dress from a shirt!

dress from a shirt!, originally uploaded by Gwedolgirl.

Dear Mom,

Last week, Katie, Evelyn and I co-designed and sewed Evelyn a dress from one of Carl's old shirts! The idea was Katie's, I did the sewing, and Evelyn art-directed and was a patient try-er on.

Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Love,
Gwen

Wristers

pulse warmers, originally uploaded by Gwedolgirl.

Dear Mom,

In the comments, Renee asked to see some KNITTING! And Renee is my friend from Luther, which makes this project doubly for her. The pattern, Rose Wristers, is from _Norwegian Handknits_, which you gave me for Christmas (Do you remember that, from those feverish, flu-ridden days?). The patterns are based on knits from the Vesterheim Museum, in Decorah, Iowa, where Renee and I went to college together.

I was looking through it early one morning after Christmas, waiting for everyone else to get up, when I realized that several of the little historic blurbs and pictures were about people from Boone County, Illinois, our old home territory. I read an excerpt about one pioneer woman, Christie Sleen Tillotson, from the northern part of the county to Katie, who had joined me the kitchen table by this point. Turns out, Christie Sleen Tillotson is Katie's great great or 3 great's grandmother!

The first pattern that I knit from this auspicious book, the rose wristers, were quick and easy. Dave thinks its nice that I used Buffalo Bills colors.

Love,
Gwen

Unfinished/Finished

Recently finished quilt, originally uploaded by Gwedolgirl.

Hi Mom!

This is some unfinished business, finally finished. I think you'll recognize the top - these were the only fabrics I allowed myself to buy the summer I worked at the quilt store (in 2005!). The pattern is "Gingham Rose" from Terri Christopherson's _Mad About Plaid_ booklet. In the right colors, the quilt pattern looks like gingham. The fabrics I chose for the top didn't really ever "read" quite the same way, so when it was time to choose a fabric for the border, I didn't feel it was necessary to use a check or a gingham.

I quilted the top in three or four days with the machine, using the walking foot and cotton machine quilting thread. The batting is 100% cotton, so it got nice and wrinkly after a trip through the washer and drier. It's warm! The project was pretty fast, all told, assuming a body didn't let the top sit around for four years between piecing and quilting. The quilt is about 65" x 75" - just large enough to cover the top of a full-sized bed.

I have another, older, larger top that I'm thinking about attacking the same way. What novelty, this "finishing".

Love,
Gwen

Good Leftovers

Hi Mom,

I've been knitting many small projects lately, with leftover yarns in particular. I finished up a Useful Gift which will remain a secret for now, and I knit a Foliage:

This was a very easy, quick knit. I used leftovers from the Lamb's Pride Worsted you gave me for Christmas for the felted bag a couple (three!) Christmases ago. The hat is nice and warm, and just loose enough that it doesn't squish my hair.

I also used the other leftovers from that project for these little mittens for afghans for Afghans:

I started with the mitten on the right, knitting plain purple mittens, but when it was clear I wasn't going to have enough purple I started mixing in the green, then went back and added green to the plain purple mitten. I hope at least one Afghan child doesn't mind asymmetry in mittens.

Love,
Gwen

Yes, Wheek Can!

Dear Mom,


It's been a big week. I caught Caroline doing a little last-minute campaigning yesterday - who knew she had developed political opinions? Must be all that NPR I have on around here.

And I finished some socks - I'm calling these my Blue State socks.

I knit them using the Garter Rib pattern from "Sensational Knitted Socks," and the yarn you gave me when we visited this summer. It's Stahlsche Wolle Socka Sport & Strumpf, and the finished Strümpfe feel very nice indeed.

Love,
Gwen

Reading

Dear Mom,

I found some good books at a library sale on Thursday. I've especially been enjoying this version of "A Child's Christmas in Wales," illustrated by one of our favorites, Trina Schart Hyman. I only recently (maybe last year?) put two and two together about Dylan Thomas and the PBS Christmas special we loved to watch, and this book does not disappoint. It is charming.

Almost as charming as the circumstances through which I acquired this other kids' book this week. We were driving back from the garden last weekend, going a slightly different way to admire the changing leaves and old houses, when we saw two little girls run over to edge of the curb (stopping carefully before the street), and wave at us. They had 8 1/2x 11" pieces of paper taped to their shirts, upon which was written, in pencil, "Book Sale." I pulled the Buick over.

I asked them which of their books they thought my three year-old niece might like, and one of the girls picked out this one (and I think she did a good job). I handed them the money, which they directed me to put in the jar labeled "Jar for $," then I asked them why they were selling their books. "For the animal shelter!" they said. I said that was great, and that I had gotten my guinea pig from the shelter. They liked that. "I got my kitty there!" one said, and the other said she was going to get her puppy there.

But back to "A Child's Christmas in Wales" - I will bring this book to our Christmas, and we'll have a good time reading it. Here are the

"Useful Presents: engulfing mufflers of the old coach days, and mittens made for giant sloths; zebra scarfs of a substance like silky gum that could be tug-o'-warred down to the galoshes; blinding tam-o'-shanters like patchwork tea cozies and bunny-suited busbies and balaclavas for victims of head-shrinking tribes; from aunts who always wore wool next to the skin there were mustached and rasping vests that made you wonder why the aunts had any skin left at all. . ."

And, of course, Auntie Hannah, "who liked port," in the garden "singing like a big-bosomed thrush."

And the cats! There's a very satisfying number of cats represented in the illustrations. You'll just have to wait to see, and then you will also have "Good King Wenceslas" stuck in your head.

We also did a bit of autumnal festive cooking this week. This is the "Stuffed Pumpkin Stew" recipe from the Oct. 2008 issue of Martha Stewart Living, and it was wonderful! But we needed a family of Welsh proportions to help us eat it because I'm still finishing the last of it. It wasn't a simple recipe, but also not difficult - just a lot of vegetable prep.

How are the 'collars' this year?

Love,
Gwen

White in the Garden

Rose of Sharon

Lilly of the Valley

Petunia

Love, Mom