Finished Quilt

I spent the whole day at home today. I've been out and about more than normal lately, so a whole day at home was nice. I did some knitting, but I also got myself to the sewing machine and quilted this quilt that I basted last Sunday. Remember, click any picture for a larger version.

This quilt is made with one of the two tops that my best friend's mom made and sent me at Christmas time. For the back, I used some green and white striped sheeting that my mom gave me. The quilting is simple, diagonal lines. Some of the quilt patches are square and some are rectangular, which causes the quilting lines to curve and gives a whimsical quality to the finished quilt. The quilt will go to Project Linus.

My friend and her mom have supported my Project Linus efforts the last few years with fabric purchases. One year, the Christmas package included gift wrapped fabric with a tag that read "For Susan's kids". It was for Project Linus quilts; my only children have been the furry, canine variety. The last couple of years, my friend's mom has made a couple of quilt tops and sent them in the Christmas package along with fabric. It's always fun to get quilt tops and fabric for Project Linus.

Tomorrow, I'm taking yarn to our 90 year old Project Linus volunteer picking up about half a dozen afghans from her. I've talked about Dolores before in August and September of last year. Dolores turned 90 the last week of January and is still crocheting away. I also have knitting club and shopping on the schedule, so it will be a busy day.

Second Saturday Charity Quilting - March

Quilts from Cornerstone, my second Saturday charity quilting group, met yesterday. After a slow start, we had a pretty good turnout. Most pieced tops. Fleece was cut and a couple of younger members tied knots to make 2 fringed fleece blankets. Our fearless leader, Jeanine, quilted in between helping everyone else. I spent the day finishing tops into quilts (and talking about shopping and computers). I finished one quilt and got this one layered, turned and pin-basted.

Jeanine gave me 2 fleece blankets and 3 finished quilts, plus the one I pin-basted, for a total of 6 blankets for Project Linus this month. One of the quilts is made with fabric based on the song "There was an old woman who swallowed a fly". It looks like the top, batting and back were layered and then the pictures were appliqued on, stitching through all the layers. I think our newest lady in the group made this at home and brought it in. Click on any picture for a larger version.

My sewing machine is out of the travel case and in the cabinet ready to use for the first time in 3 weeks. While I was retying all those fleece blankets, it just wasn't worth the effort to carry the machine upstairs. Today I quilted the quilt I pin-basted yesterday (thus the finished version in the top picture). I also finished getting a top ready to quilt that I layered about a month ago. I anticipate quilting it this week.

Happy Day!

Oh, happy day! This stack of fleece blankets is the last 17 out of 60 that I have tied. You may recall that 30 two-layer blankets were donated to Project Linus last month through Quilts from Cornerstone, my second Saturday group, and 2 layers of fleece is too heavy for Project Linus.

I have spent 1½ to 2 hours a day almost every day for the last 2½ weeks untying two-layer blankets and retying them into single-layer blankets, plus most of 4 days converting the first 13 blankets into 26 single-layer blankets. I was thrilled to tie the last knot. The last time I did a happy dance like that was a year and a half ago when I learned that my AT&T career was about to end. (Yes, I was ready to retire.)

The next project that I hope to get off my to do list is weaving in the rest of the yarn ends on this knitted feather and fan afghan and crochet a border up the 2 sides. My (step)sister gave the half-knitted afghan to me several years ago. I took it to a craft night last July to start making it a whole afghan. I finished the knitting months ago, but got sick and tired of weaving in ends and set the project aside.

I don't like weaving ends in knitting and this lacy afghan knitted in sport yarn on size 10½ or 11 needles is especially challenging, because the ends don't want to stay put. I finally discovered that if I weave most of the yarn into the stitches and then reverse direction, split the yarn with the needle and pull the end of the yarn back into the strand it holds.

These projects are cutting into my sock knitting time, but Project Linus always needs blankets and I want to get some of this stuff done and out of the house. Click on any picture for a larger version.

Knitting Club

Picture a bare foot on a library table modeling a half-finished knee sock. Not something I had planned on when I went to knitting club this afternoon, but . . . I was sitting next to Terri who was starting her very first sock, doing it in worsted weight yarn on double pointed needles. She was quite interested in the Magic Loop method I am using for the first time on this pair of socks.

I said something about it being easier to try on and check the fit when you are knitting on a cable instead of double pointed needles and wound up demonstrating to Terri, foot on the floor. Donna around the corner of the table noticed what was happening and leaned over for a look and everyone got interested. So, foot on table so everyone can see. The sock is now about 10 inches long and I have 2 paired decreases left. The white marker is at the center back of the sock.

I'm also knitting on this waffle-weave cap. I'm working in the round on 2 circulars, although I designed the cap on single pointed straight needles. I prefer to avoid seams, so I'm trying this. I don't think anyone at knitting club had seen circular knitting on 2 circulars before, so I'm sharing some of the knowledge I'm picking up on the socknitters list. I'm working on typing up the pattern to put on my website.

I thought I'd share a picture of the tote that I'm carrying my knitting in. The fabric is a kit I bought at Fons & Porter's quilt shop in Winterset, Iowa and the pattern is "Designer Tote Bag" from the May/June 2004 issue of their Love of Quilting magazine.

My mother is the reason I made this tote bag. For my birthday in 2004, we went to Iowa because I wanted to see Fons and Porter's quilt shop. I was shopping for a baby quilt fabric and Mom was resting on the "husband's bench" when someone tried to buy one of the store models of the tote bag. Mom decided she wanted one and asked if would make it if she bought the kit. I told her I would buy the kit and make it as a gift. I decided to get a second kit and make one for myself first to learn the pattern. Mom's bag is black with magenta flowers (mostly black).