Knitting

I am continuing with my knitting, learning as I go.  I still go to the Loft when I need help, and they are always happy to help me get out of the mess I've made!  

(And I still make messes quite frequently!)

My "alleged" scarf is getting a little bit longer all the time.  Here's a current photo.  I decided to "spice it up" and throw in a few rows of contrasting purl stitches on the knit side of the scarf, just to add some variety.

And I still cling to the notion that there is "texture" to my scarf, rather than just uneven stitches!  After all, who wants a perfectly smooth scarf? That would look so store-bought!

KittyStitches likes to help with some of my projects.  After all, she is a domestic shorthair cat!

Pet Beds

In the name of cleaning up in my studio a little bit I sewed some pet beds recently.  That at least got rid of two pairs of jeans lying around in my studio and a few bags of fabric scraps.

 Two of them were made from some wild pink knit fabric.  I recognize it as coming from my The Loft, my LQS (local quilt store).

I got three beds made today.  The plaid one is from MisterStitches old jeans.  They were the warm kind, lined with flannel.  I thought that might make a comfy pet bed.  The bed isn't square because, as you know, pant legs are usually tapered.  But I don't think that will bother the pets!

 The pink fabric was given to me last week by someone who said it is for my pet beds.  I wasn't sure if it was to be the outsides of the beds, or just get put inside, but I chose to make some beds out of it.  There is still over a yard left, and all my fabric scraps are gone now.  I might save some of this pink fabric to make some leggings for GranddaughterStitches when she comes this summer.  In fact, I think I may have made her some leggings out of this very fabric a few years ago.

Aprons For Two Fish Bakery

Last week I spent a lot of my time sewing aprons.  I've mentioned before that I make aprons for Margaret at TwoFish Bakery.  I really enjoy making these aprons.  Choosing two fabrics for each apron is a big part of the fun.

This one looks like jelly beans!  I don't usually choose a solid fabric for an apron, but this blue went so well with the colorful jelly beans.

This lovely lemon fabric was left over after I made the "food baby quilt" for little GranddaughterStitches when she was first born.  

This last one is bread fabric!  I found it at my local quilt shop, The Loft.  Most appropriate for a bakery, I think.

And here is Margaret with the aprons.  She was so happy that she put on all three!

These aprons really are fun to make, especially when I get into the groove and make several.  My paper pattern is beginning to show wear though, with lots and lots of pin holes.  So I traced the pattern onto some pattern-tracing pellon.  This will make it last much longer.

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Then on Friday I went to a quilting work day with some members of my Quilt Guild.  We were working on things to sell at our fund raisers.  And I had some Christmas fabric, so I made--guess what--more aprons!

I think they came out quite nice.  The red fabric has a very small white dot pattern on it.  The only difference in these aprons is that they have no pockets.  Margaret insists on having pockets on her aprons.  (Personally, I don't!)  But I had misplaced the pattern piece for the pockets.  I know I could have just made a square pocket, instead of the curved one in the pattern, but without pockets these aprons went together lickety-split fast!

They are all ready to be sold!

Hand Quilting

MisterStitches and I made a road trip up to Ashland, Oregon (before the weather got colder and wet!), to attend the Oregon Shakespeare Festival again.  So as usual, I needed to ready my handwork for the long drive.  I really didn't have much going at the time, so I made up a new project.

I decided on another hand quilting project.  I found some nice light blue fabric (above) with leaves scattered around on it at my local quilt shop, The Loft.  (Fifty percent off, too!!)

I backed it with this nice blue flowered print that I had in my stash--they play very well together, I think.

I'm simply stitching around each of the larger leaves.  

I chose this pretty variegated thread in pastel colors, and I think it looks nice.

And here is my little portable sewing center suction-cupped to the car window!  I can happily stitch away all along the very straight highway.

Receiving Blankets

 I am pleased as punch to be making some receiving blankets.  Because that means there is going to be a new BabyStitches in our family!  SonStitches and DearDaughter-in-lawStitches are pregnant, expecting a little one in December.  I'm so excited!!!

It was a very windy day, so I had GranddaughterStitches's help in photographing these blankets outside.

One is a cute alphabet print, with a light yellow background.

 I hand-sewed the hems down with a funky little stitch that left these marks on the front side.

Another fabric I chose is from the book How Much Do I Love You?

I used a blanket stitch to hem this one.

This one is two-sided.  I followed the instructions at Missouri Star Quilt Company's Youtube site.  Here's the link.

The result is a cute receiving blanket that has a double thickness, and about a 4" contrasting border on the front side.

These cute flannels are from the same fabric line, and I found them at The Loft, my LQS.  One of the fabrics shows lots of different animals, then there are separate fabrics that use just one of those animals.  Here I chose the elephants.

Row By Row

Or

My Own Little Shop Hop

I am home now, from a trip back to Iowa and Minnesota to visit my family.  I had a great time visiting with people, and I even got to work in a little more "quilt business" than I usually do.

My own LQS, The Loft, is participating in the Row By Row Experience.  This was the first I'd heard about this, but RxR has been around for several years.  The idea is to visit participating quilt shops and receive a free pattern from each one.  This year's theme is Home Sweet Home.  The patterns depict something about this theme, usually mixing in something about that particular quilt shop.  The shops also offer (for sale) special fabrics that have been chosen for this year's theme.  Also available are fabric personalized license plates.  

Now, back to my trip to the Midwest.  Before I left home I looked up participating quilt shops on the route I would be driving.  I ended up stopping at Calico Hutch in Hayward, Minnesota; Quilt Cove in Eagan, Minnesota; Quilting by the Hearth in Lonsdale, Minnesota; Michele's Quilting and Sewing Center in Blue Earth, Minnesota; Old Alley Quilt Shop LLP in Sherburn, MN, and Bear Patch Quilting Company in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.  One day we drove to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to visit my niece and her husband, and I was able to visit Quilters Headquarters there.

At each shop I picked up the free pattern, did some looking around, sometimes bought some fabric (like I need any more!!), and at most of the shops I also bought the fabric license plate.

Notice the cute license patch fabric under the patterns.

Before I left on my trip, I had also collected RxR patterns from The Loft in Gualala, California and Eddie's Quilting Bee in Sunnyvale, California.

It happened to be that the Minnesota Quilt Shop Hop was going on at the same time.  So there were many shoppers who were also participating in that.

Now I have my work cut out for me--to sew up all these cute rows into a happy quilt!

Mystery Quilt Part I

McCalls Quilting magazine recently had an article which explained a three-part mystery quilt they are publishing. Some of my quilting buddies and I decided to make this mystery quilt. I opted (as did some of the others) to make a Quilt of Valor, so I chose some red, white, and blue fabrics. I really would have liked to use up some of my fabric stash, but didn't have anything appropriate, so I went shopping at one of my favorite quilt shops, The Loft.

Here are the fabrics I chose.

For the first part of the mystery, I made two different blocks. One a simple quarter square triangle, and the other a similar block with only three pieces. Of course, the directions had me cut the binding fabric first. Here are my completed blocks so far.

I'll keep you updated on my progress here. This magazine only comes every other month, so I don't feel too much pressure! Even I should be able to complete the assigned blocks in a two-month period, right!?!

Pretty New Fabrics!

I am, as a rule, very selective when it comes to buying fabric. I already have bales of fabric, so I try to only buy fabric that I have a specific use for, rather than just adding to my stash.

However,

(and there's always a "however," isn't there!) recently I have found some very very nice fabrics that were begging to go home with me. First of all I have some gorgeous hand-dyed fabrics that I bought from a friend and fellow classmate at a class I took in San Francisco last month. They are so lush and colorful!

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When I was at another friend's house a week or so ago, she showed me this piece of fabric. She had a huge amount of it, but didn't know what she was going to use it for, so she asked me if I'd like some. (Duh!!) I think it's cool fabric, because it is shaded from one end to the other, so it is multi-colored. Can you believe that one piece of fabric has all these colors in it!?

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My local quilt shop, The Loft, was having a big sale, so of course I had to go check that out. I found this green print, which you can see from the close-up photo below is made up of blades of grass.

(Maybe good for a landscape or scenic quilt?)

The Loft also had this beautiful fabric, a border print. It is a companion fabric to the print I chose for my Guild President quilt blocks. So I bought a couple of yards, thinking I might use it as sashing or border or both when I put all my blocks together.

Another fabric is new to my LQS. This is fabric designed by my friend, Harmony, who is also local. Harmony designs organic cottons, and boy, are they beautiful! Below you can see her light blue print called Silent Stumps, and also her light blue sateen.

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When I was at a quilt show a

couple weeks ago, I found the following two fabrics. Can you believe how realistic these grapes look! Aren't they beautiful!?!

And, while this one doesn't look very exciting, it is really more colorful than the photo shows, and I liked all the different striations throughout the fabric. Another good one for landscapes, I'm thinking.

I think this is enough fabric to keep me going for a while! I'd better go get busy. Bye for now.