Embroidered dresses quilt

Twelve embroidered panels, each featuring a dress on a dressmakers stand.  Look back through the blog, and you will see that I finished the first block in March, 2012, so I would estimate that the project took a full three years.  The last eight blocks were finished in Ireland (!).  Take a look at the intersections -- invented little shoes for some additional interest. 

Presented to Nora, the owner, Christmas, 2015.

Knitted washcloths

These washcloths are knitted on Size 3 needles from fingering weight cotton. The pattern is from "A Washcloth in a Suitcase" in PIecework Magazine, November/December 2013 issue. These have taken so long to post because they were Christmas presents that were delivered late, and who wants to find out what they are getting for Christmas from the Internet??

I could knit these forever. They are garter stitch short rows, and the last three stitches form that cute little scalloped border.

Recent Knitting is All Blue

I have three finished knitting projects, and look! they are all blue.

Number One:  A pair of sockweight lace gauntlets. These were a Downton Abbey Mystery Knit-a-Long. The idea was that we got a piece of the pattern each week, to knit as we watched the latest installment of Downton Abbey. These were  finished back in February. Yarn: Knit-Picks Stroll fingering weight.

Number Two:  This wavy hat is knit  in a fan lace pattern.

Yarn is Madeleine Tosh Merino DK, Color Mica.  Pattern is the cover pattern from Weekend Hats, by Cecily Glowik MacDonald and Melissa LaBarre.

While it appears that it is knitted from side to side, it is actually a fancy twisted rib. 20 stitch x 18 row pattern.

Number Three: The Dragon Wing Shawl This is a nice circular shawl in a pretty pattern. (You can have your very own - they are on sale at YarnSmith Knitting Patterns.  Yarn:  JoJoland Melody. The photos are not color exact, but it's a nice mottled denim color.

The top section is knit back and forth, increasing in an arc to keep it round, then there is what seemed like an unending border knit around the bottom 32 sts x 12 rows. Actually, the edging is interesting - it is a combination of three patterns.

Market bag

The pattern is from Jane Austen Knits, Summer 2012. They called it the "Pemberly Reticule" in the magazine, but I call it a Market Bag. Yarn from Knit Picks, Comfy Fingering (75% Pima Cotton, 25% Acrylic), color: Blackberry. The pattern calls for 861 yards, but this bag only used about 550 yards. The bottom is worked with double yarn on size six needles. The upper pattern, called "Cathedral Windows" was knit half on size 5 needles and half on size 4.

Potholders

A final attempt to document every little thing! Here are five of the seven potholders I finished this month.

Plaids and Stripes

The plaid squares were salvaged from a quilt top found in my grandmother's things.They were in a random setting. I picked out enough to make this little nine-patch, filling in with new reproduction fabrics. Since it is December 31st, I suspect this will be my last quilt finished in 2012.

(Interesting that the backgrounds are all beige and brown, but came through as blue in the photo!)

Pincushions

Two embroidered pincushions with motifs from Calendula Patterdrips Cottage, a pattern from Crabapple Hill Studios.

Green Lace Shawl

This one is being back-posted. I finished it, a long last, between Christmas and New Year's. It is from a pattern in Victorian Lace Today, by Jane Sowerby. I think I have had the yarn for about five years, and I think it took me most of 2012 to knit. I am very, very happy to be finished with it.

I think that I have the urge to knit with laceweight yarn out of my system for a few months.  Knitting the leaf border around the edge - a 12 stitch border - became very boring after about the 60th repeat.

It is 21" x 76". I couldn't find a model to show it off, so I have doubled it and hung it over the back of a chair for this photo.

Mittens complete !

These are from the Woodland Mittens from Knit Picks. There were patterns for six pairs of mittens in the kit -- this pair is NOVEMBER.

Another beaded scarf

I love these scarves. They don't take terribly long to knit and they always turn out pretty.

Machine Quilting

About halfway through quilting this twin sized quilt. Maybe I will get it finished over the holiday weekend.

Navajo yarn hat

Lisa brought home five skeins of yarn in five colors, spun on the reservation. Then, she split the five skeins into five balls and she and four of her friends ended up with the equivalent of one full skein, but five colors: black, white, red, gray, and brown. Because I was afraid I would run out of yarn, I chose a random color pattern. So, here is my Navajo wool hat.

Books and clock embroidery

I just finished (and I mean that literally) embroidering the "books" block from the Calendula Patterdrip's Cottage quilt by Crabapple Hill. It is stitched in Cosmo "Seasons" embroidery floss - 4 skeins. 

Next step: get it framed.

I just checked my watch, and this is Very Weird --  The time is the same as on the clock in the embroidery!! 

Class Quilt Completed

Last fall, I took a Beginning Quiltmaking class from Laura Nownes at Thimblecreek Quilt Shop. Everyone in the class made the same blocks, and then each person constructed a quilt from their blocks.

The pattern prototype is in the book  Q is for Quilt by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes

Yesterday, I finally finished the binding.

Hurrah! All the quilts in Group 1of my "Quilts To Finish" list have been completed. On to group 2 !!

Knitted Table Runner

This table runner is knitted with Cascade Ultra Pima cotton - three skeins with 220 yards per skein. The finished dimensions are 38 inches by 10 inches. I increased the center stockinette stitch from 10 stitches in the original pattern to a broader 20 stitches. The lace edge is a simple pattern and is almost mindless knitting. Oddly enough, the pattern is knitted on the wrong side, and then appears, as you see, on the right side of the knitting.

Pattern "Scalloped Table Runner"
at http://sites.google.com/site/amystender/
by Amy Stender
homepage: http://fluidmotion.blogspot.com
Ravelry Name: vermontgirl

This project was almost done for 6 whole months -- the two halves were just waiting for a bit of stitching up the sides, but that needed ME to sit down with the teapot . . . . Thank you Julie for the kit and the inspiration!

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.

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?