I've Been Hexed

When local artist Lynn Krawczyk asked if I wanted to make a little quilt from her new fabrics on spoon flower I practically jumped out of my seat. I have been a fan of Lynn's work since I first saw some of her pieces about two years ago.She sent a lovely selection of prints. First I tried a scaled up quilt block but that didn't have enough interaction between the fabrics.

Then I tried something similar to the Zinnias quilt but that didn't really give the look I wanted either.

Then I saw these hexies on my sewing table and thought I'd try some paper piecing with Lynn's fabrics. I was thrilled with the look of this and kept going.

When basting the edges to the back of the paper pieces I only stitched through the fabric instead of all the way through both layers of fabric and the paper. This was easier on my hands and also made it easier to remove the paper after the were stitched together and I had spray starched the back.

I wanted a "clean" edge with no extra binding fabric for this quilt. After hand basting in preparation for hand quilting I trimmed the batting even with the turned edge of the front of the quilt. Then I folded the backing over the batting and hand stitched the front to the back giving a crisp finished edge.

I don't know the exact size of the hexagons. I made my own template by tracing a circle and folding it into sixths like you would to cut out a paper snowflake. I trimmed the rounded edge straight from corner to corner to get the hexagon template.

The finished quilt is 20 by 17.25 inches. It is hand quilted with perle cotton thread.

Here's the back.

Aren't these fabrics great? 

Pinwheels and Strings

Last night I finished hand stitching the binding on this Pinwheels and Strings quilt.

This scraptastic quilt is heavily quilted and finished with a half inch binding.

I have started putting more quilting on quilts that will be used and washed. My early quilts didn't have nearly as much quilting on them and I have found that with wear and washing some of the quilting threads have broken. More quilting means that there is less stress on any single quilting thread.

Also, I like the half inch binding better for wear too. After quilting I trim the batting and backing to 1/4 inch bigger than the top. That way I can avoid clipping any of the quilting threads and they will not be able to slip out from under the binding seam.  Straight quilting lines will have an extra quarter inch of stitching to help keep it from pulling out.

The finished quilt measures 83.5 x 60 inches.

I think I can still pull a few more scraptacular quilts from the scrap bin!

Woodland Tails Skirt by P

My daughter, Miss P, fell in love with the Woodland Tails fabric by Sherri Berry for Riley Blake Designs as soon as I pulled it out of the package.  She said she wanted a skirt out of it. Sure! Since this issue of Fat Quarterly is all about sewing with and for children I thought I'd let her make the skirt. She is six and has had a little bit of sewing practice. With this project she mastered quarter inch seams and machine hemming.

First I used the rotary cutter to make three 19" vertical strips of different widths from the print fabric (making sure that those little animals were right side up!). Then we chose two coordinating solids and some rick rack for accent. We cut strips of the solid fabric that were the same height as the print but also different widths.  The total width of the 9 strips was about 50 inches for our skirt.

She sewed theses together to build a piece of fabric that was 19 inches high by about 45 inches wide.

I helped by sewing the rick rack to the edge of the fabric.

My daughter then sewed the two fabrics together enclosing the rick rack in the seam.

She then turned down the top a quarter inch and then turned another 3/4 inch  (I helped with  pinning) and stitched the folds down almost all the way around to create a casing for the elastic. After pulling the elastic through and pinning it together at the appropriate tightness, she sewed up the elastic and then the last couple inches of the casing. Along the bottom, she finished with a double fold (about 3/8 inch) machine stitched hem. This length was perfect for her.

She is THRILLED with her skirt and can't wait to wear it to school.

Tree Trimming

B and P did a little tree trimming this weekend. We have had experience with the power company coming and trimming trees under the power lines. They make such a mess that we prefer keeping things trimmed and out of the way ourselves so that the power company doesn't come and do any clearing. We have some Christmas trees planted under the lines which helps keep things tidy. We keep it mowed around them and know they will not get tall enough to get in the way. But sometimes the other volunteer trees get too tall and have to be removed.

P learned to tie the right knot for the guide rope and to count rings to see how old a tree was.

As an added bonus, we get a few more little firewood stacks to add to next year's wood supply.

,

Abbey Road Socks

,

I've been a knitting fiend in the evenings the last few weeks. I finished the mate to Adele's Abbey Road.

I love the texture pattern in these socks and the way it flows directly into the ribbing at the top. The cable pattern also goes down the heel flap.

It was an interesting change to make these toe up socks. The pattern was fairly easy to follow. I ended up knitting the heel and flap a couple of times but that was because I miscounted stitches not because there was a problem with the pattern.

The yarn was also really nice to knit.Pattern: Abbey Road Socks by Ann Budd.Yarn: Tern by Quince & Co. 75% wool 25% silk.I have also made a couple pair of crew socks for B in the Midnight Stroll Sport by Knit Picks.

String PInwheel Top

Yesterday, miss P was home with a fever. She worked on making some Valentines while I pieced this string pinwheel top together.

I'm pretty happy with it so far. I think I'll use a multi color thread for the quilting over the strings and maybe a blue for the pinwheels - or maybe the pinwheels will be left unquilted. I haven't decided yet.

I need to order more batting so I have some time to think about it.

String Quilt Update

I've been working on the string quilt! It turns out I couldn't read my own handwriting and I needed 140 six inch blocks instead of 130. I whipped out 10 more of those yesterday and went on to phase two - sewing triangles to one corner of each block. Phase three - making four patch pinwheels from the six inch blocks. Here's a big 12 inch block comprised of four of the smaller ones.

I think I'm really going to like this one when it's finished.

Outside

Since it's not so bitter cold this winter I'm trying to get out more. This weekend we walked up to the park and saw a rafter of turkeys. (Did you know that was the collective name for a group of turkeys?)

It was really snowy while we were out. My glasses were covered and I had to take them off and put them in my pocket for the walk home. It was blizzardy - but just while we were walking home.

Today it was warmish and sunny. The fresh air felt good.

I would probably get more exercise if I left my camera at home but taking the camera along makes it more fun!

Also, it has been so warm lately that I've started pondering what new things I want to plant in the garden this year. My neighbor had some really good cucumbers last year that I'd like to try. 

Estonian Socks that Rock

Yay, I finally finished my Estonian Knee Socks that Rock. In case you were wondering, knitting knee socks with a fine black yarn on size 0 needles takes a long time. My ravelry notes tell me that I started these back in early November.

They fit great. I decreased two stitches every sixth row down the back from the bottom of the colorwork to the ankle which creates a lovely "seam" line. I tried to take a picture but it didn't turn out. And since you can see those goose bumps on my legs there I'm not going to try again. You'll just have to imagine it.

The yarns are Knit Picks Essential Soot Kettle Dyed and Jewel of the Nile lightweight by Socks that Rock.

I used the color pattern from Nancy Bush's Estonian Socks in her book Folk Socks.

It really feels good to finish a slow going project like this. I know I'll be wearing them though. They will be great with winter boots!

Instagram Photos

I finished the Dala Sweater and couldn’t be happier with it! The pattern is #dalasweater by @elenormortensen. More details on my ravelry page. #knitter #strandedknitting #operationsweaterchest #handknitsweater #makersvillage #makersgonnamake
I started this sweater on our car trip last week. I had chosen a different yarn for the horses but it was thinner and didn’t work well with the blue. I frogged the few rows I had knit and subbed in some yarn from my stash when I got home. The y
Narrow hand appliquéd bias strips. 1/16” quilting lines not going over the appliqué. I’m about a month in on the quilting and ALMOST finished. Whoop! Quilted with Invisalign on top and Decobob in the bobbin. Threads by @wo
This summer we watched my two oldest grand kids one day a week. Towards the end of the summer they started making projects on their own in the sewing room. They made lots of little projects from my scrap basket including pillow cases and tiny quilts