Quilted!

For about a year now, I have been wanting to finish a few quilting projects, but my yarn always seemed to get in the way of my fabric progress. Well, I have finally done it, yay me!

I present Maiko, a Cloth Shop design:



I am planning to have this quilt grace my bedroom wall, I am very excited about it! This was a kit supplied as a sixteen-block quilt, but I wanted the dimensions to be closer to a 12 block size in a 3x4 format (finished size about 50 x 60 inches). I had leftovers, of course, and could not let these beautiful fabrics go to waste, so I whipped up a four block size, too:



Some detail of stippling in the background of the stars:



Fits quite nicely in our living room!




And the next one up is Vintage Gatherings, from the same place:



It was a block-of-the-month project in 2006, which I had great fun in piecing and appliqueing over the course of nine months. Once I had the quilt top done, it sat for a long time before I felt inclined to continue. Our cool weather helped immensely! I got started, then couldn't stop (what's new). More detail of the stippling, my all-time favourite and effective quilting technique.



This section of the block needed a little extra something something. I took inspiration from nature:



Liking this!



The finished size is about 54 x 58 inches. You will have noticed I have not quilted the border yet, I am still thinking about design. I'm considering it finished, though, and eventually when it is hung as wall art, I will complete the quilting!


A few years ago I made a special quilt from reproduction fabrics of the early 1900s. There were enough leftovers from that to make a small 30" x 30" wall quilt - I chose the Snowball design, a vintage pattern.



I have just finished it, and it now hangs in our sewing room/office.



I am feeling pretty good about life right now...

Resistance is futile

I know I said I was trying to not buy new yarn, distractions and all, but I couldn't help myself. Another weak moment in my day and I came home with some Noro Silk Garden Chunky! Not surprisingly this didn't sit for long before getting knit up into the Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet, from Peony Knits (free pattern).

Knit on a 7 mm circ, less than 24 hours folks!



I saw a store sample here and was immediately captivated by it, not to mention it fit me perfectly! I got a gauge of 13.5 sts/10 cm using this yarn, so I cast on more sts than what the pattern called for.

I cast on 61 sts divided as follows: 10 for left front, 10 for left sleeve, 20 for back, 10 for right sleeve, and 11 for right front.

This means for row 1 (the set-up row), I did this: k2, p8, yo, pm, p1, yo, p9, yo, pm, p1, yo, p19, yo, pm, p1, yo, p9, yo, pm, p1, yo, p8, k2.

I continued raglan increases 14 times which is what it took for the sleeve section to be the circumference of my upper arm (11 inches). The sleeves had 38 sts (each, of course) at the time of making the divide from the body.

On the wrong side rows where you knit all the sts, I knit the yo through the back loop to lessen the eyelet hole which I like but not quite so big. Three skeins were used to make this pretty capelet, I really like it!

Toques and tea

Tray of hats, to admire, to squish, to wear!



Some leftovers of the above hats using Noro were used up in this Kureyon Kozy. My tea cosy is a combination of Silk Garden, Kureyon, Taiyo, and Iro. Most pleased was I to use up every little last bit I had of these. Easy pattern, with only a couple of modifications: I shortened the repeats of the top so I would have easier access to the lid, and I just crocheted a chain (using the Iro) to tie bow-style above the handle.




See that quilt-in-progress on the table behind the cosy? It is almost finished and I'm trying hard not to buy any new yarn to avoid any distractions. After it's done, I have another one waiting in the quilting queue, here is what one of the blocks looks like:



Busy times! :o)

Improved with I-cord

Remember these?



A wee bit plain, so I thought I'd jazz them up a bit with some leftover Koigu Kersti! I used 3 stitch I-cord to make a length, then sewed it down with regular sewing thread into this flower shape. A visit to the button jar, and we're done!



Now they really are "Super" Mittens!



In my last post I was proudly sporting Juliet. In the few times I have worn it since, I have not been happy with the loop closures. Specifically, I thought the attachment of the loops seemed kind of sloppy, and showed through the knit fabric. It was Sivia Harding who suggested to me I do applied I-cord all the way up the fronts and around the neckline to create a smooth finished front, and seamless I-cord loops for the buttons. Brilliant idea! Thanks Sivia!