Mid November

And we have lift off!  I started on the quilting!  I don't have a table that I can sink the machine into, so I have some hokey way and boosting the quilt next to the machine to keep it from pulling away from the needle. Not pretty, but it does the job. Sorta.

Machine all set up

Machine quilting

I wound 4 bobbins. I think this project will need 7 or 8 bobbins of thread. I am not quilting that close, so it will go quicker. I hope. 

Mini Mittens

Close up

 I have been knitting these tiny mittens. I usually give them away as gifts. They make perfect ornaments. I ran out of people to give them to, so decided to make a strand of them to use for a winter decoration. I use the leftover bits of sock yarn. They are fun to knit and cute!

Pretty Photograph

At our family cabin we have some flowers planted. Mostly columbine. Years ago my parents had planted Holly Hocks.  They took over and eventually my Dad tried to get rid of them. This summer there was one lone Holly Hock trying to get a foot hold in the rocks. I chose to let it grow. It came late in the season, so this was the only blossom on the plant. I hope it tries to come back next year. I have always loved the Holly Hocks. But I will be careful not to let them spread.

Linking to:

Sarah

Nina-Marie

TGIFF

Beth

Judy

First Snow

It has been a crazy week.  So focused on the news that I didn't get much done until Sunday.  And Score! I finally got the wedding quilt basted. We had moved to a smaller home several years ago. Downsizing has been difficult, I am still working on that issue. One thing I miss most about the previous house was the large peninsula kitchen counter.  I used it to baste quilts. It was a good height, easy on my back.  In this house I have little counter space.  We also have a much smaller dining table and now it is an oval. I have used my white plastic folding table, but it is narrow and tricky to baste a large quilt. 

Basting on the bed

So my solution has been to put the cardboard cutting mat on my bed and baste on there. Not ideal. I don't have floor space to try that, so the bed it is. It is hard on my back. And I can kneel for the edges.

Adding the top

Instead of starting in the middle and working out I start on one side and work my way towards the other side.

The other side

And then I finish off the bottom of the quilt since it is longer than the cutting board.  Pretty much my procedure is to smooth the back, smooth the batting over it, smooth the top. Pin the area on the cardboard. Shift the pinned area off the edge of the bed. Peel back the batting and top. Smooth the backing, smooth the batting over it and then smooth the top. For the most part I get a good baste. It works well for an edge to edge quilting design. 

I hope to get the quilting done this week. I would really like to get this in the mail to the happy couple by Thanksgiving. 

Last week I had someone ask if I had knit anything with my handspun yarn. I knit a hat. It was supposed to be for me and I found I was running out of yarn. So I raveled it and knit it smaller as a gift for my granddaughter.  Note the hokey, no model available photograph below. Link to rav project page Dalki .

Dalki

 

And here is my pretty photograph for the post, snow this morning!

Snow in Kanab

Linking to:

Beth

Judy

Jen

Nina-Marie

Sarah

 

Best Laid Plans

Last week I made the goal of opening the tub with the lingering wedding quilt.  I did. Just now.  Sigh. It has been that kind of week. I did get a lot of other things accomplished. I cleaned out my closet and chest of drawers. Also the tubs of old/smaller clothes that were out in the workshop. It was a 4 day job. I have a large box to go to the hospital thrift shop, a large stack of t-shirts that I will make a t-shirt quilt for myself, and another tub full of clothing too tattered to give away which will become rags. 

Proof of the wedding quilt

1980's sweater

A main reason for doing that long delayed chore is that I have lost some weight this year. I am now able to fit into some of the smaller clothes that I had stored away. One of the items I found was this sweater. I started knitting in the mid 80's and my first sweater turned out with the stitches twisted. I don't have a photo of that one, but I do have the sweater and it fits! I then went to a knitting book and looked carefully at the illustrations on how to wrap the yarn properly. It worked, no more twisted stitches. This is the second sweater I knit for myself. I made Sweetie a matching sweater, but the colors are reversed. His main color is the dark brown. I am thrilled that I can fit into this favorite sweater again!

Mr. Kromski

I also rearranged the some furniture and was able to clear out a better space for my spinning wheel. It had been next to the loveseat and got bumped frequently. And knocked over a few times. I have been spinning this lovely Lavender Fields fiber, dyed by Dandelions and Daisies.

Lavender Fields

 The color in this photograph is not accurate. But it is closer to real life in the photograph below.

Almost done!

I am planning on chain plying this, I want to see how it will look with a multicolor dyed fiber. So far I have only chain plied natural fibers. I think I can fit the last of the fiber on this bobbin. 

Paria

Saturday Sweetie and I took a little outing to Paria Townsite. The turnoff is about 35 miles west of our town and then about 6 miles on a dirt road. The town is gone. The last of the buildings burned several years ago. The mountain is very unique and beautiful. This is my pretty photograph for the week.

Linking to:

Beth

Judy

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Sew Joy

Susan

Alysia

October

Wow. It is the end of October.  Time flies when you thoroughly slack off  during a worldwide pandemic. I had meant to start blogging again once we got home. So it goes. We spent most of September at the family cabin at the lake. I had bought a used sewing machine that I could use up there and leave it so I don't have to haul a machine back and forth. And Sweetie scored a white plastic folding table for free at a yard sale. So I pretty much have all the makings of a sewing room for the cabin. All I needed to do was pack a tub with some projects and I would be good to go. Our niece, Amy was getting married the first week of October so I went looking for the quilt top I had set aside for her.  I know I had it in a safe place in the sewing room or either of the closets that I use in the house for fabric/projects. I could not find it anywhere! I spent several hours looking. Tried to remember the last time I saw it. Ah, the last time my local quilt guild had a sew day in March. I think I brought it to show someone. Of course, right after I emailed the gang to see if anyone may have gathered it with their stuff, I remembered that I had rearranged my sewing room a bit to switch out my table and some things in tubs went out to the shop (where I had already looked through some stuff). So I went to look again. I knew that there had to be some more tubs of my stuff. Sweetie comes over and asks me what I am looking for. He then MOVES a stack of large coolers that were blocking my view of another stack of tubs. And there it was! Efficiently labeled in the correct place to see if those coolers had not been blocking. 

Labeled Tub

Amy's quilt top

 So in theory I would have worked on the wedding quilt. A little bit. I took three lengths of fabric and sewed them together for the backing. That is it. I meant to work on it since we got back home, not a stitch. I will open the tub today, really, I promise.

I had another project with a mid September deadline. It is for a "Deck of Cards" challenge. 

Strip piecing for the hearts

I had meant to take a lot of in progress photographs. Only had a few.

Before the edge treatment. I had found this fun, funky shirt fabric at a retired costumer/cosplay yard sale. It looks like Seinfeld's pirate shirt!  I quilted it and then added the hearts. I couched down the hearts with a fun frou frou yarn. 

Finished!

The corners needed to be rounded to mimic a playing card. I am sure that it will be easy to guess which card I was assigned!  You can see the entire collection at Utah Quilt Guild go to photo gallery and click on Deck of Cards.

Queen Anne's Lace

I had this shawl finished for a long time, finally got around to blocking it. I just love this design!

I am still spinning yarn. I try to spin a little every day. It really has improved my skills. Now if only I could FMQ a little bit every day that might help with my skills in that area as well.

Sunset at Bear Lake

I have been trying to end all my posts with a pretty photograph. This is a sunset one of the last days we were at the lake. 

I hope all of you are safe during these scary times. 

Linking to:

Beth

Judy

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Home Sewn by Us

Sisters

 The Stitching Post canceled their outdoor show for this year. It was the right thing to do. Even though the show is outdoors, so many people attend that it would be impossible to safely social distance.  Valori put out the call on FB for quilters to take a photograph of a quilt outdoors and post it. I got a bit carried away. I was trying to figure out where to hang a quilt for a photo op and thought of my fence facing the street. I realized I could make a mini show so I filled my fence with quilts!  I left them up all day.

My filled fence

Me with the hashtag sign.

Slash preview

 Last time I talked about a collaboration piece I had been working on. I used the two quilted pieces to make the finished piece. I thought about hearts being broken and shattered.

In progress

Love

This is the finished quilt. It is 15 inches square. I had trouble with the brown lightening bolt being secure so I added the bias tape and I think it worked even better in highlighting the slash. It went off in the mail to the coordinator. It was nice to get something finished.

I have still been spinning every day for  Tour De Fleece. These two skeins are the results from spinning sample bits.

Pretty Clouds yesterday

And my pretty photograph for the post.

Linking to:

Nicole

Judy

Cooking up Quilts

Beth

Gail

Nina-Marie

Sarah

July heat wave

I am trying to finish a collaboration piece. The Heart is what I received, I quilted it. I plan on slashing it and adding the brown piece between the slashes. Stayed tuned, I hope to show it completed next week. Just getting my nerve up to do the slashing.

Baby hat and mini mitts

My friend's daughter is expecting a baby girl, due in the next couple of weeks. I send baby hats for the new babies. Lately I have also been including mitten ornaments.  They are simple knits and use up the last bits of sock yarns. Pattern is here. 

Sample fibers

A finished yarn!

These last couple of weeks I have been spinning for the Tour de Fleece event. I bought a spinning wheel two years ago. I spun a bit the first summer and then only every great once in a while. Then I had some issues, I needed to buy a new drive band and it took longer than I thought it would to arrive. And the wheel needed some adjustments.  I did a small, practice spin the end of May. Yesterday I plied it an got a finished yarn. Might be enough for a hat. My dear friend, Karen, got me hooked into spinning. We used to knit together and drink coffee. I moved 3-1/2 years ago and she just moved to Washington state. I have missed our get togethers. I was able to go up to see her last year and have a spin lesson. Of course, since I didn't practice, it did not take. Karen has also gotten into weaving.  Her yarns are beautiful and her cotton towels are wonderful!  You can see her stuff here. 

I have noticed an improvement on my spinning since I have been practicing almost every day. Karen had given me a large box of fiber when I got my wheel. A lot of it was samples that she had and didn't want, along with some other treats. I also have bought a few braids on my own. I have enough fiber to keep me busy for a while.

Canoeing on Jackson Flats Lake

And here is my pretty photograph for the week. Sweetie and I took the canoe over to the little lake nearby. We went early, so very few people out there. It was calm and peaceful. And bonus! Sweetie caught 3 fish!




Linking to:

Sarah

Nina-Marie

Tish

Nicole

Beth

Cooking up Quilts

Judy

Lazy June

I am having a hard time getting back to the sewing machine. But I have been knitting! I finished a pair of socks, but lost at yarn chicken.  Plan B is the pattern.

Plan B

I also finished a colorwork hat! My Ravelry group did a KAL for this pattern. It was hard for me, colorwork is not my strong suit. Katie's Kep is the pattern.

Katie's Kep

And next on the needles is Diamonds in the Fluff.  This is a memorial KAL for the Sock Madness group. One of the designers died this spring.

Diamonds in the Fluff

And last of all is a pretty photograph. Sweetie and I drove to Cedar Breaks National Monument recently. It is about an hour drive from our home. It is a less visited park, so we felt it was safe to go and visit. We did wear our masks when at the viewpoints and when anyone was near us on the hiking trail.

Cedar Breaks

Linking to:

Jen

Nina- Marie

Sarah