I bought this lovely yarn in Houston. It's Silk Garden by Noro. I love the colors, but I'm a little concerned about how loose the "weave" is. I'm using the recommended needles but I wonder if I should switch to thinner ones. The only problem with that is that I probably won't have enough yarn then and this stuff is pricey!
The Granny Square Afghan is finished. Sort of.
I still have a lot of stringy bits to get rid of in the back.
I'm also mulling over whether I want to add a picot edge or just leave the double crochet border I have right now.
The light is still not optimal for photos, but at least it wasn't raining.
I've decided to go back to the days when I only worked on one or two projects at a time - one machine and one handwork item.
It feels like I managed to get much more done this way.
I'm just not a very good multi-tasker when it comes to sewing.
My current focus:
1. Finishing my Rainbow Jane quilt top.
Done! Finished! Complete! Finish #8!
I wrestled with whether to add a border or not, but I wanted to keep the modern feel, so I decided against it.
I decided to do a simple green binding.
And I managed not to chop off too many points.
(In the store: Pattern - Geese in the Forest. I added some kits too.)
All the trees have a bit of quilting in them. Planning on finishing the background quilting today. I have more plans for the trees, but we'll have to see if I have time, since I have to drop this baby off on Monday.
Eeeek!
...pins.
300 or so.
I used Rita of Red Pepper Quilts' basting method.
Off to buy thread this morning. I'm quite excited about getting this one quilted.
...clean the inside of my sewing machine?
Obviously not often enough.
Yup, that all came out of that tiny hole!
I entered the Geese in the Forest quilt in our local quilt show.
The perfect incentive to finish it, right?
Figured I should clean the sewing maching before I start quilting...
What have I been doing the last couple of days? Writing a Sand & Surf pattern.
It can be downloaded over here.
I've also added kits to the store, so if you want to make your own little Sand & Surf quilt, you don't have to think too hard.
Sand & Surf is done. I love it and I'll share tomorrow. And I'm working on a free pattern.
Since most zig zag quilts are made up of flying geese units, I thought I'd share the method I used. There are tutorials for this all over blogland, but I figured one more couldn't hurt.
This makes 4 identical flying geese, without any fabric wasted.
First off, you need to determine what size you wish your flying geese to be.
Flying geese units are always twice as wide as they are tall.
For Sand & Surf, I made 4" x 8" (finished) units, but this formula works for any size.
Add ⅞" to the finished height. (4 ⅞") - A
Add 1 ¼" to the finished width. (9 ¼") - B
Out of the fabric you wish to use for the side triangles of your flying geese, cut 4 squares A x A.
Out of the fabric you wish to use for the center of your flying geese, cut 1 square B x B.
Draw a diagonal line corner to corner on the WRONG side of each of the smaller squares.
I like to use a pencil because it won't bleed when washed, but you can also use a disappearing or washable marker.
Want to challenge yourself? Try attaching a binding in the opposite direction. Reverse engineering.
You will probably do a lot of cursing and seam ripping but it will be SO rewarding in the end.
I'd never tried pebble quilting before. Until today.
I have SO many other projects going, but this looks like fun.
Michele from Quilting Gallery is hosting an Autumn Block Party.
Over 15 weeks there will be instructions for 45 blocks designed by guest designers.
The blocks will be designed as 12" finished but I decided to reduce them to 9". We'll see if it works.
The first block is appliqué, so reducing the size was fairly simple. Not sure about the pieced blocks but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Yesterday I thought I'd call this little quilt Surf & Sand.
Today I think Sand & Surf sounds better. Or Sand & Sea. Or Sea & Sand.
What do you think?
One of the few advantages of our non-existent summer is that I can have this wool afghan on my lap every night while watching the Olympics.
Hence 6 rows!
I figure I'll need at least 12 rows to make it a useful item.
This means that I, once again, do not have enough yarn.
I'm estimating that I'll need 20 skeins total at $10 a skein. $200! Not a cheap project, that's for sure.
But I do love it!
I know I said the Mind the Gap quilt was going to be my next project, but then the fabric for my Super Mario quilt arrived and I HAD to make the first block.
Here is is soaking in the tub to remove the stabilizer from the back. I used Sticky Fabri-Solvy from Sulky because it was way cheaper than Stick-and-Washaway.
Since I've never used Stick-and-Washaway, I can't compare the two, but it worked well.
When he came out of the "wash" the first time, he was 1" taller than he was wide!
So...I stitched all the vertical seams an eighth wider and he's close to square now.
Well, except for the wonky-ness. I'm hoping a lot of steam will help straighten him out a bit.
HUGE LESSON: Backstitch the start and end of each seam. No matter how careful you are, these blocks are going to be manhandled a bit.
(I'm using Bella Solids from Moda. I will post a list of the fabrics I used in a later post if anyone's interested.)
Since I'm watching A LOT of television right now thanks to the Olympics, I'm making progress on some of my handwork.
Windswept Santa
July 12th
July 18th
July 28th
Did I mention I now have ALL the solid colors of DMC embroidery cotton?
Granny Afghan
July 4th
July 15th
July 28th
I have spent a lot of time getting rid of those little strings on the back.
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