Thursday, January 31, 2013

And Yet Another Scarf

My oldest son and his family went to Tulsa for a business trip one week. The women in the family went to yarn store one day. What a treat. This store even had a nice playroom for children. They want mothers and grandmothers to come and knit while the children play.
They bought me a ball of fun yarn which I made the scarf. It has tiny pom-poms. 

 Eloise enjoys modeling the scarf.   She even knitted with this yarn before she gave it to me.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The Old Barn

This barn doesn't exist anymore. It is blown down and gone. But it was always a favorite place when I was a child. We used to play upstairs among the bales of hay and make houses, or hunt for the brand-new kittens that the mama would hide. There used to be old church pews hidden under the hay.
When I was in high school, I made a houseplan of the barn. Each of my 20 children have their own bedroom and shared a bath with one other sibling and a sitting room. There was also a family room upstairs besides all those bedrooms. Downstairs had all the normal rooms plus a library, plus a sewing room and a workshop, and a swimming pool! All the rooms were large also. The kitchen was in the cows milk stall.


The farm is moving along.  I'm testing sizes for animals.  Maybe they should be a bit smaller.
 

It's been fun to re-create my farm.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Diamonds

This is one I quilted for my guild that will be given away. I had fun trying different things in the diamonds And then leaving the dark diamonds to pop out. 

Friday, January 25, 2013

Ornaments

No finishes this week.  Just a couple of starts.  The farm in my last post takes up so much energy that I knew I'd better get another project going in which I don't have to think.  When you have to plan and try things, make decisions and such like it does take a lot out of you and I know I get ready to give it a little break.
So I started this quick and easy project to do in between times.  I'm copying an idea that I really liked from here.  Now these girls probably used a cutter which I don't have.  It takes quite a bit of work to get each ornament looking the same.  Hopefully when I stitch around them that'll even them up a bit (I just might really be dreaming). 
It is using up a few of those small scraps that I have much of and it is fun cutting them one by one.  This is just another doll sized quilt, so it doesn't take much.


It shouldn't be too long til you see the finished product.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Farming

I used to do some of that when I was a child.  At least, I'd drive the tractor for my dad while he picked up bales of hay.  I did that til my brother was old enough to take over. Then it was his turn.

My new quilt is the farm I grew up on.  I hope it'll have some resemblance to it when I'm done anyways. 




It's just the pick out fabric and lay out stage right now.  I did do a rough drawing, but that's all it is.  I look at photos a lot also, but since we weren't digital, they are very limited, especially when it comes to the outbuildings.  A lot will be memory. But it is fun.

 

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Micro Preemie Hats

A friend of a friend of mine just had a baby at 24 weeks.  The baby is tiny, under 2#.  My friend asked me to make some hats for the baby. I did them in several sizes so the baby could grow into them as she needs them.  I even made up my own sizes.
The first 2 hats are sized 0P.  This fits a baby under 2".  The circumference is 9".  Imagine that.
This first one is crocheted from a pattern at Rosie's Cozies.  She made hers to fit the same size baby, so I figured it would work.


Then  I knitted one that I made the same size.  I put 2 pom-poms on it.  I do like knitted hats better than crocheted because they have some stretch to them.  Ravelry page.


The next size I call a 1P.  it should fit a 2-3# baby.
My ravelry page lets you have a pretty good idea how this was done.
 

This is the same pattern as a hat I made for Eloise when she was born.  She got lots of compliments while in the hospital wearing it.  She was under 4# and it fit her well.


 This is the largest one I made and it is still preemie sized.  It's a pattern I'd never done before and sure is cute. I like the bow on it.  Check it out here.


 Hope you enjoyed this micro Preemie hat show.


Friday, January 18, 2013

Practice Piece

I had a little time with nothing on my machine.  This piece of Joanne's enthralled me, so I just had to copy her to try this kind of quilting. 
Here is my rendition, quite a bit like hers.


 I did not use a double layer of batting as I had now wool batting on hand. The squares had airy puffs to them.  You can poke them down with your finger if you like.


 I loved doing the scribbling between the squares. I think the thread gives it a nice look.  I just used my King Tut, not a shiny one.


The cathedral windows turned out pretty nice also.  I have always admired them in other people's quilts, but never had tried them myself.  I was happy with them.


My corner design is a little different than Joanne's.  No template here.  I just did a Pam Clark method of making a block.

Now Eloise has a new satin baby blanket for her dolls.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Maybe I'm On a Scarf Roll

 When my family went to Seaside over Christmas, my husband and I took a nice little walk to the local yarn store.  It used to be a quilt shop that I loved, but that one is gone now.  Yarn is about as nice.
My husband is very encouraging to my hobbies and when we go together to a shop, he encourages me to buy.  Isn't that nice.  I tend to be stingy on myself and only buy a good sale. Actually I found some mohair on a good sale and can't wait to find the right pattern to use it.
But I also splurged on a couple of specialty yarns for scarves that looked fun. And they were. 


 This is one of those yarns that expands in the knitting.  It's like a netting.  I really like how it works.




This one is from a mohair, very soft.
 

  You cast on the long ways and increase to double it several times.  That' how it gets the curl
.


Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Lacey Scarf

I've been doing more lace knitting.  This one was a real easy one.  1 row of pattern.  3 rows of straight knit and purl.  And it looks very nice.


 The yarn has pretty colorways in it.


 The Ravelry link is here.



Friday, January 11, 2013

Baby Doll Quilt

A couple of my young adult children went to an antique sale and came home with a baby doll crib for me. It is really for me and Eloise can play with it.
I got a piece of foam from a friend and made a mattress that I covered and then made a sheet and pillowcase. I think I'll have to make a whole set of sheets so that Eloise can learn to make a bed that way. 
Then I made a quilt.


 I pieced the top, and added rick-rack to the edge.  Then putting right sides together I put the backing on.
After that I quilted it.  It left too much fullness in the quilt top.  I don't think I like that method.


 Eloise got to  tuck her baby in for night-night.

And then rock her to sleep.

 

 Good night.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Spring? Tablerunner

This table runner I just finished, has a spring look, but I think the flowers on the fabric is a mum, which is a fall flower, but oh well....


 I picked out my focus fabric from my stash.  I am trying to use up fabrics on these projects without buying any.  And then I found some others to go with it.


 I then picked out my design from my pinterest board of tablerunners.  I can't even find it now to show you which one, so maybe I changed it?  Hmmm...


 I wasn't sure if the red was a good idea, but I am liking it.




Now I do have to show a pic of this bread I made yesterday.  On this post I showed some French bread I made that I thought was pretty good.. But yesterday's bread really looks professional.  I'm getting better.


 I started it at 9 in the morning and it came out of the oven close to 5:30.  But don't think it's a lot of work. It's a lot of time to get other things done.  Check this link out.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Violet's Quilt

This was a WIP, but is now finished.


 I started it a couple of months ago - here and here.  She even has her name on it.


 Big poofy flowers,


 And fun quilting.



 And there is Violet laying on her quilt.  She's a friend of Juliet (my granddaughter).


" Hi everyone!"