Hopping to Finishes - "Ignite"

In spite of my inclination to hop from project to project, I managed two finishes this week.

The big one is Ignite, the yellow quilt I made for the 2027 QuiltCon "Pick-A-Color Scrappy Challenge" sponsored by American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. That's NOT to say my quilt is a shoo-in, because it certainly is not! QuiltCon is a juried show and those jurors will have a tough job in this category. For example, what will they do if they like - say - five red quilts because they're great designs? Will they intentionally choose other quilts of different colors, so they have a whole color range to display? 

I'll put Ignite through the entry/submission process that opens September 1; closes October 31. 

This week I squared-up the quilt (not an easy task), sewed on facing with Painter's Palette Honeycomb, and then hand-stitched it into place.  

For my entry photos, I'll have to take pictures with my Canon camera, because these photos, taken with my Iphone 14, do not capture the true colors. 

Ignite is 62" X 64." 

The back of Ignite. The facing matches the sides of the quilt back. 

I can't begin to express how glad I am that this quilt is finished! It was a tough one to put together. I learned several lessons through the making, primarily that a quilt designed by AI may not be easy to create. 

Moving right along, I am happy to share finish pictures of a knitted prayer shawl. I used this free pattern. No doubt it knitted-up relatively quickly (as compared to the summer top I'm still working on!) because it used chunky yarn and large, size 13 circular needles. 

This shawl is triangle-shaped, starting at the bottom point, and increasing in length to the long long side that is 50" across. I have in mind to gift this to someone special. 

I appreciate those of you who weighed-in on my question about what to do about kinky cotton yarn. I had a large ball of it, unknitted (tinked) because I wasn't happy with the inconsistencies of my stitches, and my increases were clunky. 

After receiving several different suggestions and viewpoints, I decided to contact the pattern designer, Julia Piro (she lives in Prague, Czechia). Since I used the same brand of yarn she did, I figured she would know. It took only a day for her to respond! How nice is that? She said yes, I should wash the yarn, and sent a link to a tutorial. 

So, I wound the kinky ball of yarn around legs. She suggested chair legs, but my TV tray ironing table has those legs. 

Then, I tied each hank in several places.

This is what it looked like before wetting.

After soaking the two hanks in water for about 15 minutes, I squeezed out the excess water and draped them across a hanger. I hung the hanger from my golf cart, in the hot garage, for two days! 

The yarn looks much better now. 

Because I'm making good progress on my Summer Soul top, I'll be using this yarn as soon as I wind it into cakes.

My Bible study friend (Lutheran Church of Hope) from West Des Moines, Iowa who visited me in June, surprised me with a package this week. This tea towel made me tear-up with a smile. Me too, Rondelle!

Linda