Stash Repot

No new usage to report this week. But the Kaffe Fassett workshop yesterday may have resulted in enough inspiration to fuel a number of stash reports in the near future.

Total this year: 188 1/2 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog for more stash reports today.

Kaffe Fassett

I spent today at a wonderful workshop with Kaffe Fassett.  We were fortunate enough to have him in town, thanks to a collaboration between a local quilt store and knitting store.   The Running Stitch and Wool n' Things brought Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably to town for 2 workshops and a lecture.  The quilting workshop was all about colour, working with Kaffe's fabrics and one of the quilts in his "Shots and Stripes" book.

It was a wonderful opportunity to play with colours, and get some pointers and advice direct from both Kaffe and Brandon.  They encouraged us to step outside our comfort areas, and experiment with some bold and interesting colours and textures in the quilts.

I tried just about every background I could get my hands on, from light, to dark, and everything in between. Colours, solids, funky patterns.  So many choices, and so many different looks they brought to the quilts.

In the end, I settled on this background, and these colours.  I had to remove some of my favourites, because they blended too much with the background.  So, when I had some time left before the seminar ended, I took everything down and started again, trying to use my deep colours.  

I put them up, with a lovely grey background, thinking that would avoid the blending.  Kaffe and Brandon both pointed out that the contrast from the light grey to the dark solids was too great, and down they came again.  I ended up with a completely different look than the first time, but still without my deep colours.  I guess they just weren't meant to be.  I even tried using them as background at one point, but after playing with all the textures, they just felt too plain.

Here are some of the lovely combinations that were put together at the seminar.  As Kaffe said several times - it is amazing how many totally different quilts were put together from essentially the same palette of colours.

Stash Report - Sept 22

Finally some usage to report.  I cut and attached bindings for 2 quilts. Here's one of them, which needs to be done by Oct 4. I sat down to do some stitching on this, and immediately had a cat planted right in the middle of my lap, on top of the quilt.  This could take a while :)

Fortunately, Dreambird is finished, so I can focus on my quilting for a while.



1 1/4 yards used
Total this year: 188 1/2 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog for more stash reports today.

On the needles

Dreambird is still on my needles - but the end is in sight.  I  have enough grey left to finish this feather, and maybe one more, so I might even finish up this weekend.

But first, I have some sewing to do.  I got a start the other day - but this block is due tomorrow for a block party. I need to get moving, because I also need to sew up a couple of samples for the class I'm teaching tomorrow.  Fortunately, with my son working tonight, I'll be able to spend the evening in my sewing room without guilt.

I'm linking up with Judy's on the needles post today. Drop by to see what everyone else is up to.

Dreambird progress

I'm still knitting away on my dreambird - up to feather #15 now. I plan to just keep going until I run out of grey.  For now I'm still knitting my way out of the tangle my kitty left me earlier this week.  Fortunately, she hasn't found my new hiding spot yet, so the project has been safe from her attentions.

I really like the way this is turning out, but it's not as wide as I hoped it might be.  Even after extending the pattern a bit (from 130 stitches to 156), I wish it was a bit wider. So, like many others I am planning another dreambird.  I'll either use heavier yarn, or re-draft the pattern again. Probably redrafting, because I've already got my yarn in mind.

This pattern is great - fun, easy, and a multi-colour without having to carry yarn around on every row.  I love it - maybe I should look for more like this, rather than making another dreambird next.

Mystery Quilted

I finished quilting my Border Creek Station mystery quilt this past weekend.  Now I just have to finish the binding before the show & tell Oct 4.  I really like this pattern, and am pretty happy with the way the colours worked out.  I have to give credit to the owner at my local quilt shop for that - she helped a great deal with the colour choices. 

I did an all-over pantograph on this, with a light brown thread. As I hoped, the thread blends with the colours, and stands out a bit on the background fabric.  I think it adds a bit of the interest to the sections that I found a bit bland.  And it doesn't overpower the applique sections.

The pantograph is a bit denser than I usually use, and I had a few moments of concern while I was quilting. But the quilt is still nice and soft and drapes nicely so it worked well.

Cat vs knitting

When I went to bed last night, I neatly piled my knitting on the arm of my chair, as I have been doing for the past couple of weeks.  It was still sitting there in the morning.  But when I came home from work today, this is what I found. 

Actually, what I found was this little kitty, happily sitting on top of the pile of yarn you see here.   I guess she finally discovered the knitting, and how lovely and soft that grey yarn is.  Lucky for me (and her), she didn't manage to knock any stitches off the needles.  So I can continue knitting - once I untangle the mess she left me.

Great progress is being made, even with her assistance, however.  Dreambird continues to grow, and still has a ways to go before I'm out of yarn. 

Stash Report - Sept 8

I loaded a quilt on the long arm this weekend, so there's a bit of stash to report used in that backing. I did have some grief with it. I checked the fabric, and I had lots for what I needed. So I cut the lengths, sewed the 2 panels together, and headed for the ironing board. As I laid the backing out, I spotted big hole in the middle of it :(  there was a flaw in the fabric that I hadn't noticed earlier.  I had one piece left, but it wasn't long enough to replace the entire panel. So, best laid plans and all that - my backing now has 2 seams rather than 1.  But at least I have a backing. And 5 yards used.

I did bring a little treasure home with me yesterday, too.  I went shopping for fabric for this year's Border Creek Station mystery.  I love how last years turned out, so I thought I would jump in again.  It took forever to come up with these fabrics, and they are a long way from what the kit contains. But hopefully it will turn out as nicely as the last one did.

Total stash usage this year: 187 1/4 yards out

Drop by Judy's blog for more stash reports today.

On the needles

Tomorrow needs to be a sewing day. But for today, and most of this week, knitting has been more appealing.  Two more feathers done on my dreambird shawl. But now I must stop, and focus on sewing.  I have a class to teach in 1 week, and I need to review my notes, make sure I have samples of each step, and generally get ready for that adventure.

This is the quilt I'm teaching over at The Running Stitch, Sept 14 & 21.

Dreambird progress

Most of my weekend was spent on this project, and it's probably the reason I have no idea what day it is.  I've done flooring before, but I must have been younger then :)  I ache everywhere now.  But my son no longer has carpet in his room, and hopefully will get some relief from his allergy situation.

As you can see in this photo, we cleared out most of his room, and then shuffled all the furniture to one side.  When that part of the floor was laid, we moved everything over, and started on the second half.  Just a bit more trim to finish now, and he can move back in.

I did manage to get a lot of knitting done, in between rounds with the flooring.  I found that I needed a break now and then, and sitting down with knitting was just about the right speed.  I just started on feather #9. I don't know how many feathers there are going to be, so no idea how much knitting is left (maybe I should look at one of the project pictures and count them).  I'm just watching the balls get smaller as I knit 70 rows, repeat....

Linking up on Judy's progress report today.

Design Wall Monday - Sept 2

I don't know what happened.  I was sure there was one more week of August left.  Which is odd, because I knew school was starting on Tuesday.  Whatever happened, I'm a bit behind on my "end of month" activities here on the blog.  So, we'll combine a Back to Square One mystery update, with design wall Monday today.  Suitable, because that is exactly what is on my design wall.

Here is the mystery quilt, as of the August clue.  We won't discuss exactly when this step was finished :)  The new clue is out - more log cabin blocks.  Hopefully I can get them done before the end of the month.

I am loving the look of this quilt - it might actually end up being one of the first mystery quilts I do that I actually love the end result. Usually my colour choices let me down, but I'm really liking the way this one is coming together.  I think Judy did a great job of explaining the colour choices (what fabrics needed to pop, which ones should be in the same family, etc) and made it easy to make good choices.