Lone Star Quilt - Part 4

Look! Eight completed Lone Star points! Oh happy day! It took me a month, but I'm finally ready to move to the next step.

I spent 2 weeks stitching the last 3 points together. I've not been that busy, though I went shopping and completed my ensemble to wear to my niece's wedding. Matching those diamonds was so frustrating, I avoided it a lot, dragging things out. I think my niece is getting an IOU for her wedding gift. I can finish the quilt top, but no way can I quilt and bind it in 5 weeks.

Trying to improve the piecing process, I basted the intersections on the last 3 points. This made it much easier to rip out and do over. However, I still messed up the final seam sometimes and had to pick out small stitches. Removing the basting stitches after the final stitching was a pain also.

Sewing the points to each other should be much easier as the seams will align with each other, not cross at an angle. The seam allowances are pressed in opposite directions to further assist in assembly.

I went to the local quilt shops last week and found a much better background fabric. It's much lighter and less busy than the one I originally bought. It still has a pattern to add interest to those large background squares and triangles. It's behind the points on the right in the above photo.

Previous posts: Lone Star Quilt -Part 3, Lone Star Quilt -Part 2, Lone Star Quilt -Part 1, Support Your Local Quilt Shop.

Colorful Afghans

Dolores called yesterday. She had 7 afghans done and was having trouble finding good color combinations in the yarn she had. I grabbed most of the yarn in my Project Linus stash and hopped in Little Red, my trusty Toyota Corolla.

I didn't have much yarn to take Dolores, but combined with what she still had, she has enough yarn to keep her busy 6 or 8 weeks. We chatted and put together some color combinations. I'm sure she is crocheting away.

Below are the 7 afghans Dolores gave me yesterday. She always uses the same pattern and the color combinations are always different. I love these color combinations. I just saw her a month ago, so she's kept that crochet hook moving even in the heat. Now I need to get the afghans to our Project Linus coordinator.

Review: Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles

Do you dislike knitting with double-pointed needles? Maybe you're curious about how to knit in a circle with 2 needles. Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles: a Manual of Elegant Knitting Techniques and Patterns by Cat Bordhi clearly explains how to knit socks on 2 circular needles. It really is a simple technique. Photos reinforce the written instructions.

There are 11 sock patterns in the book: 4 rated easy, 6 intermediate and 1 advanced. Some patterns feature designs knitted in a contrasting color. Others have textured stitch patterns or lace designs. The "Simple Sock" instructions are given in 3 sizes. The remaining socks are designed for a woman's medium foot.

Two socks in the book are knit from the toe up using the author's unique "Turned Toe" technique. This clever technique uses no increases, only decreases. I really want to try this technique.

The book explains how to translate any sock pattern knitted on double pointed needles to 2 circular needles. Once you understand how to knit a sock on 2 circular needles, you can knit any sock pattern on 2 circular needles.

You need basic knitting skills to make any of the patterns in this book. The author also recommends that you have a good knitting reference book.

Tidal Wave Socks Finished!

My Tidal Wave socks are finished! I love the feel of the TOFUtsies yarn. My gauge was about 8 2/3 stitches per inch with 2.25 mm needles, a little tighter than the pattern suggested. The tighter gauge gave me a sock that fit my size 6½ foot without modifying the pattern. The "Tidal Wave" pattern is from the South West Trading Company free patterns page.

Previous posts on these socks: One Done, TOFUtsies Socks.

Project Linus - Third Sunday Group - August

Our Project Linus group had a busy afternoon at JoAnns yesterday afternoon and I have lots of pictures to share. Remember, you can click on any photo for a larger version.

Lucille's friend Anita came and brought pink and blue leftovers that she stitched into this great quilt top.

New group member, Debby, arrived with some colorful fabric to make an easy quilt top. Debby hadn't used her sewing machine for 10 years, so Christy and I helped her thread it. I still haven't met a sewing machine I couldn't thread, but Debby's was a bit of a challenge.

Last month I brought a box of cut squares that I had for years and wanted out of my house. One of our Project Linus volunteers had cut up donated fabric that had varying amounts of appeal. I.e., a lot of it was really boring or ugly. Louise added some more cut squares she wanted to use up.

Lucille spent a couple of hours arranging squares to be sewn into tops. This was our favorite arrangement of the afternoon. Louise sewed squares into quilt tops.

Christy was her typical creative self. She cut striped squares into quarter square triangles and stitched them back together to create new squares like these two. You cut 2 matching striped squares to create 2 different squares.

Christy is setting the pieced squares together with solid squares. I couldn't get a really good view of the layout, but this shows most of the squares.

Jodie and I spent the afternoon finishing quilts. I machine quilted and Jodie tied. This one quilt, we both worked on. I ditch quilted around the borders and sashing, but couldn't figure out a quick way to quilt within the blocks. So Jodie tied the center of the blocks to finish it.

We got a lot done yesterday with only 7 people. This picture shows how much we accomplished. The afghans on the left were dropped off by one of our volunteers. I think there are at least 5 afghans. A quilt Jodie brought in is in the right stack. The bag on the bottom of the right stack contains the 3 blankets I brought in: the pink and blue afghan and the 2 crayon quilts.

The rest of the right stack is blankets that Jodie and I finished yesterday afternoon. A couple of tops made by the rest of the group are hiding in there also. Louise and Lucille had all those blankets pillowcased and topstitched, so quilting or tying the layers together was all we needed to do to finish them yesterday.

Crayon Quilts Finished - August 19

I layered and finished 2 crayon quilt tops late last week. I quilted the second one on Sunday morning, just in time to take to our monthly Project Linus group. There have been so few blankets coming in to the Kansas City PL chapter that only Children's Mercy Hospital received blankets in July. So I've been motivated to finish a few blankets.

The first quilt features pictures of children playing and also has a couple of ice cream sundaes. What child doesn't like ice cream? The crayon blocks are alternated with some of the heart blocks I made last fall.

The second quilt is mostly dinosaurs with a couple of space aliens tossed in. I really liked the rainbow dinosaur. You can see the creativeness of the kids who colored the pictures.

Click on any photo for a larger version.

Lone Star Quilt - Part 3

Progress was slow on the Lone Star quilt again this week. I haven't found the secret technique to match all the intersections correctly the first time. Frustrated with ripping out and restitching seams, I took a 3 day break and only stitched 3 points together this week.

Early in the week, I pinned the background fabric up next to 2 of the star points. Unfortunately, I don't like it with the star points. It's too busy and something a shade lighter would probably look better. I plan to look for a different background next week. I haven't bought the backing fabric yet, so I'll try to create a plan to piece the reject together with something else for the back.

Previous posts: Lone Star Quilt -Part 2, Lone Star Quilt -Part 1, Support Your Local Quilt Shop.

Review: Knitting for Peace

There is joy in making a handcrafted item for someone in need. It doesn't have to difficult or time consuming to make and it is almost guaranteed to be appreciated and loved.

Knitting for Peace: Make the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time delves into why people knit for charity. The book has inspiring stories of why and how charitable efforts started. If you ever need inspiration to knit, crochet or quilt for charity, one of the stories is certain to touch your soul. Part of the proceeds from the book will be donated to charity.

Knitting for Peace describes a variety of charitable knitting efforts. Many of the organizations mentioned also accept crocheted, quilted and sewn items. The book is divided into 5 chapters.

• Peace and War - wartime knitting past and present
• Peace on Earth - building relationships with needy people in other countries. Cooperative efforts to help people earn an income through knitting.
• Peace at Home - providing comfort in the USA.
• Peace for Kids - helping children
• Knit for Peace - covers getting started and lists charity knitting resources

This book includes easy knitting patterns for blankets, hats, socks, mittens, children's clothing, a shawl and a teddy bear. These basic patterns knit up quickly. Similar patterns, and some of the same patterns, are readily available on the internet.

Don't buy "Knitting for Peace" for the patterns. Buy it for the stories. The stories make the book special.

Knit + Crochet = Afghan

One more afghan of knitted squares completed by crocheting. Our Project Linus chapter is really low on blankets this summer, so I wanted to finish this rose and light blue afghan to turn in at our blanket group meeting this Sunday. I joined the last 3 squares yesterday and took it to my Monday evening quilt group to add the edging.

To join the squares, I did a simple single crochet, chain 1 edging around the knit squares. I do a single crochet, chain 1, single crochet in the corners. I do a join as you go technique by making a single crochet into the chain 1 space on the adjacent square instead of the chain 1. You can slip stitch into the space on the adjacent square instead of single crochet. If you want a more open join, you can *sc into the square you are edging, ch 1, sc into the ch 1 space on the adjacent square, ch 1, repeat from *. This technique works with crocheted squares also.

I'm nearing the end of the bag of knitted afghan squares that was bequeathed to me in April. This is the third afghan I've made from those squares and my friend, Diane, put one together also. I have 20 squares in navy and light blue left for one more afghan. I had not planned to join squares for a few days, but I got home with the finished afghan last night and those last 20 squares were calling to me. I got them out, figured out how to arrange them and crocheted around the first 2 squares. The third square joined the strip this morning.

Lone Star Quilt - Part 2

Stitching a Lone Star quilt is very different than sewing a simple quilt for charity. Cutting the strip sets on a 45 degree angle wasn't too bad. I think it took me about an hour or so. Now you can see what one point will look like.

Sewing the strips of diamonds together to make the points of the Lone Star is going really slow. I spent an hour and half sewing 6 strips of diamonds into a star point this morning. There are only 5 seams, but each of those 5 seams has 7 match points. There are 5 intersections plus the 2 ends to match.

Properly matching the strips of diamonds takes time. When 2 strips are right sides together, the seams between the diamonds cross at a 90 degree angle. Those seams have to cross ¼ inch from the edge. See the diagram at left.

I'm spending a lot of time measuring, poking pins through at each match point, measuring, checking the match, and pinning. Then I carefully stitch the seam, check all the match points, rip out half the seam, match intersections, pin and carefully stitch again. Usually, the second time all the intersections match within a couple of threads and I call it good enough.

Below, you can see the first 2 points pressed and displayed on my design wall. That's all I have done! There are six more points to stitch together. If I'm going to finish this quilt by October, I'm going to have to get a lot faster or spend a lot more time on it. I really like the way it looks, but dang it takes a lot of time.

Previous posts: Lone Star Quilt -Part 1, Support Your Local Quilt Shop.

New Book: Nine-patch Extravaganza

A color flyer for Nine-patch Extravaganza by Judy L. Laquidara jumped out of the envelope with the Summer 2007 American Quilter Society (AQS) book listings. The book has 12 designs in a 96 page, 8½ x 11" format. Three colorful and very interesting designs are shown on the flyer.

I've "known" Judy for years on the QuiltNet email list and more recently from her Sunshine Quilts blog. You can see a sample of Judy's quilt pattern instructions by going to her blog and searching for the "Quilt for an Hour" articles. Watch the Amazon listing and AQS listing for reviews of "Nine-patch Extravaganza." In the meantime, go see what Judy and her readers have to say and add your congratuations.

Quilt Block a Day

The quilting guide at About.com is doing a block a day series this month. Click over to quilting.about.com to check it out.

One Done

One done and the second sock started! I had a productive stay at my mom's finishing my first Tidal Wave sock Sunday evening. I immediately cast on stitches and started the ribbing on the second sock. I love the color. This picture is a better representation of the color than the one in my last post. (Note to self: don't use the white plastic tablecloth for a background when taking photos.)

The TOFUtsies yarn is knitting up nicely. Occasionally, I split the yarn with my needle when making a stitch, but it's easy to fix and doesn't happen very frequently.

During the 2 days that I was gone, I wasn't on the computer at all, so lots of time catching up in the last 24 hours. I worked a little on joining afghan squares while I was away and did a little reading, but mostly I knitted. These socks are begging to be knit before I do any of the other things I want/need to do.

Previous post on these socks: TOFUtsies Socks.

TOFUtsies Socks

I really love the way these socks are knitting up. The TOFUsies yarn is some of the sock yarn I acquired at the Fiber Arts Fiesta when I was on vacation in May. The pattern is "Tidal Wave" from the South West Trading Company free patterns page. The yarn is TOFUtsies, color # 720.

Time to pack up the computer and head out of town for 2 days. I expect lots of knitting time at my mom's. Maybe I'll get this sock finished and start the second one. Depends on how much other stuff I do. I'm also taking afghan squares to join and reading.

Lone Star Quilt - Part 1

I've started slicing fabric and stitching 2½ months after buying fabric for my niece's wedding gift quilt. The wedding is 2 months away and this is a large quilt (110 inches square), so I'm again procrastinating to the point of creating a time crunch.

Part of my procrastination was because I hadn't decided the exact ordering of fabrics in the star points. Tuesday, I cut a strip of each of the fabrics in the star and cut some small rectangles to experiment with. Finally, I had the arrangement on the left. No, it's not a complete 6 by 6 diamond. I just hate wasting fabric and didn't want to cut more rectangles.

I left my pieces laying overnight, waiting to see what the fabric would tell me. Wednesday morning, I still liked the arrangement, so I labeled my schematic for a permanent reference to use to make the points of the Lone Star. I counted diamonds on the schematic to determine how many strips of each fabric I needed and started cutting.

I stitched and stitched; used an entire bobbin full of thread and had to refill the bobbin. Finally, I had my 6 strip sets cut and pressed. I folded them in half and stacked them to get a rough preview of one star point. I like it!

The strip sets will escape the rotary cutter until next week. I'll be out of town for a family birthday celebration this weekend. But next week, those lovely strip sets are going to get sliced on a 45 degree angle and stitched into star points. -- Remember click any picture for a larger version.

Teamwork

Have you noticed that more gets done when you work with someone else? In our Project Linus group, we have people who mostly make tops, some that tie quilts, and some that do a little of everything. We learn from and inspire each other. And we get more done than we would if everyone worked on their own.

My best friend's mom, Mrs. L, made 2 quilt tops and sent them to me last Christmas. I finished the one shown above a couple of days ago with a nice flannel back. I finished the other quilt top last March. Mrs. L probably wouldn't finish a Project Linus quilt on her own, but I love that she makes these tops and sends them to me to finish.

These machine knit afghans are also the result of teamwork. I adopted most of the yarn at our big Project Linus Make a Blanket Day last February. With my friend Wanda's help, I knitted the blankets on one of her knitting machines at the end of May. Two months later, I've finally crocheted an edging around all 3 blankets. So three people contributed to these blankets: the person who contributed the yarn, Wanda and me. Without Wanda's help, the yarn would still be waiting to be made into something.

This afghan is made from some knitted squares that were passed to me in April. My friend Diane crocheted these squares together to finish the afghan. I have no idea who made the squares. I do know that Diane and I are at least the 2nd and 3rd people to work on turning them into afghans. I finished 2 pastel afghans and have dusty rose, light blue and navy squares that will make 2 more afghans.