Well, I got quite a lot done this week (enough to have some repetetive stress pain in my wrists), though not necessarily what I should have been doing! In knitting news I worked past the heels of my Socktoberfest socks! I think I've decided that the short row heel is not my thing. I love the short row toe, but I'm going to see if I can find a nice toe-up heel flap and give that a try. This photo is a bit of a tease, if you look closely at what's under the socks!
I also started and finished this little project in two days. This is a hat from Handknit Holidays. I was reminded how I love to knit with 1824 wool, but I don't really like two color knitting. Not relaxing enough. It did come out pretty cute though. This is a little kid size, so I guess I'll have to find a little kid to give it to!
In quilting news, this wall hanging is seeing some action, though I now remember why I put it away last fall. I must have used a heavy batting on this because hand quilting is just about killing my hands.
How do I know the batting is different from usual? The hand quilting of the pillow went swimmingly and I realized how much thinner that batting is. I ended up enlarging the pillow to meet my 16" specifications. Here's how I did it:
First I zig-zagged on some extra pieces of batting. Just butt the edges together and use a large zig-zag stitch. I've done this before on quilts (mostly charity quilts) and the only thing you would do differently on a quilt is make a curved edge on the batt so that it doesn't always fold in that one spot. I figured a pillow wouldn't get as much wear and tear as a quilt, but if it does I'll make a new one!
Then I just pinned and sewed some extra muslin to the back pieces and extra fabric to the front. It was only a little tough in the two places where I had already quilted to about 1" of the edge.
And here it is. I did indeed finish the quilting. I made backing pieces for the pillow, though I haven't sewn it all together as I'm waiting for some buttons to come in the mail and I want to make the buttonholes with my automatic buttonholer on my machine (what a great invention!).
Gratuitous puppy-love!
The photo above with my socks may give you a hint of the two other pillows that I couldn't help starting. It sure was fun to go to my Kaffe Fassett stash and choose colors. They are all basted and waiting to be hand quilted too. I spent all this afternoon cutting pieces for yet another quilt. Same block pattern as the pillow. This will be some lovely fall colors.
I also helped Chloe make a skirt this week. She was so excited to begin and it gives me time to sit next to her and work on a handwork project, while only answering the occasional question. She did all the sewing, ironing, gathering and pinning. I only cut the fabrics because I wasn't quite sure about her using the rotary cutter.
I have a couple of other FO's to show, but they'll wait for another day. Meanwhile, aspens are my favorite tree right now, so here are some lovely aspen shots from today.
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