Preemie Quilt

I had leftover 'coins' from the Stacked Coins quilt so I made a matching preemie quilt.

Stacked Coins

I went to the recent sew day in my new community; they make kids quilts to donate to Child Protection Services.

 

Three afternoons of sewing and I have a top. That's a new record for me. I used strips from my 2 1/2" bin, so there wasn't a lot of cutting to do.

Reclaimed Sweater Mitts

What do you do if you want Shetland Fair Isle fingerless mitts but your stranded knitting skills aren't quite there yet? You can make a pair from the sleeves of a reclaimed sweater.

I got this Abercrombie and Fitch sweater from e-bay for less then five dollars. I think it's because it had shrunk when washed and the sleeves were much too long for the rest of the garment.

I tried on the sleeve to determine the length of the mitt and cut it off two inches higher. Then I unraveled two inches of what was to become the top of the mitt.

Next I took it to the sewing machine and shaped the arm. I trimmed the extra to a quarter-of-an-inch. The Shetland wool is sticky so I didn't worry about the ends raveling. Then I sewed a notch in the bottom ribbing to create the thumb opening. Once the sewing was done, I picked up the live stitches on dpn's and using the reclaimed yarn from the sleeve, knit ribbing to match the cuff.

I love 'em! Soft, warm, quick and looking like I know how to do stranded colorwork.

Notions Bag

As a break from knitting, I worked on my Sashiko. Then I made it into a little zippered notions bag.

 

One square of fabric for the back, two for lining and a matching zipper.

Inserted the zipper.
 

Layered right sides together and sewed with a quarter inch, leaving an opening to turn.

The zipper was closed when I sewed the front and back together, but I needed it open to be able to pull the lining through to the bag and then the wrong side of the bag to the right side. It was sort of like working inside a double pocket!

I like to use a pointed chop stick to help gently poke out the corners.

A light pressing and away you go.

Sewing Room

New Design Wall

Once I moved into the sewing room, it was time to create the design wall. 6' x 7'. Yeah!
 

We started with sheets of foam insulation, duct tape, prepainted wood trim and 72' wide felt by the yard.

We used a craft spray adhesive, not spray baste which is designed to wash out.

After the batting was affixed to the board, I trimmed it to an inch all around.

Then my husband framed it with wood strips. We tucked the batting under the wood as it was screwed in place.

Now that's a helpful tool for laying out my Ocean Wave! I thought the duct tape showing through would bother me, but it can act as grid lines for placement.

Woodland Birds

When I first got settled here, I was surprised at how few birds there were. The trees and bushes seemed silent compared to what I was used to at our house in the valley. I put out feed in hopes of encouraging the locals.

It took more than two weeks, but finally Juncos came - by the dozens.

A few weeks after that I was startled by a flash of bright blue, a Steller Jay.

And recently a handful of these cocky fellows. I've never seen this bird before so I got the out the book and found they are a Varied Thrush. They're considered 'an uncommon year round resident, a migrant visitor from September to March in forested  areas.'

 

 

Welcome.

'70s Flashback

I found my husband's old chambray shirt from before we were married, circa 1978. I had lovingly embroidered the front and back as a gift. He wore it until it was too small.

The New Covenant

Too bad I didn't use an embroidery hoop.

The True Vine

Bound For Glory

Postage Stamp Quilt

I have a good-sized box of 1 1/2" squares cut from scraps from friends and left-over projects. I wanted some mindless sewing so I started making little four-patch blocks. Once I had a stack I laid them out to see where I wanted to go next.

Creating a dark diagonal chain.

Sixteen-patch blocks...

On point...

 
Scrappy one-patch...

But I felt I've already done all of those in one form or another. I went to a file folder on my computer called Quilt source pix, sort of my personal Pintrest, which was my way of collecting images I liked long before Pinterest came along, and looked in there. I found half a dozen different pictures of the traditional postage stamp chain quilt popular in the 30's. My inner quilter must want to make this quilt.

I should probably start now... if I want to finish in this lifetime.

Kitchen Vignette

Have You Seen the Cat?

More than once she wasn't in any of her usual favorite spots. I found her in the sewing room, tucked out of sight.

Out With the Old

As I move into the sewing room I'm sorting through the works in progress and the unfinished objects again. Some of these I know I'm never going to get back to, time to liberate them.

I had such high hopes for this project, but I'm just not fond of curved piecing and therefore not very good at it. My blog shows I started this in '07. I put it on the Freebee table at guild last week.

I feel so light. What else can I give away?

Autumn Pullover

During all the weeks of packing, moving and settling in, I've been working on this year's sweater. So portable, such a comfort through it all. There's something very satisfying about the weight of a knitted sweater as it sits in your lap while you knit.

I spent most of November knitting and reknitting stripe sequences. Even though I drafted it in the sweater designer, I still needed to see it made up. I guess I don't mind ripping, 'cause I did a lot of it. 

I was concerned I might not have enough yarn, so I added a yellow gold called Straw and heather green. I traveled to near and distant yarn shops during Thanksgiving weekend looking for the right weight, color and texture. It was surprising to me how few LYSs carry Cascade 220 Sport. Everyone seems to want superwash. I bought superwash, but it was too soft, too nice, too... polished.

But one of the good things that came out of all that searching, was some wonderful advice. One of the shop owners suggested using a pencil to audition stripe sequences. "Like weavers do." Ah ha!

 

Once I figured out the order of the colors, it's been smooth knitting.