A Little of This and a Little of That...

I have been puttering around lately doing a little of this and a little of that...  I finished another Nordic Shawl in gray cotton and its been keeping me warm these past few nights when the air has gotten cool this week.  The blue shawl is from a pattern I found on Pinterest. At least I think that's where I found it... it's in Russian so I'm following the graph ( love me a good crochet graph, easier to follow than written directions )

The shawl is complete now except for the edging which I'm finishing up...

I made a skirt that I am in love with for several reasons ( it's from the pattern I got from Meredith at Mereknits )  

1. I love, love, love the fabric! I got it at Joann's Fabrics last week for $4.00. It was a remnant. There was just enough to make a skirt. 

The blue in the skirt is deeper than what is showing up in this picture. The color in the first picture of the skirt is the true color.

2.  I needed to add some length to it since I was limited on my fabric and I didn't have any coordinating fabrics I liked to go with it for a bottom band so... I crocheted a trim to the bottom with a dark brown crochet thread from Red Heart I found at Wal-Mart.

Yeah! I love when a plan comes together! The skirt fits really well and is very comfortable.

I started another sewing project this morning which is presently pissing me off so i stopped for now to write this post...

It's from this Japanese sewing book I got from Amazon. The directions are in English and it comes with patterns.  I love the styles of the outfits and have been itching to make something...

I'm working on this tunic/dress in the fabric above ( another piece I picked up last week on clearance) It will look cute with leggings and boots this Fall if I can get past the directions ( or lack of directions).  I am slowly figuring out what I am supposed to be doing, but I would not recommend this book for anyone who has not been sewing for a while and has a working knowledge of constructing a piece of clothing...

You have to trace out the patterns on another paper ( I used baking parchment since I didn't have any pattern paper or tracing paper) Not a big deal but it took some time and patience since all the patterns are superimposed over each other in different colors in different directions. Not something you want to do if you have a headache...

I have already sewn the sleeves wrong and are going to ripping the seams out of them later to re-start... as i am looking at the limited pictures and written directions for sewing the pieces together I am figuring it out as I go. I need to sit back and study the directions some more before continuing.  Also, I added a little extra to the pattern since even at the largest size it was going to be a little snug. I'm generally a size 12/ large ( although ,I tried on a beautiful linen dress yesterday and I was a medium , not a large. They are sized for real people. Didn't get the dress even on sale I couldn't justify spending $70 dollars on it :(  the dress line is called, Flax. Really nice stuff!

I'm also reading, Teach Like A Pirate by Dave Burgess. It's an easy read, I'm about halfway through. I found it through a book club read from Cassie Stephens blog. (I can't get Blogger to link to the book club post today and I'm in no mood to fight with it ) I'm not on Facebook so I am just reading it on the side. I'll probably finish it up this weekend. It's another item to put into my Domain 4 for school next year... 

Well, off to make some breakfast and back to my sewing...

Have a good weekend everybody! :)