Sweet Red Bunting

First Christmas project finished, first gifted, second blogged about. Or something? In any case: Sweet Red Bunting is finished!

I’ve had my eye on this little cardigan for a while, perhaps even before there was a sweet niece in existence. And it’s been so long since I’ve finished a knit project with a modicum of success. Like most of my knit projects lately, this one has had some ups and downs. Back in September, I CO using a completely different yarn – the lovely Dirty Water Dyeworks Bertha (hello 10% cashmere, I do love you). The swatch was just lovely and would also probably felt in a hot second when exposed to an infant. So Bertha is destined to be a Lucy sweater, not a niece sweater. WEBS provided a much more sensible niece sweater yarn (Berocco Comfort DK, machine wash and dry!) and I cast on on December 6th.

All was gravy until I hit the bunting section. I’ve knit colorwork in the round before using the two-handed stranding technique, which works fine for knitting, but Sweet Bunting is knit flat. This means that at the end of the row, the work is turned and I had to purl back. Which required learning two new skills: two-handed purling and learning to purl Continental (I knit English).

Let’s just say that I was very, very dubious that the stranded section had the necessary stretch to fit. And then the shoulder portion looked far too long in my eyes. I tried to trust the pattern and I tried to remember that blocking cures a multitude of sins, but I still had many doubts.

But it fit! And I consider this fact to be this year’s second Christmas miracle.

A Christmas Quilting Miracle

It’s a Christmas Quilting Miracle, you guys. Huge Secret Project (aka Metro Rings II – yes, I did make another one!) is finished. I’m still not exactly sure how. I remember quilting the first one, which took a literal month. And this one was quilted in a matter of days and finished on Christmas Eve.

Let’s back up a bit. I’ve wanted to make my parents a quilt for a while now. It was their 40th anniversary in September, and while my ducks weren’t in a row enough to make it then, I wanted to make something for Christmas.

There’s 35 different fabrics in the ring segments in shades of blue, green, and indigo with a few pops of red and orange and gold. My parents like to hike and birdwatch together, so I used a lot of botanical and bird prints. All of the fabric for the top came from my stash and I used several favorites (hello Tula Pink!).

I quilted parallel lines within the rings and almond sections but left out the FMQ. The large white segments within the rings have some petals and a little star in the middle.

The binding is Netorious from Cotton + Steel and the backing (not pictured, as it was raining) is a super wide purple, blue, and teal batik.

We opened presents with my parents last night and my mom cried when she opened this one. I’m glad she likes it, and I’m glad I finished it and didn’t have to gift it with pins in.

Finishing Metro Rings II was my December ALOYF goal and one of my Finish Along Q4 goals– hooray! It is done!

Here’s hoping you and yours are having a wonderful holiday season filled with light and love. I know I sure am!

Books and Cookies

Nine days until Christmas. The giftmaking is coming along swimmingly with only a little fear that I’ll be wrapping something with needles still in. Since I don’t have any photos to show, I’ve decided to share an old family cookie recipe with you.

Growing up, my family had a small celebration on Czech Saint Nicholas day, Mikuláš (pronounced “MIK-a-losh”). Grandma would often send a big box of homemade treats, including rolacky nut horns, kolacky (puff pastry with a dollop of fruit), houska (sweet yeast bread sort of like challah), nuts, and fruit. I was thinking about Grandma’s cookie boxes recently, and decided to make kolacky for my company’s cookie swap! Here’s the recipe, in case you want to try something that tastes like my childhood.

Great-Grandmother’s Easy Kolacky (KO-latch-key, makes about 3 dozen, depending on cookie size)
Ingredients:
1 package rapid-rise yeast
4 tbsp sour cream
1 egg yolk

2 cups flour
½ lb butter (2 sticks)
¼ tsp salt

1 can Solo fruit filling (prune or apricot are suggested. Solo fruit filling is found in the Baking Needs aisle of the grocery store, usually on the bottom shelf and possibly a little dusty. Grandma also would send poppy seed and cheese; I never liked poppy seed and didn’t remember cheese until my mom triggered my memory)

Powdered sugar for dusting

In a small bowl, mix the yeast, sour cream, and egg yolk until combined.

In the bowl of your food processor, pulse the flour, butter, and salt until combined. Alternatively, you could use a pastry cutter or a knife and chop until combined. If using a food processor, pour the butter/flour mixture into a big bowl. Add the yeast and sour cream and mix with your hands until you have a shaggy dough and all flour is incorporated. The mixture can be refrigerated for an hour if it gets sticky.

Roll dough out onto a well-floured surface to ¼ inch thick. Use a 1-2 inch glass to cut round cookies of dough and place on cookie sheet. Using your thumb or the back of a spoon, make an indent in the center of each cookie. Scoop a little fruit filling into the indent (½ to 1 tsp, depending on how big cookies you cut) and smear the filling a little.

Bake at 375 for 12 minutes; cookies will be a little golden brown on the bottom and will have poofed up a bit. Dust liberally with powdered sugar and enjoy!

I’ve also been reading a bunch while on the T (and getting really good at reading while standing on a moving train) and here’s my stack:

It’s nice to have time each day to read a little bit!

Basting and Business

The giant secret quilt is basted! I gotta hand it to my Kwik Klip thingy, the last time I pin basted a quilt this big, my fingers were sore for two days. I’ve been staring at the folded top on my projects pile for days, getting up the nerve to do the necessary living room rearrangement that pin basting takes. This is a big project, and I’d really like to finish it by Christmas (thus making it my ALOYF December goal, as well as one of my Finish Along goals).

In other news, there’s still time to enter my little 3-year blogiversary giveaway! Enter for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate to Hawthorne Threads!

And it is (the end of) WIP Wednesday, so I’m linking up with Freshly Pieced.

Gathering Flowers and a Giveaway!

Happy First Day of December and happy Monday after Thanksgiving, American friends.  I am thankful for having the last few days to relax; starting a new job is tiring, yo!

The lovely, long Thanksgiving holiday also gave me a chance to finish the sweet Gathering Flowers quilt for my new baby cousin!

The back is a whack of the seahorse print from the collection Full Moon Lagoon by Mo Bedell for Andover, framed with the leftover solids from the petals. Perfect for a sunny Florida baby, yes?

The floral block motif is echoed by an allover little daisy free-motion quilting pattern.

WordPress kindly reminded me that today is my 3 year blogiversary. Hooray! To celebrate, I’m having a little giveaway for a $30 gift certificate to one of my favorite online fabric stores, Hawthorne Threads.

To enter, just leave a comment! Followers get a second entry; just comment a second time and let me know how you follow.

This giveaway is open to everyone, but if you’re a no-reply blogger, please make sure I have a way to contact you in case you win! I will draw a winner on December 8th and contact you via email.

The giveaway is now closed! Congratulations, Barbara Woods

It’s been a real joy to chat about what I make in this space and I’m thankful for you and the crafty maker blogosphere.   Here’s to many more years of turning fabric and yarn into quilts and woolens!

Adventures with Hat

I made a hat two weeks ago. I’ve been thinking about this hat for many years, since I don’t usually knit hats for myself, as I have the unfortunate tendency to look about twelve years old in most hats. But this hat, made from a gorgeous See Jayne Knit handspun bulky single languishing in my stash for nearly 5 years, would be different. It would envelop my face in a slouchy, wooly embrace and make me look cool and artsy and not at all like a mushroom.

After one or two false starts, I settled on a version of the
Zombie Killer Slouch by Luciana Young. And by “version” I mean that I skimmed the pattern and the stitch counts, cast on, and then did my own thing from there. And last Friday, I cast off just before my Father-in-law arrived to whisk my husband and I off to the airport on an adventure.

You see, I needed a new hat because I went to Iceland. In November. When the average temperature is in the 40s* and the weather report says rain. And it doesn’t get light until 10 AM and it gets dark at 5 PM. A new hat is needed for these conditions.

The hat proved itself to be an excellent travel companion. It was perky and bright on the first morning in Reykjavik, where we wandered the empty city in near-darkness, fueled by coffee.

It provided a shield from waterfall mist and kept me warm and mostly dry.

Even when we went behind a waterfall.

The hat very much enjoyed seeing a geyser and hot springs.

And enjoyed wistfully staring out to sea.

The hat feared being felted, so merely observed the Blue Lagoon from a safe distance.

The hat even got to see two shooting stars and the Northern Lights! (And yes, that is me and the hat in the foreground! Thanks to tour guide Helgi at Reykjavik Excursions!)

The trip was capped off (oh ho ho, throwing a little pun in there) by a visit to the Giantess in the Mountain.

All in all, the hat and I had a truly marvelous trip to Iceland and we’re hoping to return some day!

(But please don’t tell hat that I’m hoping to return in the summer!)

*Truthfully, the weather in Iceland was warmer than the weather in Boston during our trip.

Gathering Flowers Top

I spent some time sewing today after being away for the last few days (post on adventures to follow later this week once I sort through the pictures; if you follow my Instagram you already know where I’ve been!) and I managed to finish the Gathering Flowers top!

The curved seams for the flower centers and flower petals went OK. The background fabric is a bit puckery in places but I’m going to quilt the heck out of it with an allover floral or swirl and call it good. AMH’s tips within the pattern on how to press the curve seams were great and give the petals an embossed look.

The background fabric makes sweet pinwheels where the blocks come together. Fun! Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Bouquet of Geraniums

After sewing up a Geranium dress for my adorable niece, I got it in my mind to sew up four more for three friends who have little girls.

First, a pair of Geraniums for a pair of sisters. I wanted to use fabric from the same collection and really liked the florals from Beyond the Backyard by Jane Farnham for Camelot Cottons.

Big Sister got a tunic-length Geranium with cap sleeves and a pleated skirt with pockets and little sister got a sleeveless dress with a gathered skirt. I lined each dress with the opposite fabric for a little pop of coordination and both dresses had a U-notch neckline.

I also made another toddler size for my grad school roommate’s daughter. One of the first things I learned about Sarah was that she knew how to forage for fruit and mushrooms, so the woodsy print from Helen’s Garden by Tamara Kate was a perfect fit. This dress also has little yellow flower buttons.

The last dress was for a friend from high school and college’s new baby girl. She had peonies in her wedding bouquet, so I thought this Pat Bravo Poetica print was spot-on.

I hope these dresses are worn and enjoyed by my small friends! Finishing these was one of my Q4 Finish Along goals!

Gathering Flowers Blocks

I’ve been unemployed this week; my previous job wasn’t a great fit for me in many ways. I’ve had huge plans to spend these days sewing, cooking, cleaning, knitting, jogging, and pondering my very existence and worth as a person. Unemployment does that to you. In any case, it probably won’t last long, as I start a new job on the 24th. New adventure ahoy!

One of the main things I’ve been working on is a Gathering Flowers quilt for a new baby cousin. The nursery colors are pink, green, and blue, which will be the petal colors, and the inner wedges will be a mix of prints.

Gratuitous shot of nearly-perfect points; the other blocks aren’t as perfect.

Usually, I don’t gravitate towards this color palette, but I’m enjoying working with these darling colors. I hope my cousins enjoy the finished quilt!

Gathering Flowers Fabric

My cousins are expecting a sweet baby girl next spring, and my grandmother has asked me to make a quilt for her first great granddaughter. The nursery will be done in happy, springy colors: pink, sky blue, and apple green. She picked Anna Maria Horner’s Gathering Flowers pattern and I pulled this fabric.

I’m debating about the background pink mosaic print – it looked much paler online. It will alternate with Kona White, but is it too busy? I may alternate with some other low volume prints in my stash a la this Gathering Flowers made by Cindy at Hyacinth Quilt Designs. Thoughts?

In other projects, all of my secret block segments have been cut and now the trimming begins!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced