2014 Year End Totals

2014 was not our best year. My husband was in a head on collision with a drunk driver and the aftermath of that dictated most of our decisions and activities for the year. Things have finally started to settle down over the past two months, so I'm hopeful for 2015. 

As far as my knitting and quilting goes, it was my year for endless socks -- seventeen pairs total. One pair, the Mock Croc Socks, had some texture to it. The rest were just plain mindless knitting.  (I've also had the year of the scrappy baby quilt, the year I made more quilts than I knew what do to with, and the year of knitting big flat things that didn't have to fit anyone.)

I needed mindless projects to soothe my frazzled nerves and those socks definitely fit the bill. Even after I was thoroughly sick of them, I'd find myself casting on another pair, then another, then another...

In addition to the socks, I knit a few little stuffed things. Before this year, my track record for stuffed animals was horrible. I don't like sewing together lots of itty-bitty pieces, but the Monkey and Tardis Mouse and Egg to Alligator might have cured me of that. And Teenage Daughter's request for a Weasley Sweater in Slytherin colors reminded me that I can still knit sweaters, even if I do get the Intarsia letter upside down.

I finished fourteen new baby quilts...

I embroidered a lot of squares for what is going to become the Garden Party Quilt. It's not a finish, but it's a lot of progress, and searching Pinterest and Google for the craziest vintage patterns I could find was a great distraction.

Things have finally started feeling normal again over the past few weeks, so I pulled out and finished my Drab Postage Stamps and Cheddar Bowties. And two new projects -- Chocolate Covered Cherries and Little Letters.

{Yarn Along} The Accidental Alchemist

There are a lot of things I should be doing right now. Probably least important on the list is figuring out which reptile these socks are reminding me of. So far, my Google searches have  got it narrowed down to the Banded Gecko. The yarn (in case anyone wants sock that look like a Banded Gecko) is Patons Kroy Socks, colorway Buckthorn Stripes. 

I like quirky cozy mysteries and The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian definitely delivers! Newly arrived in Portland, Oregon, Zoe Faust  begins unpacking the crates of antiques she had shipped from her previous home in Paris and discovers something that definitely doesn't belong to her -- a walking, talking gargoyle who demands her help deciphering an old book. (And yes, that is a cooking whisk that Dorian is holding in the cover art.) Then the contractor she hired to repair her dilapidated new home is found dead on her porch.

I loved this one. The author weaves interesting details of Portland's history into the mystery and provides a convincing explanation for why the gargoyle exists and why he wound up on Zoe's doorstep.

For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times.



 
Disclosure - the publisher provided me with an ARC.

Little Letters

Alphabet samplers make me smile. A few years back, I got the idea to make one with free pieced letters. Sixteen letters into the project, I decided that I was in over my head and tucked it away. Looking back at that post, those blocks aren't as bad as I remember....maybe I should dig them out. 

I've got a whole bolt of this fabric, black flowers on dark grey that look solid from any distance at all. When I saw the posts for Little Letters over at Temecula Quilt Company, I knew I wanted to start it. There was a little bit of a wait before instructions for the first block were posted and I forgot. Then I remembered, made a few letters, got sidelined again. Then they posted X Y and Z all in one post and I got sewing. 

I wanted a pieced border for my quilt, something that would make it feel more like a stitched sampler... (And isn't it cool that this one is dated and I can tell when I made that project instead of trying to figure it out from old blog posts like I usually wind up doing?) 

Honestly, I think my favorite part of this tutorial series was the pictures of stencils and apples and rulers. The letters look nothing at all like those stencils, but I'm going to think of them every time I look at this quilt.

Maybe it's time to make some more of those itty bitty cake stands....or the 2" bowties....or Summer Spools.  There are a lot of really neat tutorials in the sidebar of  Temecula Quilt Copmany's blog.

For more finishes, check out  Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?,  , and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

Low Volume Postage Stamps

It started out with a baby quilt.  I'd seen a lot of pictures of low volume quilts and had lots of odd fabrics in my stash that I thought would work. A lot of it it is "what was I thinking?" fabric from my early days of quilting, but it was absolutely perfect for this project.

Alex saw the two low volume baby quilts and wanted one for herself, so I cut more 2 1/2" squares (skipping the prints with diaper pins and baby bottles but leaving in the sock monkeys) and spent a couple of months adding to the  pile whenever I found a likely print. Now, as soon as I can find that gorgeous backing fabric I bought for it, she'll have her quilt!

This post is linked to Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times.

Christmas Yarn

It's way too tempting to ignore the after-Christmas mess and just sit here petting my new yarn. This stuff is gorgeous! And it feels just as nice as it looks.

Weekly Stash Report 

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 52 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 102 3/4 yards
Net Added for 2014: 50 3/4 yards

Yarn Used this Week:  0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 7475 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 8919 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 11885 yards
Net Added for 2014: 4410 yards

There'll be another 1300+ yards of yarn used when I get the squid done. At this point, most of what's left is seams, so even if the project carries over into next year, I won't count the yarn used then.

Remember the list I posted last week? I'm down to the squid and Alex's low volume postage stamps. I'm expecting to get the squid done, but the quilt will probably wait til after the first of the year. If I wanted to pin-baste it right now, I'd have to invoke Eminent Domain and condemn a huge K'Nex structure that's taking over my usual spot.

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Mock Croc Socks

The yarn is Opal Krokodil. I've had this skein for years and been afraid to use it because my project might not do it justice. (This year, I've been knitting from stash and anything was fair game as long as I wasn't doing something completely stupid with it.) The pattern is Mock Croc Socks, a free download from Knitpicks. Cuff down, flap and gusset heel, stitch pattern with yarn overs in tricky places.... Not my favorite type of sock.

From the pictures I've seen on Ravelry, this stitch pattern pops a lot more with solid yarn. It gets lost in the crocodile pattern. But I didn't want to use this up on plain socks.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {12/26/14}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

Happy Holidays!

Bonnie at Quiltville is hosting a Happy Holiday linky party and invited the rest of us to share what we've been working on.  Over the past few weeks, I've been spending a little more time at my sewing machine and getting a LOT done....

Cheddar Bowties 

Chocolate Covered Cherries

Drab Postage Stamps

I've got a few more things I'm hoping to get done before the year is up. That giant squid only needs one more tentacle....and more seams than I want to think about right now...He probably won't be done by tomorrow. Not a bad thing, because I wouldn't want to wrap him.

Meet Jed!

The more baby quilts I make, the pickier I get about my backing choices. I don't need everything to be all matchy-matchy, but I'd like the combination to make some sort of sense. When baby quilts are in use, you're just as likely to see the back as the front.

I'll let the new mom who winds up with this quilt figure out which is which. The postage stamp side was definitely more work, but the puppy on the other side (Gingham Dog, a free pattern from Moda Lissa's blog) is awfully cute.

All of the 2 1/2" squares I used were extra from cutting out my Drab Postage Stamp quilt, so putting this together wasn't much work at all.

Vineyard Socks

This is Knitpicks Simple Stripes in Vineyard, more yarn from my "I'm hanging onto this because I might use that someday" yarn stash. I liked it when I bought it, but then I fell out of love with the whole self-striping sock yarn thing. Until my great sock knitting binge of 2014, I'd forgotten that it was even in my stash.

Now that the pair is done, I love the colors and the way they stripe and the way the finished socks fit.

I Made a List

Not a Christmas list....I probably should be keeping notes to myself when it comes to holiday plans, but that hasn't been happening. After last December, I'm just letting this season happen and being happy with how many things are options right now that weren't last year.

My list is of knitting and quilting projects that I'd like to get done while it's still 2014.

Squidpocalypse 
Mock Croc Socks
Little Letters 
Alex's Low Volume Postage Stamps

It's very possible. In fact, I already had one project finished and crossed off before I wrote this post.

Weekly Stash Report 

Fabric Used this Week: 4 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 52 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 102 3/4 yards
Net Added for 2014: 50 3/4 yards

Yarn Used this Week:  0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 7475 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 4210 yards
Net Used for 2014: 3265 yards

This post is linked  to Patchwork Times.

Just what I needed!

The last time we stayed at my parents' vacation place in Sisters, I was eyeballing a little tole painted crock on a kitchen shelf. Mom had painted it, obviously, but I didn't recognize it from my childhood. Hubby has been watching for old crocks at estate sales (and the ones we do find are always cracked or overpriced -- or both) so I've had them on the brain for a while. And I've had tole painting on the brain since I read Fatal Brushstroke a couple of months ago. 

I forgot about that little crock until I was over at Mom's house and she wanted me to take a look at something. It was destined for Goodwill...unless I wanted it....but I didn't have to take it...

That little crock from the Sisters house has a twin! 

Now it lives with me in my sewing corner and holds my rotary cutter and pens and long skinny stuff. What are the odds that there were two of them? (High, because Mom made a lot of duplicates for my grandmothers.) AND that she gave me one just after I noticed the other, which I've probably walked past every time I've been in that house.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! 12/19/14

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

{Yarn Along} Wider Stripes Than I'd like

One of these days, I'm going to learn to check Ravelry for project pictures before buying self-striping sock yarn. Does this look like a snake to anyone else? And not a neat snake, either.



Handmade, Holiday, Homicideis the latest Kiki Lowenstein mystery by Joanna Campbell Slan. When a mean old woman drops dead during one of Kiki's Zentangle classes, it seems like everyone had a motive to do away with her. Kiki had less reason than most, but she's still a suspect. With so many suspects, some of them familiar characters from the series, this was a fun one. I absolutely recommend this series, but don't jump in with the latest book. Start at the beginning.

This is the first time I've pre-ordered a book for my Kindle. It was nice to have it there and waiting for me as soon as it was available. That's definitely something I'll do in the future.

A couple of years ago, we were on a road trip and listened to a radio adaptation of The Man Without a Country. I can't remember which show it was, but it would've dated to the 30s or 40s. The introduction said that it was based on a true story (if I heard it right....no one else in the family remembers listening to it at all) but that didn't seem possible. When we got home, I downloaded the Kindle version to see if it explained more. This week, I finally got around to reading it and learning that the story of a man sentenced to spend the rest of his life on sailing ships, never to receive any news of the United States was fiction.

How to Meal Plan: A Step by Step Guide for Busy Moms by Crystal VanTassel is a short book that just brims with enthusiasm. It's not a complete, step-by-step guide to meal planning, but it showed me a couple of things that I'd been completely missing. I've downloaded a ton of meal planning stuff onto my kindle -- this is one of the few that's been helpful.

For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times.



 

Chocolate Covered Cherries

It's the best feeling to find a pattern that you love and then be able to make it almost completely from stash. (In this case, the pattern is Chocolate Covered Cherries from Jo's Country Junction.)

For the past couple years, I've been pulling together brown scraps and red scraps for a few different quilts. I love to use them....and hate to use them, because what if I take a few strips to make something and then don't have enough left for all the other things?  This project was worth the risk, and it's really just a strip of this and a strip of that...not enough to make much of a difference when it comes to the other projects.

I love this quilt. But when it came time to quilt it, I started to realize that I might have bitten off more than I could chew. It's big, bigger than most things I quilt on my Janome. The longarm wasn't an option, because the backing fabric I was determined to use was an inch and a half wider than the quilt top. I've had that problem before and cut just enough off the edge of the quilt top to make it work. But that dubious technique wasn't going to work with those pieced borders. So, in a couple of spots, I've eased the top to make it fit the backing.

Obviously, this one isn't going to be entered into any quilt shows. It's for me and mine and we're so hard on our quilts that it might not survive the decades. Or it will, and people will know how I really quilted.

R, S, U, V, W, X, Y, Z!

That's the whole alphabet, all pieced and assembled into a quilt top! 

And, because this whole project has had me thinking of needlework samplers, I'm playing around with a fancy border...

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

Sunday Stash Report

Now that I've found some time to sit down at my sewing machine, I'm making all kinds of progress on my projects. And now that I'm doing that, I'm happily  making plans for what's next. 

There's perfect fabric in my too-good-to-cut pile for this bag, but then I priced the leather handles. Nope, not gonna happen.

I'm squealing over this little undies quilt at Gnome Angel. There's a tutorial at sewtakeahike and they're pieced! My stash doesn't have any of those amazing novelty prints, but I'm sure I can find something to play with.

Shwin & Shwin has a tutorial for an adorable Olaf quilt. I want one. For me.


Weekly Stash Report 

Fabric Used this Week: 8 1/4 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 48 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 102 3/4 yards
Net Added for 2014: 54 3/4 yards

Yarn Used this Week:  400 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 7475 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 4210 yards
Net Used for 2014: 3265 yards

This post is linked to Patchwork Times.

I didn't realize I needed a vintage ceramic tree....

I can have an old whatever-it-is in the attic or barn, unloved and forgotten. Then one of my favorite vintage bloggers will find one just like it, post pictures of their newly cleaned up treasure, and suddenly I'll be all excited about digging mine out again. 

Last year, it was the vintage ceramic Christmas trees. At about the same times as I was seeing the posts, Grandma was putting hers in a box destined for Goodwill. It  came to live with me.

I think this is one of those projects that everyone who was doing ceramics in the early 80s made, like those big white cats.  They all used the same plastic lights and the same green glaze and the same puffy snow glaze...so if Grandma hadn't told me that this one was a gift from someone else, I would've assumed that it was one of Mom's. At least until I looked inside and found someone else's signature engraved there.

At some point, the base was completely shattered and glued back together. It needs a new lightbulb for the inside. But it has a working wind up music box that plays Winter Wonderland, which is probably my favorite Christmas carol.

So I'm happy. Now I've just got to dig out Evil Santa.

This post is linked to Vintage Thingie Thursday, Thriftasaurus, Share Your Cup, Ivy and Elephants, We Call it Olde, Savvy Southern Style, Thrifter Maker Fixer, Coastal Charm, Thrifty Life Thursday

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {12/8/14}

I've been taking some not-quite-ugly fabrics and finding ways to make them work in baby quilts. You can find the details for the latest baby quilt, Katy, in this post.

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules: 
Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

Meet Katy!

I don't throw away fabric. Actually I do, sometimes, but it's a rare thing unless the fabric is seriously nasty or damaged beyond use. A few dots of ink or glittery fingernail polish? I can and will cut around that! 

This piece has been knocking around the sewing room for a few years now. Must've come in one of the thrift store bags because I wouldn't have bought it, not even at super low clearance prices. It's not THAT ugly, but it wasn't going to make the kind of quilts I want to make. 

So I separated the squares, which of course weren't printed exactly on the grain. They did measure just a hair over two inches, so that part worked out okay. 

And then I pieced them together into the kind of quilt that I did want to make. Ridiculous and tedious and I'm not sure I'd do it again anytime soon, but it was a fun little challenge.

I bound the edges with what was left of the fabric and backed it with the same little dots I used for Ansel.

For more finishes, check out  Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?,  , and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

I can see myself finishing these!

Fifteen minutes. You can work on almost anything for a few minutes, one stitch after another until the timer dings, even if you're convinced that you hate the needles and hate the yarn and the stitch pattern and can't remember how you tweaked the pattern so that the first sock would fit....

Fifteen more minutes and things start to look a little better. Stretch it into a half hour and the heel flap is done and the stitches are picked up for the gusset and you've stopped hating the sock enough that you can slog through the foot

A couple more pattern repeats and I can start toe decreases. I can manage that!





Georgia Thackery has a skeleton in her closet....or in her armoire, if he's not hanging out in the attic. Sid is a walking talking skeleton that's lived with her family since he saved her life when she was six years old. They've never given a lot of thought to what or who he was before he became her best friend.  When an anime convention provides the perfect way for him to leave the house, costumed as a skeletal character, Sid spots a woman who sparks recognition and fear.

I've got to admit that I was skeptical when I picked this one up at the library, but A Skeleton in the Family is an absolute blast. Lots of times, I have trouble suspending my disbelief when it comes to cozy mystery plots, but author Leigh Perry presents Sid in such a matter of fact way that I had no trouble accepting him.

For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times.

Drab Postage Stamps

I love postage stamp quilts. The whole idea of cutting scraps into little 2 1/2" squares and sewing them all together to see what you can come up with is tremendously appealing to me. With postage stamp quilts, there's no background fabric or sashing to buy.

There are 1296 squares in this quilt and every last one was cut and sewed together. No strip piecing for me, not in a project like this one. I pieced my squares into four patches, then assesmbled those into sixteen patches. I made sure not to repeat fabrics within each of those blocks, otherwise the colors all wound up wherever they fell.

I think I've confused some readers with my name for this quilt. I'm not calling the quilt itself drab. It's the fabrics I used that fit the dictionary definition: lacking brightness or interest; drearily dull. A lot of the fabrics in this quilt are just plain ugly. They're scraps from the thrift store bags that weren't bright enough for the baby quilts or pretty enough for my other projects.

A couple of years back, I used them to make a couple of little wheelchair quilts and fell in love with the look.  I cut more square from those prints and dug through my stash to see how many fabrics I could find that met the "drab" criteria. Not all of the fabrics here are ugly. I mixed in bits of some of my favorite browns and other dark colors.

For more finishes, check out Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?,  and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, Make it Monday and Inspired Friday.