I’m in a sort of creative output holding pattern right now.  I have many pokers in the fire but nothing is getting finished.  Well I did finish this little guy yesterday.

I got the “kit” for him last year at Stitches West.  The Mother Bear Project had a booth there and they were selling kits to make their seamless knitted bears.

They are a non-profit organization dedicated to providing comfort and hope to children affected by HIV/AIDS in emerging nations by giving the gift of a hand knit or crocheted bear.  The website is http://www.motherbearproject.org.

I was looking for an interim knitting project while waiting for the next Shawl Society pattern to be released (7/26).  I wanted to start something, but not too big, I didn’t want to work on a knitting UFO, and I wanted to finish and have a bit of fun.  I did, and although the pattern for the new shawl “Wick” has been released, I still have to wait for the yarn I ordered for it, it should be here Tuesday. Sigh.

I have been working on my PIQF entry, at least that is moving along.  I have almost finished the main body of the piece, I have about 40-50 more pieces to add to it.  Then to get all the parts together and quilt it.  Before I can quilt it though, I need to get the log cabin quilt that is on the frame done.  That quilt is not sewing itself, but I have been busy with extra curricular activities.  Activities like choosing paint colors, moving furniture, dress shopping, gardening, and knitting :).  Plus my mom called to order a baby quilt for her cousins new granddaughter.  Luckily that one is a simple pattern, but I am waiting on the fabric I ordered for it.

Lastly, I have been watching videos on Bluprint about upholstering.  I want to get a chair done and possibly do a wing chair and ottoman that really need updating.  I have the fabric and foam.  I went out and bought a staple gun that is compatible with an air compressor that a friend has.  Now I just need the space and time to do it.  It’ll probably have to wait until the remodel is mostly done, as the only area large enough to use, is filled with furniture and boxes of stuff.  More waiting.

Linking up with Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday today.

My daughter and I were discussing the word catsup yesterday.  She was reminiscing about a spelling test in which the word catsup was given.  Of course she wrote “Ketchup”, and didn’t receive credit, she is still miffed about it, lol.

I have been catching up for the last ten days or so.  We went on vacation to London and Edinburgh for the first part of July.  Saw great concerts, Art, and old friends, ate delicious food and drank appropriate amounts of beer, ale, and whisky.  We even saw the Rosetta Stone (checked that off my list) and sat on top of King Arthur’s Seat.

Back home I’ve been trying to get over the eight hour time difference, slowly adding hours to my sleep duration.  This left lots of time for knitting and contemplation.  I finished my “Ivy Over the Door” shawl Saturday.  This is the second in the series from Helen Stewart and The Shawl Society III.  This shawl has 545 rows of 112 stitches, so 61,040 stitches.  Upon blocking it I noticed a slight difference in the beginning of my knitting and the end.  I think in my excitement (hurry?) to get started I misread the pattern and instead of eight stitches in-between the columns of twisted stitches I knit 13.  Over all, I’m really happy with the way this turned out.  The colors remind me of wintry skies and gray clouds.  The next shawl is called “Wick”, I have to wait until Thursday to see it and then I’ll pick some colors.

On the quilting front, I quilted the Crayon Box quilt (a Jinny Beyer pattern) and my mini lightning quilt from the Jaybird Pattern.  While binding the Crayon Box, I used the end of a spool of purple thread, down to the last 12 inches.

I loaded up the next quilt on the frame, Daydreams (pattern by Kate Colleran) it’s a log cabin block set in a barn raising square on point.  I’m doing feathers and waving lines, haven’t decided on the borders yet.  This photo is from Craftsy, the kit is on sale if you’re interested 😉

I also have been working on my PIQF entry.  I have about 5 1/2 more weeks to finish it before the entry deadline.  I am hoping to have the fusing done this week and start to  quilt and then embellish it.  No pictures yet, sorry.

Lastly, my remodel is progressing, sheet rock, windows and fire place are installed.  Tiling next week, yeah!

Linking up with Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday.

Thanks for reading.

I finished quilting the Storm at Sea quilt yesterday.  I still don’t know why it took so long, I put it on the frame May 31st and then 28 days passed.  I really didn’t like quilting this quilt.  I used waves and circles to follow the movement created by the pattern.  A lot of stops and starts that could quell anyones enthusiasm.  Last week I came up with the idea to add some bubbles to the waves, I think it helped create some interest and texture.  That being said, this quilt has a lot going on.  I’m going to bind it today.

 

 

 

I loaded up the pillow tops I made to go with this quilt.  They are a Bargello pattern using the batik fabrics left over from the first S@S quilt.  I used a panto called Seashells and Pearls, it took about four hours to stitch out the two 22″ x 24″ tops.  Computerized pantograph quilting looks great, but it can take a long time.

I was productive while the machine was stitching though.  I started the next shawl of The Shawl Society III, it’s called Over the Ivy Door.  The pattern calls for brown and green and is very pretty as that.  I had enough green in my stash, but no brown that would work.  I did have four skeins of Knit Picks Hawthorne that were part of a kit.  I’m going to knit the gray for the brown, fade into the gray-blue and then into the turquoise- gray-purple.  The finished size is about 21 x 85 a nice size rectangle to wrap up in.

Also finished this week was the paper boat quilt top.  I’m planning on simple horizontal waves to quilt this one.

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for “Can I get a Whoop Whoop?” today.

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This week I have been paper foundation piecing boats.  They are from a free PDF pattern on the RJR website by Cotton and Steel.  I found the background fabric on sale a few months ago and came across it recently while looking for something else.  It promptly went to the top of the “To-Do” pile.  Each boat is made from two mirror image parts.  Simple paper foundation piecing, with large pieces and simple straight lines.

When I first started paper foundation piecing, I took a class with Judy Mathieson on mariners compass piecing.  The method she taught was a bit different than the traditional way.  Instead of using plain paper she used freezer paper, and instead of sewing through the paper she had us fold the pattern on the sewing lines and then sew the two pieces of fabric together next to the fold.  The first piece of fabric was held to to the freezer paper by a quick press of a hot iron.  Then after each fabric was sewn on it was cut with 1/4 added and pressed to “glue” it steady to the foundation.  Once all the piecing is done, all you do is peel off the freezer paper.  The tedious picking and tearing of the paper foundation is gone, and you can reuse your foundation many times.

My last two quilts have been paper pieced through the paper, Storm at Sea tops.  I don’t think the fold and sew method would have worked for them, as there were just too many pieces and blocks.  This Paper Boat pattern lends itself nicely to this technique.  Instead of freezer paper, I used plain printer paper and a bit of washable school glue stick.

I took some phone pictures while sewing yesterday, kind of a tutorial, hope you can see and understand the methodology better.

I have also been working on my PIQF entry and I have almost finished the Maytham shawl from Shawl society III.  Sadly, or rather happily, I don’t have a design wall up as my house is in a minor state of chaos while we are remodeling.  My sewing room is intact, however I have to run my machine and iron with an extension cord to the next room.  I’m just happy not to have to move my thing from that room again.  It’s been a little more than two years since the last time I did that, post from May 2016 Still here  .

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts today for Design Wall Monday

For those that don’t know, tinking is un-knitting.  I am seriously thinking of tinking my hemp sweater. I don’t like how it is finishing up, I thought if I just kept knitting it would evolve into a sweater I would wear.  The pattern isn’t well written, which might be part of the problem.  It’s vague in many places, and I don’t have enough sweater construction experience to figure it through.  The pattern has you make three tubes, a body and two sleeves, then somehow they are knit together and the yoke is formed.  I am having trouble with the pattern interfering with the diagonal decreases.  I think it is in part due to the centering of the pattern on the sleeves.  In short, it’s a hot mess.

Happily, Curious Handmade  has released the first shawl pattern of the Shawl Society lll.  It’s called Maytham, part of the Secret Garden theme this year.

From the pattern notes:

THE MAGIC OF The Secret Garden takes place high in the Yorkshire Moors, in the grand and gloomy Misselthwaite Manor and its rambling estate. Frances Hodgson Burnett found the inspiration for her story almost 20 years before she penned its first lines, when she moved to a noble but slightly shabby country house, Great Maytham Hall. The sprawling, overgrown walled gardens which surrounded the house sparked a passion in the author, who immediately set to work bringing them back to life, ripping out the wild brambles, digging out old hedges, and planting masses of roses. 

I am using three skeins of Malabrigo yarn in plums and eggplant.

In quilting news, I got the Storm at Sea on the frame yesterday.  I decided to try 80/20 batting with this quilt.  It’s a little lighter weight and a bit puffier than Warm and Natural 100% cotton.  I’m quilting simple wavy lines to accent the illusion curves of the pattern.  These lines will run diagonally, so there will either be lots of scrolling or stopping and starting.  Decisions, decisions.

I am also working on my That’ll be the Day.  PIQF quilt.  I have a basic pattern drawn to size, but I need to color/shade it in with colored pencils to figure out fabric placement.  Then I think I can trace it on to vellum and cut out a bazillion pattern pieces.  I need to figure out if I am going to use wonder-under or glue.  I was recently on Susan Carlsons website, she makes and teaches fabric collages.  There is a tutorial there called Why Glue?  which is intriguing to me.  I would like to try it on this project, as it is a show quilt and not a “to be used” quilt.  More decisions to be made.

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for “Can I get a Whoop Whoop?” Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday, and Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday.