25 January 2009
13 January 2009
New quilts
As it has been so ridiculously long since I've posted and who knows if and when I'll be posting again, I'm choosing to make no excuses ;)
I've been working on the machine quilting step of making quilts. This is really easy to get better at pretty quickly - and it seems pretty forgiving if you just use a nice overall stippling.
The tops of both of these quilts fall into the category of "winging it." I guess I'll work on my piecing after I get the hang of quilting.
Here are a couple of recent efforts:
First, a large lap quilt (almost twin-sized) that I made to see if I could actually make a quilt.
It has a few issues, but I really like it. It's cozy and warm and feels homemade (but in a good way).
The second quilt is a small baby quilt for a friend. This one uses some of the cutest bird fabrics I've ever seen. You can't really go wrong with bluebirds, can you?
The top is just a slice of a log cabin, on a large scale. There might be a better way to describe this, but I don't know what that would be.
The back (I think this is my favorite part:
Really, how cute and cheerful is this fabric?
Maybe some knitting next time. I'm trying out a new browser (Flock) and it seems like it makes posting to blogger really easy. Guess I'll find out when I try to post this.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
18 June 2008
Woolgirl is beyond awesome!
The latest sock club shipment from Woolgirl is so much fun. I can't wait to use this yarn and have time to play with all of the goodies! There is some sort of theme or inspiration for each club shipment - this time, as you might guess the theme is "Froggin is cool..." For knitters, you already know what froggin' is and I'll bet most of you hate is as much as I do. For those of you who may not be in the know, froggin' in the knitting/crochet world is ripping out your work - either because you made a mistake, or your gauge is wrong, or you just realized you didn't like the product you were creating. In about any context, though, it can be quite painful (emotionally, and at times, physically).
I'm not sure that I really would go so far as to use the term "cool," but certainly I have come to realize the necessity of having to frog my knitting pretty regularly. If I chill out about it and don't get angry (easier said than done), it is pretty much just backward knitting. The backward progress is the hardest part for me to deal with, though. So depressing. Thinking of frogging knitting in the context of a cute little amphibian does kinda' help, though. Let's see if I can remember this next time I am cursing/sobbing and annoyed at having to rip back 30 rows of 200 stitches in some lace pattern... okay, back to the cute froggy inspired yarn goodness.
The colors are actually pretty close here. This yarn is soft, smooshy, and bright - I love it! How cute will these socks be?
The yarn is Dach Sox in sportweight from Dashing Dachs in colorway Froggin. It is 373 yards and should make a really nice long pair of socks, I think! So cheerful. Every time I look at this yarn, I like it more than the last time - that is a good sign, I think!
She also included what I think is the cutest stitch marker I have ever seen! Jillian at Wee-Ones made these - and they are urp-cute, I swear! You don't get a feel for how small they are here, but they are tiny. The little frog is about 1/4 inch high!
I just can't get over how cute his little froggy butt is!
He looks like he's thinking really hard from the front (maybe he's contemplating having to rip out those 30 rows of lace...) and like he's not about to do anything at all from the back (maybe he's convinced himself that no one will notice that teensy little mistake). I love this! I think I love it so much I probably won't be able to use it as a stitch marker. It would be terrible to lose him in the couch or something.
The other really cool thing she included in this package is a great little bamboo knitting gauge from KaratStix. I totally forgot to take a good picture of it, but you can see it in the picture at the top (just look for the overexposed spot in the bottom right part of the picture). I have a feeling I will use this thing all the time! It looks like she sells them in 1" or 2" sizes in her Etsy shop.
All right, back to work!
I'm not sure that I really would go so far as to use the term "cool," but certainly I have come to realize the necessity of having to frog my knitting pretty regularly. If I chill out about it and don't get angry (easier said than done), it is pretty much just backward knitting. The backward progress is the hardest part for me to deal with, though. So depressing. Thinking of frogging knitting in the context of a cute little amphibian does kinda' help, though. Let's see if I can remember this next time I am cursing/sobbing and annoyed at having to rip back 30 rows of 200 stitches in some lace pattern... okay, back to the cute froggy inspired yarn goodness.
The colors are actually pretty close here. This yarn is soft, smooshy, and bright - I love it! How cute will these socks be?
The yarn is Dach Sox in sportweight from Dashing Dachs in colorway Froggin. It is 373 yards and should make a really nice long pair of socks, I think! So cheerful. Every time I look at this yarn, I like it more than the last time - that is a good sign, I think!
She also included what I think is the cutest stitch marker I have ever seen! Jillian at Wee-Ones made these - and they are urp-cute, I swear! You don't get a feel for how small they are here, but they are tiny. The little frog is about 1/4 inch high!
I just can't get over how cute his little froggy butt is!
He looks like he's thinking really hard from the front (maybe he's contemplating having to rip out those 30 rows of lace...) and like he's not about to do anything at all from the back (maybe he's convinced himself that no one will notice that teensy little mistake). I love this! I think I love it so much I probably won't be able to use it as a stitch marker. It would be terrible to lose him in the couch or something.
The other really cool thing she included in this package is a great little bamboo knitting gauge from KaratStix. I totally forgot to take a good picture of it, but you can see it in the picture at the top (just look for the overexposed spot in the bottom right part of the picture). I have a feeling I will use this thing all the time! It looks like she sells them in 1" or 2" sizes in her Etsy shop.
All right, back to work!
09 June 2008
Procrastination... and no big surprise
This is both the procrastination and the no surprise part ;)
On a more productive, but no less procrastinate-y, note...
Here is the lap quilt I finally finished up for a high school graduation present a couple of weeks ago.
The color is terrible. Of course I finished about 2 am and the light was awful. These colors are a little truer (but still way off):
and a simple strip-pieced back:
and because a girl can never have too many bags!
That's all for now.
 | -25 As a 1930s wife, I am |
On a more productive, but no less procrastinate-y, note...
Here is the lap quilt I finally finished up for a high school graduation present a couple of weeks ago.
The color is terrible. Of course I finished about 2 am and the light was awful. These colors are a little truer (but still way off):
and a simple strip-pieced back:
and because a girl can never have too many bags!
That's all for now.
01 May 2008
This and that...
As a strong believer in immediate gratification and what I like to think of as efficiency (but might actually be described by some as impatience), projects that are quick to start and move along steadily and easy to finish are the most likely ones for me to actually convert to FOs. Oh yeah, turning out exactly as I had envisioned no matter what the pattern predicts is also a plus :)
With sewing, I find that this strategy often backfires. I've been trying to increase my level of patience when sewing so that some day I might be able to get to the point that I could make one of these (yeah, yeah, I know there are 225 different blocks and they require a TON of hand sewing and obviously a quilt of this nature must be quilted by hand... but still, maybe after I retire). More pictures from the adventurous souls beginning this journey can be found here.
Back to reality... In one of my moments requiring immediate gratification, I made this bag the other night. It is far from perfect, but there is something that I really like about it.
I spent a couple of hours tonight working on a baby quilt top (it will probably will become a Project Linus donation). I purposely chose something that wouldn't be likely to show a lack of accuracy in sewing my 1/4" seams. For the most part, it fit all my criteria for a fun project that is likely to get finished... quick and easy and looks pretty much like I had imagined it. It could have used a better ironing, however.
I suppose that in a perfect world, I would have used a solid color cotton instead of the green polka dot flannel strips. This seems minor and I was trying to use what I had on hand. All in all, I really like it so far. I'm thinking to get something in red for the binding and maybe something really soft (like Minke or something similar) for the backing. I must keep in mind that something stretchy like that could really cause a turn in my feelings about this little blanket when it comes time to actually quilt it.
And... because I can't pass up a 40% off sale on almost all of the quilting cotton at JoAnn's, a little fabric stash enhancement:
The 2nd from the top and 2nd from the bottom are not a part of today's foray, but I thought they looked pretty cute with the others. I'm thinking maybe something like this... we'll see, though. All right, off to bed now.
With sewing, I find that this strategy often backfires. I've been trying to increase my level of patience when sewing so that some day I might be able to get to the point that I could make one of these (yeah, yeah, I know there are 225 different blocks and they require a TON of hand sewing and obviously a quilt of this nature must be quilted by hand... but still, maybe after I retire). More pictures from the adventurous souls beginning this journey can be found here.
Back to reality... In one of my moments requiring immediate gratification, I made this bag the other night. It is far from perfect, but there is something that I really like about it.
I spent a couple of hours tonight working on a baby quilt top (it will probably will become a Project Linus donation). I purposely chose something that wouldn't be likely to show a lack of accuracy in sewing my 1/4" seams. For the most part, it fit all my criteria for a fun project that is likely to get finished... quick and easy and looks pretty much like I had imagined it. It could have used a better ironing, however.
I suppose that in a perfect world, I would have used a solid color cotton instead of the green polka dot flannel strips. This seems minor and I was trying to use what I had on hand. All in all, I really like it so far. I'm thinking to get something in red for the binding and maybe something really soft (like Minke or something similar) for the backing. I must keep in mind that something stretchy like that could really cause a turn in my feelings about this little blanket when it comes time to actually quilt it.
And... because I can't pass up a 40% off sale on almost all of the quilting cotton at JoAnn's, a little fabric stash enhancement:
The 2nd from the top and 2nd from the bottom are not a part of today's foray, but I thought they looked pretty cute with the others. I'm thinking maybe something like this... we'll see, though. All right, off to bed now.
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