Quilt Update!

Just a few quick photos to show you how the hexagon quilt is going. I have started sewing some of the blocks together. Very exciting!

 It is a little wrinkly from being in my sewing bag, I guess I should have ironed it before picture time.

15 blocks down, half a zillion to go!

1930s McCalls Pattern Catalog

Alas, No aprons! But many enchanting frocks!

My friend Jacquelin is researching the 1930s, I thought she would like to see these.

So very elegant! You can still see a 1920s influence in the shape of the hats.

Don't you love the variety of collars?

Evening gowns-what glamour!

Could I order number 6298, please?

Miss Jane's Hat

Here are the promised pictures! I forgot to mention yesterday, you can also see more information about the pattern at Ravelry.

Thank you everyone for all your kind comments!!

Jane Austen Knits Magazine

I am published!! This is so exciting! I have been bursting with excitement, longing to share the news with you, but trying to patiently wait until I could share it properly.

This past January I submitted a project for the Jane Austen Knits summer 2012 and it was accepted!! And finally, finally after much waiting it is here!! The magazine is now in stores and online.
It is so exciting to see one's name in print!

Jane Austen Knits is a knitting magazine with a Jane Austen twist! All the patterns are inspired by either a Jane Austen character or setting. Inside you will find a plethora of wrist warmers, shawls, socks, bags and sweaters.

Look at all the beautiful projects! Interweave always does a wonderful job.

 I few close ups of Miss Jane's Hat.
"In the Regency Era turbans and Greek style headwear were popular and they were very similar to modern slouchy hats. This hat was inspired by two characters-Miss Jane Bennett and Miss Jane Fairfax-as well as Jane Austen herself. All three Janes exhibited grace and elegance wherever they went."

"Miss Jane's hat has a graceful cabled hat band with dainty embroidery and an elegant body gathered into bands of reverse stocking stitch. The hatband is worked flat and sewn together; stitches are then picked up around the top of the hatband and joined for knitting in the round."

Tomorrow-picture of Miss Jane's Hat!

English Paper Piecing

 Until a few weeks ago, I wasn't sure what paper piecing was. I had read about it somewhere....sometime.... and hadn't paid too much attention. Until I came across a post by Camille at Simplify. This was first time I had seen pictures of the process and it clicked!! Now that I knew what it was all about, I had to try too!
The paper piecing method has been around a long time. There is evidence of it from the early 1800s. It sounds a bit strange at first and the first question that comes up is, what happens to the paper? As you will see below, it is used like a template and does not stay in the finished quilt. The paper helps the hexagons to turn out perfect, with perfect corners. If you have quilted before you will know that is one of the hardest parts of sewing the pieces together. The other reason paper piecing is special is the only way to do is sew it by hand. I know it sounds a bit crazy at first, but it also makes for a very portable project. You would be surprised how fast it goes!
I decided to make Grandmother's Flower Garden, it was popular in the 1920s and 30s and I could use up a bunch of retro scraps!

 Take your fabric hexagon and a paper hexagon. Notice that the paper is 1/4 inch smaller on all sides, this is the seam allowance. More on making the paper templates.

 Stitch around the edges using a large basting stitch or straight stitch. These are just temporary stitches, so the color of thread  and size of stitch doesn't matter.

 Once you are all the way around, cut the thread. I like to start with a knot, but there isn't a need to knot it at the end. It also makes it easier to pull out.

All finished, now just eight more to go!

 Starting with your center piece (yellow) sew a hexagon on each side. I used a mattress stitch but whip stitch would also work.

 All sides are sewn. Now I just need to sew the seams in between.

 Once a block is complete. It is time to remove the paper. Pull out the basting stitches all the way around the block.

And the paper comes free!

Now you are ready to sew another block. And by all means, recycle your paper templates!

I am not sure how big a quilt I am going to make. I thought at first I would just make a small decorative one, just to try out paper piecing. But it is too fun! I will make a bunch and see how many I have at the end of the summer, maybe a lap or twin bed size?

Fannie Merritt Farmer

Over the weekend, I came across this jewel of a cookbook.

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer, copyright 1922. This is actually the fifth or sixth edition as the first was published in 1898.

Fannie Farmer, known as the "Mother of level measures" was not only the moving force behind standardizing cooking measurements but also an advocate of proper nutrition for the sick. After suffering from a stroke at a young age, Fannie turned her energy to cooking. She attended the Boston Cooking School in 1889 and stayed on as an assistant, eventually becoming principle in 1891. She later founded her own cooking school and spent the rest of her life teaching and lecturing.

"Cookery is the art of preparing food for the nourishment of the body. Prehistoric man may have lived on uncooked foods, but there are no savage races to-day who do no practise cookery in some way, however crude. Progress in civilization has been accompanied by progress in cookery. Much time has been given in the last few years to the study of foods, their necessary proportions and manner of cooking them. Educators have been shown by scientists that this knowledge should be disseminated; as a result, "Cookery" is found in the curriculum of public schools of many of our towns and cities."

This will actually be my third edition of Fannie Farmer as I have a reprint of her first edition cookbook and a 1980 revised edition. After 100 years, her cookbook and methods still live on.

Do you have a Fannie Farmer cookbook? Perhaps passed down from a mother or grandmother?

Crafting Blog

Today I would like to share with you a new blog!

Perhaps I Should Have Been Supervised is a crafty blog my sisters, cousins and I have started. We love to share our newest creations with each other and are inviting you to follow along!

You will be able to see the newest knitting project, what is cooking in the kitchen, sewing, embroidery, crafts, gardening, and whatever else strikes our fancy. We hope it inspires you as much as it does us.

Check out the new blog to see how to make these cute pincushions!