A side quest...

If you are only interested in quilt related content, then you need not read any further.  This post is about my side quest.....lol.  Doesn't that term evoke mischief?  LOL.  Picture me with a mischievous grin and a wink....lol...it's not me starting another quilt...lol.....BUT.... I am starting something new.

For the fun of it and just to make sure I was using the right term, I googled it.  Here is what is says about the phrase side quest.  It is an optional task, secondary pursuit, or distraction taken on alongside your main goal or daily routine.  LOL, I definitely have the right term!!!  All of the above definition applies here.

For about a year now, I have been desperately wanting to learn how to knit socks.  Yes, you heard that correctly.  Socks!!  I am not sure where that comes from, but there you have it.  I have done some knitting in the past, but nothing like socks.  Socks you need to use five needles to form the tube shape that form the sox and use a different technique to turn the heel and then shape the toe section.  It will be interesting.....  Here is the back of the book I purchased for different patterns/styles of socks. 

 

The book is called Knit Socks for those you love.  It has 11 family friendly designs in a variety of sizes.  The book is published by Leisure Arts, authored by Edi Eckman.

I haven't decided which pair of socks I plan to make out of the book yet.  I bought two different colours of yarn to make two different pairs.  The first pair I am going to make, is a simple pattern from Patons, called The Basic Knit Socks.  This pattern was recommended to me by an instructor at Mary Max.  She uses this pattern when she runs classes.  It shows in detail, with pictures, all the steps to making socks.

   

As you can see above, I have my pattern, my needles and space keeper for marking your place when you need to keep track of changes in stitches or directions.  Below are the two colours I chose to go with.  Oh my goodness, the choses were numerous!!  Rows upon rows of different colours and yarn content.  It was really hard to choose!  In the end, I went with something a bit flashy and something a bit more subdued.  The flashy pink/orange combo was a recommendation from the instructor.  She said she made a pair of socks using it and really liked the outcome.

I am really looking forward to spending some time learning to make socks.  I am heading to my mom's place today to make some sauerkraut and coleslaw.  After those are done, we will have the rest of the day to tackle these socks.  I am going to read the directions and attempt to make them per the directions, but it will be nice to have my mom there with me, as she is a pro at kniting.

While we were at Mary Max, I also bought 8 skeins of wool for her to remake my sweater.  She made a sweater for me approximately fifteen years ago, and just recently it started to break.  The end of the sleaves are unraveling and the elbows now have holes.  My mom offered to make me another one and as this sweater was one of my favorites, that was wore all the time, why would I not say YES!!! 

I'll share pictures of my progress in the next post.  

Take care everyone.

A bit of quilt related house cleaning

This week I am on vacation, or should I say a staycation....lol.  Still not used to that term...lol....vacation means to vacate/vacant.  Which to me is still appropriate, no matter where you spend it, as you are not at your employment working (you are vacant), but that is just my opinion....lol.  To each, his/her own.

We are already in the evening of Thursday, which means my vacation is almost over.  Where has the time gone?  For this week, I have been trying to allot time for various things that I want to do or need to be done.  It has been busy with lots of different things.  Today is the first day I had available to do my own thing in my quilting studio.

A lot of the stuff I did today though was not really worthy of pictures.  I did a bunch of quilting house cleaning.  Finishing off loose ends and cleaning up the space.  I finally finished attaching the binding to the three NICU quilts that I made recently.  The stars quilt, strings quilt and Eeyore are now in the done pile.  They are ready to go to Project Linus who will deliver them to a hospital. 

I also made and attached the binding to my own King size Christmas quilt and it is now ready to be tacked down on the back by hand.  Lots of time for that....lol....Christmas is not for another seven months...lol.  I also ironed a good amount of fabrics that I received and washed.  Getting it ready to use in other charity quilts.  My sewing table and surrounding areas are finally starting to look clean again.  Clear surfaces makes me happy!!

The one thing that I am excited about....  I finished the Distelfink appliqué bird block.  Yeay!!!

All of the fabrics I used for the appliqué are from my scraps.  This block will eventually get some borders, to bring the size up to 25" square.  This is the approx. size that I make them for a NICU quilt.  I think it's cute and I think it turned out nice!  

This block was part of a workshop that a friend and I hosted for the members of the guild.  It's nice to have this done.  Several of the other participants have already brought their block in to show for show and share at out last guild meeting.

Tomorrow I am off to my mom's place, so no quilting tomorrow........but wait until you see what I will be doing tomorrow.  I'll share it with you then.  I have a side quest....

Take care everyone.  Enjoy the beautiful weather we are having.

Disappearing Hour Glass block (QW)

When I was in Peterborough on Friday visiting a friend, she took me down to her quilting studio and showed me what she was working on.  Recently she participated in a guild workshop.  They did a technique where you make a block and cut it up to make different sample blocks depending on how you moved and rotate the individually cut pieces.  

One of the blocks was this disappearing hour glass block.  This is so similar to a block that I have listed as a (QW), that I decided to take a picture to compare.  It looked the same or similar, but different and I couldn't figure out why.  I took a picture of the instructions as well, for when I am ready to make them.

When I got home from the workshop, I searched through my posts, with the "(QW)" in the search bar of my blog and found the block that I had saved to make in future.  The post is called Finished quilting the HHQG quilt from Mar 18/2019.

After examining the two blocks, I realized the difference between them is just the rotation of the centre four patch.  The one I want to do rotates it to get a slightly different centre star.

The one good thing that came about by seeing this block, was that now I have the instructions and I now know what the finished size would be, if I use 5" charm squares.  The blocks would finish at 7" in a quilt.  So my conclusion is that I can use my two identical charm packs to make this, however I likely won't.  The blocks would be too small and fussy with those tiny little triangles in the corner.  

If I were to make this one, I think I would start off by using some chunks of scraps and cut them into 8" squares.  At 8" squares you could even use fat quarters and get four squares out of each.  Hhmmm...that is something to ponder....  Using up lesser liked fat quarters and cutting them down to make this block may work.  They would be then again, cut up smaller while making this block....  Things to think about.

Take care everyone.

Show and Tell quilt pattern (QW)

Yesterday while I was at Annie's Quilt Shop in Orono, ON doing a workshop, I saw a quilt they had on the wall.  The pattern is called Show and Tell by Elizabeth Hartman.  It was the cutes thing!

I bought the pattern.....not because I want to make this large 75" x 85" quilt, but because I think that each of these individual animals are so cute, and they in themselves would make a very cute toddler quilt, with a border around them.  I love the idea of an animal in the quilt, holding a quilt.  You could do any quilt pattern you wanted.  You could also use an orphaned block with borders, to make the quilt the animal is holding.  Many possibilities....

I think I am going to look over the pattern and see which one I want to make first, then I'll have a look in my box of orphaned blocks to see what I have.  It'd be a fun way to use them up and get them in a quilt.  If I have a bunch of smaller orphan blocks, I could make a sampler of sorts....wouldn't that be fun.

Anyways, I have it here in my blog with my usual (QW), so I can be reminded of the quilts I want to make.  (QW) stands for Quilt Want-to-be....lol.  Putting it here helps me control how many quilts I actually start.  My main focus right now is finishing quilts I already started.

PS Before I even finished this post, I couldn't resist looking at the pattern, which is actually a book.  Didn't realize that when I bought it, as it was in a bag.  I know the finished size of those quilts the animals are holding, so my brain is already making plans......  Who wants to guess how long it takes for me to breakdown and start one of theses quilts....lol.

Take cares everyone.

Wood Barn Block

I had a fabulous time today at Annie's Quilt Shop, up in Orono which is near Clarington, on the way up to Peterborough.  I spent the night at a friend's place in Peterborough, so that I wouldn't have far to go to get to the workshop that she and I did today.  Nice shop and friendly mother and daughter duo running the shop.

The workshop was about painting wood barn blocks.  It started at 9:00 am and went all the way to 4:00 pm.  I just barely made it....lol!!!  The block pattern that I chose to do and the multiple colours, was a bit more on the time consuming side, especially when you factor in all the taping that is involved with each colour.  This is my colourful, but subdued barn block.   

The blocks are 24" square, so there was a lot to paint by hand, and the colours I chose required three coats!!  Except the raspberry colour.....that one required a base coat of the purple and four coats of raspberry to get good coverage.  I am loving my block!

One of the other ladies did the same block as me, except she did hers more neutral with blue, greys and a white background.  Same block, but they look completely different.  Hers looks sophisticated, whereas mine looks more playful.  All of the blocks there were pretty and the owner made so many others.  They were all different and all gorgeous.  There are 12" blocks too, if you don't what to commit to such a large block. 

Then there was the one that my friend made.  This one I remember the name of.  It is called Carpenter's Star block.  My friend gravitates to the warmer colours.  She is also a longarmer and she plans to put this up on the front porch, so that people will see it from the road.  Her customers won't doubt that they are at the right address....lol.

The fourth person there did this next block.  Unfortunately, you don't see the true effect of this block.  The colours are off a bit.  The perimeter colour is actually a pale taupe, which brings out the warmth of the warm grey parts.  The centre star is full on white.  In person the two colours have more contrast and the white stands out more with a pop.

All in all, we all had a very nice time.  The class was small and quaint, and the conversation was never ending....lol.

This was a really nice start to my holiday week.  I am so relaxed and content.  I am going to try to keep that mood/feeling going.  Note to self....no stressing, keep calm and take time to relax and enjoy the time off work!!

Take care everyone.

A little bit more

Yesterday, after my morning routine, I started the morning with some quiet time doing some slow stitching.  I worked on the Distelfink appliqué bird.  I attached the last feather of the tail and most of the bird body.  The head part of the body has to wait until I do the two feathers and beak, that insert beneath the head.  As I sew them on, I can then close off the head.  

As you can see, the body is an odd shape.  Basically, when doing appliqué, to avoid bulk, you only have to extend the first layer a 1/4" underneath the next layer that finishes the whole shape.  In this case it is the wing.  The wing that you see on the right hand side will fit right into that empty space.  It will overlap the bird body by the 1/4" and closing off the end of the stem as well.

Just in case you are wondering about the white patches on the background.  Those are the pattern of the ironing board beneath the appliqué piece.

I am sitting here admiring the progress that is being made, yet I am debating those two leaves......I am wondering if I should change them for something a bit darker.....they seem to be blending into the background a bit more then I would like.....hmmm.....I'll have to think about it.  In person they stand out a bit more then what you see in the picture.

Tonight, after work, I am off to Peterborough to stay with a friend, as we are both going to take a workshop to make a large painted barn block.  I am so excited to have some down time with a friend and participating in the workshop.  It will be fun!!  It's a full day workshop and by end of day, I should have a pretty painted wood barn block.

Take care everyone.  For those in Canada, enjoy your long weekend, as we celebrate Victoria Day.

Distelfink appliqué bird

Yesterday was a good day!  I finally got some relaxation time in, away from appointments and deadlines.  So I started out slowly, enjoying my morning of Tai Chi and then tea.  It set the tone for the rest of the day.  After breakfast, I made my way down to the studio to see what I could accomplish.

There were three small NICU quilts waiting for me on my sewing table, so I decided to start there.  Cut out the binding for each of them, and managed to attach two bindings, before a friend dropped by.  

When she left, I figured I had a large chunk of time left of the afternoon, so I decided to load a large quilt onto the longarm to quilt.  It took four hours to finish that quilt.  By this time, it was time to go back upstairs to start dinner.  

Wow!  Time does fly by.  I'm not complaining, just stating a fact.  I thoroughly enjoyed the quiet pace of the day.  Just going with the flow.  I need more days like this!  After dinner I wanted to continue with the slow pace theme and pulled out my bird appliqué block.  This was put away for a bit, while I took care of things in the garden and with my mom's place.  

The last time I wrote about this block was back on Apr 12th, called Saturday workshop.  If you want to read more about it.  Last night, I added the 3D rose bud, as seen in the picture below.

By the end of the evening, I also had two of the three tail feathers appliquéd to the background.

Appliqué is very much a slow stitching process.  No possibility of rushing.  It does some take patience.  Especially when in this day and age how everything is go, go, go as fast as you can, to get everything done.

As I said above at the start, yesterday was a good day.  I enjoyed a slower pace, relaxing my mind and body.  Just what I needed!

Take care everyone.  Don't forget to take some time for yourself......You deserve it!!