To Make:

Fabric remnants in 1, 2 or 3 different matching fabric.
Thin quilt batting or ugly fabric that you don’t want to see.

Cut 4, 5 inch squares from fabric 1 (the back.)
Cut 4, 4 1/2 inch squares from batting or ugly fabric.
If you’d like for the front and back to be the same fabric, cut 8, 5 inch squares of the same fabric.
Cut 4, 2 3/4 x 5 inch rectangles the back fabric.
Cut 4, 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 inch rectangles of fabric 2.
Cut 4, 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 inch rectangles of fabric 3.

Sew the small squares of fabric 2 and 3 together first with a 1/4 inch seam allowance for all.
Sew the two squares to the 2 3/4 x 5 rectangles and press.
With wrong sides facing, leave a 2 inch opening, and sew the front and back pieces together around the outer edge.  Snip the corners.
Invert as you would to make a pillow and then insert the batting material.  This took some patience to smooth out the batting and not have wrinkles.
Fold the opened seam closed and top stitch at both a 1/4 inch and right on the edge.  I also added an x, but you could easily do circles or another free form design.

Annie
Frugal gifting – gotta love it!

Join us and share in the fun as we sail, knit and eat our way along the Maine Coast!  It’s the only trip in June that still has space and from now until June 1st we are offering a Buy One, Get One Half Off Special.  Call 800-869-0604 for more details.

If you can’t make this trip maybe our Sept. 5-10 knitting cruise with Maggie Radcliffe fits your schedule.

Annie
Hope we get to sail with you this summer

I’ve fallen in love with Quince and Company Yarn, sold in their flagship store Knit Wit in Portland, Maine the Munjoy Hill neighborhood.  A friend and I were scheduled to have lunch one day at Duck Fat (just go and have the fries, oh, and a shake – heaven) and in she walks with this cowl that I HAD to own.  And what do you know?  It’s hand knit with Quince and Co. yarn.  And also what do you know?  The yarn is sold just around the corner, to which I hied myself after proper sustenance and bought my very own yarn.  When I got home, I promptly began making cowls with Quince and Co. pattern.  I was so excited about my first one that I couldn’t wait to weave the bitter ends in, I just tucked ‘em up and wore it.  Oh, shhh.  I’ll weave them in eventually.

Annie
Maybe we could knit a cowl on one of our knitting cruises?  Hmm.  I need to think about this a little more….

Hello yummy socks that I knit all by myself.

Annie
I know Maggie and Bill (our knitting cruise instructors) would be proud.

I say often about sustainability, becoming an environmental leader and social responsibility – all catch phrases that are over- and mis-used now -  it’s not about the end result, it’s about the process, about the becoming, the mindfulness that you bring to the subject.  Every business is smarter about how to effect these changes within than any government entity could be and while I’m thankful that more companies have come into awareness about it’s waste streams and it’s procurement practices, there is still an authenticity that is, shall I say, lacking.

The Alabama Chanin company is true to it’s commitment to local, regional and authentic foodways, sourcing and production (if 25 women sewing by hand can be called ‘production’).  All of the fabric is locally sourced and sewn.  The garments are sewn by hand, keeping the traditions and the stories of that craft alive and vibrant.

During the workshop, Natalie said something that has stuck with me, as it should anyone who values authentic, original, unique experiences.  Someone commented on how much work the sewing was and said, “Now I know why your garments are so expensive!”  Natalie said gently in response, “No, now you know why they are worth so much.”

That was an ‘aha moment’ for me.  Our trips on the Riggin are the same:  how much is clean air worth?  How about a week’s worth of locally-sourced, hand made food?  What about wide open spaces, pristine scenery or the feel of the boat as she sails from one island to the next?

This is my project.  It’s one of four panels which will eventually become a skirt.  Two layers, one of gray and the other a patterned black, are sandwiched together and then hand stiched.  Eventually, I’ll cut the centers of the leaves out and the second layer of gray fabric will be visible.

Annie
We’d love to have you join us on the Riggin this summer for the real deal.

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And even with all that fresh West Coast air, I stepped out of the car after a LOOOONG day of return travel to Maine and breathed deeper than I had in days.  It’s so FUN to travel.  AND it’s so good to love home.

The trip was full of firsts.  It’s the first time I’ve left my family for such a long time and the first time to Portland.  I love to travel, but it’s been a long time since I’ve actually gone somewhere that didn’t involve visiting family.

As you might imagine, any trip outside of my own kitchen is food focused.  Outside of Maine and it’s ethnic food focused, as Maine has got to be the whitest state in the country and hence is somewhat bereft in the ethnic-food-of-any-sort department.

My friends are shoppers of the Olympic variety so our first day was spent wandering through shops in the Mississippi neighborhood exploring hand crafted clothing and design stores coexisting with a fabric store, home and garden design stores, all things paper and one antique car restoration shop who’s owner was kind enough to allow us to wander in to see his work.

A Plymouth wagon – all fixed up and waiting to be owned.

There is a certain rightness about all of these stores living side by side as they all have one thing in common – a respect and affinity for the art of the hand crafted.  It comes as no surprise that I fell in love with this area.  We made our way past the Rebuilding Center – a place which I’ve serendipitously recently researched only to find that it is a solo store (I was hoping for one in Maine) – to Porque No.  Our Mexican lunch, wrapped in hand made tortillas, was accompanied by my first, but hopefully not last, carrot, cucumber margarita.  It’s actually MUCH better tasting than it sounds.  Carrot, cucumber and honey juice combined with the already perfectly delicious Margarita drink they serve.

A window collage at the Rebuilding Center – Maine needs a store like this.  Oh, wait, we have them everywhere:  the local dump where hopefully more is dropped off than picked up.

Juice hanging out on the counter waiting to be slurped.

I bagged out of the second half of the planned shopping and Margarita drinking in favor of a massage, but not before purchasing a yard of fabric at Bolt to make napkins for the new kitchen, a sewing book by Amy Butler, In Stitches and a block of Himalayan salt from The Meadow.

Dolls at Bolt – reminding me so much of the Waldorf dolls I’ve made for the girls.

Annie
Back home – where the ratio of trees to people is higher

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I cut a hole where I wanted the thumb to go and used a button to cinch in the wrist.  The design is needle felted by taking strands of wool, twisting them a little and then poking a barbed needle into it what seems like one million times.  It works best if you have something underneath such as a thick sponge.  Chloe discovered that a curry brush for a horse works well too.

Just to explain the photo a little, one hand is facing up, the other down so that you can see both sides.

Annie
With lots more ideas for those wool sweaters hanging out in the barn.

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Many, but not all, of the squares were knit on board the Riggin this summer, with donated Hope Spinnery yarn, with the express purpose of sewing them into blankets to be given away.  And then in the world of no coincidences, viola, enter the Knit-a-Thon in support of Ashwood Waldorf School!  And it’s not too late to pledge and be entered for the J. & E. Riggin Knitting Cruise trip for two raffle.  Tomorrow’s the last day!

The blankets are beautiful and will go to New Hope for Women to hopeful embrace a woman or child who is in dear need of some tenderness and warmth.  I’m so grateful to live within this terrific community.

More pics on Facebook.

Trying to figure out how to get all of these gorgeous, but unusual-sized, square to fit together!  Good job ladies!

Modern day quilting bee…

Annie
Grateful

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I’ve knitted several sweaters and pairs of socks for both girls. Chloe wears them, Ella stores them. Hers are too itchy, too tight, too big, not the right color, too little girlish, etc. I continue to make things for her because I want her to be “wrapped in mama love,” as we call it whether she wears the clothes or not, and I’m secretly hoping to impart a little flexibility into that oh, so determined mind.  I have, however, pared down the time it takes for me to execute her projects. While I’d just found the perfect color of yarn with which to knit a sweater, I, understandably, was loathe to spend hours on something she may or may not really like in the end.

This sweater was a women’s small cardigan with the usual button up the front from bottom to top. WAY too big for Ella, but by moving the buttons and making the sweater double breasted, it worked. The back was the best place to “cinch it up,” hence the shoulder to bottom seams.  The sleeve width needed adjusting too, but that was a simple one.  I then embroidered the vertical PEACE and peace symbol. Turns out, she loves this one. Score a point or two for the mama person!

Annie
Having a good mama day

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This sweater is for Chloe’s birthday, so I’m trusting you all to not tell her about it.  I just know she’s going to love it and I really couldn’t wait to share it with someone.

Several years ago I began collecting wool sweaters from Salvation Army and garage sales hoping to make a felted wool quilt.  For a number of technical reasons, I couldn’t get the pieces to come together neatly, so I let that go and the sweaters sat in the barn.  Until last week.  When I had this great idea to re-purpose all of these sweaters into up-cycled clothing.  (Okay, the spell checker is saying that ‘repurposed’ and ‘upcycled’ should be hyphenated.  I’m not so sure as I think they are now real words, but I’m going to hedge my bets and write them both ways.  Ha.)

This sweater was a woman’s medium before I felted it, so it should fit Chloe pretty well.  I cut off the cuffs because the sleeves would have been too long and now it’s a three-quarter sweater and I have the cuffs which will become fingerless mittens.  I then needle felted the tourquoise wool in the designs you see here.

Annie
Feelin’ crafty

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