Time for Knitting

I have decided to get my knitting needles back out, and join a knit-along with Judy over at Patchwork Times.  Judy is knitting Dreambird, so yesterday I went over to Ravelry and bought the pattern.  I wanted to do this from yarn I already have, so I dug out some Wollmeise that I've been holding onto for a while, and went hunting for something to pair it with.  This is what I found.  I thought it might work, but after I wound it in to a ball, I see there is more brown and less yellow than I thought.

Then this morning I had an inspiration - silver would be beautiful with this yarn.  So I headed out to a yarn shop at noon to find some. Apparently, silver is not a popular yarn choice.  But I did find something that I think will work nicely, and I do prefer it over the brown.  So, yarn chosen.  Cast on day is Sunday, so now I wait.

The best laid plans

My design wall is empty this week.  I am determined to get some quilting done, before I pull out another project.  I finished quilting my labyrinth yesterday morning.  But I messed up (as usual) on the binding - I had bought enough fabric for it, and then I went and used that fabric for the backing :(  I really do need to cut my binding and set it aside before I start the quilt. 

Anyway, now I'm stuck - I could buy more, but I'd rather not, so I came up with a possible plan.  But I wanted to try it out first.  So, I figured I'd load up a quick project, quilt it, and then bind it to see if my plan would work.  4 hours later (quick, yah right), I finished quilting the placemats I took downstairs. 

I started with a single pass on these, but decided that they needed to be more heavily quilted.  So, I shifted the template and went back over them with another thread colour.

I tried out my binding plan on these, and decided I don't like it.  It worked OK, but the edging is machine stitched, and this just reaffirmed that I don't like that look. I'll have to come up with a different plan for the labyrinth.

Check out Judy's blog for more design walls today.

Stash Report Aug 18

I showed this week's finishes yesterday.  So for today,  here's a sneak peak at my labyrinth quilt on the long arm.  Over 1/2 done now, so I should be able to finish it up this weekend.  

My stash numbers for this week are looking good, thanks to the 2 finishes.
A little diversion - 6 1/4 yards
Mystery quilt - 10 1/4

Total used this week, 16 1/2 yards
Total stash usage this year: 179 1/2 yards out

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

A couple of finishes

Two tops finished today.  I completed the applique on my Border Creek Station Mystery. Well, almost. Just the edges inside the little cutouts to do now.  I'm kind of regretting adding that little detail :)  I apparently have until Oct 4 to get this one quilted, so it's going to jump the queue for the long arm. Speaking of which - the labyrinth quilt is past the halfway mark today.  If I get focussed, I may be able to finish it this weekend.

Second completed top is one I call "Just a Little Diversion", because that's what it was.  A diversion from applique (because that was a lot more work than I expected), using fabric that I bought trying to distract myself from a stressful couple of days.  It worked on both counts :)

And I even found enough fabric in my stash for backing for both of these.  In flannel!  Not sure how that happened, since I don't generally buy flannel, but there it was and they both worked perfectly for the respective quilts.  

Design Wall Monday, Aug 12

My design wall hasn't changed too much since yesterday.  I did get a second applique block almost done (just have to stitch around the brown pieces on this one).  I am amazed how the applique makes the beige triangles stand out more.  I was nervous about adding the applique to this quilt, but I'm loving the result. And now I'm eyeing the first cream border ...

And I loaded a new quilt on my long arm.  The quilt show yesterday inspired me, so I'm doing more custom quilting on this one than I might have planned otherwise.  It's a nice diversion from the applique work.

Drop by Judy's blog for more design walls today.

Stash Report Aug 11

No finishes to claim this week, so my stash count is steady at 163 yards out.  Next week could be good, however, because I have 2 quilts that just need final touches.  I spent yesterday working on my Border Creek Station mystery quilt.  Borders are on, now - so I'd better not change my mind :)  - and I started the applique.  It's a lot of work (maybe I should have gone with something less detailed), but I like the result so I will push on with the next 3 blocks.

Drop by Judy's blog for more stash reports today.  As for me, I'm off to a quilt show for the day.

A small diversion

While pondering borders on my mystery quilt, and avoiding the quilt on the long arm, I amused myself with a short diversion. 

Using one set of fabric from my retail therapy last weekend, I put together this quilt.  You may recognize it as a Big Block Quilt.  I drafted the blocks myself, to get maximum usage out of my fat quarters.  In fact, I went a little overboard. I figured I could get 4 9.5" blocks out of each FQ (a Canadian FQ is about 20"x20"), but a couple of them were cut crooked so I was .5" short on 4 of the squares.  Fixed that up with an off-cut from the other edge, and you can hardly notice the extra seam.

I was a bit disappointed. I thought for a while that Electric Quilt had let me down. It said I needed 1 yard of the dark brown, and I knew that I'd purchased 1 meter - so that was 4" more than I needed.  No problem!  But after cutting 16 of the 17 strips I needed, I was 1/2" short for the final strip :(  So I went back to pencil & paper and figured out that I actually needed 38.5" of fabric - more than 1 yard!  But less than the meter I bought - I must have lost almost 2" in shrinkage when I washed it.  I went back to EQ to figure out what went wrong there, because it usually estimates high, not low.  I checked the fabric width (set to 40", check). And then noticed the seam allowance setting - .1". Oops.  Fixed that, and EQ says I needed 1 1/4 yards.  Yes, that's much closer to reality.

Fortunately, I was able to salvage enough length from two of my strips to cut the couple of pieces I needed due to the missing strip. So all ended well!  The rows are attached and first border added now.  And now it sits until I get back to the quilt shop, because I need an outer border fabric.  More shopping!