Sewing?

 I was working today at a high school. My classroom door was locked but a lady in a beautiful dress approached and was able to unlock it. Turns out she was the sewing teacher in the room next door. Imagine that! We chatted and I passed on my info so she could request me. I thought I’d take a look back at what I’ve seen lately. 

Uh….scrolling…..scrolling….scrolling…..

November 2020 was my last sewing post and it was just a new mask? I know I’ve sewn since then! I’ve just done a couple bikini bottoms, I might photograph those…what about slippers? Some sort of bag? Something for a kid? More underwear for Rob? 

I know this past year has been crazy—surgery, then my LTO (long term occasional teaching job), not being able to sew while Rob’s home for work. I haven’t been browsing Fabricland or Value Village, I delete most emails from fabric stores after a quick scan (okay, I did just succumb to some wovens from Fabcycle). I do look at the emails from pattern designers, though I have been great at not purchasing any new patterns (there was one recently that did grab me because it was nothing like other patterns I have). 

I usually sew a lot during the summer but this summer I seemed to spend all my time driving kids to jobs, or working on an AQ course, or hanging out on my deck because the basement (where I sew) was too cold. I thought once Lucy got off to school and things got into a rhythm here, I would get back to the machines. Instead, I’ve gotten a full week of work LOL. In fact,I have another bikini bottom started on the serger (I started, then second guessed my seam allowance and never got back). Hopefully this weekend allows me to finish those. Then I want to start on the new shirt. I’ve moved all my cutting tools upstairs to the office/guest room/dorm room/Hugh’s room. Here’s hoping!

Memorial Blanket

 In 2019, my Dad died, and then less than 5 months later, my brother's dog was (accidentally) killed and then a week later, his wife died. Nancy had PKD--Polycystic Kidney Disease and had been on dialysis for a long time (7 years?) while waiting for a transplant. Shortly after, I found a bag of purple Bernat Softee Chunky (I think. I can't seem to find any of the labels) at my favourite store in my Mom's small town. I wanted to make a blanket to donate to the dialysis unit where Nancy spent so much time. Purple was her favourite colour. 

I started with corner to corner crochet. I found a graph to make a heart in the corner, where I thought I could somehow add her info. However, I had no yarn that worked well with the purple--too smooth, too thin, wrong colour, etc. Then I tried numerous things on the SK155 knitting machine. Nothing was making a blanket that would be big enough to be useful. 

I finally settled on a simple tuck pattern, making three panels. It's still a little narrow. It could be used as a wrap too.

I decided against the Bickford Seam because I worried that it could lose it's shape. I did a mattress stitch, using half a stitch on each edge. It doesn't show too badly on the wrong side (though no side is really the wrong side with tuck).

I gave it a heavy steaming, to flatten the edges and stretch it out some. It relaxed the texture a bit (no pictures), but I think it's still nice.

I have thought about how to add her name or info. I looked into doing heat transfer with my Cricut. I don't have any experience and I don't know how it'd hold up to be in a hospital facility. I thought about embroidery, but then I'd have to sew some sort of patch on because the blanket can't really be embroidered right on to. Probably expensive. And in the end, no one except maybe some nurses would even know who she was. So I'm leaving it purple; that says enough.

I haven't gotten to donate it yet. I'm not sure if they'll take anything right now. It's ready though, when the time is right. Sign your organ donor card and let your family know. Nancy was in her mid-40s, her daughters were in 16 and 21. An organ donation would have changed their lives.

Yarn In:  1400gr

Yarn Out: 600gr + 3764gr = 4364gr

Balance:  2964gr more OUT than in

Cost:  $0, $0/day