Saturday, March 21, 2009

It's National Quilting Day!

We have sunlight again today! It is warm enough to go out in a windbreaker or light sweatshirt. Is this the end of coat season? Only time will tell. We still have potential for snow for another month. Also, it is National Quilting Day.

My favorite quilting board is on a Membership Drive now that all the quirks of the new software has been worked out. Originally, we were on MSN Groups which was difficult to stay on unless you had MSN as many features wouldn't work. Since Microsoft was abandoning MSN Groups, we now have a new website. If you like quilting and swaps, come on over and stay awhile. Go to www.QuiltingAroundTheWorld.com and register. Your registration will be approved within a few hours. We've had NO spam or spurious jerks, but we are a somewhat small group all over the country.

Today, I'm working on the border for my brother's quilt AND trying to finish a hearts miniature in time for my Miniatures Club meeting on Tuesday. My inner points look better with freezer applique. I miscalculated when I added only a 1 inch border on my bro's quilt. To have the flying geese end evenly, I needed 1.5 inch inner borders, not 1 inch. So, I'll get to spend a bunch of time with my seam ripper. Arrgggh!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Citrus Quilt Progress


Started my brother's twin sized quilt during a challenge over the weekend. The challenge was simply to get all the fabric cut so that I could sew another day. Here's where I am today. He wanted bright, so I took a bunch of fat quarters that I won several years ago and combined that with a bright green fabric and non-floral white-on-white. I thought the pinks made it a little girly, but when I put it together, it screamed Miami. I'm calling it Citrus Stars. I still have the border to do. I made a mistake cutting my flying geese for the border, forgetting to flip the colors after finishing the stars. Not sure it will work against the green, so will just do one side and see how I like it. I have plenty of the green to make a different border.

Also, this is the first time I have used Blogger's picture storage. Works nice, but I have to use 2 different programs to make the file sizes smaller or I will run out of room quickly. (yes, I am whining).

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Finished an Afghan!

My first finish of 2009 is the crocheted 2 Color Striped Afghan! It is wonderfully light and cozy and I love the basketweave pattern (reminds me of baskets made in South America). Here's a photo plus a closeup. The closeup helps show that starburst pattern in the edging. The afghan is about 48 x 68 inches and made from 12 skeins of Woolease in Denim and Wheat. The pattern is a freebee from www.lionbrand.com. This was an ideal TV project. I made much of it while watching several series from Netflix including 4 seasons of Desperate Housewives. On the downside, I seem to have given myself tendonitis, so am giving myself a break for the next month and just crocheting the Ravelry Blocks-of-the-month.

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Not yet washed and dried, so it's a tad wavy.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

February Revisited

First, I need to apologize for all the problems with the photos. I've complained to Photobucket, and am told they will fix their act so that I can use them again for my blog as Webshots does not seem to be compatible.

Did a lot of work in quilting in February, but finished nothing. After I finish this last swap, I will be done with swaps for a couple of months so that I can work on other projects including quilts for bro and Dad. Not to mention all that Halloween fabric that is screaming to be cut and sewn!

I did accomplish a lot of crocheting. I have completed all but the border rounds of the 2 color striped afghan. However, I think this is the cause of my tendonitis. Fortunately, I finished the Desperate Housewive series and the Inspector Lynley series (murder mysteries) is only 1.5 hours long per disk, so my arm is doing much better. Given the near finish, I am not providing a photo since you'll see a finished one in less than 2 weeks.

Absolutely no knitting in February due to this afghan. So, March will see work on those socks as soon as the afghan is completed. For awhile, I will just be working on the block-of-the-month afghan squares and those only take 2-3 days a month to do.

A cool idea that I'm going to explore was suggested on my Stashbusters group as one way to use smaller pieces of leftover batting. It is quilt-as-you-go Hexagons. It is reversible. The idea is to take 2 different large sizes of Hexagons and cut them out of fabrics. Cut the smaller Hexagon also out of batting. Fold over the larger hex and sew. Sew the hexes together either by hand (like you would Cathedral Windows) or using a decorative stitch on the sewing machine. Each hex on the front has a border. After they are sewn together, you are done as binding isn't strictly required. I have a template that cuts multiple sizes, so I'm going to give it a shot. If I like it, I'll buy presized templates (easier to cut scrap batting)to use with a rotary cutter (I am so spoiled!). This was a current hot idea out of Australia. You can get multiple sized templates here in the US from Marti Mitchel.

Here's a lovely example from a shop in Australia that sells the templates.
http://www.geckogully.com/busyfingers/quilts/floral_hexagons_quilt.htm

In the US, templates up to 4.5 inches across can be bought from here:
http://www.ardcotemplates.com/shapehelp/hex-help.shtml
This one has larger templates.
http://www.quiltcrafts.com/templates.html