Website Updates - June 30,2006

I've spent this evening updating Handmade for Charity. I removed some dead links and updated a couple that had moved. The following charities have been added.

• American Angels offers many ways to support our soldiers/sailors and their families.
• Cozee's. Cozee's donates lapghans (lap-sized afghans) to children and adults in need.
• Heartmade Blessings Operation Purple Heart sends comfortghans to family members of those military men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice.
• Quilts of Valor - quilts for wounded servicemen and women.
• Tiny Stitches is based in Gwinnett County, Georgia and provides basic layettes to disadvantaged newborns and preemies in north Georgia. They also provide burial ensembles to families who lose an infant.

Under "Other Lists of Charity Links" I added:

• Crochet for Charities Links at StarGazer's World.

Under "Charity Resources":

• Calming Seas is the new home of "C" for Crochet (seafore.com).

Scrap Quilt Top

This is a quilt top I finished about a month ago for my second Saturday of the month charity group, Quilts from Cornerstone. We've been doing scrap quilts this year to use up some strips and squares left from other projects.

This quilt is from the book Quilts from the Heart: Quick Projects for Generous Giving by Karin Renaud.

Ripple Dilemma

I'm crocheting a purple and gold afghan using my Easy Ripple Afghan pattern. Unfortunately, this is one of those times that I should have paid more attention to the yarn I grabbed. I thought I had 2 matching 8 ounce skeins of both purple and gold. Unfortunately, the golds were a not quite full 8 ounce skein of "Kolor Match" and a 3.5 ounce skein of "Love Knit", neither of which are made any more. The colors are close, but definately not the same. The stores don't have anything close to this shade of gold/sunflower.

The afghan is 36 inches wide by 24 inches long right now. I have used all of the "Kolor Match" yarn and just under half of the purple Red Heart. So what do I do now?

• continue with the 2nd shade of gold, ignoring the change in shade,
• use the 2nd gold, but add rows on both ends,
• save the 2nd gold for something else and switch to white or off-white, working rows on both ends of the afghan

If I use the "Love Knit", I estimate that I can add about 12 inches to the length before running out of gold. I could do some more rows of purple to make it longer. I do have plenty of off-white I can use. The afghan will go to Project Linus if I get it finished. Suggestions are welcome.

Happy Birthday, B-I-L

My brother-in-law's birthday was earlier this month. These knitted golf club covers were his Christmas present and part of his birthday present. My stepsister was so enthusiastic about the idea when I asked if he had golf club covers, there was no retreating when I found out that he had 8 irons and 2 wedges that were bare.

Almost all golf club cover patterns use stripes to denote the number of the club which is not practical for numbers over 5, so I did some adapting. I started with a knit pattern in Leisure Arts Leaflet #99, "Odds 'n Ends to Knit and Crochet". I eliminated the stripes to denote the club number and put a single stripe at the edge of the ribbing. I charted the numbers 2 through 9 and the letters 'L' and 'P', which I added with duplicate stitch. The pattern leaflet is copyright 1977, so I'm sure it is no longer available. Ironically, I bought the leaflet for the crocheted golf club cover pattern.

X Marks the Spot

I finished another quilt for Project Linus this morning. It is from a Project Linus quilt pattern called X Marks the Spot. The pattern is on the Idaho chapter patterns page. I skipped the border.

This quilt measures about 39.5 by 53 inches. I machine quilted all of the diagonal lines which resulted in diamonds that are about 2 3/4 inches wide. The batting is from a roll of polyester batting from JoAnns. It's the lightest weight (4 oz.), but is a bit thick and stiff. I got it on sale, so the price was right.

I didn't have a coordinating piece of fabric that was big enough for the back. I used some strips left from cutting the top to enlarge a piece of purple fabric to make the back. The picture on the right is the back of the quilt.

My Favorite Crafts

My favorite crafts all use fiber. Fabric, yarn, thread, some type of fiber. Quilting and crocheting are the crafts I do the most. I also knit, sew, and do counted crossstitch. I've done more knitting than normal in the last year. It started with a shrug for my best friend and continued with 3 Christmas gifts and my first original knitting design. I have an embroidery project (a tea towel) that I started 6 months ago. That's a story for later.

I finished this rail fence quilt for Project Linus last Sunday. It measures 40 by 46 inches. I quilted in the ditch next to the pink and blue zig-zags and quilted a wavy line down the middle of the border.

Welcome

Welcome to Handcrafting With Love. I plan to write about my crafting and craft-related activities. Watch for book reviews and news about updates to my website. Vist my Handcrafting With Love website for free patterns, quilting, crochet, and information on crafting for charity. The left column of this blog has links to the main areas of the website. I believe love is an essential ingredient in all handcrafted things.