Knit One Quilt Too

Happy Birthday, Sis!

Today is my sister's 40th birthday.  Happy Birthday Cheryl!  I hope you have a marvelous day.  This photo was taken two years ago at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  The great news is that she's coming again this year to visit for the show.  We'll be taking a class together and getting up to no good in all the quilt shops.  It should be loads of fun!  Below you'll find the gift I sent, so, Cheryl, if you're reading this don't peek unless you've already opened the package. 

Singin' the Blues

I bet you've never seen this much blue here at KOQT!  I was working on the blue bento box quilt and realized that blue has been a theme lately.  This quilt is now quilted (simple straight line quilting) and the binding is sewn to the front.  I just need to sew the binding to the back and add a label and it's off!

The blue and yellow quilt is coming along too.  I added some applique to the plain yellow corner squares, the green leaves and the little bug down on the left (who still needs some tiny button eyes).  I'm still hand quilting and getting there.  I have a couple more weeks til we leave for a California trip and I want to have it done by then.

I also noticed this little bag which I forgot to show here before.  This was made during our bag ladies sewing days and I finally found the perfect button for it a couple of weeks ago.  This is the simple clutch from Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing.  That's all for now, tomorrow- meme time!

Amy & Sue & a couple of knits

It's been another busy week here!  On Monday night Chloe and I went to see Amy Butler (on the left with Valerie Wells) talk about her new book, patterns, paper goods and how she got where she is today.  It was very interesting to hear her story.  Chloe was impressed and really wanted her book, so we got that.  Amy was a delightfully warm person as well.  We were tnrilled to find out that the proceeds from the tickets for her talk were donated to the local Spay and Neuter Project- quite a worthy cause!

On Tuesday and Wednesday I got to attend a workshop with Sue Spargo.  What a treat that was!  Sue is so creative and her quilts are full of things to notice.

The best thing about the class was all the tips about embellishing.  We tried couching and various types of embroidery stitches.  It's amazing the difference between a block that's not embellished and one that is.  This next one is one that Sue is working on now.  I like the bright colors!

I had never worked with cotton and wool together so that was a new experience.  I like the variety you get working this way.

Sue's new Folk Art quilt is a favorite of mine for the animals. 

Sue is also currently working on this amazing quilt inspired by her African childhood.

Even though the class was for the Flower Bed design, I couldn't help sneaking in a horse block!  Here are the class blocks. 

If you ever have the chance to see Sue's work in person, it really is worth it.  These photos don't do them justice. 

I have been knitting a bit.  I managed to finish these socks which are not for me, and so don't fit me for a modelled shot.  This is a mishmash of sock parts from Cat's new sock book.  They are knit top down with the sky architecture.  They are made with Lorna's Laces Sock Yarn and Louet Gems (both doubled) on size 4 addis.

Finally, a hat made with Lorna's Laces Shepherd worsted in the leftover bin.  This is the Live Dangerously, Don't Swatch hat.  I added the purl ridge to give it some definition and it has the Half Linen stitch near the bottom.  It's finished off with i Cord.  This hat is knit top down.  It would probably fit a toddler, but since I don't have one I'm not sure who it would fit. This will probably go in the charity pile.

This weekend we are off to Kahneeta to camp and swim.  It's supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow and the 80's over the weekend.  Should be fun!  I'll check in next week before I leave again.

The bag ladies

Sorry for such sporadic posting.  May is turning out to be a crazy month.  This is what I've been doing this past week, having a great time with friends and making these cute bags.  Several of us bought fabric at the Stitchin' Post when we had our Mom's weekend away.  Then we decided to make the bags together.  This next one is Michelle's, which has been seen many times around town in the past week.

This is one of mine.  I liked it so much, I made two more.  I think these will all go into the gift stash.

I also made this one using some of my very favorite fabrics.  This one is the one I'm carrying around my knitting in right now.

Now, it's back to the quilts.  I've got some major work to do here to get ready for the quilt show and not a whole lot of time to do it in.  I'll be traveling quite a bit in the next few weeks, so posts will continue to be sporadic.  This week I'm scheduled to attend a lecture by Amy Butler (by the way, the first two bag styles shown here are from Amy Butler), and then I'll have a class at the Stitchin' Post.  More on that later!

So Many Santas

Okay, these are the last of the Santas (and elves and dwarves) for now!  First are the soft Santas that I've collected over the years.  I made the three on the right, but I think my favorite is the white one in the middle made from an old quilt.

This is my whole collection of these cross stitch Santa kits.  These are all done on perforated paper.  These appear to have been distributed by Yarn Tree, but the bottom two on the right were designed by Sandra Cozzolino for the first Olde Time Santa Ornament series.  There have been several more series since then and I guess that's where the rest came from.  All the other series were designed by Beth Johnson at Yarn Tree.  I can't find any photos of the rest of them online.  Sandy has continued to design similar Santa ornaments over the years and I was able to find a good collection of them from Mill Hill.  There's even an ebay store for these, so if you're interested you might want to check out Beading Betty.  I have to admit I'm seriously thinking about getting a few more of these kits.  They're so darn cute!

I almost forgot to show you our Christmas card this year.  I think this is the first year I've used Ryan's art for it.  He doesn't really do much art, so it's never come up before, but when I decided to use this plate design on a mini quilt (scroll down) for Ryan, this idea came to me as well.  I transferred his design to some easy cut block and spent a rather long time carving.  I was so pleased with these and I hope all who received them realize how rare they may be!

This has been a quiet week for me.  The kids had several play dates and sleepovers (for Chloe) and I didn't go anywhere at all until this evening when we went out to dinner.  It's been so nice!  We've also been getting quite a bit of snow lately and that's always a treat.  I've had lots of time to work on a project that I started 5 years ago!  Here's a sneak preview:

One of my goals for these next few weeks will be to work on some of the large projects that have been sitting around for a while (sometimes a rather long while!).  However, I had a post-holiday studio cleaning and couldn't help taking a look at a book that's fairly new, Art Quilt Workbook by Jane Davila and Elin Waterston.  I've had it for a while, but have just now really read through it.  There's so much in this one!  I think it's really worth the price.  I also just discovered that both artists have blogs.  Check them out at will.love.logic and Chary Sprouts. 

The book really energized me so I spent a little bit of time today playing around with batiks and I'm planning some fabric postcards for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show's Wish Upon a Card this summer.  They will be collecting postcards to auction and sell for charity.  Last year they had 500 postcards donated and raised $6000.00 for a local charity.  This year they hope to get over 1000 postcards and will donate the money to Wendy's Wish Appeal, which is a charity in support of St. Charles Cancer Treatment Center.  I'll be starting my radiation treatments there in a couple of weeks.  If any of you have a chance to make postcards for this very worthy charity it would be great!  You can read my little tutorial from last year for some inspiration.

Speaking of the quilt show, if you are interested in entering the quilt block contest this year, the info can be found here.  Well, that's it for now.  I'll be back soon hopefully with some older finishes and some new inspiration!

A Handmade Christmas- Part 3

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope 2008 is the healthiest, happiest year yet!  I'm feeling great after my surgery which was done on an outpatient basis.  I took a nap after getting home and was able to join in for an evening with my parents.  They brought dinner over so it was perfect!  Thank you for the encouraging comments, they really mean a lot to me.

I thought I'd pop in with some of my Christmas knitting.  This was the super secret stuff I was working on.

First off the socks for my beloved.  As you can see they weren't quite finished in time for opening.  But I was able to finish them by the end of the day so I think that counts!  On his lap is another one of the handmade gift bags.  This is the Log Cabin Sock pattern from Handknit Holidays, knit with Rowanspun Aran.  I think the pattern is quite nice and would have been a much quicker knit if I didn't have to keep it secret.  Once I could work with everyone in the room it flew by!  And here they are at the end of the evening.

Here are Chloe's mittens, also unfinished.  These took a bit more time to finish, but were done two days later.  This is the Selbu Mitten from Folk Mittens, knit with Blue Sky Alpaca sport weight.  I liked these, but had a bit of trouble with getting the proper tension with the stranding.  The first mitten is a bit tighter than the second, though they both fit her fine.  I think I'd go with an overall pattern for a beginner rather than the snowflake pattern which has long sections of one color.

I have to thank Jan for her tips on these folk mittens.  She's got some lovely ones she's knitting up right now too.

I've already showed you Ryan's mittens but here's proof he liked them!

I got a last minute idea that I would try the Fiber Trends Felted Clogs again and make some for my mom.  These are knit with Cascade 220 and the newer pattern which is slightly narrower than the original.  I made the bumper on the bottom edge, but I don't think I would do that again.  I'm not sure I like how it looks.

This was the big present for my parents.  The tree is hand appliqued onto linen, then I embroidered the swirls and took some big quilt stitches around the shapes with size 12 perle cotton.  You might not see it so well, but the perle cotton is hand dyed and has some nice color variation.  I also did the button back so it's easy to take off for cleaning.  This is my own pattern.

In our family we have a gift system where one family gives to only one other each year.  This year we gave to my parents and my sister gave to us.  Cheryl of course had some lovely handmade gifts for us.  Chloe got this super cute kitchen set.  The apron is so sweet and it's even reversible.  She got some cookbooks with this as well to feed her passion for cooking.

This is the gift for Mark and me.  Isn't it amazing?  I love the large size and the uneven edges.  This will take center stage in our dining room.

 

I'm getting ready take some more Santa photos before they get packed away.  These next ones are soft Santas and the cross stitched Santa ornaments.

Done and ready to mail

I got the second pouch done.  You might notice I forgot to cut the triangles off the corners.  Oh well, it works just as well this way.  The inside looks pretty much the same as the first.

Each of the girls is getting one of these snowman ornaments.  I stitched these years ago, but finally got around to finishing them a couple of days ago.

I also have knitted a few more votives for gifts.  I really love this blue one which was my swap gift for my homeschool group's Mom's Night Out holiday party on Sunday.  I'm still working away on a couple of super secret gifts.  Last night I spent getting our Christmas cards made.  Oh, they are so cute.  Photos to come soon.

A little Scrabble love at Christmastime

Just thought you might enjoy some photos I took of Scrabble yesterday.  He's wearing the Penny sweater from Knitty.  It's my own modification to make it in the round (don'tcha know I hate sewing up!).  He's sitting on a quilt my mom made us for Christmas a few years ago.   

To the right is one of my drawstring gift bags.  I made a few more the other day and had to go to Jo Ann's today to get some more ribbon for the drawstring.  Anyone interested in a tutorial for such a thing?  I don't know if my way is the most elegant, but it works for me and leaves no raw edges inside (is that the OCD in me coming out?).  Someone also asked about the pattern for the Little Felted Stockings.  I might do that as well, but I'm not sure when I'll get some time.  I'll let you know!

Scrabble wishes you a Very Merry Christmas and says, "Don't hate me for my long, luxurious eyelashes."

One down, one to go

Here's a little twist on the envelope style gift bag.  This time the gift bag is the gift.  I've used some more of this adorable hedgehog fabric to make a pencil and book pouch for one of my neices.  I'll be making another one for her sister too.

See that extra pocket in there?  Behind the pocket is a little selection of handmade books, just right for a little girl who loves to draw.

 

In front of the pocket I added a set of these lovely Lyra Ferby pencils and a pencil sharpener just the right size.

This little book is a special one called a star book.  I had lots of fun yesterday teaching kids in our homeschool group how to make these and then came home and spent the evening making more!  Isn't that button just the cutest!

Here's the star book in action.

Ready to Wrap

Thanks to Lazy Gal Tonya, I have a new style of gift bag to make.  These envelope style bags are easy to make with this tutorial.  There is some hand sewing involved, more if you decide to hand quilt them. 

I hand quilted the snowflakes on the white one with metallic DMC embroidery floss and it was a real bear!  The floss kept separating and getting caught on itself.  I'll stick to regular floss or perle cotton next time.  I machine quilted the little one and I have a few more in the works that may be machine quilted due to a lack of time more than anything else.  You really ought to go and see the ones Tonya's made though, here, here, here and here.  That last link also has some of her cool gift tags.  Tonya's bags are always so inventive (as is all her quilting) and she always hand quilts them.

The chickadee one is funny because this was the first one I made with that fabric and I was so proud that I cut it correctly to make the chickadees upright on the outside of the bag.  Well, I was totally wrong and they were upside down.  The great thing with these bags is I could just make that fabric be the lining and then they were upright.  I've got two more coming with the chickadees on the outside because I finally figured out how to do it right.  I've got a lot of that chickadee fabric.  It's also on the back of the Christmas quilt at the bottom of this post.

One feature of these bags I like is the hand sewn side seams. This is done with perle cotton in a simple whipstitch.  I sewed together the sides of the lining fabric so that you get a nice red line up the side.  I have made other gift bags in the past and they are still being used.  I do need to have more, so I've got these and may try to make my simple drawstring bags as well.  I also came up with a little twist on these bags and will show you that tomorrow!