Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Startitis

Love of knitting and fiber is so similar to love of quilting and fabric. There are so many wonderful yarns and so many terrific colors and patterns; I want to try them all!

I finished the lambswool shrug, bound off and washed it. It needs sewing up but there it sits while I cast on for something new. 


I finished knitting a gift for my grandson's 1st birthday which is at the end of this month, but it's still in the knitting bag waiting for finishing touches while I worked up a felted hot pad.



Then I found 8 skeins of cotton-rayon at the thrift store for a song and jumped in with plans to begin a summer cardigan, bought the pattern, swatched in two different size needles, practiced the lace pattern and got gauge.
 


But the LYS's annual summer sale is coming up and I've had my eye on some yummy RED Madeline Tosh dk. It would look great in this pattern.


Oh! And I've drafted the California King-sized quilt for the bridal couple, but I'll show pictures of that after it's been gifted.

Do I have enough going on yet? Yeesh...

Autumn On My Mind

I can show the Bride's quilt now, the Bridal shower was last weekend!





I told her my son has his own TV quilt and this one is hers. She doesn't have to share unless she wants to. :)

Too Good To Eat



Now THAT'S a cake!

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Bento


I'm still plunking along sewing the HST borders together, but I just needed a new color scheme to get me through the tedium. So yes, I started another quilt.


How do you select colors for a quilt? I usually pick a favorite multicolored print and then start pulling related colors from the stash and laying the chunks of fabric out till it 'looks right'. I've been asked what my method is for selecting a fabric palette, but it really feels intuitive. It's not just color, it's balancing the values, the visual texture and whether the feel of the print blends with the overall statement I want. Not too many tone on tones or it looks boring, not too many large prints or it looks busy. Not too many deep darks or it looks heavy, not too many from the same fabric line, or it looks too planned...




I'm using this strip pieced method to piece the Bento Box blocks. What a dream. They go together so fast and easy. I sew HST's for the other quilt as leader-enders as I piece these. Git r done!