Knit One Quilt Too

Coming along

My crochet ripple blanket is coming along nicely as you can see, even though there was a long dry spell with this one.  When I do pick it up, I seem to be able to do do several stripes at once.

Scrabble was nice enough to pose after his latest grooming session.

There is no rhyme or reason to the color scheme.  I just pick up a color that seems right for the moment.

It's a bit dizzying, isn't it?

Sock Season

We took a little camping trip over the weekend.  It was beautiful in Silver Falls State Park and we managed to do a hike and a bike ride and a lot of really nice relaxing by the campfire.  I finished one sock that's been hanging around for a while.  I barely got started on it's mate.  Up above I'm doing the sewn cast off.

This is Socks that Rock lightweight, colorway Cockamamie, and a basic toe up sock pattern from Wendy.  Let's hope it doesn't stay single for too long!

I've got more to show you from last week, but I go in for a treatment today and don't know when I'll be up to making the next post.  Luckily, after this one I'm halfway done!  I got a lovely comment from my friend, Jill, about the socks she made, so if you were interested in their construction check out her comment here (scroll down to the bottom).  By the way, it's almost Socktoberfest season.  After losing my sock mojo (and, really, knitting mojo too) for a while I have a hankering for finishing up some socks. 

Luck o' the Irish

Well, if I'm not actually Irish, I feel like I am now!  I do have Scottish and English blood for sure, so there's most likely some Irish in there too.  Lookie what I received from Cathi all the way from Ireland!

When she said she wanted to send me something, I thought some tea would be nice, I wasn't prepared for this treasure box.  We've got tea, but we've also got sweets, a lovely calendar, soap and knitted scrubbie, and yarn- oh my, yes, the yarn!

The kids were there when I opened everything and they were thrilled to see each thing.  Chloe thought the wine gums were cool to see because she had read about them in Harry Potter and didn't know what they were.  I've already had a few cups of the lovely tea and of course, the chocolates were wonderful.  Don't you just love the adorable scrubbie!  It's called the Tribble pattern and you can get it here.  It came with some really lovely handmade Irish soap.

Now, onto the yarn.  All I can say is that Cathi must be psychic!  I've been wanting to try the Jaywalker sock pattern, but was really concerned about the difficulty that some have had with fit.  This German sock yarn has stretch built in.  It's called Mega Boots and should be perfect for some Jaywalkers.  Also, it's the perfect color for me, green and blue.

Behind the sock yarn is the lovely Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed, made in Ireland!  How did Cathi know I've been collecting aran tweeds lately with the idea of making a log cabin style knitted pillow?  I'm not sure, but this lavendar color will fit right in.

Thank you Cathi for sending so much love across the globe!  The best part of all this is that Cathi's parents live right here in my town and there is a very real possiblity of a real life meetup in the future.  If not next year, then the year after when she plans to come for a visit around the time of the Sisters Quilt Show.  It should be a blast!

A litte afternoon project

Luckily,I had to take photos so this can be sent tomorrow!  I made this little tote this afternoon for my neice who's 6th birthday is on Tuesday (yes, she's a 911 baby, born in DC too!).  I've had the hedgehog fabric for a while and thought it might go into a tote or two.  Last night I came up with the idea of the linen patch, but before you think I'm too clever it's to hide a pinkish area caused by washing this fabric with a different red fabric. I'm pretty sure this red won't run! 

And here's the inside.  This pattern is the Simple Tote from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing.  There are several really nice patterns in this book.  I kind of the like the handle arrangement on this one, though the bag itself is very small.  Just right for a 6 year old, but too small for me.  It would be very easy to play around with the sizes though and the construction itself is identical to other totes I've made.  Now, back to quilting! 

Gifts

First off, I've been meaning to show you the prize I sent to Dani in my blogiversary contest.  I found a few yarns in my stash that have been lingering too long, a bunch of pretty note cards, a couple of sweet treats and a set of beautiful stitch markers.  I think Dani was pretty happy!

I also wanted to show some of the gifts I got from friends after my diagnosis.  There are so many pretty handmade things.  First of all, there is this cozy blanket knitted by Robin from Imagination Tribe, the prayer shawl that is crocheted by my local friend, Sarah, and this handmade bag from Deanne to carry projects in.

Jenn, the amazing friend who organized the Healing Basket, made these supersoft knitted face cloths.

My friend, Myria, is an amazing artist and she made this beautiful sunflower with pastels.

Here are socks knit by Pam and Jill and a scarf knit by Pam.  Aren't they all beautiful?

I also got hand mixed CD's, candles and several bracelets.

Here are the bracelets close up.  The top one was given my by my mother-in-law and is from Friends of Mel.  The other two are handmade by my friend, Kim, and by Zenmomma, Mary.

The hand painted lavendar filled pillow and wish doll (for Chloe) are from Robyn.  The Best Thoughts cards are from Deanne.  Toy Maker has really nice graphic paper arts that you can print at home and cut out.  Definitely worth checking out!

Jenn made the Blessings box and filled it with Artist Trading Cards sent in from friends at Imagination Tribe.  Jenn also gave me the book which I've been reading slowly.  It's full of essays about birds and is so well written I just want to jump in and be where ever the auther is talking about.  Zenmomma made the Believe box to hold the bracelet she made.

And here is the Healing Basket for presentation.  Everything I received came from the heart and will always be cherished.  Thank you all so much!

My Bootiful Booquet

My Bootiful Booquet is coming along nicely.  There are some little details that still need to be added such as the pumpkin's face and some faces on the leafy green ghosts.  The top and bottom borders here are not appliqued or sewn to the main body of the quilt yet.

 

I decided to do a dogtooth inner border.  This is a technique that I found in Gwen Marston's latest books and I loved it the minute I saw it.  This is the first time I've tried it.  Basically you cut a strip of the dogtooth fabric, fold it several times until you have a repeat length you like, trim the top to a triangle shape (through all the layers), baste it to the outer border, then applique the cut edges down.  I love the way it's not perfect.  That's its absolute charm actually and the reason I love doing these totally made up designs.  In fact, if you are ever in a bit of a rut, get a bit of fabric and just start sewing things to it.  It's definitely wonderful therapy!

 

The other day I did some clean up in my studio.  I found one of these appliqued hearts and had the idea that I should make more of them, so I did!  The first one came from the class I took during Quilt Week in early July.  It was the sample we got from the teacher so we could practice our applique.  I love the fabric and the red background and I thought this is a great way to showcase some of my favorite fabrics.  Also, hearts are kind of the gold standard when it comes to learning to do hand applique.  They have straight edges, curves, an inside corner and a point- all the things you need to learn how to do.  Make a whole appliqued heart quilt and you'll be an applique expert.  Now, I don't plan to set the blocks this way in a quilt.  I'm thinking about setting them on point or maybe combining them with something completely different.  Right now they're just a nice take along project.

Here's something Chloe whipped out since yesterday.  She saw some stuffed Halloween cats in a catalog that came yesterday and got to work making her own.  She decided hers would be for Fall and she even put some stuffing in the heart- how cute!

Jill's socks

One of the gifts I received in my Imagination Tribe Healing Basket was this wonderful pair of socks.  These are made by my friend Jill who lives in Colorado.  I've met her a few times at homeschool conferences and she's always knitting!  She always has hand knit socks on her feet as well as for prizes in the raffle. 

I just love these and though we've had mostly very warm weather since I started chemo, there was one day that was particularly cool during my first session.  I was feeling pretty crummy, but when I put these on I was so taken by the construction I couldn't help but take photos.  I hope Jill will let me know which pattern this is, but in the meantime take a look at these.  They are reminiscent of the new sock architecture that Cat Bordhi has come up with, but I don't think the book was out in time for Jill to make these.

How do you like that arch expansion detail!

This photo isn't so good, but there's this really cool pattern up the sole.

I'm in love with the pattern and the yarn, but don't know the details of either.  I'll let you know if I find out.  By the way, I got Cat's new book, but haven't really looked through it yet.  I suppose it's safe now to show you the little sample socks I made way back in April in the retreats I went to with Cat.  I'll have to dig those up sometime to show you.

It's been a good week.  This second round of chemo went better than the first (totally unexpected).  I've been sewing up a storm and applique is on the menu.  I even got around to cleaning up my studio which has been piled with fabric and projects and yarn for 2 months.  So, next up will be some sewing- stay tuned!