Another quilt

I love the 5 and Dime quilt pattern! It is so quick and easy to make up, and when you have terrific fabrics, it is easy to make your quilting skills look better than they are. So I went to the fabric store yesterday, and came home with fabrics for two of these quilts.

The first colorway will be a quilt for my niece, who just graduated from college.

This second colorway I bought, just because I love it!

Today's project is to see how much I get done. I hope to at least get the top together.

I'm also proud to announce I have a winner in my yarn giveaway contest! Congratulations to Jessica, who read this blog and bought a skein of yarn, to win the free skein!

Free Yarn Giveaway!

How cool is this? Fluorescent dyed sock yarn under the blacklight! I'm so excited about this new dye, it is so fun! Make your socks from this yarn and wear them dancing, and bring a new meaning to "shake your booties"! Wear them Moonlight Bowling. Everyone will be so fascinated with your socks, they'll roll gutter balls! I just know you can have fun with socks made from this new yarn.

Okay, I promised free yarn, right? Well, here's the deal. Below is the first skein I did. I got the dyebath too hot, and the yarn felted slightly, so I don't feel comfortable selling it. There really isn't anything drastically wrong with it, it just isn't up to my high standards. Here you can see what it looks like in natural light.

And, under a blacklight. Look at that glow! The neighbors will think you've gone radioactive! This would be great yarn to make socks for your next Halloween party. This is some of my self striping Team Spirit yarn. The stripes will knit up to approximately two rows of black to three rows of orange. I had originally done this yarn to honor my Alma Mater. But instead of selling it, I decided to give it away for free!

So, how do you win this yarn? Go to my Etsy store, Rooskie Dooskie Designs, buy a skein of yarn, and tell me you've read my blog. The first person to do so will win this yarn. 440 yards of fluorescent fun! Thanks for reading, and check back for more great specials like this!

Matilda makes a great model

As promised, here is the vest I made to wear to my daughter's recital last Saturday. Yes, I really wore it, you can see the wrinkles. The buttons do not line up with the fasteners. That is what happens when you sew them on at 12:30 in the morning. I was going to fix them in the car on the way over, but since I had a friend along, I visited with her instead. So I will get around to doing that, before I wear it again.

Okay, who put that leaf right there?!

The sides are hand dyed, hand pleated silk. You can adjust the size on the sides, which makes this a very wearable piece. It looks great here on Matilda, who is a perfect size six, and it looked good on me, who is somewhat larger.



I used two different shades of dupioni for the body of the vest, one slightly lighter than the other. For the inserts I used a variety of fabrics, which you can see here. Three different green dupionis, a metallic brocade in pink and gold, a green silk brocade, and a pink changeable silk taffeta.


The cording I used to create the closures also is what controls the fullness of the pleats on the sides. I hand twisted embroidery floss to make the cording.

I hope you like my vest! Tomorrow, more yarn. I've been busy cooking up some fun new things. Now, for everything to hurry up and dry!

Quite a Yarn

Okay, maybe I should have titled this entry "A Tangled Skein". I've been busy dyeing yarn the last few weeks, on the advice of my daughter, who knits. She knows I love working with dye and color, and I guess she figured I'd be a natural at creating hand dyed yarn.

It's been great fun experimenting, and I think after about ten skeins, I've hit my stride. Here are a few of my favorites.





Of course, it is so hard to capture the actual colors on a computer, but they are rich and vibrant.

Just for fun, and since I was using acid dyes anyway, I threw a piece of silk in the pot to soak up any excess dye. I used it to try another new discovery, fabric postcards!



Tomorrow I'm going to try my hand at self striping sock yarn. It is a laborious process preparing the yarn for dyeing, but now the hard part is done and the fun can begin.

Oh! Here is the fabric I ended up choosing for my vest.



I'll try to get pictures of the finished product tomorrow.

Dilemma

On Saturday my daughter will be performing her Senior Recital. She is a music major, majoring in Flute Performance and will graduate this June. I want to wear something special to this last concert, but what? I have a vest pattern that I've been wanting to make for a while, so I decided now is the time to make it up. It is from Purrfection Patterns, and is a perfect canvas for something fun. I really want to applique a giant poppy on the back, or embroider a peacock. But I think both of those choices would be too flashy for this occasion. Plus, time is a factor! So my plan was to modify the pattern by slashing the front and back at an angle, and adding in strips of fabric. I will use pleated silk instead of the side panels, hoping it will add a Fortuny touch. Here's my dilemma:




What colors do I choose? Ack! I don't want to go too bold, yet I look terrible in muted colors. Did I add that I will be wearing black pants? The are the only thing I have that fits right now.

Hopefully I will be able to decide by tonight, because time's awastin'!