A shawl

In the spring I love to knit lace. Maybe it's the blooming trees with their delicate flowers, maybe the emerging sun and shedding of warm sweaters and hats, I am not sure.
When I came across this fingerling weight Araucania hand dyed yarn in my stash, I knew right away that it will become one of Myrna Stahman's Faroese style shawls. I've made a Gracie shawl room her book before and always wanted to make another.
This is the Alka shawl.
The construction of Myrna's shawls is fabulous, the shawls are worked top down, starting at the neck edge, including shoulder shaping and then worked down to desired length.
The pattern is reminiscent of tulips, which I love. I'm planning on knitting on a beaded  border at the bottom.

Just a TRUCK quilt

This one also took a while.
I had this truck fabric for a long, long time, until one special boy, who is obsessed with trucks was turning 3 years old.

Quilt Front:

Simple enough. I wanted to carry the colors from the truck fabric, at the same time to make it seem that the trucks "move" through the quilt. The yellow represents road, blue represents the sky and green - trees.

Quilt Back:

The boy's name (No, his name isn't really "hide The Name) is appliqued on either side of the light, using satin stitch applique.

Pattern used: none
Fabric:

• Unknown truck print stash fabric
• Kona red
• yellow and green, grey, blue solid from Connecting Threads

Quilting:  allover giant stipple

I did not have enough fabric leftover for a matching pillowcase, so I purchased a pillowcase and added a cuff with contrast piping.

Finished!

This quilt took a very, very long time.
I finished everything but quilting the border and sewing binding 3+ years ago!

2 reasons I never finished it: first of all, it's very large, making it very hard to quilt on a regular machine and second, I had another baby and with 5 kids there just isn't enough time!
Slowly, slowly I was able to complete the quilt and make a matching pillowcase for a standard Ikea throw pillow (even the zipper was a perfect size, no shortening needed- love when that happens!).

 15 minutes after the quilt and the pillow were laid on the couch my almost 4 year old fell asleep snuggled under the quilt and slept for few hours.
And just to think that she was a tiny baby when I started the quilt!

Pattern: Organic Style - Free pattern from Moda Bake Shop
Fabric: Jelly Roll Strips from Connecting Threads
Border: Kona Cotton in Wheat and Espresso
Batting: Warm and Natural.
Quilting: machine quilted with large all over stipple
Finished size: 70"x70"

Simplicity!

Not much sewing being done here, excluding alterations and getting everyone's clothes in tip top shape for school, of course.
But that doesn't prevent me from thinking about sewing!
I ordered 8 Simplicity patterns last night
(One of my favorite pattern shopping websites, sewingpatterns.com had an amazing sale).
Here are my faves:

Simplicity 1277
I think this is a very flattering, versatile dress.
It's sized by cup size for a perfect bodice fit.
For woven fabrics.
Wonder what it would look like in lightweight denim with pleather contrast panels?Hmm.

Simplicity 1285

Truthfully, I got this one just for the cute raglan T-shirts.

I love the neckline!

Simplicity 1283

 Love this one! Beautiful pieces, versatile and sized for stretch knits! Double knit, Ponte.

Simplicity 1323

More versatile knit pieces - notice a trend?

 

Simplicity 1325

And this! Love the basic T-Shirt pattern. The cropped jacket is great for spring/early fall.

These are the fun patterns, the rest are simple, ordinary ones. 

Once I match the projects with my fabrics, I will post an update.