Corner stars

I thought you might like to see how I added the corner triangles to make the stars.

I cut the triangles using the "tri rec" ruler on 2 1/2 inch strips all facing up otherwise I would have had a right and a left triangle and my stars would have been turning both directions or have points going in odd directions.  I'm a creature of habit and need repetition and order so everything fits together in the end.

I cut a paper triangle to help me place the fabric triangle at the correct angle so when I flip it over the square corner matches the square corner of the background.

Sew a quarter inch seam

One is horizontal the other is vertical sorta!

Flip and press then sew the blocks together

I did more than a couple practice blocks to get the triangle the right size and angle then  aha!! I thought use the Tri Rec ruler  Perfect!

And after I trimmed the log cabin blocks with the triangles to 7 1/2 inches not all those little triangles are the same size.  Imagine that. 

Some star points are shorter and some are longer and it doesn't bother me.

Happy sewing --Ann--

Log cabin

I could see a cardinal in the trees when I was drinking my morning coffee— a sign that I should get to work on these blocks. Later in the afternoon I could see the cardinal in the neighbors tree as I pressed the triangles  urging me to keep working on this quilt. Maybe it cast a spell as it all came together so fast when I sat at the sewing machine.  It needed a border but I didn’t have much in the stash to choose from and very limited yardage. But it’s a scrap quilt just about anything goes.  I had a Santa print and some Christmasy birds. I had to fussy cut the 4 1/4 x 7 1/2 strips for the borders because I didn’t want to cut the heads off the birds. Some are horizontal and some are vertical and I grouped them together so the borders have better unity. Random placement just looked messy. There is one border block that doesn’t have a bird…..it flew away or maybe it was the one outside my window. —Ann—

 

Spa day

 A finish Sunday evening!! It was a celebration after knitting each sleeve twice, one was too big start over and do it right. The second sleeve was too narrow just enough I could feel the difference on my arms, start over, re count my stitches in both sleeves at least a dozen times, keep knitting count stitches again and again, finally got it right at least they feel the same on my arms. Then to knit the ribbing on the neck three times I adjusted the stitches in the ribbing to extend the legs of the cables. Sometimes I like things to be symmetrical and it’s done!!

Stitch in the ends and give it a soak and rinse with hair conditioner a spin through the washer then lounge in the sun. I lounged with it and read in shirt sleeves, I hope I didn’t get sunburned.

The yarn is Tahki Donegal tweed wool homespun it was a bit stiff to knit but when I blocked my swatches it became soft and “bloomed” I had never experienced a yarn blooming like this yarn did.  When the fibers are spun into yarn they are stretched tight so the yarn felt hard almost for lack of a better way to describe it. When I soaked the swatch and sweater in shampoo the fibers relaxed as they soaked up the water and puffed up.  It feels totally different than what I knit. The hair conditioner softened it even more. You can see how the yarns changed on the left yarn off the ball the yarn on the right after the spa treatment.

Oh my how the weather changed from yesterday from 62 to 22 F with a strong northwest wind. My sweater is cozy warm and I did not get a sunburn.

The pattern is “Brookings” designed by Marie Green I knit short rows on the back before I started the ribbing to make the back a little longer. I have knit this pattern a couple times with different cable patterns. I like the way the pattern fits, I will probably knit it again someday.

Winter is not over, stay warm in wool —Ann— there are snowflakes in the air

Friendship Stars

We did some serious sewing the other day and got the blocks sewn together. It still needs borders but those will wait until she is back from visiting her daughter. The baby came early everyone is doing good.  I love the bright colors and the black and whites the baby will have lots to look at during tummy time.  —Ann—
 

Off the needles

It seems I’ve been working on these socks forever but when I only work on them with my morning coffee it takes awhile. I did the seed stitch every time I came to the red stretch of color and plain stockinette on the purple and navy. In the beginning there were about 20 stitches for each color strip by the time I get to the ribbing there were 10-12 stitches in each color. It was fun to see the colors pool and move from slanting to the left then to the right as the color segments became shorter. The yarn is from Schoppel wolle and I bought it several years ago so probably no longer available.  —Ann—
 

Sweet treats

 Sweet treats no calories, my dearest friend found some fabrics and yarn when she was on her trip. I think the fabrics will find their way into the eye spy quilts I have been working on for little granddaughters. And the yarn sigh…….socks, mittens, scarves, stocking caps so many ideas.  She even found the backing for the quilt I’m helping her make but that is for another post. Thank you dear friend.  Ann

Tea party

 The little girls opened the bag together that hid their Dollie’s for Christmas. They peeked in and both said their own name when they saw them then said she has hair just like me. And they were promptly tossed aside for the toy digital cameras with a real sd card that do take pictures and the microphone with the music from a Disney movie. How toys have changed!! We are at the river this weekend to celebrate their daddy’s birthday. They brought their Dollie’s over for a tea party with teddy grahams (they were hard to find) a favorite snack from my children’s childhood.  I made that little teaset in 1965 when my mother was going through a ceramic phase. Then we built a fort out of quilts.  —Ann—

On the needles

 

Everything was going along so smoothly until I tried it on…..the sleeve was too wide almost the right length but I still needed to decrease 18 more stitches in the sleeve before the cuff. This yarn is too heavy for puffy sleeves so I ripped back to the red ribbon. It took less than 10 minutes to rip and rewind the yarn. Do some math start decreasing immediately instead of knitting 2 inches before the first decrease. Now I’m decreasing every 6th row instead of seventh. I’ve learned that knitting instructions are suggestions because I am probably not built the same as the designer.  The first time I knit this pattern the arm pit was too short for me— easy solution knit a few more rows before dividing for the sleeves. I always add length in the torso too. Experience is the best teacher. —Ann—