Needles and a Pen » Knitting, Sewing, and Nursing School

Masthead header
Needles and a Pen bio picture
  • Welcome to my blog!

    Hi! I'm Traci. I'm a Registered Nurse who loves quilting, knitting, cross stitch, and the great outdoors. In my pre-scrubs life, I owned Real Photography, and you can still see my old wedding and portrait photography site here .

    I've created a map that shows links to our camping/hiking/general family fun review posts that you can find here. It's pretty much the coolest thing on this site. Thanks, Google!

    I great big puffy heart *love* comments, so please let me know you visited! I try to always reply!

Category Archives: clothing

a renaissance dress for Ellie

We go to the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur every year.  Last year I made this quilt for watching the joust, and this year on my to do list was a period appropriate outfit for Ellie.  I used the Children’s Workshop Tab Front Jumper ‘instructions’ for the outer piece and the Sweet Little Dress pattern (extending […]

View full post »

flannel sprout

I made this cute hooded flannel Sprout dress for my goddaughter.  I can’t wait to see her rocking it with some tights next year!

View full post »

two more outfits from the retreat

I’m late blogging these–I took these pictures right before we all came down with Super Virus 2012. I love the way this one came together.  It’s still a bit big on her, but should fit well late this summer. And another sandpiper top from the remaining fabric–I love that pattern!!!!

View full post »

another retro dress

Here’s another of the dresses I made for Ellie at our guild retreat in February.  A pattern from the 60s.  This one was a bit of a disaster–when I cut it out I was like “why are there two pieces for the back?  That’s dumb–I’ll just cut one and save myself sewing the seam.”   Speaking […]

View full post »

a new spring skirt

I made this about a month ago but the weather this weekend finally warranted busting it out of the closet!  It uses my twirly skirt tutorial and the pattern from Heather Ross’s Weekend Sewing book.  It’s made from one of the Denyse Schmidt Joann Fabric lines that leaves a lot to be desired in the quality […]

View full post »