Grow Your Blog Giveaway

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The giveaway ends Friday, February 14 at noon Mountain Standard Time (USA)


From the desk of your

WIP Wednesday Shhh it's a Secret!

I can't show you all of what is on my design wall today because it's a pattern test. But I can show you my colors!

Here is my "inspiration" photo It's from Design Seeds, ages ago. It was buried in my "solids" bin, and when I went searching for fabric for this new test quilt, it leapt out and shouted, "Choose me!"

Without a light box, it's really hard to get a photo of the true colors of the fabrics, but this is close:

The block needs to be 16" finished, and I didn't have enough of the cacti fabric. So I pieced together some cacti and some sagebrush, with the khaki background. The prints are from an old Northcott collection of state flowers fabrics. Sagebrush is the state flower of Nevada, and the Saguaro Cactus is the state flower of Arizona.

I don't know why Northcott didn't use the sagebrush in bloom, but here is a close up:

This is going to be a fun quilt, I can't wait to show you the finish!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Arizona is sounding pretty good today, it was -10 degrees when I woke up this morning!

Keep warm and come back on Friday to see the newest Jelly Roll Party finish.

From the desk of your

Tuesday Tip and Tool

First of all, if you're looking for the Grow Your blog giveaway, it's here!

I did finish the first blog of my newest BOM project yesterday -- but it was after dark, so no photo until this morning.  Here it is:

It's the first block in Marti Michell's newest BOM quilt, Bordered Rows. Here's a photo of the quilt from Marti's website:

I'm making mine with the folks at Stitcher's Garden, down the road in Pueblo. They are all such fun, and the best place for Mexican food is right next door!

This quilt uses Marti Michell's  Set "L" templates:

If you've never used Marti's templates -- try them! The clever little corner notches make your pieces go together perfectly!

I do recommend using Omnigrid's "InvisiGrip" on the back of each template. InvisiGrip is a clear plastic that clings to the reverse of the acrylic templates and helps keep them from shifting while you're cutting the fabric.

I "rough cut" out the shape while it is still attached to the paper backing:

Then peel the plastic away from the backing and smooth it onto the template:

I keep one rotary cutter just to cut paper or plastic, and trim away the excess InvisiGrip:

Some of the templates are quite small, so using InvisiGrip really makes cutting with them easier.

Everyone at Stitcher's Garden is so excited about this quilt, we're going to do two blocks per month so we have time to do the setting strips together before the end of the year. 

Come back next Monday to see the second block!

From the desk of your

Sunday Scraps and Superbowl Knitting

For many knitters and quilters, Superbowl Sunday is just one big, long day of stitching! It's lucky I don't really care about football, because my "local" team, the Denver Broncos, and my "home" team, Seattle Sewhawks, face off for the honors today. 

Quilting

Since I've decided to dedicate Sundays only to my Celtic Solstice mystery, I have no progress to show you. Here's a little scrappy eye candy that is on the cutting table being prepped for binding:

I sewed this same pattern twice, I like it so much! Here is the first finish, Payette Lake Sunset:

I finished the scrappy mystery last May at Granny's Attic Quilting in the Pines, and I'm just now getting the binding on! 

Cornelia quilted the Baptist Fan design on it for me. I love that quilting design, I'll be asking for it again!

Knitting

The first month of my "My Year in Temperatures" scarf is finished! It is so fun to look at the stripes and say "Oh, yeah, I remember that day it was 60 degrees then plummeted to below zero!"

I read where someone who is knitting the same pattern braided the yarn ends -- which is a lot easier than working in 724 ends!

The color that is dominant depends on which side of the scarf is "up." this is going to be one loooonnnng scarf, it's 10" long with only one month's temperatures recorded!

Last week I showed you a photo of my Denver Broncos "Rain Down" hat. I finished the Seattle Seahawks hat Thursday night:

If you've never knit with two colors, this is an excellent first colorwork project. Here are my boys, the Denver fan and the Seattle fan, head-to-head:

Etc.

New month, new page on the calendar. This is my 2014 Idaho Wilderness Calendar, available from Hiking Idaho. My friends who know I hate to return by the same route I went out will understand the sentiment for this month:

The photos is of the Snake River, taken south of Kuna -- where I lived for the first 8 years of my life.

Tomorrow I will show you my newest BOM project, Bordered Rows by Marti Michell. I can't wait!

From the desk of your