Super Summer Snippy Challenge - Part Five

Another finish this week!  Just a small one, a crib quilt, that I posted about a couple of weeks ago that was in progress.   This little quilt is a simple four patch and very quick to make up, and I used chosen 3.5 inch squares from my shoe box stacked with the thousand cut squares  that I have been working on.

I probably could produce dozens of these except after a while the simple lines and easy piecing would have me looking for a challenge, so I'm just doing one for now.

The statistics for this little quilt are:
finished size 36 inches x 42 inches
60 - 3.5 inch squares, sewn into 15 light/dark four patch units
15 - 6.5 inch squares, sewn alternately with the four patch units
Border, 3.5 inch wide, width of fabric (at least 36 inches) -- make sure to sew the border strips onto the longer side first then sew the top and bottom border strips.
I also made the binding for this quilt out of the same as the pink retro fabric and  is made up of 5 width of fabric strips that were cut at 2.5 inches wide.

I am having so much fun figuring out variations of quilts to make using mostly the 3.5 inch squares that I cut and that I am still cutting from my stash of older but perfectly acceptable fabrics.  The challenge is in the choice of colours and their placement along with keeping it reasonably quick and simple.

Next week, I will have nine patch blocks, sashed with a narrow black -- check back to yesterday's post about the Inspiration that came in my front door!  After that one I am planning a bit of a tutorial for a different setting of nine patch that I think you will enjoy.

Back to the sewing room, sorting and pawing over that Inspiration that I mentioned!

Inspiration and Motivation

I suspect that when you are inspired by something you also then are motivated to accomplish your goals...

Which is not to say that you must be inspired to be motivated, but it certainly helps, doesn't it?  And where does inspiration come from?  Sometimes it sneaks in quietly and in a tiny little flash you realize that a simple little thing has given you a wonderful idea!   Then, inspiration can come right in your front door and say, "This is gonna grab ya!"

Friday evening my friend Doris stopped by and brought me a three big bags of inspiration!  Doris, was a go between, though, the inspiration came from another quilter by way of Doris.   That is one of the great things about belonging to a group of like minded people -- Quilters in this case.

I have been working on cutting and piecing some of my older fabrics, that I just can't get rid of but has been in my stash way too long, so I am making a stack of quilt tops to donate to a variety of Good Causes in my community.

After a time, tho, the fabrics that I have been cutting and sewing together becomes, and has been for years, too familiar.

Now, this wonderful infusion of unfamiliar fabrics has given me motivation to continue with my Super Summer Snippy Challenge, which this week will be at the half way mark to my goal...

(and I will post tomorrow the most recent finish)

This is alot, and I repeat ALOT ! of lovely fabric of which a goodly share will be passed along to some of my other quilting friends, but first, I get to pick and add bits to the next few donation quilt tops!

In progress are a bunch of nine patch blocks. Before I saw the fabrics in the bagsI was just going to sew the block together side by side but then in one bag were the perfect strips to use as a narrow sashing.  Sparkly black background with golden musical notes.   The nine patch blocks are all from my stash, the black brightens all the colours, just because thats what black does. 

Isn't it wonderful when inspiration comes in the front door?  Not that I am greedy, but I am keeping my eyes open for any and all inspiration to come my way!  Part of this inspiration, I think, is to try to pass some part of it along.  I'll have to think on that...

Work In Progress - Christmas!

Yes, it is six months before Christmas is upon us.   A long time?  Well not so, when most of what is done for Christmas is home crafted and not store bought. 

I don't buy decorations anymore, and it is really rare that I will buy a gift, from a retail outlet, be it an actual store or an online vendor.

This week I crocheted what will become a christmas banner.  I came upon some interesting yarn at a thrift shop so these crocheted trees cost very little other than time and even the time was minimal...

There is a free pattern, if you would like to make these little crocheted trees. The instructions can be found at Royal Sisters (click on the name to open a new window), scroll down the page and watch on the right side bar, it is called Granny Tree Tutorial.  You will also find a star, a 'round' and a heart done in the same method. 

 I did slightly change the way I did my trees, instead of slip stitching to the next chain space, I simply turned and chained three and dc 3 in the chain space.  I used a cotton yarn, called Chat Botte (made in France) but remember I got it at a 2nd hand shop so I have no idea where you would get the same thing.  I wish I had more!

Another Work in Progress that I had nothing at all to do with, a fledging robin came down from it's nest yesterday morning and sat for a time on my back yard deck.  A little later I noticed it sitting atop our small compost bin with an adult bird offering it food.  Later in the evening, again the adult was with the young one.  Today tho it flew out over my fence so I suspect its little wings are doing what they were made for...

I am linking up to our own Canadian link party at the Needle and Thread Network (click on the button in my sidebar)

Super Summer Snippy Challenge Part Four

I managed to get another "flimsy" done this weekend and took progress photos of it as I put it together, so this one is a pictorial tutorial of sorts.  If by chance you want to follow this quilt top plan you should go to the end of the photos and read the statistics part, so you can get prepared for putting it together.

And then you put the 20 blocks together 4 blocks across and 5 down to make the quilt.

The statistics of this quilt top are:

Top measures 48 inches wide by 60 inches long
 and there are 120 -  3.5 in squares,
20 light 6.5 x 3.5 strips,
20 light 9.5 x 3.5 strips
(it takes about 1.3 meters of fabric for the light strips and the same amount of fabric for the dark strips)
 20 - 6.5 x 3.5 dark strips
 and 20 - 9.5 x 3.5 dark strips.

Now because my goal is 10 quilt tops to donate to my quilt guild's charitable quilts program by the second week of September, I am constantly mulling in my mind ideas to use up the 1000 plus 3.5 inch scrappy squares.   So I am thinking that the next combination of squares, will be almost the same as this quilt except instead of sashing strips, I am planning to use a feature fabric, or perhaps I can find sort of I spy type fabrics, and they will be cut into 6.5 inch squares with the scrappy 3.5 inch squares that I already have cut as the "sashing" all around the feature... 

If you have not been following my own little challenge, take a look at the "LABELS" on the sidebar and click on Super Summer Snippy Challenge and the posts I have done so far will come up on your screen.

Today, I think I will stay out of the sewing room, mainly because we need some food in the house, so it is off to the grocery store and the post office to mail a couple of parcels -- one that is WAY late for a little niece's birthday!

What is This?

I saw these in a thrift shop recently, and since they were only 25 cents, I thought them worth bringing home. They are quite small, the crochet circle is about 3 inchs across and the swan back, and neck fold over the circle with a height of about 2 inches.  
BUT

I have no idea what it could actually be used for.  Do You Know?

Something dainty and cute, maybe for an old fashioned dining experience? Maybe a bookmark? Any ideas?

And.

It's raining again!

Glenn Valley

It seems like it has been months since I got out and went anywhere except my back yard...

With no particular destination in mind, we (that's the light of my life and Pearl the dog) got in the car and drove out in the country.

I grew up on a small farm.  I need the sight of fields and space every now and then.

Seems fast, but not so much, going downhill on Lefevre Rd into Glenn Valley, which is on the south side of the Fraser River, between Ft Langley and Abbotsford, BC

This is beautiful land for growing, horses, cows, cranberries and whatever else the landowners find space for.

Grasses as high as the fence posts!  Can you imagine being 10 years old and running willy-nilly through the fields?

A Mama and her baby...

Then we were tempted to stop by the side of the road and a long horned red cow was curious to come see what we might be doing.

and then because we must have had something important to say, or Pearl was a new curiosity to them, a lovely Pinto Pony came over to converse also.

We drove a bit further, along the River Road to Ft. Langley and went for a walk in a little park by the Fraser River.

Such a beautiful well kept park, but there is always a flaw and I am so glad them missed pulling out this Dandilion!

A bit of River Watching -- the water is high and very very fast! 

Then, back to town and some thrift store shopping and a sandwich for lunch.  Now today I am content to be at home in my own little space, but I sure do enjoy going out into the world...

Super Summer Snippy Challenge - Part Three

This week, I have not completed any quilt tops for the challenge but I have spent time planning and auditioning...

My one and only 30's, or is it 50's reproduction print, cut into 6.5 inch squares will be combined with a variety of blues and small print light 4 patches.

And random 4 patches, with a light sewn on two sides -- I am not sure that this will remain like this though.  I have an idea to add random squares in another row, on the opposite side from the light 'sash'.  

I expect to have both tops done next week.

For now, the count remains at three tops done, and two in progress.

Today, after many days of cool and rain, here on the west coast, we have finally started the day with sun, so I am anxious to dig a bit in my container garden and maybe take a short walk around the neighbourhood to see what is happening.

This morning, Pearl flushed two owls out of the underbrush in the park.  It was so quick to happen there was no chance for a photo!  But it was Exciting!

Lacey Crochet Collar

Every morning I do a bit of exploring on the internet and sometimes something grabs my attention and I JUST HAVE TO DO IT.

This morning I came across a blog, by linking from another blog that I had linked from, so that the trail to Lulu Loves was a very crooked path!

She had a free pattern posted recently for a crochet collar. I have been thinking for quite a while that I would like to JAZZ up a couple of my plain t-shirts...

So.

I made one.

Read about Lulu Loves crochet collar and check out her clear and simple instructions for making this collar.  It is written in UK terms, so if you go by American, the htc is a hdc and the tr is a dc, other than that it worked out fine for me.  I made mine just a few stitches smaller, but I did use a heavier yarn than suggested so I went 8 stitches shorter on the foundation chain. 

go to http://www.lululoves.co.uk/item/crochet-collar-pattern.html  for the blog post about it and the pdf file link too

This whole collar took me less than two hours to make up -- I was also watching a movie called He was a Quiet Man and the movie finished up just as I was sewing on the button.

Now, I guess I will just have to go have a nap...

blind fingers

Do you touch type?  I do, and rather quickly at that.  The Light of My Life though is a two finger typist and his eyes travel between the keyboard and the computer screen, so it takes him time. 

Like most everything manufactured now-a-days much of what we buy is wearing out before the 'cost' of it has been adequately used.  

So to silence the whine that came from The Light of My Life's vicinity whenever he used the desktop computer, I went to the "scrapbookers" store and bought stick on letters...

It looks like a bit of sun may shine today here on the west coast, and I have afew plants to still plant in containers...

Have a great weekend, all!

Where did it go?

Two years ago, we brought home a puppy...

Today, she is about 40 pounds heavier and has made every corner of this home, her DOMAIN...

She is turned into a pretty good dog.  She is friendly and happy, energetic and loves her kitties, but most she loves her 'dad' who takes her for good long walks 4 times a day so she can run in the park and check on the local flock of ducks and geese at the pond.

But right now she wants to take a nap and for me to stop taking pictures of her...

Work in Progress -- Three Things Done

This WIP report doesn't actually have anything that is inbetween.  Everything is about to start or has been finished up this week.

I am happy to report, I have contributed an article to the summer issue of Canadian Quilter Magazine! Which should be in your mail this week if you subscribe or at a few select quilt shops. It has been almost 3 years since I exercised my writing skills and it feels so good to again contribute my thoughts and hopefully pass along some ideas and information to the readers...

I'm on page 24 and 25 and so are screen prints of some of the web pages that I talk about in the article! 

Yippee for Needle and Thread Network  (where I am linking up with for WIP Wednesday)

And, just so you know this will be a short series of articles on web pages and social media sites so that you can find ways to learn more about QUILTS!  In the Autumn issue I will be explaining "how" and "what for" of a couple more social sites...  As yet, I am not quite sure of what I have to say in the Winter issue, other than it will be more on communications and connections to do with quilters, quiltmaking and quilt finding!

Now, because I am always wandering about the world using my computer.  I was exploring some SHOPPING, though not actually shopping, window shopping more like, on ETSY (where I also have a store)...  I somehow got to looking at pin cushions and all of a sudden realized, "I can do that!" 

I bought this FROG at a garage sale and had intended to sell it in my shop, but then I realized it had a tiny chip - can't sell something that is not quite right now can we?  Well, some people do, cause I bought it, now didn't I?

So, I was inspired by the Etsy vendors making pincushions from ornaments...

And, now I have one that I created myself and didn't have to wait for it to arrive as the frog has been sitting on a shelf mocking me for a month or two, in the world of limbo between the garbage and what can I do with this thing to make it useful?

cute eh?  in fact, I do believe he should be named Cute.

I wonder why people don't name their kids Cute, then when someone says "Oh he's so cute!" the Mom just says yes... hahahaha

I actually stuffed styrofoam peanuts in the bottom so that it wouldn't be too soft and have the pins sink out of sight.  Then on top of the stryrofoam I did a thick layer of scraps of quilt batting.  And on top of that  I made a square pocket and filled it with silica sand (I like the sand because it sharpens the pins and needles and does not attact moisture that would rust the needles) Finally I tucked the little pocket of sand into the frog and white glued all around.   Oh, and used a couple of really long needles that I could not remember why I had them as a extra decoration by putting a few silver beads on them and then hot glued the tops so the beads wouldn't dump off the needles every time I moved it...

I do like it and the whole project took me all of ten minutes, not including waiting for the white glue to try so I could take some photos!

And Last today, but definately not the least...

I was a random draw winner in the Bloggers Quilt Festival! 

My name was chosen from the hundreds -- I think I counted 620 comments and a sponsor who turns out to be Kate Conklin Designs has sent me a really cool prize!  My prize is 5 pdf quilt patterns, which meant I didn't have to wait for the mailman to bring me a package.  I just had to check my email an then save the files and print them out when I need them...     These are really fun patterns and I have already decided, I am going to start "playing" with this one.

This pattern is called Pine For You and I have to say, once I got reading the instructions and the technique, I was quite impressed and motivated to start on it -- alas, I must go shopping first -- it is for christmas after all...  I think i am imagining my version in batiks though, so it might take a bit to find the fabrics that I want...
Oh, the patterns come from Kate Conklin Designs and if you click on her name it will link to her web page...  She has some really great stuff!

So this has been a very full week!  Next week, I'm sure will be full of starts!  Hope you didn't loose interest reading all of that!  I am linking up to Needle and Thread Network today.

Super Summer Snippy Challenge - Part Two

So there is the Albatross of a log cabin quilt that I got together this past week, fixed the wrong turned block and added a couple of borders.  It measures 64 inches by 75.  And I am planning to give this top to our local rep for Quilts of Valour.

And below is a really quick top to put together, tho I cannot say it is all scraps, but the main fabric is a fabric that has been languishing in a drawer because even though I loved it when I got it (probably 10 years ago or more) I just couldn't seem to find the right project to use it on!  It is SO busy!

After I got this one together, I realized that I had seen a similar one years ago except that the pieced sashing was done in gradiant piecing so that it looked like Woven Ribbons -- in fact you can click on the link and see what I mean.  Yes, it is different but the concept is the same... sorta! or not...

Anyway, the statistics of this quilt are:

Cut 12  - 6.5 inch squares of the main fabric (you need 1.25 meter of fabric for this whole quilt top - or 1.5 yards)
Cut  82 - 3.5 inch squares
Cut 4 width of main fabric at 4.5 inches to use as the outside border.

Sew the stack of 3.5 inch squares into 41 pairs
Sew a pair on each of the 6.5 inch square

Sew the main square and pair into a long sets of 3 squares and a pair so that you have 4 rows, then add a pair on the end of each of the 4 sections.

Sew a row of 5 pairs of scrap squares together to make a row of ten.  Do 5 of these.

Put the rows together alternately, so that you have a row of 10 scrappy squares, and a row of the main fabric square with the pairs between each block then a row of 10 and a row of main square + pair ending with a row of 10.   So you have a small quilt that measures 30 x 39 without the border.  If you add the border strip to the longer sides first, then to the top and bottom, you need not piece the border strips.  With the border added the top has a finished measurement of 39 x 47 inches.   A good size for a child bed or a quilt for all purpose  -- makes for a good picnic cloth or a beach blanket even.  Can even become a tent when two chairs are used for the end posts!!

I really like this little quilt -- bright and lots of things for children to look at and it took around two hours to put together!  Very speedy - but that doesn't include cutting the fabrics...  Just think if you played around with the 3.5 inch squares you could make quite a statement.  Just a bit of arranging of colour and you could be making Jinny Beyer's Woven Ribbons quilt!  Ya think? Maybe?

This quilt top is going to my guild's charitable quilts program and once someone else in the guild layers and quilts it, hopefully it will go to someone who needs a bit of BRIGHT in their life.

This project hardly put a dent in the 1000 plus already cut 3.5 inch squares - so there is alot left over so that I can reach my goal of 10 quilt tops to donate by September!   I am really encouraged that this is an achievable goal as I have completed 2 tops for donation to my guild and one for Quilts of Valour...

Back to "slaving" away at the sewing machine! I do love this kind of work!

Crochet Scarf - a small tutorial

A little while ago, I saw a lovely scarf that was knitted using what is called the Linen Stitch.   The scarf was done so that each row was a different yarn and it was knitted long ways so that the ends of the various yarns formed the fringe on each end.  I really liked the idea of it.

Well I started, and since I am still quite a basic knitter, even though my gramma showed me how to use those two needles before I was 10 years old, I have not progressed much with knitting.  I am STILL trying to figure out SOCKS -- mind you, the sock I am working on is in a drawer and I am trying my best to ignore it!

So after trying to understand the linen stitch which goes like this

Any odd number

Row 1 (RS): k1, *sl1 wyif, k1; rep from *
Row 2: k1, p1, *sl1 wyib, p1; rep from *, end k1

I did finally get it, but the problem was that wind yarn in front, knit one,  I kept forgeting which stitch I was on and after casting on 250 stitches it got too frustrating going back and undoing 20 or 30 or 50 stitches!

So.  Instead I made a similar idea scarf using crochet.  The thing about crochet, at least in this case, there is no winding yarn in front or in back or changing or slipping or any of that.  I know.  For some using two needles to create a fabric from yarn is the way to go...

So I made this scarf.  It really doesn't look at all the same as the knitted version using the Linen Stitch.

And for me, it is simpler than making pie -- I am not so good at pie making, but a champion at cake baking! -- so we shall call this The Cake Scarf... (it kinda looks like some kid put too many sprinkles on the birthday cake when Mom's back was turned!)
I used a multi-colour acrylic yarn -- I think it was a red heart or bernat. If I was using scraps of different colours I would still end the yarn at each end of the scarf.  One of the neat things about doing it this way, is that there are no ends to weave in along the way.  AND you can make this scarf as long or as short as you want it to be.
Also with the acrylic yarn, I used one of those specialty fuzzy type of yarn and I cannot tell you what it was because it was a 2nd hand store find with no label on it...

So what I did here, was chain about 200 for the foundation, which is actually the middle of the scarf -- remember this is longways, so create the fringe as you go leave about 6 inches when you first make your slip knot and then at the end pull through the last loop so it doesn't come undone and leave about 6 inches at that end.

Now making sure you are in one side of the chain, single crochet starting at one end leaving a 6 inch start up tail and finishing leaving another 6 inches at the end, and always remember to loop the yarn through the last stitch so that it doesn't pull out. 

Your next row is with another scrap of yarn, a regular acrylic on the other side of the foundation chain stitch.   Mainly I did it that way so that the rows would look more even, because sometimes if you make your chain stitches too tight or too loose you have a sort of curve in your piece. 

Next I did a row using the fuzzy yarn, a row on each side of the regular acrylic yarn.  So now once you get a fuzzy yarn on each long ways side, you have 5 rows.   On each side of the scarf I then did two rows single crochet remember to start and end leaving a tail.  After the two rows each side of centre, one row single crochet of the fuzzy yarn.   You can continue in this manner to make the scarf as wide or narrow as you like.  I think my scarf is 17 rows ending with the fuzzy yarn on the outside edge, because I liked the way it felt, wrapped around my neck...

Oh! and I should say, that I wanted a thicker fringe so I actually added lengths of yarn between the ends of the rows to double up on the fringe.

Here are a couple of links if you want to investigate this Linen Stitch further and try a knitted scarf using this method.

http://www.knittingonthenet.com/stitches/linen.htm

this is the link where I first discovered this stitch
http://www.karenjoseattle.com/karenjoseattle/2007/10/linen-stitch.html

and here is a photo of a scarf done in the linen stitch along with the pattern that you can purchase if you like
http://www.knit-purl.com/store/pc/Koigu-Linen-Stitch-Scarf-Pattern-p4651.htm

There is even a You Tube video of how to knit this particular stitch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FClVwxz0c3o

This was a fun little experiment, now I shall try some more in single crochet with some different yarns that are in my yarn stash...