Another selfish sew! Look at that face! That’s someone who was super excited about some more new clothes.
I found this snake fabric on Etsy a month ago and loved it. Only in hindsight I’m sure it’s kids fabric but still I love the colors and and how the design was. I love the weight of the jersey fabric too – generally jersey is pretty see-thru but this was so thick and not see-thru. Since it was sturdy material I didn’t even use my serger as there was no tension issue.
This was less than an hour project as I almost got thru 1 hour of the Roosevelt’s Doc from PBS. I love that documentary – I’ve seen it probably 4 times all together. I think I love it because it so radically changed my perspective on so much about that family. I especially love watching it now since our political climate has changed so severely.
I used this Pattern from McCall’s:
Specs on Time/Cost
Total Time: < 1 hour
Total Cost: $1.99 Pattern + $24 for 2 yards of jersey fabric on Etsy
Have you ever bought the wrong sized pattern? I did here lol whoops! But i just shorted the smallest size by 2inches and aimed for 10-12. I didn’t want this one to be skin tight since I wanted to wear it to work, so I think it worked out perfectly.
Pattern was super easy.
I’ll be making the V-neck and the long sleeves for sure.
This time my cousins Oli and Matt are expecting their first – a baby boy named Mateo! I just love that name. I can’t wait for him to be here. 🙂
Typically, I stick with pretty traditional quilting. Civil War quilts are my favorite, followed closely by The Farmer’s Wife (1930s). But, I just couldn’t see myself giving Matt and Oli’s son a traditional quilt. I decided to go for something bold, modern, and way out of my comfort zone. Pretty much the entire time I made this quilt I asked two questions 1) is there something with more contrast? 2) is there something bolder? I think I finally got the questions answered with ‘no’.
Again, I didn’t use a pattern and I just used jelly rolls. It will be the last time I use jelly rolls though. They just aren’t consistent! Im pretty sure it’s the one time that a human is more consistent than a machine – plus they cut them between 2 3/4 inch and 3in and it just makes no sense. trying to match them up with anything is a nightmare. If you look close you can see I used a lot of optical illusions on this quilt to adjust or the non-standard jelly roll strips. *shakes fist* never again jelly rolls! But I’m super happy with this quilt. It’s modern, fun, and super bold. It’s perfect.
Over a week ago I got to attend my friend Juanita’s baby shower for her upcoming daughter! It was such a beautiful baby shower – the food, location and decorations were perfect! Not to mention I got to see so many people I haven’t seen in probably 5 years!
I decided to make a second version of a quilt I made my niece last summer, because I just love the pattern. This time I didn’t measure a thing – which was really dumb. But it worked out! I also used jelly rolls – thinking it would speed up my time. The thing about jelly rolls is, they don’t save time because they aren’t identical. If I had cut these strips I would have been done a day sooner, I actually had to spend an hour at least readjusting the seams in the center once I got it all pieced. Jelly rolls just aren’t predictable. The time I saved not cutting I more than spend double in the end dealing with. Long story short, I used jelly rolls on another quilt after…. more to come on that.
But!
The quilt came out super adorable – I love it!
Goes to show the things that give you the most grief are always the best.
Two weeks ago (how has it already been that long?) I went to Des Moines to see my favorite knitters. My family linked up and ta-da! It was the best knitxmidwest ever (and also the 2nd annual). heyjenrenee was there and the lovies from hill vintage & knits plus the now internet famous shemakeshats! Here are a bunch of photos of the weekend!
I have been quite the crafting fool lately. I have had several custom orders from people through Instagram and now with that momentum I have decided to open an Etsy store as Ghostfaceknitter!
Huzzah! I’m guesstimating in the next two/three weeks I will go live with that store – and you all will be in the know when I do – have the confirmed timeline. Let’s take a look at some of the items I’ve been stock piling, custom making for you lovely lovely GFK supporters.
red velvet cake“Mind you drink the cat is an asshole”geisha cat toy.geisha baby plush.
orange dreamsicle caketoddler pocket Star Wars bib.
What do you think? I’m think about cowls, sunglasses cases, different skirts/shirts/dresses, and of course more cakes! 🙂
I made an adorable little Blouse over the weekend and just had to share!
I found the Pattern here on BURDASTYLE. I’m a huge fan of this site because the patterns are very current, reasonably priced, and you can just print them and assemble at home. Plus they are in you account forever so if you misplace one small piece you can always re-print.
I really like it – after wearing it on Monday I just need to move the snap button closure a wee bit and then finish the snap buttons down the front. Also I chose not to add the cuffs because I’m lazy.
Oh my cow. I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday. I swear I blinked on Sunday and here I am! Speaking of the weekend I finally hit 1000 followers on Instagram! Weee. To celebrate I made this cute little celebration cake cozy.
yay! 1000 followers!
On Sunday, I was so kindly invited to attend the Chicago Modern Quilting Guild and let me just say WOW. I didn’t really know what to expect. In crafting, I find that fellow crafters are either really friendly and welcoming or the other extreme of incredibly protective and clique-like. I was very pleased to find that CMQG was the former – full of enthusiastic and warm women. I seriously was jaw dropped at the kind of creativity and happenings in this local quilt guild. It was a ‘demo-day,’ which meant we had four different short, but informative demos. I learned a great deal focusing on ‘squaring up your quilt’, labeling your quilt, creating a sleeve to hang your quilt (yay! no more ruined door panels!), and finishing borders. Then during the show and tell portion. HOLY QUILT BATMAN. Let me just say I have always been impressed by traditional quilting, but modern quilting and concepts for inspiration BLEW ME AWAY. I seriously can’t believe how amazingly creative and talented this guild is.
I was just so impressed and inspired. I think I’ll go ahead and work on some cute little beginner patterns for quilting some coasters or maybe a door panel. I was so jazzed up I came home and knocked out a cute little embroidered semi-reversible baby bib.
I have 31 days until my GMAT. Then, on June 1…. Quilting….. the final frontier.
this photo is everywhere – BIG thanks to whom ever created it. i ❤ you.
Happy belated Easter! (if you're into that sort of thing) It was just a plain old Sunday for me since I have no family here to celebrate with, but with a rocking gym work out, candy, Ethiopian food, and Game of Thrones and lovely weather in Chicago it was a splendid day.
I had an unusual weekend. It was quite busy yet oddly relaxing when I needed it to be. I took a practice GMAT test on Saturday and well…. I should not have. Why you ask? Well, I ran so many errands and literally ran 5.5 miles prior so that when I sat down to take my exam my brain was just ‘mush.’ I could feel it as soon as I read the first question. I should have stopped and said ‘Not today.’ But of course being stubborn I decided just to power through and did better than my first GMAT but I did not increase my score as I was hoping to this time. Alas, I’m motivated to continue to study more effectively and to plan differently from here on out about taking the practice tests. ONWARD!
To ‘wind down’ I worked on a little tote-bag project of an alien babe. Verdict? WAY CUTE. I just love SUBLIME STITCHING’s embroidery patterns. I’m think of doing a 101 post here would any readers be interested?
Then, I went to a co-worker’s ‘going-away party’ Saturday evening and I had some of the best brisket of my life. Seriously. It was so amazing. It made me remember that on Saturday April 26th I will be entered into a raffle (of only 300 other tickets) to win a ‘BIG GREEN EGG.’ I am beyond excited I bought 2 tickets so that’s a 1/150 chance! (haha. hey someone’s gotta win it)
From that little shin-dig I went with my lovely co-worker to see Ghost BC. Now, I hadn’t ever listened to Ghost aside from a song or too. It’s not really ‘my style’ of music, but I had heard they are great showmen and was very curious. Well, they were incredibly THEATRICAL. Almost to the point of laughter – seriously it was supposed to be so ‘evil’ and ‘occult’ it was most often humorous. The fans were hysterical also – it seemed me and my friend were the only ones not in GHOST apparel and vehemently and vigorously singing along to every song while playing air guitar/drums. There were grown-ass men next to us hugging it out in sheer joy to have seen them live. Like ‘OH MY GOD MAN – GHOST!’ We got lots of funny looks and sneers over the shoulder, because we were giggling and chatting quite a bit. Oops…
Sunday, I deep cleaned my house and it felt great! Re-energized and ready to dominate for the week on the home front. I started working on a little crochet project too since I hope to hit 1000 followers on IG this week and will thus host a giveaway! 🙂
Sunday night, I met up with my homie and had Ethiopian food (traditional Easter you know? teehee) and then binged on loads of candy/left over cupcakes while watching GAME OF THRONES! I have to say, things are becoming deviated from some of the book plot so I’m way excited to see what comes next.
First, let me just reiterate what I have said before – that I have never been more impressed with a group of knitters in my life. This KAL was definitely quality over quantity. Whether you finished in time for the giveaway drawing or not, give yourself a giant pat on the back for being part of a really inspiring and talented group of knit-wizards. This pattern was major. And the end result is gorgeous.
Here is a recap of the finishing participants’ Heliopath Vests! All the cables! EEEEP!
BUT don’t worry those few wizards who did not win the ‘official’ giveaway prizes – you will be getting a little something special too! Please just email (brianna.connelly@gmail.com) or private message me via IG @ GHOSTFACEKNITTER your information to receive an ‘unofficial harry potter kal’ present!
Well, now that it’s all over I’d like to recap that I LEARNED SO MUCH during this KAL, not only about myself as a knitter, but in working with other way talented crafters. I’m truly honored to be involved in a crafty community and culture that is so supportive and effing rad. I think this will be the first of many KALs. It pushed me, made me squirm, made me emo, made me feel smart and talented, humbled me, and overall allowed me to connect and work through some amazing knitting kinetics (yeah I don’t know I’m all mushy and doughy that this KAL is finito!).
Finally, I’d like to thank my co-host and KAL mentor this time socalmeaghan at the Unapologetic Kintter. Without her guidance, vigor, and enthusiasm this would not have even happened. So thank you lady! 🙂
Welp. I am one of those retro-crochet ladies now. I’m obsessed with the kitchy and the rather 50s-70s crochet patterns. I know loads of people actually hate crochet because of the toilet paper covers, the bathroom doilies, and the tissue box covers. Well sadly for those people, I am about to make a shit-load of that stuff.
Twinkie Chan really got the ball in motion for this new cult obsession and I think it will only get worse from here. There are coasters, covers, afghans, dustruffles, all sorts of things to crochet….
Anyways, here is my first attempt at the tissue box cover cake. Enjoy.
ghostfaceknitter.com 