Cloth Napkins and Pork Pie

This entry will attempt to kill several birds with one stone.  I have the hardest time getting to the computer to update this blog.

So the above picture helps illustrate what I have been up to lately.  The pork pie turned out cute, so I couldn't resist adding it to the photo.  A similar recipe can be found here, except with the addition of a dash of cinnamon and lots of pepper and some salt.  The homemade pie crust is a must! I have tried several recipes for pie crust, but the best I have found is from Ina Garten's book Barefoot Contessa Family Style.  Once you start making your own pie crust, you won't be able to go back to store-bought. I usually serve the pie with a simple brown gravy on the side.

Anyway, this post is really about the cloth napkins.  I have wanted to make the shift for quite some time now, but I wasn't sure if the family would be on board.  Well, the experiment is a success!  and I hope I never have to buy another cheap flimsy paper napkin again.  None of the napkins coordinate or match or anything, but they are all fabrics I love -- some I have had for years, but couldn't really work them into a project.  They were easy to make, although somewhat tedious.  I started with a batch of about 15 (or maybe just 12?? I didn't actually count).  I made them about 16 1/2" x 18" although this is before I seamed them around the edges.  Rudy has fun picking out his napkin for the day and it is really surprising the way they add color to the table.

So with that, I will leave you with another picture.  I am sure this is weird, but I could see a mirror of life in the trail of this poor little snail.  Sometimes the pathways of life are a little like this -- even a snail has a very rough road sometimes:

Another Pebble Vest and Itty Bitty Hat

Here is my second Pebble Vest.  You can see my first here along with details on where I found the pattern and the alterations I made.  This one was done in Cascade Sierra which is an 80% cotton/20% wool combo.  It was my first knitting experience with cotton.  Very different from knitting with wool, but I enjoyed it.  I especially love the final look of the sweater in this yarn.  The hat is from the book Itty Bitty Hats.  Rudy thinks it looks like a frog and I kind of agree with him.  By the way, for all those who love knitting baby things, Susan Anderson has a knew book that I flipped through the other day called Itty Bitty Toys.  It is every bit as cute as her book on hats (could it possibly be even cuter??!!).  This book actually could make a no-toys-knitter want to knit toys.  The reviewers on Amazon seem to agree with me.

I was able to knit both of these items with one hank of Sierra (something I had in my stash that had originally been bought for a dress for Josephine.  It gives me a good feeling to think of Josephine sharing this yarn with her brother).  I did make the hat a bit smaller than the pattern called for (0-3 months) because I wanted it to fit right out of the womb and both my kids had smallish heads.  Were it not for the alterations, I would not have had enough yarn. 

I really can't get enough of this Pebble Vest!

Bathroom mats from Patchwork Style

There is nothing more unfriendly than cold bathroom floor tiles in the winter.  The fact that none of our bathrooms have rugs in them was really starting to bug me.  When I saw the idea for some kitchen mats in this great book Patchwork Style, I really got excited.  It was just the right project for Rudy's bathroom.

I don't see myself actually making most of the projects from the book, but I was inspired by the major concept of the book.  Many of the patchwork projects are sort of quilt-as-you-go. Those that call for foundation piecing are pieced right on the batting which acts as the foundation.  This technique does create some drawbacks -- the most obvious one became apparent after just a bit of sewing -- the fuzz build-up in the machine after just a bit of sewing directly on the batting was incredible.  I stopped a couple of times during the sewing process just to clean out my machine.  If using this technique for a quilt, one would still then have to quilt all the layers together.

I was very pleased to be able to use mainly fabrics that I had on hand.  The whole project was designed around the giraffe print which is a fabric from an old pillow case from Ed's childhood. The white cotton canvas on the back and border was a remnant I inherited from Ed's grandmother. Most of the other pieces were scraps, too.  I like that it turned out with a kind of retro-seventies look about it.  It would be a great project for a beginner who was trying to get lots of practice making straight lines using the edge of the presser foot as a guide.  It did get tedious, but I also tried to do that step all in one evening.

Cards

I made these cards a few weeks ago.  The featured fabric in the middle of each is from fabric I bought about 15 years ago at a quilt festival.  The fabric had a beautiful batik-like look about it, but I'm really not into batiks, so it has taken me a while to figure out how to use it.  On the whole, I like the way they turned out.  Definitely, I would recommend using a walking foot!  I have seen these these sorts of cards a lot lately and was really inspired to try it when I bought this book by Denise Schmidt:

As a quilt designer, I think she is doing some lovely things.  Her recommendations on color and use of solids vs. patterned fabric are right on, as far as I am concerned.  You can see her quilted cards on the cover (bottom right corner).  My first attempts looked more like hers, but I didn't like them very much.  The ones you see at the top are my second attempt.

Mama's Bag from Handmade Home

 I absolutely love they way this purse turned out.  I have been sitting on this fabric for two months waiting for inspiration for a purse pattern to hit me.  It kept getting put aside for other projects.  Then I got this great book for my birthday (thank-you, Ed):

Handmade Home is just full of projects I can't wait to make.  The author,  Amanda Soule, also has a wonderful blog called soulemama and another book The Creative Family that I don't own yet.  I can't wait to tackle the braided rug she shows in Handmade Home:And I fell in love with the "Mama's Bag" the first time I saw it.

Her instructions for the bag are very clearly written.  A beginner could certainly follow them with no problem.  The things I changed were minor.  I added an extra inner layer of flannel to give the purse more body.  I made the bag slightly wider and added about 4 inches in depth.  I also made two simple inner pockets to the lining on the inside seen here:

The author's approach to sewing with scraps and repurposed textiles really appeals to me.  It is something I enjoy doing myself, and the way she uses these items in her projects is really inspiring. For my own bag, I set a goal of not buying any additional materials to complete this project.  While I had already bought the outer main fabric, I limited myself to other fabric, thread, scraps etc. that I already had for the lining and straps and other things needed to complete the project.  I couldn't be more pleased with the results.