Cash's Quilt

A little more than a year ago, I started making quilts for the grandkids' birthdays. This quilt was made from a kit from Keepsake Quilting, with additional fabric for the backing. 

The red border fabric came with the kit, and was meant to be the backing, but my friend Matthew snagged me the end of a bolt of the road fabric to use on the back. With that, and leftover red fabric, I was able to piece together a backing that Cash can drive his Matchbox cars on. 

The vehicles came as die-cuts with the kit. I glue-basted them on, then zigzagged around each shape in black. There were enough vehicles to applique to the upper border of the back as well. 

I purchased black double-fold quilt binding at JoAnn to bind the quilt. Batting is Warm & Natural. 

I hand-quilted around each wide stripe on the front, also in black. 

This is the only quilt in that birthday series that was actually finished by the relevant child's birthday.

It's long enough that he'll be able to use it on a twin bed, when he moves up to one. 

More pix below. 

Two months?!

I've been busy, just not posting here. Oops.

In those two months, I have finished two quilts, worked on two other quilts, knitted three dresses for my granddaughter, one or two tops for myself, some random socks, done some commission knitting for clients, and read some books.

I also shifted half the stuff out of my studio to make a bedroom for my sister, who will stay with us for the next few months, until she finds a place of her own in the area. It's really nice to have her here. We hadn't lived in the same town for over thirty years.

Our son is also living here, along with our grandson (about half-time, in his case), while he attends school. Classes start tomorrow, and he is really excited.

I took the month of August off from work at the shop, and have really enjoyed the time. Just another ten days of vacation remain. Sigh.

I'll try to get caught up on reporting my finished projects.

A Scarf with Holes in It

Don't worry, they're intentional.

Here are some photos of a crocheted scarf I designed this week for Needleworks, the yarn shop I work at.

It takes just one ball of Noro Silk Garden Sock, and measures approximately 54"X6" after blocking.

You could use Noro Kureyon Sock to make a longer scarf, or a second ball of the Silk Garden Sock.

Yes, those photos are both the same scarf. The lower picture, shot without flash, shows the texture nicely. The upper picture, shot with flash, shows the holes being blocked open and is a more accurate representation of the colors in the yarn (though it's somewhat less orange than it appears).

The pattern should be available soon on the Needleworks website, in our Pattern Library.

Koi Pond Update

I found some solid backing fabric in the darker shade of the wave print border fabric and finished the Koi Pond Runner. 

Here are a couple of photos. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. 

It's just the right size for the coffee table, and will also work well on the dining room table. The real challenge will be keeping a table cleaned off so I can use it.

Koi Pond Table Runner

More sashiko today -- two stamped panels by Olympus, which I ordered from Studio Aika. This particular design is SC-0039. Both the fabric and the stitched swirls/ripples are a bit darker than they appear in this photo -- at least on my monitor.

I embroidered these at our Spring Knitting Retreat at Threads & Beds in Danville, IL. Everyone was amazed at how quick and easy the running stitch is to do. I think I set off a minor frenzy of sashiko lemmings, too. ^_^

At first, I thought I'd make a couple of pillows, but decided a runner was more practical.

These are my first mitered border strips ever. I'm pretty pleased with them. I ordered the printed border fabric from Fat Quarter Shop, because it reminded me of the traditional sashiko waves pattern. I'm not sure where I picked up the red batik -- most likely from Threads of Time.

I'll put a narrow binding in the red batik around the perimeter of the runner. 

I still have to find some fabric for the backing. Maybe I'll do that next week. I'm debating whether to continue the fishy theme on the backing fabric, or use a solid in one of the blue shades of the border fabric. Simpler would probably be better. 

I have a binful of Olympus sampler blocks in traditional sashiko designs, about half white fabric and half navy/indigo fabric, some purchased at Threads of Time, and some from Studio Aika. In most cases, I have the same design in both colors. My plan for those is to work the stitching in navy on white and white on navy, and make a bed quilt -- probably queen-size, though our bed is full-size. Apparently, I hog the covers when I'm asleep (but therefore not responsible!! so there!!), so extra-wide wouldn't be a bad idea.

Sophie's Ball Gown

I have a little friend/surrogate granddaughter, Sophie, who is three years old.

When my daughter made the Twirly Dress by Sew Baby for her daughter, I knew I had to make one for Sophie, too.

I found a tshirt with sparkly "gems" on the yoke at Kohl's, and two coordinating prints at JoAnn Fabric. Once the shirt and fabric were washed, it took only a few hours to cut the panels for the skirt and sew the dress.

Sophie loves it! I have lots of fabric left, plus the bottom half of the tshirt (which was cut off to make the bodice) -- so I think I will make her a fancy purse to go with her ball gown.

I'm told she wore it for 3 days in a row, which is really gratifying. 

Lexxi's Quilt

Ah, the Power of Stash:

• Wildflower appliqué blocks with embroidery and blanket stitch -- made several years ago, and set aside, because I had inadvertently appliquéd them onto the wrong foundation fabric, which didn't match the foundation fabric I had used for the first batch of blocks. Oops. Oh well. 

• Setting blocks and binding from fabric purchased to make a dress for one of my daughters -- which I never got around to making, but saved for years anyway (even though I didn't live through the Great Depression).

• Backing and borders from fabric my mom passed to me probably 12-15 years ago; my Auntie Lizzie* (her oldest sister) had given it to her (who knows when?). There were probably 8-10 yards of it.

*(Auntie Lizzie lived in a big old house, with rooms FULL of fabric, thread, yarn, etc. So yeah, given that my father's father had a BARN full of stuff when he died, and my father had a garage full, I'm probably doomed from both sides.)

But see? It's good to have stuff on hand!!

I did have to buy the batting for this quilt. I also purchased stencils for the quilting in the borders and setting blocks.

The photo above and the one below were taken after washing the finished quilt; the quilting is more obvious after washing. I think the slight shrinkage of the batting makes the whole quilt looks cozier, somehow. The block below is the same one in the photo at the top of this post. 

And I do label these things: