Ask and Ye Shall Receive...Good News and Finished Projects

Finally, finally I have a job! Woo hoo I'm so thrilled to be among the gainfully employed again. I received an offer yesterday from a financial consulting company to be their Administrative and Human Resources Manager. I start Monday and I'm very excited about the possibilities.

Here are a couple of projects I've been working on. The first one you'll remember from a few months ago. I couldn't get a decent photo in color so here's one in black and white:
Pattern: Telemark Pullover by Erika Flory-a pdf can be found on ravelry for free! Modifications: Made the collar and arm and waist bands in seed stitch. Made the sweater short sleeve instead of long. It sort of reminds me of a polo shirt.
Yarn: Cotton Fleece in a chocolate brown colorway
Needle: Size 8
Other: I love how quick this knit up (despite the fact I put off the sleeves for months). It's a well written pattern and makes an adorable little sweater. I would say it runs a bit small though so I would recommend making at least one pattern size larger then you normally would need.

And a candle mat I made for my grandmother for Christmas


Pattern: Inspired by a pattern by Barri Sue Gaudet
Modifications: I didn't actually have the pattern, just saw one and decided to buy the materials to make one using my own guesstimates about how big the berries and flowers should be.
Materials: Wool Felt and embroidery floss
Other:I'm really pleased with how cute this came out. I think my grandma will really like this since her whole kitchen is strawberry themed. It took forever to stitch around every little piece, but it was a good project to do listening to tv on the couch.

Off to clean up the apartment a little, since next week I'll be working:)

K-

Christmas Quilt is Complete!

Overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I love the red and white combination and I was able to use up a bunch of fabric from my stash. The only think I needed to buy was the backing (Kona Cotton:Snow). Luckily I saw a post from a fellow craftster member who mentioned that Hancock Fabrics was having a huge sale on Kona Cotton (52% off to be exact). I purchased 10 yards of snow and a few yards of other colors to make use of this wonderful bargain. Unfortunately they were out of many popular colors (which I didn't find out until I placed my order and got a call from customer service ugg). What I really need is a color card so that I know what I'm buying and don't have to guess what papaya "really" looks like. The shipping took a long time too, but I guess for 52% off I should stop complaining. I only wish there were a Hancock fabrics closer than 150 miles away.

I didn't use a pattern for this quilt, but was inspired by this quilt that I saw on flickr (of course). The stars are just 5 inch squares cut into triangles and arranged accordingly.

All of the quilting was done on my juki using a walking food and straight lines. I used Signature cotton quilting thread in a variegated red/pink colorway. The stitches aren't as perfect as I'd like, but it wasn't too bad for my first try at more "complicated" quilting i.e. I didn't just use painters tape this time to make a grid. Batting of course is warm and natural, for that well worn crinkly look. Binding was a bit smaller (2.25")then I usually make since this is a smaller size quilt. I actually rather like the 2.25" and might start using it on all my quilts.

I haven't made a label yet (I know I said I'd be better about this...bad bad i know). I was so anxious to get it binded and in the washing machine I couldn't force myself to make up a label.

K-

Snow Mum Finished

I've been wanting to make one of these for so long and even had the materials but for some reason couldn't get the motivation. So finally here it is finished and I think it's rather cute. Simple and Elegant at the same time. The pattern was really easy to follow and I only made a few substitutions.

Pattern: Amy Butler Snow Mum Pillow

Fabric Used: White Wool Felt Bought at Joann's with a 40% off coupon (wool felt is really expensive, I'd recommend saving your coupon)

Notions Used: WonderUnder, Interfacing and a button and embroidery floss from my stash.

Pattern Alterations: Used 16″ instead of 18″ pillow and needed to add several petals to the second and third "rings". Otherwise exactly as written.

Patrick gives it his Himalayan seal of approval (where's my lint roller?)

K-

Two down-Many to Go

Here's Jack's Finished quilt. I quilted this one in a two inch diamond pattern. The quilting is a little heavier than I did on Quinn's quilt and I really like how it turned out. I also used green cotton fabric scrap for the embroidered label and I like how it stands out a little more on the backing fabric. I'm glad to have them both finished and feel quite accomplished.
This weekend E and I went to the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza. It was really amazing and the quilts there were absolutely gorgeous. I took a bunch of photos that I'll upload in the next couple of days. Now I have so many ideas for new quilts I want to start, I hardly know where to begin. I bought some beautiful batiks and some wool felt that I plan on making into a strawberry candle mat for my grandmum. I also saw some fancy longarms which was pretty neat. When I have an extra 15-30k lying around I know where I can put it to good use.

K-

Why Does it Take Me So Long to Take photos?

Probably the same reason it takes me 2 months to sew buttons on an otherwise completed sweater. I finish the body and see what the sweater will look like and then the excitement is over. I make the first mitten or the first quilt block or figure out that complicated lace pattern and then I lose my attention span. One sock syndrome a fellow knitter once called it.

In any case they are finally finished (buttons and all). All 100% wool and all top down raglan variations. I'm pretty sure they were all done on size 8 needles. The last one with toggles was wool purchased by my dad when he was in Ireland. You would think there would be wool everywhere in Ireland given it is a country known for its farms and sheep, but apparently my he had a horrible time finding yarn. France was also a difficult place to find yarn he tells me.

Whenever he travels I ask him to bring back local yarn or fabric. It doesn't quite make up for the fact that he's traveling while I'm living the life of an impoverished grad student (even though I graduated in May and it's now almost halfway through September), but it is better than a crappy t-shirt or little knick nacks I'll never use.




K-

Quinnie Done, Jack to Go!

This afternoon I finished up Quinnie Boo's quilt. I ever hand embroidered a little label to go on the back (this is the first quilt I've ever labeled, that's horrible, I know!). Sadly, if I had known how terribly simple it is to whip up one of this little labels I would have done it long ago. I just used a scrap of off white cotton and some red embroidery floss. I wrote the words on with a crayola washable marker and followed the lines.

The solid colored cottons are mostly Quilter's only cotton from Joanns and were scraps from previous projects. Some of the prints I used (in various colorways) include: Henry Glass Gardenia by Linda Lum Debono, Dots by Cranston Village, Maywood Studio Bee's Knees by Glenna Hailey, Peas and Carrots American Jane patterns by Sandy Klop and a few other 100% cotton polka dots and prints of unknown origins.
The batting is 80% cotton 20% poly. I typically use 100% cotton by warm and natural, but wanted to try something different to experiment with shrinkage. I love that wrinkly look on most of my quilts but would also like to find something that doesn't shrink for some of my bigger bed quilts. Wool perhaps?

Backing is a precut 100% cotton Ikea print with various zoo animals that I've had in my stash for a while. The one large piece was big enough to be the backing for both baby quilts and If I remember correctly I bought it for under 10 bucks, what a steal!

Quilting was done in straight lines with my walking food. This is the first quilt I've quilted with my new Juki and I am thrilled with the quality of the stitching. Now I just have to quilt and bind Jack's quilt and I can cross two Christmas gifts off my list (and it's only Mid-September). Maybe this terrible economy and lack of jobs does have some perks afterall :)

K-

C'est Fini

Ziggy
Originally uploaded by Little Gray Dog

finally Ziggy is finished and photographed (albeit, poorly). I still can't manage to take a decent photograph with my camera inside, but I'm working on it. Inspired by Denyse Schmidt's Big Zig the chocolate brown fabric is Kona cotton and the florals are mostly Kaffe Fassett prints purchased at the Button Box in Wellesley, MA. The backing is hot pink Quilter's Only cotton from JoAnns.

The quilting is simple shadow quilting with Coats and Clark 100% cotton machine quilting thread and was sewn a quarter inch from the edge of the brown zigs. When the binding was finished I washed and dried and really like the wrinkly effect. The batting is warm and natural 100% that I picked up at JoAnns.

Now I'm working on a couple of Christmas Quilts for my nephews, photos to come soon.

K-

Baby Coin Quilt Finished

Today I finally finished the baby coin quilt I started last summer. This quilt was made with scraps of amy butler's lotus collection that I had left over from the Brick Path Quilts that I made last Spring. The cream colored sashing is quilter's only cotton from Jo-Anns. The blue binding is also quilter's cotton. I really like quilter's cotton because it is reasonable priced and good quality. It washes well and holds up to lots of wear and tear. I wash and dry all of my quilts in my home machine so good quality cotton is key.
This is the first quilt I have quilted myself. I used masking tape to mark diagonal lines and quilting down both sides of the tape using a walking foot. I purchased the walking foot from a seller on e-bay before my old machine broke, and fortunately it also fits my new machine. The stitching was a little uneven but I think that was because I was fidgeting with the fabric too much. If I had just let the foot pull the fabric through without applying any resistance I think I would have had more even stitches, but live and learn right? I also wish I had remembered to back stitch a few stitches at the end and beginning of each quilting section. I'm a little worried that the stitches might pull out, but am hoping the binding will prevent that from happening. Overall, I'm pleased with this little quilt for a first go around at home quilting.

Back story for the Brick path quilts...One was for my grandmum before her heart surgery (which went perfectly) and one for me. Unfortunately she wasn't allowed to bring hers to the hospital (which was probably a good thing given all potential quilt spoilers at a hospital), but she uses it now around the house. Grandmum is a beautiful quilter and talented artist, and was thrilled to see and feel my craftiness while she was recovering. Ironically, she didn't quilt much while I was growing up so I never really learned any techniques from her, but I do have several of her beautiful quilts and a couple of antique quilts from her aunt that are some of my most prized possessions.

Feels good to finally finish a project, hopefully many more will follow (as long as the sewing machine gods cooperate).

k-