First Quilting Foray

Hiya to all,

So yesterday I decided I wanted to sew something pretty.  Now I had gotten a couple quilting books out from the library, because I'm interested in sewing patchwork and applique kind of stuff.  Again remember that there are people who take classes to learn how to quilt, and read the books from cover to cover.  Those people aren't me.  I say I'll just figure it out as I go along, with the pattern I'm using vaguely open beside me.  I did learn some important lessons, the main being if I am going to work on a sewing project for 8 hours I should sit on a cushion to avoid a numb butt the next day.  My first result isn't perfect, the edges aren't even, but considering my lack of space and that it is my first time doing this, I think it came out pretty decent.

It is a wall hanging quilt.  As you see I wasn't silly enough to try to make a people sized quilt for my first project, but rather something that can be hung up more as art.  It is called a coin quilt (or something to that effect).  Here is a close up of the squares:

You are supposed to use a bunch of complimentary fabrics for the strips/squares but I decided to go for just 4 different patterns that were a little more contrasting/dramatic, and I like how it turned out.  A couple more patterned strips would have added more variety, but again first project didn't want to fuss and match too much. For the back I used one of the fabrics that makes up squares.

There was no real way to show you, but I went with the tying quilt method so at regular intervals there are embroidery floss knots holding everything in place.
This is what I did, I like it.
Take Care

Back to a Regular Schedule

Hiya to all,

We should now be back to a regular schedule of posting our amazing craftiness. Holidays are done, travel is done, we are both calmer and more relaxed and able to focus on making things. We are big believers in "keep calm and carry on" but a friend has said she prefers "get excited and make things" and that is a good idea to.
Of course our first back for regular scheduled program must be about scarves.  I have two to show you today, and both are a little different.
First up is what I call my -20 scarf (and that means I'll probably be wearing it tonight).  A friend gave some some gorgeous merino wool malabrigo and I did a basketweave stitch and then she idly mentioned that the yarn felts amazingly.  A little light in my brain went off and here is the finished project:

The textured stitch really held up to the felting and it is a solid piece of fabric now.  Whenever I have it with me, people have to squish it because it is really squishy and neat.

The other scarf I have to show you is neat as well.  I had received amazing birthday yarn from a friend and had many thoughts on what to do with it, but couldn't quite find the right thing.  Then in a recent magazine there was the perfect pattern.  The one alteration I did was to sew the ends together is that the scarf is a long loop that I can wrap around a bunch.

Here my lovely assistant is holding the scarf so that you can see that it is one big loop.

Here it is looped around my neck.  I can loop it around two or three times, which means again extra cozy.  A close up will show the stitch a little bit better.

It is this great mix of chain and single crochet that it has drape and these neat gaps that show off the different colours in the yarn.
Finally we close this day with a picture of b.b. reading a crochet magazine.  Seriously I was looking for a pattern and got up to get a drink and this is what I came back to:

take care.