Hats for Charity - The September 3

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

Personal Goal: Make 48 hats in 2008.
Hats made in Sept.: 4
Hats made Jan. thru Sept.: 39

The top of cap #1 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. The yarn is "I Love This Yarn" from Hobby Lobby, color grapevine ombre.

Cap #2 is a "Formula" hat made in half double crochet with a ribbed brim of front and back post double crochet stitches. All the yarn is miscellaneous left overs with no labels. The green / blue / white / dusty rose variegated was lighter weight than most yarns I work with, so I did a few extra increases and decreased back to my normal number of stitches in the first round of the white. I used all of the variegated and white that I had and had very little of the dusty rose left when I finished the brim.

Cap #3 is a "Formula" hat made in half double crochet with a flared brim. The top of the hat was made from bits of leftover butterscotch and copper colored yarn. The copper was some old Jack Frost yarn, which I'm sure was given to me by someone long ago. The dark teal tried to be a hat once before and languished unfinished when I ran out and had nothing to go with it. The lower part of the hat is some (old) Red Heart Classic in a color called "teddy bear." My scrap drawer had nothing that went with the teal, copper and butterscotch, so I dug a whole skein of the teddy bear out of the closet. The rest of it will appear in a future hat.

I'm sure you noticed my new hat model, Sally. I adopted Sally from a Sally's Beauty Supply in Albuquerque while on vacation. I coerced my friend Roger into making a stand for the styrofoam head and he did a real nice job. Sally and I both appreciate it.

Project Linus - Third Sunday Group - October

Our 3rd Sunday group met at JoAnns yesterday. We were a small group, just Lucille, Louise, Anita, Debby and I. We represented the walking wounded: Louise broke a shoulder last month, Debby has a painful hip and I'm still nursing my strained right wrist. My wrist is getting better, except when I absentmindedly put weight on it Thursday. Ouch!

Debby spent the afternoon tying blankets and finished several. Anita stitched on some blankets she brought. I quilted a preprinted panel that I started quilting on Saturday - still a bit of quilting left on that. Louise and Lucille used the pillowcase method to get a bunch of tops sandwiched with batting and backing and ready to quilt.

One lady stopped by to drop off 14 crocheted afghans she had made. Two women and 2 girls dropped off 2 bags of preemie-sized fleece blankets the girls had made. They had some really cute fleece prints. I brought the yarn, a lot of the fabric and a roll of batting that I acquired during my Albuquerque vacation. I know Louise and Lucille will put it to good use or pass it on to one of our volunteers who make afghans.

Vacation Shopping

Shopping during vacation in Albuquerque is a long-standing tradition. These days, I look for bargains for my charity projects. Somehow, I always find good buys in Albuquerque.

The JoAnns' flyer had lots of 40% off coupons good September 7 to 13, right in the middle of my vacation visit. Wanda and I each had flyers, as did Wanda's mom.

I went shopping first with Wanda's mom, Mrs. L, on Albuquerque's west side. At JoAnn's I got 3 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver yarn and 2 yards of blue fabric. The blue will be a great background for 3 dimensional bow-tie blocks.

Hancock Fabrics greeted us with 2 tables of fabric at 75% off. I bought about 15 yards of great kid's prints, mostly at $1.25 a yard. I hadn't planned to buy fabric, but I'm not likely to find cotton fabric at that price again anytime soon!

Best of all, my visit with Mrs. L included free fabric. She was clearing out some of her stash and passed some things on to me. There's some nice cotton fabric for Project Linus quilts along with some other stuff.

Later in the week, Wanda and I visited the 2 JoAnns stores in northeast Albuquerque. In the Menaul store, we both bought yarn. Wanda bought yarn in preparation for her machine knitting guilds charity knit-in. I bought more Red Heart Super Saver for Project Linus.

At the San Mateo store, Wanda found 2 abandoned flyers in a shopping cart, giving us even more coupons to spend. We both bought more yarn and I also got some 10 yard rolls of quilt batting. My haul for the day was 11 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver and 3 rolls of batting. We also stopped by Wal-Mart for some plastic containers for my quilt retreat.

So what do you do on vacation?

Confession Time

After vacation in Albuquerque and a quilt retreat occupying me for the first 2/3 of September, I found myself with an urge to watch my collection of Alias Smith and Jones episodes. I purchased the pilot movie on VHS tape in the 90s. I also have 43 episodes taped off the old CBN (Christian Broadcast Network) in the mid-1980s. The quality is not great. I copied the episodes from Beta to VHS format when my Beta-format VCR disappeared in the move to Kansas City, 12 years ago.

I've watched about 37½ hours of Alias Smith and Jones in the last 3 weeks. Some of it more than once. I'm going to order the first season on DVD and see if UPS can get through the construction detour to my house this week. The quality will be much better than my tapes and there will be no scenes missing to insert more commercials.

That's part of why I've done so little blogging in the last month. Another reason is my right wrist/hand is a little sore, so I've cut back on computer time and crafting. Alias Smith and Jones and the new TV season have filled the time quite enjoyably.

Review: Quilty as Charged: Undercover in a Material World

Writer Spike Gillespie humorously chronicles her introduction to the world of quilting in Quilty as Charged: Undercover in a Material World. If you hate puns, avoid this book.

Part One of the book takes you on Gillespie’s introduction to quilting. The first quilt show she attended was the International Quilt Festival (IQF) in Houston. Nothing like starting at the top. Her hilarious misadventures in learning to quilt will have you in stitches. Ever work with a problem fabric or not have enough fabric? Gillespie had both challenges on her first quilt.

For Part Two of the book, Gillespie interviewed 16 quilters and presents their stories. Included are Arlene Blackburn whose quilt Midnight in the Garden of Good and Elvis was deliberately destroyed by bleach at the 2002 IQF in Houston, caveman quilter Ricky Tims, mother and daughter quilters Marti and Stacy Michell, Hollis Chatelain, Inge Mardal and Steen Hougs, and Karey Bresenhan, head of Quilts, Inc. the company that holds the International Quilt Festivals.

Interspersed throughout the book are brief quotes from quilters like you and me. These stories vary from humorous to touching, revealing the reasons why we quilt.

Sit down, put your feet up and prepare to be entertained by Quilty as Charged: Undercover in a Material World.