Monday, October 29, 2012

Halloween, with my granddaughters far away ...

A Scary Ghost for a Scary Ghost!
Tonight I had fun making Halloween cards to send to my granddaughters.  The three-year-old was planning to be a scary ghost; she likes to make a scary face and say "Boo", so I made a scary ghost card for her. 







Pumpkins galore!
The five-year-old is going to be a "fuzzy dragon";  not surprisingly, I couldn't find any clipart of a fuzzy dragon (and I, unfortunately, am not sufficiently talented to paint my own!  Although I did paint the bats on the first card, because cutting out tiny bats to glue on was very time consuming!), so I decided to go with a plethora of pumpkins, because their dad and mom line their driveway with carved pumpkins every year. 




I added some sparkly dots to each one (they are girls, after all - sparkles make everything better!), and I think they turned out pretty cute. I stuck a sheet of Halloween stickers in each envelope, so my "Scary Ghost" and "Fuzzy Dragon" will get a Halloween treat from Grandma!  Even if they won't get a Halloween hug ... *sigh*.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Long-arm quilting!

I am now a long-arm quilter!!! I am so excited, even though I am really only a mid-arm quilter, but still ... I am the proud owner of a Voyager 17 and a Stretch Hinterberg frame! I have it set up with six foot poles for practice;  it looks like it is tucked into the corner of my room, which is, technically, true.  What you can't see are all the boxes that are out in the hall to make room for this setup, which takes up a bit more than a corner of my room! 


I cut an old sheet in half to practice on, which is kind of cool, for two reasons.  First, the sheet has all these triangles on it, which make a great design to practice on, and, second, this is the sheet I used as a sleeping bag in the hostels in Europe many years ago.  So, as I struggle with quilting triangle points I am reminded of a great trip to Germany with my daughter!

So far, the Germany memories are the best thing that has come out of my practice session, but hey, tonight was my first night of long-arm quilting!!!  (It will get easier, right??!)

Sunday, October 14, 2012

New project ...

NOTE:  the last entry was actually written in August, but I guess I never posted it, so it says it is from October, but it is not.  THIS entry is from October.  Just to be clear ...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have been planning, ALL YEAR, to knit mittens for the Fall Festival Bazaar at our church.  It is now October, the festival is one month away, and I have knit one pair.  One!  So, I decided I should schedule some mitten knitting time ... and then I had a brilliant idea on my way to church this morning. 

I have been making dog jackets (for boxer dogs, or greyhounds, mostly) out of fleece for the last three years.  This means I have lots of fleece fabric remnants.  I have been keeping the remnants with the idea of making sweatshirts for my grandchildren, and have made a few, but I keep making more jackets and getting more remnants!

 So I've been thinking of ways to use up this fleece, and I thought of fleece blankets.  You know, squares of fleece sewn together and lined, some with seams in and some with seams out, etc., etc., etc.  The problem with that idea is, I would rather make quilts, so I don't really need fleece blankets.  I could make the blankets and donate them to the bazaar, OR I could make MITTENS and HATS out of the fleece!!  Brilliant idea, don't you think?  Fleece mittens are quite warm (not as warm as wool knitted mittens, perhaps, but, really, how long are these children going to stay out in the cold???), and can be sewn up quickly in a variety of color combinations - I even found a pattern for frog mittens!  (Picture below and directions found at simplicity.com/t-mitten-commitment-2011.aspx).




Happy Frog Mittens

I still have three bags to knit and two quilt tops to quilt for Christmas gifts (I am getting a longarm quilting system next week, HOORAY!!!!), but I think I can squeeze in some time to devote to sewing up mittens.  And hats.  Bring on the snow!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

End of summer ... almost!

Summer must be over, it is too cool for shorts.  I don't think I ever wore jeans in August before!  Anyway, I have been doing quite a bit of knitting this summer.  I finished this silk/wool blend top; I love knitting in textures, and this has a pretty lace edging on the bottom and over the shoulders. 




I have also been working on another summer top, using a cotton/linen blend yarn.  I call it my "dot" sweater, because it has a tan background with lots and lots of colorful dots knit in!  Since the dots won't use a whole skein of yarn, I am planning to take all the extra yarn and knit matching "dot" sweaters for my granddaughters (ages 3 and 5).  Dots are rather time-consuming to knit (I spend a lot of time untangling yarn, or working in raw ends), so I'm thinking I should maybe make the first granddaughter sweater in size 8 - by the time I finish it, one of them will probably be eight years old!

And then, I finished the quilt top for my daughter-in-law, and I absolutely love it!