Leo’s Mane Sew Along

Sunday 28 April 2019

It’s a plus....

I’m continuing to work on my class sample for a plus sign quilt. It’s about 2/3 done now. I’m hoping to have it finished in the next day or three or four so that I can get it to the store and she can start to advertise it. I’m taking pictures of the steps as I go for an instruction sheet. This is all I’ve done this past week, plus a bit of knitting. I finished off the fade Jacinta Shawl I was doing and also got it blocked. I’m much happier with the way it looks after blocking. I’m going to link up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and then get back to more plus signs.


Saturday 20 April 2019

Multiple stitcheries continue

So I’m continuing with my multiple stitchery disorder this week. But it seems to be a good thing because I’m getting lots accomplished. In fact I have a couple of finishes. First the Leo’s Ring class sample is done and ready to be delivered to the store hosting the class. 

The second finish is the embroidery I started last week. I’m enjoying doing these so much that I’ve started the second block in the series and am well on the way to having it finished. I just have to do the flower shapes. But they are going to take a while since there are a lot of sharp curves that will need very tiny stitches.

I was approached last week by yet another store in the area about doing a class. I don’t want to do duplicate classes since I don’t think that would be fair to the stores. Plus the stores are of a different feel, one being more “modern” focused than the other. With that in mind I’m in the process of designing and stitching yet another new English Paper Piecing sample. This one is using house shapes to achieve a plus sign. 

I’m also making good progress on my two “fade" knitting projects. I’m not completely thrilled with the fade transition in colours in the shawl. There is now too much of a contrast between the two yarns, but it is going to stay this way. The hank of yarn that is as yet unwound is the third colour. Once it is finished and blocked I think it will be OK. Certainly good enough to wear next winter under a coat as a very cozy scarf/shawl.

On the flip side, I am thrilled with the way the colours in my blue sweater are blending. This one is on the home stretch. I’m done with the medium blue on the body and will be going straight ahead with the dark until the body is done. I love this sweater design. I can see me making multiples of this one. This is the second I’ve started. I also rather enjoy the whole fade/transition thing using different yarns in the same sweater. This could become a trend in my knitting for the next while if for no other reason than to use up all the single hanks of yarn that I ordered in order to try and make the fade in the shawl work. I have four more different pinks now to use up.

I’m heading off now to do some more knitting. I’m linking up with Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching. I hope that all who celebrate Easter will have a wonderful day. We will be spending the morning with our Church family and then the afternoon and evening with family at home.











Saturday 13 April 2019

Multiple stitching personality disorder

I really do need to stop adding in new stitching projects. I definitely have a disorder of some sort. Some call it “startitis” which fits. But so does the title of this post..... multiple stitching personality disorder. Why do you ask???? Because I’ve started yet another hand stitching project. In my touring around blog land I came across this post from Jenny of Elefantz. In it she mentioned a friend of hers named Allie and provided a link to Allie’s blog which took me here which was a post about the final block in her series called Grow in Grace. That then took me to Allie's facebook page which I requested to join because Allie provides free embroidery patterns there.  I printed the pattern today



and got started with the stitching. 

I’m also continuing to work on the class sample that I started last week. All the components are made and just need to be stitched together. Another day or two should finish it.



And finally the other thing I’ve been working on fairly steadily is my EatSleepKnit second quarter fade sweater. It’s a pattern from Joji Locatelli called Spector. The colours in the picture aren’t quite right. The fade from the one colour to the other is actually more gradual than it seems in the picture. I love this pattern!!



So, after I finish writing this I have a decision to make.... what shall I work on for the rest of the evening? I’ll be linking up with Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching in the morning.

Edit: Last night I decided to keep on with the embroidery for a while before picking the knitting up again. The planter is done and I can move on to the greenery now. I’d forgotten just how much I enjoy doing the embroidery. It was actually the very first stitching I learned as a child. I remember my Mum getting a scrap of fabric and drawing a house on it and teaching me how to do the stem stitch. I used to take my allowance and buy the heat transfer patterns from the dime store..... Kresges if I remember correctly.... along with floss and pillow cases. Then I’d sit on our old front porch in the summer and stitch away. For that matter, it was my Mum who taught me to knit and to sew. I don’t have a lot of pleasant childhood memories, so these are precious. Does anyone else remember Kresges? They used to have the best hamburgers and cokes at the lunch counters.








Saturday 6 April 2019

Slow Sunday Stitching

I’ve had a slight change of plans as far as my knitting goes. I wanted to do the shawl Jacinta as a fade design as part of the Eat Sleep Knit second quarter challenge. I cast it on and started knitting away on the first of the month. I’ve gotten as far as changing to the second colour and that’s where the plans sort of fell apart. There isn’t enough of a contrast between the two yarns to show up as a fade from one colour to the next. And I think the third yarn I chose has too much of a contrast to fade properly. I think it will stripe rather than fade.  This is as far as I’ve gotten.  I kept on knitting for a couple of inches with the second yarn just to make sure that my suspicions that it wasn’t working were correct. Now I have to decide whether to rip back to the first colour. So, there may have been three more skeins of yarn ordered today that might work better......




In the meantime while I wait for the new yarn to arrive, I’ve chosen some different yarns for a different fade project. I’m going to make the sweater Spector out of these three blues. I’ve also been doing a bit of hand stitching on a new project. Judy has reopened her store Cornerstone Quilts and More and has asked if I’d be interested in teaching an English Paper Piecing class. I’m making up a class sample using some of the fabrics she has in her shop. I love the print on the white background. It’s very spring like. As soon as I have more information about times and dates, I’ll post them here and also my Facebook page. I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching