Hi there, I'm back. Just found the right address and might start writing again. Got a Kindle in the meantime so will be trying to add pictures that way.

 

 

Christmas 2010

 

 

Found this on the computer. A surprise visit for my father's birthday, I think. I had less grey then.

 

 

Summer 2013



 

I will keep looking for more recent pictures. I know I have some from Orlando in 2014.

 

 







Fireworks

This is a wall hanging I made for the Fourth of July last summer. It was a free pattern "Welcome" from the McCall's Quilting website. If I knew how to make a link, I would do it :/
I am thinking it could be a good class as an introduction to diamond strip-piecing. I should try it out on my guild first. The traditional name is Blazing Star but I'll call mine "Fireworks". It's the closest I'll get to any since I live in the woods (fire hazard), too far from the city's public show which happens too late at night for me (when did I get so old :) I quilted it on my domestic machine with rayon thread on the diamonds and cotton thread in the background. I learned a valuable lesson - one little 110 yard spool is not enough to quilt the background, I ran out with about a 3 inch wide section to go in one corner. Fortunately, the spool label was attached and I could get the same color from Joann Fabrics. So, a note to self, little spools are never enough for a full project - must have more thread!
      On a sad note, King's Department Store announced they are going out of business. They were my best source for fabric when I needed large yardage amounts. They had a table of flat-folds for $2 per yard. I bought Elvis fabric for a Hexagon Love class sample off this table for about $20 total including the back.

 

I went to the first day of the sale (20% off everything in the store - cash only) but the line for cutting fabric was too long. I did get some Aurifil thread (big spools) and machine belts for the quilting machine. I hope to go back with a list of yardage needed for my bucket list, mostly for background and borders. My stash is getting more valuable as the cost of gas goes up and my local fabric sources close down. I'd better get back to work on that bucket list.  

December post

I made this! It is a knitted ornament cover - the pattern is called Sheep Balls, free from Ravelry. I saw it on the Knitting in Circles podcast and ran to my sock yarn scraps. I bought some plastic ornaments from a dollar store in order to finish it yesterday. The cap comes off so it holds the yarn ends nicely. I have more ornaments I can cover so I will be entertained until it's time to un-decorate.
This year I have been to 3 Christmas party/ club meetings with gift exchanges. I know these are coming every year and it still takes me by surprise. I know I want to make ornaments for all the club members but I am always scrambling to get them done by party time. I did get some made and I'm going to finish making them and give them out at the January meetings because I'll never keep track of them for next time. This is a knitted tree with a spool trunk. I've made five - about twenty to go if I make them for everyone.

This is the extent of my window decoration - visible from the road. I have put what few gifts I have around the base of it. Jay still wants a real tree so I told him he's in charge of it.

 That's all for now. I'll try to post again before January.

Latest Finish!

I had to blog today to show off my latest finishes! I was commissioned (in July) to make a quilt for a Christmas present to be done by Thanksgiving. Of course, I started around November 7th when I had to clear our of the farmhouse for hunting season (it was too cold to sew there anyway). I cut the pieces then so I would just have a small pile of fabric to sew. I did my piecing during the day while my husband was at work and knitted in the evenings. The top was done by November 17, shown to my quilt group on Monday when I bought the flannel backing. The quilting was done on Friday, November 22 when the temperature outside was barely 60 degrees ahead of a cold front. I still had to wear a heavy coat for most of the 3 hours it took to machine quilt. I added the binding by machine in 1 hour and did all the hand sewing that evening - about 5 hours. Now that the quilt is finished, I'll let Grandma know. It has to go to Scotland but that's not my problem.

Sorry - about the angle - don't know how to rotate :(

 

Fabric and Quilting Detail

 

It is about 65 by 85 inches - a throw size for a 6-foot college graduate. He asked for flannel backing - I washed and dried it once and have my fingers crossed that will be enough pre-shrinking. As far as the red fabric dye running when it gets washed, I'm crossing the rest of my fingers and toes.

 

In the meantime, I finished the Snowdrop Shawl, using a pattern by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and some acrylic yarn repurposed from an afghan kit I had bought in the 1980's. I had made one of the crocheted panels required (with bobbles!) that has a massive mistake in it so that needs to be frogged but I don't want to make that afghan anymore anyway. The shawl is about 60 inches wide and 45 inches tall. It took 2+ skeins (yardage unknown) to make the shawl and I think there are 5 skeins left. It is too thin for the Ultimate Sweater Machine unless I decide to double it up but I don't really like all that blandness. I wanted to try a shawl pattern without the expensive commitment but seriously, now what? I wet-blocked it on the guest-room carpet but it is still a little poufy so I will try steaming it in sections before wearing it in public where? A Christmas party? A cruise? Oh well, I can say I knit a shawl and it's sitting in the basket with the rest of my knitted stuff.

 

On to the next knitting adventure until Spring comes again!

 

 

 

Sock Knitting

Finally posting! I finished these socks last week then we had internet issues. I started them about two weeks before when the cold weather first confined me. They were knit with Kroy sock yarn (wool and nylon) and have not been blocked - why wash before wearing them? I'll wear them to a couple meetings this week and block them later.
      In the meantime, I have been packing dishcloths that were special ordered by my mom-in-law for her to give to her sis-in-law and nieces for the holidays. She's going to visit them Thanksgiving so she needs them ASAP.

I'm going to keep the weird ones (the last three at the bottom). They were knit in cotton - ecru and  speckled. They kept me busy during the odd evenings between my other projects. This many will fill the box I'm sending with some more purificators for her church.
      I was curious about how many hand-knit pairs of socks I had for myself (not counting gifted) and the fair-isle pair above brings the total to 45! I started making them about 2004 when I took up knitting for winter (too cold in the farmhouse- remember) I washed some in the washing machine (mostly for the volume of water and the spin cycle to remove said water) - there were 30 pair drying on the kitchen floor!

There are two pair made from the same yarn but they are different patterns. Can you find them?
There were 15 pairs left in my sock bin and I now recall  another storage area for the socks that felted accidentally. I'm thinking I need to do something else with the cute striping sock yarn - something with less washing required. I did find one pair with holes in the soles (acrylic) -  maybe I'm preserving the wool ones by having so many to wear :-) Sounds good to me.
      I have also been loom kitting - made a hat for me and a scarf for DH. I was also playing with an Ultimate Sweater Machine with the aid of "youtube" videos. Very interesting - I'll get pictures for the next posting...

Sew until later, Denise

First Frost October 20

            The first day of freezing temp was on October 20th - Day two of Muzzleloader Deer Season. My DH took his new (to him) toy out near dawn to his favorite stand and came home two hours later nearly frozen to death - he neglected to check the temperature when he left and was not properly dressed. He saw only one deer which jumped up when he got back on the ATV for a windy 5-minute ride home. He's going to need proper riding gear before Modern Gun Season in November. This "free meat" project takes more money every time.          This whole week has had highs near 50 degrees  and lows in the 20s so I have not been to the farmhouse to sew or knit since last Sunday - nearly froze myself. I hope it warms up enough this week for me to go and pick out projects to work on at home. The gas heater will warm the farmhouse quickly IF the outside temps are closer to 60+ degrees so I don't bother to venture out before then. I started knitting a pair of socks in the meantime - one foot and half a cuff done so far. I'll take a picture when they are done.

      Fortunately I got my other Runaway Project done. It is about 75 x 90. The name of the pattern is Staycation but was renamed Runway to Bali by Teresa Raleigh when she taught the class. I used fat quarters for the B/W (versus a jelly roll) so I could add to the original pattern. I took the quilt tops to Show and Share with both quilt groups last week (and bought batting) but they will be folded and put away until next quilting season - hopefully March but most likely April.
     

     I did get to quilt both of these tops before the cold weather moved in. They were bound during the first week of October and the baseball playoffs. Valentine's will be covered this year. I want to make many more versions of this Hexy Love - Christmas, Patriotic, chickens (don't you see the chicken wire?) I have lots of novelty fabric in the stash:gardening; teapots (why not?); sewing notions (of course); daisies; snowflakes; maybe soccer balls (World Cup next year); fishing/hunting;-- oh, the
possibilities! However, I will not work with cold fabric so these may also have to wait until Spring.
It is now sunny and 49 degrees outside at 10 a.m. I'll go back to my knitting and watching internet videos while the DH watches news shows and football.

Sew until later, Denise

It's Fall, y'all!

      It's official- first wooly worm sighting at the farmhouse. I think the prediction for winter is bitter cold at the beginning (the black part on the right side is the head), mostly mild (in brown) for the rest and a little bit of cold at the end (the tail). I've seen pictures of persimmons seeds with spoons inside indicating enough snow to shovel. There were many foggy mornings in August which also relate to days of snow this winter. In all this means its gonna be COLD and I will be sitting by the heater from about November to March. I am planning to have a few quilt projects handy to work on in confined spaces and time is running out.
      I attended a quilting conference in mid-September - Runaway Quilters Retreat near Owensboro. I returned home with three new WIPs with the intention of getting them to kit stage for the coming winter. I got so obsessed with getting my Granny Squares blocks done that I stayed home to sew instead of going on a Stash Enhancement eXcursion to Whittle's Fabrics with my Campbellsville quilt group. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Anyway, the top is finished and here it is!

      It's about 75 x 85. There are 42 blocks, each containing 36 print 1-inch squares (1512).  The borders consist of another 600-plus squares - over 2000 squares. The solid brown fabric was purchased but rest came from stash. I still have enough strips cut for another quilt but I'm leaving them in the tote until I can choose a different background. Now I have to decide on the backing and how to quilt it.

Back to the farmhouse to "plan " more projects!

Sew until Later, Denise