This blog records my experiments and successes with fabric and fibers, surface design, stitching, weaving, photography and whatever else strikes my fancy. Enjoy ...
What fun to be able to put a new project up on the design wall!
It's such a treat to sit next to all those colors -- Color Therapy.
Now this will sit for a few weeks, while I decide if I like the block placement. The design wall makes it very easy to make adjustments in the placement of the blocks.
I worked on these blocks at Quilt Camp back in October. But this is the first time I'm seeing them laid out. Putting them together was pretty simple -- just match light and dark strips so you have a 2x2 block that is otherwise balanced.
There's a stained glass window at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris that inspired the colors in this quilt. Years ago when we visited Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, I fell in love with one of the windows -- No, not the very famous Rose Windows, but a much more abstract and blocky modern window. As some of the older windows were damaged (possibly blown out in World Wars?), they were replaced by modern artists of the time, not in the traditional style.
I went to the monthly Open Sew Day at the county building, sponsored by the local Lakeside Quilt Guild. I knew they'd have nice big tables where I could work on sandwiching and basting this quilt. I don't have the space to do it at home, and am not planning on going to Quilt Camp in March. So this worked out well! Saw some familiar faces there with Lynn and Liz, and Marilyn, and Glennys--many of them from the October Quilt Retreat.
I used a Hobbs Silk Batting for this quilt -- yes--it's a special anniversary! It's very light and airy batt, and supposedly very warm. It should crinkle up like cotton after it's washed. ;-) The good quality quilting fabric is what makes it heavy (coupled with all those safety pins) -- but not bulky.
There must be 500 safety pins holding the sandwich together now.
I need to do a little re-hab on the borders. I didn't do my usual measure down the center, then cut the borders to that length because I knew the borders would be mitered--and how would you measure for that? Turns out-- you really do need to measure down the middle and cut borders accordingly. There was a certain amount of excess fullness at the edges. I can take some of the excess up by re-doing the miters at the corners, but I should probably just re-cut them to the proper length as measured down the middle.
I think I can still go ahead and quilt the star in the middle, get that stabilized, then deal with the borders.
Now --How to quilt it?
And so it begins ... The quilting stage.
I started in on the darkest tines of the star with the tangerine thread. It shows up nicely.
I was using a 16 Jeans needle, but switched to an 18 after breaking 2 needles.
I think I'll have to find a different path around the star. It's difficult working from the center -- now that that part is done, maybe it will be easier to do the other diamonds?
I think just "cathedral-window" the diamonds in the star. Not very inventive, but effective for this type of quilt. So far, I have not been able to settle of thread colors for the star. Should I use invisible thread? Or choose something that will blend with the warm and cool colors? They are all complementary, so I could even be wild about mixing warm with cool colors in the threads. Then I have to figure out my path across the quilt, to maximize efficiency, and minimize the turns ... It's all a part of project planning a quilt from start to finish.
As for the corner and side blocks, I thought I would echo the applique flowers and vines. If I used a nice multi-colored thread, it will show up on the black, but not be so over-powering as to take away from the applique.
Then I'll have to fix the borders, and then decide something for that space as well. Lots of time to think about it!
Made on the knitting loom with a nice bulky acrylic and super-wash wool -- which means they are warm and washable. I don't have to worry about the felting in the laundry.
These would be considered slipper socks. Nice and bulky and toasty warm.
Too think to wear in a pair of shoes, but they might work in boots.
Bottom of the foot.
Detail of the toe. It's basically a 2-round draw-string type of closure.
Seems effective for closing the end, with no holes from draw-down.
I've been anxious to try socks on the knitting loom. After all, it was watching those old mechanical sock looms work their mechanized magic that got me interested in knitting to begin with. Socks have been on the wish list after mastering fingerless gloves / half-gloves.
So I thought I'd start with tube socks -- I know -- No one likes tube socks, "But this time it is by Shakespeare!" Or rather this twisted variation that adds a nice design element to it.
The video for Twisted Tube Sock Variation is by Hypnotic Hysteria. Very practical. She seems to be left-handed, so I have to do a little translating to make the instructions work for me. Not bad--and good practice to be in the minority sometimes.
I am using the green Boye knitting loom (just like in the video) with 24 pegs.
Works great with a bulky yarn like this.
The yarn I chose is Yarn Bee Dream Spun - Color is Meadow Dream. This appears to be comparable to the Lion Brand Unique she's using in the video. It's a really nice bulky yarn that is 80% acrylic and 20% superwash wool-- which makes for washable socks.
One sock took nearly 1 76-yard skein of this yarn--there was a little leftover.
I love this colorway!
It kind of reminds me of a fish with scales and tale, or seaweed --maybe even Gillyweed? -- the way it's emerging fully formed from the bottom of the loom.
Since October (at least), I've been working on the applique flowers and vines for the 4 corners and 4 diamond side panels of this Morningstar Quilt. I can finally get back to sewing again -- Last weekend, I was able to start top-stitching the applique flowers and vines down.
I spent part of the day with a glue stick securing the pieces to the background. Yes-- normally I would have done that with a fusible. But this project posed some barriers to making that possible.
1) it would have taken hours to shape and iron all those bits and pieces with the fusible. (I did do one triangle piece that way, and it took an entire afternoon and a sore back. No thank you!
2) Once I got everything in place at the light box, it was difficult to move it all to the ironing board where I could fuse it. Things would invariably move in the transition.
Therefore, I decided it would be much easier and sensible to use the purple glue stick again, to glue it in place at the light box. (I must have used a dozen or more glue sticks in the course of this project!) This seems to have worked out well enough, and saved oodles of time over the fusible webbing method.
Now back to stitching ...
I've missed my sewing machine these last few months!
I used the open toe foot, but did not set up for free-motion stitching. I wanted the feed dogs to help keep me on track, and to help provide an even stitch length. Steady and sure got the job done in less time than I would have thought. Done in 2 afternoons.
These are the threads I used for top-stitching the appliques. Burgundies, Tangerine, and mixed blues. Although the applique flowers and vines were glued in place with a simple purple glue stick (the Elmer's kind you find in office supply stores, or with school supplies). Purple worked better than the white, as the white tended to dry stiffer and white. The purple dried clear, and was not so stiff. That's my preferred adhesive for this project.
The thread is a polyester embroidery thread from Thread Art. Very strong, and very pretty. You can get some pretty good deals on the sets on lack Friday. It's so strong, I can even quilt with it. I'm very happy with this thread!
Here is one of the completed applique panels. This one fits in the corners of the giant star. Each one of those bits and pieces was cut out of those pieces was traces to freezer paper, cut out of the fabric, and then turned under to provide a finished edge The glue gave it a little body, so I didn't need interfacing for most of it.
Here is one of the other flowers, stitched down.
THe top-stitching went so smoothly, that I even had time this afternoon to set in all the squares with the Y-seams. Again -- this is not a beginner project. That said, the Luminous Lone Star class I took online at Craftsy (now BluePrint) proved very helpful for this project.
It still needs the borders, but I'll save that for next weekend.
Then I'll have to sandwich it with batting and backing -- something I usually do at Quilt Camp where I have big tables and can work with my basting boards.
Then I have to think about how to quilt it. I have some definite ideas. This is indeed on track to being finished by June for our 20th Wedding Anniversary. Wa-hooh!
I'm really pleased with what I see so far. ;-)
Like what you see? This is the Lotus Quilt by Jinny Beyer. I purchased a kit on sale a while back. Perhaps they were having trouble selling these due to all that fiddly applique?
It really is knitting, though somehow, I feel like I'm cheating, and not really knitting without the traditional needles.
I challenged myself to learn to knit this year. I've been crocheting since I was a kid, but never really learned how to knit. Now, with the wonders of Pinterest, I see so many patterns for knitted goods, and then I would get sad because they were too complicated, too beyond my abilities, too not-gonna-happen. And then I thought, well, why not? People learn to knit every day, and now with the wonders of You Tube, I can have at-home instruction for free anytime I want it. And so it begins ... I picked out patterns (Lots of patterns!) - I bought needles and supplies - and I watched some of those videos. And still, the regular knitting came out as a jumbled mess. I keep having to remind myself that anything worth learning, is worth doing poorly at first. It will take practice. And I would practice, and rip it out, and practice some more ... and still put it down in discouragement.
I've been working on The Frigid Wind Infinity Cowl pattern because I thought it would be a good one for a beginner. I bought fat circular needles (Size 15 US) so I can knit in the round. I bought some chunky light-colored yarn (not black) so I could more easily see the stitches as I'm learning. Knitting and purling are easy enough, but the cast on got so curled and confused as the cord twisted and turned. I tried to keep it straight, but it never quite worked. I'm wondering if I cover that thin little cord with some surgical tubing, or something -- would it stay straight and stable?
What a mess! I'll probably end up pulling this all out -- and this is the 4th or 5th try at it.
And then I tried loom knitting. No needles, just a peg board and a pick. The loom holds the tension nicely while you work. And you're less likely to drop stitches.
Even the cast-on was a breeze. I used this video by Good Knit Kisses showing the cable cast-on. Quick, easy and elegant. The yarn even sort of curls itself, giving you a clue for the next step of looping the adjacent peg.
Isn't that pretty! And orderly and neat?
Good Knit Kisses has a very useful Loom Knitting Library on You Tube demonstrating many stitches and tasks. Here are the 2 basics I started with : Knit and Purl.
The "diving for purls" mnemonic was very helpful for remembering which way to pull the yarn for purl stitches. With this project, I've become very comfortable with knitting and purling on the knitting loom.
Here it is still on the loom. The loom does stretch and distort it some, but it's remarkable how it comes back to it's natural shape with a little distance from the pegs.
Here's the view from the top.
I was having trouble keeping track of where I was in the pattern -- Was I supposed to knit or purl at that peg? I wasn't really sure what the pattern was supposed to look like either, to even know if things were lining up properly with previous rows. Nor how to tell if the stitch directly below was a Knit or a Purl. It didn't seem to look like the pictures with the pattern. I finally mapped out the pattern, and drew it out on graph paper. That helped a lot! I guess that means I know how to read a SIMPLE knitting pattern now. This really helped me to keep on track.
I did a crochet bind-off as that seems to be very stable, and something I know how to do already. And it looks nice. ;-) I also did a crochet line on the bottom edge as the cast-on was loose and distorted. The crochet helped to bring it back in line.
I also picked up some markers to mark the pegs when I needed to purl on any given row. That helped me get in the groove, so to speak, and I could work more on auto-pilot without having to think so hard about what I was doing where. That lets it be more of a working meditation.
I also purchased a loom knitting pick made by The Knitting Board. It has a nice comfortable handle that made the process much easier. The cheap picks that come with kits tend to hurt my hand after a while.
For future reference, here are the specifics of the yarn I used.
I know it's acrylic. I think I'm going to steer back to the alpaca and wool now that I have a better idea of what I'm doing.
Knitting Checklist from Over the Rainbow Yarn.
I guess I need 2 knitting checklists -- 1 for Loom Knitting, and 1 for regular knitting with needles.
> For Loom Knitting, I can check off the following : 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 9- 11 - 12
I used the open toe foot, but did not set up for free-motion stitching. I wanted the feed dogs to help keep me on track, and to help provide an even stitch length. Steady and sure got the job done in less time than I would have thought. Done in 2 afternoons.
Here is one of the completed applique panels. This one fits in the corners of the giant star. Each one of those bits and pieces was cut out of those pieces was traces to freezer paper, cut out of the fabric, and then turned under to provide a finished edge The glue gave it a little body, so I didn't need interfacing for most of it.
Here is one of the other flowers, stitched down.
It still needs the borders, but I'll save that for next weekend.
