Needleturn and a new sock...

I chose an easy needleturn applique project to practice with.

 I don't think it will ever be my favourite method of applique but I am determined to get more comfortable with it!

 

 

I had 2 charm packs so that will be perfect to do this cute Orange Peel quilt!

 

 

After doing a bit of reading, I realized I had never finger pressed when I had previously tried needleturn so I thought I should try it.

 

 

So far it seems to be working! Two and a half blocks are done! So far so good! I do not find this as fast as my usual freezer paper method but this is going to give me the ability to do ANY applique!

 

 

And I have a new tool for knitting...thanks to my Dad!

 

 

One sock done! My new yarn bowl is perfect, but I must admit, I do miss searching for that rolling ball of wool!

 

 

Happy Stitching!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A UFO kind of week!

Sometimes I just have to say WOW! Did I do good!

I am on a mission to work on my UFO's...one big one at a time and smaller ones mixed in.

 

 

I laid out my flying geese and sashings...it is going to be huge!! 104" x 104".

 

 

(Do you like all the foot scrunches?) It is all ready to piece the rows together now. I'm needing one full day in my sewing room though so when I get started I won't have to stop.

 

Next on the UFO list...

 

Two small lap quilts got machine quilted and bound.

 

I have not a clue what I am doing with this one. It was made from scraps from a quilt kit.

It will probably become a gift eventually.

 

 

This one is going to become a car quilt...

 

 

And I finished a bit of knitting too! I am glad I got these done BEFORE winter was over!

 

 

 

So...WOW! Now to go clean up a bit!

 

Happy Stitching!

 

 

 

 

Quilting is Dangerous!

 

Last week I stuck a needle in my finger- right along the nail...OUCH! Well, after a few days it was really hurting and turning red all around.  Then it filled with pus. Yuck! (You probably didn't want to hear that part) It is not a good thing to try and hand quilt with an infected finger.

So while I wait for it to heal I have been keeping busy with other things.

 

I wound all my skeins of sock yarn into balls. I am ready to knit socks! Lots of socks!

I also took a bit of time in my sewing room with my flock of geese! All the 8 geese units are done. All that is left are 13 two-geese units...just 26 geese in all. By the time they are finished I will have made a total of 902 geese! Now that is a lot of geese.

 

 

I am close to having a working finger again so it won't be long before I'm hand quilting again!

 

And last but certainly not least, I want to show off what my wonderful brother made for me....

 

A coffee scoop and...

 

 

...a new pen!

 

 

Thanks!

 

Happy Stitching!

Leap of Faith

Anytime I mark a quilt I feel a little nervous. It doesn't matter that I've used the same marking tools in the past with no trouble at all getting the lines out. All I can think is what if it doesn't come out? And this quilt has not one, but TWO different marking tools.

 

I used a water soluble pen to mark the feathers. All the feather sections are finally quilted!

 

This picture is the feathers I used along the sides and corners.

 

 

This feathered wreath is in the centre of the quilt.

 

 

So next was to mark the grid lines in the background. I decided on 1-1/2" apart. For these lines I used a Roxanne's silver pencil to mark them.

 

 

My quilting plan now is to quilt around all the applique pieces and do the grid lines in the background of the blocks. When that is all done I'll do the borders.

 

And when I haven't been quilting, I've been knitting myself a new scarf...

 

 

...from Noro Silk Garden. This is the second scarf I've made with this pattern and wool. I have a feeling it will quickly become my second favourite scarf!

 

And now I have to get started on a Christmas gift or two...

 

Happy Stitching!

 

 

 

 

So Glad I Have a Blog!

A blog is a wonderful way to document your UFO's! These next couple of UFO's I have actually blogged about so I know for sure without even looking they are not too many years old! But I thought I should look perhaps at when I did blog about them....

 

The first little UFO is this adorable Dresden Plate that I have been finishing. I started it about 3 years ago before I even had a blog! Then it sat until just recently when I decided to finish the quilting. I had actually started quilting it, and I remember that I was quilting it without a hoop and with a long needle at the table. I decided to continue the method but I sat in my rocking chair instead. I have to say that my stitches were way better at the table. Maybe I had a bit more control and I learned that I really do prefer quilting in a hoop. That said...it is so cute!!!!

 

 

Each little block is just 3-1/2" square. My intention was all along to do a scalloped border. Here is my tip for scalloped borders. I never cut them before quilting. All I do is mark on the desired edge of the quilt. Then I know where my quilting lines should end. When the quilting is done, I baste just inside the line (maybe 1/8"). Then  you just need to trim on the line. This will keep your edge together nicely while putting on the binding and you don't have to worry about weird edges while quilting.

 

 

Now it's ready for binding!

 

Remember my Farmers Wife blocks I started back in October 2010. I found them in the bottom of a container last weekend. I had 23 blocks in all. That's enough to make a lap sized quilt. I dug around in my fabrics and found just enough blue and brown to get it done. Here it is in progress...

 

 

The missing row is sitting beside my sewing machine!

 

While I was searching for old posts on these UFO's I realized I should really get better at using labels on my posts. I never did find the post for the Dresden Plate but I'm sure it's there somewhere!

 

And finally, winter is coming so I thought I had better get these scarves finished. All they needed was blocking.

 

 

The top scarf is Strangling Vine . It was a fabulous knit! The only change I made was that I cast on 33 stitches instead of 42. I used Knit Picks Palette yarn for this one.

 

The bottom scarf is Saroyan. It was fast, fun and beautiful. Very girly!!! This scarf is made from Knitpicks Sugarbunny. Angora is so soft. I often don't make swatches (I know...bad , bad, bad of me) , and this is a case I should have. Although it is beautiful and great the way it is, if I was to knit it again with Sugarbunny, I would go down a needle size.

 

Back to my UFO's - it is so satisfying to get a few of these done! I wonder what I will find next?

 

Happy Stitching!

 

 

 

 

 

It's Time for Bed!

I love my ugly bed socks! Not everyone thinks they are ugly though...my Dad said they weren't that bad. I wondered, "If they fit him, would I have to fight him for them?" Luckily his feet are slightly larger than my big feet so I didn't have to worry about that!

The best thing is they slip off really easily so they are perfect for sleeping.

I have also been busy sewing my Wild Goose Chase blocks.

5 more done...

I am up to 13 blocks- that is more than 1/2 done (not including the sashing).

I have been using one of my favourite gadgets for this project- a sandpaper board.

While I am marking my lines, it helps to keep the fabric from moving.

 My Dad made this one for me. Pretty great Dad, eh?

Maybe I'll be making a pair of socks for him next!

Happy Stitching!

Still Quilting...

My hexagons are slowly getting quilted but I find I have spent so many hours working on it already that I can only quilt for an hour and a half or so and I need to do something else.

So I have a couple of something else's I have been doing.

First I finished another pair of socks. Can a person have too many hand knit socks? These were the Spring Forward socks from the Summer 2008 Knitty. And yes, I did make 2 of them!

When I finished them I went into my yarn box and discovered many small scrap balls of sock yarn. I have been wanting to make another pair of bed socks so what better to use...

And here is the first ugly sock all done and the next sock started. They are going to be easy to take off in the middle of the night when my feet get too hot! And the best thing is that I'll only see how ugly they are when I put them on.

And yes, I needed to start a new quilt. I had been eyeing this Wild Geese Quilt from the Bloomin Workshop and then saw a couple similar quilts in a magazine and online somewhere (of course I couldn't find it again!). I figured it was meant to be! I love the setting. The wild goose chase block is so often set on the diagonal and that's ok too, but I really like this setting.

So far 8 blocks are done - many geese left to make including all the sashing!

And 2 are on my little design wall that is behind my sewing machine.

I'll be making 25 blocks set 5x5 and it is going to be perfect on my bed!

While I am asking questions, how many bed quilts is too many? Is it ok to make one for every month?

Happy Stitching!

A New Year and MANY UFO's!

A new year seems to be a good time to look around and see what you've got hiding in bins, hiding under other UFO's and just hiding in plain sight...in other words it has been a UFO for so long that when you look at it you don't even realize it's not done! It's become a fixture. Well, I have a couple of those...OK... maybe more than a couple.

My January find is this little pineapple quilt (3" blocks) that has been pinned to my bulletin board for months (almost a year actually!). I think it's time to get the paper out and finish it.

It is going to take me a while to get all those papers out!

I did finish two things this week though...

My Christmas bags-22 of them!

A scarf all done and blocked. I think it is going to be a wonderful gift.

And we have an amaryllis in bloom finally!

It is so beautiful!

In the sunlight you can actually see gold shimmer on the petals!

Happy Stitching!

It's the time of year for secrets!

I've had a VERY productive bit of time off. I have spent almost the whole week in my sewing room working on a few projects. Even the weather cooperated to keep me inside....

The main project I have been working on is a big secret...it is that time of year. I'm allowed some secrets! And this one I am not telling anyone about. But I will give a hint...here is part of my cleanup!

While I was in my sewing room and looking for things I stumbled upon a bin and looked inside and discovered some half finished needle punched Christmas tree decorations I had forgotten about.

I got organized and made some tea dye, took a leap of faith and sprayed them down with my tea solution. And oh my, they seemed a little dark. But I left them to dry and now they are looking not too bad. Next time though I will make the tea solution a little weaker.

Now I have to find some backing and get them finished. Hopefully I will get them done by the end of the weekend!

My redwork Santa Christmas stocking is all traced and ready to go. For the tracing I used a red .01 Pigma pen. The line is quite fine and very easy to see.

I read a little online about redwork and embroidery and if I should be stabilizing my fabric or even if I would like the batting (a very thin batting...like thermore) under it when I stitched. I did a quick sample of all 3...

The interfaced sample...I used a very lightweight interfacing...

It was easy to stitch through but it was also easy to miss the hole to go back down. Another problem was that the fabric had lost most of it's natural stretch so you couldn't really pull to help the stitches lie flatter.

Next is the batting....

I found I had to be pretty careful to get my stitches back in the right hole with the batting as well. Even though the batting was very thin, it still added too much bulk. And it was too puffy looking.

Finally the fabric by itself...

Now that was more like it! Great stitches! I think I found my method!

And, just fyi, I used 2 strands of floss for all my samples.

I am planning on going quilting this week with a local group who meets on Mondays. I'll be bringing my stocking to work on. Hopefully I'll get a really good start on it.

And finally....

I have noticed a few bloggers getting excited about making knitted Christmas balls. Well, the excitement rubbed off on me...look what came in the mail yesterday!!!!

Now I am waiting for the wool I ordered to arrive. I hope it's soon. I can't wait to get started!

I have a few days left of sewing room bliss so off I go...

Happy Stitching!

Back from New Hampshire and NYC!

I had a little fun while I was away visiting family and enjoying the sights in NYC- and by fun I think I mean I did a 'little' shopping!

In New Hampshire, one of my aunts took me to a couple of her favorite stores and as it turned out I liked them too. Our first stop was Candlelite Quilts in Chelmsford, Mass. It was a wonderful little store that had great samples and great fabrics! I would be a regular shopper if I lived there.

My first purchase was fabric for this cute tote bag. I can hardly wait to get started sewing.

Next I fell in love with these Robert Kaufman Quilters Tweeds. I can see a new log cabin quilt in my future.

I have been wanting to make myself a new Christmas stocking. Since my separation from my ex I have been using $2 Walmart Christmas stockings for myself. Really it is sad that a quilter should have such a stocking, so I am hoping I get this one done in time for Christmas this year. I may be cutting it close!

Here are a couple of patterns I bought at the various quilt shops I visited while away.

Then I found this perfect sashing fabric for a scrap quilt I was working on before going away. Now I can finally start putting it together.

Some more fabric for another bag and some for just because...

I found my calendar while away. I worried that it would get a little bent in my suitcase but it made it home in perfect condition.

Then here is a little felted wool in beautiful colors and textures. I didn't mean to buy this but my hands wouldn't let go so I had to. I have no idea when a wool quilt will get started but when it does I know I'll have a good start on collecting beautiful wool for it.

Then I came home with some stash from my Aunt Sharon's stash (thank you Aunt Sharon!!!) I have some ideas for a beautiful brown and pink quilt.

Now no trip would be complete without going into a yarn shop or two!

I very much enjoyed my time in Knit Pickings in Plaistow, NH. (As you can tell!)

The first thing I saw were these beautiful Fiddlehead mittens all made up. I have been eyeing them on Ravelry for a very long time so I bought wool to make a multicolored pair and also a 2 color pair! It will be a great winter!

Then I bought some very soft sock yarn. After all, what trip to the wool shop would be complete without a bit of sock yarn.

And here are couple more projects...

I think I bought myself a busy winter! I can hardly wait for it to start!

Happy Stitching!