Knitting a wool sweater in May. No I am knot knuts!

Happy Memorial Day. I love this quiet solemn day.
We have lived in our new house for 5 years now and finally I managed to get an American flag to place on the house. I can't tell you how many times a patriotic day would go by and I would wonder how come I didn't have one. Not any more.

Well, we are entering a hot streak of weather for New York State and it is supposed to break records tomorrow. What am I doing? Knitting a wool sweater of course. I have been trying to finish this sweater since the Spring of 2010. I posted it on an earlier blog post. Well. It's finished I'm finally proud to say. It won't be worn until next winter, but it's done.
Before:

After. Finished and blocking on May 30, 2011
It's a pattern from Garnstudio.com. Drops pattern 85-5. It's nice as these patterns are free and there are some beauties. I did purchase the yarn from Nordicmart.


The other thing I did today was GARDEN. Lots of it. Since we built our house I have been working every year to build beds and perennial gardens. Last year I invested in Irises. They are beginning their bloom and I am going to take a picture of each one so I can remember thier colors. I purchased them online (very reasonable) from The Iris Farm

I am looking forward to seeing the rest of them show off their fleeting beauty! 

MAY, may I please have more time to sew?

Concert season and Solo Festival season is upon the music teachers in our area. It's overwhelming, but then I don't have to proctor over the state tests that the kids are bombarded with at this time of year. Like the kids, I need an outlet for the busy times and I managed to sneak up to the sewing room to crank out a couple of new items. More stash buster patterns.
The First Pattern is a simple table runner for Spring. It is made with 5" charm squares. This went together in a couple of hours. Easy and variable. Anka's Treasures Little Charmers II pattern. Her patterns are lively and bright. A true rush of happiness. My fabrics are from a charm pack that was on clearance and I have plenty of charms left for another runner.

My free motion quilting was not my best on this work, however. Need more practice.















The next pattern was a hoot. I am making this for my daughter for her birthday. She'll like this tote bag as it fits her personality and lifestyle. I have had this Moda Santorini Olive Grove fabric for a while and I bought it to make an apron out of it, but then that seemed too predictable. Then I found this neat tote bag pattern called Tahoe Tote by Pink Sand Beach Designs that I purchased from Create For Less, one of my favorite shopping places! A great pattern. I will be making more of these.
The other fabric is from the Complements line from South Sea Imports and the green fabric is from a linen shirt that I was just about to give away to the Salvation Army. I recycled it and matches perfectly with the Moda Olive fabric. It's a nice size and the pattern calls for plenty of interfacing so it easily stands on it's own...a very nice feature.  Perfect for toting things around.

This photo is more true to color!