Lifelines

Remember that quiz show where they'd give you a lifeline, the ability to call a friend if you get stumped?  Well when I posted about this quilt, Debra threw me a lifeline by suggesting I use the pieced blocks I was trying to line up at the top and bottom as cornerstones.  This suggestion got the wheels in my brain moving.  I put the blocks up, and then dug out some 5" paper pieced scrappy blocks  I'd made with no project in mind--hey, these are the blocks in the header to my blog, and I'd almost forgotten about them!

I liked the way these looked together, so I started to make more.  I've got a bin of tiny bright scraps I set aside to make these blocks.  The "logs" on these blocks are 1/2" wide, so they're pretty small.

From my stash of 2.5" strips, I found a great striped fabric for the rest of the border, which I paired with strips cut from various black fabrics.

I've got two borders pieced and two to go.  There may even be another border with four of the same blocks as cornerstones.   Thanks for the lifeline Debra! 

UFOs

Now that my sewing room is in order, I've resurrected some UFOs.  This quilt languished because I couldn't decide whether it was done, or if I was going to try to make it bigger.

At one point I made these blocks to make it bigger, but I didn't get the color placement right in some of them, and so I'm not crazy about the blocks.  I think I've decided that the quilt is done in it's current incarnation without the extra blocks.  At 42 x 42" it's big enough for a wall hanging or table topper.  Not that I need either, mind you.  I think that's also why this project got stalled.  I have decided that if I finish it, its purpose will eventually become clear.

I also brought out my basket blocks and I've actually been sewing up more of these.  They're 6" blocks, so I'll need lots of them to make anything of consequence.

I love ric-rack, and I'm using it for the handles of the baskets, sewing them up in same-color batches while I've got the right color thread in the machine.

They're very cheerful.  If you zoom in on the pictures of the first quilt, it has ric-rack too.  Maybe I'm working in a series now.

The Calm Before the Storm

I was so excited about the color play possibilities (and the acrylic stash eating potential) of my zig zag baby afghan, that I decided to hook up another one right away.  I pulled all the blues, yellows, oranges and whites from my acrylic stash and set out to make a lap blanket.  Or maybe it'll be another baby blanket that I'll put aside for the next baby that crosses my path.  It doesn't matter, because I'm just thinking about the next row and what colors might come next.

This color scheme is appropriate: these are calm sea colors to meditate on as I restart the school year.  Classes start next Monday, so I'm gearing myself up for yet another year.

After I started the afghan, I sidetracked myself with some knitted mittens for an Afghans for Afghans campaign that's winding up.

These were all free patterns from Ravelry:   Marlene's Mittens by Alaina Privette,

Matrix by Kerry Palm, made in the child's size.

and Midwestern Mittens, Extra Chunky by Lion Brand Yarn, which makes up so fast they're like potato chips: you can't knit just one (pair).  The green-blue ones are made with one strand of worsted wool and one strand of vintage mohair held together, which makes for a very warm pair of mitts.

This has been a wonderful summer, but like all the others, it's ended much too quickly.  I always feel like I could use another month off.  Oh well, there's next summer to look forward to.

Sewing Room Re-Do

My sewing room wasn't that bad, but 

it needed painting and it seemed like every cast-off piece of mismatched furniture ended up there.  Note especially the twin bed, an 80s white laminate with gold accents, that was my (now 25 year-old) daughter's first bed.  I liked having a daybed in the room, but it wasn't quite as stylish as I'd wanted.  The desk I use for my sewing machine is a thrift store find, used just the way I found it.

I gave the room a DIY rescue.  First the bed got reconditioned with Mod-Podge and four rolls of Target wrapping paper.  

Laminate takes decopage very well.  Apply the Mod Podge, wet the paper and stick it down, apply more  Mod Podge.  Easy.

For the head and foot board, I tore the paper into random chunks and overlapped it.  This fit the paper's overall design.

The bed got new linens and pillows.  I spray painted the old drawer pulls silver to match the paper.

The desk drawer fronts got some textured paintable wallpaper and a coat of Benjamin Moore's Pink Popsicle.  Then I highlighted the textured parts with the same beige paint I used to paint the room.  It also got new drawer pulls.

The drawers got the remaining wrapping paper, and the larger drawer bottoms were covered with a layer of cork, since they were warped.

Since my ex-husband's passing earlier this year, we ended up with some of his furniture.  This table, which had lived in this room years ago when we were married, came back.  I've got the sewing machine on it for now, but once the paint cures, it will go on the pink desk, and this will be my cutting table.

These bookcases came up from the garage.

I decided to display one of my old Singers.

My button collection went into jars I found around the house.

 The daybed is popular with the cats

and it's a favorite place for me too.

A Dollar Eighty-Nine

I had a good run at the thrift stores recently.  I picked up this Aunt Martha quilt booklet to add to my collection of vintage ephemera.

Among the patterns are these cute appliques.

On the same trip, I found this 1923 crocheted lace booklet.

Some of the illustrations are pretty corny.

This cross-stitched doily has a nice blank space in the middle for a transfer.

The deal of the day was that I got this double bed 95% embroidered quilt top from a Paragon kit.  I have a minor obsession with embroidered quilt kits.  This one is made up of three printed panels in the Baltimore album style.

There's only one stain, between the second and third motifs on the bottom, and the embroidery is very well executed.

The embroidery is complete except for the places where the patterns meet,

...and this one piece of border.  This top was $1.89.  There was another kit, maybe 10% embroidered, in browns and golds, and they wanted MORE for that one.  I think I got the better deal.  A few more stitches and the top will be completed. 

Crochet Summer

After I finished my granny square scarf, I jumped right into another crochet project: a baby blanket.  I dipped into my stash of acrylic yarn, babies needing things to to washable, and I used this free pattern. 

This blanket has used up lots of yarn and being that it uses a double crochet stitch throughout, it makes up very fast.  I'd be done by now, but I ripped out several rows because I hadn't planned properly for the color changes between the three shades of yellow.  I should be done soon, I'm going to repeat the three color section that I started with, and it'll be a nice size, about 35 x 42 inches.

I can see myself continuing to make a few more of these.  I'll have to see what's left in the box of acrylics.

Crocheting this blanket reminded me of some other zig zag afghan projects I've made.  Both were made with a single crochet stitch pattern, so they're not exactly the same as the one I'm making now.  The first one is a baby blanket I made for my kids.

This one I made for my son Alex many years ago.  You have to love these acrylic blankets, they hold up so well over time, and this pattern reminds me of a Missoni print.

On another note, I received this St. Francis pin, which I bought from Angela May, as a memento of finishing my St Francis quilt and showing it a Sacred Threads.  The collage image caught my eye when I first saw it, and I'm enjoying wearing it.  She has beautiful things in her Etsy shop.

Granny Square Scarf

This project turned out better than I'd hoped it would.

There was always the possibility that it would look garish instead of quirky and cool.

The key I think was to use natural fibers and fingering weight yarns.  The scarf drapes nicely and is lightweight and warm.

Starting with the fairly coordinated set of weaving yarn samples also gave the project cohesiveness.

This one's a winner.  I will wear this a lot.

Embellished Jean Jacket

When we met up in DC, Debra brought me one of her machine-embroidered Virgin of Guadalupes stitched on canvas.  She suggested I might want to add it to a jean jacket.

She said that if I stitched it down and left a margin of frayed edges, it would be machine washable.

She said I could embellish it with buttons.

Isn't it great when your friends share their good ideas?