Recent Projects

Here are a few finished projects from the past two months. I knit this pair of socks for my dad for Christmas. He received the first sock on Christmas Eve and the second sock on New Years Eve.Some neighbors had a baby girl just before Christmas. I knit this sweater during our travels and gave it them in early January. I've seen it on the baby a few times, apparently its a good weight for going out in the car seat. I made this pair of pillow covers for my Grandma Ginny's birthday.
The back has two flaps that overlap so the pillow slips in. I decided to make the corners purple like the front.
I finally finished the curtains in our living room. I got the fabric in August and made one or two panels this fall. Other projects were more exciting and side tracked me but when we returned from Christmas I got the other two pairs done. At the end of January I finally hemmed them to be the same length.

Mending Kit

One way I motivate myself to do housework and chores is to make it novel, or to make it homemade. We've had a growing pile of clothes that needed to be mended but I didn't want to sit up stairs in the craft room in the evening to do it. I decided I needed a mending kit and a basket which would allow me to be comfy by the fire while I did my mending.

I used a 1/2 yard of a neat batik fabric I'd bought in November intending to make Chinese Peasant Bags with my mom. I didn't get into it like she did, and instead decided to use the pretty fabric to make my mending more exciting.

On one side, I made two zippered pockets.
On the other, I made one zippered pocket at the top. The bottom has a pocket for scissors with velcro that goes between the scissor loops to keep them in place. It also has a velvet pincushion and a velvet spot for needles.
I sewed them together to make the inside.
For the outside, I practiced my free-motion quilting with a piece of the same fabric and some batting.

I sewed the two together with the right sides facing, then turned it right side out and top stitched the edges. I had an extra length in the front, so made a flap that folds over and buttons to close the mending kit.
Having this ready has inspired me to mend some of my husbands socks, fix a vest, and work on changing the buttons on an old wool shirt. Best of all, I know I have all the supplies I need in a portable form. Here's a view of what I put in the pockets: extra buttons, thread, measuring tape, thimble, & seam ripper. I filled the pin cushion with more pins and the needle spot with a variety of needles.
Now I'm off to sew buttons on another vest!

Knitting & Quilting Round Up 2010

Here's one more collage, this time of craft projects from 2010. Comparing this one to last year's collage, I noticed that I'm doing more sewing and not as much knitting. I also have not done as well with photographing projects once they are finished. I had to pull a few sweaters out of the trunk to photograph for this collage. I miss the wide white windowsills of our old house which had great natural light for photographing. However, my new craft room set up has allowed more larger projects to be completed.

In 2011 I hope to finish the tree skirt for the Christmas tree, make one quilt for our bedroom, and my husband continues to remind me that I need to finish the curtains for the living room.

Farfalle Wedding Quilt

A good friend from college got married in April, just as we were moving to our new house and so we weren't able to attend the wedding. I knew I wanted to make her a wedding quilt but it took a while to get settled before I was able to. This quilt was mostly made in the month of August, however it took me a little while to get it in the mail to the recipient so it is only showing its face here on the blog now that I know it is in her hands.

I got the idea from Ashley at Film in the Fridge and you can see her version of this quilt here. She calls it Flying Farfalle after the pasta shape.

Basically I sewed strips on the corners of white squares. I had three color piles: blue, green, and red/purple. To make sure I had variety, I sewed from one color pile onto the corners of one third of the squares. Then I divided the squares up again evenly and sewed blue, green, or red/purple on the other side. I laid out the squares at random, just moving things around so no two same pattern triangles touched.
I made a stripe down the back with the fabrics I used for the colored corners on the front.I machine quilted for the first time, and you can see my diagonal lines aren't in the least bit straight, but I think it goes with the funky angles of the bow-ties on the front of the quilt.
I bound it with the green paisley you see next to the colored blocks. It is a lap quilt and measures 47" x 70". I like the design a lot and may even make a queen size for our bed someday.

Wedding Gift Oven Mitts

A friend from college got married this past weekend. We couldn't make it across the country for the wedding, but I made a gift to send along.

I made two oven mitts and six napkins.
The oven mitts were so fun to make I also made a set for myself. I actually made my set first as a test set. It was a good thing because the first one I made with too much of a seam allowance when I sewed the layers together and it is narrow and only fits my small hands. I did better on the second one.
However, sewing through the 8 layers of fabric to sew them together started causing problems with my needle on my sewing machine so these are probably the only two pairs I'll be making. I may experiment next with some hot pads, but I have lots of curtains to finish sewing first.

2009 Knitting & Quilting Round Up

Here is a collage of all the finished knitting and quilting projects from 2009. As you mouse over the image, most photos link to the blog post or to the ravelry link about that item. I completed my first sweater in January and since made 5 other sweater or vests for adults. There are also lots of baby items for friends and family this year. It has been a productive year!

Wedding Quilt #2

As I mentioned last month, I started two quilts in August for weddings this fall. I finished the second one last weekend and today we're headed to that wedding so I can show off the finished product.
This pattern is called Facets, and it is a random combination of squares made of two colored triangles. I used three green and three blue fabrics, with a light, medium, and dark of each color family. It was easy to piece the squares by sewing the two triangles together. The hard part was laying out the squares so that it looks random enough and that you don't get two triangles of the same color right next to each other. It is the kind of design that when your eye looks at it, you try to make out what the pattern is, but can't quite get it to work. There is lots of interest and movement in it. After the sharp geometric design top, I went with a more fluid paisley fabric that ties the colors together for the border and binding and backing.
I quilted lines along the inside of each square made of four triangles.
The finished quilt measures 63" by 52".

Wedding Quilt #1

This August I started working on two wedding quilts for two weddings we are attending this fall. The first wedding happened last weekend so now I can share the finished quilt. The second quilt is still in the quilting stage, but I have until Thanksgiving to finish that one.

This first quilt started with a browse through a couple quilt books I have. I noticed a pine tree block, but was unsure how I could combine all the rectangles into an interesting pattern. Then I thought about how I could make them in various sizes and create a scene.

So I opened up Excel, which has become my favorite planning tool for both quilts and sweater and began playing around with increasing the size of the tree block to create interest and a landscape. I ended up changing the proportions of some of the trees which became a bit of a challenge later in the piecing process. By changing the proportions of the tree, I no longer had triangles that would piece together in the same way and so had to be creative to get the right size parts to fit together.
I decided I would use a light green for the background behind the trees and piece it together in a way to create the sense of mountains behind. Then I would use strips of different shades of blue to create the sky. When I bought the fabric, I found some great textures for the pine trees and a light green fabric with small green leaves on it for the background color.

It took quite a while to piece it together because of the way I'd designed the mountains and the sky. I had to draw it into blocks for myself and figure out which way the blocks would fit together.

My original plan had been to tie the quilt but when I finished piecing it, I couldn't figure out how I would tie it that wouldn't detract from the overall scene. So I ended up quilting clouds in the sky, out lining the trees, and putting in some additional lines of hills across the light green. The quilting shows up well on the light blue backing.
The plan was for the quilt to be 68 x 50 lap size, but I forgot to measure it before I gave it away. I think it ended up pretty close to that. I took these photos in the evening light last week so the colors are a bit yellow and the light is low in the sky. Here is the whole thing (except the top right corner seems to be bent under).

Double-Pointed Needle Case

Last weekend, I had an inspiration for a way to keep my double-pointed knitting needles organized. I have enough pairs now that it was getting to be cumbersome to keep them in the little plastic sleeves they come in so that I knew what size they were and so that I didn't loose one of the five needles. I was inspired by a jewelry case my sister gave me from China, and by a notebook I have that has sleeves for colored pencils to go along with it. I didn't write the idea down and luckily I found the time today to try out the idea before it was long forgotten.

The basic plan is that there is a inside fabric (purple stars) with quilting batting behind it. I took another fabric that is half the backing height and sewed to it at the bottom and sides. I started with my smallest needles and made vertical pockets for each pair, leaving room for the sizes I don't yet have. I may eventually use a fabric marker to label the sizes on the pockets.
I was using fabric scraps from my collection which is why I ended up with two different colors of the velvety upholstery fabric for the pockets. After making the inside, I pieced together quilting fabric in stripes for the outside, and sewed the layers together with ribbons coming out the right side.
The long rectangle rolls up starting with the smallest needles, and ending with the largest and then a few extra slots I made with the extra space.
Now all my double-pointed needles are now safe and sound in one case.

Art Quilting

Today I went to an Art Quilting workshop at the home of one of the ladies in the town where I teach. I didn't know her directly but got invited through the principal of my school. The hostess was trying out an idea of having a workshop on art quilting at her home which might eventually become an event to register for and bring some tourism to the town. It was a varied bunch of ladies from surrounding towns with a variety of skills. The hostess is known for her art quilting pieces and her work has been featured in Quilting Arts Magazine.
We were experimenting with postcard size pieces. The basic idea is that you sew fabric and batting to a stiffener and then begn layering and embellishing. We used sewing machines and a felting machine (which was very cool!). I wasn't thrilled with my first piece and I applied glitter paint to outline my flower, only to realize it would take forever to dry. So there is still one part to be sewn on another day. I started a second piece and enjoyed using the felting machine to add a layer of sheer with lace on it. Next I sewed beads and sequins on and finally gave it a ribbon border. I'm much happier with the second one. Ms. Alford sent us home with some stiffener so I have more to try out another day with my large pile of scraps in the craft room.

Braided Rug

Stage 4
Pant (and skirt) count: 11
My braided rug has been sitting neglected since the spring. Finally last week I had the sewing machine out to quickly make a curtain to hang in one of our doorways to block drafts. The curtain was quick work and the sewing machine was out, so I added a few more roll of fabric to my rug and braided them up. As you can see the last two loops are just loosely wrapped around the rug. Now the next step is to get back to sewing the braid onto itself and making the rug bigger. That will wait for another day.

Faye's Quilt

A good friend is getting married today and so now I can share the quilt I made for her and her husband. I finished the quilt in early August, but decided they should see it before I shared it with you.

The quilt is a lap quilt, dimensions are 53 inches by 78 inches. The pattern is called Coins or Roman Stripes. The coins are 7 inches wide and the contrasting fabric is 5 inches wide. It has a solid backing that is the same as the binding. I tied it using a cotton yarn.

Here is a detail of the different fabrics used.

Jean Quilt

I have made at least four quilts as wedding presents for friends and in the Spring of 2007 as my wedding approached, I decided I needed to make a lap quilt for two people for my husband-to-be and I. I have a large collection of used jeans and decided to make our quilt out of these. I also chose the jeans because I enjoy the weight the lend to a quilt. I tried to vary the colors of the jeans and piece them together in a well-balanced way to create a variety of lights and darks.

Our quilt is made of 5" jean squares with a 5 inch border of strips that were remainders when I recovered the fabric from the jeans. The quilt ended up being 68 inches by 55 inches because of the number of squares I was able to cut. The quilt is backed and bound with a blue cotton print. I used Warm and Natural Cotton Batting. I tied the quilt with a cotton yarn.We keep our quilt in our living room on the couch.

Rug and Garden Update

Stage 3 of my rug.
Pants (and skirt) count: 8
Obviously I haven't worked much on it since February. This week was school vacation and in addition to working on my rug, I started my garden. We seemed to have jumped from Winter to Summer with temperatures up to 80 this week. I'm betting that it won't get too cold before the end of May when the last frost date is (or that if it does, I can cover my seedlings to protect them.) So last weekend we repaired the raised beds here on the property, and turned over the soil and plotted out my squares. This week I've seeded dill, beets, spinach, mesclun and peas outside and many more things inside to transplant latter. Spring is so exciting!

Rug 2

Stage 2 of the Rug

Pants Count: 6 (but 1/2 a leg of 2 pairs of pants remains for later)

This week has been my school vacation and I've been without a car for most of it. Its given me time to clean house and start some craft projects I've been meaning to do for a while. I've also done a lot of web surfing about these projects and have been inspired by others work and works in progress, so I thought I'd post mine.

I began a braided rug made from pants. If you know me well, you know I have a stash of old pants, mostly jeans, but a there is a fair amount of khaki and cordoroy in there too. Originally this was intended for purses, brownbags specifically, but I haven't made any of those in a while and so for now, this is ripe material for my rug. Considering there are 6 tubs of material, I think I'll have plenty for this project. Our house has a room we call the dining room that stretches the width of the house. It's an odd room with the outside door we use most often and doors to 5 other rooms off of it. So we have the dining room table in part, and a settee in front of the fireplace, but we have this large area that's empty because its surrounded by doors. It needs a rug to define the space.

So here is the beginning of the braided rug. Pants count: 3.