On the needles

Oh Happy Day here the sun is shining and streaming in my sunroom windows!  Is there anything that feels or tastes better than a strong cup of coffee on a sunny morning other than sitting outside in the warmth of the sunshine!?!  I'll have to wait a few more weeks before it's warm enough to sit outside in the morning.  Knitting these socks was like eating a bag of potato chips I couldn't stop.  And mixing the yarns together I  was like the kid filling his own glass of pop from the soda fountain for the first time and had to have a shot of everything. I exercised some restraint and left out all the dark yarns from guy socks, they will be knit into more guy socks. The first pair of pot luck or maybe casserole socks or hot dish socks or maybe just leftover socks are finished and I immediately started on another pair and they are knitting just as fast, this time I'm knitting a pattern p2, k4 for 5 rows then a knit row then move the p2 over 2 stitches so its k2, p2, k2 for 5 rows then knit a row and k4, p2 and repeat the sequence.  Someone asked me if i saved any yarn for darning socks.   I don't.  The socks I have given to my kids and others do not come with a service contract!  Just like my quilts I include care instructions but not a service contract.  Happily using up yarn and sitting in the sun.  --Ann--  Linking to Judy's OTN

Only 8 more

 Only 8 more curved blocks to go.  I could have sewn them all yesterday but we were out of bananas along with everything else so had to make a trip to the grocery store.  I moved a couple fans but then moved them back because I created a near mirror image of the 2 fans then I moved a couple log cabin blocks.  In response to the reader who asked if my imaginary chess set would be prints and solids, no it would be one side of pastels and the other side of darks with a wide variety of prints on both sides, no matchy matchy designer line for me.  Another gloomy day here on the prairie  I wish it would rain or clear up and since the forecast is for more gloom I will spend it in my sewing room.  --Ann--  link to curved piecing

final arrangement

I spent hours on Monday trimming the log cabin blocks and then arranging and rearranging them on the wall.  Yesterday I didn't look at it at all then this morning I studied it over my second cup of coffee.  I moved some blocks mentally which lead to another mental move and another kinda like playing chess if I knew how to play chess. Maybe I would be good at chess but I would have to tape a piece of fabric to the top of each chess figure since I think in color and pattern not rank of the playing pieces. The king would be a loud plaid, the queen a beautiful floral......... I didn't actually move any log cabin or fan blocks so I put some of the background fabrics up and this is how it is going to be.  The outside round of blocks is going to hang over the edge of the bed thats almost half of the blocks will not be seen straight on like on the design wall.  I will start sewing the curves after lunch.  Things always go together better on a full tummy.   Another gloomy getting-to-the-end-of-March day here and a good day to sew.  --Ann--

Design wall

The weekend was spent sewing fan wedges and trimming and trimming some more.  Amazing how blocks sew together so much nicer when every block trimmed to the same size.  I'll spend a couple days arranging blocks before I sew the fans to the backgrounds because each round will be a different  background fabric.  There are are 4 blocks with the green stripe in the top six log cabin blocks in the center and 3 of the floral green in the bottom half so I need to mix them up.  You can't see it but there are 7 fans with a dark red on the bottom half and only 2 on the top.  I need to even things out.  I should set a stop watch for rearranging blocks because moving one fan or log cabin block to another area solves one problem but creates another and so the rearranging continues.  I will stop when I have the various fabrics distributed evenly across the quilt top or just say enough! --Ann--

On and off the needles

Three finishes and a start since my last OTN.  Socks are done! sweater is done! and scarf is done!  There may be another day chilly enough that I will wear my down coat and cozy scarf and hat and gloves.  And I see a spot on my coat.  I started some potluck socks with leftover yarn from three different balls of yarn.  Sometimes I would knit with just one ball of yarn, I worked the toes from both ends of one ball and amazed at how they matched.  The I started another ball on each sock while still working with the yarn from the toes so I would knit a couple rows then switch.  I finally figured out that if I put the ball in the sock and pulled as I knit the 4 strands of yarn didn't tangle as quickly.  Completely using a ball of yarn is as much fun as completely using the fabric in my stash.  How did I get so much done!???  It's basketball season.  The TV goes from a game with guys in black uniforms against guys in white uniforms with red trim then they are in white with blue trim and red uniforms, then we are watching a local game that was played weeks ago, then its on golf, then hockey, then there is some guy watching a bear, then the guys picking junk and few more brief stops and we start all over again. That's how I got so much done! hope you are too linking to Judy's OTN  --Ann--

Log Cabin Blocks

I'm mindlessly sewing log cabin blocks only a few left to go then I start on the fan wedges.  Winter is bullying his way back again with very cold rain reminding the robins they were here too early. Its a good day to sew.  --Ann--

First day of Spring

Does anything say spring more cheerfully than a bouquet of daffodils?  It's still early for daffodils here, these came from the grocery store. I should have bought 3 more bundles.  Every single bud opened.  No excuses for not posting the last two weeks or is it closer to three.  Some days or weeks are just life and not blog worthy.  However I read through all last years posts to print into a book and there were so many little details that I had forgotten so maybe be I need to notice and make important the little things in life again.
Progress on this quilt top was very slow, there was a lot of variation in the finished star blocks and I didn't trim them to the smallest measurement  so rather than re cut every block I  made some adjustments like adding a strip to make my rows come out even. It's a scrap quilt!! whatever works to get it done and add it to the stack of quilt tops ready to baste. On to something more fun or interesting or more challenging. Looking forward to longer days --Ann--