My Design Wall for St. Patrick’s Day.
This week’s BOM is Fishey from Fat Cat Patterns. For some reason I don’t have all of them (15) so I am going to have to look at the finished quilt and then see what one’s I am missing. There are 14 here but I accidently made a duplicate so I really only have 13 of the 15 done. I realized that I don’t know how many we are making: I guess I need to pay a little more attention.
Here is my #14. She looks so girly, don’t you think?
And here is #15. I have a pretty good supply of batiks and each fish seems to take on a personality of their own just by the choices I make. I love quilting.
This past week I completed the March blocks for the Alphabet BOM and began working on a setting for the Boot Bash BOM of 2012. This work can be seen here.
And I finally got my Mug Rug finished. And, of course, it is on the table with a coffee cup sitting on it.
So far my plan of working on one BOM a week is working GREAT. This week I will be making the two blocks for Denise’s BOM. Although I stated her “From Head to Toe – A Knitter’s Gifts” BOM was only having us do applique, the “sock” blocks are pieced. So I will be stitching, appliquéing, machine embroidering, with a little knitting thrown in the mix. My, what a great week I have ahead of me. 
Sunday morning the tornado sirens began blaring to tell us that a tornado was on the ground and coming our way. As we listened to the radio the roads and highways that go by our house were the ones mentioned as in the path of the on the ground tornado. Our daughter, who was home alone, jumped in her car, drove much too fast, and came to spend the scary time with us. We got wind and rain but no tornado (not complaining) and were reminded that no place is totally safe so we must appreciate what we have while we have it. I hope I can keep that reminder.
And now it is time to get back to my Spring Cleaning as we are going to have company next weekend: our oldest son and his wife are coming. We rarely get to see our sons (MD, GA, CO) so it is a rare pleasure. So while I sew and clean, you all have a great week. GARI
On Saturday our youngest children became 45. They were so cute.
But these were the pictures they posted of each other on Facebook. I blame it on their spouses. 
This is what is on my Design Wall, my fish from Fat Cat Patterns. I think I am up to date, or maybe there is one more, I’ll have to 
check. I know there are 11 there but I did one twice, by accident, so it doesn’t count. I guess I will need to go through my patterns to see which one didn’t get made. 
I thought I’d show how I draw my fusible pieces. On the big piece, the outside line is the fish. Inside that line are smaller pieces that go with this fish. After I get it all drawn I cut about 1/4” inside that outside line and that leaves me all that inside fusible to use. Usually I will also “window” the medium pieces but when I was doing this fish I was so eager to see it complete I forgot. Tisk, tisk.
And here he is in all his glory. When I first went fabric hunting, I was thinking of doing him in blue. I pulled 7 different fabrics but they just did not want to be a fish. About that time the darker purple started yelling from it’s shelf. The other two chimed in and we had a purple chorus and then a fish.
I finished these angora slippers and they are now on the blocking forms. They are kind of funny looking (one at least) but it was an experiment. The second one looks more like the picture on the pattern. But I’ll bet they both will feel soft and warm.
And today I finally got back to this sock. This is the one I had started, on bamboo needles, when one of my sweet puppies found it. By the time she had played with it the yarn was in tangles and four of the needles were like broken matchsticks. I put it all aside until last week when I spent 3 hours untangling the yarn and then today I began knitting it again.
I am, however, using new needles. I found these steel needles recently and I really like them. They are sturdy, of course, but they are not slick. I only bought the one set but there may be others in my future.
Now I am going to get some sleep so I can get busy finishing up these projects and be ready for Bonnie’s mystery quilt later this month.
Have a great week, Gari
Would you believe that this is all I got done on the sewing front? And, since the applique stitches are not even started, no machine was used in getting him this far. I’m telling you now, don’t start knitting and for sure don’t buy yarn.
I did, however, have to buy fusible as all I had were the very small leftovers from other fish and/or chickens. And look at how large the pieces are for this fish. Only one dealer carries the brand I use and the company only sells wholesale. My dealer never buys much and frequently there isn’t any. So I called, made the lady go look on the shelf and then bought all they had. This hobby is not easy.
I worked really hard getting that heel made and then the full foot but then I had to wait for the toe until Saturday’s class.
And lookie, lookie, I have a sock. It looks a little misshapen because it hasn’t been blocked but I can tell you that it fits fine. The sad thing is that it took me from 10am until 4pm to get it done. I made a mistake fairly early, had to pull everything I had done that morning and start on that toe again. However, that is how we learn and the toe came out GREAT. Now I need to finish the second of the pair: I am currently knitting the gusset. Once that is done I will only have the foot, toe, and then the Kitchner stitched end. I have to say that is a little tricky but I will get it done.
And to prove I can get something done, here are my tube socks, not only done but on my feet. I wore them to Pizza Hut, where they keep the place freezing, Friday night and my little feet were toasty warm. I had a close-up picture but really had to use the one where Abby had to butt in; she is almost as cute as my new socks.
And lest you think that my day at the yarn shop only included a lesson and knitting, here are the additions to my still small yarn stash. I have plans for most of it but won’t start anything until I have finished the one or two I already have in process.
Lastly, I have to share my Norfolk Pine. We bought this last Christmas because we didn’t have room for our regular tree. It survived the winter, looking a little droopy, and then came out on the deck in the Spring and it has thrived. Can you see the new growth? I am so proud of it and have promised it that we will find a better place for it inside this winter. I have never been able to keep one of these alive for a whole year so I am really excited about it. And the Christmas cactus has grown a lot as well as the Poinsettia we have now had for 4 years. None of them are going to be excited about returning to the house but we will wait until the last minute before subjecting them to dry, stale air. I don’t blame them for wanting to stay outside all year.
Sunday, just as I was getting ready to cut fabric for the Deck-Ade The Halls, DH came to tell me he wasn’t feeling good and he would feel better if I was in the house where I could check on him. I spent part of the day playing games on the computer but then decided it was time to print some patterns, both quilting and knitting. Once he is feeling better I am going to get back in the groove: I need to see things being accomplished ………. besides socks. 
Have a great week. Gari
Well, what do you know, I have a very colorful design wall today. These are two BOMs that I am getting caught up on. The funny thing was that when I made my new fish I found that I had now made it twice. And I still have two more to do before I am up to date. I have added the 3 wreaths to the Christmas BOM and, again, have two more installments to complete before I am caught up.
Those wreaths are made up of lots of pieces which I cut up on one day and then put them together on another day.
And sometimes I don’t do it right. In fact I made this same mistake on all three wreaths. No wonder I don’t like chain piecing!
Saturday I attended my second sock knitting class where I went to learn how to complete a heel and gusset. Can you see it? Isn’t it beautiful? I am now on the foot part, easy knitting, and next Saturday we will be learning the toe and the Kitchener stitch, a skill I was not able to learn when I was machine knitting. I am really looking forward to attempting it, again.
On Saturday afternoon/evening we took a break from all this creativity to attend the Auburn football game. We had great seats and, of course, it was a great game. I love being at the games, we only go to one a year, because there is so much going on besides the game. Also, there is something really exciting when the cheering starts and gets so loud it rocks the stadium.
Now, it is time to get back to work. I will be linking with Patchwork Times and What A Hoot.
Happy stitching everyone! Gari
My Design Wall for St. Patrick’s Day.
Here is my #14. She looks so girly, don’t you think? 
And here is #15. I have a pretty good supply of batiks and each fish seems to take on a personality of their own just by the choices I make. I love quilting.
