Quilt-free Blog Post

I'm embarrassed to share that I don't have any quiltmaking efforts to post about. That's because I haven't been sewing. Other crafts have my attention.

While lamenting that I've gotten nowhere learning to knit a garment, I've made progress on my crocheted Summer Cardigan. The front and one side are finished; in the works is the other side. Then, just two sleeves to go.

One recent morning, while perusing Instagram, I came across a new-to-me knitter, Julia Piro @juliapiroknits of Denmark. She offers an inexpensive ($9) Summer Soul Top beginner pattern for a knitter who's "new to garment making." Me! A detailed YouTube video accompanies the pattern. Whoopee! 

So off I went, making another yarn purchase. This time yarn came from Hobbii, a company in Copenhagen, Denmark. I bought Friends Cotton Silk blend yarn, just as Julia used. I also bought two different lengths of size 3.5 mm circular needles.

Julia offers a free download: Knitting Project Planner - just what I needed to walk myself through the process.

Being a good student, I started by making a swatch. Though it feels like a waste of time (several hours) and yarn, I want my first garment to fit. To make the swatch, I dutifully cast on 34 stitches, knitted four rows of ribbing, switched needle size and continued knitting a 6½" long swatch. Then I washed (using Quilt Soak), blocked and allowed the swatch to dry overnight.

You might imagine my shriek of delight - "Yes!" - when I used my new Chiaogoo needle sizer/gauge-checker to learn my swatch came out exactly the right size! Yippee! A big self-pat on the back! You can bet I'll start knitting the project soon... like today!

The other attraction demanding attention is diamond painting. I haven't touched this ocean sunset picture for at least six months. Now, in just a half-dozen hours, I'm nearing a complete finish. Only the lower right 2" X 4" area needs to be diamond-painted. Since I have a frame waiting, this finish will feel really good. Soon! (Don't know what diamond painting/diamond art is? AI offers a great description.)

Speaking of "soon," for those who may be curious... Twistee Treat still isn't open, though their recent Instagram post states "we're hopeful it will be open by the end of May."

My golf cart drive through the parking lot last Saturday - on my way to Central Florida MQG's monthly Sew-In at the public library - seems like it's ready for patrons. Landscaping is finished, and the building exterior looks good.

However drive-up food signage is missing.

Peeks through the windows reveal that ice cream serving equipment isn't yet in place. 

No doubt hiring employees and training them takes time. 

So... fingers crossed for June! I'm ready! Linda

In the Works, and a Little Finish

I have several projects in the works, and only one little finish. What has my interest now? What I'm spending most of my time on? Yarn-y things.

I know this looks like a lot of yarn, and it is. But it wasn't my intention to purchase so much. Little did I know when I placed my online order through the Etsy shop EbabyShop, that this Alize Bella 100% cotton yarn, which qualified for free shipping, would come from Turkey! I was notified that an additional $24 US customs fee was due. Or, I could purchase more yarn and the custom fee would be paid by the seller. I opted for more yarn so as to ensure I wasn't giving away $24 for nothing.

I'm using the gray yarn (top row) to crochet Summer Cardigan that's found on KnitcroAddict's YouTube channel.

I'm following Wan's video instruction, to make this practical summer cardigan using a fun stitch called the drunken granny stitch. Ha, ha!

I've nearly finished crocheting the back section that measures, for me, 19½" across. This is the first time I'm attempting to use yarn to make a garment for myself. (Oh dear.)

The stitch is pretty though, isn't it? There's no RS or WS. (Right Side or Wrong Side) See how I'm learning the pattern lingo?

Also, being a big fan of Jo Avery designs, I started another of her hand appliquéd and embroidered pieces. This one is called In Full Bloom, and appears is the current issue of Today's Quilter magazine. Again, my digital public library has this publication available for patrons so I was able to check it out, print templates and get started. It looks wrinkled because I rolled it up to take to Big Cypress Quilters' Tuesday open sew where I was able to get several pieces appliquéd.

My only finish of late is this 7" X 9" string-pieced mug rug.

I sewed it on Sunday after spending time on Saturday with the our county's "Basics and Beyond" 4-H Club kids. As I guided two girls, ages 8 and 12, through cutting and piecing their quilt blocks, I encouraged them to keep their scraps. At the end of our sewing time, the older one handed me her half-square triangle off-cuts and said she didn't want them. So, I brought those home along with some of the strips that several of the children had tossed into the trash. Yes, I went dumpster-diving! 

I added a couple of my own fabric strings to the front; the backing and binding are my fabrics.

I'll take the mug rug to next month's 4-H Club meeting to show the kids what can be done with their scraps. I'm thinking to give the mug rug to either the club leader, Barb (who isn't thanked as often as she deserves to be) or the 12 year-old girl I worked with. Linda

Visit to Amelia Island Quilt Guild

On Thursday/Friday this past week, I drove to/from Amelia Island to present and teach members of Amelia Island Quilt Guild.

There's nothing like a commitment to keep a gal on her toes! Storing quilts as I do in the topmost section of our master walk-in closet, sorting through quilts and getting them down to take to a trunk show involves many trips up and down a six-foot step ladder, as well as strategic folding to fit them into two large suitcases. Of course, the whole process happens in reverse when I get back home. (Whew.) 

Still, I appreciated the chance to share my domestic machine quilting program and trunk show of 16 of dozens of quilts with 53 guild meeting attendees.

For the trunk show and meeting Show and Tell, two members stand on step stools to hold up a quilt - front side first, then the back. 

One of the quilts I'm always happy to reshare is Snowflake Medallion, a traditional quilt I made in 2011 using the pattern by the same name by Emma Jean Jansen of Australia. This is the quilt that in 2012 won "Best Machine Quilting" (domestic) at Machine Quilter's Showcase in Overland Park, Kansas, and won me a Bernina 440QE sewing machine.

The walking foot quilting workshop I led the next morning was well-received.

These two quilters posed with "long tweezers" purchased for the workshop. Indeed, the supply list includes "long tweezers" - as opposed to eyebrow-sized tweezers. One quilter took me very literally and bought these from Amazon. We later learned they're meant for longarm quilters. 

I'd say they're slightly oversized for domestic machine quilting. 😊

In the workshop, we focused on the tools and machine set-up for successful walking foot quilting. For some quilters, that means using only the dual feed or even feed already built-in to their sewing machines. That information was recent new information to me! While I still prefer to use a walking foot, several weeks ago I become aware of the fact that at least two sewing machine brands now either don't make a walking foot for their brand (Pfaff) or recommend using only the dual feed/even feed option in concert with a regular univeral foot (Bernina). See? We can all "always be learning." Linda

Appliqué/Embroidery Hoopless Finish

While on retreat with Central Florida MQG a couple weeks ago, I worked on and finished stitching "Dream Flower Posy", a design by Jo Avery from the February issue of Homespun magazine.

If you're looking for the pattern, I suggest checking your local library. I was surprised to find an E-publication of that magazine issue available through the Cloud Library app on my phone! So, this was a free pattern!

Anyway, since I'd enlarged the design by 20 percent, the piece ended up needing to be finished in an 11" hoop. After checking online and not finding a hoop that size, I admonished myself to "Put on your thinking cap and figure out something you can use that you already have." I'm so glad I pushed myself to do that!

Knowing I'd need something to reinforce and stiffen the embroidery, I went through my bin of fusibles and found a folded-up piece of Peltex (fusible on one side) a stiff Pellon product usually used in bag-making.

With my 11" round acrylic ruler handy (owning a set of Quilter's Rule Nested Rulers - I sure didn't pay this much! - has proven invaluable) it was easy to draw an 11" circle on the Peltex - twice. I used the 11½" side of the ruler to mark the embroidery circle and a fussy-cut circle of Anna Maria print I had on hand (from a fat quarter bundle I'd won at QuiltCon in 2023). I then ironed to fuse a Peltex circle to the back of each piece.

With my sewing machine set to basting stitch length, I sewed along the edge of each circle. Then I drew up the bobbin thread so the edges were taut against the Peltex, and tied knots. 

I clipped the two circles together, put edge stitch foot #10D on my Bernina, and picked utility stitch #19 - set at mirror image - to zig-zag with a straight edge, around the circles. 

I'm delighted with how it turned out - a hoopless finish with a pretty edge stitch.

The hanging loop is a fabric bundle tie from a long-ago MassDrop purchase. (Gosh, I miss that company.) MassDrop is printed on one side of the tape, but I folded the tape in half and edge-stitched to keep the printing on the inside.

See? Being creative.

I like the Anna Maria fabric for the back because I can't imagine I'd ever use such a print in anything else.  

I want to thank my Florida friend, Nancy, for her unique suggestion to finish this piece to hang from the ceiling! I sure didn't think of that! 

So here's my sewing room ceiling. A clear Command hook, and voilà! Linda

Retreat Time

It's been a hot minute since I've written a blog post! Well, eight days to be exact. That's not typical for me, but I've been on the go. 

Does this look familiar to anyone? Yep. It was my ready-to-take-on-quilt-retreat pile.

With 14 good friends from Central Florida MQG, I went to Luther Springs in Hawthorne, Florida for our annual retreat.

The retreat was four days and three nights, and marked 12 years of our chapter retreating (except for 2020) to Luther Springs. It's a great facility, started by the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) for campers (kids and families) that has become a favorite spot for quilters. Rooms are private or shared,  and good food is prepared by Miss Sarah who has run the place since we started going there in 2014.

Each year I coordinate our group photo-taking. We can be serious, but we sure have fun too! This year our fun picture was of each of us "pumping iron." Ha, ha.

I don't have many finishes, but I feel good about what I accomplished. 

Many triangles went with me that I spent hours sewing into half-square triangles (HSTs), pressing and trimming. These are off-cuts from several years of saving triangles from other projects, so sizes aren't consistent.

The top right six piles have more than 200 HSTs measuring 2¼" X 2¼".  I also have more than 100 2" X 2" HSTs (four piles on the top left side). A few other sizes are there too. Once I cut and sew solid triangles to the print triangles (lower right) I'll see about putting all of these into one quilt top.

I finished hand-appliquéing and then embroidering a Jo Avery design that was in the February issue of Homespun magazine. I had admired the design when Jo shared it on Instagram.

Design by Jo Avery

When I found I could access to our public library's digital issue of Homespun, I was all over printing-out appliqué pieces. Like Jo, I used some Fableism woven fabric and embroidered with 12-weight Aurifil wool using a "Jo Avery Sampler Pack" purchased at QuiltCon. I'm not sure how I'll finish this piece. Hooping would be easy, but where to hang it? 

Otherwise, I spent my time finishing Cipher, my paint chip challenge quilt. I did most of the big stitch hand quilting while on retreat, using-up almost one ball of size 8 Spagetti (Wonderfil) perle cotton. On Tuesday I was able to share my finished quilt at Big Cypress Quilters when we had our challenge reveal.

The finished 55¼" X 67" Cipher quilt looks quite a bit different than the quilt top! Slashing through the design nine times, then resewing to join seams differently, made quite a change.

A couple evenings of at-home knitting and I've finished another round loom knitted Tiny Doll. I just love this aqua color that a friend gave me to use for dolls. The pillow the doll is posed on is another Jo Avery design I made.

I've continued to work on the seed stitch poncho that is a little more than half-way knitted on fairly large - size 11 (8mm) circular needles.

I've come to realize that it's good practice for me to knit one side then turn and purl the other side, as I continue to try to perfect knitting the Continental method. This How to Knit Faster: Speed Knitting for Beginners Continental Style Youtube video by Chandi of Expression Fiber Arts was very helpful! My aim is to get comfortable enough to knit a couple summer tops. 

An update on Twistee Treat, the ice cream shop I'm still waiting to see open near me. This was on Instagram, so.... soon!

Linda

End of April

Being the last day of April, it's time to recap how things went this month. 

No fabric came into my stash, and fabric usage was nominal. Not quite 5 yards went toward piecing a back and sewing facing onto my Paint Chip Challenge quilt, Cipher, (see the back here), and making headbands (see headbands here) to hold back my growing bangs that I can't stand having on my forehead. 

This is Cipher as of today. It's 55" x 67" and looking pretty good. 

I plan to add more big stitch hand quilting, with black perle cotton, to continue to the faux bias tape look in the black-quilted curved areas. I'll be showing the finished quilt at our Tuesday, May 5 Big Cypress Quilters challenge reveal. 

Because I'm going on retreat with members of Central Florida MQG maybe May's fabric use will be slightly higher. Though, because of my burgeoning interest in knitting - new Chiagoo circular needles...

... and several yarns just arrived for a knitted summer top (or two) for myself - fabric use might continue to remain low.

It occurs to me that perhaps my interest in shopping for yarns is due to the fact that I'm not allowing myself to shop for fabric. Hmm... perhaps I'm psyching myself out. I'll be pondering this.

Book Recommendations

What became apparent in April is that I listened to a lot of audiobooks while I was quilting at my Bernina! That's the best way to keep me entertained when stitching repetitive, sometimes boring quilting designs (especially walking foot quilting). 

The 12 audiobook titles, in scored (out of a possible 5.0) and ranked order (according to my designations) are:

Let me just say that The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede is a MUST READ. I sure don't know how I missed this one, but the book was published in 2002, made into a movie in 2009 called Diverted, and made into a musical in 2021 called Come From Away. 

It's a tear-wrenchingly true story about what happened on September 11, 2001 when 38 planes flying internationally to the US were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, Canada. The amazing outpouring of support and care given by the small population of Gander and several nearby smaller towns will warm your heart.

The audiobook is well-narrated by Ray Porter whose voice sounds a little like Tom Hanks.

South of Somewhere by T.I. Lowe opened my eyes about the continual challenges of overcoming alcohol addiction. Due to drunk driving, Junie has lost custody of her young daughter and is just coming out of court-ordered rehab. She wants to prove herself so she can get her daughter back from her brother, but it isn't easy to earn an income, attend AA classes, and be strong in the face of temptations. When a fella from rehab tracks her down and wants to return to their good times relationship, she has to develop more resolve. The next door neighbor offers support, but can Junie trust a quiet man who isn't telling her the whole truth?  

While the City Sleeps is book #1 in the Women of Midtown series by Elizabeth Camden. This story focuses on Katherine who's a New York City dentist in 1913. While under the influence of laughing gas, one of Katherine's patients reveals information about a plot to blow up parts of the city. Since Katherine is friends with police Lieutenant Jonathan Birch who walks her home each night, it's natural that she shares information that could help police locate the bombs and culprits before the next explosion. But Jonathan is also hiding something that could get him evicted from the police force.

Edge of Truth by Janice Cantore is about Lainie Jensen, a Long Beach Police Department detective whose sister has gone missing while vacationing in Hawaii with her husband. It's presumed she died by shark attack. When Lainie goes to Hawaii to learn more herself, she finds an FBI agent she knows is also on the case. While trying not to work with the agent, Lainie begins to understand that her brother-in-law's story isn't holding up to scrutiny. Now she's even more determined to find out what happened to her sister. 

Since watching wonderful viewing version of The Count of Monte Cristo on public television, I've wanted to read that book. It's not available to me as an audiobook. But it got me to thinking about classic books like Catcher in the Rye, Great Expectations, Tale of Two Cities, Atlas Shrugged and the like. Remembering as a teen how much I liked Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, I thought to listen to that book. Imagine my surprise when I checked out the audiobook version only to discover it was read in French! Well, I knew French in high school, but... ha, ha. That was a quick return. When I couldn't find Rebecca spoken in English, I checked out DuMaurier's The House on the Strand. (By the way, did you know DuMaurier wrote The Birds - the story on which the Alfred Hitchcock movie was based?)

Published in 1969, The House on the Strand is a strange story taking place along the west coast of the UK. Dick Young is staying at a friend's Cornwall home. The friend has supplied Dick with a liquid that he's testing... to time travel. Dick becomes fascinated by the people living in Medieval Cornwall, and it's impacting his present life.

I'm counting The House on the Strand as my "classic" read for April. Let's see what I can find to read listen to in May. 

I'd like to share a YouTube clip recently sent to me by my friend in Ocala (FL), Nancy. She and I are like-minded, so she knew I would appreciate this two-minute video.

The young woman, Julia James Davis, conveys my sentiments - much better than I could - about art made for attention's sake versus art for beauty's sake. I couldn't help but apply this perspective to my thoughts about four, four-letter-word quilts that hung at QuiltCon in February. Those quilts were were, sadly, made for attention value; not beauty. It's disappointing to see such quilts displayed at QuiltCon. 

Linda