Can't Win 'em All

I found a chunk of cotton homespun on the freebee table at guild and thought it would work for faux chenille scarves. Maybe I could get a jump on this year's Christmas gifts. :)

This time I used Clover's slash cutter, wowee zow! That made a huge difference. Last time I cut the channels with embroidery scissors and it took days instead of half an hour.

It didn't really turn out, it's not fluffy or soft like the ones made from flannel. Live and learn.

8 months

If the sewing room door is open, Spunky's in there. I found her napping this way, does this look comfortable?

Quilt Retreat 2011

Out of the blue a quilt friend invited me to her guild's retreat. It was short notice, but I jumped on it. It's about time I got back to sewing on the projects gathering dust in my sewing room!

Reba and her Ocean Mammals shaded circle quilt

Mavis and two Lady of the Lake blocks.

We had to laugh at how many times it took to piece the dark and light hst's in the right order. What an exercise in patience! She finally got it though.

Kim's Sawtooth Stars in shot cotton from Great Britain

This fabric was essentially solid, but it was woven with black threads going one way and colored threads going the other. It gave the fabric something of a nap that caught the light, making each star look different. Very intriguing.

It was Debbie's birthday so we surprised her with spur of the moment, hand made gifts at dinner that night. It was fun to see what people came up with; fusible applique letters to make a banner, 'paper dolls' out of fabric, a pieced bookmark, a 'mug rug', a needle keeper. She was so touched.

What did I work on? Well whenever I can't seem to get jump started I sew a few of these nine patch blocks from the original fabric I reclaimed from a estate sale find. They're so easy and satisfying, it gets me back in the saddle somehow. I have 25 block so far, no plan, and a bit more original fabric.

The next day I gathered my courage and pieced the next Lone star. Two down, 18 more to go!

Lookin' pretty good. :) I also constructed a jacket from rayon batik. Pictures soon.

Yarn Love

Quilt friends and coworkers ask me what I've been doing lately, "Are you quilting? What are you working on?" I have to answer, knitting.

It's just so nice to come home in the evening and sit in the recliner by the wood stove after dinner and knit. It's more relaxing than going in the sewing room and sitting at the machine. :) I've had my eyes open for a thrift store sweater I could reclaim wool yarn from. On the way home from Nathan's, I found one.

It was quite large and in great condition, I figured it would give me plenty of yarn for what I wanted. The fabric was a beautiful cabled pattern that was sort of lost because the two-ply yarn has a lovely texture of its own. I picked the seams apart and began 'reverse engineering' it. I felt sorta guilty on the one hand, this was someone's handiwork that they'd put time and energy into. On the other, I decided I was giving it a new lease on life. The color doesn't show very well in the pictures. It's a medium periwinkle blue that seems to change color depending on how much light there is. Sometimes it appears to be gray, other times, more purple. Fun!

Of course Spunky had to help. :)

This is the last section of the back with all the yarn I've reclaimed. I don't know how many yards I have yet, but it seems like enough for the medium sized pullover I have in mind.

I took it to knitting guild this week and they suggested I skein the balls, soak each one and hang it to dry weighted, that way the kinks from the previous knitting will relax. I thought my Ginghers were a good weight.

While I was on quilt retreat last weekend I went to the LYS (no website) and browsed patterns. This one looks about my speed. We'll see if I can pull this together.
(Added later: *chuckling* Not knitting yet, just playing with yarn!)

Family Time

There's something about your first born child turning 30. It's magic, it's fun! It's a milestone for him and for us. We had a great weekend with Nathan and Danielle, celebrating, and a nice baked ham dinner with her folks as well. Then the Roberts guys all watched "A Team".

Happy Birthday DS1!