Sheila finishes one more!!

Seven Pears

This quilt is from a pattern that I picked up at a 'rummage sale' at a local quilt show. Machine pieced, hand appliqued and quilted. Look closely - there really are seven pears. Some of them did not photograph well.

Plaids and Stripes

 I have had this quilt partially finished for so long, I don't remember when I started it. At this point, I estimate that it was around 1990, because it was inspired by Roberta Horton's Plaids and Stripes. I pieced it and did most of the quilting, and then let the quilt languish around the sewing room for about twenty years. Why I never finished it, I just don't know. I like it a lot. The blues are the indigo blues that I like so much, and I am fond of the rust color, too. So here is the quilt, and a detail of the blocks.

It is hand quilted, but machine pieced.

I think that I started with eight fat eights of a line of Roberta Horton plaids and stripes, then filled in with fabris that I had on hand.



Now I can check off one Unfinished Project that has been completed in 2012

Nora urged me to start labelling my quilts, so that in the future she will know which ones I made, and which ones my grandmother made.

JT finishes the Christmas Tree Skirt!

Julie's Christmas tree skirt is ready for Christmas 2012- look at the cute covered buttons.

Christmas Tree Skirt

Fabric:  Waverly Pantry Plaid

Buttons: 1¼ inch flat

Dimensions: 54” diameter with 2¾” ruffle.  Center cutout is 10” diameter.

Christmas Cross Stitch

Julie finished theChristmas Cross Stitch, and now she needs to find the frame!

Merry Christmas #335 stamped cross stitch by Country Stitching

Dimensions: 9” x 20”

Thread:  DMC floss

The Ribbon Scarf

Yesterday, I sat down I knit this scarf from yarn bought about five years ago. I have not owned the yarn for the full five years. About two years ago I gave it away it a fit of getting rid of stuff. However, last month it reappeared in someone else's giveaway. I thought it was a portent. I really like the yarn, I had not been able to figure out what to do with it. So I decided to knit a scarf, and here it is.

It is a ribbon yarn with alternating sections of chips and solid. It is plain garter stitch.

24 hours have passed, and I really don't like the scarf. I described it to Nora as looking and feeling like rubber tires. Even though I knit it on size 15 needles so that it would look and airy, what I like about the yarn doesn't shine through. And it is much too bulky.

So, I decided to rip it out. And, I did. Then, I ironed the entire skein of yarn, which returned it to its original beauty. Yes, I ironed it. Every yard.  See photo.

Green Cotton Sweater

 After four days of blocking (blocking a cotton sweater in the cold of winter can take a Very Long Time), the green cotton sweater is dry. While watching the first episode of season two Downton Abbey, I sewed on the buttons. IT. IS. DONE. Here is a photo of Nora wearing it! 

pattern:  "Decimal", by Snowden Becker was featured on Knitty.Com in the Spring 2009 issue.

Yarn:  Knit Picks Shine Sport

The border is a variation on the Gazebo Lace from Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge. It reminds me of dragon scales. The lace itself is a great pattern - only two rows, and a ten-stitch repeat. I am including some detail below. And aren't those cute little buttons?

Completed Quilt Top

Huzzah! Huzzah!  The flannel quilt top is done! The kit was a Christmas present from my family in 2010. Leaves, stems, berries and central flower are hand-appliqued. And if you could see those triangle points... They are almost perfect.

Pattern is #1011 Timberline, from All Through the Night by Bonnie Sullivan. Finished size:  56" square.

Next step: Make the sandwich and quilt!! Because the flannel is so heavy, I plan to machine quilt this one.