More Knitting

More knitting! I have expanded to using circular needles and stitch markers and am working on my very first knitted shawl. It's this pattern, called Mara and I'm working it in the lovely yarn seen below. It is MadelineTosh tosh worsted in Windowpane, purchased at Eat, Sleep, Knit. Oh so soft and pretty subtle color changes. This is too much fun! Although I had to re-start the shawl four times until I got the hang of the increases in the center but it's moving along now.



But what about quilting you say? Yep, still doing that as well. I'm working on a pink and apple green small quilt for a friend's grand daughter. No pictures yet, maybe in a day or so. And I'm also working on LeMoyne stars for a Jo Morton group swap. More on that later.

Two posts in less than a week? Wow...better sit down :-)

Today's post is prompted by the goodies that arrived on my doorstep. See below for the lovelies that came today from Eat, Sleep, Knit. I can tell this is going to be a favorite new place to shop. This is "John B", the variegated, from Claudia Hand Painted Yarns and the remainder of Pima Petite in grass green, strawberry and chili from The Unique Sheep...lovely Peruvian cotton! Oh I just love cotton...witness my love of cotton fabrics!


Here are my first knitting attempts, both using Lily's Sugar & Cream cotton yarns. The little yellow dish cloth (yes, that's what it is!) is my very first completed knitted object since childhood. I know I have a lot to learn but it's been great fun so far.



And finally, just because...Peanut Butter sleeping in his favorite chair on his favorite pillow. Or rather, he would be asleep if I would just go away with that flashy thing!

Back again???

Hmph...so much for being back in April! I should probably not mention illnesses as they seem to proliferate just when I think we are settling down again.

Oh well, let's try this again. I've been doing some quilting this summer. Not as much as I would like but I will have pictures of my accomplishments soon.

Recently I've also picked up knitting. I had always had trouble with knitting, I just wasn't fast enough. You see, my other grandma (my non-quilting grandma) taught me how to crochet when I was about 10 and I've always been a lot faster with crochet. I would get so frustrated when I tried to knit. My mother knit, she used to make us the cutest booties every winter, kept my toesies nice a warm! But she couldn't crochet so we were even. However, over the last years I've noted the upswing in knitting and loved the cute scarves/socks/sweaters I was seeing others make. Sooooo, I bought a set of needles and some cotton yarn and checked out You Tube knitting instruction videos and away I went. I now have one cute little dishcloth and the makings of a larger dish towel. I've also done quite a bit of crochet in between as well. Making more dish clothes and towels in crochet. It's been fun, mindless, stress-relieving. And of course, all those pretty yarns!!!

Oh well, perhaps I'll win the lottery and be able to retire and then I can quilt, crochet, knit...to my hearts content.

Hey, does anyone know how to make lace...bobbin lace in particular? That's another thing I've always wanted to learn how to do!!!

eeeekkk...stop me before i go crazy!

Just a quick note....I'm coming back! It's been a wild ride these past few months. Health issues, hospitalizations, surgeries for me and family members, work issues, and other family matters all while trying to get organized from the move. In the middle of it all, last October my sweetie's daughter called, needing a place to stay until she could get on her feet again. What could I say? I couldn't leave her out in the cold so my sewing room has become her room and quilting came to a standstill.

I have finally found a way to meet my needs for quilting (my stress relief!) so I can begin again to meet previous obligations and get quilting agian. No pictures to share today - need to find my camera cord - or rather retrieve it from the "stepdaughter" (she's started calling me stepmom even though it's not "official"!)

More later....looking forward to getting back in the swing of things with everyone.

Ain't Packing Fun!?

Just a quick update with no pictures because my house is in chaos! No, I'm not packing to go on vacation (sure wish I were though) but rather to move! My landlord has sold the property to developers and our lease has been cancelled so I have until the end of the month to find a new home and move! I knew it was probably going to happen eventually, all of the other small apartments in this area have been sold over the years and replaced with either monster condo complexes or McMansions. Our landlord held out for a very long time but I guess the money offered was too good to turn down and so I've been spending the last week looking for a new home. I found an adorable little house, still relatively close to work and has a perfect room for a quilting studio, I should know next week if we are going to get it.

So my friends, I'll be absent from my blog for a few weeks until I get through the largest part of this mess. I see it is close to my first blogaversary (how does one spell that anyway?) so maybe once I get settled I can host a little giveaway (and finish my PIF that is still due!)

So TTFN! Be back soon....

Treasured Memories

It's been a sad few days in my family. The sweet little baby in this picture is my Aunt Catherine, my Dad's oldest sister, with my beloved Grandmother. Mary Catherine was her first child. This week, 74 years after this picture was taken the little baby went home to be with her mom and dad. With this picture and many more I have many treasured memories of my dear aunt. I remember my Mom and I going with her to quilting bees at the church and I would sit at the corner of the frame listening and watching. Memories of our families camping out, fishing and going to the races. Big sister and baby brother (my Dad) were always very close so this has been difficult for him, for us all. But despite the sadness, there is no more pain and for that I am grateful.

Thank goodness for air conditioning!

Today was another quilting day at the park and I should have known it was going to be fun when I got in Petey, my PT Cruiser, and saw the temperature was 96 degrees already! ACK! And here I am in a long sleeved, high necked, floor length dress and I'm going to sit outside and quilt for four hours. All I can say is I'm sure glad I didn't get my new dress finished because I have plans for at least one petticoat for that dress. I don't have a petticoat for the old dress so at least it's only one layer of cotton! And you are asking why am I sitting outside to quilt? Normally I sit outside on one of the porches or at the cook house but the houses are air conditioned...well they are supposed to be! I do have a couple of spots inside that I can quilt if the weather is bad but the air conditioning system was not working today so it was just as hot if not hotter inside! So, I sat on the lower porch, in the shade, with a hand fan and bottle of water (discreetly hidden) and quilted to my hearts content while visiting with our guests (and praying for a breeze!).

You've seen some pictures taken of the garden and cook house in a previous post but here is a picture of the main house, the Dickey House, built in 1840 originally on land in Dickey Georgia, near Albany but moved to the park in 1960 and restored. It is a beautiful house. I'll have to go out one day when I'm not supposed to be quilting and get some pictures inside.


I usually sit on the lower porch in one of these beautiful white iron chairs. They are a heavy cast iron but surprisingly quite comforatable. Here is my small quilt challenge on one of the chairs.


These curved brick stairs are one of my favorite features of the house, they are called "Welcoming Arms" stairs as they curve around the porch, like arms welcoming you home. They also serve as a nice backdrop for quilts too, don't you think?


I pieced this pink and brown star quilt at the park in the past couple of years but I haven't taken a good picture of it yet. I wanted to hang it from the top porch but there was no one there to help me today...so the stairs will have to do for now! It is just a top, ready to be quilted but waiting for winter when it's cooler!

When I finished quilting for the day and got back into Petey, the temperature read at 99 degrees! Whew...all I can say is thank goodness for air conditioning.

Small Quilt Challenge

Back to the present...here is my latest finish. I'm a member of a YahooGroup "SmallQuiltTalk" started by Kathleen Tracy, author of the books American Doll Quilts and Prairie Children and Their Quilts. The group is new and Kathy is posting periodic challenges to the group to make a small quilt using a specific pattern and suggested colors. The challenges are really not strict but rather an opportunity to play with patterns and color and perhaps challenge ourselves to do something new. The first challenge deadline was May 28. The colors to use were pink, blue, and green. Although I have all of those colors in my stash and have no problems using them in quilts I really did have a problem getting started on this challenge! In fact, I had decided not to do this challenge. But I kept playing with fabrics until I found four that I thought played well together and off I went. This is probably the quickest I've ever done a quilt, I started on May 16 and finished the binding on May 28 - all hand pieced, hand quilted and bound. It's not perfect but I love it! I need to block it and get a better picture in daylight but for now here is another addition to my future little quilt wall.



All of the quilts that others made were wonderful and each one is very different. It's amazing how the same pattern and color palette can result in such different quilts. If you like to make small quilts please check out the group. The next challenge is not due until the end of July.