I Love Yarn Day

Warning: photo-heavy post. And it's all yarn today! If you're not a knitter, or you don't want to be tempted, it's OK to skip this post!

Yes, it's the Craft Yarn Council's "I Love Yarn Day!" My Little Sailor and I took our own "Yarn Crawl" while we were in Oregon last month. 

Here is the complete 2014 Yarn Crawl 101 stash:

And here are the individual yarns and details. First, from the very tip of the Long Beach Peninsula and Tapestry Rose: Cascade's Tangier. The pattern is a great "Man Scarf," promised to MLS.

I really went "overboard" (sorry for the pun) at Purly Shell Fiber Arts in Ilwaco. You know how I love a shop with yarn I can't get anywhere else -- and this shop is the best! Lots of hand-spuns, hand-dyes, and just generally yummy yarns!

Astoria Fiber Arts is a fascinating place. Not only do they sell locally hand-dyed and hand-spun yarns, they have a weaving and spinning school.  I wish I lived close enough to take classes there.

This one is superwash, so it's tagged for Hats for Sailors.

Creative Beginnings in Seaside offered this incredibly soft "Mink" laceweight, hand-dyed for Trendsetter Yarns. (Don't tell, but it's a birthday gift for a knitting buddy!)

We had so much fun at Coastal Yarns in Cannon Beach. The designer of their Yarn Crawl pattern was also the clerk -- so I had her autograph my copy of the pattern! And Twisted! All colors, all weights -- such temptation!

Our home base for the week was Manzanita, Oregon. T-Spot Yarns saved a skein of their special "September in Manzanita" color way for me:

Here's the "I can't remember where I bought this, but isn't it gorgeous?" skein. Madelinetosh ASAP, super bulky superwash, and perfect for Hats for Sailors. Good reason for shops to include their shop name on the price sticker!

Custom Threads, also in Astoria, featured Cascade Eco Duo. Not a unique yarn, but one that is new to me.

I also scored some sale yarns for Hats for Sailors:

Back home in Denver, post-vacay, I promised a Halloween "Viking Beard" hat to Elder Son for Halloween. Rather than make the hat "Viking" style, he chose "Skiff" from Jared Flood. Whoo hooo, Fancy Tiger carries JF's yarn!

To celebrate my birthday, I picked up this Madelinetosh, "Marte." It has my name on it!

Whew! That's enough yarn to see me out! Fabric stash and de-stash returns on Sunday, see you then!


From the desk of your

A New WIP

It's hard to get back into the swing of things after a month-long leave! 

I'm desperately trying to get the November Jelly Roll Party sample finished. Usually, I have the sample finished the month before JRP. But as you know, I've been enjoying the company of My Little Sailor, home on leave from Japan. (And grateful to have missed the recent typhoon!)

Lucky for me, the November quilt is a fast-and-easy one, Parallel Universe from Cozy Quilts:

I'm using Sweetwater's most recent collection, Elementary, for my sample.

And as you can see, I still have a bit to sew!

Photos from our Oregon-California adventure to follow this weekend!

From the desk of your

UFO Parade: Late September Finishes

My Little Sailor, the co-author of 52 Quilts is stationed in Japan with the US Navy. He extended his assignment to Japan for two more years, so he got to take an entire month's leave. We enjoyed a lovely family vacation in Manzanita, Oregon (thanks, Betty, for telling us about your town!). Then MLS and Mom drove down the coast to San Francisco and across The Loneliest Highway back to Colorado. We had a wonderful tine, but now I need to get back to work!

First on the agenda, in case you didn't see the October 1 post, the UFO Challenge number for October is:

 And now, for the September finishes . . . .

The first finish sent in was this cute BOEOW -- that's Block of Every Other Week -- "Deckade," made by Debra. She reports the QAL was from June 2013 to October 2013. and the quilt finishes at 62 1/2" X 71 1/2". Sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop, go to their blog, Jolly Jabber, to find the pattern.

So cute, Debra -- and what a great scrap-buster!

Sandi finished this Bonnie Hunter design, "Fourth of July," that is FREE on her website www.quiltville.com   

I'll let Sandi tell you about this quilt:

I've decided to donate mine to a veteran as it is just too symbolic a quilt not to.  My project is called Kadence.  Kerry quilted it for me in the best patriotic theme stitch around.  It is by Anne Bright called American Heroes.  It has several iconic statues in it along with fitting words like respect, pride, honor, and thank you. [The photo is of] my project just before I attached the sleeve and binding. Here is a link to a full photograph before the quilting.  It is #5 in my list of 2014 UFOs.

Sandi, some vet is going to love this quilt -- thank you for supporting our veterans!

Sue sent a photo of her finished Mariner's Compass flimsy. I can certainly see why this became a UFO, Sue -- wow, what an undertaking!

See the story behind Sue's Mariner's Compass and more photos of her crumbs blocks at Sue's Qulty Bits and Bobs, here.

Donna is planning to quilt her watercolor quilt using skills learned in the Craftsy class on walking foot quilting. If you're not a member of Craftsy (it's free, and they often have free patterns!) go here to join.

Donna explains her second finish:

The second is a group project where my quilting friends each made a block based on a post card that had 6 birthday cakes. I made the bottom right pineapple block since I went to high school in Hawai’i. I used variegated ribbon to make the pineapples. We share the quilt depending on whose birthday it is and I am September so it is currently at my house for the first time so I included it this month. 

What a fun idea, Donna!

I have the same quilt Kerry made in my UFO bin! You inspire me to dig it out and finish it right quick before Halloween.

Kerry says "It's like making a quilt twice, but the results are worth it." She is so right -- see the details on her blog, Kerry's Quilting, here.

I love the Thanksgiving table runner Martha finished this month. The colors are just perfect for Fall!

Heather finished an oldie-but-goodie from 20 years ago for her first September finish:

As well as whipping up a wedding quilt for her sister:

Read the details of both "Peaches  & Dreams" and "Woven Together" on her blog, Peachy Pages, here.

RNG brings up Sandi as the winner for the UFO Parade giveaway. Sandi, I've sent you an email asking for your postal address so I can send you some Moda candies and a Little Bits pattern!

Of course, you already know I finished nothing -- nothing! in September. But I had a great time visiting with My Little Sailor, and I'm ready to sew like the wind through October. 

Can't wait to see what you all finish this month!

From the desk of your

UFO Parade is Un-Finished!

You may have read that 52 Quilts' co-author and My Little Sailor is on leave from Japan. The blog will be on hiatus for the month of September -- so the October 1 UFO Parade won't be "live" until Sunday, October 5. 
I apologize in advance that I won't be answering comments.

However, I CAN tell you the "UFO Number for October." It's

#2

Did you see the Autumn "A Quilt Block a Day" post last Tuesday? 


From the desk of your

A Quilt Block a Day: Autumn Leaves

Fall is my favorite time of year -- and not just because my birthday is in the Autumn!

One of my favorite childhood memories is kicking through deep drifts of huge maple leaves that had fallen on the sidewalk, as I walked home from 4th grade in southern Idaho. That memory prompted me to choose the Maple Leaf block for the Autumn "A Quilt Block a Day" project.

There are lots of Maple leaf tutorials on the web, but mine is the only one I've seen that uses 2.5" strips. The resulting block finishes at 6.5", raw edge to raw edge.

For this block, you will need:

(4) Half Square Triangles (HSTs) 2.5"
(2) Light (background) square 2.5"
(3) Dark squares 2.5"
(1) "Stem" strip 4" X 1"

To make the HSTs using the Easy Angle ruler:

1. Place one background (tan) and one dark (orange) strip right sides together. (I press them lightly, using steam, to make them "stick" together.)

2. Trim off the selvedges on the left end of the two strips. Place the Easy Angle ruler with flush with the left end and with the "nub" end flush with the top of the strips. As you can see, the bottom of the strips line up with the 2.5" line on the ruler. Cut on the angle: 

3. Flip the ruler so that the black point extends off the bottom of the strips, and cut on the straight side:

4. Stitch using a scant 1/4" seam along the diagonal edge. Your HST will be very nearly a perfect 2.5" square, but I check to be sure using my 2.5" Bloc Loc tool:

5. To make the "stem" block, cut one background square in half on the diagonal. Fold each in half and finger press to mark the center of the diagonal cut. Fold the "stem" piece in half and finger press to mark the center. Stitch a background triangle on either side of the "stem," matching the centers. Trim to 2.5" square:

6. Lay out the pieces and stitch together to make your block.

7. I pressed the top and bottom  row pieces toward the center, and the middle row toward the outside. 

That way, when I sew the blocks together, I can turn them every-which-way and still have "nestling" seams.

By the way -- that nail polish is Crabtree & Evelyn Nail Lacquer, Anthurium.

There! One Block a Day finished! By my calculations, a quilt 78" X 84"(full-bed size) requires 182 blocks at 6.5" each. So I guess I'll be making two blocks a day!

If you're "on Facebook," join the "A Quilt Block a Day" group to see the progress of other BaD quilters.

From the desk of your

Throw-Back Thursday: September 2013

You may have read that 52 Quilts' co-author and My Little Sailor is on leave from Japan. The blog will be on hiatus for the month of September -- but so you won't forget us, I've scheduled a few posts for the month. I apologize in advance that I won't be answering comments.

Last year on this date, I was desperately trying to finish BOMs!  On the design wall was a mystery BOM. It was designed by Debbie Caffrey, and was for a block party at Ruth's Stitchery.  Here is the link to the post.

This quilt became Finish #41 for 2013 and was gifted to a great-niece for her 12th birthday:

I hope you're having a lovely September! It's TV dinner day -- when was the last time you ate a TV dinner?

From the desk of your

My year in Temperatures Scarf

You may have read that 52 Quilts' co-author and My Little Sailor is on leave from Japan. The blog will be on hiatus for the month of September -- but so you won't forget us, I've scheduled a few posts for the month. I apologize in advance that I won't be answering comments.

Late last year, I read somewhere (a blog? Facebook?) about a knitter's "My Year in Temperatures Scarf." I loved this idea, so I started gathering yarn from my Cascade 220 stash. The original scarf is knit only in colors that represent the daily "average" temperature. However, in Colorado our temperatures some days vary as much as 40 degrees! So I decided to knit three rows for each day, of colors representing the low, average, and high temps.

Come September 1, I was surprised that I hadn't needed to use the color (coral) that represents 100+ degrees. It's rare that we hit 100 degrees -- our elevation is 6801, after all! With a little Google research, I found that there were two days in 2013 that the temperature hit 100 degrees. According to the National Weather Service, the hottest day on record in Denver (1.5 hours to the North of us) was June 25, 2012, when the temperature hit 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

More unusual is the cool, wet weather we've had this summer.  According to my personal records (temperatures posted by my neighborhood weather station) on June 10 the low was 40F -- but the high climbed to 79F!

Which is why my fingernails matched the low temperature stripe on September 2:

Here is my scarf-so-far:

I'm saving the "big reveal" until the end of the year; but it's at least 8 feet long now!

Enjoy National Fight Procrastination Day -- 

if you get around to it!

From the desk of your