Baby's first birthday

She turned 1 year old last week.  We took her to Taiwan to meet my parents, who are thrilled to finally see, hold, and touch their first and only grandchild.

Here we are at a baseball game and she fell asleep. My mom's holding her while my dad's holding her hand. My father's calling her gim swn, which means golden grandchild in Taiwanese.

They've already asked when they can come stateside to visit her (yes, Husband and I've been demoted, but that's okay).  It may be October, when they have a bit of downtime in their business. This gives my dad enough time to get his knees fixed so he can keep up with Baby.  She'll be walking and running by October!

Been sewing

Tunic O from Stylish Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori

Skirt: New Look 6873

A-Line Skirt from Stitch by Stitch book by Deborah Moebes

Dress A from Stylish Dress Book

My sewing nook in the corner of my bedroom

My sister asked me how I manage to get so much sewing done when I have a baby.  My answer:  I do it when she's napping.  Also, I don't really do much knitting anymore.  I'm trying to give my thumb a rest.  I did do a bunch of knitting while watching some "Lost Girl" but the pain's flared up again so I'm taking a break from knitting.  

I've bought 2 classes from Craftsy.com:  How to Design and Make an A-Line Skirt by Deborah Moebes and Sewing with Knits by Meg McElwee.  I finished watching the A-Line Skirt class, but have yet to make anything from it. It's really informative and has helped me understand shaping better.

I'm currently watching the Sewing with Knits class and am looking forward to making the Surplice Dress from it. I really like Tunic O from Stylish Dress Book, but the sleeves are constricting.  I want to remake the tunic in a knit for more flexibility.

Regina, Mothers, and TV Recaps

It's been a while since I've watched Once Upon a Time but I keep up with it via recaps at io9.com.  I just watched episode The Miller's Daughter and I thought it was very well done.  The moment when Cora and Regina just smile happily at each other was just wonderful.

Regina started out the series as the Big Bad, but I really like her character.  As the series goes on, she's shown to have been as manipulated as anyone else, and the way she tries to be "good" for the sake of Henry really gives the show heart.

And speaking of recaps at io9, this recap of Arrow  made me laugh. ( http://io9.com/5987501/arrow-waltzes-john-barrowman-through-a-zombie-apocalypse )  Arrow's been on my to-watch list, but this recap may be the one that pushes me to start.

Lastly, we finally saw Brave, the Pixar movie.  I loved the mother-daughter theme, and thought the animation was so well done.  The little moments were sweet too, like at the end when Elinor regains human shape and kisses Merida all over the face. Which parent hasn't done that to their little ones?

Husband thought that the witch was reminiscent of the witch in Spirited Away.  That's not surprising as John Lasseter at Pixar is a big fan of Hideo Miyazaki's movies.

My take-aways from Brave:  be very specific what you ask for in spells and really, more conversations and openness between Merida and Queen Elinor would have avoided this whole mess.

What to do without a thumb?

Well, I do still have both thumbs.  It's just that my lifetime of knitting (well, 20+ years) has given me thumb and wrist problems on my left hand.  So I've learned how to knit without using my left thumb and it's slooooow going.

I am so close to finishing Husband's City Lights blanket and that's what I'll focus on for, um, I guess this year.

So more time will go into sewing, which does not (yet) hurt me.  That's slow going too, as I can only do it when Baby naps.

Dress Muslins

I've made 3 muslins (no, not Muslims, autocorrect) from Stylish Dress Book. None of them have worked out quite right yet but I'm going to try making a dress -length Tunic O with some cotton voile I ordered from Fabric.com.  

Part of the problem with ordering on-line is that there's no sense of scale.  It turns out the flowers on the fabric are 8 inches across. That's just too big for me, but at least making another dress from it will let me know how voile's hand works with the pattern. 

If it still doesn't work, I'm going to move onto another pattern.  Maybe the Claire Cami tank dress from Sew Serendipity.

In doing an image search on the dress, I came across the Patty the Snug Bug blog.  She's made several of these dresses and looks really cute in them, so that's a good sign.  

I Made a Dress! and what I'm watching on TV

This is the Crepe pattern from Colette.  It's a wrap dress that wraps in the back, so no zippers.  I used some white quilting cotton that had on hand and then used scarlet RIT dye.

Then the first time I wore it, it tore at the underarm.  Not the seam, the actual fabric. Also, the bodice doesn't fit so well. I don't know that I'll wear it much or make it again.  If I do, next time I'll use a patterned fabric so any wonkiness and wrinkles will be camouflaged. 

Still, I'm encouraged to keep sewing.  I've ordered 2 Japanese sewing books (translated into English)

 

And in other topics, I'm really enjoying the show Continuum on Syfy.  I think it's the best science fiction show on US TV right now.  Here's a review in the New York Times that explains why.

I'm really digging Scandal.  Each episode is packed with twists and it's over the top. Here's an article about what makes it so watchable.  On the one hand, it's so soapy and over the top. On the other hand, US politics is so full of back office dealing and so gonzo nuts that the stuff on Scandal is believable.

And last but not least, The Walking Dead returns tonight!

Blanket or sweater?

This is all my bulky weight wool yarn.  It's a mix of Manos del Uraguay, Lamb's Pride Bulky, Lion Brand, and 2 balls of Misty Alpaca.

I want to make a sweater, but I don't think I have enough of any one color for it.

Because the wool's not the softest stuff (oh Malabrigo, how you've spoiled me), I may make a Mitered Crosses blanket out of it. Maybe use the reds as the backgrounds for the crosses?  Or I should mix it all up and make the background some neutral color instead.  I'll have to play around with it.

However, I need to finish Husband's bulky weight wool blanket first.  I am on the last of the 9 colored strips, then there's the all black strips that join the colored strips....

But the end is in sight!