Whew! I’m done with the body of my Fair Isle sweater. Now I just have to do the sleeves and the front and neckbands.
It’s a torso!
August 12th, 2007Mystery Quilt, Part Three
July 28th, 2007So, I thought I was actually getting caught up from being behind in Quiltmaker’s Mystery Quilt series, when I finished these two blocks and was only one block behind. Then the very next day, the next issue of Quiltmaker arrived, with the final installment in the series! So I’m still behind, and not likely to catch up any time soon. Anyway, here are my most recent blocks:
This block was hand-pieced, because I was working on it at Goshorn Lake and it seemed easier to just do it by hand than bother with setting up a sewing machine. I was also able to work on it a bit in between doctors’ appointments at the clinic, which earned me some smiles and approving glances from the older ladies walking through. 🙂
This block is done entirely with templates, which is fine, but I can’t imagine doing a whole bed-sized quilt this way! All of the tracing and cutting for just this one block got to be a pain in the neck. But I like how it turned out. Here are all of the parts of the Mystery Quilt so far:
Baby Quilt for the Impending Bundle!
July 19th, 2007Nothing to see here, just posting photos of Crackpot Baby Quilt #3 for Cathy’s once and future co-workers:
The quilt center with various border options:
Cathy and Chris with the completed quilt top at the baby shower in Holland:
Fair Isle Sweater Progress
July 7th, 2007I’ve been plugging along on the Fair Isle sweater, and I’m loving it – the colors, the patterns, the yarn, the fact that I’m making visible progress every time I change colors. I’m past the armpits, so there are now three sets of steek stitches which will later be cut to form armholes and the center front of the cardigan.
I’m sure all the crackpots will see the sweater in progress next week (I’m so smitten that I can’t bear to leave it behind for a week in favor of something that’s probably more appropriate travel knitting). For the blog readers I won’t be vacationing with (are there any?), here’s a current shot:
The stripey bit in the middle is where I’ll cut for the cardigan front, and if you look very closely at the top corners of the body, you’ll see where some stitches are being held on waste yarn to be later used when knitting the sleeves.
(oh, and if you’re wondering about the previous post, all will be revealed next week…)
New Crackpot Challenge
July 7th, 2007Inspired by Cathy’s nesting project, I’ve created a new crackpot challenge project.
Each crackpot receives an identical set of fabric, including a focus fabric and coordinates:
The block pattern is the main block from Wind In the Pinwheels, from the March-April 2003 Quiltmaker magazine
The Challenge:
Make one or more blocks using the fabric and block pattern. Note that no directions are given for which fabric goes where – that’s the fun part!
The Timeline:
None
The Result:
I haven’t planned too far beyond everyone making similar-yet-different blocks, but I do have some more of the focus fabric that can be used in assembly. (Would this be a crackpot project if I had everything planned?)
Nesting Project continues
June 4th, 2007So here are the first two blocks in the as-yet not-quite-planned Nesting Project. There will be four blocks, either pieced together with sashing and borders into a wall hanging, or finished separately as four individual small one-block wall hangings. Or, you know, something else entirely.
One Union Square
Memory Wreath
These represent probably my most accurate piecing to date (not that that’s saying much), so I’m pretty pleased with them.
A Sweater of [many] Thousand Stitches
May 13th, 2007… starts with one swatch
Yikes! Crochet!
May 3rd, 2007Here’s my first big crocheted project. I’m not converting away from knitting, but crochet is theoretically faster and produces thicker fabric than knitting, which sounded perfect for what afghans for Afghans is currently looking for.
Nothing too exciting here – the squares are made in the stitch known as “I thought I was doing half-double crochet but once I looked in a book of crochet stitches it turns out I misremembered it”, sewn together with single crochet, and with a double crochet border. The yarn is mostly Brown Sheep Naturespun Worsted, with leftovers of other worsted-weight wool yarns. Cathy may recognize the gray yarn, which she sent me a while ago.
Mystery Quilt Phase 2A (for Ann)
April 26th, 2007As you all can see, I had a productive 5 days last week at the Cute Little House. With help from Marty and the extensive stock at Fields, I was able to extend my palette and produce the following:
I like it. As you can see, it is quite different from Cathy’s. Actually I think I like Cathy’s better. Her blues and reds are more my usual style. But it is good for us to branch out and extend our range of palettes. Also, you will note that I have followed Cathy’s lead and photographed my blocks on a hardwood floor background. I think it has a warmer, richer look than the plain white sheet I have been using in previous photos.
My new Quiltmaker arrived yesterday. The next two blocks are large complex ones. I have not yet studied them closely, but they look interesting. Possibly a project for the next CLH trip.
Stars and Moons Baby Quilt
April 10th, 2007Wow! There’s been a lot of activity on the blog lately. So, I finally took the time to download these pictures of a baby quilt I made for the new son of our pastor and his wife.
Here’s a close-up view:
In other news, I finally finished Nicholas’ quilt!!! He has been so patient waiting for it, and now he can finally sleep under it.