Quilt-a-ploosa

I have made incredible quilty progress this weekend. I'm thrilled. My husband was away Friday and Saturday, the baby is a bit sick, but I still managed to complete a great deal of craftiness (house is a mess, but you can't have it all). It makes me happy to realize I can make time for the things I love to do - not everything, but enough to make me happy.

Friday - I made and sewed binding to 4 quilt projects (wall hangings to lap quilts).
(binding done on this one)

Saturday/Sunday morning: I completed the binding on 1.5 quilts and started a baby quilt for a friend. I'm thrilled with the baby quilt - it's leftover blocks from another made into a totally different quilt with accent fabric left from one of A's baby quilts. I stitched in the ditch on my sewing machine. It went really well - though I definitely couldn't do anything larger than this. I'm not a fan of machine quilting - it frustrates me more than I find pleasure in it - straight stitching is OK though. I've been sending most of my quilts to a professional - it's faster and nicer looking on the larger ones. I do think the baby quilt turned out well and is perfect for the recipient (they love pink).



I learned a neat technique at the quilt festival, where you can easily get half-square triangles as an "extra". Typically, when creating squares that have triangles in the corner - you sew a smaller square (across the diagonal) to the larger (right sides together) and cut away the excess (then throw excess away). The teacher suggested sewing an additional line 1/2" to the right of your diagonal - which gives you your block, plus additional extra blocks that you can arrange as pinwheels (like my baby quilt) or as diamonds, rows of triangles for a border, etc. I couldn't figure out how to post a drawing - so I tried to give a general idea with the quilt itself:


Dad came to visit last week and brought 2 of my quilts back from the machine quilter. They are for 2 of my nephews for Christmas - love them:


This one was sewn with Lizards...


And this one with Monkeys...


So cute!

A few last crafty items for your viewing pleasure.... (yes, I'm a dork)

Handbag:


Start of the Trellis and Vine Pullover from the Fall issue of Interweave:


Some sweater yarn from the Village Yarn and Loopy Ewe anniversary sales:
6 skeins of DIC Classy and Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran

Socks are better than medicine....

I haven't been feeling well today - so I stayed home from work. As we all know - I"m a big sock fan. I recently decided to try a new technique - knitting two socks at once on a long circular - and purchased 2-at-a-time Socks by Melissa Morgan Oakes. I gave it a try, but I don't think it's for me - it's too fussy with both balls of yarn. I feel like I'm moving incredibly slow and it's very awkward. It would probably get better with practice, but I don't think I have enough patience. So I ripped it out and started over. I wasn't thrilled with the yarn I was working with - I really wanted to use some of my Dream in Color Smooshy. So I wound up some Ruby River from The Loopy Ewe and started a pair of Fawkes by Monkey Toes. I have one repeat done for the leg and am very pleased with how they are working up. The smooshy is a lovely blend of fuchsia and purple and is sooo soft. It has made me so happy -



I hope to get some quilting done this weekend as well - I worked for a bit on my lap quilt only a little more border left. I did want to post a few pics of my projects from last weekend, as I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. It as a needle case and tool kit for a coworker's birthday in March along with some Cascade 220 for a shrug that she wants to learn how to knit. I love the fabrics and am pleased with how well the patterns came out (particularly since the needle case is one of my own).



Have a great weekend! Stay warm....