Dreams of Yarn Knitting, Spinning, Sewing, Cooking and raising my girls the best I can

A chinese lion statue

Welcome to Dreams of Yarn. This is my humble little corner of the world. A place where fibre reigns supreme and we are known to get giddy over a well balanced 2 ply hot off the bobbin. Knitting is abundant, guests are welcome, and I love your comments. I'm no expert, just an enthusiast, learning as I go.

Summer Dress

Shannon June 7th, 2009

When you are six years old, what could be better than a brand new matching dress and hat?

A brand new dress and hat that your mom let you pick the pattern for, the fabric for and made just for you!
AND then you get to wear it to a grown up event!

Our good friends are getting married in like, oh my, two weeks! and I got ambitious this weekend and made Rena something to wear to the wedding. I think its perfect for an end of June wedding and will no doubt get some use for church through the summer months as well.

I didnt finish the hat until later in the day so we didnt get a complete try on session :)

Now that I understand the pattern, I may try to make a few more of these for her, maybe one really fancy fabric one, and one really fun playground print without the ribbon. It didnt take long at all!

I can see all my little imperfections, but you know what? I’m okay with that. I’m learning as I go.

I hope whatever you are up to, your enjoying it!!!

FSE

Shannon May 27th, 2009

Fabric Stash Enhancement. Because I have so many kinds of stash now… yarn… fiber…..fabric……….

I tried a little order from Connecting Threads which is a sister company to the already known and used by me Knit Picks

I wasnt disappointed. I got some lovely fabrics at a good price and a few quilting supplies. I got a pair of Fons and Porter quilting gloves for like 2.50. Awesome.

Here are some stash photos:

A charm pack for fun in ‘Irresistible Indigo’

A Sampler pack in ‘Impressions of Kyoto’

Lovely stuff, now to plan some projects! I’m so booked until the day I day. Also Awesome.

Spinning Again

Shannon May 24th, 2009

I spent some time this afternoon polishing and oiling my girls. No, not Rachel and Rena, but Gwendolyn and Minerva my Spinning Wheels.

I know. When was the last time I posted about spinning?

But I got reacquainted with my cherished wheels today and spun a bit on some gorgeous fibre I already had out from Maggies Shop

Truly I did!

Sew Square

Shannon May 21st, 2009

And I will be for quite some time.

Tonight I added the following squares…

Two lovely florals, and two way out cosmic mixes. So far so good! I really like this piecing up squares business. I cut a bunch of fabric, then when i have time and sit and voila! new squares.

Freshly Pressed

Shannon May 17th, 2009

This morning I finished up these:

I have a nagging need to make something like this:

Square a day quilt along

I think it would be fabulous for my bed ! The talented folks who are participating in the quilt along are already much much further ahead then I am, but I plan on watching them from afar and trying to keep up, if only a few steps behind.

Since this weekend is a long weekend in Canada, I hope to get some more squares done between today and tomorrow.

I hope whatever you are doing, your enjoying it!~

Howdy Do

Shannon May 14th, 2009

So I keep dropping in and out but I havent stopped reading all my feeds :) I’m completely up to date on everyone elses goings on!

I’ve really been enjoying my sewing time and have gotten some Quilting done!!!

This is for a little baby girl about to make a family very happy. Check out my Flickr Page for more photos!

Generally we’ve been very busy and have:

  • taken a little family time out to take a trip to Niagara (WOW the indoor waterpark is AWESOME)
  • Bought a new truck YAY, first new vehicle we’ve ever owned
  • been swimming, piano lesson-ing, musical practicing and performing…etc

I’ve generally been very busy and even missed the Knitters Frolic this year :(

Share a few links? dont mind if i do !

Check out Crazy Mom Quilts for some beautiful quilting inspiration.

or The Craft Blog for a daily smack of inspiration everyone from your kitchen to your sewing table.

and Threadbanger for some wickedly awesome sewing tutes and ideas (subscribe to their podcast for awesomeness on the go)

And dont leave me!!! I promise to come back and post some more. I’m thinking of getting a new domain though… I need a new look :)

The tooth fairy

Shannon March 29th, 2009

The tooth fairy commeth. If not today, or tomorrow, then soon.

My wee girl will soon lose her first tooth. And when she does, we are READY! Thanks to an awesome pattern and tutorial over at mmmCrafts

This really is awesome…

Its mouth is a cutie little pocket to hold the lost tooth and great place for the ‘tooth fairy’ to leave behind the cash. What an awesome alternative to leaving it under your pillow. With my eldest we used to worry we would wake her and get caught in the act of making the switcheroo. Now, we can just hang this on the doorknob, wait for deep breathing and do our thing let the tooth fairy come and do her job!

Rena insists the tooth fairy still needs some wings and skirt so I may have some adjustments to do, but for all intents and purposes, I think its done!

Sew, a little more

Shannon March 26th, 2009

I am currently working on a secret sewing project. All will be revealed in time.

I did however, make some cute ‘goodie bags’ for Rachels birthday party. My little girl, my precious baby just turned 12. Oh gosh, where did the time go? I’m taking this one hard, not sure why.

Anyhow, she had some girlfriends over for a sleep over to celebrate. Sleep over means pizza, scary movies and the like. And so I felt it was appropriate to rethink the ‘goodie bag’ thing for this party. We had ’sleep over kits’ instead. Each girl got a little drawstring bag filled with Hair ties, A travel tooth brush and tooth paste, lip gloss, tissue, a mini brush and comb etc. The perfect little kit to take on a night away from home. Rachel picked out the fabric for each girl based on their personalities and I sewed the bags. We finished them off by ironing on the intended recipients initial.

A basic idea that I think turned out really lovely and made the girls feel special.

And I have been practicing some sewing techniques… I tried my hand at free motion quilting after watching a nifty video online.

I actually found it quite fun. I’ll need to find some excuses to use this technique!

More still tomorrow… when I show you Renas Tooth Fairy pillow!!!

Here and there

Shannon March 24th, 2009

Well I’ve been all over the place. Knitting some, sewing some, spinning some. I have been awful about updating my blog but like so many other crafty bloggers I read, when the choice is between 20 minutes at your craft or 20 minutes writing about your craft… the craft often wins.

I am pretty happy with some of the projects I have been working on though, and if anybody still stops by to read my random postings (or maybe even subscribes?) then I’d like to share them with you!

Well, oldest and most boring is a cover I whipped up for my new serger. It didnt come with a cover and I wanted to protect it from the sunlight that adorns my sewing nook and the unusual amount of dust produced in my home. (seriously people, i dust all the time and it keeps piling up!)

boring I know, but it shows that I am learning to tackle projects
1) on my own without a pattern
2) to consider all things when designing a pattern (like edging, how to piece together)
3) with actual use one of the approximately 40 tape measures i own and write down measurments

Okay, and I made House Slippers. A fantastic Angry Chicken e-mailorder pattern. Awesomely written and satisfying to produce (I see more in my near future)

And wow is it hard to take good photos of your own feet

They fit me snugly so my Mom wins out on these. but as I said, I will be back for more. Angry Chicken also has a wicked awesome video tutorial on how to actually piece this together and how to sew the FOE. YAY for Youtube.

I finished Renas socks:

and

They probably stink now though, ’cause she wont take ‘em off. God I love that kid.
Toe up socks two at a time on magic loop, SUCCESS!!!

And I’ve moved on to a second pair toe up using magic loop….

For me. Hopefully. This is yarn from the Three Irish Girls Sock Yarnista club. I cant remember the name of the color (will look it up) But the pattern is ‘River Grass Socks’ by Wendy D. Johnson. It must be exclusive to the club right now because Ravelry turned up nada for a reference when I added this project to my list.

I actually have more to share, but maybe I’ll have to split this post in two. Thats enough for one session no ?

If your still hanging around leave me a comment :)

Serging

Shannon February 25th, 2009

I bought myself a serger.

It was on sale and I knew I wanted one eventually anyhow :) I just couldnt pass it up. I’m so thrilled. I got it home, got it threaded (WOW what a workout that is!) and ran a few pieces of fabric through to test it out. I dug out a little pattern I have for a tote bag that makes good use of the serger and gave it a whirl.

Just big enough to hold some treasures, or maybe lunch !

I’m so happy with it, and I made it entirely with the serger!

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