chess and broken needles

 I found this great flannel on a trip up to Austin.  I plan to surprise the boyos with chess pjs.  They are completely obsessed with chess right now.

My pilgrim quilt is with the quilter.  I told her to do anything she wanted with them.  I'm looking forward to seeing them when she is finished!

I started this sock after deciding I despised the one I worked on during in-service.  I cast on during a conference meeting and decided I would at last do a feather and fan pattern.  I had to keep ripping it out and redoing it as I was trying to make a 72 stitch pattern fit on 64 sts.  I ripped it back to the ribbing one final time and knit a plain row and increased the 8sts.  Then the knitting was fine.  Except for the broken needles.  I lost count but I think I broke four Britanny's and assorted bamboo needles. Ah well.  I dug out these old Pony's when I got home.  The tips are really blunt so it's difficult to do the K2tog but at least these won't break.  I hope. The yarn is much louder in person. ;-D

Took these pilgrims long enough. . .

I started these guys in 2010 and kept putting them in timeout because I couldn't get the checkerboard border right.  I made finishing this quilt a resolution for the year so this weekend I pulled them back out and got to work.  I added two additional colors to the border and remade a ton of squares.  This isn't completely perfect but at least it's done!

I'm really glad to have this finished.  I plan to quilt it with invisible thread in a cross-hatch pattern.

a little bit of sewing

I haven't felt like sewing very much since I finished Dad's Dr Who quilt.  I'm glad I made it when I did because my dad passed away near the end of June.  My mom gave me his quilt back-and Magpie keeps teasing for it!  She does give my spirits a lift.

My sister came and stayed with mom for a few weeks.  While she was here we worked on a quilt she's making for our youngest niece.

Sister isn't a quilter (although she has made a couple really nice ones) and I was surprised she chose a pattern with the nine patches on point.  We finished the top and found that the batting she purchased was too small so I dug a larger piece out of my stash.  Then we found out that the backing was too small.  We threw in the towel then and sat down and had tea and scones.  ;-)

We had a baby shower for one of my staff yesterday so I really needed to make her a quilt.  She's doing the nursery in owls and purple so Magpie and I searched JoAnns for the right fabric. Well, once we found these owls we knew we had a winner!

She really liked the quilt and I made sure she knew it was to be used!  Don't keep it for best.  I love seeing a little kid dragging around a quilt I've made them.  I made a dragon sweater for my nephew when he was little and was thrilled when my sister said he wore it continually-she had to chase him down to get it in wash.

I'm hoping to really get back to sewing but, really, all I want to do today is go back to bed and curl up under dad's quilt.

sampler

My sister made this for her daughter who is pre-med.  Isn't it great?  Pattern from Floss Box.

Happy Father's Day

I ordered this Tardis panel from Spoonflower to make a quick quilt for my dad for Father's Day.  This is my dad's last father's day (he's on hospice) and he loves Dr Who so I wanted to make this for him really quickly.  On the door I embroidered each of our immediate family's names in Gallifreyan. There's several Gallifreyan translators online.  He really liked it. 

a strippie quilt

I need to make a quilt quickly for a birthday present for a boy in Red's cub scout den.  I had most of this fabric-only added the canoes.  I had purchased the camping flannel that I used for the backing to make pjs for the boyos but it worked so well on this quilt!  I even cut some of my beloved Happy Campers fabric.  I really need to find some more of that.  This pattern is a free download from Mary Quilts.

This is the backing fabric.  Isn't it great camping fabric? 

I really liked these canoes when I saw them.  I only bought a half yard and I really should get some more.

 I bought the fish and the fishing lures fabric in Lake Jackson at Calico Cats.  They went perfectly with this quilt.

I learned a couple of things on this quilt.  First off, I need to get more "blenders".  Apparently I'm addicted to the flashy fabrics and never think of buying the accent stuff.  Secondly, I love love LOVE Mettlers Web Bond spray adhesive.  It worked beautifully and had very little odor.  Thirdly, using the mdf boards so layer the quilt is really a time and back save.  Finally, I really must learn how to do machine binding.  I was an hour and a half late to the party because I was hand sewing the binding!

two projects-only one by me

 This is the quilt top for the quilt I'm donating to the Cub Scouts.  Isn't it cute?  I love Woodstock roasting marshmallows.

I have done next to no sewing lately.  My dad has been in and out of hospital since January and I've been trying to help my mom.  It's hell gettin' old!

Update: this quilt sold for $250!  And I was really pleased that it went to my good friend LouAnn.  I can visit!












And my mother made this Death Star cake for Red's ninth birthday!

Woodsy Association

 I finally finished these mitts for Red. I started them last year but when I tried to knit the wolf pattern it was a big mess!  So I knit both mitts and tried to duplicate stitch.  I got frustrated and put them away but pulled them out recently so they would be finished while they still fit Red.

 This is the first one I knit and duplicate stitched.  It has lots of mistakes!

This one is much better!

A finish!

Magpie finished her quilt for her little sister.  Isn't she cute??

been knitting

 So apparently, 'tis the season to be knitting.  This is the second edition of a baby hat for the family caboose.  I had to rip out the first edition because it was too small.  This is the best pic I could get because this little girl is never still!

 This is a chevron hat for Magpie.  The pattern is from a Simply Knitting magazine.  Pretty much knitted this one twice as well-the chart was wrong in the magazine.  I really should trust my instincts when I'm knitting.

This is bad pic of a quick scarf I knit for my other niece-two strands of yarn knit together on size 19 needles.  She was thrilled!  Hmmm, all of this knitting is for nieces!  I actually do have one other knitting project to show-I knit dad a new Harry Potter scarf.  Need to get a pic of that one!

First projects of the year!

Magpie decided it was time for us to knock out the tooth fairy pillows for the Mafia.  So we did!

I also figured out my goals for 2014:

1. Follow the No S diet rules
2. Finish my Pilgrims quilt
3. replace my horrible sofa
4. replace my horrid carpet

Sounds doable!