Sweet Tomato Heel

My knitting time has been shorter this week, probably because I am trying something new and it always takes me more time to read (and reread) the directions.

This the Sweet Tomato Heel.  I saw it on a U-Tube video so I bought the e-book because I like the look of it.  This picture is from the book, mine doesn't look so good, yet.

 
 
 
 
 
 

This is what my heel looks like.  I just finished it today.  The "wedges" don't show up as clearly as in the above picture but the problem is probably a combination of the darkness of the yarn and my mistakes.  I still have the heel on the second sock so maybe it will look better.

So here is my sock.  I had to take it off the circular needle to do this heel so after I get the second heel done they will go back on the circular and then it will be up the ankles we go.




I have the other pair of socks still on the needles but didn't work on this at all this week.  And I also have a sweater that has been languishing and I need to get back to it.  Maybe next week I will have more to show.   Gari

Linking with Patchwork Times.

BOMs Design Walls

Last week I showed this block but it was only stuck down, no stitching.  Well he is stitched down now.
























I am using several of the fancy stitches on these blocks because this is a “fun” BOM.  This stitch is a loop-d-loop which I thought made the “frosting” look more “real.”

The scarf got a wavy stitch: attempting some movement.  I used the back side of the fabric for the lower part of the scarf and the right side for the upper part. I also used different shades of the teal thread.  I probably won’t be that “picky” by the time I have made more blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

I did nothing fancy on the face or the body as I will be doing them over and over and I do like consistency


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So today I printed out the February blocks for the two BOMs I am doing. And tomorrow I will be drawing the outlines for the fusible and picking my fabrics.  However, before I do that I am going to watch The Quilt Show which is featuring Sharon Schamber.  She is supposed to be showing how she does applique without using fusible.  I figure that I can’t loose by learning something from a great like Sharon.  We’ll see how it goes.










I have also be working on some mug rugs for a swap. Here you can see the top and the backing.

















I was stay stitching around prior to quilting when the thread broke, three times.  I have decided it was the thread and I’m throwing it away.  Tomorrow will be another day to get these babies done.













I did want to share my new pincushion.  She was made by a lady in Pensacola, FL (don’t know her name) and I just couldn’t leave the store without her.  I don’t know where she is going to reside yet but I love seeing her as I come into the studio.

And back in the house, this is Abby who wants to know if we really have to get up.  I get this look as I start moving around: it is a great way to start the day.  And it usually prolongs the getting up process.

 

Tomorrow I will be linking with Patchwork Times and What a Hoot Quilts.  Please visit each of them to see all of the creativeness going on out there.  Gari

BOMs Design Wall

I played with fabric last week.  During the first week of January it seemed like there were so many new BOMs starting.  And I downloaded several first blocks but right now I am only working on two.  This block is the first of the 2015 BOM by Morning Glory Designs:  the quilt is called Happy Days.
It was so much fun to again be searching through my fabric to put this one together.  My plan is to do all of the applique from stash: I did shop for the background fabric so I did have a little bit of fabric shopping therapy.





Do you have trouble deciding what stitch to use for machine applique.  This is such a fancy design that I had difficulty deciding about using the blanket stitch, fearing it would make the piece look too “homespun”.  And then whether or not I would change colors for each piece.  In the end I did go with the blanket stitch and decided to use black for all the pieces.  I think it looks classy and am glad I went with this.




The second BOM I am doing is Ginger Bread Party by Fat Cat Patterns.  This  is the same designer who gave us my Funky Chickens quilt.  This one hasn’t be sewn down yet but I do think I am going to use different colored threads and maybe some fancy stitches. I’ll know better tomorrow when I sit down to begin.




















Here is a picture of what we will be putting on our Gingerbread men.  I would like to make each of them out of a different fabric so I will probably have to buy some fat quarters somewhere along in the year.



















DH is going to be busy for the next month as he is directing the play Our Town for the community college where he still works (part time since his retirement 8 years ago).  Maybe this will give me more time to sew and knit and maybe even get back into my blog writing routine.   Gari

Linking with Patchwork Times: Design Walls from all over.  And with What A Hoot Quilts where you can see more BOMs in progress.

Happy Anniversary

It is hard to believe but this sweater is finally finished.  I had all the parts knit by the end of October but panicked when it came time to seam them together.  But last week I decided that it had to be completed as I wanted to wear it on our anniversary, which interestingly is today.

 

And since we have been having cold weather I decided I needed a cowl to go with the sweater. 

 

I still need to block these and then decide if I am going to put a closure on or not.

 

 

I paid a visit to my local yarn shop where the owner is beginning to dye her own yarn “exclusively” for her customers.  I found this skein of yarn and a pattern called something like “rib error.”  The funny thing is that this is not what it looked like so I guess this is a rib errors error.  Anyway I really like how this turned out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So much so that I made a cowl to match the hat.

Of course all that meant that I was out of that yarn: what’s a knitter to do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I bought these two recently hand dyed skeins of yarn.  I said I wanted to knit bright socks so how’s this?

 

 

Well, and this is the yarn I decided to use to begin a new pair of socks (yes, I bought three different skeins). This is the milder of the three but I am working myself up to BRIGHT.

 

 

 

 

 

I need to get back to the short sleeved sweater but

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had started these socks before I bought the above yarn so I want to finish them first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what do cool people do to celebrate their 54th anniversary?  Yes, they go to see Paddington.  As I said, our anniversary is today but we celebrated yesterday.  Having given it some thought I decided that Saturday would mean a theater full of little children but Friday might not.  And I was so right.  The movie was great: we will get it again to see at home.  And afterward we did some antiquing, ate out and finished our day in the big city with a stop at Dunkin for coffee and, of course, donuts.

 

 

And now we are back to our daily lives and beginning our 55th year.  Yay!!       Gari

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: 1/23/15

 

Since I only have one additional photo I decided to amend this post rather than write another. 

 

As you can see these socks have grown some this week.  I have been either sewing or gadding about more this week so there has been less knitting.  The orange socks have also grown some but not enough to take time for another picture.  I hope to have more next week.   Gari

 

Happy New Year

 Oops, somehow I forgot to write my blog for the last half of December.  I guess it is because DH has been on Christmas break and he has been making plans for us.  Once the Nutcracker was done he completed finals week and then we went to the movies, twice Christmas week seeing The Hobbit and Night at the Museum.    We enjoyed both, each for very different reasons.

                                        
Here is one of the owls I got this Christmas, from DS#3 & DDIL.  It is a backpack but around here it is going to be a knitting bag.  I am enjoying it so much: I have it hanging on the lamp next to my living room chair.

























The other owl I got is this one.  He is about 9” tall and has a battery operated light.  I currently have him sitting by the fireplace where I can see him while I am watching TV.  This one came from DD.  The fun came because she was able to spend Christmas Eve with us so got to see me open it.   With  3 of our 4 children living in different states this was the first time in a long time we had one with us for Christmas Eve.  We even made her pass out the gifts. 
















This is the picture of the rest of our gifts that I put on Facebook Christmas Day.  We really have some fun family members.

This week saw us back at the movie theater watching Into the Woods.  We had seen the stage version several years ago and I didn’t much care for it but the movie was GREAT.  Not only is it an interesting interpretation of 4 fairy tales but the music and voices were tremendous.  Now we will settle down for a few weeks but plan to see Cinderella for our anniversary in mid-January.  Funny how that keeps coming around.



  I did get this little afghan done but haven’t gotten a picture yet.  I’m still trying to decide if I want to put fringe on it or not.


















And I have begun stitching the parts to my heavy cardigan together.  I have the sleeves attached and have half of one sewn together.  I plan to work more on it tomorrow morning cuz it has gotten quite chilly here so I want to begin wearing it.

The owner of our local yarn shop has begun dying yarn to sell in her shop.  Today I went to see some of her recent work but it was still damp so not yet ready for sale.  But while there I found a skein of some bulky she had died earlier so I bought it and have started a hat.

Now we just have to see if we can stay up until midnight (not likely).  We haven’t made it to midnight for several years and yet the New Year seems to come anyway.  So HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all.   Gari

Hot Hook

I am so excited.  My Tunisian crocheted afghan is a little more than half way done.   And it has gotten easier and easier: this means that I am going a little faster than when I first started.  Staci suggested stopping, when that larger section is done, to do a cross stitch name.  However, I can’t decide if I want to do a name or not so I will probably wait until I have the afghan done and blocked and by then maybe I will have decided what I want to do.

 

And I have decided what my next knitting project is going to be.  This is the cowl Judy just showed.  I have found that my neck really likes being warm when I am out in the winter and this cowl pattern looks great and will provide me a terrific challenge (new stitch and cables).



I still have to get back to knitting on my short sleeved cardigan, right after the afghan is finished.













I have been doing some sewing.  I made this twin sized throw.  It took me over a year to find the red fabric so I was very excited to be getting this project donel














And I did get some Step 1 blocks done for Grand Illusion.  I still have to make parts for many more of these but I think that I will devote this weekend to Step 2 (Step 3 comes out tomorrow so I don’t want to fall much more behind. 









One of the reasons I think I will be able to get a lot done this weekend is that DH is again dancing in the Nutcracker: he is Drosselmeyer and does not really dance but since he has been doing this for over 35 years he does make an impression with his entrance: children remember him all year long and recognize him when they see him out and about.  They have already done a school children’s matinee and now have two evening performances as well as a Sunday matinee.  See why I will have some studio time?


I hope you will have time to work on your projects as well as checking out what others are accomplishing  over at Patchwork Times.  Gari

A Little Cutting and Sewing

Given that I have done very little on the quilting front, I am very excited to have begun Bonnie Hunter’s Grand Illusion Mystery.  These are the beginning units.  I cut 2 1/2” strips with the GO, laid out the strips right sides together  and then cross cut with the Easy Angle Ruler.








Here are 20 of the 52 units I completed.  My current plan is to make 140 of these units before completing the Broken Dishes units.  Of course I find that I can’t go on right now because I seem to not have the bright yellow fabric I knew I had laid out for this project.  I searched my fabric stash and seem to not have any bright yellow so I guess I will have to visit the three fabric shops that are close by.  And of course I already know that as soon as I buy more fabric I will find what I already have.    Meanwhile I will finish the HSTs and cut the black squares so I can be ready to finish step 1.


And of course, I haven’t forgotten that step 2 came out Friday so if I have some time I will try to get started on that also.


I am almost to the halfway point in the Tunisian crocheted afghan and hope to have it done before the end of the month.


As you can see I have a pretty full plate that also includes  doing some embroidery for a couple of gift projects that will not be going to anyone soon and a quilt that has been on the frame since June and needs to be finished.


Whew, all that has tuckered me out so I think I will take a breather and knit a little on the sweater that I have ignored for the last week.  While I’m at that why don’t you click on over to Patchwork Times as see what other’s are up to.   Gari