Knitting tote.

I am a big fan of the Missouri Star Quilt Company and their tutorials. It’s the only tutorial that I’m signed up for through youtube so every time a new tutorial gets posted I get a link.

The latest tutorial caught my eye as it was for a quick and easy tote. I’d been thinking of making a tote bag to carry all my knitting supplies and I have a few books that are for making quilted bags but this tutorial looked so easy I had to give it a go. Tote bag tutorial

Instead of using charm squares as in the tutorial I decided to use one of my Moda scrap bags that have been sitting in my drawer forever. I only used about 1/3 of the bag so it doesn’t take much. I also wanted a larger bag that would hold my spindles and knitting needles and my plastic art bin. I decided to add a pocket to the lining as well. The pocket has four openings that are open at the bottom so the spindles and knitting needles can slide down to the bottom of the bag. I guess I could just have made a longer pocket but I only had a smaller piece of fabric left over so that’s what I used. The other sections of the pocket are sewn shut and hold the smaller needles and ruler.

Tote made from Moda scrap bag.

Hand-dyed lining with pocket to hold spindles, Knitting needles, double-pointed needles, circular needles, ruler. Bag has plenty of room for my plastic art bin tote and lots of yarn/fibre.

Front view of bag loaded with gear and ready to go. I’m thinking of putting in a snap as a fastener to close it up a bit so stuff won’t fall out.

All in all a very quick tote to make and I made it using fabric that had been hanging around the house for a few years. Even the batting was leftover pieces that I sewed together to fit the bag so I’m well pleased.

Karen

Riding the Rails.

Done at last after spending three days of six hours each I’ve finally finished. Amazing what a deadline will do I still can’t believe I managed to finish sewing the binding down in one day. I’m surprised my elbows and fingers didn’t fall off.

Anyway here it is, pardon the pictures but it was very overcast and then I just slapped the quilt overtop a queen size bed without making sure it was all straight and pretty. Hopefully it will make one little grandson very happy. He recently moved into a new room and the walls were painted with the light blue and green from this quilt and he picked out the fabric for the backing, (which I forgot to take a picture of), so hopefully he remembers all this.

Riding the Rails by Renae Lindgren for Wilmington Prints.

The backing is the same green that is around the center block. The quilting was mostly in the ditch using a walking foot. There was some free-motion quilting done in the blocks and banner. Nothing special but the quilt seem to call for a lot of straight quilting and it was the quickest way to get it done quickly as well. It’s a big relief to get it done on time.

Karen

Chinese coin quilt.

I finally finished up the binding on my Chinese coin quilt today so thought I’d post a picture. The quilt looks a bit washed out. I’d thought that photographing it in the sun outside would make it look vivid but I guess I was wrong. Anyhow, this is one instance where the quilt looks better in person than in the photo.

I’ve made this quilt before, it’s from the Jelly Roll Quilts book by Pam & Nicky Lintott and is called Bars of Gold but the common name for this pattern is Chinese Coin and I’m sure there are probably other names for the pattern as well.

The quilt used one jelly roll and I used Kate Spain’s “Terrain” collection. The backing was a batik that was on sale at Hancocks of Paducah. I had ordered co-ordinating backing but when I finally got around to laying out the quilt I realized that I had been short-shipped the four yards and by that time the fabric had all sold out. Hancocks did replace the one piece but it taught me a lesson that I need measure out the fabric that I order not just make sure that the pieces are shipped. The 4 yards of fabric is such a big piece of fabric I didn’t realize that I’d only been shipped 3.6 yards instead.

Chinese coin quilt, fabric Terrain by Kate Spain. Finished size 67″ x 70″ big enough for a queen-sized bed topper.

I like the size of this quilt because in the summer it gets hot but I’m the type of person who can’t get to sleep unless there is a cover over me so the quilt is big enough to cover the surface of the mattress but small enough that my feet can hang out the ends to cool off.

Next project in the works is a train quilt for my grandson called Riding the Rails fabrics by Renae Lindgren of Wilmington fabrics.

Karen

Baby Quilt.

Just finished the binding on a baby quilt that I’ve been working on for a friend’s first grandchild. The quilt is a familiar one that I’ve done before using turnover precuts. The tutorial is put out by the Missouri Star Quilt company and is their Whack N Stack quilt.

The material I used was “Snippets” by Moda designer American Jane. It’s has a retro 30′s feel to it with some of the fabrics having little paper doll designs on it.

Closeup of pinwheel, machine quilted with hearts in the pinwheel and meandering stitch inbetween pinwheels.

Karen

Cat In The Hat Quilt – Finished!

Finally it’s done, over finished, yeah!!!

Some photos but given the overcast day they aren’t that good. I tried to show the quilting but it was hard.

Quilt on double bed. I couldn’t back up far enough to get it all in.

Border shot to show the binding. This stripe really brightened the quilt especially in the border against the navy.

One shot trying to show the stitching. I used thread to blend in with the background so it’s hard to pick out.

Another block showing the quilting.

I’m so glad this is finally over. I angsted over what thread to use but ended up just doing a meandering stitch with a background colour trying not to stitch over the drawings in the main blocks but quilting around the pictures. I used matching thread in the bobbin because I didn’t want any darker colour coming up and showing through on the top. The back isn’t pretty but it doesn’t look that bad either. First I used navy thread to quilt around all of the blocks to anchor them down before doing the quilting inside the blocks.

Karen

Thimbleberry Table Runner.

Well procrastination is my middle name. I’ve finally gotten around to blogging this little item. I bought the kit two years ago at a craft show in downtown Toronto. I love Thimbleberries fabric so when trying to find something at the show I settled on the Bearpaw table runner (Lodge and Lakeside fabric).

It ended up being a UFO as I decided to hand quilt the project and it sat for quite a while beside by my chair until I finally tackled it and got the rest of it done in one week. I don’t know why but it seems I lose interest in something only to pick it up later and finish it off in a short time – procrastination I guess.

Thimbleberries Bearpaw table runner in the Lodge and Lakeside fabric line. I’ve just realized that you can’t see the hand quilting of which there is quite a lot but I’m too lazy to take and insert another picture, oh well.

Speaking of procrastination I’m finally quilting together the Dr. Seuss quilt after I don’t know how many months of it sitting there as well. The quilt is big and it’s very heavy due to the wonky blocks being fused on top of the background blocks. That doesn’t make sense but trust me on this the quilt is heavy and awkward to handle.

Hand-dyed backing for the Dr. Seuss quilt. I can’t remember the dye but I think it’s navy by Dharma.

Quilt on kitchen table waiting to be pinned together.

Pinned quilt under the machine being quilted together.

Normally it takes me a couple of days to sew the quilt together once I get going but this is such a struggle I think I’ll be just working on several rows a day instead. Once I get the rows sewn I’ll work on the inside of the quilt blocks probably just meander and stipple stitching to set off the characters. I’ll be glad when this one is done. Then I have to start on the wedding quilt for Jonathan and Corina which is this December. I’ve already warned Jonthan that it might not get done on time.

Meanwhile I’ve been alternating some knitting with the quilting. I love to knit but have found lately that if I work too many hours at once I get pain in my shoulder so I’m knitting in chunks rather than huge blocks of time.

Karen

I’m off…

We’re off tomorrow to go on holiday out to British Columbia to visit my brother and his family in Vancouver and then John and I will be seeing my mom and dad who live on Vancouver Island in the town of Nanaimo.

We will arrive in Vancouver sleep overnight and then drive down with my brother and his wife to Seattle, sleep overnight there and then take a flight down to San Fransico for three days before heading back home to Vancouver. It should be an interesting trip, I’m hoping the knee holds up and I don’t slow people down with the sight-seeing. I bought new shoes so pray they will help.

Meanwhile I finished the quilt for my sister-in-law yesterday and Jen’s hubby Phil took a picture for me. He’s a camera buff and always brings the proper equipment and lighting so these turned out nice.

Chinese coin quilt.

Hand-dyed backing from 108″ PFD fabric.

Karen

Cottage time and quilts.

I’ve been away to two different cottages this past month and a good time was had by all. We went to our friend’s cottage up in the Parry Sound area – about a 30/40 minute ride by boat from the Parry Sound harbour. Lovely cottage and a fabulous way to spent a holiday during one of the hottest weeks of the summer. Here are a couple of pictures of the grands.

Little angels asleep in bed having a nap, grandma’s boys.

Grandma’s girl playing with her toys.

In the water with grandma having a great time. The hats kept off the deer and horse flies.

Next we went up to John’s sister and brother-in-law’s cottage to help celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. A great time, tons of food and lots of visiting of relatives. I don’t have any pictures but I do have a picture of a small table topper I made as a gift.

Table topper made with designer “Kansas Troubles” -Winter- line of fabrics. The pattern idea was courtesy of a tutorial put out by the Missouris Quilt company and Jenny. I’d made the whack and stack quilt from another tutorial and had these left-over trianges so used them to make the table topper. Most of the fabrics are from the designer line with the exception of a few beige triangles and the borders.

Close-up of table topper.

I have another project that I’m currently working on. I made this quilt using the pattern “Bars of Gold” from Pam & Nicky Lintott’s book “Jelly Roll Quilts”.

One of the common names for the pattern is chinese coins. I used a roll of Philip Jacob’s florals and then the purple broadcloth for the rows in between. The borders were slightly larger than what was called for in the book. I could have used a different colour than the purple but it really did set the fabrics off better. Philip Jacob puts out material that is very like Kaffe in that he has some very vivid colours.

Karen

Dr Seuss Cat in the Hat Quilt

Well I’ve finally finished the top to the Dr Seuss quilt and I also dyed the backing (plain navy blue) so all that is left is to quilt it and bind the edges, lol, not bad for having been a Christmas quilt.

Quilt on a double bed.

Another view from the foot of the bed, it was really hard to take a picture because there wasn’t room for me to back up as I have a ton of stuff in this room while I’m repainting the next room over.

I also dyed a parfait for a swap with the forum I belong too. It took forever for the dye to wash out as the turquoise in the marine green just ran and ran.

Berry, Eggplant and Marine green. This picture looks nicer than the actual piece. The image on my camera was a bit duller than reality but when I colour corrected the photo the editor put in more contrast so imagine this photo a bit duller and you have the real colours. I guess I should have used a green with more yellow in it and then colours would have looked nicer, live and learn I guess. Probably an olive green would have matched better.

Karen

Freebird Done!

Well it’s been a while since I last posted I’m afraid to look at the date. We went on a 7-day cruise to the eastern Caribbean with our daughter her husband and baby Chase and a good time was had by all. I’d post a few pictures but they’re still on my hubby’s camera, sorry.

Meanwhile after much procrastination I finally finished one of the Christmas quilts that I hadn’t quilted – the one made with the fabric from designer Momo’s Freebird line.

Lap quilt made using Momo’s “Freebird” fabric.

The lap quilt measures up 59 inches by 67 inches and was made using three charm packets and one jelly roll. The block was made by surrounding a charm square by strips from the jelly roll and then matching borders and backing to finish. Very easy using the pre-cuts I must say but it would be just as easy cutting your own material as well.

Quilt showing the backing material as well. Jonathan`s fiance picked out the backing material after she`d opened the quilt at Christmas so part of the reason it took so long to do was just waiting for the fabric to cross the border.

And while I was working on the quilt I happened to run across some mill ends of yarn in one of the local stores. I’m a sucker for mill ends because they normally cost around $5 to $6 a bag for a pound of yarn. Now you have to take what you get and sometimes you can get some strange bits in there but for the most part you’re getting about four to five balls worth of yarn for the price you’d pay for one ball.

So what to do with this lot of three bags, well I decided to make an afghan and since I didn’t want to put a whole lot of work into it I decided to crochet huge granny squares. I have two left to do before I join the whole thing together.

Dark purple, mauve and varigated granny squares.

This afghan will be international since I worked on it not only at home but in the Toronto Pearson airport, Miami Florida airport and on the cruise ship where we visited the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Peurto Rico and Grand Turk, Caicos.

I’m hoping to get the squares done today and then I’ll start in on joining them all. I’ll post a picture when it’s all done.

Karen