WIP Wednesday

That was a fast week. It seems like I wrote my last post just a day or two ago, not a week ago. I’m continuing to work on Geese Around the Tulip Patch. All the big geese blocks are done and up on the wall. I’m loving the way this is looking. The patch of tulips in the centre is so pretty. I’ve started making the small geese needed for the alternate blocks, all 192 of them. It’s a good thing I like making these things. There are almost 100 finished. Then they have to be sewn into pairs. But, all things considered, this is going together pretty quickly. I very rarely ever start a quilt and stick with it until it’s finished, but this one I am going to. I started this back at the beginning of September, so this isn’t bad progress, at all.
I’ve been working on customer quilts a lot lately, since there is a quilt show coming up this year. that also means getting lots of my own done. So time spent working on a new quilt is precious and revitalizing. I’m going to link up to Lorna’s Let’s Bee Social and the Needle and Thread Network’s WIP Wednesday. Then it just might be time for some supper and a few more geese to come off the machine.

WIP Wednesday

The count of Frayed Star blocks now stands at 21. I need 25..... almost there.....
Then I start making smaller flying geese for the second block for this quilt. After that, a few half square triangles and I can start putting it together. If I keep going at this pace, this just might be one of the faster quilts I’ve ever done. I’m linking up to Lorna’s Let’s Bee Social and to the Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday.

Design Wall Monday

After I wrote yesterday’s post, I stated that my goal for the rest of the day was to sit and sew. Well, after a minor detour, looking after delightful little grand daughter Abbie for a couple of hours, I achieved that goal. I now have ten of the Frayed Star blocks for my new quilt done. I actually have some time this evening, as well, although I’ve spent part of it quite lazily reading a good book. But I’m up off the couch now, and after I finish this post, I’m getting right back to making more star blocks. Fourteen of these blocks left, and the 24 of the alternates.
I’m linking up to Judy’s Design Wall Monday and to Beth’s Monday Making.
I’m working through the instructions on this one before I publish it. So far, so good. I have one volunteer to test the pattern for me. Would anyone else be interested? It’s done in 3 sizes, the cover one being the biggest. If you’d like to test it, leave a comment, meaning sure your email is there. If you’re a no-reply, I won’t be able to get back to you.

Sunday stash and stitching report

I haven’t been doing any hand stitching lately. But, I do have something to share about my past Sunday stitching project. I entered La Passacaglia into our Fall Fair here in our delightful city, and it took first place in its wall hanging division. Yippee! Woohoo! Happy dance! We went to see it last Wednesday evening, just to see what it looked like actually hanging up. Here’s a pic of our grand daughter Abbie and I standing in front of it. 

I haven’t done a stash report since way back at the end of July. I’ve been keeping track, just haven’t actually had a chance to write up a report here. So the numbers are going to be looking rather good, considering they cover over 6 weeks. The up side to the rush before a quilt show is all the finishes which take up lots of stash for making backings. Add to that, the new quilt that I’ve designed and am self testing the instructions for, which involved doing all the cutting at once, and I am back in positive numbers again.

Used since August 1st:                       25.4 yards
Used this year:                                    68.5 yards
Added since August 1st:                     11 yards
Added this year:                                  61.45 yards
Net stash busted:                                   7.05 yards

I have big plans for the rest of today. I’m going to spend it sitting in front of my sewing machine to see how much more I can get done. I just might have some blocks to show on a design wall post tomorrow.
I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and Judy’s Stash Report.

It’s been 3 weeks.....

How did that time fly by so fast? Seriously, life seems to be flying by at the speed of light. But then again, it is a quilt show year, so that probably explains a lot of it. I’ve been crazy busy up in the studio getting quilts finished. We also went on vacation for the last week of August, so that also accounts for one of these missing three weeks. And, as always, especially in quilt show years, I have to hurry to make up the time taken away while on vacation. Add into that mix, the beginning of the guild year and the stuff that needs to be done for that, and “poof”, time just vanishes.
We went away camping for 8 days. It was strictly a working vacation this year. We had some business to attend to in the Toronto area that took a few days driving back and forth from the campground an hour north of Toronto. After that, most of my days were spent outside, sitting in the dining shelter on the campsite, writing pattern instructions. It made for a very restful office setting, I must confess, sitting outside, listening to the trees and the birds, working away on the computer. No distracting TV or internet stuff like Facebook. Just quality bonding time between me and my laptop. Scott spent his time also bonding with his laptop, except in his case it was games. So, this is what I’ve been working on......  Four patches and flying geese for my new design. I wrote it all up, thinking that a good way for myself to test it would be to write it before I make it. Now I’m seeing if I can follow my own instructions. This is what the finished project is supposed to look like. Can I interest anyone in testing this along with me? The instructions are for 3 different sizes, so you wouldn’t have to commit to making the big queen sized version, unless you wanted to.
And now, time to get back to work. There are lots more flying geese in my future......

On and off my needles....

It’s been quite a while since I did a knitting post. I was off knitting for a while, mostly because i was spending my evenings up in the quilt studio, rather than downstairs in front of the TV knitting. I did get my one sweater finished. It’s called Roads End, a design by Kay Hopkins. After that one, I decided that I really do have enough sweaters for myself, so I decided to start one up for our grand daughter Abbie. I’ve had this one, the Owlet, saved on my Ravelry favourites for years, ever since I started using Ravelry, since it’s on the first page of my favourites. The only thing that really had me intimidated by this sweater was all the buttons that had to be sewn on for the eyes. Well, that was solved by finding some beads that could be inserted over the knit stitches during the knitting process. No buttons now necessary. If you biggie size the picture by clicking on it, you’ll be able to see the beads. This one should be finished in the next week or so. After this, I think I’m going to start a winter hat for little Abbie, using this pattern for the hat. I have beads left from the package for the eyes, so I’ll put some beads on he hat, too. I love the booties in that pattern, but Abbie is way beyond the age for booties now. Those will look so cute on this precious little girl. I’m linking this up, a day late, to Judy’s On the Needles.

Wednesday progress....

Last week I showed a picture of the beginnings of the quilting on Grandmother’s Diamond Ring. It’s a pattern designed by Judy Martin, found in her The Creative Pattern Book. Well, it is now finished. Here she is. The roses look fabulous in all the white hexagons. The pieced areas all have continuous curves, as do the smaller filler white areas. It’s bound with a faux piped binding using a diagonally printed stripe, which enables the binding to be sewn on completely by machine. The roses in the borders don’t show up very well on the front. Here’s the backing where everything shows up so well. I’m really happy with this one.
The other major thing I’ve done is finishing all the piecing on the LFQG blog sampler, and it is now loaded onto the machine and the quilting is started. It needs to be done by this coming Monday, since we are leaving for a week’s vacation on Tuesday. I’m hoping I can make it. With that in mind, I’m going to link up to Lorna’s Let’s Bee Social and also to The Needle and Thread Network, then I’ll have something to eat and get back to work.