Knit One Quilt Too

Just In Time

My afternoon companions today were Harry Potter and this Disappearing Nine Patch quilt for the Doll Swap Challenge group on Flickr.  And, no, I didn't read while sewing.  I read first, then sewed.  I'm nearly done with this first HP book and I'm also listening to the 6th book on my iPod.  We'll be listening and/or reading the others in time for the next and last installment.

I was sitting out on the patio and I happened to hold the quilt up and the sun shining through left a warm red glow.

I find the hand sewing of the binding to the back of the quilt to be almost a meditation.  The same stitch all the way around. 

And it's done just in time for the end of June.  I'll be starting the July challenge this week.  I love the colors in this one and planned all along to have it hanging in the living room.  It's in a spot where I'll be able to see it everyday.

This quilt is about 19.5 inches square.  It's machine pieced and hand quilted.  These are Kaffe Fassett shot cottons and I believe the two prints in the blocks are KF's also.  The binding print is done by someone else.  I've also categorized this post under Project Spectrum because red is one of the colors for June/July.

Sneak Peek

This is the latest project.  Full disclosure to come by next week.  I'm going to call this my Project Spectrum project for this color round (April/May, green-pink-yellow). 

I spent most of last week working on this little quilt except for an overnight trip to the teepees at Kah-Nee-Ta with the kids' Campfire Club and a day trip to Sisters yesterday for fabric at the Stitchin' Post anniversary sale and dinner with my parents.  It was a full weekend and I'm back to clearing out the little things that need to be done.  My problem is my head is always buzzing with new ideas.  I've probably had 10 new quilt ideas in the past week (you can see where my head is- not so much with the knitting at the moment).

My head is also buzzing because I've just discovered Superbuzzy and already placed two orders.  The last one had these goodies.  I love these greens.

These linen prints are too cute.  Not sure how I'll use them, but I can see darling totes or little quilts with these prints.

Here's a close-up on that top fabric.

Okay, here's one more peek.  But don't tell anyone!!

Binding Fool

I've been inundated with baby quilts these days, but did manage to finish one this weekend.  This is made for our local Community Baby Shower being organized by our Soroptomist's International Club.  They are collecting all sorts of baby items for local parents.  I bought a very cute outfit, but thought that a quilt was in order.  This is very quickly made, but I tried to machine quilt it by Kathy's method.  I've finally decided that I'm never going to get better with free motion machine quilting, so I think I'll stick to straight line quilting in the future.

In addition to that I got a little carried away when I made the binding and ended up making bindings for 5 of the other baby quilts I'm working on.  I really like making these double fold bindings and usually have them rolled up and ready to go long before the quilt is ready for them.

In other news, I finished my second pair of Embossed Leaves Socks.  This pattern is from Interweave Knits and is available in their new book:  Favorite Socks.  I don't actually have the book because I discovered that I have all the patterns that I really liked in my copies of the magazine.  If you haven't been buying the magazine, this book is a great compilation.  This is Socks that Rock lightweight, colorway- Titania.

I put a Project Spectrum tag on this because I think the quilt fits that category and maybe the socks too.  My official PS WIP is Rogue which continues to grow.  I'm on the rather uninteresting part of the back with no cable detail, so not much to see.  One sleeve is up to the top of the cable portion as well and I can see that there may be some stalling now that the interesting parts are over.  I do love it though and would like to be able to wear it before our cold weather ends.  We've been having the strangest weather.  It will be in the 60's one day and 30's the next.  That's weather in Central Oregon though.  They say here, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes!

Lastly, my sister has opened an Etsy shop (Silly Dog Art Glass) with her beautiful fused glass jewelry.  She'll probably add more types of items as time goes on.  Way to go, Cheryl! 

Some Blue for PS2

Last night as I was making dinner.

TJ's

Rogue is growing by leaps and bounds.  I love the stockinette interspersed with cables.  It's nice to have long stretches when you don't have to think too much, punctuated by a section that does require attention.

I started a sleeve the other day so I would have something smaller to take along in the car.

I've also picked up another project that's been sitting around for a while.  I'm not even sure if I have posted a photo of these before.  These are the Embossed Leaves socks from Interweave Knits (now the pattern is in their new sock book) in Socks that Rock colorway Titania.  This is one of the colorways from the Rockin' Sock Club.  I love this pattern and this is the second time I've done it.  I blogged about the first pair last February.

This is one of the headlines from yesterday's paper.

There have been rumors about Trader Joe's for the past year.  You should have seen me doing the happy dance!  Everyone I know here stocks up on Trader Joe's food when they are near one, on a trip to the other side of the Cascades.  It'll be so nice to have one here.  My family first discovered TJ's in the early 80's when we moved to southern California.  We used to go to the one in Newport Beach, which may have been one of the first.  We loved to get their nuts and chocolate.  Now, they sell all sorts of stuff including great frozen entrees, produce and even sushi!  YUM!

Lastly, this is a photo Chloe took yesterday.   It fits nicely with the Project Spectrum colors of blue, gray and white.

Bulb Corner

I couldn't resist these beauties while shopping the other day.  Tulips are my favorite cut flower and these are gorgeous!  As long as it looks like winter is a no-show, we might as well move on to spring.

On the knitting front I thought I'd better show these two scarves before I forget.  I made the blue one for Chloe's birthday and Ryan got the red one for Valentine's Day.  He was so happy so have such a soft and warm scarf!

I started Rogue last week, but was bogged down with the hem facing.  I switched to a bigger needle size and changed to doing a rib stitch and it went much better.  I really love knitting with this yarn.  It's Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, color enamel.  When I ordered this I didn't realize the blue was so dark.  It's a little too dark for me as far as ease of knitting, but I'm making sure to do it with plenty of light.  If I use this yarn again (and I do love it so far), I would really like to try the color Russett.

Campfire candy sales are over and I will have some free time this weekend to hopefully catch up on several projects.  I've got tons of UFO's- knits, quilts and papercrafted items.  I really want to catch up on the baby quilts and get started quilting the ones for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in July. 

I've signed up for a class for the first time during Quilt Show week so I'm pretty excited about that.  I have also registered two quilts for the show, but neither has been quilted!  One I plan to send out for machine quilting, but the other one is going to be hand quilted so I better get going. 

Also, I have a blue and yellow challenge quilt for my guild that needs to be done by early August.  Here's a preview of the center of it.  I have several ideas for this wall hanging and I really like how it's shaping up.  I will show how I came up with this design and planned it in a coming post.

Project Spectrum v. 2

I joined Project Spectrum 2 a couple of weeks ago, but I've been so busy I haven't even gotten the button on my sidebar until now.  The first two months (February and March) are gray, blue and white.  I'd really like to start a new sweater even though I haven't finished the Manos blanket and I have another sweater that's been languishing for over a year (maybe two!?). 

The sweater I'm thinking about is Rogue from the Girl from Auntie.  I've had the yarn for it for a long time and it's a lovely dark blue which would be just right for PS2.  I also have the pattern, so I thought now would be as good a time as any to start.  I just realized this winter how much I love wearing wool sweaters.  Up to now, all my sweaters (store bought) have been made of cotton.  When we were in Massachusetts at Christmas I went to LL Bean and picked up a lovely Norwegian style wool sweater and I just love it now.  I thought it might be too itchy and too warm, but it's just perfect in the cold temperatures we get here.  I do have to wear it with a turtleneck, but it's so cozy. 

For the first time ever I wore my Knitting Olympics sweater this week.  You can see it in the previous post.  I waited so long because I thought it was overly bulky.  I still think it's awfully bulky, but if it's cold enough it's very cozy and I can overlook the bulkiness.  Both of these are wool and I would like to have another wool sweater for next winter.  So, Rogue it is, even though it's been there/ done that for the rest of the knitblogging community.  I'm so behind the times!

We've been crazy with selling Campfire candy here.  I'm the candy distributor for our club, so I've been having to go out almost daily to get more candy and deliver it to club members.  The bookkeeping is the most difficult for me though.  I never was a numbers person.  Anyway, it's been so busy that in the evening the most I can get my head around is simple hat knitting.  That's worked out well because I have a huge bin full of leftovers that I was saving for Dulaan.  In the past week I've made 6 hats.  I had already signed up to knit 5 items, so I've met that goal!  I will continue to make hats and/or scarves until the yarn in the bin is gone.  Chloe is also knitting a Dulaan scarf.  I need to weave in some ends and so some blocking, but photos will come ASAP.  In the meantime, happy crafting! 

PS: Neutrals

My Project Spectrum this month is knitting, though you might say the Halloween quilt is neutral too.  After I finished the entrelac bag and scarf I got all excited about designing some entrelac patterns.  So I started with a small knitted and felted pouch (sort of the size and shape of an evening bag).  It was made with black and white Cascade 220 and I knit it flat just because I wanted to try it both ways. 

 

The first three photos are before felting, the last one is after felting.  I'm not terribly pleased with the results, partially because the black and white don't felt together so well.  I'm used to doing this with something like Kureyon where the colors blend nicely.  With the black and white there are black fuzzies on the white that I can't seem to get off.  Anyway, I decided I really don't like entrelac knitted flat.  So I made another one.  This time with a neutral colorway of Kureyon and knitted in the round and I like this one much better!  I still might make some changes to the pattern, but I really like it.  It needs a button and perhaps a handle.

Now, I thought I'd show the parts for the Halloween quilt.  This is not necessarily the layout I will use, but you can see the pieces this way.  I got a question about the size of the witch's house.  It's 20 inches tall by 21 inches wide. 

Well, tomorrow is the big day.  The kids and I leave for a 5 week tour of California and New Mexico.  It's going to be a lot of fun and wonderful to see friends and family.  Yesterday I took another trek with my dad, so there will be photos of that coming up.  You should see the bin of knitting I'm taking along.  Maybe I'll get a photo for you because there will surely be knitting on this trip, though probably less than I'm planning for!  I'll be posting on the road when I get a chance. 

Goodbye Purple

Project Spectrum is nearing completion with only one month left to go.  It's been a very interesting approach to creating and has led me to colors I might not normally have chosen.  August will be about the neutrals, but today is the last day of PURPLE!  Enjoy these purple images.

Here's the state of my two purple projects.  The Charlotte's Web continues to grow, though slowly.  I started the Trellis Scarf this weekend because I just couldn't wait.  Meanwhile, I'm thinking about what kind of neutral project to start. 

Random Wednesday

This has been a busy week with Chloe's summer conservatory wrapping up.   I'll have more about that tomorrow.  Today it's all about the latest random creations. 

First, this is the parts department.  I'm taking a cue from Gwen and Freddy and creating my own parts for a Halloween quilt.  I'd love to have this top done before mid-August because I'll be leaving for a lengthy trip then, but time's getting short.  This kind of quilting is so much fun.  I've got tons of Halloween fabrics and I'm having a great time using scraps.

I also finished this big quilted tote for a silent auction at an upcoming homeschooing conference.  The idea of the silent auction is to have "passion baskets" where someone fills a container with the tools and materials for whatever passion they would like to share.  In our case I'm going to fill it with a bunch of picture books and story tapes that we are ready to pass down and call it "A passion for stories".  It's made from two fat quarters and I followed the directions at this tutorial, with an added layer of batting machine quilted to the outer fabric.

I finished my first Summer of Socks pair.  These are the chocolate cherry colorway of Claudia Handpainted Sock yarn.  This yarn is fabulous!  I would use it for a shawl someday.  I worked these two at a time on two circulars and I'm definitely a convert.  I love having them done at the same time! 

The pattern is Wendy's toe up feather and fan with a change at the top.  I didn't like the way the garter stitch edge was spreading out, so I did a ribbed cuff and finished with the sewn bind-off from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting without Tears.  These will be entered in the Deschutes County Fair this weekend.

I also finished the Entrelac Scarf from Scarf Style (it's called the Lady Eleanor Stole).  This was a wonderful knit and I would do this technique again especially with these very well written instructions.  I decided not to do the fringe on the edge for now.

I got two wonderful yarny packages in the mail this week.  The first was from the Rockin' Sock Club.  This beautiful skein of lightweight Socks that Rock in a new colorway called Peaseblossom.  I love this!  The pattern looks interesting.  So far I've not done any of the patterns that came with the yarn, but I think I'll try this.  Maybe I'll just modify it for a toe up version.

 

I also got my July package from my One Skein Secret Pal.  This yarn is Jaggerspun Zephyr!  Wow, wow, wow!!!!  I'm so thankful, SP!  I've been wanting to try this yarn, but haven't seen it on any of my travels.  It's the most beautiful purple for July's Project Spectrum- how neat is that!  The color is not showing true on my monitor though I tried the photo in three different places.  You'll have to trust that it's a true purple.  Anyway, I've decided on this pattern from Interweave Knits, Spring 2006.  It's called the Trellis Scarf and it looks just complicated enough for me.  I will be taking this project on the next big trip!  Thank you again, SP!

Lastly, I'm finally motivated to finish this Branching Out Scarf, from Knitty.  It's made with Silky Wool and it's a nice pattern, but I set it aside for quite a while.  Now I'd like to finish it by Saturday so I can enter it in the fair.  I've got less than 10 repeats, so I think it's doable.  Stay tuned for a fair posting on Saturday!