Monday, May 5, 2008

A little eye candy.



One of my very best girlfriends is expecting her first grandchild in June. I really wanted to bless the mother to be with some handmade receiving blankets. First I took a yard of really cute flannel fabric. I pulled out my serger(haven't used in over 5 years) and started serging the edges. The next step was to fold over the serged edge and press it flat. I then used a decorative stitch (on my sewing machine) of little stars to finish the edge. The final touch was to monogram the initial of the babies last name to the front. I used a variegated embroidery thread in blues for the initial. I love how the blankets turned out. So soft and comforting. I will say that my escapade in getting them finished was not comforting! Because I haven't used the serger in so long I forgot how to thread it. To top that off I couldn't find the instruction book that came with my machine. Agh! My first 4 went smoothly. The next day I stopped at Hobby Lobby some more cute flannel jumped into my cart and begged me to take it home. I should have said no, but I can't resist beautiful fabric! That's when my sewing world started to crumble! The thread in my serger broke. I tried and tried to re-thread it but to no avail. Anyways, after about 2 hours of messing around with my serger and searching for the book I decided to stop with 4 blankets. I had to save my sanity you know! I'll finish the rest another day.



This is my current knitting project. This is my second attempt at the Wicked sweater. If you remember my first try with Wicked I made the wrong size and had to frog the whole thing! I did my swatch for my sweater and made double sure that I am knitting the correct size. I even circled all of the correct numbers in the pattern. I wonder why I didn't do that before? Duh!! LOL! I am using Cotton Fleece by Brown Sheep Company. The fiber is 80% cotton and 20% merino wool. The color is called coral sunset. It is truly a stunning color.
I also received some yarn in the mail over the weekend. Come on take a look.....



I have been reading NHKnittingMaMa's blog for a few months now. Amanda hand dyes beautiful yarns. Last week she posted some new yarns and colors on her blog. I have wanted to purchase some of her yarn and after seeing her photos I surrendered to the temptation! This is called Copper Canyon. The fiber is 80% merino and 20% bamboo. This is one of the softest yarns I have ever felt. I wish we had touch-o-vision on our screens so you could feel it too. It feels better than butter!
Mmmmmmmm!!!!!

9 comments:

Renna said...

The receiving blankets are lovely. The new Mamma will be so blessed, and the little one will be so snuggly. :-)

I'm not a seamstress, though I can sew simple craft type stuff. My mom no longer sews, so I've been considering bringing her serger home with me after our next visit (this weekend). I'm just not sure that I'm smart enough to figure out how to use it. When my mom got her's, my dad was still alive, and there was nothing my dad couldn't do. He read the book, then showed my mom how to use it. ;-)


Your new yarn purchase is gorgeous. :-D

NH Knitting Mama said...

So glad you like the yarn! I tell ya - I love it myself!

The receiving blankets are sweet... I love things like that - practical yet special because they were made with the person in mind. Those are the best material
gifts.

Grace said...

darling blankets and what pretty yarns you are working with I love Amanda's yarns!

Sally said...

What a nice gift for your friend. The blankets are lovely! And so creative! the yarn is truly yummy! Lucky you.

Tracy Batchelder said...

My favorite receiving blankets that I used when my children were babies were the ones that were hand sewn. I know you friend will enjoy these. The monogram is a nice touch.

Pretty yarn too. I've used yarn of that fiber content before and I love how soft it is.

Jennifer said...

Perfect gift! We still have some blankets we use that I received at Joy #1's baby shower. They are lap blankets now of course. :) I borrowed a sewing machine before I got my own and it didn't have a book to it so I googled it and found an online pdf version. Maybe that would work for you.

Jenny Girl said...

Both the new mommy and grandmom will be touched by the blankets. Very thoughtful of you.
Good luck on wicked. I like your color choice. 2nd time is a charm!

And your new yarn looks delish.

Anonymous said...

Very nice gift! What a cute way to make a receiving blanket. Love the monogram too. :-)

KSee said...

I ordered the Purple Passion from Amanda! It should be here by the end of the week. The socks I'm knitting are with her yarn (I won from her)
I brought a new sewing machine last year so I could make lineings for my felted bags..I haven't even tried the thing out. Didn't even plug it in or read the book!