Friday, July 27, 2012

In My Defense...

In My Defense by basketcasejoy
In My Defense, a photo by basketcasejoy on Flickr.
Sometimes a girl's just GOT to knit! My friend, Threebagsfulled (on Ravelry), is a knit wear designer. I tend to be her "Test Knitter." This is one of her latest designs.

I finished "Alibi" some time ago, but I'm not the best at blocking. Thus, the delay in post time.

This shawl measures 65" (wingspan) x 28" (drop) and was knit from a single skein of Malabrigo Sock that I purchased at The Hillsborough Yarn Shop.  Who could resist the Ravelry Red colorway?!

Beautiful!!!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Progress on the Mill Quilt

Can you say PROCRASTINATION???

I've really made progress on my Mill Quilt this week. Nothing like the LAST MINUTE to light a fire under your (my) creativity!

When there was "plenty of time", I simply couldn't wrap my mind around this project. Now that it needs to be completed by NEXT WEEK, I was finally able to "buckle down" and make a concerted effort at working out the design challenge set before me.

Perspective. From photo to drawing and from drawing to fabric. "Hey! Does this angle look funky to you?" That was the question of the week.

Next week's question:

How am I going to quilt LIFE into this quilt???

Until then...
Happy Quilting!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

The Cutting Bee...

...a quilt workshop with August Cole.  That's how I spent my day today, thanks to my friend Maggie, who had signed up for the class.  Unfortunately, for her (fortunately, for me), she wasn't able to attend.  I figured that I had PLENTY of fabric to meet the requirements of the class.

Goodness knows I can ALWAYS make room for another quilt!!!

Augusta's basic units are the 4-Patch and the Half-square Triangle.  With those two units (and maybe a few other bits), a quilter can create any number of quilts!  The class packet showed how to make about 15 different layouts.

How is a quilter to choose???

Well, first we began with choosing fabrics from the assortment that participants brought to share.  If you brought 10 pieces of fabric then you chose 10 pieces of fabric.  If you brought 20 pieces of fabric then you chose 20 pieces of fabric.  Utter chaos?  No, there was order to the chaos.  Augusta had us drawn numbers and stand in line for the first pick.  Once everyone had chosen, we were lined up in reverse order for a second pick.  Oh, the fabrics!  What a wonderful selection for  wonderfully scrappy quilts.  Yes. Quilts, plural.

Did I mention that I actually started THREE quilts today?

The Simple Cross was my first choice because I wasn't in the mood for making HST units.
Simple Cross

Then the Star option caught my eye.
Star Block

But I couldn't resist Augusta's Confetti Quilt and my table-mate, Jean, was getting rather twitchy about the fact that I'd been there for HOURS without sewing a stitch.  You'll have to go to Augusta's website for a peek at that.  All I got done during the class was the first step on some 4-Patch units!  (I made these two blocks pictured after I got home.)

All in all, I'm am happy that I attended The Cutting Bee workshop.  Even though I now have THREE MORE UFOs,  I had some "me" time.  I had fun visiting with quilting friends that I don't see often enough.  I used some stash.  And, I'm not telling my UFO Club a word about it!  The members are all about FINISHING the quilts that have already been started!  How could I possibly tell them that in ONE DAY there are now THREE new projects on my list?  YOU better not breathe a word to them.    I wouldn't want them to disown me!

:o)

Until next time...
Happy Quilting!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Baby H's Quilt (top)

Baby H's Quilt (top) by basketcasejoy
Baby H's Quilt (top), a photo by basketcasejoy on Flickr.

The first week of the Summer 2012 (Ravelry) UFO Club yielded a new quilt top. Hooray!

I started with a stack of strips on one afternoon and by the next afternoon, I had a quilt top for Baby H. It's a good size for a baby quilt and it's not too big that if they wanted to put it up on the wall, that would work, too.

You DO realize that this progress means NOTHING when it comes to the question of how many quilts will actually be COMPLETED this quarter, don't you???

Never fear...

There is always HOPE!!!

Until next time...
Happy Quilting!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Summer 2012 (Ravelry) UFO Club - The List

It's that time, again.  It's time to commit to another round of UFO Finishing Fun.  (This session actually begins our 3rd year of UFO Finishing Fun.)  Well, I have to admit, sometimes it feels more like work!

That's OK, though, because whether work or play, the result is typically (at least) one completed quilting project.  Who knows how long the poor thing has been waiting to be transformed into an FO (finished object)???  In the case of the Mill Quilt - not very long.  In the case of Circle of Friends - a VERY LONG TIME!!!

The List:
1. Mill Quilt  Mill Quilt
2. The Margaret Mystery
3. Crumb Quilt (Make a backing, etc.)
4. Where's Jackson
5. Baby J's Quilt (Layer, quilt, etc.)
6. Baby N's Quilt  (One or the other of these.  NOTE:  Decided on the pink/purple one.)  
Baby N's Quilt (?)
7. Baby H's Quilt (Top completed)
8. Inspired by... The Series (All need binding)
9. Calico Ric Rac (Layer/quilt, etc.)
0. Circle of Friends

The Mill Quilt MUST be completed during this session!  Of the others, I'm really hoping to finish the baby quilts.  (For goodness sake!  Baby J is TWO, already!!!)

Note:  Other photos can be found in earlier posts or on the Summer 2012 UFO Club Ravelry pages.

Good Luck to all of the members of the Summer 2012 UFO Club!  (And, please, wish me luck, too.)

Until next time...
Happy Quilting!

Monday, July 2, 2012

Spring 2012 (Ravelry) UFO Club - The Results

Another great UFO Club session has come to a close.  This session began on April 1, 2012 and any qualifying UFOs were completed (and posted to the thread) by midnight (EST) on June 30, 2012.

We separated the Club into two sub-groups, again.  One group remained as before, sending FQ rewards for completed projects.  The second group decided that they either weren't interested in sending FQs or that the mailing costs no longer fit within their budgets.  All the fun and encouragement of the Club, without the added stress!


Club Membership (18):
NO SEND group (13):
thepoch
SunshineMom: 1 completed project
basketcase9702: 3 completed projects
loisbemis: 1 completed project
KK454: 3 completed projects
fishandstitch: 4 completed projects
Lisa-Bird: 1 completed project
LisaS
Distel
needleb: 2 completed projects
AerieIris: 1 completed project
PickKnitTime: 1 completed project
Monicarose51
SEND group (5):
andimc13: 2 completed projects
Lucky13: 2 completed projects
dancergrrlliz: 1 completed project
aksherry
wasieknitstoo
Session Totals: 12 quilters completed 22 projects. (Barring any clerical errors on my part.) Hooray! We had another wonderful UFO Club session. Thank you to all of our participants and Congrats! to all of our finishers. :o)