March 11, 2010

note to self

crazy 9 blocks

I've learned a few things during my morning crafting sessions:

1. the stitch the sewing machine manual suggests to use with the 1/4" foot does not create a 1/4" seam. move the needle to 5.5, instead of 3.5, for that perfect seam.

2. gift sewing, just as gift knitting, brings about anxiety and self-doubt. stop over-thinking things.

3. opened seams make for easier cutting when working with crazy nine patch blocks.

4. you bought the 'best press', now use it.

5. if you're going to steam press something, then make sure you're wearing pants.

March 09, 2010

inspiration

I should be working on my green quilt. sewing the rows, deciding on borders (I'm leaning towards nay) and piecing the back are all in order. but fabric is an evil temptress and I already have my eyes set on my next quilt.

inspiration

I think my favorite part of quiltmaking is playing with colors. maybe because I don't really do this in my knitting? I don't do colorwork (yes, I'm limiting myself), I rarely knit a non-self-striping stripe, and mostly limit myself to one color for my projects. my socks are pretty colorful, but I didn't come up with the color combinations or have a say in color placement. with quilting though, there's a whole world of possibilities to someone like me.

fabric trials 2

ok, so I'm pretty restrained when it comes to my "personal" palette. most of my sweaters are grey, blue, red or some shade of purple. and now that I just wrote that, I notice that these images are pretty much that except for the orange. so I guess I'm not going that far out of my comfort zone with this next quilt. mixing all together is the big deal for me.

fabric trials 1

also, being able to imagine what the whole quilt will look like is apparently very hard for me which leads to a lot of second guessing. the quilt I'll be working on, along with amanda and rangsiwan, is a sampler of sorts. it's going to be based on a quilt I found at my in-laws. the original was made my a group of ladies that raffled it off for charity. it was definitely hand quilted and, I think, hand pieced. but this was in the '80's. so there's a lot of hunter green along with the white they used. the batting is pretty thin, almost nonexistent in some places.

fabric trials- the maybes

I'm going to update it for myself, in grey and turquoise with touches of berry and orange. it's going to be a very relaxed quilt-along, maybe a block or two every week or so. it'll be fun to see our different interpretations of it. I already know some blocks are going to be a lot of fun to piece and some, not so much.

for now though, all I can do is think about it. there's a green quilt calling me.

March 07, 2010

weekends are for....

crafting

auditioning circles

baking

cheddar black pepper biscuits


and eating

best egg sandwich ever

now I just wish they lasted longer. how was your weekend?

March 05, 2010

absence

I wish I had some exciting excuse for being offline for so long, but really I have nothing. literally. 2010 has not been a very crafty year for me so far. between my arm hurting too much to knit and regular life stuff getting in the way, there just hasn't been much time. I was feeling a little down about this, especially with all my yarn mocking me from their shelves, but now I don't mind so much. I love what I've made, or am working on, so far. I'm just going to consider this a little slow down.

destroyed cowl
destroyed cowl

my arm has been acting up for a little while now. a couple of weeks ago I tried to finish a sweater and just after a few rounds in the sleeves my wrist was on fire. I honestly think the culprit was this cowl I knit in january. I probably should have taken my time with it but that malabrigo silky merino was just calling out to me. the yarn was a gift from stef and I had to put it to use right away. straight up stockinette on 4mm needles, I love you but I hate you. no, I love you. the pain is almost worth it. this cowl is so cuddly and I love the shimmer in the yarn.

stalled loop scarf

oh wait, maybe it was the other super long stockinette scarf/cowl I was knitting at the same time. this time with some malabrigo in natural and shokay in azure with 5.5mm needles. I started this over christmas as a way to stashbust and for something to do in car rides. I may even love this one more, it's that snuggly.

my morning spot

after a few weeks of doing nothing craft wise, I started up a new schedule for myself. I've been sewing a little bit each day, usually in the morning with some tea and npr. I love it, it feels like a little treat before I have to jump into the minutiae of the everyday. a little bit each day and I finally have all the rows for my next quilt pieced. now I just need to figure out how and if I want to appliqué some circles and how big of a border to make.

January 20, 2010

philadelphia modern quilters

crazy 9 patch blocks

I've noticed that a lot of knitters have been turning to sewing and quilting lately. nothing like another obsession to increase our stashes I say.

buzzzzz

I thought I would help spread the word about the modern quilt guild. the original branch was started by julie, she's been putting everything together for us. I think it's going to be fun meeting up with other quilters beyond the internet.

9 string blocks, 7 more to go?

I'm still in the middle of my quilting frenzy. I've been slowly working on my third quilt while following along with the fourth round of the orb quilt along. I'm loving all the greens I'm working with. it will eventually be a mix of nine-patch and string blocks with curved piecing and appliqued circles. I haven't dared touch the circles yet! but that's ok since I'm only halfway through my string blocks.

January 11, 2010

frozen

chinese coin quilt

I reached my goal of finishing everything that was on deck before the new year. barely. I was still binding the quilt new year's eve night until we had to go out. I love the way it came out (and having it finished!) and wish I had photos showing the whole thing. but being short and not finding an empty enough wall have made that hard. I might trick tom into helping me next weekend though; I didn't have the heart to make him stand outside when it was super cold this weekend.

chinese coin quilt (back)

I originally started quilting in close together, vertical wavy lines with grey thread. after eight lines and what seemed to be eternity, I decided that this wasn't the way to go time and texture wise. I really wanted this quilt to be soft, something I could sleep under. the close lines were creating a stiff and rough fabric. of course this change of plans meant I had to rip out all the quilting, which doesn't sound like a lot until you sit and do it. remember, this is a queen size quilt! I started over, this time with orange thread in random diagonal wavy lines. sooo much faster and drapey and so much easier to maneuver. the binding is carolina chambray in peacock, the best color ever.

chinese coin quilt (back)

with all this finishing, I have nothing on the needles or by the sewing machine. there are worse problems to have I'm sure. but now I really don't know what to do with myself, there are almost too many opportunities. I know I want some cardigans and socks, I'm just not sure which cardigans and socks. this makes me realize how lucky I am to be able to walk to one of my bookshelves, grab some fabric or yarn, and make whatever I want. I think this is going to be my goal for this year, just being thankful. let's face it, sewing and knitting aren't the cheapest hobbies out there- especially if you add stashing (and a love for cashmere) to the mix. this year I just want to use what I have and enjoy the moment. not really a resolution, but more of a reality check.

December 24, 2009

swap

amanda's ishbel

I know I said I wouldn't start any new projects until I cleared my old ones out. but I also did mention there were a couple of exceptions. and, really, ishbel knits up so fast that it hardly counts as a rule breaker.

pattern: ishbel
yarn: colinette jitterbug, fruit coulis, 1 hank and a smidgen
needles: 4mm
date started: 12.10.09
date finished: 12.21.09

this ishbel isn't for me, but for my lovely friend amanda, she asked if someone would knit her an ishbel in exchange for a mini quilt. I jumped at the chance, I love amanda's quilts (and every other project she makes)! just check out her flickr stream.

amanda's ishbel

it actually would have been done sooner, but I ran out of yarn eight rows before the binding off. luckily I have friends in high places that were able to send me another hank that eerily matched. the funny thing is illanna is the one who originally got me the first skein of jitterbug a couple of years ago. so this officially makes her my jitterbug-go-to-person.

amanda's ishbel

I got amanda to choose a yarn from my stash and she went with this pink and purple mix. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this yarn, but I pretty much fell in love with jitterbug and its plump stitches. I knit the small version, but it came out a little bigger than I intended it to. I hope amanda still loves it, I think it's a nice wrap around size.

now I need to figure out what to knit with the three ounces I have left of it!

March 2010

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