By The Side of the Sea

We took a short vacation over the Christmas holidays to Seaside Or with some family and friends.  It was a great time.  The weather was perfect and it was really great to have friends and grandchildren there.

I had knitted some sweaters for my granddaughters, so we had a photo shoot on the beach with them. There was even a sand castle waiting for us at the beach.  Someone must have just made it and left it perfect for our children.  

Eloise and Juliet were a little hesitant when they first got into the fort.

 Uncle Isaac is trying to show them what to do.

 Friend Isabella came along and really showed them how to play.

 Clara checks it out.

 These sweaters are knitted with a washable wool.  They are very soft.

 The pattern is a Debbie Bliss.  The ravelry link is here.

 This sweater has lovely lace edgings.

 Clara just watches.

Eloise and another friend Lillian enjoy reading books together.

 

And they love singing "Away in a Manger"

Rose of Sharon

We  took a little vacation last week and I started a new applique project on this trip.  It was from a magazine I had laying around.  I want to get rid of these old magazines, but I also want to do some projects out of them.  This is one.

It is from the Quilters Newsletter Magazine  July/August 2005

 

And here is my rendition of the first square.

 These are 8" squares, very small for applique.  I am doing needleturn, although the book says to do fusable.

I can see why.  It's just with such classic designs I like to do needleturn.  It is a challenge.

The second square is on it's way.
This will be a good football project during the playoffs.

 Come back tomorrow for some pics of our trip.

Saturday's Project

Saturdays always bring me into a different space.  I'm never sure if my husband is going to want to just hang out and read or work on some project.  If he reads, I like to have some handwork so I can sit with him.  If he finds a project to do, then I work on the sewing machine or other things.  

This Saturday was a day that he helped my son tear up his deck, so I found a sewing project to do.  I remembered some quilt squares that were given to me by a friend.  She was learning embroidery on her then new machine and was going to make a quilt.  I guess she decided she wasn't a quilter, so she gave me the embroidered squares. 

 I trimmed all the squares to the size I decided upon and with the other fabrics she gave me I took the green and made the sashings. 

 It was all a very easy put together.  One of the easiest quilts I've ever done.

Now it's just the borders.  I will go out and buy a flowered fabric for the outside border.

  

I think it will make a nice feminine lap quilt.

Tacos Anyone?

It's been a while since I've created felt food, so I decided it was time to build my menu a little more.  Today it's  tacos. Yum!!!

 I searched online.  Looked at all the pictures.

 I read some tutorials.

And this is what I came up with.  The shells don't keep their shape as well as I'd like so they can be the limp corn tortillas after you've heated them.  They are even good on snow days.

Jeans Quilt Finished

 This is a quilt I made for a customer.  I used 3 shirts and 2 pair of jeans in it.  It's a nice lap quilt.

 I used a special part of a green shirt.

 The plaid shirts had embroidered flowers on it that were a great addition.

 I think it will be a cozy quilt to lay around in.

Progress on Clara's Quilt

Last week I showed you the start of Clara's quilt.  I was just then beginning the layout of the applique.

Here it is completed.  It's all fused down now and the stitching will be part of the quilting process. 

 

Now I'm working on the patchwork that goes around this center square.

It looks like I'll be able to use all fabrics that I have on hand to make this  quilt.  I love it when that happens.

 It's looking more together here.

 

My New Knitting Bag

I've been using the same knitting bag for years.  I thought I had a blog post about it when I won it in a contest. But I sure can't find that post. But here's a pic of it.  It has served its purpose well.  It won't get thrown away.  I'll probably use it to store projects I am working on.

For the new bag I was hunting for a canvas or heavier home decor fabric, but none of them hit me as something I wanted.  I did find a cotton that really stuck out to me and got it instead.  Because it was a normal weights cotton, I bought an interfacing that is heavy and stiff.  So stiff that it's used for boxes and that kind of thing. 

 These are I-phone pics, so please bear with them.  I can't seem to focus  with the I-phone like I can with my regular camera.

The fabric seems Frenchy to me.  I like it.

 The bag is a pattern by Geta.

I love it because of all the pockets, in and out.  That makes it easy to keep things organized.

 

 I'm using a new method of bag closure - tape measures.  It works very well.  The only thing is that you don't want to be in a room that is full of people but it's very quiet.  It does make noise opening and closing it.

And the finished bag.

 I can even knit with the bag closed and the yarn coming out of it. The pocket will hold the project when it's small also. 

My New Pincushion

Doesn't this look rather worn and broken apart.  Pincushions do wear out especially as much as I use this one.

 And so I decided to make one.  I have a pinterest board with lots of ideas. Some that I tried, don't have usable links anymore.  What happens there?

 But I found this one and it worked great.  Here is the tutorial for this one.

 I could have stuffed it more, but it still works fine.  It holds all the T-pins that I use for longarm quilting.

 It was also a great way to use up a few of those scraps I have around.

Margaret's Quilt

 Batiks are always very nice.

 I did swirls inside each triangle.

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Clara's Crib Quilt

This is the start of a quilt for Clara.  She is almost 6 months old, so it's about time I got one going.

I decided to do a large square in the center of a Sunbonnet Sue.

 This quilt will be fused applique and the stitching around it may be part of the quilting also. So I need to fuse it well.

The rest will be seen on future posts.

Kim's Quilt

 An all over stipple was great for this one.