Rambling Roses Design

Back, way back, I wrote a blog post about the beginnings of a set of pillows using the awesome fabric from my swap partner, Mel. The projects were finished soon after that post and just last week I remembered that I hadn’t shared them on the blog #facepalm!

I got two plump pillows and a runner done – love the bright colors and prints in this fabric line :: “Delighted” from Riley Blake.

Zee peee-lows

I made envelope style backs for the pillows and bound them with a bounty of dots… hmm, I always seem to have dots in my sewn creations.

For the pillow with the green binding, I managed to go all around using the same binding strip. For the other one, I had to get creative with coordinating scraps from my fabric stash. I love scrappy binding and it worked great for this project. Waste not, want not, right?

I quilted these by echoing the outlines of the blocks, then stuffed them with pillow forms. So squishy!

Straight line quilting for the runner seemed like the best option with its simple patchwork layout.

The runner has a pieced back – more dots! And yes, I didn’t pay attention to my bobbin tension while quilting this one.

They’ve added cheeriness to our home all summer!

Posted by Preeti & filed under Quilting, Sewing, Sewn Finishes. This post has 2 comments.

Today is the first of school for the kids and I’m ready to embrace routine and schedules and even some “me time” 😉 This summer has been a mixed bag of sorts with many wonderful moments celebrating family and togetherness and on the other end of the spectrum holding the hand of a dear one who is hurting more than words can begin to describe. And so, life goes on and these sunny days with cool breezes will be replaced with crisp ones as the leaves begin to turn into all of their vibrant autumn hues. The rain will be here once again as summer makes way for the arrival of fall.

It’s great to be back, I’ve really missed this space!

Let’s see… craftwise I’ve got nothing much to report (no surprise there, lol!)

I signed up for the Summer Sweater Knitalong hosted by Shannon of luvinthemommyhood. I get no points for this one. I’ve done a teensy bit of knitting on the sweater I picked for this KAL. Fail!!

My knitting mojo will kick in when the weather gets cooler, I’m hoping.

I’ve got some sewing on the go too. My son, Prithvi, drew me a doodle of a mason jar a few weeks ago knowing how I love all things vintage. (I’m coveting this aqua set even though I don’t need any more!)

I thought his drawing would look nice embroidered on fabric. So, I traced it on to some linen and embroidered it with simple stitches. A few bits of pretty fabric on the sides, insulating layers underneath and I’ve got a pot holder on the go!

I think I’ll make a mate sans stitchery to go with this one.

My computer time has been pretty sketchy these past couple months with so many summer related goings on and other stuff. I’m not a big fan of reading emails and getting through my blog queue on my phone (maybe I need new glasses, heh!) and so I haven’t been online very much. I’m so behind on blog reading and commenting and I have not been on Ravelry in weeks! Time to rectify that.

Happy September all 🙂

Posted by Preeti & filed under KAL, Sewing, Sweaters. This post has 5 comments.

My dear friend and neighbor (the same one who taught me how to quilt) has been going through some really tough medical issues and I have had to take a break from everything routine including social media/blogging and simply life in general.

Today, she asked me to scream and shake my fist at her cancer because she is too weak to do it…. my heart broke into a million pieces. How do you comfort someone who has been issued a best-before date?

Posted by Preeti & filed under Rambling. This post has 8 comments.

Start date on my Vitamin D cardigan was October of last year!!! Finally, this project is off the needles… huge sigh of relief!

I’m sort of on the fence about this one 🙁 I don’t know if I would feel differently if I had lengthened the body so that the “drapey bits” in front draped better. That said, a whole sweater in this yarn, Tosh Merino Light, is absolutely amazing. It is light and squishy and the color, even after a good soak, has remained as vibrant as it was in the skein.

The pattern itself is very well written and I loved working with short rows to create the curved shape on the front edges. I looove me some short rows! I tried the sweater on for size while it was still on the needles after the yoke was done and the sizing was spot on. I wish I had tried it on again to check for waist length. I have a good bit of yarn leftover too, wah, wah, wah! But that’s not going to stop me from wearing this cardigan, because it’s a great layering piece and I love the mustardy gold color.

I went up two needle sizes throughout the knitting of this sweater. I paid attention to binding off really, really loosely on the edging and also the cuffs.

The day we took these pictures was nowhere near a good sweater day – more like sweltering, whew! Like my other knitwear, this one is going inside the closet until the fall. My knitting mojo seems to have vanished too and all credit goes to the additional vitamin d we’re getting this summer over here on the West Coast 🙂 It’s been one gorgeous day after the next!

Now for the project deets…

Vitamin D (my Ravelry notes)
Pattern: Vitamin D by Hiedi Kirrmaier
Yarn: Tosh Merino Light in “Candlewick”
Needles: Size US 5 & 6 / 4 & 3.75 mm

Links for the pattern and designer are on www.ravelry.com

Posted by Preeti & filed under Cardigans, Finished Knits. This post has 7 comments.

Hello lovely people!

We’ve been back from our summer vacation in the Okanagan Valley for a few days now and things have eased back into the lazy, lovely summer-style schedule. Perfect!

Time away in the valley means many, many dips in the lake and awesome sunsets.

Plenty of delicious samplings :: wine, artisan cheeses and breads. Very yummy!

And, fruit… oh, the fruit!!

Also, we’re big fans of summer oatmeal. Usually, we throw the refrigerated mush in the blender for a breakfast smoothie. However, topping your bowl of overnight oats with a bunch of delicious fruit to eat in the morning, mmm… so good!

So, what crafting have I been upto while we’ve been enduring this heat wave you ask. I’ve got this shawlette going, but absolutely no motivation to play with wool (sticky fingers, eww!) Instead…. my instagram friends would have seen this picture on my feed of a couple mug rugs I pieced together a while ago.

They’ve been finished off with a bit of hand stitching.

And they are perfect for a mid morning snack.

And some lovely company too 🙂 (The go to choc-chip cookie recipe I use is a winner, everytime!)

What else? I’m trying to learn how to do English Paper Piecing and making these little hexagons is so addicting.

You can do all sorts of things with these little hexies. Have a lovely summer weekend (or winter for my friends in the Southern Hemisphere!)

Posted by Preeti & filed under Rambling, Sewing, Travel, Vacation. This post has 10 comments.

I’m done with week 1 of the Simply Retro QAL (quilt-along).

The plan for this along is to sew through each pattern in Camille Roskelley’s new book, Simply Retro. QAL-ers can make anything with their finished blocks, from coasters to quilts, or even a block that isn’t put together into a finished project. There’s also a Flickr group.

This week’s block is called “Swell”. The finished project in the book is a gorgeous quilt. Look at those pretty swirls and the happy prints. Definitely says summer!

I had enough fabric cut to make two blocks and when I put them together, I didn’t quite know what to do with the finished strip.

Until I folded it in half… voila, a handy little tote!

Yup, these fabric pieces are from Mel’s swap package – the amazing stuff that never ends!!

This tote is fully lined and I added a couple extra pockets inside. Very handy.

I would have loved to make the straps using the same red mini dot print, but I didn’t have enough, so I used white webbing instead. Meh.

My finished tote is perfect for hauling around my (almost-finished-only-one-row-left-yay!) Vitamin D cardigan.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to be part of the quilt along each week since the summer is always so unpredictable with the kids underfoot, hah! But, I’m going to try 🙂 I don’t think there’s a single project in this book that I don’t love!

Linking up on Jana’s blog. Check out what the others have come up with.

Posted by Preeti & filed under Bags, Sewing. This post has 10 comments.

Hello lovely people and happy first day of summer!!!

I’m here to do a bit of housekeeping talk about this ol’ blog. Some of the pictures I post on my blog are squished and spilling over into my sidebar and I’m sure you’ve read a post from me and gone, “Ack!” at my picture-posting messiness and for very good reason. My sincere apologies about disrupting your reading pleasure.

By way of explanation, I edit my pictures and write my blog posts on our iMac and keep a larger size image width because it looks alright on my screen and I like large images. But then, I happened to check my blog to reply to a message last night while I was on my laptop and yikes, I noticed this weird squishiness. I shrieked quite audibly making the hubster jump and being slightly… alright, very picky about stuff like this, I had to go back and edit things. Whew, now I can breathe easier! I will be more mindful of this and also…. I plan to get my own domain pretty soon… not that I know anything about all of this technical stuff. I tried to see if my domain name could be registered yesterday and this is what it says….

Haha, I don’t think so!!!! GeeWhiz, maybe I should try dot ca being Canadian and all.

Which brings me to my next thing…. Google Reader is waiting on death row and its date of execution has been set for July 1, 2013. I’ve been a long time user of this wonderful application but it’s time to move on coz I can’t do without my daily blog reading’ fix. With Bloglovin’ and Feedly and a few other contenders out there offering what G-Reader has offered but with a cleaner storefront, it was time to choose and move.

I chose and moved… to Bloglovin’ which took me under 5 minutes, seriously! You can find me on Bloglovin’ here, so please feel free to click on over and say hi 🙂

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I can’t leave you without a picture of summery goodness that is bursting forth and making me smile 🙂

Have a great weekend, peeps! Talk soon ♥

Posted by Preeti & filed under Rambling. This post has 5 comments.

A few weeks ago, I received a swap package in the mail from Melissa of Knits With Camels hi Mel 🙂 This was no ordinary package, it was filled, no, stuffed to the brim with goodies. Some fabulous skeins of yarn one of which is slowly being turned into a Frambuesa shawlette. Not your average TV knitting, so it’s slow going.

She also sent me these gorgeous coordinating fat quarters. The fabric is from Riley Blake and I think the line is called “Delighted”.

Since it’s been too warm to knit… hello summer, I’ve been spending lots of time sewing stuff. I decided that I would cut into these fat quarters and create something fun and bright to celebrate summer. I began by cutting a stack of 5 inch squares.

With no real plan in mind, I decided that the best way to go forward was to sew half square triangles using white for the contrast.

I ended up getting quite a few HSTs

A ton, in fact!

First, I put this large star block together.

Then I made another block. At this point, I still hadn’t made a dent in the squares.

I sewed some of them together in 3 long strips and sewed the strips together. Easy peasy.

I’m thinking quilted pillows and a runner for summer!

But wait, there’s more! I’m taking part in a Quilt Along (my first one, so I’m as green as they come!).

The first block we’re going to be making is from the “Swell” pattern in Camille Roskelley’s new book, Simply Retro. I got some pieces cut and ready to go for that QAL all from these same fat quarters. The quilt along begins next week so watch this space.

And… I still had a few squares left and so I made this adorable pin cushion 🙂

Now, I’ve run out of ideas and I’ve got 5 squares remaining!! I’ll be back to show you my finished pieces once I’ve put everything together.

Thanks Mel, that was some fabric bounty xoxo

Posted by Preeti & filed under Sewing. This post has 10 comments.

Meet Dottie, my bunny. Don’t you think she’s just pinch-those-cheeks cute!

Yeah, once I knitted that dress, I knew her name had to be Dottie.

Stripey tights and shoes with little french knots “snaps” that go on the side Love!

So, there is a bit of finishing involved. This bunny is knit in pieces and stuffed and seamed and joined together in increments. However, this means that you can really shape the bunny’s face and tummy to look quite bunny-like. The designer, Julie, has written an exceptional pattern with such meticulous detail. She really shows how you can make your bunny unique. There is also a boy bunny version sold as a separate pattern and he’s just as cute.

The dress for my bunny is knit in one of my all time favorite combos :: aqua and red. This is my first time doing colorwork flat. Next time I do any sort of multiple color knitting, it shall be done in the round… I didn’t enjoy purling those colorwork rows. Dottie was knit entirely from leftovers and she will keep me perfect company while I craft ♥

Dottie (Ravelry notes)
Pattern: Bunny Girl in a Dotty Dress by Little Cotton Rabbits
Yarn: Various leftovers
Needles: Size US 1.5 & 2.5 / 2.5 & 3 mm

Posted by Preeti & filed under Finished Knits, Stashbusting, Toys. This post has 15 comments.

I’ve been working on what I thought was more than a few rows on my Vitamin D cardigan every night. My routine at night is to knit while I go through my PVR list before bed (because who really has the time any more to watch shows at the actual time they’re aired and to suffer through all those commercial breaks?) Anyhow, this is prime knitting time for me and I should have been done with my cardigan with all the evenings I’ve dedicated to this project.

Nope! I still have miles to go 🙁

So… I needed a pick me up…

Cue these little gems from Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits. Gosh, are her bunnies the cutest ever! I remember stalking one of her sales when my daughter was a newborn and I thought a little bunny would be the perfect softie for her. I wasn’t speedy enough and the 25 or so bunnies that she listed for sale were whooshed in a matter of seconds! So even though my youngest is well past the stage for softies, I wanted to knit my very own Little Cotton Rabbit. The instructions for this pattern are very detailed and there are plenty of photographs to explain things along the way. This one is truly aces.

The head is done, just need the face to be embroidered. This bit is her tummy…

I’m working on the shoes now. I love how this bunny is taking on its own personality and the yarn is completely from stash too 🙂

The high note for me and my Vitamin D is that at least those sleeves are done!

Posted by Preeti & filed under Cardigans, Toys. This post has 5 comments.

Finishes, The Sewn Kind

Summer’s End

Screaming And Shaking My Fist!

Vitamin D

Summer Style

Swell

Bloggy Stuff

Triangles and Squares

Dottie

Distraction Tactics

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