UFO/Scrap Busting Report - 8/30/08

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone! I'm at my mom's until Monday. Then home for a couple of days and Thursday I head for Albuquerque. Even though there's no job to take a break from, I'm really looking forward to my vacation trip.

I've made progress on borders for the Scrappy Hearts quilt top. I cut strips into rectangles yesterday and stitched them together for the inner border. Luckily, the strips were almost exactly the amount of fabric I needed for this border. Good thing since this fabric came from our old Quilts from Cornerstone group. The group disbanded over a year ago and I've had this fabric / UFO over 3 years.

After the pieced border, I'll add a black border around the outside. I plan to finish the borders Tuesday and Wednesday, so I can cross this UFO off my list before I leave on vacation.

UFO/Scrap Busting Report - 8/28/08

Tah-dah! I finished this top this morning. With the Square in a Square blocks finished and borders added it really looks different than yesterday.

The blocks finished to 11" square. The borders make the overall size about 39" square. The border fabrics were both trimmings from quilt backs. There wasn't much of the red print left.

The blocks in the center of the Square in a Square blocks were 6½" unfinished. I used 8" squares cut in half for the triangles. This was a bit oversized and I trimmed the finished block to 11½ inches.

Rather than doing math to figure out the size of the triangles, I used the grid on my cutting mat and a ruler. I placed a 6½" block, on point, with the center 5¾" from each edge; i.e., centered in an 11½" square. I laid the ½" line of a ruler on the lower left edge of the block. The edge of the ruler crossed the edges of the 11½" square at the measurement needed for my triangles.

I've made 2 tops using only stuff from my scrap drawer this month. Tomorrow, I plan to work on borders for the Scrappy Hearts quilt top. I know I won't finish tomorrow and I'll be out of town for most of the holiday weekend. Hopefully, I can finish that UFO before I leave on vacation next Thursday.

UFO/Scrap Busting Report - 8/27/08

I Had No Idea That Was in There

Tackling the challenge of using the rail fence blocks in a quilt top, I decided I needed more rail fence blocks. I started looking through my scrap drawer for fabric. Little did I know what I would find in that scrap drawer!

First, I discovered fabric left from sewing projects in pieces almost big enough to qualify as yardage. I could cut fat quarters from several pieces. I had no idea that fabric was in the scrap drawer.

Then I found part of a rail fence strip set that was big enough to cut two 6 inch squares from. Goodie, less work.

Four 9 patch blocks that will finish to 9 inch squares.

Look at these little 9 and 4 patch blocks. Note the strips in the lower right waiting to be sewn into 9 patches. These blocks will finish to 3 inch squares.

I envision double 9 patch blocks and a 9 patch with 4 patches in some squares. A quilt with 9 patch blocks will definitely be made.

I found fabric and pieced more rail fence blocks. I pulled strips for a scrappy bargello quilt top while I was going through the scrap drawer. That will be a project for a later date.

Here are the rail fence blocks with some empty space for other blocks. If I show you everything now, the finished top will look much the same. Just giving you a reason to come back.

I'm using some 6½ inch orphan blocks as the centers of 3 Square in a Square blocks. The navy fabric I'm using for the triangles is one of the fabrics I found in the scrap drawer. It was left from making a shirt for a family member over a decade ago.

Chef Dish Towel

I pulled out the chef dish towel and put a few stitches in it today. The carrot on the left side of the table top is what I did.

More importantly, I took the towel and the transfer pattern to the ironing board and reapplied parts of the design that had faded from barely visible to invisible. You can now see the lines for window curtains and flowers on the window sill and the caption across the bottom. It's a lot easier to stitch a design you can see.

UFO/Scrap Busting Report - 8/24/08

You might think I'd have a bit more variety to report on my UFO / Scrap Busting effort since finishing the Granny's Daughter afghan two days ago. I do have a bit more variety, but only a bit.

I finished the hat I was working on. It's a "Formula" hat made with Red Heart Symphony. The main part of the hat is in the redwood color. The center top and edge of the brim are in tundra. I'm happy to say that the Symphony left-overs are dwindling. Another couple of hats and I'll be able to say "sayonara, Symphony . . . and good riddance."

Today I finished a small quilt top made from orphan blocks, leftover bits of strip sets and scraps from backing a quilt. The quilt top is 31 inches high by 33½ inches wide. I would never have pulled this fabric combination to make a quilt, but for something put together entirely from scraps and orphan blocks, it works fairly well. The bright colors and frog print guarantee kid appeal.

The 6 H-blocks are 10" square, one inch smaller than the blocks in the original quilts. The ends of the strips sets weren't long enough to make 11" blocks, so I trimmed the frog print. I pieced scraps of the purple and orange together to make strips long enough for the legs of the H's.

The bright blue plaid, trimmed from a quilt back ages ago, was perfect to frame the 7½" square heart blocks and anchor them to the bright colors in the H-blocks. The heart blocks were left from setting together crayon quilt blocks.

You many recall that my quilt scrap busting started 1½ weeks ago with rail fence squares. The H-blocks just didn't go with most of the rail fence blocks. I set aside the rail fence blocks for another quilt top, and searched for something that looked better with the H-blocks.

Hats for Charity - The July 5

Project: Hats for City Union Mission from local AT&T Telecom Pioneers.

Personal Goal: Make 48 hats in 2008.
Hats made in July: 5
Hats made Jan. thru July: 32

I apologize for another late report. Some day, I'll post the report early in the month and surprise you.

Cap #1 is a spiral skull cap worked in half double crochet with front post double crochets making the spiral design.The brim is alternating front and back post double crochets. The yarn is Red Heart Symphony in the color redwood. The fuzzy yarn obscures the spiral pattern, though it shows more than I expected.

Cap #2 is a new design based on my "Formula" hat design. The top of the hat is half double crochet. I switched to moss stitch (alternating single and double crochet) for the body of the hat and finished the brim with a round of half double crochet. It has a wonderful, interesting texture and the stitch pattern hides the joining of the rounds. The green yarn is Red Heart Super Saver and the variegated is "I Love This Yarn" from Hobby Lobby, color grapevine ombre.

Cap #3 is a spiral skull cap. I'll get the pattern on my website someday, I promise. The yarn is "I Love This Yarn" in the color grape.

Cap #4 is a "Formula" hat. I made half a hat and ran out of the royal blue Red Heart Super Saver. It laid around for ages. I finally frogged it and combined the royal blue with other bits of leftover yarn in shades of blue and made lots of stripes with the royal blue spread throughout.

Cap #5 is another "Formula" hat. In this case, I had half a hat in dark teal green (the color is off in the photo). I frogged that, did about 3 rounds in teal at the top of the hat, made stripes from various orange and yellow-orange scraps and did the lower part of the hat in solid teal green with a touch of orange on the edge of the brim. I really like the way this one turned out and I hate orange.

UFO/Scrap Busting Report - 8/22/08

The Granny's Daughter afghan is done! I finished it this morning while watching "Stargate: The Ark of Truth" on DVD, borrowed from my local library. The afghan needs to be washed before turning it in to my local Project Linus chapter. Hopefully laundering will remove, or at least sanitize, the cat hair that Dusty donated to the effort.

The finished size is about 41½" wide by 51½" long. There are 30 motifs per row and 20 rows. This is the largest Granny's Daughter afghan that I've made, but it's still smaller than the pattern specifications. Between the motifs and the crocheted joining, it makes a heavy afghan.

I don't think I'll make another this large, but it was nice to use lots of motifs. I measured the depth of motifs in the copy paper box they are stored in. This afghan reduced the depth from 7½" to 5½". Looks like about 3 more of these afghans from donated motifs, not counting the overly small and overly large motifs.

I have a hat from some of the remaining Red Heart Symphony yarn almost done. I started Wednesday during my 1½ hour wait for my car to be serviced. It was a good project to work on there. I worked on it a little last night and all that is left is the brim.

I've done little sewing this week. Too much Olympics and too much nonproductive time on the computer. I discovered a new online arcade game and spent way too much time playing it. I won't reveal the name of the game or the website to protect any easily distracted readers. All the Olympic watching and game playing left me short on sleep, so there have been several daytime naps to catch up.

Better go load the dishwasher and get ready to watch the new episode of Stargate Atlantis.

Review: The Crochet Bible

Do you know the crochet basics and want to try something more complex? Want to learn how to finish your work? The Crochet Bible: The Complete Handbook for Creative Crochet by Sue Whiting is a great handbook for learning how to make your project look handcrafted instead of homemade. Whether you want to use more complex patterns or create your own design, The Crochet Bible is a good resource.

The Crochet Bible was first published in the United Kingdom and then "Americanized" and published in the US. I think the Americanization is slightly incomplete in a couple of spots. If you aren’t familiar with the differences in UK vs. US crochet terms, Crochet 'N' More has a Stitch Conversion Chart. The one glaring translation failure is the terms "relief front" and "relief back" stitches. In the US, we call these "front post" and "back post" stitches.

After a brief introduction to hooks, other equipment and yarn types, The Crochet Bible is split into 3 sections: Techniques, Stitch Library, and Projects. I found the 72 page technique section the most useful and informative. The stitch library has 36 stitch patterns in 18 pages, including 6 edging and 4 motif patterns. This is a basic sampling of the many, many possible stitch patterns. The projects (patterns) are a practical application of many of the techniques presented. The stitch library and the patterns describe the stitch pattern in words/abbreviations and illustrate it in symbols.

The techniques section begins with an overview of basic stitches (by the way, there are other acceptable ways to hold the yarn and hook). "Crochet craft" sidebars give added details and insight on the technique being discussed. Technique topics include:

• Placing the crochet stitches – both or one loop of previous stitch, between stitches, etc.
• Making crochet fabric – working in rows and rounds
• Gauge – why and how to make and measure a gauge swatch, including fancy stitch patterns, motifs, and circular patterns
• Combination stitches – shells, clusters, bobbles, puff stitches, popcorns
• Relief (a.k.a. post) stitches
• Picots, bullion stitches and clones knots
• Linked and crossed stitches, fur stitch, solomon’s knot
• Branched stitches – make an X, Y or upside down Y
• Joining new yarn and changing colors - I especially liked the discussion and illustrations explaining why you use the new color of yarn to complete the last stitch in the old color
• Multicolored designs
• Shaping – increases and decreases (4½ pages)
• Following a pattern
• Filet crochet
• Seams (3 pages)
• Making and joining motifs
• Borders and edgings (5 pages)
• Decorative details – extra crocheted embellishments, working with beads, embroidery
• Tartan effects – create plaid fabric
• Fringes, tassels and pompoms

The patterns in the Projects section give a generic description of the yarn used (number of balls, ball weight, fiber). Yarn details, including brand name and yardage, are given in an appendix immediately after the last pattern. The patterns include:

• A bunny in 4 sizes
• Striped, ruffled, and lacy baby clothes and accessories
• Child’s coat
• Corsage
• Scarves
• Multicolor bag
• Solomon’s knot wrap
• Hat and mittens featuring circular motifs
• Hat, bag, and belt set in mercerized cotton
• 2 tops, a cardigan and a jacket
• Pullover sweater in child and adult sizes
• A fluffy, heart shaped rug
• A baby blanket and a throw, both in multiple colors
• Textured pillow covers
• Heirloom bedspread, an exquisite challenging project

This is not a beginner book, but a crocheter with at least a little experience will find something of interest in the techniques and possibly the patterns. If you’re looking to expand your crochet skills, check it out. If you want a wide variety of crochet stitch patterns, look elsewhere.

Project Linus - Third Sunday Group - August

Our 3rd Sunday Project Linus group met at JoAnns today. We sewed labels on 80 blankets. We were a small group today, just Lucille, Jodie, Debby, Gaylen and I. We finished sewing labels about 3:30 and started wrapping up for the day.

While the others finished sewing blanket labels, I talked to Gaylen, our chapter coordinator. We talked about our website, planning for Make a Difference Day in October, and putting out a newsletter. I volunteered to do the newsletter layout and Gaylen accepted. I really needed to talk to Gaylen and missing some of the label sewing was an extra benefit.

A woman named Isabella brought us a bunch of quilt tops that she and her husband had made. And there were some cute blankets among the ones we labeled. I absent-mindedly left my camera at home, so I failed to get any pictures to share.

I did a bit of shopping and came home with a 3-bin nylon mesh pop-up hamper. They were 50% off and this will organize some of my yarn. It's more accessible and visible than the luggage I've had some of this stashed in. And it's large enough to corral more yarn in one place. The dimensions are 31" x 15" x 14" high, according to the package. It folds into a flat disc when empty.

UFO/Scrap Busting Report - 8/16/08

Fourteen rows are done on the Granny's Daughter afghan. I'll probably finish row 15 tonight. This has proved to be a good project to work on during the Olympics. No new picture since 14 rows doesn't look a lot different than the 11 rows I showed on Wednesday.

I finished the crocheted cap from the scrap yarn. I made a generously sized turn-up brim.

Marking crochet rounds

I thought I'd show you how I mark the beginning / end of rounds of crochet, since I mentioned that in the last post about how to make one these caps from scraps. I usually use a double strand of crochet cotton for my marker. It's thin, smooth and easy to pull out when I'm done. You can also use yarn.

Lay the marker yarn/thread across the previous row at the end of a round and capture it between the last stitch of a round and the first stitch of the next round. The ends hang down as I work. When I finish a round, I flip the end over the top of the previous round and make sure it is between the last stitch and the next stitch I make.

The Olympics are interfering with my quilting. More accurately, live Olympic coverage of my one of my favorite sports (gymnastics) after midnight is interfering with my sleep schedule. The last 2 mornings, my body has insisted on catching up on sleep instead of quilting.

I pulled out my fabric scraps, orphan blocks, and leftover bits of strip sets on Wednesday. I decided to tackle the leftover rail fence strip sets first. I had remnants of strip sets sewn by 4 or 5 different people with widths from 6 to 6½". I decided to trim to 6" wide and cut 6" squares.

Other than one strip set that was about ¾ of the fabric width, I pieced strips together to get the needed length. One block has 4 crosswise seams, though most only have 1. Click on the photo and look close; you'll see some of the horizontal seams. I have 16 six inch squares.

These 2 fabric combinations have 1 fabric that is less than 1½" long. I plan to rip out the short fabric and sew the remaining 3 strips back together. I'll cut smaller 3 strip blocks from the result.

Figuring out how to set a collection of blocks of various sizes together will be an interesting challenge. I'm sure some filler strips or sashing will be needed.

Spiral Scrap Hat

Patty left a comment on my 8/12 UFO/Scrap Busting report asking if I had a pattern for the cap I'm crocheting from leftover yarn bits. The answer is not yet. It's one of those things I plan to do and if you follow my blog and website, you know I don't write up patterns for the website very frequently.

I think this will ultimately be called a Rainbow Hat or something with Rainbow in the name. For those that don't need a formal pattern, here's a quick how to. I use a size I crochet hook and worsted weight scraps.

Rounds are worked in a continuous spiral; no joining or turning. Mark the beginning/end of rounds with a piece of contrasting yarn or a removable stitch marker while doing increases.

Chain 4 and join with a slip stitch to make a ring. Chain 1 and make 7 half double crochet (hdc) in the ring.

Round 2: Make 2 hdc in each hdc.

Round 3: Make 2 hdc in next hdc, hdc in next hdc. Repeat to the end of the round.

Continue making 7 evenly spaced increases per round until there are 63 stitches. This is almost 19 inches around, a nice snug cap for a woman or teen. For a man increase 3 or 4 more stitches. For a child, make 3 or 4 fewer increases on the last round (59 or 60 stitches total).

Stop increasing and make 1 hdc in each hdc until the cap is as long as you want. If you need help with dimensions, look at the size chart at Bev's Country Cottage. I usually just try the hat on.

When your cap is long enough, single crochet in the next 2 stitches. Slip stitch in the next stitch. Fasten off and weave in all yarn ends.

Whenever you finish a ball of yarn, start the next one. It doesn't matter where you are in the row. I crochet over the yarn ends as I work, so there is minimal finishing. I think it looks best if the yarn makes at least one row, but do what you want. Use the really small balls at the beginning when there are fewer stitches per round.

Have fun!

Yellow Brick Road

I finished the Yellow Brick Road quilt top made with fat quarters I bought at Margie Pearls. The blocks have been sewn together nearly 2 weeks. Today, I finally had the opportunity to add the borders.

I modified the design in 2 ways.

• The block size is 8¼" instead of 9".
• I did a narrow ¾" inner border and a 1¼" pieced outer border, instead of a wide solid border.

The Yellow Brick Road pattern is published by Atkinson Designs. The smallest quilt in the pattern instructions is 48" x 57" (36" x 45" without the border). I wanted a slightly smaller quilt for Project Linus. I modified the pattern measurements as follows.

Pattern Measurement	3½"	5"	6½"	9½"
My Measurement	3¼"	4 5/8"	6"	8¾"

My measurements produce blocks that are ¾" smaller than the pattern design. This reduces the quilt width 3 inches.

Since the blocks are smaller, I had bits of leftover fabric. I was determined to not add all those pieces to my scrap drawer. The most usable width from the leftover bits was 1¾". Thus the outer pieced border is 1¼".

I like the resulting quilt top. I'll add the remaining fat quarters from Margie Pearls to one of my Project Linus fabric bins and that fabric will no longer clutter my quilting space.

UFO/Scrap Busting Report - 8/12/08

I know today's is the 13th, but this is a report of yesterday's UFO and Scrap Busting status. I drove home from my mom's yesterday and by the time I unloaded, unpacked, went through a week's mail and caught up on a few things, I was too tired to write.

There are now 11 rows assembled on the Granny's Daughter afghan. This is probably the most time consuming UFO I targeted for completion this month.

Monday, I started turning scrap yarn balls into a hat. I crocheted on it in the bank lobby while my mom took care of her banking. I crocheted on it at my niece's house while 2 great-grandmas met their new great-grandson, Jackson, born last Thursday, August 7.

I'm crocheting in a continuous spiral, attaching a new ball of yarn whenever the current one runs out. No worries about whether I have enough yarn left for another round. I'm crocheting over the yarn ends as I go so there won't be a lot of finish work.

When I was taking these pictures at my mom's yesterday, my little brother decided that my feet were more interesting than my crochet.

UFO/Scrap Busting Report - 8/9/08

I'm happy to report that I have 7 rows assembled on the Granny's Daughter afghan. It's not quite the 1 row a day I'd hoped for, but my mom got out of the hospital today, so maybe I can get a little more crafting done.

My little brother, Dusty, helped me sort and count motifs for 7 more rows on the afghan. He's a real good helper.

Rocky Start

My UFO and Scrap Busting Month is off to a rocky start. My mom's in the hospital, 150 miles away. I spent the weekend there and came home to get a new air conditioner and furnace installed today. When they called this morning to say they'd be ½ a day late starting the installation, I nearly freaked. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but now I can't head back to my mom until tomorrow afternoon. You can read the sad story about the demise of my A/C on my other blog.

I've started the granny's daughter afghan. I've got the 3rd row half attached to the first 2 rows. I'll finish the row in the morning while the installer finishes the air conditioner and furnace.

I packed the materials for the afghan Thursday night, since I was going to my mom's for the weekend to celebrate my sister's birthday. So it was ready to grab when I got the phone call Friday morning. I worked on the afghan and on the Interwoven Leaves Socks, but accomplished less than I would have under normal circumstances. I'll take lots of handwork when I go back to my mom's. The quilting will have to wait.