Another Finish!

With more diligent knitting this week, the blue knee high socks are finally finished. And I have mixed feelings about them. I measured, and measured, and measured again the distance from the floor to my kneecap and consistently came up with the same measurement as suggested in the directions. And yet once on, the socks could easily be an inch or more longer to actually reach the knee. Plus the ribbing really stretches out over the calf which looks a bit weird to me. However, the knee high bit is for warmth, not show, and close to the knee is close enough for this pair. I'll make a note on the pattern should I try this again. I'm also finding the yarn doesn't feel as soft when knit up as I thought it would, but I do still need to block these, and they may soften and "bloom" once I do. But they are done and I can move on to the next project.

I pulled the wrong yarn for this pic. This "tape" yarn will be for a bag.

And that would be a crochet project? It's been quite awhile since I've done any crocheting, but just like my knitting, there was a time when I did a lot of it, mostly to make baby blankets (that lovely ripple pattern) and throws (including a variation of the popular granny square block for a throw that I made for my dad). Back in the 70's - 90's, I never liked the look of crocheted wearables that couldn't hold a candle to ones I could knit with a more sophisticated look. But here I am, ready to give crocheting a summery cap-sleeve cardigan a go, all because I'd been looking at something similar in a catalog and found myself saying, surely I could make one myself for less. And then I ran across this kit on the Lion Brand Yarn website, liking it better than what I'd been seeing in the catalogs. I do think I will make it shorter though so that it hits mid hip - about where my summer tops end. It calls for a size G hook and uses a bamboo viscose yarn which I've not dealt with before but is supposed to work up light and drapey; hopefully it will work up quickly. Bear in mind I bought this to have to wear LAST summer but a knitting project didn't finish up in time for me to start it. Wish me luck!

I've also started the quilting on Venetian Tiles by doing a lot of stitching in the ditch along the burgundy sashings, with burgundy thread so I can't really show a picture of it, it hides so well. I'm generally not into showy quilting, so have been auditioning threads for areas where the stitching really will show but where I don't want to "hide" the beautiful patterns in the kaleidoscopes. From the very start back in 2003 I thought I would use the pink and/or blue Oliver Twist hand-dyed threads and pulled them out to see how that would work. Hmmm. By chance, I'd picked a dark brown bobbin thread to pair with the burgundy thread and it helped me see that behind those pink and blue motifs in the fabric was a golden brown. And yes, I have 3 different Oliver Twist browns to choose from so that all the quilting in those blocks can be done with a single color, no switching back and forth from the pink to the blue. Finally, the green variegated King Tut thread will be perfect over the scroll-like patterns in the green fabric around the outside of the top. 

An Interesting Week

I pause from watching a ton of motorcycle racing this weekend to update you on my goings on. I'm delighted that blooms have finally burst forth in my neighborhood. The first that I noticed were forsythia bushes - how could you NOT spot them with their bright yellow blooms.

Days later I spotted flowering trees along the next street over from me. (My street has maples and choke cherry trees that won't bloom until later.) These were taken on a cloudy day with my not very good cell phone camera so difficult to see some of the pink blooms.

My neighbor had set out a pot with bulbs pushing up which I'd been anxiously waiting to see just what they were. Finally they have opened up into beautiful daffodils. 

I had reason to be downtown one day last week and was delighted to see white blossoms on some of the trees there. I was due for a haircut and my safari hunting stylist had two pieces of Kudu hide left over after mounting by her husband. The Kudu was actually taken by her dad after he'd shown interest in her first safari adventure. It was a special trip for this hunting father-daughter duo and I'm honored that she thought to offer these to me. I have yet to do anything with the first pelt she gifted me but the wheels never stop turning. It's mostly that I have no experience working with leather and continue to research.

In the meantime, back to the familiar. Time to layer up the Venetian Tiles top. I definitely considered skipping a few steps like pressing the major creases out of the backing, but decided I'd no doubt hate myself at some point if I didn't do it. The top had only a slight single fold line so yeah, may as well press that out too. I flipped it right side down and sighed a heavy sigh as I saw so many frays along the raw edges of seams. Very nearly skipped trimming those away too, but decided again that I'd be kicking myself if I could see any of those threads showing through to the front as I quilted. Not a quick process but cleaning up the wrong side is always a good idea. Look at the pile of threads!

All layered and safety-pin basted although I still need to hand-baste around the edge of the top and turn the backing/batting to the front to be pinned down for a nice neat package for machine quilting. So fascinating studying the variation of pattern in the blocks cut from the same fabric.

I also spent time digging through those bins and other piles around the studio for the missing Stack-n-Whack book, and also my Mariner Compass book that I wanted to reference before finishing up those class sample blocks and cannot put my finger on. You know you're in trouble when you look in the same places for the third time with the same result. Running out of places to look, although I did manage to unearth two books I don't remember buying plus two that I think I'd pulled off the shelf to reference quite awhile ago when I was working on stamping and linocutting - much piled on top of them. Those went back on the shelf as I'm not stamping or linocutting at the moment. The two I didn't remember got put away properly too. Is the dragon guard doing too good of a job, hiding things from me?

Suddenly I remembered a file box in the garage that holds info for the classes I taught while still in Wisconsin. I've tried several times to break down these files as I'm not planning on teaching any of these again, but as I look through it now hoping to find the lost books, I was reminded why I keep putting the lid back on and shoving it aside. Copies of class handouts and patterns easy enough to get rid of but there's also fabric from samples and partial blocks used to demo steps - as if I don't have enough leftovers and orphan blocks to deal with, I just can't face taking these things out and deciding what to do with them yet. They are from over 20 years ago; will they be helpful in making a quilt years from now as in the meme?  However, I was right about finding a lost book out there. I vaguely remember teaching the basic Stack n Whack method and sure enough, that first book was filed with my class notes. But the Mariner Compass book was not there, even though there was a Mariner Compass class file. Sigh. It no doubt will show itself when I least expect it. 

I'll soon have another finish to share, by the way. I've been much more diligent this last week putting in time on my sock knitting. I am literally 2 inches away on each sock from being done with them.

In Search of a Finish

 

When I saw this on Instagram, I nodded my head in agreement. Since diving into quilting, I've often had more than one quilt project going at a time, pretty much for the reason she states. But on second thought, I decided I agreed only up to a point. While I've not had multiple knitting or embroidery projects going at one time, the ones in progress do add to list of things I could work on, and at some point I think the overall number of choices can become overwhelming, frustrating, and even depressing. That's kind of the point I'm at, I think, especially after unearthing so much during my search through bins. Over the weekend I could feel it building until it became clear: I needed a finish to feel better.

And so I chose the Joy Banner. You know, the one draped over my sewing chair waiting for threads to be buried and a label. I'd been viewing it as a daunting task, one I didn't want to do but couldn't escape. But there was a bookbinding video I wanted to watch which was an hour long, and because it was the last in a 4-part series, I was pretty sure I could follow along while burying threads, looking up when I knew there was something to see. The burying went more quickly than I anticipated with it nearly done by the end of the video. It only took ten or so minutes on another day to complete the task.

Now for the label. For years, I meticulously printed out my labels and hand stitched them to the back of quilts. Then there were some that really didn't need the printed label and I was fine with inking the info on cloth by hand. Next step was deciding some labels didn't need to be hand stitched in place but could be fused there. And that is what this banner would get. I didn't get the spacing quite right but the banner is going no place except up on my wall. Trimmed and fused in place, I now had that much needed finish and feeling better about myself.

I also spent some time over the weekend, rooting around in those bins again. I'd opened up that Stack-n-Whack quilt top to be dazzled by it, and wanted to find that possible border fabric I'd bought that now I wanted to use as a backing. You can see it at the top of the quilt, and that it would not work as a border. But it will be great as the backing. There's no question; this will be the next project to finish.

I'd searched my blog for posts about making it but could find none. How could that be? Fortunately, I'd pinned a note onto the top that explained everything and made me wonder how I could have so little memory of where I was living and the studio I was working in when I completed it. I only remembered working on it at the same time and with the same fabrics as the blocks for St. Hilary's Star which I finished after moving to Idaho in 2006. This note tells me I finished the top in 2003 (!), the star blocks at least partially done and set aside too, two years before I started my blog. The note also tells me the name which I'd forgotten: Venetian Tiles which is the name of the pattern in the book Stack-n-Whackier Quilts by Bethany S. Reynolds. My version uses only 4 blocks rather than the nine in the original - probably because of the fabric I had on hand. Finding the book took scanning my bookshelf then having another look through the closet where I found it resting flat on a shelf. I think I had plans to make at least one more quilt from it as I looked at fabric in the big bin and rolled onto a cardboard tube. I surely must have purchased her first book where I would have learned her technique and made my first Stack-n-Whack quilts but at this point, I can't find it. Anyway, I'm very excited to see things coming together for a finish of this quilt.

As long as I was lifting flat folds of fabric used in those two quilts out of the big bins, I thought one of them might work to finish out two of the Mariner Compass sample blocks I'd unearthed. I think pillows will be the best bet for these and I like this leafy print in the right teal blue for it. The other compass has already been set into a square using the same fabric as the background fabric but I think using this fabric for the back of the pillow will work well.

The yellow in the compass is actually more golden like the print in the batik on the left

Finally, I felt it time to take that last Mariner Compass and find a fabric to set it into. This one I plan to finish as something to hang on the wall, maybe even stretch over a canvas frame, and give to that great niece and her new husband as a wedding gift. That dark fabric on the right is a very mottled batik that should fit the bill nicely. I think it will be more interesting than a solid black (lord knows where the black fabric used in the compass might be by now). But you know, you have to try a lot of things, even outrageous things, to find the right fit. A lot of prints and batiks got auditioned before the mottled one stepped in and said, "Hey - don't you think I'm the one?" Be honest, doesn't your fabric talk to you too?

I've certainly got my work cut out for me during my daytime slot for creative endeavors. In the meantime, the evening knitting of the socks is coming along, be it slowly. One more section of increases on this one before the run to the top, at which point I'll switch back to the other sock to knit its increases. Each round begins at center back, and that orange marker reminds me when I've gotten there.

Wishing You a Lovely Weekend

However you celebrate (or don't celebrate) Easter, enjoy the pause to recognize the coming of spring and so much rebirth. And don't forget the Reese's peanut butter eggs . . . 😁

Not Much To Share

I think my body has finally adjusted to the time change, yet I don't seem to be getting into the studio to get going on anything. I realized I still have threads to bury and a label to make and attach to the Joy Banner, but I'm sure any of you who quilt in a way that requires burying threads would understand why I'm still putting this off. There are also a handful of what I think of as 10 to 15 minute projects in there like mending some socks that although I could get them done relatively quickly, I keep passing them by - an old and apparently unbreakable habit. Mainly though, I also realized that I needed to get serious about finishing my taxes, so creative time has instead been used to work on those taxes (not to be confused with working on those taxes creatively). Federal taxes are done and I've downloaded what I need to do the state taxes so those should go quickly.

Fortunately, work on the socks always takes place while watching certain TV programs. I'm ready for the first increase to "grow" the leg to fit over the calf. They are the beauty rippling through my life right now while still waiting for traditional signs of spring. The lawn maintenance crew have been out this week, blowing dead leaves away from foundations and off the lawns and running something over them that aerates the ground I think. And I'm beginning to see tiny leaves pushing out on some of the trees. Still didn't spot any bulbs blooming the several places I stopped at in town, but they must be somewhere . . . Has spring sprung in your part of the world?

Heels Turned

The zippered pouch with Hmong applique holds crochet needles and knitting accessories

I must admit I've lost enthusiasm for the split nine-patch project since failing to find that piece of batik I planned to use for a moon. And I still needed to clear space on the worktable in order to go ahead with finishing the Stack n Whack top. So my mind has been occupied instead on knitting: projects in the queue and the project on my needles. I hunkered down over the instructions for turning the heel, knowing I would have to concentrate to get it right this time, and I can report that I think I managed better, not seeing any holes that will need closing up later. Yeah!!!! Now I'm moving up the leg, first with some rounds in pattern to establish it and then changing the stockinette stitches to ribbing to match the ribbing on the instep. I honestly don't know how some knitters knock out socks so fast; these will take even longer than my last pair as I am making them kneehighs. But I really like working on both socks in the pair at the same time, alternating between them as I move through different sections.

I use cardstock for the covers, using a photo from her website

Clearing a space on the table meant catching up some things I wanted to add to my gratitude journal and gathering up printouts from some of Angela Walters' machine quilting series. Sometimes I think I like organizing more than I like actually making things; I'd found a stack of these printouts buried on the floor with a panel I'd bought in order to practice stitches from her "Fillers" series. Well, they won't do me any good there, and I'd thought that as I collected more and more printouts from her series, I should "bind" them using the Arc Notebook System as I had with my Handmade Books printouts. As much as I enjoy binding books, I have yet to run across one that will do what this system does. It works a bit like a spiral binding except that you can add and remove pages at will. It requires a special punch which I decided to invest in plus the plastic discs that hold the pages, and I have not regretted that purchase. Now that I have these organized and at my fingertips, it would not be a bad idea to get that panel out and layer it up. It would make a great warm-up piece; just doing one small section before starting a session on the Stack n Whack quilt.

I don't know about you, but I am having a terrible time adjust to the time change. That, and all the disturbing news bombarding us on a daily basis here in the states is enough to make me want to hide away with my knitting and quilting and reading or just curl up on the couch. Snuggled under a quilt, eyes shut, has always made me feel safe - the ultimate escape, But it's not the only thing, which is why I was gladdened to run across what I share with you below. Hang in there, fellow "hobbyists" and artists! We have a built-in safety feature. 💖

  

WHERE IS IT????

I am frustrated. The socks were calling to me once I got both to the heel-turning part so I've been spending extra time on them since I remember having trouble with it on the first socks I knit with this pattern. It's going better but really demands my attention. It's in two parts knit a little differently from each other, the first part being pretty easy and straight forward. The second part not so much and I was ready for a break. It occurred to me that I should dig out that circle of batik I'll be using as a moon with the split nine-patch blocks so that the fabrics surrounding it are right. I thought I'd run across it not that long ago, and started with the top bin on a stack of three in the closet. It's actually made for storing Christmas wreaths but because of its large squarish size, I bought it to store the Baltimore Album blocks I'd made. Nope, not there, but instead I was faced with some of my earliest forays into sun printing, surface design and art quilting. Talk about leftovers! So many bits and pieces to not toss, so many ideas especially for working with leaves. And a substantial amount of that Roberta Horton plaid - I have no idea why I stored it here.

On to the next bin. It had a note on top telling me what projects were in it. Things I'd forgotten about, like a small top made from feedsack reproduction prints and drunkard's path blocks, and not one but three mariner compass blocks. I was planning on looking for the yellow and black one to finish up as a wallhanging for my step-great niece who is a bit of a world traveler and happened to snag an Irishman when she was in New Zealand. They recently got married and I hadn't done anything about a wedding gift yet, thought this would be perfect. But those other two - I recognize most of the fabric from the shop I taught at in Wisconsin so they must have been samples for a class. I knew I had one Mystery Quilt set of directions with fabric set aside in one of the bins and I found it here, along with two others - really??? Other projects too in there. I have no need to find anything new to work on - I have plenty in these bins.

Things I was dabbling in shortly after arriving in Idaho 2006

The third bin is a truly big and deep one, and I knew some of what was in there, but wasn't expecting this on the top along with pieces of hand-dyed fabric. I must have had a plan for setting the hand-dyes aside but I'm not sure what. I do know what I'd planned to do with the sharply angled triangles and why I set it aside. I think I'm more experienced now and could work with these with success now. To be honest, it's almost depressing to see here and in the other bins these early attempts and ideas that I've abandoned, a little because of out of sight, out of mind.

But still no batik circle of fabric. However, the next layer included something else I was planning on finding to work on. In fact, as I was considering what to choose for my return to more quilting, it was between this Stack n Whack top ready to quilt and the split nine-patch art quilt. It's made from leftovers of the St. Hilary's Star quilt for which I had far more fabric than I needed. I put it aside because I was dithering about adding a border of an African fabric that I'd picked up thinking it would go, but once home with it, I wasn't sure. It's been on my mind to finish it up for a very long time so I can drape it over the trunk in my livingroom. I think that border idea is long gone. May use that African fabric as a backing though. A ton of fabric and ideas lie between this top and the final layers of fabric.

Luckily, some of this is labeled as to what it is intended for. I'm remembering now about the full size quilt I wanted to make using my signature Idaho Beauty block and, what else, teal fabric for the stars, white for the background. I actually do not think I'm interested in making that anymore. I did know I had the beginnings of a "Simply Seminole" quilt in this bin, one where you make the strips, then sew them together quilt-as-you-go style, something else I taught and this was my second sample. I need many more Seminole-pieced strips to finish this up and again, not entirely sure I'm interested in doing that. I also knew that the background and backing fabric for another quilt I've been wanting to make for at least the last three Christmases, one with pinwheels of plaids and Christmas prints, should be in this bin, and there it was at the very bottom. And whew! I'd been looking for the pattern in my binder files to no avail which worried me, but no, I'd put it with this fabric. I still really want to make this one. 

So I am at a loss as to where that circle of batik is hiding. There is one more place I could check, which means unloading my cache of framed art quilts and framing materials which reside on top of a foot locker also filled with larger lengths of fabrics, some of which are batiks. It's such a job getting into that trunk, and now with the finds I have made, perhaps I should just get started on something else. Certainly wasn't a waste of time going through the bins where I found plenty of great project to choose from. Maybe I'll finish turning those heels first . . .