White Chocolate Quilt

Now that the holiday fervor has passed, I’m finally posting the photos of the quilt I delivered the day after Christmas.

The moment I saw this quilt top I fell in love with it!  It is SO calming, warm and welcoming and I immediately knew it needed something special.

My customer, Evelyn, made this top, called McCall's Quilting Magazine, August 2007 (Volume 14, Number 4) for herself to go with the new décor of her recently remodeled bedroom.  The pattern itself calls for all neutrals, but she chose to spice it up with some warm tones that matched her headboard, and I think it couldn’t be lovelier.

Evelyn chose Superior Threads King Tut Sands of Time, a variegated oatmeal colored thread which worked pretty well with all of the different colors of the top.

I used So Fine thread in the bobbin that matched the backing and I love the secondary design it created.

Because we wanted some”poof” to show off the quilting I chose Legacy washable wool batting.

I didn’t get quite as much “poof” as I thought I would because it’s so heavily quilted, but when we laid it out on her bed the light from her window showed off all of the texture and I was really pleased to see it.

I used a matching thread color for the feathered border.

I have to say, I think this is my favorite quilt that I’ve done so far.  It’s certainly in the top 5, anyway!

If you’d like to buy the back issue from Amazon and help support my blog, use the provided link to purchase your copy.

New Year’s Day!

What are you doing this New Year’s Day?  Me, I’m spending it with a group of fiber people!

You know, I never gave that description any thought when I started hanging out with spinners and knitters because of the company I was in when I said it, but outside of that community I’ve had lots of funny looks from people and then I realized they thought I meant “fiber” as in dietary fiber!

Today I’m taking not only my spinning wheel and new jumbo flyer so I can finish up the roving I’ve been working on, but I also made the bodies of 3 hats on my Singer HK-100 bulky knitting machine yesterday so now they just need to be sewn up to finish them.  That's the part I dislike the most, but I'll be able to finish them up in no time because I’m going to concentrate on them today, and someone there might even have an easier way to sew them up than I've been able to figure out so far, too.

I'm also going to take those over sized Fuzzy Feet slippers I made with me so I can finish the toes and then get them into the wash to felt them.  I have to say, I’m quite pleased with how they’ve turned out and I’ll be taking a toe-up sock pattern with me today so I can start learning how to do those, too.

I’m also taking a Coca Cola Chocolate Cake.  I’ve never tried it, or made it, before but I’ve never made socks before, either.

So, today it sounds like a lot of "finishing" going on!  That sounds fabulous to me, because they say that whatever you do on New Years Day is what you'll do the rest of the year.   And by "they" I mean the gals I'm getting together with, and who knows who they got it from! :-) 

I’ve really been  looking forward to our get together, I seem to come back calm and centered after spending a day with them.  There’s food, laughter, conversation and lots of creativity and support..

Next weekend, I’ll quilt.

Happy New Year!

Last quilt of the year…coming soon!

I’m well on my way to the toe on my second Fuzzy Feet felted slipper, then on to learning how to Kitchener stitch.   But more importantly, I’m almost done with my last customer quilt of the year…and it’s GORGEOUS!

Yes, I like the quilting design I’m putting on it, and yes, I picked something that took way longer than it probably needed to,  but when I first saw this quilt…well, I fell in love.  It’s just so peaceful.

I love bright colors.  I’m animated. I’m always on the go.  This quilt is none of that.  I’ll be finishing up the border tonight, while my husband is at work.  As much as I’m dying to, I’m not going to post a sneak peak of the quilting, but you’ll know what I mean when you see it.

Once this quilt is finished, then I can focus on my own projects:

Finishing the Fuzzy Feet felted slippers

Finishing a surprise quilt for a friend

Finishing the last round of my Pass-the-Bag project

Replacing the sponge in the HK-100 knitting machine

Making at least 6 hats on the knitting machine

Replacing the electrical plug on the Passap

Cleaning up the Passap

More knitting projects…check out my Ravelry queue!

Spending time at my LYS

New Year’s Day spinning

Today, though, we need to go car shopping.  Last week my husband’s 20 year old van broke down, the one he uses for his side jobs doing drywall.  It’s been very enlightening having only one vehicle, and truly emphasizes the lack of bus service in Boise!

I’ve drawn a line in the sand on spending anymore money for repairs; there’s over 194,000 miles on it!  We’ve already put in more money than we should have, trying to get it to last until Spring.  For the most part it’s been a good vehicle, but it’s time to replace it.  Terrible timing, though.

Oh, and my mom is coming to visit at the end of the week, after Christmas, so we’ll have our own celebration then.

For those of you don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope you enjoy the festive atmosphere of this holiday season.  For those of you who do, Merry Christmas!

Sock Knitting!

This is my first "sock"!

About 3 years ago, someone suggested that I use the Fuzzy Feet felted slipper pattern from Knitty.com to learn how to make socks and I finally got up the courage to start it!

I'm using a double strand of Fisherman's wool where I took the ends from the middle pull and paired it with the end of the ball, and because I'd wound the skein into two, somewhat similar sized balls, when I got to the toe of this first sock and was running out of yarn from the first ball, I figured I should make a design decision and finish it up with another color.  What's showing as green in the photo is actually brown in person.

Yes, it's gigantic, but it's supposed to be so that it will shrink to the appropriate size when felted.  It's a top down sock and now I need to learn how to do the Kitchener stitch to close up the toe.

I've even cast on the second sock (no second sock syndrome for me)!  Last night I got the 2nd cuff done and I'm ready to start the heel flap.  I'm really getting excited to learn how to make some everyday socks now!  After learning the Kitchener stitch, I'll learn how to make toe up socks.

You do quilt, right?

Considering how I’m a quilter, you’d think I’d be posting more about quilting projects, right?

Well, I’ve certainly been finishing my backlog of customer quilts, trying to get caught up after my machine had been down for so long.  In fact, I’ve been in such a hurry to return them that I’ve forgotten to take pictures of TWO of them before giving them back to my customers!  I never do that!

Remember that I taught a Foundational Quilting Skills class last January through Continuing Education?  I used a Rail Fence pattern with sashing to talk about color value, contrast,  and practice consistent straight 1/4” seams.

Two of my students asked me to quilt them after they were completed.  Both of them liked my freehand swirl design (I’m getting pretty good at that one!) and even picked the same exact thread color…but they look really different from each other, don’t you think?

Lorraine’s purple, green and white quilt color combination was inspired by her frog border fabric.  She was so careful to make sure the directional borders were placed all the same way and re-sewed a few of the blocks when they didn’t line up like she wanted them to.  She chose a cotton/poly batting and it’ll make a lovely gift for one of her nieces.

Carol, of mouse nest fame, brightly colored quilt is very much out of her comfort zone, she normally goes for earth tones, but she plans to keep it for herself.  She chose a washable wool batting which shows the definition of the stitches, and it feels like a lighter weight quilt, although it will work really well for all seasons.  She’s a bit of an over achiever, and was the first one done with her quilt, even before the end of the class!

She’s was also taking a class on how to make half square triangles at the same time and also made this quilt for her dog:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personally, I think it’s too nice for the dog, I’d hang it on the wall!

I’ve got more to show next week.  I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving holiday!

More Knitting Obsession!

Yesterday I finished a very warm, beautiful cowl made out of  Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Grand Hand Dye 002. The pattern is called Kato Cowl, by Rae Ann Vandeputte.  Her pattern is shown with some beautiful buttons, but I think I’ll be getting some shawl pins, or using some of my scarf pins, to add to the cowl.  I got the yarn during a visit to Seattle for a family funeral this summer and found Main Street Yarns in Everett, WA.  Unfortunately for them, it was the first day of their going out of business sale.  However, I took advantage of the sale and got 4 great skeins of yarn and a set of Kollage knitting needles.

This alpaca yarn is quite squishy and soft, but once I got it worked up and sewn into the cowl so I could try it on, I found it a little bit itchy.  I'm going to get some wool wash and see if that makes an improvement.  Otherwise, I’ll be wearing it with a turtleneck!

I can't believe I actually used something out of my stash in the same year I purchased it!  This knitted up so quickly, I think it's the fastest I've ever done a project!  I might have to make these for Christmas gifts!

I started a top down felted slipper pattern yesterday to keep me busy on the bus.  I’m having trouble with it, though, I’ve ripped it out about 5 times now; the right side is supposed to be on the OUTSIDE!

Sigh.  I’ll get it, though.

I Finished!

Since I've been riding the bus, I've been taking my knitting with me. I started a hat for my husband and I finally finished it!

I'm really a pretty basic knitter, I haven't done too much fancy stuff, although I absolutely adore yarn and and am quite fascinated by all things fiber.  I've even started up a yarn stash again, much to my chagrin. I certainly don't need more collections!

I found this pattern on Ravelry called the Big Man hat.  For once I actually checked my gauge, and I decided to go with a size 8 instead of the size 6 this pattern called for. Now that it's finished, I really think I should have used the size 6 ...its huge!

Rather than ripping it out again, yes again,  (I started this last year with a different pattern, and it was way too big) I decided that a little roomie is ok and I finished it up just in time for the cold weather.

I'm considering making him another hat with a different pattern, or redo this one using smaller needles, as I really would like it to fit a little more snugly. But I may have to put that off for now, I have lots of other projects in the queue; I hope I can find the right size needle.