What's on my Machine Monday

I have the oak leaf wallhanging on my machine.Here you can see a better view of the quilting. I'm alternating what I am doing in the squares to give a varied look. I'm using a variegated thread with fall colors in it from Superior - A King Tut thread. I really like their threads. Even on the lighter color background it blended in nicely.

What a Sale!

I made this wallhanging about a year ago and had it hanging on my livingroom wall. My children's piano teacher came to your house, saw it and said he wanted to buy it. So I sold it to him. That was pretty exciting.I made this lamb yesterday.

I'm a little frustrated with my lily wallhanging, because I can't find the green fabric that was left which I need for that corner where I ran short. It must be around somewhere. Hopefully I didn't throw it away. There was only a small amount left. I am ready to quilt it except for finishing that corner.

Flowered Stars

I couldn't think of another name so that's what I'm calling it. A very fun quilt to do. I turned feathers into flower petals. Feathers are so versatile. This quilt came a little puckery, so the quilting helped to ease the fullness in spots.A closeup of the square.

I use wax paper to help me design. This quilt went through many changes. I like the chain to stand out so quilting around it helps to do that, instead of quilting on them.

This is the border. Just some simple spirals.

This is another wax paper drawing of freehand feathers for a former quilt. I draw on the wax paper and when I like it I freehand the spine with chalk on the quilt. And maybe a couple of feathers to get the flow. Then I quilt. This drawing shows an echo of the feathers .

The quilt that came from that drawing.

Lillies Wallhanging

As you can see the back of the couch is the closest thing I have to a design wall, at least for photography. The floor or table is for actual designing. This hanging is coming along. I have the borders on, although you can see I ran short of the dark green in one corner. I'll have to add that in. How did that happen? That pale green at the top I'll be appliqueing there and all the sides, so there will still be quite a change yet. I really enjoy appliqueing. This is all needleturn.

What's on my machine Monday

I don't have a design wall, but I do have a machine. Here is what is on my machine today. I'll show closeups when I'm done.
This is a hat I failed at. I will be ripping it out. It's supposed to fit a one year old but it fits me around my head. It's the same type yarn, same gauge and needles as my other hats, but this one has a moss stitch edging instead of ribbing. The moss stitch knitted larger than the stockinette. I quess if I try it again, I'll have to do less stitches on the edge to make it fit. I do like the coloring of the hat. That makes it rather sad to rip out.

Hooded sweater

I just got the buttons for this sweater so I was able to finish it. What I really like about it is the edging I did. I didn't understand the instructions exactly, so I have my own version, but I really like it . I might do it on other things also. This fits a 4 month old. I knitted slightly bigger than the gauge, but not much more.
Detail of the edge work.

Pink Booties

Some booties I knitted the last couple of day. Just shipped them to a customer in England.I think they're pretty cute.

Another Cat

Our guild makes a quilt for each outgoing president. This one is a cat quilt and this is my cat. I will sign it. I haven't done that before and it kind of scares me.I sewed up these tablerunners yesterday. I figured I needed some autumn ones in our shop. This one is a small version of my oak leaf wallhanging.

This has leftover fabric from a quilt I made several years ago for my bed. My husband had gone to Walmart and saw this fabric that he really liked (the leaf one) and brought it home so I made a quilt that I put on my bed every fall. These triangles were already cut, and so I designed with that in mind. I'll try to do exquisite quilting on the light blocks.

Sheetrock

We're getting the sheetrocking going on our store.A contractor friend came over and gave the kids some gatorade to keep them going. Don't they look sleepy here?

And some tips to help them.

In the evening they got their brother's help,

including that of their contractor brother. He says he's the brains and they are the hands.

Another hat I knitted. One thing about knitting, you can do it watching the Mariners, or golf, or an old movie, or when my husband is reading to me, or when I'm visiting with someone. I love quilting but it is limited unless I have a small applique that I'm doing by hand.

But this morning I have a lot of time to quilt, so I'll get to it.

Cats. cats. and more cats

I just took this one off my frame done for a customer. She likes cats.

I grew attached to this cat. Maybe I liked my clamshells in it. They were actually very fun to do. A little marking and then let go.

This is the backside. I liked the fabric Carolyn picked out for it. More cats.

Pink Hat

A little baby hat I knitted last evening. I am going to be a grandmother in January, so I want to be prepared for the babe - boy or girl.

Oak Leaf Wallhanging

Today was a very, very profitable day. I got this whole wallhanging put together. I decided to fuse the leaves to the square and my quilting will enhance them. Some of them need that especially to separate them from the background. Actually, in the picture they blend in more than in real life. But I do want to have fun with thread and quilting it.

Newest Knitting project

This is a baby hooded sweater that I started knitting a couple of days ago. It's going very quickly. The border is especially nice. Here's a close up of the border. It's a variation on the moss stitch using lighter weight yarn for the other colors. I might use it in other sweaters in the future for a change from ribbing.

I'm quilting this cat quilt for a customer. She wanted clamshells. I told her I'd have to practice them, because they have to be a certain size to fit in the cats properly. I have pattern boards but they weren't the right size. So with marking I am doing them freehand.A closer look. I was actually surprised that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

This is a sweater I am finishing up for Danielle, this little girl. I took a size 18 month pattern and upped it to a size 6. I've never done that before, but with her measurements and using other patterns for ideas, it did work. I might need to make the neck a little larger but that won't be too hard. We'll see what her mom thinks.

Finally Finished

I just finished the quilting on this quilt. Just an echo quilting that is traditional for Hawaiian quilts. It took me months and is the last quilt I will ever do this way(by hand). But I do think it looks rather nice. Now for the binding. I hope I don't put it off too long.I also sewed my squares and my leaves together on this wall hanging. I'm trying to decide whether to applique by machine or needleturn. I think I'm leaning toward needleturn. It is pretty relaxing and with the other quilt done I'll need something else to work on.

Steilacoom and oak leaf plan

Tuesday, my husband called and wanted to take me away for a few days. It's been almost a year since we've done this. So we went to an old historic town called Steilacoom. We had a nice little house with this view overlooking Puget Sound. It was a wonderful time. The ferries go by all day and the train comes by every 15 min. or so. You do have to be willing to get used to the train whistles.We relaxed and listened to CD's and my husband read Trollop's Framley Parsonage to me. I knitted and sewed much as I did on our vacation. I also cut out the pieces for my oak leaf wall hanging. Here is how I think it will look without borders. I think I will do a narrow blue border with piano keys for a wider outer border. But I am not stuck in the mud as to that yet.

I also did this puzzle. Puzzles are one of my favorite pasttimes when I have a weekend with nothing else happening. That isn't much.

New Oak hanging and lilies

I'm slowly coming along on this wall hanging. I loosely pin until I'm ready to do that flower. Then I pin it how I want it when it's time to sew.This is fabric for an oakleaf wall hanging and probably some tablerunners to sell. I don't know how much of the fabric I'll really use until I get down to cutting squares. It is appliqued oak leaves on a square (on point)

Bev's quilts

My sister has become a quilter in the last year or two and I think she is doing very well at it. So I thought I would show a few of my favorites here.

I didn't get her permission so I'll have to find out her reaction when she sees this. She does check every day or so.

Aprons and Bella Jean Boutique

After I made the tablecloth I decided to make aprons since I had extra fabric. I am selling these in our shop. Mother/daughter aprons.Here is a photo of our new shop as it is now. The girls bought insulation and are starting work today.

Victoria working very hard.