Out of the cupboard

 I made this  Bear Paw quilt in 2006 and I can't believe I haven't posted about it.  Anyway I call it Dancing Bears because the bear paws are in rows rather than squares like they are line dancing.  The majority of the dark prints are from Merryvale bundles.  The quilt guild which I was a member of back then would order samples from a company called Merryvale, they would buy the entire line of fabrics and sell them in 6 inch packets, 6 x 18 inch bales or by the yard. So each month the guild would get a new packet that we could order for the next month.  We did not have a LQS.  It was a great way to get the latest and greatest. It was also easy to stock pile the packets and bales but the best way to make them useable was to separate them by color and regroup.  I machine quilted this on my domestic machine, it took hours to manipulate all that fabric and my arms would get tired.  I could empty a bobbin of thread in 20-30 minutes if the thread tension was just right.  But it is so much easier on my sweet 16 machine. --Ann--

more machine quilting

I'm on a roll with machine quilting...........power sewing! even though I have the machine set at a little over half speed and that is still really fast.  I had a comment asking me to draw out the free motion quilting design that I so frequently do on scrap quilts and here it is.  I usually start in one corner with a tear drop and then go around it a bit bigger then another tear drop and around it again or maybe a third time depending on where I want to go next and I just meander out from the corner then work my way back and forth across the quilt diagonally until I reach the opposite corner.  Sometimes if I have a wide border I do a feather in the border but since this has a narrow border I'm treating it all the same.  The drawing is on an 18 x 24 inch sheet of paper.  I drew with my arm instead of my fingers and wrist.  To practice you could use a sheet of newspaper and a felt pen.  When I machine quilt which I do sitting down at a Sweet 16 machine I am using my big arm muscles to move the quilt, my left forearm is resting on the quilt helping me move the quilt in big arcs and I wear the good rubberized garden gloves.  I have done a queen size quilt on my domestic machine but the 16 inches of throat space makes it so much easier.  --Ann--

Ta da da done

 My first finished quilt of 2018 what have I been doing all year??? Two years ago I started out finishing a quilt every couple weeks.  I must have had some shorter deadlines back then,  I'm always more productive under pressure. We have had a weeks worth of hot days here so is good to spend time downstairs in the sewing room.  I took pictures of my quilt before it got too hot and there were some volunteer violas in the rocks. Such cheery little blossoms.  
--Ann--

Friday knitting

 It's a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive to our son's home and camper so lots of knitting in the car.  I started the top pair last Thursday in the car and knit one repeat of the color pattern, I knit a couple stripes while we were there and the rest on the way home.  And I'll not work on them again until the next time we go.  The socks from the previous trip are finished they are made with a heavier yarn, larger needles and fewer stitches in the circumference so they knit fast as hubby drove. --Ann--

machine quilting

To stay home now for a few days.  I haven't machine quilted since...............last December??!!?? that's right I looked back through my blog and no machine quilting or quilts finished since 2017.  It's time!!!  So I started with this scrappy Buggy Barn quilt and my all over meandering feather.  Its a good design to get back in the groove.  --Ann--

Pansies

I finished hand stitching this over the weekend.  We moved our camper near our son for the summer and had a typical spring weekend, starting on Thursday it was hot and humid then a burst of wind and a deluge of rain followed by cooler almost cold Friday and Saturday and more wind, lots more wind.  Sunday was sunny and warm in the sun if you were out of the wind and downright chilly in the shade.  We found out the camper is water tight and how to run the AC, the fireplace and furnace all within 24 hours!  Needless to say I spend most of the weekend at son's house or in the camper stitching, reading,  knitting and rubbing his dogs ears.  --Ann--

Reading list

Spring is late here, I was walking the other evening and in a shady spot with lots of trees there was an orchestra of fiddle head ferns.  Everyday they open a little more.  Next week they will be fully open and each one will be waving its frond like a conductor.

1. Open Season by C J Box book 1 of series about a game warden in Wyoming who solves the crimes.
2. Savage Run by C J Box book 2
3. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown for book club
4. The Misremembered Man by Christina McKenna. Love lost and found story
5. The Sewing Machine by Natalie Fergen for those of us who are emotionally attached to our sewing machines.
6. The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick Arthur finds a charm bracelet that belonged to his late wife, he goes on a quest to learn about the charms and learns about her life before they met.  delightful
7. The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan just for fun
8. The Whiskey Sea by Ann Howard Creel prohibition era not a thumbs up
9.  Tulipomania by Mike Dash I was looking for spring this reads like a history book I couldn’t finish it.
10. The President’s Lady by Irving Stone I read this years ago and loved it as much the second time, about Rachel and Andrew Jackson.  I had to read something that was well written and had some substance to it.  Historical novel real people, real places, real events
11. Mudbound by Hillary Jordon for book club very good story Mississippi just after WWII
12. The Lace Makers of Glenmarra by Heather Barbieri  American girl ends up in an economically depressed Irish village where the ladies are still making traditional laces, she stays and helps them put a new twist on an old tradition. Cute story but too much bickering in the dialogue. 
13. A Thread of Truth by Marie Bostwick another quilt shop story, this one about escaping domestic violence.
14. Beyond the Cliffs of Kerry by Amanda Hughes Ireland in the 1700's then the green eyed heroine goes to America as an indentured servant.

I can't imagine not being able to read --Ann--

quilt basting day

 It was another dreary day on Monday but a great day for basting quilts.  I pin basted quilts until my fingers hurt.  I really miss the fatty pads on my fingers that I had in my younger days.  The phrase work your fingers to the bone didn't make any sense until the last 8 to 10 years.  Anyway the stack is basted and now let the fun commence with the machine quilting.  click  post on basting quilts and quilt frame.  --Ann--

Quilt top border

I know it’s busy looking with the pieced border but I was on a mission to use ALL  the 4 patches from the leftover strips only a half dozen left!  I just needed a couple dreary overcast days to sew the 4 patches into strips for the borders on this quilt. Well rainy days and plugging in the dehumidifier to get the moisture and chill out of the air downstairs. When the air felt dry the temp went up 4 degrees without touching the thermostat.
 Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day, I did.  Hubby cooked dinner and the kids cleaned up. I got to sit around like a guy minus the remote. - -Ann- -

Friday knitting

 Socks are done for son with the turkey thighs for calves.  His birthday isn't until June but they are finished.  Can you see how I added stitches in the center back to accommodate his meaty legs?  Note to self if they are the perfect fit write down  the measurements for increases.

I started this sweater with CoBaSi yarn which is cotton, bamboo and silk.  It feels like a dream.  The swatch shrank a little in length in the washer but not in width so I can knit it a little longer.  The lace pattern in the sleeve is supper easy.

 And another pair of socks!  The color of these make me hungry for rhubarb. That is the color a yellow green with pink and red.  I wonder when the blue will appear from the ball.  I'm doing a fake cable it has the look but doesn't loose the stretch.
k4, p2 for six rows
p2, k4 for 6 row
k2, p2, k4 for 6 row and repeat the sequence.
For all the socks I have knit there are some patterns I keep coming back to because of the amount of stretch and others I don't knit again because of lack of stretch.
Happy knitting  --Ann--

Easily distracted

you know how it happens..............you are looking in the stash for the perfect piece of fabric to finish the border of a quilt and you find another piece of fabric for a different project and everything for that project is right there so you do that instead..............I cut my strips to make a coil wrapped basket.  I’m using linen from a dress and a skirt length that was given to me by a friend of my mother’s in Ireland. I’ve had the fabric for over 30 years and I’m never going to make it into a skirt.  When was the last time I wore a skirt?   I even re read parts of my book about making coil wrapped baskets.  It was full steam ahead on my bag/basket then I stood it upright what a mess!!! The shape was lopsided and distorted so I made lunch, knit a few rounds, read for awhile, soaked up some vitamin D on the deck and came back to it.  Distractions always clear my mind. I decided it was so awful that I ripped it apart my upper arm got a good workout and it didn’t take long until I got to the base because I straight stitched across for extra support just like the instruction said to do.  The curved surgical blade seam ripper works wonders. Then I started over from the beginning. Do you have any idea how fast it sews together when over 100 yards of clothes line are wrapped?!??

 Really, really fast!  I was done in no time at all then to add the handles and a little embellishment.  I filled my new bag with projects for the weekend and was a very happy camper while the guys fished.  Now to clean up the mess of threads on the floor.  --Ann--

Long weekend

We spend a lovely weekend at son’s.  The guys
went fishing. I had time to read, knit, sketch, do some hand sewing, played with his dog, sat in the sun, sat in the shade, then in the sun.  It felt sooo good. Then I turned pink then red. But it felt so good.

I worked on these socks on the long drive there and back.
I started on another blanket stitch appliqué block that I organized last spring click  My hands felt awkward and uncoordinated .  Up close my stitches are uneven but got better with repetition. The wind wasn’t helping but it felt so good to sit outside.

Now at home I’m basting the edges and basting in place. Next time we go I will get more done. He gets minimal television reception, there were 4 remotes on the table too complicated for me so I enjoyed a techno free weekend.  --Ann--

sweater finish

I just love this sweater pattern Fine Sand on Ravelry. It knits fast because it is just knit rows or purl rows on size 4 needles I went up 2 needle sizes for the sleeves because I knit tighter in the round than knitting flat. And this is all the yarn that I have left.  I used all the leftovers click and a full ball of the natural icelandic lace yarn. I held two strand together, a strand of the lace yarn ( 2 balls in the center and the red) and a strand of the sock yarn.  I didn't need three extra balls of sock yarn but I blended some of each in for unity in the fabric and I didn't worry about running out before I got to the end. I could knit socks to match!  There will be some cool days when I can wear my new sweater before I treat all my woolens to a spa day.  Loving these warmer days.  --Ann--

Out of the Cupboard

It seems a life time ago that I made miniature quilts, I sold all but this one back when I was doing craft sales. They were sewn with 1/8 inch seams and a minimal of hand quilting.  The blossoms are an inch and a half square.  I went to a quilt show last weekend, the vendors were harking new cutting tools and rulers and lots of precut fabric. I don't buy precuts, I have too many big cuts in my stash and the rulers made the minis look so easy to sew but I have lots of big cuts in my stash to make bigger quilts.  I didn't buy anything and hubby was off turkey hunting so I could have brought lots of good stuff into the house without him even knowing.  But I didn't.  --Ann--