Saturday, January 6, 2024

Latest finish

I have now made several shell stitch crocheted blankets. This is the latest one that I just finished today. 

I made it for my third granddaughter who requested blue and green. I did buy the navy and the colour in the middle which is sort of between blue and green. The other green is now finished as is the navy blue. 

In the beginning I started out making these little lap blankets for my grandchildren with the idea of using up some of my yarn. I shall be knitting a couple of hats for two of my other granddaughters with the greeny blue yarn in the middle and I may make a couple of extra hats to keep in my chest that is in my hall. There are a few children's gloves, mitts, scarves and hats in there, along with a sweater and light jacket. These are extras in case one of the little ones needs something. Some of the hats seem like they are stretched out of shape so new, better fitting ones would come in handy.

I will be putting my little snowflake wall quilt on the frame next and then there's a Minecraft quilt top waiting. I just don't know how to quilt that one.

Over the holidays I did manage to finally get Covid but I had no symptoms at all. Perhaps it's the seven boosters and latest flu shot that kept me well. Hopefully, none of you have been ill over the holidays.

There are lots of projects out there to do and so many free quilt patterns. My own list is mainly in my head and I am just going from one unfinished project to the next. A few things have not yet been started but hopefully, this will be a productive year.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Boxing Day

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. My house was filled with family and later more company stopped by. The food was great and plentiful. Today's clean-up was minimal and I am just taking it easy. Soon, the decorations will be taken down and put away for another year. My mind this morning was on the various projects I want to finish and/or start. No rush but something to keep me busy. I'm still slowly crocheting the latest blanket. It will get finished. Hats are on the future knitting list too. I did manage to make a few things for Christmas this year besides the gnome ornaments.


Somehow I came across an online tutorial to make these mitts. It was from a Canadian quilt shop in Cornwall called Apple Hill Quilting and Design. 


These mittens used a recycled wool sweater that I purchased years ago for just this purpose. The lining is fleece and I have loads of fleece in my stash. The zoom class was just two hours and if I hadn't had to unpick some sewing, I would have had at least one mitt finished in that time. As it was, I finished the pair a few weeks later and sent them to my son-in-law for Christmas. I would love to make more soon. Needess to say they are super warm.


I also managed to knit some fingerless mitts. I like how they turned out.



These were made for my grandsons in B.C. I had knit the same pattern before but totally forgot how to make them. Once I made one, it all came back to me.


It's mild for winter and so I decided this morning to go for a walk. Luckily, it wasn't raining. Resting is what I am doing a lot of today. I found myself standing a lot yesterday and my back hurt from just tiredness and strain. A little while sitting in a chair helped. I hope everyone had a wonderful time and that Santa brought them a little 'something.'

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Christmas gnome ornaments

Every Christmas I try to find different ornaments for the grandchildren. There are now 13 grandchildren and I wanted to actually make the ornaments this year. I thought of cross stitching small motifs. There were little doggies in Santa hats, snowmen, gnomes or mitts but when it came down to it, cross stitch takes a long time. Even small things are time consuming and that was something I really didn't have. I did a little surfing on the internet and came up with gnome ornaments. These had a youtube video that were made from yarn, stuffing or cotton balls and either a toilet paper roll or a paper towel roll. Lots of yarn was needed for 13 ornaments but since I have a stash of different coloured yarns, it was nice to use some of it up.

This was so easy to make and the youtube video was very helpful and informative.

The nose was supposed to be a wooden bead but since I couldn't find any small enough in my local dollar store, I did find a sprig of greenery that had gold sprinkled 'berries' and I thought they could look very festive.

I actually made 15 gnomes. Two were my samples and I have since given one away. Eleven of the grandchildren live very close and they will be able to pick their favourite. Two have already been spoken for but I didn't want to hand any out until their Christmas tree was put up.

The youtube video was one put out by Taffleberry Lane.

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Retreat quilts

This past weekend I was at a quilt retreat. It was just about an hour and a half away. It was a great weekend and productive.


A huge room with wonderful lighting. Large windows too.


I managed to finish putting this 26" X 26" quilt top together. It was a free pattern online that finished at 13" X 13" but that was way too small for me. I am planning on hanging this on my wall just beside the front door so that it will be the first thing you see. I'm not sure whether or not I want to put a border on it or just bind it.

This is the other quilt I was working on. I was just laying out the charm squares. It did get put together but my camera battery died. I shall take a better photo of the finished top. It too is a free pattern online that uses up a whole charm pack of 42 squares.

All in all, a successful weekend. Great company but way too much food.
 


Sunday, September 24, 2023

Some extra sewing

I was asked by my middle daughter to make some bicycle seat covers - two of them. She wanted something that she could add a bit of foam to so that riding long distances would be more comfortable. This request, of course, was last minute. I had to finish sewing a sleeve onto the back of a quilt for the quilt show but I put it aside. Luckily, I had a roll of plaid upholstery fabric that I was able to use. I searched the internet for a DIY (Do It Yourself) bicycle seat cover and not only did I get a tutorial, there was even a youtube video. It turned out to be easy peasy and because the upholstery fabric had a rubbery backing, I didn't have to finish any seams. My sewing stash included some half inch twill tape that I used for a draw string.



If you click on the photos, they will enlarge.


Apologies for the small photos but I was unable to enlarge them from my email. I should have taken a photo of them once I had finished them and before I handed them over but once again, I forgot. Perhaps I will get a chance to take photos once they return from their trip.

I did get the sleeve sewn onto the back of the quilt and the quilt show is this weekend. I will have photos from it in the coming week.