Is January Over Yet?

I’m not trying to wish my life away, but this has been one long, blah month. 

I’ve been on a mission to get some quilts that are in various stages of completion finished.  Here’s my first finish of 2012.

 

I quilted this using the Circle Lord Seven Treasures of Buddha template.

I’m trying to sell this one, just to recoup my costs.  I donate a lot of my quilts to various charities and give a lot away as gifts, but what do you do with the rest?  I want to continue to quilt, but my pile of completed quilts is getting bigger and I don’t know what to do with them.  Whenever I start a new quilt, the question I’m always asked is – who is is for?  Usually I don’t have a clue – it’s just a pattern or fabric that I like and I want to make it.  What do you do with all your quilts?

I started this one before Christmas.  It’s made completely from my scrap bin, other than the borders.  I got the backing for it cut today and maybe it will get quilted this weekend….maybe.

There’s also been a lot of knitting going on, but I don’t have anything completed to show you – no surprise there!  I was delighted to win the book, Sweet Shawletts from Julie at The Needle Emporium.   I haven’t received it yet, but I’m looking forward to getting it in the mail shortly.

If you live locally and haven’t been to this store, you don’t know what you’re missing.  She has the most beautiful collection of wool that I’ve ever seen in one place.  Unfortunately, some of it isn’t there any longer as it came home with me  

I also got a nice surprise from A Quilters Dream.  They sent me a gusseted quilted bag pattern to try and they included these gorgeous fat quarters to make it with! 

 

My friend Onalee sent me a link to this tutorial for a very easy, no-sew pet bed.  I just had to try it, so I made a couple last weekend and took one over for my grandkitties.  Abby just loved it and apparently she has been inseparable from it ever since.

It’s a tough life, isn’t it!

Normal is Still Good

I still haven’t figured out how to fix the font on my posts.  Every day is a new challenge with this computer – software isn’t Leo’s strong point and I know next to nothing about it, so I just get frustrated.  It’s taken me weeks to figure out Outlook as we used Outlook Express.  Enough moaning – well, for now anyway.

Some members of our Guild get together once a month to work on Cuddle Quilts to give to those less fortunate in the community.  My friend Lee and I took a bunch home before Christmas to quilt.  I didn’t get pictures of the first 2, but I did manage to remember to snap these two that I finished this weekend.  Doing these gives me a whole new respect for those who quilt for others.  Some of the seams have pleats, some seams were coming undone and they had pieced the batting, but rather than butting it together and zigzag stitching it, they put the two layers together, making it really bulky to quilt through.  I also have trouble working on something I don’t like.

 

Add cropping to the things I no longer know how to do with this new program

I have quite a number of finished tops waiting to be quilted and I’ve promised myself that I won’t start any new projects until I’ve quilted a couple of those tops.  This is the next one on the list – I’m piecing the backing for it now. 

 

I made a different version of this quilt several years ago – it just had a different border.  Actually, I got carried away when I started cutting and ended up with enough blocks for 2 quilts.

 

Needless to say, I liked the other version better which explains why it got finished and this one didn’t!

I’m so happy with my orchid – there are 4 glorious blooms on it!

 

Ahhhhh…..back to normal

What a wonderful feeling to be back to normal, or at least my version of it.  Leo's back to work, laundry is caught up, ironing is done, sewing room is clean - bliss!  Not even the fact that it was -13 degrees could dampen my spirits this morning.  It's a snow free minus 13 so all is good.

I wish I could figure out how to change the font and keep it changed on this post.  It keeps reverting to some blinding teeny tiny font that even with a magnifying glass would be hard to read! 

I did get some more pictures to share.  This is the Hitchhiker Scarf that I finished before Christmas, but just got the ends sewn in this morning.  It still isn’t blocked, but I’m not convinced it needs to be.



Here’s my favourite model, Bruno, showing it off:


I even had enough left over to knit a pair of socks.



I used Madeleintosh Sock wool for these and this wool is quickly becoming my favourite.  It’s so nice to work with and has great stitch definition.

I got inspired last night to clean up my knitting supplies.  All my long needles are in an old tennis ball container and it serves the purpose very well.  However, my circular needles were a different story and I needed somewhere to keep everything together and handy.  Enter the Yazzi bag that I bought in Houston. 



A lot of people use these for keeping their applique and sewing supplies, but I found it was perfect for all my knitting paraphernalia. 



It has lots of zippered compartments and I can keep everything in one little bag.

Still on the knitting topic, Sandra gave me a yarn bowl for Christmas.   I only heard about these recently from a girl in my Knitting Group, but if you live in a house with a cat, or are sick of picking your wool up off the floor, this is the answer!


There are two ‘holes’ in this one, the small round hole is if you are working with really fine yarn so the hole helps keep it in the bowl.  I’m probably the last knitter on the planet to hear about this, but I just love it and I’m no longer down on my hands and knees trying to find where my wool has rolled to!

Just in case you think I’ve forgotten how to quilt, I have been working on a penguin log cabin quilt.  I saw this idea at our Guild’s Show & Tell and thought it was a great way to use up novelty fabric that you have no idea what to do with.



Since I’ve taken this picture, all the blocks are sewn together and there is a narrow black border on it.  I’m going to finish it off with a wider red border.  This whole top was done from scraps from my strip bins.  Unfortunately, it didn’t even make a dent!

I’m off to try and figure out how to ‘fix’ the font on this post as every time I start a new paragraph it reverts to the small font.  I just love technology .