Almost Done

I'm almost done with both the Fall Madonna and Spring semester. I've got a bit more beading on the Madonna, and I've got a pile of papers to grade before Wednesday. After Wednesday my Summer begins: Alex's high school graduation, a few short trips, some camping, some work, re-civilizing my garden, some sewing and knitting. I can't wait.

I'm really loving this piece. The blend of raw edge broidery perse and silk ribbon embroidery has worked very well, though pulling the needle through the extra fabric and the heat and bond isn't for the weak-fingered. The sunflower swag mimics the moon the Virgin of Guadalupe stands on in the traditional image. I've filled in some the empty spots with spider web roses and beads.


I've had these leaf beads for awhile, and I'm going to add more of them to the background.


Another close up.


Here's where I've been working. Both Bunny the cat and I like the light by the window.

Next week I'll move to the back porch with the lovely Louie. He always looks so pretty in the sun.

More Fall Madonna

The Fall Madonna is going on a re-purposed napkin background. I have a set of 4 of these pretty ivy print napkins from the 60s or 70s. Debra has added machine embroidered ivy sprays and I've let down the hems and then trimmed the napkin to 16 x16.


Right as I started beading I found two of these heavy glass luncheon plates at the thrift store for a dollar each. They're perfect for beading trays.


So here she is: appliqued to the background, and then attached to a thin piece of flannel for the batting. I've fused some sunflowers that I'm going to hand embroider between with silk ribbon. If you enlarge the photo you may be able to see where I trimmed the Madonna's cape with beads.

These cute leaf beads are perfect accents for the machine embroidered leaves. I'm making progress.

Fall Madonna

It feels a little funny to work on this fall themed piece when we're having unseasonably hot weather in in California, but over the weekend I added this embroidery to the Madonna. You'll notice that the two sunflowers on top are darker than the one on the bottom. I have gel pens and I'll use them. Actually, I'm trying to see if I can use up the silk ribbon I have and not buy more, but I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get some more ribbon for this piece. I don't mind buying it, but I have to order it on line, since none of the stores around here carry it.

I need a couple of more orange roses for this piece, and when she's appliqued to the background, I'll fill in with beads. I'm very proud of my corn, but the ones on the bottom need fatter kernels.

Next, I'll work on a fabric collage on a very special background. That will probably wait until after I shake this flu. Yes, I have the flu. Again.

Watching Yarn Dry

I've developed a knack for reclaiming yarn from thrift store sweaters. There is an excellent tutorial on how to do this here. Now when I breeze through the thrift store I look at the sweaters with a new eye. There are plenty of natural fiber sweaters in good shape to choose from around here, mostly for under $5.

The yarn in the photo is from a 100% cotton sweater in a heavy worsted weight. The sweater's been unraveled and the skeins have been washed to take out the kinks. I had to hang these skeins for about a week before they dried because cotton holds moisture, but wool dries much more quickly. I'm using old shower curtain rings and a coat hanger to dry my skeins. I love the color of this yarn, but the sweater was practically new due to an unfortunate design. "Ah ha!" I thought. "I can fix that."


I think this is the third sweater I've "upcycled." I like this term: it conveys the idea that you can make something even better than the original when you re-use an item. I've invested in a swift, courtesy of Ebay. It wasn't very expensive, and these are manufactured in the the U.S.


My ball winder is from Jo-Ann.com, on sale.


These new tools allow me to turn an old sweater into cakes of yarn that look new, so it's fun to use them. I'm planning to knit a summer stole from this yarn.


Here's the original sweater's label with the re-wound yarn. Cheap thrills.

And Debra and I are embarking on another Madonna project. Wait until you see what we're up to.

The First Suit

I spent this past weekend on a trip with my son Alex, who’s graduating from high school in June. We went to visit two colleges where he’s been offered admission, and to buy him his first suit for graduation.

The college visits went well: we learned what we went to learn. One school he’s excited about, and the other not so much. As a back up plan he’s also been admitted to the university where I teach. But for an 18 year-old young man straining for independence, there’s something anticlimactic about going to your mom’s school. It’s an option, however, if he doesn’t get housing at his #1 choice.

It’s a treat to get one-on-one time with the boy-man. We spent some of the long drive listening to hard-core music (or whatever it’s called) until my nerves and eardrums couldn’t take it any more. We talked about the future. I made myself let him drive on the long straight parts of highway. He’s going to have to know how to do these things soon.

As a young person who wants to leave our small town for the big city, actually seeing the possibility up close is an eye-opening prospect. Like the best cultural critics, he noted that so much of California is an alternating pattern of highways and strip malls so that people are locked into a rhythm of mobility and consumption. That’s my boy, smart, insightful, thoughtful. He’s also a talented musician, writer and speaker.

The suit has been part of an on-going discussion. I want Alex to take a portrait for graduation, and I wanted to buy him dress-up clothes. He resisted at first. Unlike his sister, he’s not a clothes horse. He likes to have only exactly the number of plain t-shirts, un-logoed sweat shirts, and jeans that he needs to get through to the next laundry day. But gradually he started to like the idea of a suit. He can wear it to teen court, a local program where kids who get into trouble at school are tried by a jury of their peers and are defended and prosecuted by teen “attorneys.” Alex has been invited to play the attorney role. A suit finally sounded like a good idea.

And so we went to about 3 Target stores until we found one that had his size jacket and matching pants. He picked the blue shirt and the stripped yellow tie. He picked out dress shoes and a belt. When we got home, he took off all the tags, Googled instructions on how to knot a tie, and at 10 pm, posed for this picture. The suit is a celebratory outfit for high school graduation and he’ll wear it for his senior portrait. It’s also a test of the adult identity that is coming, little by little, slowly but surely, whether we’re ready or not.

Crochet Bag

Acrylic yarn is like rabbits. You start with one or two balls, and when you turn around you've got a closet full and you're not quite sure where it all came from. When I started knitting again recently I started stashing wool yarn. Eventually I weeded out most of the odd balls of old acrylic yarn that was taking up space, but which I had no plans to use. I donated a big bag to a local group that teaches knitting in the jail. It was freeing to clear out that space.

But then, after Christmas, my aunt gave me her yarn stash. Most of the four xerox paper boxes were full of acrylic yarn. While I was sick with the flu, I felt like doing something mindless and quick, and I decided to make this pattern. You hold three strands of yarn together and use a simple single crochet stitch. When I ran out of one color, I tied on a related color. I used a size K hook and ad-libbed the handle.


It's a nice big basket-like bag. I could line it, but I like the thick texture, even on the inside. And between the wool shawls I've knit. and this bag, all my aunt's yarn fits in three boxes now. Now that's progress.

Blue Period

I've made all the blocks for this charity quilt and I've got the quilt designed. I have used up all the pre-cut squares I had made, and I found more of the yellow and white in my stash to finish up the corner squares. Finally putting this quilt together, I remembered why I liked this block design in the first place.

The quilt measures about 72 x 80. One of the long print strips (on the far right) is narrower than the one at the far left, and I may leave them uneven. In this design, I don't think it matters that they're not symmetrical. I should have time this weekend to stitch the top together.


That's a swatch of Debra's backing fabric to the right of the quilt. It's hard to see in the photo, but it coordinates nicely with he quilt. I have almost exhausted my supply of blue fabric, but not quite. I've got a nice pile of leftovers from this project for another quilt, and the backing fabric has some tan in it that I can use to stretch the blues. There may be another blue quilt coming. Then I think I'll need to shift colors. I'm ready to work in red.

Knitwear Wrap Up

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes. I'm feeling much much better. Being couch bound has, however, given me the opportunity to finish up the sleeves on my February Lady Sweater, which has been hibernating for a bit. I'm so happy with how this sweater came out. It's a very flattering pattern, and I used up 2 skeins of Cascade 220 and 2 of Peer Gynt in 2 different colors. I feel very crafty for having made up a sweater from these odds and ends.


Here I am in one of those Facebook-style pictures in the bathroom mirror. It's okay that you can't see my face since my nose was so red and my eyes so watery that I was quite a sight. I had 3 perfect vintage buttons in my button box to complete the sweater.


Before I got sick I finished my second Truly Tasha's shawl. I sent this one to my mom. It's knit on a larger needle (size 8) than my first Tasha shawl, and it knit up faster, but is still substantial.


Last week I knit this Thorpe cap for Allie, who's currently visiting a friend in Canada for her Spring break. I didn't have the required bulky wool in my stash so I combined one strand of worsted and a strand of sport weight wool, and it came out perfectly.

For my Spring break I got my paperwork ready for my visit with my tax preparer and I will be grading papers and hopefully working on an academic essay I've been trying to finish for too long. I also have had Alex to myself, which is nice because we've had some good talks about his plans for next year. He's graduating from high school in June, and is coming up on deadlines to respond to offers of college admission, and there is always the option of military service, which he finds enticing, but I think he's pretty much decided to give college a try. At least that what he says. Today.

Pass the Kleenex

I've caught this nasty virus that it seems half the people here in town have. The nice man at Long's said he'd had it too as he rang up my purchases: a jumbo box of kleenex with lotion, Vicks vapo-rub, nasal decongestant spray, and cough drops. I felt so crappy I actually stayed home from work Thursday and Friday.

I've spent a lot of hours on the couch watching tv and knitting. I've developed a love of BBC America and Gordon Ramsey's two food shows The F Word and Kitchen Nightmares. He's much more likable in these than in the American version of his show Hell's Kitchen. I'll have photos of the knitting soon.

I have composed the center of my charity quilt for the women's shelter clients. I've added home dec fabric to some of my orphan blocks. This kind of row design is my new favorite. I realized after I got the fabric up on the wall that the two strips are of two different widths. I'll fix that later. After I get up off the couch. Maybe in a couple of days.

Starting With a Clean Slate

I recently took down my design wall. It's been up there for years, but one of the cats clawed it and pulled out one of the tacks holding the flannel to the wall, and so it was bagging in one spot. I got up on a chair with a hammer to fix it and it was so dusty and full of threads that I pulled the whole thing down and washed and dried it. When I hung it back up on the wall, it was like starting with a blank page, a clean slate. It was like staring over in my quilting life.

Of course in order to remove the thing I had to take down all the half-started, trials and errors and false starts I had pinned up. They're now neatly piled up and waiting until I'm ready to give them my full attention. In their place, I've put up my bird series as inspiration, and I'm going to make a big quilt for Debra's women's shelter clients. This quilt is meant to compliment some backing fabric she's posted as inspiration. If you want to play along, she probably has enough fabric for more quilts.

I'm starting with some orphan blocks. I made a ton of these blocks awhile ago, and I've used some of them for various smaller projects, but I still have plenty. I do have a lot of fabric cut, so my goal is to make up as many of these blocks as possible and to use them in the quilt.


It's a basic four-patch block made up of 4.5" squares. The corner triangles make it look like a more complex version of a snowball block.


My supplies are ready. Blank slate. New project.

Yes, Baby Quilts Again

I think I'm done with baby quilts for awhile. They are fabulous creativity exercises and stash busters. They're quick, so you don't get bored before you're done. These are utilitarian, destined for Debra's charity quilt effort, so there's not a lot at stake if you put random fabrics together on a whim. I made this quilt in a couple of hours yesterday. I took a remnant of Winnie the Pooh fabric and a stack of various blue strips.


Instant baby quilt.


Here's a close-up of another one. I pulled from what Finn would call my orphan block stash and included a couple of blocks Debra embroidered that were left over from another project. Most of this fabric had been cut into half-square triangles for a project I never made because I decided I didn't like these fabrics together after all.


When I ran short of a few hst blocks, I threw in some solid blocks. I think it made a very fresh and graphic quilt for a baby, or maybe the center of a larger quilt.


Here's the finished top I started last week from the 4-patches and the Vera-like fabric. I think that blue floral print may have been a piece of sheet or curtain.


This last one was make almost entirely of orphan blocks from other projects. I made the shoo-fly blocks awhile back, but the toile I used made them look muddy, so I set them aside. I deliberated a lot about the strips between the rows, and auditioned a lot of fabrics before I settled on these light colored strips.


It's a little busy, but I do like this one.

Here's what I learned from the process: pre-cut strips are an asset. If I needed a piece of sashing or some 4-patch blocks, it was great to leaf through my strips to see what was already cut. I've made a big dent in my store of 2.5 and 3.5" strips, so I'm going to cut into some of my fabrics and replenish the drawer. Orphan blocks are great starters for these little projects too. I think I've gone through a lot of stash in the process, but more importantly, I've uncovered some works-in-progress that I want to go back and finish. It's been a mind de-cluttering as well as a destash exercise. Next I'll be making a larger quilt for Debra's efforts, then I'm going to round up some the ghost projects that are haunting my sewing room, and finish them up and show them the light of day.

More Baby Quilts

This quilt took a bit more time than I thought it would, but it's finally done. I love making 4-patch blocks, but since I used 2.5" strips, it took a lot of them to fill these rows. The fabric on the ends is vintage, and it was fun to use up these last pieces in this little quilt. I basically pulled anything from my stash in coordinating shades of green and yellow.

I used up more of that green gingham ruffle.

I pulled this remnant from my stash for the next baby quilt. It reminds me of a Vera print. I'm crazy for Vera, the 70s fabric designer.

I cut the blue floral print into 6.5" blocks, and made big 4-patch blocks in (sort of) coordinating colors to alternate. This one went together fast. I just have to sew the blocks together now.

These quilts will be going to Debra for her charity quilt project. She just posted pictures of a large floral print that she wants to use to back and border 10 quilts for the clients of a women's shelter. I've also posted a picture of some blocks I'd like to use for these quilts, if someone want to collaborate with alternate blocks. Check out the Quilt Studio site for pictures and details.

(Not) Knitting at the Movies

There was no romantic Valentine's Day for me: Michael is in Austin visiting his daughter, so Allie and I went to the movies to see Coraline. Alex wouldn't go. Since the movie is named for a girl, it didn't seem promising to him, but Allie and I thought the movie was terrific.

We went to a nearby town to see it in 3-D, which I highly recommend. It's a visual treat, and the main story elements: a big old house, cloth dolls, buttons, and a black cat, are right up my alley. I took my movie knitting with me: my second Tasha Tudor shawl, which I'm making for my mom, but I was so entranced, I didn't even take it out of my bag.

There were a lot of children in the audience, but I would hesitate to take a very young child (say younger than 7) because the the story has some very psychologically creepy elements. Go see the movie (in 3-D) then tell me if you love it too.

There is even a pattern on the web for Coraline's sweater. Yes, the movie inspires that kind of obsession.

Here's the second Tasha Tudor shawl, which I'm making with vintage wool from my aunt's stash, just like Tasha #1. Tasha #2 is a very pale yellow, and I'm loving the color.

I went to my local yarn and fabric shop looking for a shawl pin for Tasha #1, which I finished for my aunt, and they kindly pointed me to this very economical alternative.

Remember kilt pins? They make perfect (and cheap) shawl pins. Someone crafty would fancy them up with beads and other danglies, but I like them plain and utilitarian for this shawl. They would also be handy for all those button less sweaters that are so stylish right now.


Here's my aunt's finished shawl ready to go into the mail. I'm starting to think about a multi-colored Tasha for myself.