pretty (scrappy) in pink –- a work in progress

Deb, who blogs at A Simple Life Quilts, and I were email-chatting the other day about quilts in progress. I mentioned that I had a pink and purple row-by-row quilt in progress and should pull it out, given that the colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for this month is pink.

This is the story:

Last year, I wanted to learn curved piecing in my quilting class; at the time pink was the colour of the month. I chose to make scrappy pink blocks (hey, why not try something a little more complicated when you're learning a new technique? LOL) So I made these blocks based on an idea in Scrap Republic by Emily Cier. Each of those Drunkard's Path blocks is 4.5”.

I laid them out in a traditional style Drunkard’s Path meander but I didn’t like it so I turned them into circles (as the photo above suggested).

I realised I didn't like making four-inch curved blocks enough to make a whole quilt so what was I to do? Make a row-by-row quilt, of course.

Some of my classmates and I went on to do foundation piecing: it  was still February so guess what colour I used for my foundation piecing?

Here are the four blocks I’ve made so far:

I still have two more to make; they will have the same fabric in the centre. Then I’m not sure whether or how I will sash them.

At home during February, I thought I would use some more of my pink scraps in a new-to-me piecing style: tumbler blocks – here are the first five joined

and here they are on my design wall (at the old house) in the layout I had chosen:

Since then I’ve realised I need to go wider with only five rows of blocks (hence the five joined together above).

Kate, who blogs at Kate’s Quilting (and other arty stuff), and I shared a couple of emails about scrappy quilts generating more scraps and that was certainly true of my Drunkard’s Path blocks – there were a lot of scraps left over. So what would I do with them? Turn them into improv crumb piecing, of course!

They’ll go on the back of the pink and purple row-by-row quilt; I can’t help sneaking a bit of ‘modern’ piecing into the backs of my quilts (look here for an example). Because most of them go to older people in palliative care units, we tend to be fairly traditional in our quilt making – but I always put a signature panel in the back of mine which tends to be a bit modern looking! This probably won’t be so much a panel as scattered; like this one (Icy Improv Pods by Elizabeth Hartmann of Oh! Fransson) or this one (though not as detailed as this which is Faraway Fields by fellow-Australian, Jules, of Procrasticraft).

So, this row-by-row is the project I’m adding to during this month of pink; and also in the month we have purple in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I’ll be linking this post to Scraptastic Tuesday at Mrs Sew and Sow, WiP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced blog, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) at So Scrappy blog as they go live this week.

Are you joining any of these linky parties this week?

2013: The Year of the Finished Project – August edition

I hope that July was a more productive month for you than for me.

The month started well with a trip north to spend three precious days with DD, SIL and the grandsons. I posted about that here.

While I was away I had an itchy back. That became excruciating pain which caused a trip to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning with chest pain; followed by a diagnosis of shingles by my GP the following evening.

In the three weeks since that diagnosis I have balanced my pain medication so that I now only feel slight pain but am not so dosed up that I can’t walk straight. Because of that, I have been reluctant to use my sewing machine – that needle moves too quickly for me!

I have also avoided fine detailed knitting, like picking up and knitting the sleeves for my cardigan.

All that to say that my July goals remain just dreams – all projects totally untouched.

So my goals for August are basically my goals from July.

Country Houses quilt

Ambassador of Love mittens

Westall cardigan

Scrappy Log Cabin quilt

Purple Cocoon socks

Gift of Hope quilt #2

What about you? How did July turn out for you? And what plans for finishing those projects do you have for August?

Please put the URL of your specific blog post here when linking up to join the party!

Will you be in the Games?

The Ravellenic Games that is!



 Yesterday I signed up as part of Team Australia in the Games over on Ravelry.


I know that I have at least three items that qualify for the Frogging Trampoline event and another three for the WIPs Wrestling event.

With less than four weeks to go, it's time to consider any other events I might want to participate in.

 Come on, knitting friends, please join me in this bit of fun!

UFOs are sometimes WIPs!

It seems a few of you, dear readers, were a bit concerned about the list of WIPs on my previous post. I see that many as a good thing, a sign of how far I have come. Just fifteen months ago I was a raw beginner as a quilter, some knowledge from reading but little real experience.

Now I have fourteen quilting related projects on the go. I know what each one is, where it is, why it has stalled and what I need to do next! I call that progress!

Since none of the quilting related projects has a deadline, I can relax -- as long as I am doing something to one of them most days I feel like I am moving forward.

But the knitting UFOs are a different story! How did I come to have four pairs of socks on my needles? I usually have more than one project on the go; but not usually more than one of the same type of thing!

But never fear, the sock issue will soon be under control. I have finished my “donation” knitting for the moment. I am quite pleased with what I have accomplished so far this year: 2 shawls, 2 pairs of socks (one a gift for my mother), 13 hats, 15 cowls and 15 pairs of fingerless mitts. Not bad, if I do say so myself!

Below are some photos of some of my latest items.

I don’t take photos of everything because one pair of mitts in a particular colour is the same as another pair of mitts in the same colour – same goes for hats and cowls. I knit the same basic patterns over and over – I can knit them quickly and mostly without thinking; that’s why they are called Elle Bee’s No Fuss patterns on my projects page on Ravelry.

I am the tutor for a “sock from the toe up” workshop on 16 June, so it’s timely that I need to concentrate my efforts on socks. First job is to re-knit the workshop pattern and edit as I go, then I can get back to the socks shown in my previous post.

I have a busy couple of weeks ahead but I will try to work on some of sewing projects. I am starting a new project tomorrow in class; we are making a lined bag. I’m very excited!

the eleventh question

warning: long, photo-heavy post (hurrah for the new internet connection and Windows Live Writer!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday I answered ten of the eleven questions posted by Freda (a.k.a. Impera Magna) on her blog The Adventures of the Empress of the Universe.

I had to leave the last question because it needed a post of its own (as you will soon see).

Q. How many UFOs/WIPs do you have right now?

A. Let’s begin with the sewing based ones …

1) The quilt that has been occupying my attention this week is my Country Houses quilt which started life as a single (twin) bed quilt in May last year; it’s too big for a single bed so I decided to finish it to queen size to go on our bed to keep me warm on these chilly winter nights. As you can see, it’s way too big for our bed! I am considering taking one or two rows off but, as yet, have not made up my mind!

 

2) Scrappy Log Cabin: I don’t have enough scraps to make the border I intended and am still thinking about what to do with it. Here it is with the inner border which has been added since I last showed the top-in-progress. It looks black but it is actually a dark brown because, despite all those blues, the quilt has an overall brownish look.

3) A cloth book I started for the Grandboys for Christmas (they got two of four before I became really ill a couple of weeks before the big day) – I need to unpick the last page I sewed; so it has been having time out in the “naughty corner” since November. This is the page I haven't got to yet!

4) curtains for Older Grandson’s bedroom – his mummy needs to find the hooks WM accidentally left there and I’m not finishing them till she does! (no photos here)

5) Dotty Bright needs basting and quilting

6) Scrappy Strings II: the top and backing have been made but are too long (Is this a theme emerging in my quilting? I hope not!) so I need to unpick the bottom row of blocks and cut down the backing then baste and quilt (it’s been spending time in the “naughty corner” too)

7) and 8) two scrappy quilts made from one donated partly-made flimsy; I don’t have anywhere near enough scraps to finish either of them (the flimsy was separated between the long floral strip and the yellow strings)

9-13) five rainbow quilts which are being made as part of the Scrappy Rainbow Challenge over at SoScrappy; I have blocks in various colours for a four patch quilt (17 blocks made), a nine patch quilt (11 blocks made), a string quilt (15 blocks made), an improv quilt (44 blocks made) and a Wonky Windows quilt (9 blocks made). Obviously, these are long term projects!

14) Hearts quilt: this a shared project with DD; we are hand-stitching applique hearts onto white squares – eventually we will have enough for a quilt! This began as a project to take to Guild meetings and for me to take to meetings of the “Caring Hearts Community Quilt Group” when I don’t have any quilts that need binding.

15) a cover for my fold-up cutting mat (originally used for dressmaking, now mostly used under a white plastic tablecloth to block my knitting)

– I am going to use the embroidery I started in class in April; I just have to finish the satin stitching of the butterfly  then I will decide which fabrics I want to use to piece what will be a large drawstring bag (probably lined)

16) Sampler Quilt: I cut out the pieces for the first block in class on Monday so I guess it’s now a WIP!

17) a long-untouched cross stitch which I really ought to get finish, it’s so close to being done! I just have to finish that sheet music (dozens of cream stitches on a white background), the scroll-work music stand and a little more of the piano keyboard to the left then I think it’s finished.

… and then there’s the knitting WIPs …

right now I'm knitting a pair of  men's mitts which I will finish today, then I need to revisit the following projects:

18) a pair of gift socks (I can’t say any more, just in case; deadline 22 June)

19) and 20) socks for me

       

22) Merlot toe-up socks for someone with big feet (I knitted the first sock on 72 stitches instead of 64)!

23) baby blanket (which I am considering frogging – it’s just not working for me!)

22) intarsia blanket (I haven’t seen this for a couple of months and was considering ripping it out but now I’ve seen the photo I’m loving it!)

24) sideways striped jumper – need to pick up stitches and do the collar

25) Ambassador of Love mittens (second mitten syndrome) – I finally located the yarn for the second mitten yesterday! Now I just have to find or download the pattern again!

26) Lace Infinity Scarf which I am also thinking about frogging;  the yarn does nothing for the lace pattern – perhaps a dark colour was a poor choice?

I guess it’s time to crack on with the stitching!

a story of good intentions (part 1)

Hello! It’s been way too long. When I don’t write on my blog, it’s very easy to form a habit of not writing on my blog! Many times I have had a great idea for a blog post but somehow, I just didn’t get to it.

I was going to write on the first day of March about how February had been my month for getting projects finished. I had written earlier in February about my “feeling flat” and that my solution to this issue was to finish some UFOs. It occurred to me that there were just to many UFOs around, and that if something were to happen to me, DD would be stuck with the task of deciding whether to finish them or throw them out. Since she can’t bear waste, she would feel obliged to finish them. We don’t knit to the same gauge so finishing my knitting projects would be a challenge, which would be made even harder by the fact that I rarely use patterns either!

So, in February I got stuck into some of my UFOs and even managed to finish a couple. The quilt and the blanket I have already shown in a previous post. These socks were started on 11th January so they could only be described as UFOs because I got second sock syndrome and cast them aside for something new!
This shawl was a WIP rather than a UFO since Ravelry shows me that I only started it on 16th February!

I am easily distracted. We had a crochet workshop at the Knitters’ Guild in mid-February and I caught the bug again. I made a small baby rug from 200g of 8ply (DK) acrylic yarn in girlie colours. I thought it was too small to be useful and too heavy for a baby (I had forgotten that crochet consumes yarn much more voraciously than knitting!). But my worst crochet nightmare came back to haunt me – it would not lie flat. I talked to the tutor of the crochet workshop. I emailed a blog-friend who crochets (Hi, Maria). I took my completed work to the LYS and asked for help. I was encouraged to block it and try my next project with less chains in the corners.

And so, of course, I began another crochet project while WM and were away in mid-March visiting Taronga Western Plains Zoo (hopefully, I’ll write a post about that later). No matter what I did, the curling continued. The acrylic yarn felt stiff and hard and, ultimately, I decided to rip out both projects. Well, actually, DD ripped out the first one for me while I fixed a problem with her knitting, and the second one sits forlornly in the frogpond! Of course, no photos were taken before ripping the first one but here are two photos of the second attempt. The second photo shows the curling problem.

 

Then, I suddenly realised that the Charity of the Month (CotM) over at Knit4Charities was for NSW Women’s Refuges. My good intentions to finish my UFOs were waylaid by my good intentions to knit a few things for this charity. While watching Castle one evening, I became aware that slouch hats were in fashion with younger women and so I looked on Ravelry for some patterns. Here is 2yo Older Grandson modelling my first attempt on varying someone’s perfectly good pattern to suit myself!
You can read my comments about my attempt on my Ravelry projects page. I haven’t taken photos of my other hats and I need to get them in the post so I doubt you’ll see any more of them.

I plan to write the second half of this post soon, but you have already seen where my good intentions lead!