting and framing for it, and I couldn't be happier.

New cross stitch finish!

I have made a few cross-stitch pieces from Climbing Goat Designs. Apparently I never blogged them, so here we go. 

This is the cat heart pattern. I made it for a friend who lost her cat.

This is the paw print heart pattern. I changed the colors to be bright instead of pastel, and I've made it twice now. Once was for an animal organization's fundraising auction, and the other (shown below) was to memorialize my own pets.

And then I've had quite a few more on my list. The Antartica snow globe has been one, and it was the one I chose to stitch at Christmas time. I've spent quite a few hockey games stitching this, and it's finally done! And I love it! I think I'm going to frame it in a painted hoop, like the cat heart above. I haven't decided for sure, but isn't it lovely?

 

Catching up on Cardigans

Posting about my latest Star Wars cardigan made me realize that I never blogged this version, either. This is another Cocoon Cardigan - my second, in fact, even though I am blogging about it much later. I found this fabric at JAF as well, but it is one of their Doodles line. I had heard that the fabric didn't have the best recovery, and it definitely doesn't when compared to the cotton-lycra fabrics. But who can resist Christmas paw prints and snowflakes???

It's definitely not my favorite of these cardigans, but I do enjoy wearing it in December/January. And it's nice and cozy, but I don't get too hot when I wear the 3/4 sleeves.

 

More sports pants!

So when JAF had the good sale on licensed sports fabrics, I also bought a length of fleece for my buddy. She's a die-hard White Sox fan, and she's also always cold, so I figured this would be a total win.

Sometime maybe last year - I don't think I ever mentioned it on the blog - I had mocked up two adult sizes of  S8022 and sent them to my SIL, to try on for size, when she wanted me to make her some lounge pants. Never one to miss an opportunity, I then asked her to forward them to my friend so she could do the same. I was really wanting to make her some flannel PJ pants in a plaid background and wanted to use a pattern with minimal seams. But it also works out well for fleece!

And then, since I've learned these lessons, I thought to check if I could squeeze a pair for my niece (her dad is also a White Sox fan) out of the leftovers! And - woohoo! She gets an extra pair of lounge pants, and I have less fabric waste. You can see that I'm still debating shirt colors for a matching shirt with applique.

Edited to add that I decided to go with grey! Mainly because I have a new use for the red shirt. ;)

 

Gift/stash/gift stash sewing!

I've been motivated to sew stash recently, and it has the added bonus of adding to my gift stash, because so much of these fabrics were purchased on sale with intentions of use for a gift for someone. This one is no different. I purchased this Detroit Tigers flannel early in the year when JAF put licensed sports fabrics on a good sale. My aunt is a lifelong Tigers fan, so it was fun to find this fabric for her.

 This is M3006, my (mostly) go to for women's PJ pants. Since I'm not sure exactly how well the elastic is sized for her (it's hard to get definite answers to that), I always put in buttonholes in the waist and a drawstring. This particular drawstring is an orange ribbon that I also used in a not-quite-finished pair of PJs for my niece (they'll be done and show up eventually!)

These will be either her birthday or Christmas gift this year. Whew! So nice to be getting things out of the way already!

Lounge pants for a kiddo

I stopped by JAF the other day to look for a specific fabric to pet. Then this one caught my eye and it became an impulse buy for my niece. 😎 I'm going to assume that she won't mind. The fleece was on all sale, and it only took a yard to turn into a cute pair of lounge pants for her, just like the Grinch pair I made from the leftovers of my pants.

I ended up making a shirt to go with this one to send to my niece. I'm working through a bunch of shirts that I bought her and never did anything with, so.....the scraps of fleece that were leftover were useless, so I traced the unicorn constellation and made an applique from it.

I tried to echo the lines of the constellation in the stitching. Hopefully it looks good enough.

 

STAR WARS CARDIGAN!!!

So three years ago, I finally made my first Cocoon Cardigan, which I'd been planning for some time (but was spurred by the desire to wear a Star Wars cardigan to a wedding). I wear it frequently still! And either just before or just after sewing that cardigan, I bought the fabric for the next one!

This was from JAF, and I believe it is a cotton-lycra type fabric. Very stretchy, and a lot of drape. The background is actually navy (it looks almost like faded black in this pic!), and those are Star Wars designs in constellations.

A picture of it all spread out. I made this exactly the same way as I did the maroon Star Wars cardigan, and my modifications are well described in that post.

And the obligatory but not very helpful picture on me. ;)
 

PJs for ME!

As I continue my push to use up some stash, I'm also making sure some is used for ME! I bought this flannel years ago with the intent to make a shirt/pants PJ set, but that was before realizing I prefer knit short-sleeve tops for PJ shirts. So instead, I used it to make myself a pair of PJ pants and a pair of PJ shorts. This way, I can wear the monster flannel year round!

 

Grinch set for my niece!

I try my hardest to get my niece's birthday present out on time (her birthday is just before Christmas), but then the Christmas gifts to that household are usually sometime in January. You know....it draws out the season. 😂 

So when I made my Grinch lounge pants for me, I realized that I probably had enough leftover to make her a pair, as well. These fleece pants require no seam finishing and no pressing, so they are quick to make! Last night, I traced the pattern and whipped up a pair in no time. I used Simplicity 8022, child/teen size S. (I compared the pattern to the KS213 I've been using for her, and the XS was about exactly the size I've been using, so I went up a size to give her more time to wear them.)

And then, just for fun, I appliqued Grinches from the leftover fabric onto two shirts, for a PJ set. (Why two? Well, I couldn't decide on black vs white, and I also have a bunch of shirts for her that I haven't yet done anything with, so....)

 

Lounge pants for ME!

So last year, I found Grinch fleece on clearance at JAF, and I bought enough to make myself a pair of PJ/lounge pants. But I hadn't used a one piece pattern for my own PJ pants so far, so I didn't want to mess it up. Therefore, I started by trying on Thing 1's pants made from S8022. That sizing seemed to work, so I decided to try a test pair first, and also try adding patch pockets. Clearly I never bothered to blog the results, so here you go. The most ridiculously loud pair of lounge pants ever. The Husband begged me to burn them. 😎 I have no idea where I put them, so he may have gotten his wish.

 But the loud pair did tell me what I needed to know, so just in time for this Christmas (literally on Christmas Eve!), I cut into my Grinch fleece and made myself a pair of lounge pants. I decided to leave the pockets off this time, especially since I'm usually wearing a cardigan or hoodie in the house, so I'll have a pocket for my phone. We'll see....

They're super cozy! And this is a better look at the print.