Oh How I Love Crocheted Flowers

Remember the flower I made for Eloise's hat?

Well, I just had to make more.

 I love picking out buttons for them also.

 They are almost 4" in diameter, so they are quite large.

The reason for the tails is to make it easy to attach to a hat or other piece of clothing.

They will be for sale soon in my Etsy shop.

New French Tablerunner

Fall is a great time for selling tablerunners, so I figured I'd better get busy and sew one.  I bought this fabric a while back because I love the French Provence look.  I've gotten most of my fabric of this sort from France (via my mother-in-law) but this US made.  The French fabric is more like home decor weight and this is your normal cotton.  But I love the print and the colors.

 The backside is a nice golden with dots, very frenchy looking also.

 I quilted it with a gold rayon thread and did the pebbling around the print on the borders,

 and did little feathers and swirls around the print in the center.  It is a challenge to do tiny feathers throughout.  It's all about control.  Do any of you longarm quilters hit bumps in the road when your machine decides to do it's own thing for an inch or so?  That always bothers me.

This is for sale in my Etsy shop.

It's Almost Done

That is, the squares on my Ode to the  Thirties quilt.  I'm doing the 6" squares and they go pretty fast.

 I'm not a perfect piecer so I know there are things I will have to deal with when sewing the squares together.  But none are too far off.

I even have all the other squares cut out except for the pinwheels.  I feel like I'm really going to finish this soon.  Look at all those bags.

Set a Spell and Have a Cup of Tea

We are going visiting to my friend Kathi.  She's just started a new blog and wants to make new friends through it. Kathi's a grandma, like most of us, and is very creative in her home.  She's also having a give away of some of the beautiful cards she creates.

She decorates beautifully,

makes excellent cakes, 

  teaches children

and much more.  Head on over and get to know her at South Bay Studio.

A New Season of Hats

Eloise is growing fast.  She outgrew all of her hats that she wore last winter, so I knitted her a new set of hats.

This first one I made to match a sweater that I had already knitted for her.  The hat buttons under the chin so that she can not pull it off.  It's done mostly in a seed stitch that adds a nice texture.

 You can see it on Ravelry here.

This next hat is a new pattern for me.  It calls for a fingering weight yarn which means it takes longer to knit because of the smaller stitches you are doing.  I used the exact yarn it calls for (a washable wool) in a variegated.  This yarn's pattern is different and nicer than most variegated and doesn't pool like others do. And look at all the different colors in the one yarn.

I liked the yarn so much I bought lots more and also have a boys pattern that I'll be using.

You can see this on Ravelry here

This hat is one I'd done for Eloise last year.  She outgrew the hat but still fit the sweater, so I just made a larger hat.  You can see she still has growing room in this hat for a while.

 The flower is a new larger flower with a button in the center of it.

She may get another hat later on, but she has a good start for cooler weather.

A Learning Process

There are many things to learn.  First is how to take a good picture that shows the quilting well.  Any tips.  As you can see from this one, it shows up some, but it could show up better.  I took several but this was the best.  It's probably all in the lighting.

This is Peter and Malina's wedding quilt  that finally came to it's place in line for quilting. I love working on quilts like this that are more extensive quilting than my customer quilts.  For those I stick to overall or light custom because I am a rather new quilter.  But on my quilts I go all out.  

I considered whether to stipple or pebble and chose stippling around my feathers, but next time I think it will be pebbling.  It's actually a littler easier because there is a better flow.  In stippling I found out my right hand doesn't take any of the weight of quilting causing my left arm to get worn out.  I will have to teach my right hand how to move the machine and quilt.

I am using my curved rulers for the first time and that is fun and easy to do.  I will have more and better pics coming up.

Eloise is also learning.

Borders - Heart's Desire

I've started the first border on this quilt.  First I traced the border onto my background fabric. Then I made a freezer paper template and cut all the borders out of my fabric.  I laid the cut fabric on top using a narrow strip ofc fusable to hold it in place. It was a little off from my tracing on the fabric so it seems my tracing may have been a waste of time.  I've used Stitch n Wash on the other appliques, but it's pricey and didn't want to use it on this.  And I'm not really a freezer paper user, on the underside anyways.

I cut my little stems and stitched them in place under the border and am stitching the border.  And then I'll do the leaves.  These borders may take a while so you might not here back from me concerning this one for a while.  That does happen you know.

The fabric is an Oriental one, but the colors seemed to go well with my quilt.  It will be interesting how this all turns out.

Eloise is at school  She really wants to share.  This is her second year at school, although she's not in Second grade yet.  She started at 3 weeks old.  Is she a prodigy?  No, her mom is a teacher and has the privilege of being able to bring her daughter with her.  The big thing she's learning right now is not to play with cords.  School is a challenge for her in that way.

From Adult to Baby - More Booties

My last post was adult booties.  This post is baby booties.  These patterns are sold on Etsy.  Italians are some of the best knitters and crocheters I do believe.  And I'm glad I had some babies to model for me.

This first one is a boot.  I like the bit of color it has and the button closure.  It's a little hard to see in the picture, but they have cables all around.

 This pair resembles Mary Jane shoes with an added flower.  Check out the button on them also.  So sweet.  Small things are such fun to knit.  You can get a pair done in an evening  and are ready to start another the next one. 

More small knits are to come.

This post is linked to Too Cute Tuesday.     
    and Crafty Tuesday.

Pom Pom Peds

A friend of mine saw these on Purl Bee and since she isn't a knitter asked if I could make her a pair.  They were rather nostalgic for her as they reminded her of younger days.  So we picked out yarn and here they are.

They were very easy to knit.  I know I should knit some socks some day.  These were made from a washable wool, so they are easy care.   And they are very soft.

Pam really wanted them because of the pom-poms on the back.  Isn't that cute?

This is linked to Made By You Monday.

Wanda's Quilt

This one is all about dogs. 

And so  I quilted dog paws and bones.

 She also had done a lot of cute machine embroidery dogs on her quilt.

And last but not least, here is Eloise enjoying the flowers.

There's A Birthday Coming

So I'm starting to prepare now.  I don't want last minute pressure to get Eloise's gift done.  Our first grandchild will have her first birthday the first part of next month.  The last two days I've spent some time sewing.  Can you guess her present?

 I've even shown her this part of it.  They don't really matter to her yet, but I hope she has many hours enjoying her dolls.

I'm using an old pattern which I really like.  I made many of these dolls when I was single, and I like doing it the old way.  The newer patterns have changed things to make it a bit simpler I think, but it also lessens the quality of the doll.

 See these legs?  They have a seam sewn across the leg to give them bendability.  The arms are the same way.  I love it.

You probably won't see the finished ones until her birthday.  We do have to keep it somewhat of a surprise.

This is linked to Esther's blog.

Last Weeks Ode to the Thirties Blocks

I missed this months block meeting at our guild - the second in a row that I've missed - so I did this 12" block at home by myself.  It had some applique and you can see I missed the spot on one of the stems. I really like the flowers on this block.

 I also finished all the 9" squares in this quilt.  It's nice to have one size all done.

And now I'm doing the 6" squares.  They seem to go much faster.  Less cutting out even though the pieces are smaller.  And less sewing.  Maybe this quilt will get done quicker than I thought.

Water Bottle Ladies

I saw this on Lori's blog at Bee in My Bonnet.  These were so cute I had to give them  a try.  And they only take about 15 min or less to make.  And what a good way to use scrap fabric.

This is linked to Made by You Monday  and also Too Cute Tuesday

Cheryl's Quilt

This is a soft, cuddly looking baby quilt.  I did moons and stars on it.

 Eloise is going fishing.