Prayer Shawl

Well I was supposed to be finishing up this project:

Moda scrap bag quilt with some Spring Fever strips.

This is a small quilt made out of one Moda scrap bag and I added in some small blue, pink and purple squares along with the white. The fabric at the top is some lime green and orange I dyed up to compliment the quilt, the green being the backing and the orange for the binding. I had every intention of finishing off the quilt within a couple of days of my last post but instead I got sidetracked by this:

Diamond Knit Shawl using homespun from Lionbrand using colourway Barrington.

I started working on this at our blessings group that meets Wednesday mornings at the church. Our group of ladies get together where we sit and chat and work on projects that get donated to those that need them, mostly prayer shawls, hats, scarves and mittens and perhaps some chemo caps as well.

Anyhow once I started working on knitting the shawl the quilt dropped by the wayside. It’s a bad habit of mine starting one project and then not finishing it before something else appeals. I was waiting to blog until I finished the quilt but since it’s taking major effort for the shawl I thought I should post something. The shawl is very picky to do. The pattern isn’t hard but you combine the pattern with the yarn choice and well lets just say it takes some effort.

The yarn is a loosely twisted fibre and has a tendency to split so I always seem to be picking up a few extra strands now and then and it’s hard to pull through the knitted stitches. It didn’t help that I started off with straight needles that were more blunt at the tips. I didn’t realise until I switched to the cable needles how much the fat tips were slowing me down. It made me realise that you’re only as good as your equipment. I’ve ordered some new tips from Knitpicks that should be even faster.

Knitpicks has this wonderful system of interchangeable needles and cables. The needle tips screw onto the cables so you can mix and match the different lengths that any one project needs. The ones I like are the nickel-plated needles with the fine tips. The cables are wonderful as well because they are supple with little memory. This makes a difference because the cable needle I’m working with now tends to stay coiled when I work with it. The cable gets this way from sitting in the package between uses so it’s always a struggle to keep the needles from twisting while knitting.

I don’t know how much longer this shawl will take. It starts at a point and then grows and grows so now I’m at the point where it takes quite a bit of time just to get across one row. I feel like I’m knitting a blanket. Hopefully whoever gets it will appreciate the effort that’s going into it.

Karen

Moda Scrap Bags…Part 2.

Well I haven’t gotten the quilt top together but thought I’d post a couple pictures of the fabrics I dyed yesterday to use as backing and binding for the quilt. These were colours that I mixed up myself from primaries.

But first, from the Waldie kitchen…

Pantry organized with Tupperware modular mates.

I’ve gone full circle when it comes to Tupperware. When I first started out I thought it was the greatest thing but the problem is storing the stuff when it’s not in use as it does take up cupboard space. Now with all of the environmental concerns I’m trying to kick the Ziploc bag habit because I must admit that I’m a Ziploc bag junkie. Now I’ve gone back to the Tupperware containers and redone my kitchen pantry having about 2/3’s of it in modular mates. The idea being I will try to buy at the bulk food store and cut back on pre-packaged goods. To be honest it’s probably more expensive doing it this way but at least I’m doing my bit for the ecology and for once my pantry is organized instead of a big jumble of food.

I’ve also turned into a thrift store junkie. LOL, the idea behind this is at least if I’m going to buy something it’ll be recycled and less expensive to boot. Anyhow I’ve picked up a few older Tupperware pieces and one that I’ve lusted after came up for grabs at the local Value Village. It is the gelatin mold and I just had to try it out.

Jello and fruit mold using Tupperware.

And here are the pictures of the dyed material.

Lemon yellow MX-8G and turquoise MX-G.

Lemon yellow doesn’t like to play with other colours I don’t know why maybe it strikes first but this was supposed to be a green and white parfait but I guess I used to much dye so no white patches and the yellow seems to have settled out except in a couple of spots so now it looks like a lime green – yellow parfait but all is well since green and yellow are in the quilt top.

Orange created from lemon yellow and mixing red MX-5B.

This was paler to start off with. I ignored the little voice in my head that told me to double the amount of dye to get a deep bold orange so I ended up having to re-dye the piece. The orange in the first dye job matched but didn’t give the quilt that zing I wanted that the second dye job did.

Spring fever remnants with deep orange to be used for binding the quilt.

And the last photo is a piece of material that I dyed for one of my upcoming swaps that is an exchange of fat eighths using flower colours.

Dharma’s wisteria.

I admit that this photo isn’t true to colour in that it’s darker. It didn’t matter how I tinkered in Photoshop I couldn’t come up with the right shade. As far as I’m concerned wisteria is a purple flower and the colour sample on the Dharma site shows it as a light purple shade but twice now I’ve used this dye and it’s come up with being mainly a pale blue with hints of light purple undertones. Very pretty but not what I expected.

Karen

Moda Scrap Bags…Part 1.

I have to apologize for not keeping up with the blog lately. Aside from being very busy over the holidays the case of tinnitus I developed in August (antibiotics) has still been bothering me and I find that it gets worse on the computer so I’ve cut back the computer time compared to what I used to spend on it.

Anyhow thought I would share some goodies I ordered in the mail a couple of weeks ago. I cruise the fabric sites frequently, place my orders and then cancel them out as I realise I have way to much fabric and not enough time to use it all up but I have to admit that I’ve taken a fancy to the Moda pre-cuts because there is something about their line of fabrics that really appeals to me.

Long story short, I’m too cheap to buy the jelly rolls but I discovered a site Fabric Depot that gives a good discount on all of their fabric and pre-cuts and in the jelly roll section they have Moda Scrap Bags. These bags contain the waste ends of the bolts of fabric they use to make up their jelly rolls. There is a description of these bags on the sites that sell them so I won’t go into any detail but thought I’d post a few pictures.

Oooh, what goodies can be in here?

Love it when a retail site makes an effort to be efficient in packing items that will cost the customer less in shipping fees.

Moda scrap bag jelly rolls.

From the Spring Fever line by My Sister and Me for Moda. Not all of the fabric line colours are included in these end pieces. There are pinks, purples and turquoises as well. I didn’t bother to lay out all the strips, about 33 or just over 1/2 pound of fabric.

This scrap bag contained creams and beiges from three different lines maybe four, anyhow they all co-ordinated. Aster Manor, Parlour, Ferny and another.

This bag contained the same fabric lines as the creams above but had pinks, chocolate browns and reds. Also every strip was a different fabric just like a real jelly roll whereas the others had repeat fabrics. I can combine the two bags I think and get maybe a double-size quilt out of these two. I just need to figure out what my co-ordinating fabrics will be to make my blocks.

All in all I was very pleased with my three bags and will probably order another three. I’m working on a quilt using the Spring Fever bag and just have to finish putting it together and then binding it. Hopefully in a couple of days it will be done and I’ll post the finished quilt.

Karen

Post Christmas Fun…

Well once again I was too busy to get up a post wishing everyone a Merry Christmas so instead I’ll jump the gun and wish everyone a Happy New Year instead.

Christmas came early this year with my daughter, son-in-law and grandson coming to stay on Dec 22nd. We always have a great time when they come to visit; add in the two boys back from school, my other daughter, her partner and the boys girlfriends and you get a lively mix.

We’re a great family for playing board games but we like the ones where there is strategy involved so lots of competition to keep things lively. This year Jonathan brought along a jigsaw puzzle that was quite difficult so the various members were busy hunched over the table trying to fit in all the pieces. This is what they ended up with.

Chase likes to be held and to be part of the action but sometimes he also reaches a point where he just wants to be down on the floor and playing with his little jungle gym apparatus with the flashing lights that seem to endlessly entertain him. We all joke that he’s going to end up in the Casino entranced by the lights one day.

Chase on floor playing wearing the hat Grandma made him that somehow turned out to big despite knitting the gauge swatch.

Finally I did venture out with hubby into crowded malls yesterday to hit up Chapters (bookstore) to use up some of the gift card that John gave me for Christmas. This is what I found that appealed to me vbg.

The Joy of Sox by Linda Kopp.

Nicely laid out with a bit of humour to it. I like that it’s a binder and lies flat so when you go to use the book you don’t have to worry about the pages flipping or the spine being bent out of shape. Lots of tips in the book as well as some beautiful sock patterns.

Anyhow, lots went on at Christmas and of course I never think to take pictures until after the fact. I hope everyone else had a fantastic holiday as well.

Karen

Gifts from Afar.

Very stoked to find a parcel on the front porch the other day. I thought it was a couple of shirts I’d ordered online but it turned out to be a gift from my friend Catherine overseas in Australia. I hadn’t been expecting anything so was completely surprised to see it.

I debated about whether or not to save it for Christmas but was encouraged by Catherine to open it so being the strong-willed woman I am I caved vbg.

Catherine has a wonderful blog called Calidore and she is the most talented woman aside from being a fantastic wife and mother. Look what she made me:

Tea cosy made by Catherine.

I’d been thinking how I needed a tea cosy just last week while my husband and I were sitting at the table enjoying a pot but I despaired of finding time to make one at this time of year so how amazing that I got sent one in the mail and so beautiful as well. Catherine does her own spinning and the base is some beautiful alpaca that she spun. I would never make something so fancy for myself so I’m thrilled to get this.

And of course what else should you need aside from the tea cosy but some tea and biscuits to go with it:

Loose tea with yummy chocolate teddy bear biscuits.

I should mention that the tea cosy is a perfect fit, lol, better than the one I recently made. All in all a most marvellous gift, thanks Catherine.

I also finished a hat for baby Chase my grandson. The pattern is taken from a wonderful book called Baby Beanies – Happy Hats to Knit for Little Heads

“Pompom Bear” from Baby Beanies.

I’m not sure if it’s the right size but I can add to it if it’s too small and make it larger. Very easy to make it’s basically a tube sewn shut at the top with a couple of pompoms attached.

Karen

Grammie…

I’ve decided what the grandkids will call me, I’d figured on plain old grandma but then caught myself calling myself Grammie so I think I kind of like that. Anyway here’s another picture Jen took of me and baby Chase.

I bought some flannel to make some pj bottoms for Chase so we’ll see how that goes and I also bought some yarn on sale at Michaels. I don’t have any plans to knit anything right away but I’ve been hankering to try this yarn out. It’s “Baby Jacquards” by Bernat.

Self striping yarn from Bernat – Baby Jacquards.

I have a few projects in the works but nothing that’s pressing right at the moment, I’ll have to see what I come up with.

Karen

Bug Jar Quilt Finished.

Well here are a couple of pictures of the bug jar quilt finished. I was going to dye up some lime green to use as binding as I thought that would go well with the purple. When I went upstairs to the closet I noticed a lime green butterfly print. What could be more perfect – lime green with bugs!

Finished bug quilt front with lime green binding.

Finished quilt back with varigated purple/pink thread.

And of course Chase just had to check out his new blankie, heh, heh…

“Why Grandma, of course I like your blankie the best!”

Karen

Finished Christmas Tree Skirt.

It’s been busy the past couple of weeks and more so the last couple of days as we hosted the dinner for a progressive supper our “two-by-two” group from church put on. Lots of cleaning and putting up of Christmas themed decorations.

We put up the tree and I put the Christmas tree skirt I finished last week under it. So glad that this UFO was finally done. It took longer than I thought it would and the machine quilting took longer as well. By contrast the bug jar quilt that I’m finishing the binding on only took one day of machine quilting. Anyway here it is:

Christmas tree skirt from the “Thimbleberries Book of Quilts” by Lynette Jensen.

The only difference between my finished quilt and hers was different fabric choices and I added on a circular piece of fabric to make the skirt bigger. The original pattern went to the scalloped edge. The binding of course took forever to sew down.

Skirt under the tree waiting for presents.

Next on the list is finishing the binding on the bug jar quilt and I hope to have that finished tomorrow so I can post a couple of pictures of that as well. Then it’s on to other projects, time is flying by and running out even though I still have most of December left it feels like it’s too late to get stuff done. Happens every year this deadline kind of feeling.

Karen

Blue Baby Sweater

Well Jen finally sent me the pictures we took a couple of days ago featuring the blue baby sweater so I thought I’d post a couple of the photos. Really it’s all about the sweater…not…vbg.

Sweater knit in Bernat Soy Natural Blends. Pattern – Raglan Cardigan – from Baby Knits by Debbie Bliss.

It was very nice working with the Soy Natural Blends as it was very soft. I don’t know how it holds up in the wash but the finished sweater had a nice sheen to it. I found the pattern easy to work up although lots of loose yarn ends to tie in so a bit fussy that way. If you’re thinking of making this pattern be aware that the sweater works up to about the right size so if you’re wanting the baby to grow into it I’d choose the next size up from the baby’s actual size.

“Really grandma, the AC/DC concert was that good?”

And finally the best for last, two really cute guys

Grandpa never seems to get tired of holding Chase for some reason

That’s it for today, hopefully next time I blog it’ll be the Christmas tree skirt which I started ages ago. I’m not looking forward to the marathon session which will be sewing down the binding on this project.

Karen

Blue-Orange Colour Run

Thought I’d post the latest colour run that I did for a swap in my fabric dyeing forum group. The swap was a blue-orange colour run and the colours I choose were ProChem’s Intense Blue and Burnt Orange.

ProChem’s Intense Blue and Burnt Orange.

The idea of this swap was to create browns but as you can see I really only got one brown right next to the burnt orange primary. I’m thinking that the burnt orange is closer to a golden yellow than a strong orange. I really like the blue-green colour that’s next to the intense blue primary.

Here is a picture of the run with the fat eighth parfait I did with the leftover dyes.

Colour run with parfait.

I just mixed up some dried fruit and cherries with brandy to sit over-night. I’ll be making some fruitcakes tomorrow so we’ll see how this turns out. This is one bowl of fruit and I have another bowl that is similar but without the nuts for a different recipe that a friend gave me. I’m hoping these cakes work out as I spent a lot of money buying the ingredients. As is always the case it would have been cheaper to buy the fruitcake but I like my fruitcake without citrus peel so thought I’d give it a try cooking my own.

Mix for fruitcake.

I finally finished the little sweater I was working on for baby Chase but I forgot my camera at home and the pictures I took are on my daughter’s camera. I’ll post a couple of pictures when she sends them to me. The sweater just fit, he’s growing so quickly.

Karen