Knit Finishes

Last month, I finally finished both the CustomFit pullover and the Jeweled Cowl I’d been working on for many months. I started the cowl back in July and the sweater in September.

Jeweled Cowl is a really easy pattern. I didn’t have as many beads as the pattern calls for, so I just randomly placed 6 or 7 beads per bead row. The beads give it just a little sparkle. My company has Tuesday lunch knitting sessions because we’re awesome, and many of my coworkers were suitably impressed with knitting beads. I didn’t tell them how very, very easy it was.

CustomFit Scoop Neck Pullover is a great fitting sweater. I took all the necessary measurements required by CustomFit and it truly fits perfectly through the shoulders, bust, and waist. It was a little short when I tried it on after seaming all the pieces, so I picked up stitches along the bottom and knit several more inches. It’s still a little shorter than I would have liked but it fits well and I’ve worn it several times. I think it will get a lot of wear next winter!

Sweater now with wee bump!

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!

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!

Metro Rings is Done!

There it is, in all its glory, my complete Metro Rings. I think this is the best thing I’ve ever made, or at the very least, the best quilting I’ve ever done.

The quilting, first stitching in the ditch around the rings with my walking foot and then filling in the FMQ bits took all month, but it was so worth it in the end.

The grey borders are filled with a FMQ stipple, and the quilt is bound in the tangerine Modern Floral from Botanics.

I’m so glad this is done; I can’t wait to give it to my friends B&G, who are getting married next month. I’m linking this up with the Sew Kind of Wonderful Quick Curve Ruler linkup. This was also my ALOYF August goal, and I’m linking up there as well!

Finishing Metro Rings was one of my Q3 Finish Along goals and it looks like it’s the only one I’m going to complete!

Foxy Finish

Fields of Foxes is done, squeaked in juuuust under the Lovely Year of Finishes deadline (original goal post here). As in today was the last day to post the project, and I stitched up the binding last night. Fields of Foxes was a Craftsy workshop (project page here) and I really enjoyed the format and discussion.

A kind colleague at work helped me take these photos. She’s also a quilter, so she understands the need to document these things.

Fields of Foxes was also one of my goals for the Q2 Finish Along. Which means that I completed all of my goals this quarter! Frankly, I’m surprised I finished everything, because I feel like it was really busy! Next quarter will not be nearly as productive, but I am really excited about the projects I have planned!

Finished: Spring Stripes II

Spring Stripes II is quilted and finished!

My goal was to finish it by the end of April and I succeeded.  I also wanted to use a different quilting pattern for each block of color.  This wasn’t as easy, and I did duplicate some patterns a couple times (but never in the same row!).

Mod overlapping squares and railroad squiggles

Bubbles, thin echo squiggles, and flames

More bubbles and flowers and leaves (sorta hard to see)

By the end, I could really see improvement in my quilting. The first pattern I used was orange peels (tutorial by Oh, Fransson!), and I also quilted orange peels as one of the last blocks. The first stripe is tentative and hesitant, as I really hadn’t quilted anything but a stipple. The second stripe (below) looks a lot more even.

Triangles, wood grain sorta, second go at orange peels, and more mod overlapping squares

The back is Ikea SMÅBORRE fabric, which somehow, I managed to buy in exactly the right size. I love when things work that way and I appreciated how wide this stuff is. The binding is Emerald Kona, same as for Neptune, because that is what I had on hand. I like the pop of darker teal!

I enjoyed the exercise of quilting many patterns, and I think I added a couple of new designs to my arsenal.  I especially like the mod overlapping squares and the flowers and leaves patterns.  In fact, I’m planning on quilting Fortunate Granny with allover echo flowers!

This is my April finish post and I’m linking this post up with A Lovely Year of Finishes with Fiber of All Sorts and Sew BitterSweet Designs!

This is also my first finish for the Q2 Finish Along at The Littlest Thistle!

 

 

 

 

Just for fun and comparison, here’s Spring Stripes I, finished just about a year ago!

Finished Size: 53 x 64
Fabrics: Echo by Lotta Jansdotter for Wyndham, Kona Ash and Emerald, Ikea SMÅBORRE

Handspun Rye Socks

Here are my handspun Rye socks, finished on a day that looked like spring finally gave winter the ol’ boot. And then it snowed two inches this morning, because clearly we need more snow.

Rye is a free pattern from The Simple Collection, and it made for a quick, easy knit.

The yarn is Crown Mountain Farms Superwash Merino, spun 2-ply during my time in Oklahoma. I love seeing the colors transition and blend, and I am especially fond of that bright yellow stripe across one foot. When I spin, I dislike plying colors opposite each other on the color wheel (for example, plying green with purple) because it muddies the colors, but I really like the effect with complimentary colors.

I did have an issue with pesky ladders on the first sock, but I mostly solved that by moving stitches between needles during the garter stitch section to break up where the break between needles happened. It was a little tedious at first, but I got into a rhythm by the second sock. This might be a pattern better suited to being knitted on one or two circular needles so that the breaks can happen in the stockinette section instead of the garter stitch section.

Knitting notes (stitch counts, etc) can be found on my Ravelry page.

Finished Neptune!

Neptune is finished finished finished! I’m so very pleased with this quilt. I’ve seen my sewing skills improve over the course of making it – things like accurate piecing, matching points and corners, and general confidence.

Every time I get in bed, the corner flips back to reveal the happy frolicking kitties on the Lizzy House fabric, and I smile. I think it is very important to smile before you go to bed; this kitty fabric was therefore a very wise decision.

Yes, to get this shot, I was standing on top of our dresser, holding the camera as far back as I could. I wish it were just a smidge longer on the the sides, as I’m a complete blanket hog, but I love it, it is done, and it really brightens up our room. My husband, he of beige and navy bedding, walked in while I was taking this, took a long look, and then told me that I make him less boring. That’s winning, I suppose.

And I finished my Lovely Year of Finishes goal!

Stats
Size: 72″ × 90″
Pattern: Sugar Block Club 2013, Traveling Star, assorted blocks from Vintage Quilt Revival
Quilting: All over stipple on my Juki
Fabric: Kona Poseidon bundle + a few extra Kona solids in pink, purple, blue, and yellow for the front and Lizzy House Catnap on the back

Green, Green Almondine

My green, green Almondine socks, begun last fall, are finished! Here’s how they looked as of yesterday morning.

Not bad. Sidenote: The color of these socks is a lot lighter than in the pic above; it was inside and darkish when I took that. At that point, only 1.5 repeats and a toe to knit, which I finished up last night!

After the size issues I had with the first sock, I knit the other at 70 stitches, and it is still plenty stretchy, and I had plenty of yarn to complete the second sock.

As always, Anne Hanson’s pattern is clear, well-written, and offers several sizes. The lace panel is a 10 stitch repeat that is pretty logical – I memorized it fairly quickly.

This leaves me with nothing on the needles a conundrum. What should I cast on next? I’ve gotten holes in a couple of my pairs of handknit socks recently (it’s been a long, cold winter, yo) so clearly I need more socks.

Do I CO Primavera in this orange handspun?

Another pair of Sleepy Hollows in this gorgeous chartreuse (omg cashmere)?

Or something else entirely? What do you think?

Triangle Constellations

You guys, Triangle Constellations is finished! And sweet sister in law, avert your eyes again! I sewed on the binding this morning and then got my husband to hold the quilt (in the snow).

I’m so, so pleased with this. I used a full FQ bundle of Lizzy House’s Constellations fabric, plus Pearl Bracelets in Grape Jelly and Juniper. The triangles were originally 7″ and the finished quilt is 68″ by 56.”

The binding is Pearl Bracelet in Meyer Lemon – I think it gives it a little zip!

The back is the Bouquet print from Flea Market Fancy in turquoise edged with Pearl Bracelet in Hiho Silver. I’ve used FMF in a couple projects and the fabric has such a nice hand to it.

Triangle Constellations was sewn and quilted entirely on my new Juki and the finished product is so nice! I’m proud that this is my first finished quilt of 2014. I hope my SIL likes it!