On the Needles

 I've knit 2 balls of yarn into my Henley sweater and tried it on, it is still huge but my stitches are the right gauge so I started again in the smaller size which will have 9 fewer stitches in the body and will be 2 inches smaller I'll try it on and compare to the larger and decide to which I will knit sleeves. This is really turning out to be a lot of work fortunately I like the feel of the yarn and I still love the color. The tulips and the flowering almond will all be done long before I finish.  Then I got a box of fun...........

 I was just looking for some plain yarns to mix with leftovers for toes and heels of more footies and found my favorite words sale and free shipping so I met the quota. Happy knitting and have a great weekend and linking to Judy's On the Needles. --Ann--

next quilt

I pinned the beach ball quilt yesterday so my design wall is bare. The bare wall is soooo bare! Time to start another quilt so first I look at my stash of fabrics what should I use???? The last quilt was easy the beach balls fell out of the stack of bright fabrics. Two big decisions had already been made for that quilt the block and the colors all I had to do was figure out how to put it together. I'm starting with a clean slate here I can make anything I want ..........What fabric should I use??? Then I look at my favorite books maybe I'll get a great idea then I think about the fabrics I could use I get a short lived idea then look at another book OH that's right I was going to use those fabrics for this quilt but I don't feel like starting it today. Then I look through my stack of magazines that have pages marked and pages folded inside other magazines....... that has hand applique I don't feel like doing hand applique. Then I go to my file cabinet in search of a folder of quilt patterns and ideas I have pulled out of old magazines. Some I wonder why I saved that particular pattern others I wish I had the whole issue. I get lots of inspiration from my old magazines unfortunately I have purged my collection each time we have moved. I miss the design challenge articles from  Quilting Today, Traditional Quiltsworks and Miniature Quilts, sadly they are no longer publishing those magazines. Now I have too many ideas to choose from and then what fabrics should I use? Maybe tomorrow I'll figure it out.--Ann--

Morning strut

 The beautiful feathers of our state bird always take my breath away.  He always looks so proper with his white collar. I usually see him walking on the other side of the fence. --Ann--

design wall Beach Balls

 The borders and corner blocks are all sewn to the beach ball quilt. Darling Daughter and I love the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks so I put a black and white volley ball in for Wilson, I think I'll machine quilt a red hand on it. The left over beach balls and fish were put on the backing for the quilt. Sewing backing is my least favorite part of sewing a quilt. I sliced off the extra from the lower left cut it in half and sewed it back together and it filled in the missing corner.  Three pieces of background fabrics are completely used! The only thing more fun than buying fabric is using is completely and seeing all the quilts at Patchworktimes. -- Ann--

On and off the needles

New yarn! and favorite colors! the pattern is Henley T Shirt from Knitting Pure and Simple I've been going great guns since I brought the yarn home and them compared it to another sweater. It is huge, my knitting got relaxed and my stitches got big so my guage is off darn! so I will rip and start again on smaller needles. The yarn is a silk and cotton blend with a little acrylic and viscose it feels wonderful.

Footies are complete and the variegated yarn is all used up there is still yarn for more toes and heels of the solid green.

These socks have been neglected since I started the sweater. The cable pattern is so easy and doesn't require a cable needle you p2, knit 2 together then knit one between the two you knit together, do that again then purl 2 the next row is p2 K4 p2 K4 etc row 3 is p2, k1, k2 tog then knit one between the k2tog, k1 and p2, I wish I could remember where I found that stitch pattern. check out the knitting at Judy's On the Needles. I will while I rip and wind. --Ann-- stitch pattern is Nine to Five

out of the cupboard

 This is a round robin quilt from at least a decade ago.  Each of the quilters from the Wednesday night ladies chose a color palette and made our own center block then it was passed to quilter # 2 who was to add a border with triangles, #3 was to set it on point, #4 add a narrow border, #5 add something pretty, #6 I can't remember the specifics for the border with the saw tooth stars on point, #7 was an applique border, #8 half a border with stars, #9 the other half border with hearts. And then we each got our quilt back after months of not seeing it. I was thrilled with mine. I sent a bundle of fabrics with mine to keep everyone on track with my colors. It was professionally quilted by Kay at my Olive Branch, she did a wonderful job.
The other quilt I showed in yesterdays post was the spool quilt  which still isn't finished I only have a couple spools left to hand quilt then all those flying geese. I need to set a side a couple hours a week to hand quilt instead of knitting. --Ann--

a favorite color combination

 I love pink and green together  I found some more in the yarn shop.

Come back tomorrow to see the quilts and Friday to see what the yarn is going to be. Until then blissfully happy with sticks and string.--Ann--

Design Wall Monday

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mine was perfect! My three kids came home and did the cooking. I got to sit in the living room after church like a guy and relax until dinner was ready. We had steaks on the grill hubby did that, DD did baked potatoes, lettuce salads made with spinach and romaine, and crunchies, raw carrots, sugar snap peas and cauliflower. Then she made a chocolate dutch baby for dessert served with SDSU ice cream and hot fudge. The meal was perfect! Then the boys cleaned up the kitchen all I did was push the button on the dishwasher when I made my afternoon coffee. After the boys went home and hubby was still napping with enthusiasm I went to my sewing room and finished the beach ball quilt. I sewed like setting triangles to the squares so I could rearrange blocks and keep my rows of triangles all the same. Now do I want horizontal stripes in the border or vertical either way I need four more beach balls or fish in the corners. Linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday and be inspired.  --Ann--

On the Needles

 These footies have knit pretty fast the stitch pattern has a 6 row repeat so I don't always get the full sequence done in one sitting and I have to refer to the pattern for each row so how do I mark the pattern so I know where I left off?? Put marks on the pattern? with dates? so I know which is the most current mark. Slide a paper clip down the page--that interferes with reading the pattern. Light bulb please!!!! I wrap the yarn around the needle to correspond with the next pattern row.

These are done! I'm going to clear out my sock drawer of all my store bought footies that slide down inside my shoe. Don't you hate when that happens. Check out the knitting at Judy's OTN. --Ann--

Out of the Cupboard

I'm a week behind on May Day but I was subbing at school, went to a meeting, sat in the sun for a while, tossed some things from my sewing room into the garbage, went to the green house and spent a day working in the garden. I re planted my strawberry bed, planted peas, beans, beets, potatoes, spinach and lettuce. I'm so glad I got all that done because today we have rain and my legs are sore from kneeling and reaching. Today is for knitting and sewing and reading my three favorite things to do.  I made this little quilt in 2003 the buttonhole or blanket stitch was all the rage back then. I made dozens of these little baskets from brown scraps someday I'll find more in my closet and after it was done I wished I had bordered each basket in the background fabric because the striped sashing and border overwhelms the baskets. I still love the pink and red flowers. I did match those stripes in the mitered corners. Some quilts are for learning.--Ann--

Wedensday Sketch

I sat outside and ate my lunch then grabbed the sketching basket. The sun felt so good on my face and arms, it didn't take long to feel it burning. Happy warmer sunny May days!!! Yippee--Ann--

spring

 Our second day in a row of SPRING!!!! That is something to shout about! I'm off to the green house.--Ann--

On the Needles

I finished socks for oldest son! I'll hang on to them until his birthday next month. They are just a basket weave stitch. I have been using left over yarn to make footies Bunny Hop Pattern because they are quick and they stay up. I love this heel. I rewrote the short row stitch sequence to make it easier for my flighty brain to follow and in doing so I see a pattern to the repeats which makes it even easier to follow, before I moved a marker down the pattern with each row now I can just go back and forth and I'm done in no time. Happy Knitting and linking to Judy's On the Needles.--Ann--