A hat, three quilts and a skirt

We head off tomorrow evening to visit my parents and retrieve our first born so tomorrow is my last day to get something done with just Clara around. She has complicated things by perfecting her crawling technique and starting on pulling herself up. She also likes power strips.
Tuesday evening as we watched a little kung fu I made this hat for Clara. I call it her Eggplant Hat. Sadly it is too big, I think it might fit next winter. So I have to make another, too bad, so sad. First I need to finish my scarf so I have the left over yarn to make it with. Note that the purple and green in these pictures is the same yarn, while it is variegated I also don't have the white balance quite right in either one or both of them. They are both Moda Dea's Tweedle Dee. I am really liking them right now because they have a very gradual color change to them, which I have decided I like a lot more than the yarns with very short color changes, resulting in a mottle appearance, though it can be nice for felting.

Yesterday I finished the last "top" for my triptych 6-12" quilt swap. I also got them all quilted and machine sewing on the binding done. Now I have to decide if I will do the hand sewing on the binding or wimp out and bring them to my parents' and let my mom do it. Here are all three of the triptych:

Yesterday I also went down to what turned out to be a crocheting class at our library. Turns out I am still bad at crocheting. At one point I honed my skills enough to make two scarfs for Oli (I don't ever see him wear them...). I have issues with things getting wider, then narrower, then wider. I should probably stick with knitting, but there are so many cute amiguri out there. When I was at the library today to pick up a book (Free-Range Chickens by Simon Rich - read it, it is hilarious), one library asked if I could crochet because apparently they were thinking I should do an evening crochet class. I had to bow out of that, the blind leading the blind, but it looks like I may end up doing a little knitting class. One librarians comment "Thats the one with two needles right?" We shall see. 

Today I also made myself a skirt. This skirt was my inspiration, it is much cooler than mine. I decided to use a light-weight denim and quilting cotton panel for my first try.

1. I used Burda pattern #8281, a basic a-line skirt with darts in the back because I can't just make up my own clothes patterns. I am not that good. I mostly followed the pattern to start out with. 
2. I lengthened the skirt by a few inches, it ended up just past my knees. 
   
3. I sewed the darts in the back (had to adjust them a tad)
4. Then sewed the two back pieces together.
   
5. Then sewed the front to the back on one side only (my right)
6. Then I sewed on the waistband piece. 
7. I also straightened out the curve on the sides of the front and back not sewn together. 
   
8. Then I cut a panel 18" wide (next time I might do a bit wider, but no narrower) and the length of the skirt+waist band.
9.  Sewed the panel in along with the d-rings and ribbon. 
   
10. Hemmed the bottom, finished off the waist and all done! I think I have a little topstitching to do still but it fits.
    
11. If I were doing it again I would take an inch or two off of the side of the front panel (denim) so that more of the decorative panel showed. I would also pick a pattern with a lower waist line.

I have noticed Mishka is much more affectionate when she wants something. For example when she kept fighting and getting abscesses we kept her locked in for a bit and she was very affectionate. She is currently on a bit of a diet (i.e. she doesn't get to pig out all day) and she has been hanging out with me a lot. This has its upsides and downsides. It is nice to have a kitty to pet but it is not nice when she lays down on the fabric I am cutting or chops my yarn in to short pieces with her sharp little teeth.