New and Old Loves

 Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy. For example, I answered an ad for sweater mitten supplies. Sounds innocent enough, but I didn't get my questions answered, such as how many mittens are cut out (answer: many), is a pattern included (answer: there are free patterns online), and other questions that are pretty straightforward but the answers were dodgie. I went ahead and drove out to pick up a very large box of supplies from her husband who couldn't answer any questions but would take my money and help get it into my car. After getting home and sorting through the box, I ended up with supplies for only 9 pairs of mittens, wool that hadn't been washed yet,  2 skeins of cheap yarn, a stack of thin fleece, and a huge pile of scraps that went right into my garbage. Oh my, what have I gotten into? I found a better pattern online, used my own fleece and wool, and started to sew sweater mittens. I seemed to have gotten carried away because I now have 52 pairs of mittens all ready for the fall craft fairs. Maybe this didn't turn out so bad.

Because I wanted the mittens I made to be different and, hopefully, better than some I've seen, I decided to quilt the lower palm section and add leather to the upper palm. This proved to be a bit of a problem because the leather had a small amount of stretch so it kept expanding as I sewed and there would be a pucker at the end. Then I remembered the Pfaff IDT, their version of a built in walking foot. This time I decided to get even more strategic by anchoring the leather onto the palm by using a spray used by quilters to hold the many layers of fabric together before sewing without using pins or basting. Between the spray basting and the walking foot/IDT, they went together like a breeze. I didn't put leather on all of the palms, just a selection, but all of the lower palms were quilted. I'm pleased with the end result and can now put this project away until fall when I'll add some in a child's size. Craft fairs: here we come!

Wool and fleece mittens with fleece lining.

Vintage linen continues to haunt me so I cut out a series of circles for my zipper cases to hold ear buds or anything else you might need a small holder for. I had great fun cutting them out but knew I would need to purchase extra zippers. Loving the look of lace zippers, I ordered an assortment package as well as regular all white zippers and went to town:

Zipper pouches in vintage linen

They are fun to do, no special machine needed this time, but I made up over forty! Plans are being made to make some for kids but for now I need a break. Before I leave the vintage linen projects, here's one more:

Fortune tellers

I saw this idea last year and now put it into action: linen napkins were starched using liquid starch so there are more like light cardboard, folded, and written on with a Micron pen. Did you make these with paper in school? Inside are little sayings like "You are my sunshine" and "When I count my blessings I count you twice" as well as some famous quotes. There were easy to make and are just a bit more sophisticated in the vintage linen. Now I have twenty of these to add to the craft fair stock.

And finally, something not sewn, I've made up my own shoes:

Crocheted summer shoes

I came across a pattern and decided this might be fun so I tracked down a pair of flip flops for the sole, punched holes for the crochet hook, and started picking up stitches:

Evenly spaced holes really helps

Although my first shoe looked good, it was too big and wouldn't stay on my foot. I made up the second one and this time I altered the pattern to decrease stitches after the third row and kept working at making my stitches tighter and smaller. Here's a comparison of the first and second shoes:

I wore them around the house the whole day and they were very comfortable. Next up, I'm looking for black flip flops, a color I find I'm wearing a lot and could use another pair for summer. Maybe I'll design my own this time instead of trying to adapt a pattern. A big thank you goes out to the Make and Do Crew for providing this pattern and good instructions.

I've been working on sewing machines, getting them ready for sale or admitting defeat and stripping for parts, when I came upon a Singer Quantum XL-6000 sewing and embroidery machine. This is a real top-of-the-line machine that sat on my shelf too long. I've been getting it ready for sale but find it is so sophisticated I have to sit down with the manual to set up each part. From the thread exchanger to the endless bobbin, it's way cool.

Singer Quantum XL-6000