"Monogrammed" table runner

I’m not sure exactly what to call this, but I think it might pass as a monogrammed table runner! I made it from a “Crochet with Heart” magazine for a couple who got married this past Saturday. It took only 2-3 hours to complete, and I enjoyed every minute! 🙂

Can you read the last name? 😉

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Elinor-Becomes-Marianne Day

Today is a rainy day and I had some time on my hands earlier, so I decided to be goofy, do up my hair, and wear my favorite historical dress again. I am posting pictures at the risk of looking very… interesting.

Well, first, here’s Marianne(Kate Winslet)’s hair in the gorgeous 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility.
And mine:

Though, as you see, mine is much straighter– perhaps more like Lucy’s, but we don’t want to look like Lucy, do we? So we say we look like Marianne. Or Elinor– in some unknown film version yet to be made. Elinor is the Jane Austen book character, not necessarily Emma Thompson or Hattie Morahan (though I think both of those ladies did an EXCELLENT job as Elinor!!!)

Anyway! Now for some goofy poses:

POETRY:

No voice divine the storm allay’d,
No light propitious shone,
When snatch’d from all effectual aid
We perished each alone.Can you not feel his despair?
Try again!

MUSIC:

Will you play something else, dearest? Mamma has been weeping since breakfast.

I meant something a little less mournful, dearest!

On a more “sewing-ish” note, I am almost done with the first jumper for the S. girls! It is my first time working with denim and I LOVE it! With Mrs. S’s permission, I will post pictures of the girls in their jumpers when I am finished.

Buttonholes and Blouses

Forgive me for my lack of posts lately. I’ve had a good reason. That is, I was stuck; yes, stuck. The dreadful thing: buttonholes. Nineteen of them staring at me with evil snickers. Well, between the efforts of my dear mamma and myself, the buttonholes were finally overcome, but not after having to seamrip and redo several because the machine caught up the bobbin and made a huge big glop on the opposite side. Grrr!

But I am now considering buying a new machine; we went to Case the other day and looked at a gorgeous Baby Lock Grace. (The man at Case demonstrated how to do buttonholes on it, as well as several fancy stitches. They’re a breeze!) We will hopefully get that, and then, whew! Won’t it make sewing easier!

Anyway, here are some pictures of the finished product:

I like the broach I added to the collar. 🙂 This is the best shot of the buttons.

Tucked out and tied in the back… next time when I make a back tie, I will probably start the ties in the front so they go around to the back. I wasn’t really sure how to do it when I was reading the directions.

The best “long” shot of me, pretending to be grave. 😉 (Though I think by that time people looked a little more cheerful in their pictures. ;-))

I am pretty convinced that the Edwardian style does not suit by body type very well at all, seeing that I am very short-waisted, and the style looks better on a long-waisted person. (Regency is probably my best bet because it does not define the waist.) However, the skirt might have something to do with the chunky, pudgy look; I think skirts in that era were fuller in the back rather than at the hips. I’m still going to finish my Edwardian wardrobe anyway. At least some skirts, because those are absolutely adorable! 😀

On a side note, let me share an answer to prayer! I was asking the Lord for opportunities to make money off of sewing. Then a mom in our church came up to me several Sundays ago and asked if I could make some clothes for her girls. I am now getting started on that project, and I am so thankful to the Lord for bringing it about! He is so good! 🙂

So hopefully I can post a picture of some of those things when I am finished with them. It will be my first time working with denim and I am excited! 😀

At the Fair…

CONGRATULATIONS, MARIANNE!!! Hip, hip, hurrah! She won first place for the whole crocheting division at the fair!

Baby Afghan

This afghan I’ve been working on for a while. That is, I finished the afghan part a long time ago, and then I did thread the ribbon the entire way through…But then I just didn’t cut the ribbon. Well, I finally did that today!! 🙂

The pattern is my own, crocheted with Bernat baby yarn and an F hook.
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Success!!!

Last night, I finished the “Kittens” project and this morning, I set to work on getting rid of that nasty yellow stain. I chose to do what Sabine had suggested first–got out a bath towel, laid the kitty on it, wet the stain with a warm and wet facecloth, tamped it with dish soap, stretched it out in a cross-stitch hoop, and ran boiling water over it. Guess what?

THE STAIN CAME ALL THE WAY OUT!!!! No trace left!!!

So thank you, Sabine, for your awesome suggestion!!

Here are pictures of the completed project, which I am planning to enter in the fair tomorrow. 🙂

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Oh no!

My apologies for not having posted in SO long…I haven’t been crocheting much since the weather’s been nice and I’ve been busy. But on Thursday, I decided to get out my table runner and work on it a little. To my dismay, I discovered that this:

…had melted through a pocket in my crochet bag onto this…
…leaving this:
A yellow spot! I was upset initially, but then I decided that I’d just finish the project anyhow and ask for advice on how to get hard yellow candy out of your #20 cotton thread table runner. Do any of you have any suggestions of soaps to use or tried-and-true procedures to do?

The spot is about one inch by one inch–not big at all.

I would appreciate any help I can get!!! Thanks!

Today’s Project

Today I made my mock-up for the Edwardian blouse. This one fastens in front and has a standing collar and long, slim sleeves. “Margaret” got a picture of me in it; unfortunately, I forgot to have her get one of the blouse untucked so I could demonstrate how it ties.

You can see that I haven’t finished it– all that I left undone was the buttons, buttonholes, and hemming of the bottom of the blouse. I didn’t do any of these because I didn’t know whether I would actually wear it or not. What do you think? Even if it is just muslin, do you suppose I could wear it and not look like I was wearing a muslin mock-up?

Note how it blouses in the front. Kind of hard to get quite the right effect, however, with pins and not buttons.

It was funny because while I was making this, I was thinking “Anne of Green Gables”. However, when I came out with the completed project (as completed as it is), “Marianne” exclaimed, “It looks just like something Christy Huddleston would wear!”

Ha ha. Well, I have been told that I look like Christy (Kelly Martin– I think that’s the actress’ name). Take it whichever way you like. 🙂

Now that I’ve gotten the hang of this pattern, I am going to start making variations on a theme. 🙂

P.S. I love the standing collar! 😀