Confection (76 x 90)

 

I'm in love with this quilt.  It reminds me of black licorice and cotton candy, or of Good and Plenty candies, so sweet they makes your teeth hurt and delicious to eat in the dark of a movie theater.  

The blocks were pieced on my treadle machine with some 5 x 5" squares Debra sent me, with some of my fabrics thrown in for good measure.  When I finished the blocks I took them upstairs to the sewing room, where I organized them on my design wall, and sashed and bordered them on my modern Janome, which is way more accurate.

For the border I had a very special piece of black and white  print which I bought at IPQF a few years ago.  I didn't quite have enough to go all the way around because it looked like the 1-yard piece had been cut in the dark with a hack saw--don't you hate it when that happens?--so I substituted a related print on the bottom.

Here's a close up.  I think those blue cornerstones make everything pop.

Have a great weekend.  If the new version of Jane Eyre opens in my area, I'll go to the movies.   I hope they have Good and Plenty at the theatre.

Spring Break

I'm now officially on Spring Break--whoo-hoo!  Although there will not be any bikini-clad beach trips  to warm locales for me, I will be off work for a week, and taking a much-needed breather.

Very appropriate to the season, I recently read our dear friend Allie Aller's new book Crazy Quilting: Modern Piecing and Embellishing Techniques for Joyful Stitching, which is a happy bowl of eye candy and practical skill-building instruction. 

 

The book is beautifully photographed, and has clear and precise tips and instructions on a number of fresh approaches to  crazy quilting.  In addition, it's a homage to the friendships among stitchers in the on-line community.  We see contributions from Susan Elliot, who has posted tutorials here and here for her beautiful queen project.  There are are also contributions from Debra Spincic, and...

...yes!  From me too!  My St. Therese quilt is in the gallery.  If you'd like to see process photos for how I made this quilt, the links are tabbed under "St Therese" in the sidebar and they're right here too.

Also appropriate to the season, I finished this lovely shawlette, which is from Stephen West's popular pattern Pagona, knit some some inexpensive Deborah Norville sock yarn.  The design is very attractive and not hard at all to knit.  Just a little something to throw over the neck, just in time for Spring.

Adaptations

After a lot of de-griming, I got my treadle up and running.  Like I posted before, she's a 1903 Singer 15, and according to the serial number she was made in Elizabeth, New Jersey, though, mysteriously, she came with a manual written in German.  After several rounds of cleaning and oiling, I replaced the belt, and she was ready to go.

I got all my technical information, including a facsimile version of the manual in English, off the web. There are YouTube videos on changing the belt and threading the bobbin.  If not for the Internet, I don't know that I could have gotten this machine working on my own.

After some false starts, I figured out that a small post was missing from the otherwise working bobbin winder, so I turned to yet another modern adaptation: the electric bobbin winder.  These are pretty useful, I don't know why I didn't get one sooner.  It easily solved my problem, and now the treadle is fully operational.  There's something sweet about the rhythms of sewing on a 108 year old treadle machine, and the modern adaptations don't subtract from it one whit. 

I'm reminded when sewing on the treadle of how easily I've adapted to the needle down setting, the automatic thread cutter,  and other handy innovations of my modern machine.  The old Singer is more temperamental and fiddly.  I have to be very precise with my technique, which isn't the case with newer machines.  I also have to pin a lot more than I've become used to due to that funny narrow foot.  Now I'm remembering vividly what it felt like to sew on the old family Singers when I was a girl: I have to approach this machine like a wild horse: cautiously and calmly.

But when the woman- machine relationship is in sync, some lovely things can come of it.  I've been making these big 9-patch blocks from 5" squares Debra sent me.  I'll sew them together when I get enough of them--either with or without sashing--and let her quilt it for donation. 

I also wound my Kool-Aid dyed yarn into balls:

I think I'm going to make a shawl with these coordinated colors.  I'll knit the body in the variegated yarn and do a lace edging in the solid color. 

The greenish yarn has already been cast on for a 28's Big Sister 77 shawlette, available on Ravelry.  The old lime green sweater is adapting to its new life as two completely different colored shawls quite nicely.

Playing Mad Scientist: Unraveling a Sweater and Kool-Aid Dyeing the Yarn

 

I saved this old sweater to harvest the yarn.  I wore this sweater a lot, but although the wool yarn was still good, the color had started to fade in spots, and it didn't fit me very well anymore.  

I unraveled it and wound the yarn into skeins. Here's my favorite tutorial on reclaiming yarn from knitted garments.   I got two big skeins: one from the back and one from the front, and two smaller skeins from the sleeves.  I soaked these for several hours until they were good and wet and then Koolaid dyed the yarn similar to the way I did before.

The small skeins got dyed with two colors of Koolaid:  purple and orange.  I just barely dipped part of the skeins in the purple, which resulted in an olive green.  The parts I left in longer dyed a dark brown, and the orange turned into a nice rust color.



Snazzy, huh?  These will make some nice fingerless gloves or a shawlette.  The yarn is fingering weight.

 

One of the big skeins got dipped in a pot of blue Koolaid, and then I pulled out one end, added more Koolaid to the pot, and let the other end get darker.

This is enough for a nice shawl.  Those light bands are the spots where I tied the skeins.  Next time I'll tie them more loosely, though I like the random light bits.

I ran out of Koolaid for the other skein, which I dyed an almost solid rust after a quick trip to the store for more orange. I've been accumulating  some shawl pattens on Ravelry, but I'll have to wait for the yarn to dry to cast on. 

I hope you're looking forward to a creative week.  I feel my schedule calming down into a more manageable pace, so I'm looking forward to some new projects.

"Her Radiance" (11x17)

I've been even more MIA than usual, working on a big project at work, and not having a lot of spare time.  However, I've been working on this piece a bit at a time, using one of Flor Larios's fabric images.

I had the idea that I wanted to use prairie points as a textural feature, and some of my extensive collection of metal buttons.  After some initial clumsy construction errors, this piece came together very nicely.  Friday I came home late and buzzing with adrenaline, so I sat down to finish the machine sewing, and then on Saturday, I added the hand work.  There are times when I just need to sew for the sake of my soul, and I finished this piece in just that mood.

I embellished this Virgin of Guadalupe image with machine stitching and embroidery, which also acted as quilting.  Don't you love her blue eye shadow?  That's what drew me to this sweet image in the first place.  I remember shopping for a Virgin of Guadalupe statue in Tijuana and selecting from the ones whose makeup wasn't too heavy-handed and whose eyeshadow wasn't too obvious.

I used a variety of plain metal buttons.  You can see my free motion quilting on her dress, and the blue inner border was cut from a pillowcase my mother sent me.

I've continued to use vintage linens for small quilt backs.  I used half a doily for the rod pocket, and I cut the back from an embroidered dresser scarf.  

The title of this piece comes from the Nican Mopohua, the narrative of the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe to Juan Diego, written in the 1500s.  On the label I've included a quote from the narrative in the original Nahuatl language and in English: Her radiance was like precious stones, it seemed like an exquisite bracelet.  This is what I wanted to capture with the prairie points and the buttons: a picture of the light radiating from her person. 

Have a creative week everyone. 

Winter Knits

Over the last month I finished up some knitting projects, just in time for the peak of the winter weather.

I made Iced, a free sweater pattern by Carol Feller from the fab on-line magazine Knitty.  The sweater is knit in bulky yarn, yet it's very flattering, due to some nice waist shaping.  I knit my sweater in some serviceable and cheap yarn, Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky.  I wanted a brown sweater and this one knit up fast and fits the bill nicely.  The cute buttons were dollar store finds.  You never know what they'll have at the dollar store.

I also finished a Boneyard Shawl by the popular designer Stephen West. This pattern is a free Ravelry download and a perfect project for meditative knitting.  It's one of  those wonderful projects that you don't have to pay close attention to, so you can empty your mind, work on your enlightenment, and end up with a nice shawl at the end of it all.


I knit this in a bulky weight yarn too, Hulda by Louisa Harding, which I got at Tuesday Morning.  Hulda is a drapey blend of wool, acrylic and linen.  I'm planning to wear this shawl to work with my navy raincoat and hope it will remind me of how close I got to enlightenment while I was knitting it.

Michael's grandson Emil will turn three next week, so I made him a sweater.  It's knit from a free Lion Brand pattern that comes in both children's and adult sizes.   

For this small version I used three balls of Vanna's Choice acrylic yarn, since sweaters for three-year-olds need lots of washing.

Although I had these three projects on the needles at the same time, now that they're finished, I find myself in an unprecedented fit of Knitting Monogamy.  I'm still working on my linen stitch shawl, having found a few more yarns to work into the mix.  Although I've got my eye on some new patterns, (like this jacket, and Pogona, another Stephen West shawl) I'm content to work on one knitting project at a time right now. 

Who knew?  Sheesh, next thing you know, I'll be making one quilt at a time.  And then maybe pigs will fly.  And warm places will begin to freeze over.

A Linen Stitch Shawl

The week between Christmas and New Year's day is one of my favorite times of the year.  The big holiday is behind me, the fridge is full of holiday leftovers, and I'm off work.  Plus it rained buckets last week, which means it was perfect knitting weather.

I decided to gather some compatible bits of yarn and knit a rectangular shawl in linen stitch, based on a patten in Sally Melville's The Knitting Experience Book 3: Color,  which has a lot of well-designed classic patterns.  I am in love with linen stitch.  It produces a fabric that looks woven.  I can see many applications for this stitch: it's perfect for using up odds and ends of various yarns.

While I was knitting on a couple of rainy afternoons, I watched the BBC series Victorian Farm on YouTube.  In this series, three experts, two archaeologists and a historian, live and work on a Victorian farm in rural England for a year, and we see them doing various routine tasks: cooking, raising sheep, and farming, using the technologies of the time.  There's a wonderful scene when Ruth Goodman, the historian, who is an expert on domestic practices, cross stitches a pair of suspenders by lamp light in an unheated room so cold you can see her breath.   

What a pleasant way to pass the hours.  Unlike poor Ruth, I was nice and toasty, and with a few more good movies, I'll have a nice wrap.

Starting as I Mean to Go On

I'm greeting the year having finished two UFOs.  It's a good thing to bring some projects to a conclusion, even as I'm continually thinking about projects yet to come.  I quilted and bound my Bee Quilt, which features hand embroidered blocks from vintage patterns.  I blogged about the finished top back in June.

This is the unquilted top

 I quilted straight lines around the blocks, and I did some random free motion quilting over the embroidered motifs. 

 It's not perfect, but it's done, which is just as good these days.

 I had this cheerful floral backing fabric in my stash, and I was happy to put it to use.

Several months ago Debra quilted Big Scrappy for me and it's been waiting patiently for me to put on the binding.  Debra used a fleece blanket for the batting, and it's wonderfully warm and cozy.  Here's a shot of the unquilted top and here's the original post.

This is a time of beginnings and of endings.  It's good to wrap up loose threads, and prepare ourselves for what's to come.  I hope your New Year celebrations are joyful.  Many blessings to you and yours in 2011.

All is Calm, All is Bright

                                     


This is the season of calm and bright, but the swirl of daily life continues nonetheless.  I'm almost done grading finals, and grades are due in a couple of days.  In the meantime, I thought I'd share the wall quilt I'm making in fits and starts.  In the outer border you can see some of the scraps of Debra's 12 original yards of Hawaiian fabric that has gone into so many quilts, but is still not quite used up.  Debra also posted some scrap blocks yesterday that feature some of this won't-die fabric.

The beautiful focal point of this quilt is a fabric print by Flor Larios, who sells  her lovely folkloric prints, including prints on fabric and other goods, in her etsy shop.  If I sat down for a couple of hours I could finish this piece.  Maybe it'll happen in a few days.

Here's the calm and bright scene in front of my stove.  All the cats decided to call a truce to share the warmth of the fire.  The black cat, Wee, is visiting from the kids' apartment.  When they both work on the weekend, she gets lonely, and likes to come to "kitty daycare" at my house.  We've had Wee for 15 years, and she was our original cat.  The others are, in her view, interlopers.  She's happy to visit the old homestead, and knows the routines at my house, then Allie picks her up and takes her home after work.

A favorite place by the fire is this cat bed I crocheted using triple strands of old acrylic yarn.  I used this free pattern for a crocheted bag as a reference for the increases and decreases.

Fun fur trimming make this kitty bed extra elegant. 

Happy holidays to everyone.  I hope your corner of the world is calm and bright.

Fair Isle Vest and a Baby Quilt--Finished!

 

I finally finished the Faire Isle vest I was knitting for my mom.  I began it early this year, intending to give it to her for her birthday, but it didn't go as fast as I'd hoped, and then I fell and needed four months of hand therapy to recover the use of my left hand.  Finishing the vest, I'm convinced, has helped me to recover the complete use of the injured hand.

This vest was a kit from Knit Picks, the on-line yarn company.  The kit is discontinued, but it was an excellent first major Faire Isle project for me.  I sent it off to mom, and she assured me that although she hadn't tried it on yet, she would wear it to church.  Arg!  I told her wear it often, because it's warm, but I should've realized she would likely save it for special occasions. 

 Here's the inside of the vest where you can see how the stranded yarn looks on the back.  Yes, I am showing off.

The vest is knit in a big tube with decreases for the neck and arm holes.  Then I sewed the steeks up on my sewing machine to secure everything, and cut the holes open with a scissors.  The little yarn ends felted nicely against each other, so I didn't feel the need to cover them with hem tape or ribbon.

 

I'm on a roll, so I quilted this top for Michael's new granddaughter Solis, who was born in November.  I had the top already made, and I like this toile fabric with a big brother and little sister, and the baby's mom said she was re-using the brown and blue bedding from baby #1, so this seemed a good choice.  It felt good to quilt again, so I basted another project and began quilting that one too.  

Back in the Saddle Again

 The other day I just sat down in front of the machine and sewed.  It felt good to pick up a project and work on it again, and I finally finished piecing this still-unnamed quilt that I'm making with Debra.  She pieced the center medallion and the pinwheel blocks, mostly in western themed fabrics.  I added two side panels and borders.  You should be able to click on it to see the details.

I was taken with the western theme of the center medallion, and then my friend Leslie gave me a large piece of this old Alexander Henry fabric "Sweetheart of the Rodeo," which is a riff on the old Byrds album cover of the same name.  I've been obsessed with this image for a few years: I have a picture of it hanging above my sewing machine, so when Leslie gave me this fabric, it was double serendipity.

My only qualm with the fabric was that all the cowgirls were white.  In the service of historical accuracy, I took out my gel pens and inserted some racial diversity into the mix.

 This one got some silver "highlights."  There's no reason cowgirls all have to be young.

I love the pose of these cowgirls.  They remind me of angels.  I thought they'd be a good guardians for a western themed Virgin of Guadalupe.  I'll be sending this off to Debra soon.  We'll see what she adds.

Basic Fingerless Mitts and Other Adornments for the Hand

My job is keeping me pretty busy these days.  I try to carve out recreational time, but I still end up working long hours during the week and part of the weekend, so I don't have much creative time.   There's not much sewing going on here, but I do knit.  Sewing seems to take more energy than knitting, while knitting seems to quiet and center me.  I can also more easily pick up projects for short bursts of time.  Doing a row or two in odd moments doesn't require the time commitment it seems to take to quilt.

I made this great free fingerless mitt pattern in a dk weight wool I picked up at Tuesday Morning, of all places.  The yarn, Hacho, is a soft and colorful Peruvian wool, and I needed less than one skein (about 130 yards) for the pair.  Tuesday Morning is a discount place that gets home decor stuff, linens, gardening supplies, dishes, toys, and some craft supplies.  You never know what they might have in the yarn department, and they never have more than a few balls of each color, but it's generally high quality yarn for a discount price, and just the thing for small projects.

And here's another small hand adornment, but sign of a bigger project in the making.  Michael and I are planning to get married.  Of course the way we're doing it hardly counts as wedding planning.  When you're our age, marriage is about the logistics of sharing our households and families.  So we're working on it, and when we figure out all the details, we'll tie the knot, no big rush, no deadline. 

This is a lot different from when I got married in my late 20s, but wonderful in its own way.  Michael and I have been a couple for several years, and have been very happy together.  We've liked not being married and having separate houses.  But looking toward the future, this is the direction we've decided to take.  I feel very lucky both to have such a great partner --he really is one of the most wonderful people I've ever known-- and another shot at marriage. 

Sewing a Knitting Needle Case

I was in Jo Ann Fabrics with my 40% off coupon burning a hole in my purse when I saw this packet of 5 sets of sock needles.  I bought it to have spares, since I feel a major sock knitting jag coming on, plus 5 sets of needles for $10 (less 40%) is a great deal.

When I got home I decided to make a knitting needle case to keep track of these skinny needles.  I found a 10" orphan block left over from an old project, and I cut a piece of scrap flannel to the same size.

For the inner pockets, I cut another 10" square of fabric, then folded it in half with the pretty side out, and marked some lines for stitching the pockets.

For the top flap, I cut a 6 x 9.5"  inch piece of fabric, folded it so the right sides were together, stitched up the short sides, and then turned the right side out.  The top flap isn't sewn into pockets, but is left loose.

After adding a quilt-style binding and a tie, I marked the needle sizes on the pockets with marker and sorted through my collection of new and old needles. 




Not bad for a little impromptu project.  Plus I found my way back to the sewing machine, where I spent some time on the Madonna quilt I'm making with Debra.

Sometimes I guess I have to just put a toe in the water and see if I'm ready to take a dip.