Sew PolkaDot

Week 11

2011-11-21T03:06:00.000-08:00

This week I did very little sewing/crafting.

I baked a little:

And took care of messy kids:

My 13 year old daughter made this awesome cake for her friend's birthday!

And I got this really nice book in a Quilting swap:

The only stitches I made were in a cross stitch project:

Can anyone guess what this is?

Week 10

2011-11-10T02:37:00.000-08:00

Here is what I made this week:

The pattern is called Housewife.

Rolls open with a buttoned pocket inside.

And a zipped pencil case on the end.

A flap lid to cover utensil pockets.

With a felt heart to keep my needles.

This took a pretty long time to make and I broke 3 sewing machine needles during the process!

But, using a lot of hand sewing, I managed to put it together and finish it, buttonholes and all :)

Week 9

2011-11-02T06:41:00.001-07:00

I don't have a sewing room.

I keep my sewing stuff in a drawer in one corner of the dining room, and my knitting stuff is in a drawer below that one. My sewing machine is tucked away beside the dr
awers and when I sew I use the dining room table.

The drawer isn't huge, so I have some sewing stuff in the storage in the basement and I keep batting and stuffing in an otherwise unused drawer in the kid's room...oh, and some Christmas projects in a bag under a bed...

Lately the sewing room drawer has been full.

Full of unfinished projects, leftover fabrics from old projects and since the drawer was full, new fabrics and projects, other leftover fabric and all sorts of stuff was piling up

on top of my sewing machine in the corner.

The knitting drawer was also full.
Leftover yarn from the last few knitting projects was laying around in plastic bags, tucked away in two corners of my living room.

Not very pleasing.

On Monday night I decided that I had had enough of the mess.
Got the three boxes from the basement and sorted out the knitting and sewing stuff.

One box was filled with leftover yarn. I probably have enough wool in there for a huge crochet blanket!
Another box was filled with leftover fabric. When I have more space for my sewing things I will definitely need to sort these by type and color, but for now they are jammed in a box.
The third box was filled with un-started projects.

Up in the drawer I now keep notions, thread, cutting tools, needles, pins and necessary things, as well as started projects. I need to finish the things I have started before I start something new to put in the drawer.

The knitting drawer holds my knitting needles, some knitting magazines and new yarn:

These are all my sewing efforts this week so I have nothing to show off except maybe a clean sewing space...

Here is what this part of the dining room usually looks like, with the sewing stuff in the corner:

On top of the drawers are two pincushions. One was made by my mom and the other is made of wool and a sheep horn.

I like to make different faces on it:

This actually was very inspiring and I think it will be easier to sit down and sew when there is less mess :)

Week 8

2011-10-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

I didn't finish my bed Quilt because I need batting for it...but I did sew a little as well a knit this week. Here is what I did:

Knitted the Plain vest for my little girl:

Sewed a dress from a skirt, also for my littlest one:

It's a bit too big now.

Here you can see the front of the chest better.

Sewed tights from a t-shirt, for little miss tiny as well, but I can not find them! I've searched everywhere! I guess I will find them stuffed inside some toy later :/
Knitted mittens for my teenage daughter:

They are just plain black mittens since she does not like colors or patterns now.

The dress is made from a skirt that used to belong to my teenager but it had a nasty stain on the front so I cut that panel away, as well as the waistband which had two rows of buttons, then sewed the skirt back together and made the top of the dress out of the white lining of the skirt. I think it looks pretty cute and old-fashioned.
I just wish I had taken a picture of the skirt before cutting it up!

The tights are from a grey and white striped t-shirt that my biggest one also used to own. The side seams are a bit wonky since I am not used to sewing with knits and was testing to find out what settings worked best. I think the plain zig-zag stitch came out the best.

What settings do you use when sewing knits on regular sewing machines?

Oh, and I really really want this book that Dana at MADE wrote! Please someone, give it to me for Christmas ;)

Week 7

2011-10-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

R2D2 sweater finished!

I used an Icelandic woolen sweater pattern and tweaked an R2D2 and lightsaber pattern to match it.

Tryggvi is really happy with it so I hope it will be easier to get him to wear wool this winter than last year.

My next knit item will be something made with some of the yarn I received in the knitting swap in September:

I was so happy when I got this in the mail...so much pretty yarn!

But first I'm thinking about sewing something. Today I brought out my sewing machine to sew in the zipper on the woolen sweater and also fixed two pairs of jeans, and now I really want to sew some more...maybe I'll finally finish my bed quilt!

Meow...

2011-10-14T05:02:00.000-07:00

Week 6

2011-10-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on an R2D2 woollen sweater for Tryggvi, so no photo to share today.

Except maybe this cutie:

This lovely little fur-ball will be a part of our family after two weeks.

I can't wait to give him a squeeze....or million squeezes...

My 13 year old daughter got to pick out a name...meet Pokemon!

Week 5

2011-10-11T06:10:00.000-07:00

I really, truly do not know what ever happened to week five.

Week 4: The blues

2011-09-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

200 4" fabric squares in 10 different navy fabrics:

My submission for the Bolo Heads Fall Rainbow Swap.

I can't wait to receive my 200 rainbow squares!

Week 3

2011-09-27T03:54:00.000-07:00

I have finished the mittens for my dad from last post:

Took them to the post office yesterday to send them to him and on the way back I realized that I forgot to take a picture of them!

So nothing to show off today...

But they look like the one to the left here:

Photo from Hlýjar hendur facebook page.

I also sent the sweater to my grandmother:

She doesn't know it's finished so she'll get a surprise pack in the mail! I love getting surprise mail :)

Now I can't wait to get home from work so I can start my next knitting project. It is a traditional woolen sweater for my boy but I put together a star wars pattern for it and can't wait to see how it turns out!

Week two

2011-09-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

When I set the goal to post once each week I though maybe it wasn't really a challenge. Then the week passed and I realized that to me...this is a real challenge.

But here I am, in another week, writing another post :)

I went on my computer yesterday to find pictures of what I have made since I was last posting. I usually take pictures of what I make, so the list is pretty long...but if you make it to the end of the post I need your opinion on something at the bottom...

I made this small shawl from herb-dyed laceweight Icelandic wool yarn that my mom gave me. She had bought it from the artist that spun and dyed it but her dog had gotten into it and created a big mess out of it.

She gave it to me and I untangled it and have kept it for about two years now. Last winter I wanted to try knitting a shawl from a traditional Icelandic pattern, and this is my version. I used the pattern Litla Hyrna Huldu. And I have a lot of that yarn left...any ideas on what to use it for?

These are bean-bags that I made for my son.
This is him wearing the Superman-Batman sweater that I made for him. I used a pattern that I bought from LilBlueBoo. Used a Superman T-shirt and made the Batman logo on the sleeve using freezer paper and fabric paint.

A Newton Heath hat to match the scarf that I made for my husband's friend. He got the hat for Christmas.

This is a Christmas sweater for a dog. I made it for my husband's grandmother's dog but I never took a picture of her wearing it. Hopefully I will when she wears it next Christmas!

This was also a Christmas present last year. For my mother in law. The pattern is called Rjúpa.

My daughter turned 13 in February. I made 5 pillows like this one with different JB pictures on them. She was a true Belieber back then...apparently that was ages ago ;)

These are mitts that I made with yarn and pearls that I got in a knitting swap.

My woollen sweater. Made from unspun Icelandic Lopi and laceweight wool that I got on a huge spool from my great grandmother. She used to use it on her knitting machine to make undershirts for her family.

This is a hat that I made using a pattern that a friend of my mom's gave me. It was a hat that her grandmother used to make but I had never seen how the hat looked before I knitted it.

I made this sweater for my father in law for his birthday. This is my husband modeling for me ;)

My baby girl turned one on June 17 and I made her a rainbow cake.
She is the one to the right, making the silly face :) The one on the left is my niece, she is two months younger. They are wearing dresses that my mom knitted for them.

I sewed this coat thing that everyone is wearing here in Iceland. The grey thing in the middle is attached to the coat and can be wrapped around the neck for a better closure.

And here is another sweater like the one above, only with brown instead of grey. I knitted this one for my grandmother. When I came to visit her last spring she asked if I would make her a sweater like mine and I just finished it two days ago...wish I could have finished is sooner because it is such a summery sweater, but she can use it next summer.
I bought the brown buttons yesterday and I have yet to put them on. I'm not sure if I should use them or if I should get white ones...what do you think?

Yesterday I started knitting this pair of mittens for my dad. It was his birthday yesterday and I hope I will have them finished before he comes for a visit.

So that's it. All I have made and taken pictures of since October last year. I better be more efficient from now on if I'm going to have something to talk about every week!

Super Excited!

2011-09-13T06:31:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever, I am participating in an international swap!

It's the rainbow swap over at the Bolo Heads blog.

Gotta love the rainbow, especially in fabric!

I'm also participating in a knitting swap and I'm very excited about that as well. It's hosted here in Iceland and we get an assigned friend to send something knitting related, but actually my friend lives in Denmark so I will be sending two exciting packages overseas ;)

It has been almost a year since the last time I posted on this blog...sorry about that...I guess any of you who were reading this blog have given up ages ago.
I can see that this happened last year as well. Maybe I only post in the fall...fall is when it gets cold outside and you cuddle up inside and start knitting and sewing...and blogging about it...

I have been using my blog to link to all my favorite blogs and reading the updates almost every day, but I rarely post comments because I'm so embarrassed to be linking to this zombie of a blog.

It's so great to be able to post information on the projects I finish and have it all in one place.
This is why I have decided to bring my blog back to life.

And this time I will have some motivation because I decided to set a goal for myself.
The goal is to post on the blog at least once a week.

It's nothing major...only 14 posts until Christmas! :)

But it will keep me motivated with my work as well because, let's face it, if I don't do anything in a whole week I won't have a post on my blog.

I do have a full time job that does not involve anything handmade and three kids I get to spend time with after work so there are a lot of weeks that can go by before I finish anything.
But this will not stop me. I will post a blog every week.

And if I can post every week for a year...I will get a prize (or not) ;)

Finally crossed off my list!

2010-10-25T04:47:00.000-07:00

This is the apron from my to-do list:
I finally finished it and I am really happy with how it turned out. I made the bias- tape myself and it looks very good :)

The photos are terrible though...it's just been really cold and not very sunny.

This is an apron I made two years ago. It was made for a friend's son as a Christmas present but that year we didn't exchange gifts because they went abroad and we didn't meet up before they went, so I put it in the closet and forgot about it. But I recently found it and decided to let my son Tryggvi have it. He really loves Cars, especially Lightning McQueen.

It is not as well made as my new apron, but it is fun and he likes it.
We both wore our aprons the other day when we made these:
Some were decorated with spiderwebs, other were aliens-themed:

And a few were just plain old messy:
I always think they look the best that way ;)

I knitted this hat on Wednesday and Tryggvi wore it to kindergarten on Thursday. I took this photo on the way home on Thursday, but since then I have added a fleece lining and some ties. I also made him fleece lined mittens that he took to kindergarten today (but forgot to snap a photo first) and now it's snowing:)

Not perfect - but I love it!

2010-10-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

I started this Christmas tablecloth in 2008 and finished piecing the top in October that year.

It is a really beautiful design by Guðný Valgerður Ingvarsdóttir and made with wonderful fabrics that I got from Bot.is

I never finished it because I didn't like how it went together, and actually thought that I was no good at piecing...until I found out that my sewing machine doesn't always start with the needle in the middle, sometimes it is 1/8th of an inch to the side, and that can make all the difference when putting together a quilt!
It has imperfections (see above photo) but I decided to finish it anyway. It was my first big piecing project and now it has also been my first machine quilting project. I had machine quilted around all the red stars and two flowers when I was comfortable with my machine quilting, so I picked up all the stitches and did them all again!

I absolutely love it and I do hope that the imperfections are not too obvious...now I can't wait until Christmas to show it off!

Drawstring car sack

2010-10-07T01:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a little sack that I made for my boy to keep his cars in:I made it from the legs of a pair of jeans that had been turned into shorts and a cool car fabric I found at Virka, the local quilt shop. The "T" is just sewed on with raw edges. I'm hoping it will look cool once the edges start to fray. It has a lining with the car fabric as well and the drawstring is simply 3 long strips folded lengthwise with right side out and braided together.
Tryggvi loves it so... Mission accomplished!

First attempt

2010-10-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at free-motion machine quilting:
It is one of five flowers in a Christmas tablecloth I made two years ago, but I never finished it because I wasn't sure how to quilt it. Now I have been teaching myself how to machine quilt and I decided to stitch in the ditch. It was really hard, until I got myself a pair of quilting gloves.
These seams have all been removed now because I was sewing too small stitches, very often went out of the "ditch" and I do not like this multicolored thread on this piece since the white on the red background and the dark on the light background makes it look sloppy.
I will show you the final quilted tabletopper when it is finished :)

Blog hopper

2010-09-27T11:13:00.001-07:00

Check out this cool Fall-O-Ween blog hop. First off is the Icelandic Gudrun with a fun Hannoween tablerunner. I love her Quilt-as-you-go method. I used it once on the runner I talked about here. And it was so easy, I made another one ;)

Woollen sweaters

2010-09-27T03:58:00.001-07:00

This one I made this spring for my boy:I would have taken a better picture, but before I was able to, it go ruined in the washing machine :-(
So then I made him a new one, and this time from the Icelandic un-spun wool, Lopi, because it is warmer for the winter:
And here is the one I made for my teenager:
With a nice hood:
And finally a picture of the scarf that I made for my husband's friend's birthday:This, along with my last post, covers everything that I have made in the 7 months that I was blog-lazy.

Status

2010-09-24T00:26:00.000-07:00

Let's check the status of my old to-do list...hopefully it will not be too embarrassing...

An Apron that my mother got me fabric for a few weeks ago. Still not finished...
Pyjamas for my boy. Still not finished...
A baby cap from Debbie Bliss Silk yarn. Finished, and a pair of baby mary-janes to go with it:
Cathedral Window Quilt. Not even tried the method...
The sewing weekend Quilt. Not finished yet, but now that I know how to do free motion quilting on my sewing machnie, I am re-encouraged to finish it :D
The set for my baby girl. Finished. It is the one in the picture from my last post, but here is a picture of her wearing it when it is not too large on her:
Knitting needle case. Finished:I have also knitted 3 woollen sweaters, a Newton Heath scarf and sewn a crayon roll from this tutorial:

I'll show you the knitted stuff in my next post :)

Extatic!!!

2010-09-23T04:24:00.000-07:00

I had almost given up on Quilting because I have never been able to free-motion quilt with my machine, and that is something that I really want to try.I have followed every instructions and tips I have found, both online and with the sewing machnie manual but it always turned out tangled on the back side like this:
Today I was trying once again; cleaned my machine, changed the needle, put in the darning foot according to the instructions, but down the feed dogs, switched the stitch length to 0 and started, but no matter what tension I used, it always turned out like the above picture :( So I decided to take the machine to the repair shop to check if there was something wrong with it that was causing this. The repairman checked it out and it took him less than a minute to figure out what was wrong. The foot was supposed to be in the middle position...and it didn't say so in the instructions!

I am so happy to finally have this working, so now I can start practicing free motion quilting.
This is my first test:
I wrote on it how my sewing machine was set for this to work, and then I am going to keep it so that I won't forget how to do this :D

I haven't posted here for 7 months now and not even looked at other blogs since my baby girl was born on June 17th...but I think I'm back on track :)
Here's a picture of my sweet baby girl when she was 4 days old:

Öskudagur/ash wednesday

2010-02-17T03:23:00.001-08:00

Pics

2010-02-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of the mittens í made for Mr. T:
And this is the table topper I made with the fun G.E quilt as you go method:

And I had some leftover fabric so I decided to do a mini version:

My teenager did not approve of the photos I took of her wearing the dress I made, so I will post better ones later.

Happy valentines day :)

A new look

2010-02-11T06:06:00.000-08:00

My polka-dotted background was a little too much so I decided to go for a more clean look.
That way, when I have some photos to share, they will not be overwhelmed with the red-white-dotted background...although I love red polkadot fabric!

I have not been making much these past few months that I can share now, I made woolen mittens and socks for my two-year-old and tried a new quilting method, at least new for me, and made a table-topper. I also made a dress for my 12 year old girl. I'll have to take some pictures to share, but not now because I'm not at home...

Remember my To-Do list from my last post? Which was for ever ago... :

An Apron that my mother got me fabric for a few weeks ago. I just got the matching thread yesterday, so it's all set :D Still not finished...
Pyjamas for my baby boy (Mr.T) from a fabric that my mom found in her stash, she bought it over 20 years ago to make something for my brother and it's really nice, green with bunnies and purple toadstools. Not even started...he got a few pairs of pyjamas for his 2nd birthday and for christmas.
Woolen socks for Mr. T for winter. Check, as well as a pair of matching mittens :)
A baby cap from Debbie Bliss Silk yarn...mmmm...A few of my friends are expecting and I would like to make silk baby caps for their babies :) Not started and all the babies born...I think I'll just make this one for my girl that I'm expecting in June :)
Ohh, and I really would like to make a Cathedral Window Quilt since I found this great tutorial. I'm planning on starting out with a pencil case or a pillow cover and see if I like doing it before I make a whole throw. This has been put lower on the list as I've added other items to it that I wish to finish sooner:
I still have to finish the Quilt I started at the Reykjanes sewing weekend. I finally finished handsewing the flowers on it, so now I just need to sew the borders on and quilt it.
I just bought yarn for a beautiful set to knit for the girl I am expecting (yes, it's a girl and I'm so excited)
I also want to make a case for my knitting needles to have them all organized.

So this is what is next on my list...actually I am finishing to knit a little baby blanket that I started when I was pregnant with Mr.T...he is now 2 years old, but I never finished it because he got so many blankets as gifts. But now I'm going to finish it for his little sister and then I can start making her beautiful baby-set.

However, I suspect that I will get distracted by all the amazing projects from

Celebrate the boy

As a mother of a 2 year old boy I must say I LOVE it!!! Why aren't there more hours in each day that can be used only for sewing or knitting?!?!?!

Go check it out:

Finished mittens and a hat :)

2009-10-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

I have finished my daughters mittens and I also made up a hat to go with them. Here is a photo of them:

I hope she will like them, though I may need to line them with fleece or something so that the wool won't pinch her.
We'll see when she gets home from her dad's house later today...

Yummie....

2009-09-30T02:43:00.000-07:00

Click this yummie picture for an awesome giveaway over at Lila Tueller :)

And now for some news about my projects...
I went to a quilt retreat last weekend and it was sooo much fun! All these wonderful women making such beautiful things! I've never been before, but I sure will go again :D
We stayed at a country hotel which used to be a school. It has class pictures on the walls, dating from the 1930's and a geothermal pool outside. Really a cozy atmosphere.
On friday we had a surprise project which turned out to be a cool pouch and the rest of the trip I worked on a quilt for my bed. I chose fabrics from Ammas Garden by Guðrún Erla for the quilt and I think it's turning out nicely. A nice quilting job will be neccessary though, I'm not sure if I'll do it myself...at least I will need to practise on something else first...

Here is a sneak peak of the quilt :)

Other things in process are the sofa cushion covers which I have not been able to get back to after finishing two covers. And I'm knitting a pair of woollen mittens for my daughter that I grab when I'm watching TV.

There are a few things on my To-Do list that I can't wait to get started.

An Apron that my mother got me fabric for a few weeks ago. I just got the matching thread yesterday, so it's all set :D
Pyjamas for my baby boy (Mr.T) from a fabric that my mom found in her stash, she bought it over 20 years ago to make something for my brother and it's really nice, green with bunnies and purple toadstools.
Woolen socks for Mr. T for winter.
A baby cap from Debbie Bliss Silk yarn...mmmm...A few of my friends are expecting and I would like to make silk baby caps for their babies :)
Ohh, and I really would like to make a Cathedral Window Quilt since I found this great tutorial. I'm planning on starting out with a pencil case or a pillow cover and see if I like doing it before I make a whole throw.

I really could go on for ever, but this is what I would like to start in the next 2-4 weeks...but first, finish the sofa covers, mittens and quilt :D

Ps. I'm writing this from work, I will add photos of my projects when I get home :)

Finished!

2009-09-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

I finished my daughter's merino sweater about two weeks ago and she is thrilled with it :)
It's so warm and looks very good on her.
Perfect for a young girl in winter.

And I do love the collar, it's so big and warm :)

Now I am in the process of making a new cover for the family sofa. The old cover is white and since my little boy is almost two years old, it's getting spots that are hard to remove. I'm making a darker cover but it is a lot of work and takes time that I hardly have. It will probably be finished before Christmas ;)

Happy day and giveaway

2009-09-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

I told you before that I am knitting a purple sweater for my daughter.

This is how far I had gotten last time and I needed some more yarn.

I went online to the Icelandic yarn retailer to look for places that sell this yarn and then I sat down and called them up to check if they had any in stock.
I had called every single store in Iceland that was listed on the website and NONE of them had any left! I even called my mother in law in Norway to have her send me some yarn if she would find it there. When I told my mother about it she decided to check in a shop in Ísafjörður where she lives, which was not listed as a seller, and guess what...They had plenty of it! :D I am SO VERY HAPPY :D

Now I can finally finish the sweater and make my daughter happy ;)

I also want to tell you that I did something for the first time...I participated in a giveaway!
It was at the blog of Rose Hip that I like to read. Although I never win anything I hope I do this time, the fabrics she is giving are so gorgeous and would make a perfect picnic blanket.
And if I win, of course I will make my own giveaway, perhaps with something Icelandic :)

Well, I'm off to knitting...

Finished objects this summer

2009-08-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

I have not been very active this summer, and in fact, I've decided and bought material for much more than I have actually finished.

Ég hef ekki verið mjög dugleg í sumar, reyndar hef ég ákveðið og keypt í fleiri verkefni en ég hef náð að klára.

En mig langar að sýna ykkur hvað ég hef klárað. Fyrst gerði ég þennan kjól handa dóttur minni sem er 11 ára. Það er hægt að nota hann á marga vegu, þetta prófuðum við þegar við vorum í Noregi hjá tengdaforeldrum mínum.

But I want to show you what is already finished. First is a wrap dress I made for my 11 year old daughter. It can be worn in a lot of other ways, this is one we tried out in Norway when visiting my husband's parents:
Next I finished a woollen sweater for myself. It is made from the Icelandic Lopi which is very warm and cozy. The sweater is from the latest Lopi magazine and is called Ranga. The ligh grey is purl stitch while the dark grey is stocking stitch.

Næst kláraði ég ullarpeysu á mig. Hún er úr nýjasta Lopablaðinu og heitir Ranga. Munstrið er prjónað brugðið á meðan peysan sjálf er prjónuð slétt:

Two days ago I finished a gym/smimming/soccer bag for my daughter. Yes, her favorite color is Purple. Right now I am working on a sweater for her in Merino wool. Guess what color she chose ;)
I will show it to you later, but here is the gym bag:

Í fyrradag gerði ég svo íþrótta/sund/fótbltatösku handa dótturinni. Og já, uppáhaldsliturinn er fjólublár. Núna er ég að gera peysu á hana úr Merino ull því henni finnst lopinn stinga. Og gettu nú hvaða lit hún valdi ;)
Ég sýni ykkur hana seinna, en hér er mynd af töskunni:

By the way, the pattern for the bag is this one from Moda Bakeshop and the fabrics are byKaffe Fassett.

Have a nice day!

Welcome/Velkomin

2009-08-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about creating a blog where I can post about my crafts, and finally I have done it. I love to knit, quilt and sew and here I will post photos of my work and link to interesting websites I find online :)
I am also interested in learning how to edit the blog and I put in this new background, but I think it may be too much for the eyes...what do you think?

Stay tuned for some photos of what I have been working on this summer :)

Ég er lengi búin að hugsa um að búa til handavinnublogg og loksins læt ég verða af því. Ég elska að prjóna og sauma og hér ætla ég að setja inn myndir af því sem ég geri og reyna að halda utan um sniðugar síður sem ég finn á netinu :)
Ég ætla líka að reyna að læra aðeins á það hvernig maður breytir útlitinu á blogginu, ég setti t.d. þennan bakgrunn inn en ég held að hann sé kannski óþægilegur að horfa á...hvað finnst ykkur?

Endilega kíkið aftur fljótlega, ég ætla að setja inn myndir af því sem ég hef verið að gera í sumar :)

Kveðja, Pálína