March Socks

 The March socks for my self imposed Sock of the Month Club, were finished with a couple of days to spare.

They feel like spring, to me. The yarn is again from Turtlepurl in New Brunswick. This month the colourway is called Joy. They were such fun to knit on the dull days of March.

Since I had a couple of days left, before starting the April Socks, I started a pair of baby socks.

I have exactly 20 grams left of this yarn, and the baby socks take about 20 gms. so this will be close.

I finished the first sock on Sunday.

My scale says I have 11 gms left. This will be yarn chicken, I think.

A Seven Day Quilt Top in Just Seven Weeks

Just after Christmas, I saw a Mystery QAL on Kim Lapacek's Blog Persimmon Dreams. A one week quilt along, how hard could it be.

Today, I finished my top. Surprise, it's giant spools of thread.

It is much bigger than I expected. The top is 32" x 52". The blocks just kind of grew.

The first block was the 8" square in the middle of this block. I thought that it was going to be a pretty easy quilt. Eventually we added the top and bottom of the spool and some background fabric to make all the blocks the same height.

Block two, is an elongated churn dash.

Block 3, flying geese.

Block 4 is a square in a square, and I had to add some cats.

Block 5 is an elongated version of a block I have done before but I don't remember what it's called.

It was lots of fun to make the whole top from my scraps. Now that I have it all together, I need to find a backing and quilt it.  I wonder what I have in my "What was I thinking?" collection.

A Baby Shower

When my oldest was in middle school, he introduced me to the family of his good friend. His friend was a young lady with interests and a personality much like his. Her mother and I became friends, as we tried to survive their preteen and teen years. Our friendship solidified when we both went to post graduate studies in our forties, and often shared bus rides to school together. We graduated at the same time (though from different faculties) and drifted apart when we both went back to full time employment. Since retirement, we have renewed our friendship.

Her daughter is having her first baby, and my friend will be joining the ranks of Grandmas. There was a baby shower on Saturday, and I made a collection of handmade goodies for the new babe.

While I was at retreat I made a couple of Bandana Bibs. I did fish, because Grandpa is an avid fisherman. I did ambulances because Mommie is a paramedic (as is my son, her buddy).

For the last couple of weeks, the push has been on to finish this chenille baby blanket. It is so soft a cuddly, perfect for a newborn.

I made a large flannel blanket, because they are so useful with a newborn. This one is about 1 metre square.

 I made a sock and hat set from leftover yarn from socks I made for my favourite paramedic.

Since they don't want to know the gender of the baby in advance, I went for "neutral" colours, like purple and rainbow.

I have a gift in mind for my friend, the new Grandma. It is on my to do list.

DaGMT 14 - 4 Test Pattern

I like the results from paper piecing, but I don't do it often. So, whenever I do paper piece, I have to try to remember how it is done. I find it best if I make a test block, just to see if I really know what I am doing.

My twenty minutes today was closer to 90, as I tidied my sewing room a bit, ironed fabric, cut some strips to try the block and challenged my brain on how this is done.

Tada! I even think the colours work together, although I will leave it where I can look at it for a day or so, before I commit to the whole table runner. Just 23 more to go!

After I finished my project bag on Sunday, I was picking up the scraps and found myself playing with them and my machine. Heather, over at Books and Quilts, inspired me to make this.

I am sending it to my orange grandkittens, in the East.

I am linking to Needlework Tuesday and Needle and Thread Network.

Hats, Hats, Hats

Knitting toques, when the temperature is 32 degrees doesn't really make sense, but that is what I have been doing the past couple of weeks.

Remember this hat?

I knit it earlier this summer, just to have something on hand, if I needed a baby gift.

Well, one of my dear ones has friends who are expecting twins. So here is the twin hat.

It is amazing that they are from the same ball of wool, but look so different. Obviously fraternal twins.

They are the same size, but they need to be blocked.

Meanwhile, my little Knitting Club have decided to make hats for a local homeless shelter. I used some yarn, that was left over from a sweater I think I made 15 years ago.

This is my first hat made on a circular needle and I must say, I love it. No seam, and only one needle to be concerned with, it goes very quickly.

I needed something to make the hat stand up, so Grumpy Gorilla volunteered (there were no cats willing to model today).

I told him he could have his picture in my blog too.

I love him, because he reminds me of my dad, who my kids called Grumps!

Maritime Cutie

Karen's Maritime Beauty pattern, that I made at retreat, lead to scraps. The scraps led to another inspiration, I call Maritime Cutie.

It is a postcard, 4" x 6". I used a half size copy of Karen's pattern, and fused it to the card. I was not crazy enough to try and paper piece those tiny pieces.

I hope you like it, Karen.

More Scraps Used!

Yesterday, when I should have been doing lots of other things, I decided that my new camera needed a case. Quilt retreat is this weekend, so I wanted to take it, and I didn't want the screen to get scratched.

A Sensible Person would take a couple of pieces of fabric, put some batting in between, sew it together, and done.  Sensible is who I am in my paying work life. In my sewing room, I am a Creative Person.

So I gathered those scraps, from the other day, added a few more that were calling out from the discard pile on the cutting board (I really need to tidy) and a scrap of batting, and I was off.

If I was making this for someone else, some of the sewing would have been a little tidier, but it passes the 3 foot rule.

Of course, a little kitty sneaked onto the back.

I wanted some flannel for the inside, and this guy was waving at me.

Sorry, the picture is a bit fuzzy.

All packed and ready to go!

What Happened?

This was my street on Thursday.

This was my street, this morning.

Apparently there was some kind of party on my lawn last night.

Probably some group that should have stayed south a bit longer.

Okay, Spring, where are you?

Playing with Fabric

March Break is a time to play, right? Heather, over at Books and Quilts was playing with disappearing 4 - patches, last week, and I just had to try them.

I used the instructions, found on What comes next? I used some fat eighths, that I had laying on my cutting table (I had used some of the package to make my mittens, a couple of weeks ago). I cut the largest squares I could from the pieces I had left, which came to 5 1/2". Here is the results.

I like the results. They will trim to 8 1/2".  I am thinking of making more, and see if I can use up some of my fat quarters. I don't remember if I had plans for many of them, when I bought them, and I am running out of space, so I think it is time to use some up.

Linking to the Needle and Thread Network: WIP Wednesday.

Knitting as Therapy

I have had a really bad cold and decided that I needed some time to just look after me. So I have been cuddled under a quilt, knitting (and coughing and feeling sorry for myself). After 10 days, I am finally starting to feel human again, though I still cough.

So, I thought I would show you the results of the pity party.

I have 2 good friends who are about to become grandmothers for the very first time. Such occasions demand gifts.

Back in the fall, I made a new born hat for the first baby.  I recently asked the grandma-to-be to pick out some yarn for a sweater. Her choice surprised me. Not your typical baby yarn at all. Here is my sweater progress, so far.

The yarn is Patons Astra in Wild Wizard. I think it is suppose to be the colours of the Hogwarts Houses from Harry Potter. It is bright and cheery, and is knitting up nicely, so I think it will make a lovely gift. The baby is due in 2 weeks, but I am not worried about finishing this, because I am making it in a 12 month size.

Meanwhile, baby # 2 is due in March, around St. Paddy's day. What does such a baby need but green Hiking socks!

I used the end of the ball I made slippers from, for Christmas. Since both socks used less than one repeat of the yarn, making them match was not an option.

 I added a teabag to the picture to give a sense of scale. They are seriously cute, just the thing for babies on the go.

An Ugly Sweater?

A young friend is having an ugly sweater contest in her office. After we determined that my wardrobe doesn't contain anything that could be even vaguely called "ugly", we set about to create something.

I had given her some earrings that were cats, wearing Santa hats, so we thought this would be the idea we would go with. After a morning's work, we showed what we had to the males around here, and they told us that if our mission was ugly, we had failed. It was just too darn cute!

I finished it, and turned it into a little wall hanging, for her cubicle at work. I pulled the backing around to the front to make a faux binding and I am not completely happy with how it came out, but she loves it, so it is off to work.

Not so Ugly Cat

Our second attempt involved some old fabric panel appliques, some Stitch Witchery and some fabric paint, left over from my glitter paint period, when my kids were much smaller. The sweat shirt underneath was in my pile to go to the thrift store and has a coffee stain on it. We figured that it added to the general feel of the piece. Don't you think the colours clash perfectly!

The misalignment of the appliques add to the character, I think.

And Santa Bear is on crooked.

I think she was a little subdued with the paint, but she was quite happy with the results. We will see if it is ugly enough to win a prize on Friday.

Update: The sweater took Third Place in the contest!!! 

Arts and Crafts

The Quilt Show had a craft table, so I have been busy making items to donate. It is really hard to guess what will sell, and what price to put on items.

I made some coffee cozies, and three of the six sold. (The rest will be Christmas gifts)

And my obsession with border prints and the 60 degree ruler continues.

The middle two of these sold. I wonder who would like the others?

Now on to getting the Christmas knitting done.

Halloween Completed

I managed to get the table runner and place mats that I started last week, ready in time for my book group meeting last night.
Here is what they look like on the table.

 There is a bit of an overlap on the 2 pictures, since I couldn't get the whole table in at once.


The table runner I made last week, now has a binding. The blocks I started last week, are now place mats.

I really like how the caution tape type binding worked out. I also like how well it goes with my teapot.

There is a pocket in the place mat, for the cutlery and napkin, but I didn't use them last night, just set the food out on them. You can see the remaining chocolate in this picture. I also served the cookies from yesterday's blog.

I don't normally decorate for Halloween (I don't even have a Jack - o - lantern) but I found making these very entertaining. Now I have some friends who want to make a set for Christmas, so I am thinking of doing a tutorial.

Happy Halloween!

Being Thankful

I have lots of things to be thankful for: Home, family, pets, foster pets, friends, to name a few. I remember one of my kids asking years ago if we were rich. I told him that we had all that we needed and we could afford many things that we wanted, so I felt that we were rich.

Shortly, I will start making a feast, much of it is from the fields of the Ottawa and Rideau River valleys. We will eat too much, then complain that we shouldn't have eaten so much. Life is good!

I am sorry that I had a memory lapse last week. I worked hard to finish these placemats.

I love using border print fabric to make placemats, a la Jinnie Beyer. Every one comes out unique but they all match because they came from the same piece of fabric.

See:

I made these for my mother to decorate her table, then left them at home, when I drove down last week. Since it is a 7 hour drive, I won't be making the trip again, before she starts decorating for Christmas, so, I will be mailing them. Now I need to start on some winter ones for her.



While I was on a roll I also made some mug mats:

And 2 table toppers, though only one is quilted so far:

All from 1.5 metres of fabric! I didn't have a lot of scraps when I was done.

Hope you have a feast to enjoy with family and friends.