Finally Quilting Again

Not sure what is going on. I got back to the machine last week and this week just looked at what was going on and left it alone. But this morning I did sit down to sew, so I can report some progress on the sewing front as well as on the knitting front.

One of the seams you are looking at is just pinned. I've got that one and one more long seam to sew and then the top and bottom borders to put on and I will actually have a quilt top. Once I've got that I'll be able to sandwich it and begin some more free motion quilting, which I really want to do.

The fabric has arrived for the tote bag pieces for Leah Day's second new class. I figure I'll be using stuff from both of the new classes on these two projects. The off white fabric in the Coin Quilt (yes it has a name already) isn't actually a solid, but it reads close enough that I should be OK if I use a dark enough beige when I'm quilting. The fabric for the tote bag pieces is all solid fabrics of a medium to dark color range. Not quite as dark as what Leah Day is using in her sample pieces, but much darker than what I normally would use. They will be quilted in white thread.


The idea is to begin to allow myself to see the thread. But it was very hard to actually buy solid fabrics. I'm not a solid fabric person.

The hexagons still have all their paper in them, but that also is almost ready to be attached to the black fabric I chose to mount it on. Again, not a solid, but something that will read as a solid most of the time.

Take care all.

On My Needles - 5/18/13

One thing I have been doing is knitting. I enjoy having something to knit while I watch TV, which probably means I'm unlikely to ever do really complicated patterns where you have to pay attention to what you are actually knitting.

The shawl has grown. Still not sure what kind of yarn this is because it came from Big Lots with their label which frankly doesn't say any of the standard things. What it looks like is a self-striping sock type yarn, but it is thicker than sock yarn normally is.

At this point it almost fills the 40 inch cable of the circular needles it is on. Pretty soon I will not be able to spread it out to take the photo. I'm almost, within half and inch to an inch, from the place where I will do more open work rows. Not long after that the self striping will pretty much end because the total number of stitches will be so large that the red color or the green one won't make it all the way across the row.

I'm learning a lot knitting this. It is essentially a standard top down, two triangle, shawl. It has a nice two stitch and one yarn over garter stitch edge on the side edges. I would not have thought two stitches would look that nice, but it looks like it is almost a rope edge. It also looks like it is going to be a warm shawl, so I'll probably use it next Fall and Winter.

Take care all.

I New Quilt in Progress

During my long dry spell caused by not feeling well enough to put time in at the sewing machine, I knew I wanted to make some kind of mostly improv coin quilt. I found one in the original issue of MODERN QUILTING and I started it this week.

This is the kind of project most quilters can put together in a day. Maybe two if they only cut fabric on day one. It will take me a lot longer. The long coin strips are now actually cut to the correct size.

My quilt won't be exactly the same as the one in the magazine for several reasons.

I've cut the coin strip wider than they suggested. And I'm not sure I'll be cutting the fabric in between the strip the same size as theirs either. I will probably have a top and bottom and side borders for two reasons. It is much easier to square up a quilted quilt if you have made extra wide borders. And I won't be straight line quilting this.

Instead, I think this is going to be one of the projects that I'll use the designs from Leah Day's two new Craftsy classes on.

The background fabric is not a solid white. It is actually a beige and white print that reads as white. I'm not sure but I think I'll be using a slightly darker beige thread on the quilting because this time around I will be happy to have it show.

The coins are all from my scrap boxes since there are very few duplicates. The background from fabric I bought for a quilt along that I was too sick to join up with. So all stash. I like working from stash.

Take care all.

Changes

It was time for some changes at my house again. The 75 gallon water heater was beginning to make some very odd noises when it heated up the water. And I really didn't need a 75 gallon water heater anyway. It was what came with the house and I gather we had to have one because of the tub that also came with the house.

The water tank was huge, but compared to the wine cooler my husband had brought with us from California it looked pretty small.

The wine cooler will go to my daughter's house at some point this summer. In the meantime, it is living in my garage. And once both of them were out of the Utility Room, there was room for a tankless hot water heater and the water softener I've been wanting since I moved into this extremely hard water area.

So there it all is, taking up a lot less space than the other equipment. The washer and dryer are in that room too, on the other wall. I did some laundry this morning and there is a lot more room in there now.



Take care all.

On My Needles - May 10, 2013

I'm knitting in addition to quilting and getting ready to quilt. I actually swatched for this project, which is rather funny considering what the project is and what the pattern said.

The pattern said that you could use any yarn with it, although the size would change depending on what you used. They were using what sounded like a fingering (sock) yarn and size 4 needles.

The yarn I picked out is a $1 a ball yarn from Big Lots. I've got no idea what it is made of. I think it is either sport weight or DK.

I started with size 9 circular needles because this thing is going to get big and it will be big fast. That was too loose, so I tried a size 5 needle. Better but still rather floppy. This shows the project begun with a size 2 circular. All of the needles were by different manufacturers and that turned out to be interesting in itself. But that is a different post.

They yarn is really nice to work with. Right now it is self striping and trying to make little patterns. That won't last long once the numbers of stitches doubles and triples. I'm adding 4 stitches every other row. It feels soft and rather silky. And the colors are so pretty. There will be blocks of islet rows later in the project. This yarn is somewhat different from what I expected knitted up, but I think it won't matter because the "lace" blocks aren't all that complicated.

Take care all.

Free Motion Quilting and the Feeling of Success When Something is Finished

I haven't been blogging much. There hasn't been much to blog about except medical issues and those are as boring to write about as they must be to read about. On the medical side I decided to go a more aggressive route with my back, leg and knee issues. I'm seeing my chiropractor 3 times this week and next week, and it is already showing signs of making me a lot stronger. I got the asthma under control and am no longer using the rescue inhaler on a schedule. The nebulizer got packed away several weeks ago. So I'm not as tired all the time as I was.

The result is progress in some of my projects. Two of them are now up on the walls where I can enjoy them on a daily basis.

The Class Quilt from the Free Motion Craftsy class taught by Ann Petersen is now in my bedroom where  I can see it when I first wake up in the morning. It probably won't be the only quilt that hangs there, but it was the project that taught me that I could free motion quilt. The only thing I wish is that I'd had the guts to use thread that showed.

But I probably have gotten there. I've bought both of Leah Day's new classes at Craftsy, and I'm going to be doing the second one first. I ordered the fabric for the tote bag panels this morning from JoAnn's online store because I'm not physically strong enough to go shopping for it. It probably isn't as dark fabric as the ones Leah is using in her class, but dark enough that the white thread is going to show.

Meanwhile I've watched the first class and I might watch the second one soon, but this will be a class where I follow along. The only thing I'm not sure about is if I watch the entire thing first and then go back. That is what I did with Ann Petersen's class once I decided to make the project, and I know that does work for me.

I put my braid quilt up in the Computer Room. Right over the desk. This is an extremely strange colorway for me to have done. The fabrics really are that pale. But when I had gotten part of the braids together I realized just how much I liked the look so I didn't use any of the darker fabrics I had and just kept going. It was so unusual for me that I had to buy the border and backing fabric after the braids were done.

It is also the first quilt I ever did completely with a machine. I had pieced by machine before, but never did any quilting by machine. This wasn't free motion. It was actually all walking foot quilting, again mainly from an Ann Petersen class. Not sure which one to credit for this.

Leah Day said in her blog today how she is taking two sewing classes from two different Craftsy teachers and how what they teach is so different, but how they are illuminating things for her because she is taking both of them. I feel that way as well. I've taken quilting classes from several Craftsy teachers, and they have all been very good classes from excellent teachers.

Take care all.

Daily Life

In some ways I've been quite active and quite busy. I've finished the binding on the Class Quilt and just have to get the bottom of the rod pocket sewn. I've been online and I've ordered a couple of extra long circular needles. I seem to have decided I like the 40 inch length. I know that one can do magic loop on things other than socks, but only if the needle length is long enough. I've got a size 9 and a size 10 coming.

I finished the scarf I was making. One ball of the yarn was enough for the scarf. I wanted to see how it would look finished.

The yarn doesn't take great pictures. It is actually quite metallic. The color changes make it a very interesting fabric. Don't know if I will ever wear this thing, but there is a charity that I might give it too. Some teenaged kid just might fall in love with it. It is actually quite pretty.

I'm wondering if I am a process person rather than a project person. I do have to enjoy the process or I'm just not interested.

I have gotten out of the house quite a bit, and not just to doctor's appointments. I've even been to the bank and I've paid my County taxes. I went to Big Lots yesterday and just enjoyed being there even though it made me very tired.

But mostly, I've been dealing with pain, and with walking, and just getting the tasks of daily life done. Today I had to wash my sheets and remake my bed. Doing that is a kind of success story. It was almost as hard as I thought it might be, but not quite and it got done. I'll need to get my recycling and my trash cans out to the curb tonight. They collect the trash in the middle of the night. The recycling can get collected as early as 5:30 am, or as late as noon, so it also needs to go out before I go to bed.

I have one envelope to mail, and mail to pick up. Some of  the time I can walk there. Some of the time I need to drive to get to the mailbox. And today, I've added the task of going to the supermarket for a few things and picking up gas while I'm out. Maybe I'll go out to eat too. I think I'd like that.

Just loads of daily life, and once in a while the ability to make something beautiful to fill my soul.

Take care all.