Is it a back? or a quilt top?

Last Spring I finally finished the top to my High Country Garden quilt. I used the leftovers to make the mystery quilt that needed lights, mediums and darks. That turned into the Cube Lattice quilt top. I still had lots of leftovers, plus the bits I had bought for borders (changed my mind for both quilts), the extra fabric I bought for sashing and didn't use except for a narrow border, and the extra squares I had cut for the mystery, oh, and also a few spool blocks that I had planned on using for a border for the High Country Garden. So, I decided to piece a back for the Cube Lattice top using the leftovers. (The High Country Garden quilt is already done, using a single fabric back.) I started off with the extra square, figuring that some nine patches could be interspersed with some of the white with black squares fabric. Got one done, decided I didn't want to do that, changed it to a 25 patch, and it became the center of my back. I looked at the spool blocks already done, and the fact that I had several more all cut out and decided it was time for EQ to help. After playing around a bit I ended up with the center surrounded by a thin black strip to make the spool blocks fit, surrounded by another thin black strip to make the extra squares fit, surrounded that with the white with black squares fabric (originally cut 15" for sashing, cut in half and then used that) and surrounded it with 6" of brick border, twice on the top and bottom to turn it into a rectangle, finally surrounded by the black fabric that was the original Cube Lattice border fabric. Ta Dah! A back.

Day out in San Francisco

Today DH and I went to San Francisco to see the DaVinci drawings at the California Palace of the legion of Honor - that name is just too long! They were sketches that he did in preparation for other things, paintings, sculptures, and inventions. They had one of his notebooks showing his backwards writing, which actually made sense since he is left handed, easier to write right to left than left to right so the ink doesn't smear.

We also went through the rest of the museum, it had been a while since we had been there. Another special exhibit was "The State Museums of Berlin and the Legacy of James Simon" James Simon donated around a 1000 items to the National Museums of Berlin, including the famous bust of Nefertiti, funded archeology digs, and was a Jewish philanthopist, one third of his income was donated to the public, funding the first woman's hospital in Berlin, among other things. The exhibit included Egyptian, Babylonian, and European areas, which were all fascinating. http://www.famsf.org/legion/exhibitions/exhibition.asp?exhibitionkey=929 is a link to this exhibit.

We also went to a yarn shop in San Francisco, Noe Knits, fueling my new passion in knitting, and my Harry Potter interest. They had a custom dyed sock yarn by Lorna's Laces called Parry Hotter, using the Gryfindor colors of gold and red. I got enough for two pairs of socks, one for me, one for my DD.

Then we got lunch at a delicious Peruvian restaurant down the street. Fun day!

2008 Finishes and attempted finishes

Started and finished in 2008:
knit dishcloth (2)
homespun shawl - Berrington
navy blue knit scarf - Fons & Porter pattern
green watercolor yarn scarf, knit
black fun fur scarf
Helmet liner, black wool knit
Diva Essential Designer Bag
shopping bags,lined - three
Paris Cats Sewing Machine "cover"
Pair of pillowcases -Paris Cats
Tree Landscape (the sky's the limit class)
Dragonfly Wallhanging
New Jersey Mystery Quilt
Baby Quilt - Paris Cats fabric

Finished in 2008 (started previously)
Knit I-pod holder
Purple Handbag
Once Upon a Garden - Full size quilt
Starlight Serenade (ancient UFO)
High Country Garden (ancient UFO)
Basic and Beyond - wall quilt (oldest UFO)
Shoo Fly full size quilt - Cotton in the Cabin fabrics
In the Mood table runner - Metro Blues
Yellow Brick Road - Paris Cats - Full size

Started in 2008
Cube Lattice Mystery Quilt - top finished (lap size)
Katie's quilt - top finished (queen size)
Sylvia's Bridal Sampler - 70 6" blocks completed (queen size)
Prairie Paisley medallion - 16 12" blocks completed (queen size)
knit scarf - which is being pulled out and restarted in a narrower version, just wouldn't be long enough :(
pair of socks
shawl - which will be pulled out and restarted in a different pattern, someday

Quite a bit of progress this year :) And a new craft (knitting) that is taking up a lot of my time, but typically TV time when I didn't sew at my machine anyway. I got some of my older UFOs completed (YEAH), but I still have 42ish quilts on my UFO list (includes the four I started this year but didn't finish yet, hence UFOs even if I am actively working on them). Some of those might not get finished, but I hope to get a few of them done this year, along with whatever else I start :)

Back to spool blocks for my Cube Lattice backing (had 8 done for a border for the High Country Garden, making another 8 to make a round in the medallion backing).

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year!
Once again my New Year’s resolution is to finish more than I start. I actually managed that feat in 2008 (finished eleven quilts, started eight) and hope for a repeat this year (although maybe not as many). I don’t know that I am quite ready for the use more than I buy resolution, but I will shop from my stash first. Since I started knitting, the fabric stash is now supplemented by the yarn stash, which got quite a boost this last year. I had just started knitting when last years “In Stitches” (yarn) show was here (the same venue as Pacific International Quilt Festival) and didn’t go, but I do plan on going this year.

I have four quilt projects I started this year that are not done, two rather long term ones I started at the same time (not recommended, but I did it) and two that are tops. One of the tops will be long arm quilted as soon as I piece the backing (hopefully this weekend). I am currently piecing the back for the other top, my cube lattice mystery quilt. That back is a rather elaborate pieced back, using up (hopefully) all of the leftovers from the tops I made with the same fabrics (my High Country Garden which I bought the fabric for, and the Cube Lattice that used leftovers). I bought fat quarters and half yards of many fabrics, and used only a smattering in the first quilt. They came in handy when I needed shades of the same color for the mystery quilt. So the leftovers are not all that big, but there are a lot of them. I also have some fabric I originally got for possible borders which will also be candidates for filling out the back, a medallion. I guess this will really be a two sided quilt when I am done .

Once I finish the Cube Lattice, I am going to get back to piecing Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler, and quilt my Dear Jane. I really would like to show it at my guild’s show this April, so I need to get quilting. I’ll mark the feathered border when I have the basting table up for the Cube Lattice.

Son's visit is over and I can knit again

My dear Marine son has gone back to NC before deploying. As he was pulling out of the driveway I found shoes, shirt, and jeans that he had left behind and went running to see if he wanted them. He said he’d get them when he came back home again, which won’t be for over a year at this point. After he left I found more stuff. He was the kid who did homework and left it home. He is still leaving things home, guess the Marines haven’t figured out how to get him to check for non-essential things before he leaves a spot. I am sure his rifle will not get left behind though.
I took over the bedroom when he left, more or less, we shuffled things around, so I could have a sewing room, so he stayed in the living room during this visit. I had been spending time in there knitting and watching DVDs, which didn’t happen a lot while he was home. Last night I got to do that again and finished up another dishcloth. That gives me two new ones, enough for the time being. I wasn’t going to start anything new and decided to inventory my yarn stash. Well, while inventorying, I uncovered some pretty yarn I got way back when I first thought knitting could be fun, a blue jeans variegated Cozi yarn (by Caron) and some eyelash yarn that went with it, to be knit together into a scarf. So much for good intentions. I pulled out some size 11 circulars, cast on 20 stitches and started knitting. Not for long because I needed to get up in the morning. The last scarf I knit was also with an eyelash yarn, but the other yarn was a fingering weight. Cozi is bulky, and is knitting up much denser. I only have 150 yards, so this isn’t going to be that long…

Bags, shopping and hand

Sometime late last year a friend of mine was making shopping bags for Christmas gifts. These used a plastic shopping bag (we used Target) as the pattern. I got a pattern from her, but never actually saw one made and never made one either. However, the thought has stayed with me. I use re-usable bags myself, and would like to encourage others to use them as well. Making some for gifts sounds like an excellent idea, but didn't quite get around to it for this year. But, as I was going into our garage for something I happened across a bag of fabric that I was going to get rid of, and it had some large pieces. I thought I could repurpose the fabric into shopping bags and brought it inside. Of course, by now, I had lost the pattern, so I went searching online and found http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=177482.0 this wonderful example of making a shopping bag. I made three, one with a pocket to fold the bag into, and two without. One went to my DD, and I hope she uses it for shopping.

Now that that little project is done for the time being, I decided to try and finish the handbag I started early this year. I have been wanting a new bag, and even have been looking at them in stores, but couldn't find any I really liked. So instead of shopping, I should have been sewing! This is the Diva Essential Designer Bag, almost done. I modified one outer pocket and added a key holder (swivel ring) inside. You won't see the zipper ends soon, they will be covered and the covering will either velcro or snap together, still debating. I have some magnet snaps that I could use, or the instructions call for hook and loop tape. I have a lot of this fabric left, so might make a wallet to match, someday .

PS: Finished the bag with snaps, picture not available.

Knitting Frenzy

I must admit I never thought I would be knitting quite as much as I have been lately. For years I said I didn't like to knit, but then sometime in the last year or so, it has been growing on me. Having a comfortable chair where I can do handwork helps, enormously. The knit gifts are done, not many this year, but that is OK! My black fun fur scarf is done, and I love it. And I have been knitting madly away at a shawl. I started one (a green Homespun), which might get frogged, and then decided that I wasn't that crazy about the way it was turning out, and started another one out of a purple-y Homespun (Barrington). I am two plus skeins into knitting this one, and am ready for it to be done (it will be three skeins long), but it is cozy sitting with it over my lap, knitting and watching TV. Maybe I will get it done before Christmas, then the question is, who gets it? Me or someone dear to me. I have several Cobalt blue skeins to make one for me, maybe a little different, cause while fast, it is getting a bit boring (basic stockinette stitch with a three stitch/three row garter stitch border, done on #15 needles). Once this is done I want to try stockings! Then get back to another shawl, and who knows, maybe even a sweater!