A Present to Myself

I have pulled Katherine Tilton’s Vogue 8710 out of my stash several times and contemplated making it, but it always lost out to a repeat of something I’d already done. Then last week I ordered a bamboo rayon/spandex stripe from Hart’s Fabric and decided I wanted to try the horizontal vs. vertical stripe scheme. Once I prewashed the fabric and felt how soft it was, I couldn’t wait to cut into it, hoping to finish the top to wear to a Saturday multi-birthday party at some friends’ cottage on the shores of Lake Erie. I love this top and want … Continue reading

End-of-school-year teacher gifts

For most of the past seven years, I have taken advantage of my sewing and knitting talents to create handcrafted gifts for the grandkids’ teachers at Christmas and at the end of the year. I’ve even heard that some of the teachers tell my daughter-in-law they look forward to those gift occasions. (Whew! Sometimes I worry that they’d rather have a gift card.) A month ago a Tucson friend of mine posted on Facebook a small zippered bag she had made. She shared the link to the tutorial on Amanda Niederhauser’s “Jedi Craft Girl” blog. I thought the bags were … Continue reading