I don't know exactly what makes me look at something I like and think, "I have to buy one of those!" and what makes me look at something else and think, "I have to MAKE one of those!"
(I went through a Laura Ashley dress binge in my 20s -- that really made sense because the dresses were pretty simple, usually made with cotton prints you could get anywhere, McCalls sold the patterns, and in the store the dresses were WAY out of my price range. Sometime I'll have to dig out the old photos and make a post about them.)
Why would anyone want to make their own t-shirts, I ask you? You can find really nice ones on sale for like five bucks from time to time at places like Lands End, and any day of the week you can pick up perfectly serviceable ones at Target or H & M for about the same price. Scoop necks, v-necks, every color of the rainbow. I think I discovered the knit fabric shelves at M & L -- yes, you can buy t's at Target, but that print! And the neat indy patterns on the internet. I got lured. (Name that movie.)
Then I saw some cute stretch lace t's at Down East. (We can talk about my new Down East addiction some other time. Thanks a lot Mormon mommy bloggers. Yeah, you are responsible for Cafe Rio too.) They weren't even that expensive, but for some reason my mind went immediately to the stretch lace section at the fabric store and the Union Street t-shirt pattern I had bought from Adrianna at Hey, June. I had already made it up once so I knew the pattern worked great and fit like a dream.
I chose the gray and wine shades of this nice stretchy lace with a rose pattern. It comes in a bunch of pretty colors and only costs $4 a yard. It was a little fiddly to work with, but basically manageable. The lace fabric is quite a bit stretchier than the other knit I tried this pattern with, so I sized down at least one size to get a snug fit.
They are fun to style with different color camis and jewelry, and they are super comfortable to wear. This fall (in Southern California we need to start gearing up for cooler weather because temps might fall INTO THE 70s by NOVEMBER OR DECEMBER -- yes, I am complaining about that, sorry, Minnesota) I said, this fall I think they will be cute layered with sweaters or jackets.
You know what would be cute for fall? Long sleeves! Back to the fabric store!
Oh, and the movie? It's Bull Durham. Repeat after me -- women are too strong and powerful to be lured.
Something new in the Workshop. Once upon a time I thought I would call my (then just imaginary) company Rocky Mountain Needleworks -- you might not know that I grew up in the Rockies in Colorado.
(I did finally figure out a big reason why I gravitated to the name I ended up with -- Kitchen Table Workshop reminds me of Children's Television Workshop! Those were the folks who brought me so much joy in the form of Sesame Street. I couldn't begin to count the number of times I saw the name and logo of CTW go across my little black and white screen. Also, can you tell me the city that contains the zip code 02134?)
But, wait, quilts.
This pattern is called Rocky Mountain Puzzle. I chose a combination of turquoise, pink and orange prints for the main colors. I experimented with mixing the colors up in each block, but that ended up looking too clashy for me. (Now I have a couple of clashy orphan blocks -- pillows?) I like it better this way, with all the colors combined in the quilt but each block more monochromatic. I mixed in some solids I had picked up in a great online sale at Connecting Threads (who knows, maybe they'll find out I'm giving them free advertising and kick me back something someday! A girl can dream.)
For the background I used a mixture of gray solids and grayscale prints, and I accented each block and bound the whole thing with solid black. It seems that I don't have a photo of the back, but it's the same as the little border on the front -- another of those random matches I already had. Super cute gray background with whimsical pink, orange, and blue kites (with weird little faces). I would have totally picked this fabric from the store if I'd gone shopping for a quilt back!
I made major breakthroughs on this one in aligning my points and not cutting anything off -- I actually invite you to inspect them (in this shot, anyway). All of my half-square triangle quilts will be improved!
I quilted in double diagonals, just one direction on this one. That worked pretty well, though I did stop about halfway through to smooth the layers and repin. It finished up as a larger crib/child or a smallish lap size.
I started this one just to try out the pattern and play with the colors, but by the time it was finished, it had found a (temporary, anyway) home. I donated it to a friend who is working on a charity event for their raffle. I hope someone ends up with a cozy quilt and the charity scores a little cash.
(Did you answer the zip code question? It's Boston. As in "Send it to Zoom. Box 3-5-0. Boston, Mass. 0-2-1-3-4. Loved that show.)
