Lots of Snowmen

    I made the rest of the snowmen ornaments and used up every inch of the white felted wool I bought.   Very little waste on this project and I love these guys.  There are twenty three of them.  I made two banners of ten snowmen each with some bakers twine and they are hanging in my living room.  The other three are standing with my trees in my dining room.  So much fun.

The First Afghan I Ever Made

   I made a black, white and grey acrylic granny ripple afghan for my big brother in 1983.  I bought the pattern and the acrylic yarn at my local JoAnn's Fabrics.  I had not made anything as big as an afghan before and I always forget about this one when I think about old projects.  I asked my brother to take this picture the other day so I could document my first big project with a crochet hook.  He loves this afghan and I love him for using it and loving it all these years.

Summer Holidays Are Upon Us

  We have three lovely summer holidays coming up.  Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day.  They all deserve some patriotic decorations.  I made my whole family some patriotic hanging dish towels and I have gifted them now, so I can show them off here.

   I made ten of these, each family got a set of two including me.  These are so much fun to make and everyone loves them. 

      I bought the fabric from Hobby Lobby about two months ago and I found the pretty blue dish towels at Walmart along with the lovely buttons.  Each actual dish towel cost $2.96, and you cut the towel in half to get two hanging towels from it.  The buttons cost $1.27 for a pair and the fabric cost about $3.50 for two tops.  So a pair of hanging dish towels cost about $7.73 in materials to make and it takes me about 70 minutes to make two from the cutting out the top to sewing on the button.

Another Lacey Scarf Started

   I had to take my car in for service today.  I always wait for my car when it's just an oil change and tire rotation so I needed a easy knitting project.  I decided to start a new scarf ("One Row Lace Scarf") so I could knit while I waited for my car.  To make this project I'm using white Red Heart yarn that I found in my stash and a pair of size 11 - 29" bamboo circular needles (I think they were made by Boye) which were perfect for this yarn and this pattern.  I'm loving how this scarf is knitting up.

Stocking Cap - Better Picture

I realized that the picture I posted a few days ago of the stocking cap on the floor in all it's 54 inch glory was not a really representative picture.  Here's a better picture of how it can be worn.

Christmas Stocking Cap Half Done

I have knit 27 inches of the red yarn this beauty so far.  It's going a little quicker than I thought it would.  I knit on this hat every time I get a chance to sit down.  This is so much fun.  I can't wait to wear it this Christmas.   This will be getting a pom pom and jingle bells added when I finally finish.

Quilting The Chevron Quilt and It's Finished

   I spent a few hours quilting and binding my colorful chevron quilt top.  I love the orange and white backing and binding materials I used.  I think orange is my new favorite color.  I did fun loopy free motion quilting on it.

Merlin, my big boy cat, had to inspect it while I took a break.

My Knitted Christmas Hat Is Done

   I started this in April and have been working on it since then.  It's finished.  It's not as pretty as the first one I made  because I got a little sloppy when I was knitting two together to reduce my stitches, but it will do and I can wear it around the house at during the Christmas holiday.

Latest Quilt Finished.

   I was able to get the back pieced and the quilt sandwiched by Saturday afternoon.  I quilted it on Sunday and Monday, finishing the binding yesterday.  Here it is.

    Front:

   Back

    I did simple straight line cross hatch quilting on this one.  I tried to free motion quilt it with my new Janome 7700 but it didn't turn out very well.  I did two blocks before I decided to remove that quilting and use my walking foot to straight line quilt it.

    I need to practice free motion quilting on this machine so I can get the speed of my sewing coordinated with the movement of the quilt under the needle.   The next time I try to free motion quilt with this machine, I think I'll do a simple stipple and see how goes.

   I've already cut 5" squares of pretty floral fabric for my next quilt top.  It will be a simple design with the floral squares framed by green fabric strips.  I haven't started sewing it yet.  I'm taking a break for a few days to look at my to do list and get some other things done around the house.

Disappearing Hourglass Blocks Done And The Rest Of The Quilt Is Planned

  I have 41 black and white disappearing hourglass blocks done.  All pressed and ready to sash and set into a finished top.  I'm planning a top with 5 blocks x 7 blocks.  The rest of the blocks will go into the back.

   I also finally decided on the material for the back.  I bought a solid light royal blue by American Made Brand.

    That material will go nicely with the blue starry material I'm using for the binding and cornerstones.

   This top and back will be fun to put together.

New Chapter, New Project

    My life has changed in the last couple of months.  I left my job of 27 years and I'm taking some time off before I look for work.  I've been thinking about what I want to do for the rest of my life and taking care of some things around the house.  It has been very nice.

      Last year I purchased a low end DSLR  camera and I've just gotten around to taking it out and trying it out.  I took pictures of some of the flowers in my yard.  I have lots of knock out rose plants, drift rose plants, and marigolds in pots. The last picture is of the yellow knock out rose and the fragrance on those yellow blooms is amazing.

    I have started a new quilt top.  I'm making a disappearing hourglass in black and white.  The black fabric is actually a polka dot which I love.  You can get a great video tutorial on the pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Company on youtube at this link.   I love the MSQC video tutorials, they are so much fun.  Here is a picture of my first wonky block.  My measuring and cutting needs some work to get this block to look nice.  I'll be more careful with the rest.

   The work on the quilt top is going slowly, but I'll have more to share soon.

   

Time To Start A Knitting Project

    So I bought some red and white yarn a couple of weeks ago.  I'm going to make myself a Santa hat.  I made one a few years ago and gave it away in a Christmas swap.  I really wish I had kept it.  I don't think it was appreciated.  So I'm going to make one just for me.  I'll be using Wool of the Andes yarn that I bought from Knitpicks.com.  I love Wool of the Andes yarn, it comes in a great selection of colors, it felts well and it's cheap.  I bought three skeins of red and one skein of  white to make my hat.

    Here is a picture of the hat I gave away.   This one was started with 100 stitches and I knit a 3 x 2 rib section in white for about 3 inches. I'll be using 16" size 8 circular needles to start.  This one was a  little too big (you can see how big it is with the white section on the neck of the head model) so I'm going to reduce that number of ribbing stitches to 80.  The red section is knit in stockinette stitch, and I reduce the number of stitches every 7 or 8 rounds.

Disappearing Hourglass Quilted Stand Mixer Cover

      I've been wanting to make a disappearing hourglass block since I saw the video by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company demonstrate the process.  I even bought fabric to make a quilt top with this block in the future.

     Yesterday I decided to make a stand mixer cover to replace the one I bought many years ago.  I was only going to make the blocks and jimmy up the cover with some white borders, then I thought the whole thing would look better quilted.  So I put borders on the blocks, added some white fabric at the top to pull the two blocks together.  I used the white fabric as backing and leftover batting from my last quilt to sandwich it.  I quilted it with straight lines and put the blue binding and blue ties on it.

   I really like this stand mixer cover and it was the perfect project to get me out of my daylight savings time slump.  Now I can move on with my vinyl pouch project.

Pretty In Pink Quilt Update

   All the 9 patch blocks are made.  I made 34 nine patch blocks using 3 inch strips for this quilt top.  They will be alternated with solid blocks of the white on white rose print fabric.  I love, love, love the green center on these.  I'm really glad I did that.  I still have to iron and cut the blocks for the solid blocks.  The 9 patch blocks have been ironed and trimmed.

First Strip Sets For The Pink Quilt

Here is a picture of my first strip sets for the pink and green irish chain quilt I'm making just for me.  The green will be the center block in each of the 9 patch blocks.  I love, love, love the white on white fabric, it has little roses on it.  That white on white fabric will be the solid blocks as well.

I'll post again when I've made some sewing progress on this one.

Cat Pillow Done and Another Project Started

I finished the cat pillow today.  I had to dog sit my granddog at my home this weekend.  He is an American Bulldog and he always scares my kitties, so I have to stay with him the entire time he is in my home.  Yesterday I spent my day  setting up my new computer and today I finished one sewing project and started a new one.

This is the fabric before I turned it into a pillow cover.

And this is the front of the finished pillow.  I made the pillow envelope style.  It was really easy once I got the fabric made.  I put a muslin back on the fabric and I sewed the fabric to the muslin for stability.  The muslin also gave the fabric a lot of body.

I started my patriotic door decoration for next summer.  It's a simple star, 10" squares made into half square triangles that is super easy to make.

\

I have the rows put together now and the backing is sewn to it.  I didn't put any batting in it, but I am going to bind it with top with the back and I'm using the blue fabric to bind it.

I should have the binding done in a couple of days and I'll share the finish with you.