knitting

thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the nice comments on my snippets quilt! i appreciate each and every one. my son saw it on the wall when he came home from school and he said, "i like the other one better." i had to laugh. he likes change about as much as his mama does. :)
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i've been knitting. a lot. it's been crazy cold here, so i have a good reason to finish up all these projects. the sooner the better!

mistake stitch scarf

i love the texture...it's an easy knit...and the name...could you ask for anything better? i mean, it's got mistake in the title! that's my kind of knitting project. :) i'm nearly done with this one...(this photo was taken a few weeks ago). oh, and the fact that it's pink AND orange makes me giddy.

chunky knit beanie

i had this yarn on hand and it was intended for a scarf, but that didn't work out.
so it's going to be a hat for my daughter instead.
this is my second try. i knit it in the round the first time and it had obvious problems. (i'm a rookie.) this time i am knitting it flat, then i will sew it up. it's looking much better. (yay)

my so called scarf

this is for my neighbor mary. she picked out the yarn + color. isn't it fabulous? i knit this pattern once before in orange and i gave it to heather. (she finally started a blog!) next time i knit this scarf pattern, i'm keeping it. :)

toasty mitts

i am beyond excited about these....i LOVE fingerless gloves. i can't believe that i'm actually knitting on DPN's!

if these mitts work out, i can see having a collection of them in every color imaginable.

thank you leslie for sharing such great patterns!

this is my first attempt at a sock. it's supposed to be a spiral knit sock (therefore no heel) but it's not working out quite right. i'm going to keep trying.

after i'm finished with all of these, i have several requests from my boys for scarves and hand warmers. too bad their favorite color of yarn is camo. we might have to negotiate that one.

snippets

normally, i'm not one to hang quilts on the walls.
but i am slowly changing my mind.
this quilt really helps to persuade me to do so!
it's too white for a baby quilt. or a throw.
but perfect for my front entry wall.

this is the back-i LOVE the one little strip of patchwork.

this quilt is all scraps, except for the binding-i even pieced the batting.

all the little colored bits were pieces that were minuscule, but i still couldn't bear to throw them away. i'm so glad that i didn't! that being said, this was a very intense quilt to piece. it took me a long time.

i stitched a sleeve to the top, then inserted a dowel for hanging.

most of the colored scraps are only about 1" wide.

i quilted it on the diagonal using a walking foot and 2" wide tape for marking the lines. i chose a grid pattern for a few reasons: there are so many seams both in the front and the back-i was afraid that it would get bunchy if i stippled it. plus, stippling is hard on my arms. the straight line quilting (especially on this scale) was much easier. actually, i think jacquie is rubbing off on me. ;) she does gorgeous grid quilting.

the final piece measures 32" x 47".

again, the tutorial is here.

I LOVE this quilt!!!!!!!!!

whirlygiggle

the top is done! isn't it fun?

it is a twin size. (the layout is 6 blocks wide by 8 blocks long.)

i can't wait to see it quilted!

whirlygiggle measurements

here are the measurements i used for the whirlygiggle blocks.

the width is 5 3/4"
the height on the left side is 3 3/4"
the height on the right side is 2 3/4"

i made another template (the exact same size) and labeled it for use for the bottom. because sometimes my mind plays tricks on me. and i wanted to do as little stitch ripping as possible. it worked wonderfully until i got to the solids. i had to rip stitches to repair one block. not too bad.

the tutorial for construction is here. thanks michelle!
(i used my rotary cutter and my sewing machine for construction.)
after i constructed my blocks, i needed to do a little trimming, as you can see.
final blocks ended up at 11".
the auction quilt top is almost done. yay!
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the quilt in the previous post is something i am helping my friend Darcy make from my stash and scraps. (there is no pattern-it was all pieced improvisationally.) we started it last summer and now we just have the binding to go. i didn't whip it up over night. :)
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i have had several questions about the next quilt along...it's coming...not sure when exactly, but i have the idea and a rough draft. I'm thinking it will be a baby size and will last about 4-5 weeks.


have a GREAT monday!

today's project

more stippling!

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one of my local quilt shops is having a cold weather sale. (quite appropriate, considering it was -22 F yesterday morning.) all fabrics on the bolt were 45% off yesterday. i went, walked around the store about 8 times and walked out with NOTHING! can you believe it?

heather and i are at it again

quilt blocks-11" unfinished

this time we are collaborating to make an auction quilt for our boys' school.
original inspiration quilt here.
many thanks to marie' for providing me with the measurements for the large scale blocks.

i have a feeling we are going to have a hard time letting this one go.

custom order

this was made for my friend Darcy to give to her mom for Christmas.
the fabric is from a Moda Charisma charm pack.
it veers from my normal style, but i think i like it anyway.

flea market fancy 2

Boy, it's been awhile since I finished a pink quilt. I've been slacking!!!

I love the pink line of flea market fancy fabric, and I had several large pieces of it in my stash. The only problem is that they don't match many of my other pink fabrics. Weird, I know! So I put all these pretties into one quilt. There is a little bit of Heather Bailey's Freshcut fabric and an Alexander Henry print in the mix, too.

I'm fairly happy with the results, although looking at the photos of the quilt, I see that I should have used more contrasting fabrics.

I love how the muslin crinkles after it's washed.

I used a bias stripe fabric from Moda to bind it. The print is on the diagonal, so you can cut the strips salvage to salvage, but still get the fancy looking diagonal stripes. It's perfect for binding.

For the back, I cut 11" squares and joined them into a strip, then used muslin for the rest. I love a pieced back. The nice thing about this one is it came together quickly. I liked using the large blocks a lot.

All the materials for this quilt came from my stash. That being said, I'm hoping that I can actually notice a dent in the stash sometime soon.

snippets

quilt top, measures 32" x 47"

made from 100% scraps, even the background fabric!
tutorial here
destined to be a wall hanging for my front entry way
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for those of you who asked, there is a stippling tutorial here.
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one more thing...it's Roxanne's 30th birthday, so why don't you stop by and wish her a Happy Birthday. she is the happy recipient of the first flea market fancy quilt. yay!

odds 'n ends

have you seen this blog??? i feel like i hit the jackpot when i found this site.
today i am trying out the taco soup recipe.
more crock pot use=more quilting time!!!
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several of you had asked if i could pick a favorite quilt from 2008. no, i can't. my least favorite was the green quilt. it turned out ok, but i don't LOVE it.
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in my new year's post i said i was going to make fewer lap quilts, since i have 20. did you know that all 20 of them are in use throughtout my home at this time? none are sitting in my quilt cupboard. not one. granted, my boys have 5 or 6 quilts each on their bed right now. they love quilts, just like their mama. (insert large cheesy grin here.) i just might toss out that goal...
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my daughter (2) has been calling me "sir" the last few days. she cracks me up. it makes me think that she's been watching too much Charlie Brown lately.
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and did you know...I LOVE TO STIPPLE????


i really, REALLY do.

flea market fancy 2

here's another flea market fancy quilt top.

tutorial here.

original quilt here.

as you can see, i'm not doing well with any of my goals for this year (slowing down, making something other than lap quilts, making quilts for others....). but hey, i am using my stash, so that has to count for something. i guess if they were easy, they wouldn't be called goals, right?

new wip

based on this quilt (i love this quilt!)
inspired by this color scheme (love this one, too!)