Trifecta

All three quilts are pieced!
The ssewing went well for all of them;
I even had enough of the paintbrush fabric for borders on the churn dash quilt!
Now to find new ideas for the piecing frenzy to continue!

Blues in Flight

 Off the frame and even bound!

Apple Core has been completed!

 The quilting is a simple flower and butterfly done by pantograph.

 My new labels!

The quilt is now marked as from my studio!

I used some hand dyed fabric for the binding--the colors are much more complex in person.

And the mailbox had one little addituon or more accurately a resubmission!!!

I wasn't happy with the butterfly I painted initially.  It was all wrong.

I am much happier with this one which looks to be painted from a grown-up and not a child! lol

Mostly Yarn

 I've pieced all of the Churn Dash blocks...now to assemble them.  

Today, I will see if I have enough of the paint brush fabric for a border!

This isn't the final layout, it is just the order I built them and put them on the wall.

Already the patriotic quilt is calling to me!

 Isn't this a pretty pair of sock toes?  I am knitting in the Hermione pattern for texture on this pair.

I will up the ante and see how I do with them!

This yarn is another skein of Regia in Native color this time.  

It is a nice dusky red like the colors in the Grand Canyon.

 I also knit a swatch in SilverSpun yarn which was gifted me when I first came home from the hospital.  It is a wonder to be so loved!  This yarn needs to be knit in a larger needle so I had to figure out how many stitches I needed to cast on.  I've got the info I need now to cast on only 44 stitches instead of the usual 64 so these should be on my feet in no time!

This yarn is supposed to be great for people with neuropathy and circulation problems so I've got the perfect pair of feet for these socks!

 Look what I finished spinning!

This 2 ounce skein has 122 yards and is very lofty.  

I will be washing these three Cotswold cross skeins and the Polwarth skeins I spun months ago because it will be a perfect wool drying day! 

While I still want to dye 2 of the 3 skeins and use them on the loom, I haven't made any definite plans.  I will just enjoy looking at them washed , dried and filled with possibilities!

An Old Pattern

Remember the basket of ripped out sock blanket yarn (the Northeasterly)?

The yarn balls are all of doubled yarn and I wasn't going to try to separate them!

For a change, I pulled out this old pattern.

I am thoroughly enjoying the quilt-i-ness of this blanket!

I'm knitting with the doubled yarn and # 7 needles.

It has a page you can copy so you can  keep track of where you are 

since you do not just knit this in rows!

Socks for Sunday!

Another pair of socks in a simple toe-up design.

KnitPicks Stroll yarn

#2.5 needles

On to the next socks....

Cutting Up!

Recently, I found this vintage fabric, it is 100% cotton, 35" wide.

The graphic design and modern looking colors really appealed to me!

There is only one yard so I had to decide how to use it well.

I had though to cut it up with the Accuquilt but when I cut out the center

square of the Churn Dash block, 

it was too small for the design and I lost the

paint brushes!

So I cut them all out myself after a little bit of math.

The finished block is 12" instead of 9";

not a big increase but now just right!

Here is the first block all assembled!

The pile sits by my sewing machine so I can stitch one up in no time! 

Since I was on a roll, I pulled the left over fabric from my last QOV 

and only cut out a few more

white squares to round out the design.  

This will be a large lap quilt when completed.

I also came across a few fat quarters of boy prints-fish, rockets, trains, planes and firetrucks!

I used plain black as the alternating blocks.

Now to get stitching!

Stitching in the Studio

 

 Now that the mailbox knitting and painting is finished,

I wanted to wrap up some unfinished business in the studio!

The little quilt that I cut out for this QAL on April 20th and just took off the frame!

(it is 22" x 26")  A Carpenter's Star.

 The labels I ordered months ago arrived in time to sew into the binding of this one!

The quilt will be donated.

 So I couldn't wait to load up the apple core block quilt.

It is nice to be doing a pantograph because I struggled

with the free motion of the in tinier spaces on the mini-quilt!

This old dinosaur takes a bit more muscle than I have right now!

By the time I am finished, I will be much stronger!

I even began some quilting of butterflies and flowers.

The anti-cat-hammock Contac papter is in place.....just in case of a roaming marauder!

FEELIN' GROOVY!

 I hope you're singing!

  I present to you the colorful and happy mailbox art!

 The back side of the box.  

(Even though the mail people don't see this side, I wanted everyone to be able to see color, too.)

I had fun coloring a whole spiral and then covering it with the black 

and doing what is called negative painting.  

I struggle with wrapping my head around it but the numbers are

 legible and was a good brain exercise!

I hope to make a lot of smiles on my road!

And if you need help knowin' the words to the song....

I will help you out!

Slow down, you move too fast

You got to make the morning last

Just kicking down the cobblestones

Looking for fun and feeling groovy

Ba da-da da-da da-da, feeling groovy

Hello lamppost, what'cha knowing

I've come to watch your flowers growin'

Ain't you got no rhymes for me?

Doo-ait-n-doo-doo, feeling groovy

Ba da-da da-da da-da, feeling groovy

I got no deeds to do, no promises to keep

I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep

Let the morningtime drop all its petals on me

Life, I love you, all is groovy

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Paul Simon

The 59th Street Bridge Song lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Getting Close

 I hung another thread rack 

and played with organizing the different polyester threads used for embroidery.

Now that they are all in one place, I will be able to find the color I want, you think?!

At the bottom of one bin, I found this!

After all of these years, it is still good!

You know what it is?

I held it in my hand and warmed it and remembered the feel of it in my fist....

I've been doing a lot of this and it is getting close to the finish line.

I still have to work on the garage and add my parents in sneaky places!

Of all the places to nap, Lena has decided that the seat I use to sit in while I paint

is the only one she wants to nap on! 

 The minute I get up for something, she jumps right up and settles in!

From Linen to Line-in!

 I knew I didn't keep those old linens for nothing!

I like to transport my Kindle Fire 10" from room to room as I listen to a book.

It's not always remembered or convenient as I do morning chores.

So I decided to make a tote for it so it would be a hands-free mobility!

 I stitched and turned it right side out and....

Ta-Da!  I have a tote to carry the Kindle and keep my listen on the go!

Add Color!

 Look who we saw early in the morning!!!

They came right up to the back patio door 

asking for cracked corn!

All three together is a very good thing;

the 'chick' is an adolescent now-

adult plumage except for the red head-that's the last bit of coloring

to be added!

Speaking of color, look at my mailbox!

The mail lady came as I was stitching the last of the stitches

and I apologized for covering up the numbers nailed to the post

and she said not to worry--that they all knew which one it was now! lol

I will be painting the old black box in the 60's style today!

Highs and Lows!

 We started yesterday with a visit from the tree-trimming man! 

 He really soared high!

We hired him to cut the middle out of this tree so that it didn't hang over the house and block the afternoon sun from the pool area, too!

 Bill cleaned up all of the branches and leaves and you can see how much more open the tree is.

A good few hours' work!

 Meanwhile, I was making a mess of things!  

When things go well, they go very well but when they go poorly, they turn really foul!

 I threaded a circular needle way under the mess and then unraveled what  was above the needle.

It is in the naughty bucket!

 I had a better time loading the little carpenter's wheel wall hanging (doll blanket)

and began quilting it.  Nice and easy stuff-I draw the lines on the quilt and then stitch them!

 I finished plying the Cotswold singles-

and ended up with a skein of 216 yards of fingering?  DK?  

This fiber is still a bit greasy so when I wash it, 

it will most likely bloom a lot.

I still have 2 ounces to spin in a small to dye so I will have natural and dyed to play with in the future.

I hope you had a good Saturday, too!

Searching, Alas

 

 Searching through all of my likely and unlikely places for the thread, 

I managed to clean out some areas--like this pile of quilt magazine.

I will bring them to a friend who wants to learn how to quilt--

she's getting her first sewing machine this week!

 I was so frustrated trying to find the thread I worked myself up and had to go and distract myself often-I worked on the front of the blue sweater on the knitting machine

 I thought about going to do more on the mailbox but stalled.

 I knit up a swatch for the new cotton sweater--does it look blue, grey or green to you?!

And finally late in the day,

I admitted defeat and pinned the border in place on the long sides, too,

and I stitched them down with a small blanket stitch in blue rayon thread.

It looks okay.

I will like it better when I get over the angst of losing the first choice thread!