Small Blog Meetup

Look at this -- Lily's Quilts has a new button for the Small Blog Meetup.  How cute!

The idea is for writers of blogs with fewer than 50 followers to post the link, then linkup and visit some other "small blogs."   Waaay down there on the right is the link, if you want to look at some other fun blogs.

 I have 43 followers -- guess I'd better get linking before I'm too "big!"

WIP Wednesday

How's this for a Work in Progress?  That's Elder Son assembling my new Mega Quilter.

A lead cashier at the orange store, he is one handy dude to have around.  Not least because he is tall and can easily reach the top shelf of the pantry.  That is a 60" LeClerc floor loom behind him -- yes, it's for sale.  Interested?

I chose the Viking Mega Quilter because one of the employees at my LQS, Vivian, owns the same machine.  My thinking is, if I have a problem, I can just call Vivian!

Of course, my machine will be named Meggie!

The worry corgi, Oliver, is supervising.

Oh -- and I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

Simply Charming

Lucky for me:

My poor free-motion quilting is not visible in this photo!

This mini quilt is the February Charm School project.  It's a miniature version of the Lil' Twister quilt designed by Marsha Bergren of The Country Schoolhouse quilt shop in Superior, Wisconsin.  Carole Charles of Primitive Gatherings received permission from Marsha to make a tiny twister tool.  It uses 3 1/2" squares and makes a 11" by 12 1/2" finished mini quilt.  The tool is included with the pattern.

I added a 2 1/2" border to make my mini the right size to cover the top of my sewing machine cabinet.  This is a really fun, quick project.  And I'm counting it toward my 52 quilts because I did the quilting myself!

Can you pick out the 4-H fabric?

She knits, too!

I don't knit much these days, too hard on the wrist.  But my younger son (The Little Sailor) is the only person who loves my handknit sweaters.  He always wore one of the sweaters I made him when he worked at the Pikes Peak Library District.  And he says it's cold in Japan, so I cast on a pullover for him February 1.

Yes.  February 1.

And yesterday I finished it!  As soon as the snow stops, I'll take off for the post office to put it in the mail.

This is an Ann Budd pattern, Guston.  The recommended yarn is Brooklyn Tweed's Shelter, but I used a wonderful Aran Weight from Ram Wools in Canada, "Selkirk."  The color is a true Navy blue, darker that it looks in the photos.  I had one or two problems with the pattern -- particularly where instructed to bind off at the end of the row.  Huh?  Wouldn't that leave your yarn dangling at the end of the row, three stitches away from the live stitches?  It was a quick and easy knit, but NOT for the blind follower.  There is a lot of  "read your stitches" involved, so I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner.

 

 I wish the photo of my personalized label showed up better.  I also sewed in a tiny silver heart that reads "made with love" that my friend D'awn bought me.  I put one in every garment, hidden away for a surprise.

Older son thinks it is too big, but he wears his clothes pretty tight.  DH thinks the sleeves are too long, but they are according to the measurement of a previously worn sweater.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

Finish It Up Friday

For such an easy quilt, this one has taken awhile to finish!

Quilt #15 for 2012, "American Valor" is the cover quilt of the January/February 2012 issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting.  It took longer to collect all the fabrics from various etsy and eBay shops than it did to piece the quilt. 

I made this quilt for a sailor on my son's ship, the USS George Washington.  When I sent My Little Sailor his "Jacob's Ladder" quilt, he said "Everyone likes it, they want you to make one for them."  Well -- there are more than 5000 people on the ship.  SO I made one quilt for them to raffle, and I hope they will use proceeds from the raffle to support one of their community relations projects on their summer cruise.

Quilt #14 - Spiked Punch

Here it is, the sample for the March Strip Club:

Details are on yesterday's post.  If you're in Colorado, come on down to High Country Quilts the last Friday of the month and join the High Country Strippers -- Stripping With a Purpose.  There is no fee for this class, just buy the pattern.  We've been stripping for more than five years, and we always laugh and laugh at Strip Club!  I love wearing my "High Country Strippers" t-shirt; someone always approaches and asks hesitantly, "Can I ask about your t-shirt?"  What?  You don't think middle-aged housewives should be strippers?

At Last -- a new WIP, and a Honey Badger

There was a Honey Badger (warning bad language) in my sewing room last night:

The completed stealth knitting project which was drying on the blocking board?  Covered in cat hair, several snags and jumbled around.

The charm pack waiting on the wet bar for today's project?  Torn apart and wet from the overturned water bottle.

Box of pins foolishly left open on the sewing machine?  Well, you can imagine.

Chocolate Mousse' (aka Honey Badger)?  Resting on the high shelf and looking completely innocent.

However:  There is joy in all the land.  The stealth knitting project is complete (photos tomorrow) and the quilting can recommence!  Today's  WIP Wednesday is underway.



Here is the March Strip Club project.  It is a Tula Pink pattern I picked up at Tula's Mom's shop in Stewartsville, Missouri on my home from Ohio last September.  The jelly roll is Half Moon Modern by Moda (I got mine at High Country Quilts) and the background is the ubiquitous Kona Ash.

I do have a hint for our strippers:  The method for this quilt is unusual.  When you sew your cross-cut  "blocks," don't add a short piece to a long piece.  You want more back and forth "motion" in the colored strips.  I haven't sewn any rows together yet, so I'm hoping I can move things around so the prints don't line up quite as much.

But now I have to go rescue a sweater . . .