On the Sticks, In the Sticks

What's In the Works...Old WIPs

Here for your viewing pleasure is the socks that I've been working on for my Mom. Taking them out reminded me how much I was enjoying working on them before good ol' Procrastination took over. We're taking Morgan for his first dentist appointment this morning (he's so excited that it's finally his turn!), so I should have some time to work on the socks there. I love the colors. This is Regia "Square Color" in a springy colorway that just comes with a #, not a name...#1132.

Remember the batik quilt I showed you in my last post? And how I said I want to find out more about machine quilting so that I can do that rather than hand quilt the top? Well, in the meantime, I started feeling like i would like to quilt something, maybe smaller, which got me thinking about, then hunting down two quilting projects I did in the past.

First thing yesterday morning I found the patterns I had bought for two different cat quilts. These I acquired many years ago, when my former MIL and i went to a quilt show...I think it was in NYC. Then I found a single square I had made and quilted from one of the patterns... 

I made this single square and quilted it in the early 90's and meant to do more with it, but instead, it got tucked away a lot, brought out and admired every so often. I realized just yesterday that all it really needs is a binding around the outer edge to finish it, and there is a perfect place for it on the wall right next to our bed. Ah, sweet Inspiration!

Well...I had a few minutes to myself in the afternoon, went downstairs and brought up the sampler quilt that I had made around the same time, brought it out of it's plastic bag home, and spread it out on my bed. After all this time, I finally felt inspired yesterday to start quilting this huge, beautiful quilt. Much to my surpirse and delight, it is totally ready for quilting. What I had not remembered after all this time,is that I had even drawn the quilting lines on all the squares! Wahoo!

So last night, after the kids were in bed I brought it up again, grabbed thread, needle scissors and settled into the loveseat to begin my lates foray into the worl of hand quilting. I think I feel so inspired to hand quilt this one (as opposed to the batik one) maybe for two reasons...1) It's a Learn To Quilt quilt and it's always been my intention to learn to handquilt on it...and 2) it's a sampler...all the squares are different, and I love the variety. It'll keep me entertained since it's not all the same. That's important for my "stick-to-it-iveness" :)
Sorry, this isn't all of it at once. I was going to lay it out on my bed for pics this am, but a little one was still occupying it, so the picnic table was the next best spot.   

I was so anxious to try the quilting last night that I went ahead and did it without a quilting hoop. I still need to acquire one. If you happen to know someone with one that they no longer need or want, 14" or 18", I'd be really happy to put it to good use, and maybe make a trade of some sort. I'm going to put that out on Freecycle too.

Playing Catch Up!

Hello all! I haven't abandoned ship...I've just been so busy doing real life, that I literally have not been reading my Bloglines or (obviously) posting to my blog in a month!

Let me see if I can catch you up a little on what's been going on here.

I've been working on a pair of socks for my Mom for her (significant) birthday. Her birthday just passed, and she loved the socks as they are so far...just need to finish 'em up. We both love the color. I picked it out because the colors are so springy. (Ooops! I just realized I don't have a recent picture of them...so I'll have to show you them later...but hopefully not too much later!)

I visited a quilt store here in town that I had never been too, and of course got sucked right in by the beauty! I bought the fabric for this beautiful batik lap quilt, which I proceed to finish the top for in just three days! Which means it was both fun and easy!                                                                                      

The pattern was free with the purchase of the fabric. Aren't the colors so beautiful? I found some light brown fabric with and allover dragonfly design on it in my stash for the border and backing, and had some cotton batting for the fill, leftover from another quilt I made years ago. Now, i've been looking up info about machine quilting, because as much as I love the idea of handquilting, I know I don't want to do that for this project. I want to finish it and be able to use it!

Here's another shot of it, closer up...Yum!





















There's plenty more to share, about projects in the works, homeschooling, gardening, wildlife, etc. but i'm going to let that be all for now.

Hope you all are well and enjoying the springtime (that has finally arrived here in the northeast!)

Valentines and Finished Objects

It's little things like this that make my day...

a homemade Valentine from my honey.

That's Cupid there on the front...aiming his arrow straight for my love's heart.

Even back in the days when we were "courting", he used to draw cute little stick figure pictures for me, and poetry from the heart. There's not so much time for poetry these days, but it's definitely the little things like this that make my day.

Elisa had some really sweet and down to earth words to share about Valentine's Day, and true love and marriage.

And finally some FO pics:

I've finished four knitting bags. Here are two of them, so as not to overwhelm you with bag picturage.

And some finished needle cases. I may have shown you these before, but it was just the other day that I finished them with a tab abd button closure. I am so excited with how these came out, and I especially love the unique touch of using tabs cut from felted wool sweaters. A friend of mine gave me two huge bags of felted sweater scraps that she had picked up for free, and thought would be perfect for me to use for something. Thanks, Janet.

Knitting and Sewing and Books, Oh My!

I have new things to show you, now that I finally got batteries for the camera!

Let's see. First are the socks that I knit for Billy's aunt Eileen for (belated) Christmas.

I knit them up in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, colorway Peacock. Size 1 US dpns for the cuffs and US2 for the foot. Just my very basic sock recipe...60 stitches (this time), 2x2 rib for 6", heel flap, etc etc. I really love the colorway, and working with this yarn. I love how they came out too. I sent them out on Friday via the post.

Recently I swapped some of the Jojoland melody yarn I had with Julie. She sent me these in exchange. Julie, you are awesome! She sent a ball of Noro Kureyon (yum!) color #102, which I'm going to knit up and add to my collection for the Lizard Ridge blanket, which you (and I) haven't seen in a while. :) And a ball of Tofutsies too. She says she feels like she got the better end of the bargain...not so! I'm pleased as punch. It was just plain fun to swap! Thanks, Julie.

Recently I finished this bag of my own design. I love how it came out and am planning to make more. It's designed as a knitting bag and has a double pocket inside designed to carry two sets of straights and two sets of dpns, as well as a regular pocket for notions, etc. Just need to add a buttonhole and button on the front for closure.

Lots more to show you...next post! Have a great day! And happy long weekend for Martin Luther King Day if you've got it off.

Fabric

I went fabric shopping the other day on the way to pick up Winter from her sleepover.

This was from the Quadrille outlet in Valatie (Vuh-lay-shuh). They have all sorts of upholstery and curtain fabrics. All of it is discontinued, from several companies. Some of it is very expensive (for my pocketbook), but they have a back room full of 27"x 27" pieces for much less.

I came away with a bag full of fabric without breaking the bank.

Here's some of it...

I worked on cutting out hats and sewed up three yesterday.

Today I worked on designing a bag. No pics yet, but I like it so far.

Tomorrow we'll be heading south to visit Billy's family at his aunt's house in Norwalk, CT. Really looking forward to that. We don't get together too often because of the two hour ride, but I always enjoy it.

New Yarn and Bags

I had ordered some yarn from Knit Picks before Christmas to make a balaclava for Billy for when he is snowblowing. The yarn didn't arrive until the day after Christmas, but not to worry...I'm sure there will be plenty more snow for him to use it in before the winter is out. The pattern is called Antifreeze and it's from knitty.com. I actually originally found the pattern through Knitting Pattern Central. You may have already heard of them, but this was the first time I actually visited it. They've got links to tons of free knitting patterns. And I think they actually have a sister site for crochet patterns as well.

The black yarn is Swish Superwash wool. The green is Essential Solid (75% superwash wool/25% nylon) in Grass. I had had that in my cart forever, to make a pair of socks I saw in Favorite Socks, so I just decided to go ahead and get it. Their prices are so reasonable!

And Comet, Shane's new Webkin is checking out the goods.

Here are the bags I've been working on recently for Janet. They are her design. Cool aren't they?  I was hoping to go check out a place near here for wholesale fabric this afternoon so I can do up some more hats, but Morgan woke up with the tummy bug, poor guy. So maybe I'll get there tomorrow.