A solid idea. Finally. I think?

I have been in a quilting mood. As evidenced by the stash, I have a lot of potential quilts hanging over me. Yes, I say hanging over me, because although I love the stash, it has it's drawbacks. Buying fabric without a certain pattern in mind means you have to pick a pattern that works with the fabric you already have. A challenge I usually enjoy, but I have been hitting the wall lately. I haven't had this fabric as long as the others, but it seems like I have the right idea. A good starting place. I like to be confident before I cut, so I deliberate. A lot. Part of the triumph of this particular idea is that instead of slicing up the fabric I just made a few color copies of it, cut those out and just laid them together. Then took a picture, copied it several times and voila, a visual.

Nothing left but the binding

I don't know why, but this is usually

where I stall out on a quilt. The final stretch, the end in sight, and I just want to chuck it over my shoulder and never look back. I have trouble finishing things. You think? What is "funny" is that, as I have said before, I love finishing work, hand work, something that requires great sedulousness. (yeah, I just really wanted to use that word, but it fits) But the steps just before that always bog me down. So it is with great triumph that I can say I am past the bog and racing to the finish with needle in hand. Amazing how if you do it enough you can get pretty fast with those little needles. So - nearing completion - a tiny quilt, and a tiny victory. I will take what I can get!

Almost done

This is a little gift for a new baby. Another small quilt to be used for a washable portable changing pad and a tiny bonnet. There should be just enough cold days left for her to get a little use out of it.

The Stash

I have decided that I should have a special entry about the stash. I am going to be labeling everything that I make using the stash. That is, projects that are primarily created with existing materials, with the addition of small things like notions, etc. Part of my belief in the stash system is that if I love it I will eventually find just the right thing to make with it. Case in point would be the Little Something Quilt. Made using a fat quarter, some yardage of the natural cotton that I always keep in supply, a scrap of batting from another quilt project and embroidery floss that I had on hand. This is most of the stash, the favored choices of the stash anyway. To the far right are the costuming fabrics, the rest are cottons mostly intended for quilts. I am a huge fan of Amy Butler, more than half of the prints are hers. Point of interest: I love flowers, stripes, polka dots and birds. Take a closer look and you will see what I mean! And just a side note, I showed this to my husband and he clearly thinks I'm out of control (which he isn't totally wrong about!), but when I look at this, it seems a little sad. I better get sewing so I can use stuff up and restock!

The Golfer's Scarf

This is the lovely scarf that gave me golfer's elbow, or rather my obsession than the scarf itself. This is knit with three strands of laceweight yarn on my favorite size 4 needle. Two strands of lambs wool and one of baby merino. Nothing could be softer but to have a lamb itself wraped around your neck. I nabed this lace patter from a shrug and absolutely fell in love with it. Knitting to the point of numbness. That was indeed obsession. After a very lengthy knitting fast I was able to finish this and actaully wear it quite a bit. It will never bee so pristine again, but it is well worn and well loved.

My first foray into lace knitting

This was my first serious lace piece. When it began I was in way over my head. It is knitted in Kid Silk Haze which is a true lace weight yarn, and also has the lovely fuzziness to it, which if you are undoing a lot of wrong stitches can be a nightmare. I set is aside for a year or more, became a better knitter in the mean time and finally finished it and was able to gift it to a lovely friend. This was a real confidence builder for me when I was finally able to bind it off, block it and photograph it. I have since undertaken other lace projects and have come to love lace knitting. I would rather work on a sz 4 needle than an 8, but that is also why I have the golfers elbow! Drat.

Blue Velvet

It is a good thing I have so many old projects to record. It is encouraging to pull all of these out and realize that I do actually finish things... eventually. My DLF and I made medieval dresses together one year to wear to the local Renaissance Festival. We had such a good time being princesses for a day. This is made of stretch velvet, which can be a bear to sew, but because of the stretch I didn't have to do a zipper or lacing. That made me very very happy.