Stocking Detail 14

This patch is very irregular. I cut the fabric, a loose sueded rayon, extra long and gathered it to fit the space. I started embellishing this patch with the shorter lines of stitching. I wanted to break up the long patch, but it created too much of a split and just looked funny. Eventually, I started adding more lines of embellishment, longer and curvy to mimic the flow of the dragon tales.
The seam running down the length of the patch is feather stitch sewn with a strand of fuzzy wool knitting yarn and a strand of gold rayon thread. Tiny red rayon floss French knots are tucked into the spaces along the center. Along the outer spokes are matte finish seed beads sewn on with the gold rayon thread that gives them a little hint of shine.
Starting at the top and going clockwise, the lines inside the patch are:
Split ribbon stitch sewn with overdyed 7mm silk ribbon.
Snail trail sewn with two strands of wildflowers silk floss.
Beaded stem stitch with a larger center bead in each stitch.
Squared palestrina knot sewn with silk/cashmere knitting yarn and a strand of rayon floss.
Braid made with seed beads.
Chain stitch sewn with silk/cashmere knitting yarn underneath and 4mm silk ribbon on top.
Clicking on the top photo will give you a closeup. The bottom photo shows how the patch fits into the whole stocking. There are also a couple of gold lazy daisies. I am likely to add more of them.

Advent Calendar Link

I stumbled across this pattern for an advent calendar on Allsorts blog. I don't expect to have time this Christmas for another project, but maybe for next year. If things work out, next year will be our first Christmas decorating our own home. The little envelopes could even be crazy quilted. :)

Stocking Detail 13

The heel section of this stocking is still pretty bare. I may need to add a bit more to it. The only thing on here now are these three little cross stitch flowers with detached chains added to fill them out.
The seam across the heel is wavy. The fabric for the adjacent patch was cut extra long and then gathered. The wavy edge was then folded under and sewn down. I've used variegated silk floss to sew a chain stitch along the wavy edge to highlight the curves. Along the gathered side I added detached chains with red metallic floss. Fly stitches were then added in between the chains. Lazy daisy flowers in metallic gold floss peek out along the heel side of the seam.

Stocking Detail 12

The upper left seam is scroll stitch worked with a silk knitting yarn, a strand of rayon floss, and a metallic thread. Along one side, two strands of rayon thread were used for detached chains in a series of fans. Seed beads accent the fans. The upper right seam has a piece of tatting made with a single strand of variegated silk floss.

The motifs were done with E beads in a matte finish and transparent seed beads. The large motif started with silk ribbon twisted ribbon stitches and has an E bead at the end of each seed bead leg. The smaller motifs have seed bead legs coming out of the E bead in the center. The effect is very dimensional.

Stocking Detail 11

The top seam is buttonhole stitch in Caron watercolors with detached chains and French knots in watercolors and wildflowers. The bottom seam started with chevron stitch in a thicker fiber. Rayon floss in several colors and red metallic thread were used for the accent stitches which include pistil, French knot, detached chain, and straight stitches.
The motif was created with eyelash knitting yarn, a metal shank button, and shell beads. Looks a bit like a dragon's nest, doesn't it?

Stocking Detail 10

The base for the toe seam is buttonhole stitch sewn with one strand of gold metallic floss. I laced this with two strands of red metallic floss. I don't really follow any instructions for lacing. I just weave the needle here and there until I find a design I like at the time. Caron watercolors is a nice variegated thread that I used for the pistil stitches in groups of three.
I used a shisha mirror, the craft store version,
on the toe patch. I secured the mirror with a detached buttonhole net in gold cotton pearl. Around the mirror, I added two rows of seed beads.

New Stocking, TIF

Today, we have a bonus photo. I pieced the new stocking over the weekend. This one is for my youngest daughter, only 13 months. She doesn't really have favorites yet, so I chose the pink for her. My vision for this stocking was cotton candy pink, all baby girly. When I laid out all the pink fabrics, the deep pinks and fuschia won out. This probably fits in better with the others. None of them have pastels. The lighter patch at the bottom stands out, and doesn't really fit. However, it is a funny shape and overlapped by two curved patches. I don't know if I want to take it out. I may cover it with a motif in the brighter pink or use it to show off some stitching in the darker pinks.

It's been at least a couple of years since I pieced a crazy patch project. I don't remember it being so challenging. Perhaps it was because this will be part of a set that I pieced several years ago. Perhaps it was because my style has progressed and this is the first new piece in so long. Perhaps I'm just a bit rusty. Until I started looking closely at the other stockings, I had just assumed I'd be machine piecing this stocking. It could also be that I'm just too sleep deprived to do well with puzzles. Hand piecing is very much like doing a puzzle. The challenge is that the pieces are not sized to fit. I get to decide what size and shape I want each piece as I go along. Any way I look at it, I want to brush up on my technique.

Sharon B is planning a new challenge for 2008. Details can be found on her site. It's called the Take It Further challenge. The challenge involves doing a monthly project. I plan to use this challenge to improve my skills and piece a new crazy project each month. Talk has already started and this is looking like a fun challenge.

Stocking Detail 9

This motif started with buttonhole wheels of various sizes, all done with rayon floss. Around each wheel are detached chains, also done with rayon floss. All other added stitching was done with two strands of Caron waterlilies silk floss.
The wheel on the far left was whipped in a loose spiral shape with the threads going under the spokes. There are French knots in the center.
Reversed buttonhole bar was done on the next wheel. Sharon gave this stitch for her Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge a few weeks back. Instead of adding a single round of stitches to the outer part of the wheel, I started in the center and continued going around until the wheel was full.
The middle wheel has French knots in the center.
The next wheel has detached chains between each spoke.
The last wheel was whipped with the threads going over the bars.

Stocking Number Two

The next stocking is for my son. I chose a monotone background. Actually, they were all supposed to be monotone, each different. My daughter just wanted contrasting pieces on the toe, heel, and cuff for hers. This one is dark blues. The embellishment colors are primarily blue and red, with some gold and touches of peach. My son's theme is dragons. Most hobbies don't last very long with him. He went through a magic phase, and a Dungeons and Dragons phase. He enjoyed the first Harry Potter book when it was read in school. His current hobby is modeling Warhammer miniatures.

Stocking Detail 8

The last detail of this stocking is the top section. There are two frog charms and a cat bead. The cat matches the one in the focal patch from yesterday. One of the frogs is a prince in disguise. He's wearing a little crown on his head. Someday, I hope my daughter finds her prince.
The right seam was done with one strand of gold metallic floss and one strand of red rayon floss. It started with a base of cretan stitch. Then straight stitches and knots were added. The left seam was made with rayon knitting ribbon. Each stitch has a knot on the end. A variety of red and green beads are sewn along the seam. With the same beads, I added a little dangly bit where the seams intersect.
To finish it off, my daughter's name is sewn in bright red beads.

Stocking Detail 7

The cat is the focal motif on this stocking. I don't usually care for premade patches in my crazy quilting, but my daughter picked this out and it fits. I wouldn't have thought of it myself. The same patch was used on a round robin block I had sent out. I did several round robins when I was new to crazy quilting. It was a great way to learn new techniques and see other stitchers' work up close.
The seam to the right of the cat is feather stitch done with two strands of gold metallic floss. The accent stitches are French knot and pistil stitches done with two strands of green metallic floss and one strand of green rayon floss.
The spider web is a thinner metallic thread done with straight stitches. To the right of that is another seam done with two strands of gold metallic floss. I can't seem to find the name for that stitch. I must have seen it somewhere, but it doesn't show up on any of my other crazy quilt pieces. It may be a variation of the feather stitch or the fly stitch. It looks like fly stitches with the anchoring stitches angled to form the zigzag.
The little black cat is a bead I got while vacationing in Washington.

Stocking Detail 6

Nearer to the top of the stocking, is this beaded motif. I don't know if there is a name for this type of bead, but they look like teardrops. A gold bead in the center of each group of teardrops makes this look like foliage. I added sparkling vines with gold metallic thread.
The lower right seam is cretan stitch and French knots, all sewn with rayon floss.
The upper seam is also rayon floss in two shades of green, this time a simple chevron stitch.

Stocking Detail 5

This is the area near the heel of the stocking. I patched this stocking by hand like a puzzle. The patches in this area were rather small. There is an article about hand patching by J. Marsha Michler in the current issue of CQMagOnline.com. It's worth reading whether you are new to crazy quilting or are an old pro who has yet to try out hand patching.

While I wanted all the seams embellished, I didn't want these tiny patches to stick out too much. With this in mind, I used a single strand of metallic floss in red to blend in. I did a double feather stitch seam all around the edge of froggie's patch that wasn't covered by the black trim. I accented this seam with pairs of gold seed beads surrounded by a detached chain which was anchored with a pistil stitch.
There are two bows tacked on, one a green ribbon.The other bow is another cheap plastic glittery one, this time gold. Between the bows is a simple closed feather stitch seam done in a green pearl thread, repeated from the toe area. A simple chevron stitch seam, done in red to blend in, finishes of the curve of the heel.

Stocking Detail 4

There is way too much blue in this photo. The colors really do fit the red and green theme for this stocking. Herringbone stitch, done with a strand of red rayon floss and a strand of green metallic thread, started off the horizontal seam. Two strands of green rayon floss were used for the accent stitches. Along the outer v's of the herringbone are three detached chains. Along the inner v's are three tiny straight stitches.
I used up the thread in my needle with only about a half inch of the herringbone left to do. Instead of rethreading the needle for that short space, I decided to do a wandering branch motif trailing down both patches. It starts at the lower point of yesterday's patch. I used a strand of metallic black and a strand of gold to make the branch in chain stitch. Most of the metallic threads I've used are made with a metallic fiber wrapped around a core thread. The gold I used here is a single fiber, similar to a very fine tinsel. It breaks very easily. The best tip I ever got for using metallic fibers is to use them in shorter lengths than other threads and flosses. It helps tremendously. I only wish I had learned it before doing this project. Iridescent seed beads accent the branch.
The vertical seam is cretan stitch done with one strand of green rayon floss. A combination of French knots and detached chains are worked along each side of the seam in gold metallic thread.

Stocking Detail 3

I liked the fabric in this patch and didn't want to hide it, so I simply tacked a bow on it. The bow is cheap plastic covered in sparking glitter paint. Not the fanciest embellishment, but it works here. Four strands of gold metallic thread were used to make zig zag chain border around most of the patch. Two strands of rayon floss, each of different shade of green, were used to make the feather stitches on the lower seam.

Stocking Detail 2

Three seams make up the toe area. On the far left, I used a strand of red rayon thread with a strand of gold metallic thread to do buttonhole stitches with alternating bar lengths. With only the red thread, I added French knots to the shorter buttonhole stitches. To the longer buttonhole stitches, I added a pistil stitch flanked by detached chains.
The seam on the right is a variation of feather stitch done in black. I received the thread in a swap, so I'm not sure what it is. It's not really metallic, but not soft like floss. It feels a bit like nylon, but it frays. Along the feathers are French knots done with two strands of rayon thread, each a different shade of green.
The horizontal seam is closed feather stitch done with a pearl thread. Gold seed beads accent the seam.

And since he doesn't make for much of a detail on his own, here is a close up of the little cat charm above the last seam.

Stocking Detail 1

I started this motif by sewing on the frog charm. I wanted to give him a bit of substance, so I added stitching around him. I used a metallic thread and stem stitch to create a lily pad under the frog. The flower was made with 4mm silk ribbon and a chip bead.

Crazy Quilt Stockings

It's that time of year again. The time when I dig out all the unfinished Christmas projects and promise myself this will be the year they are finished. I skipped it last year because I had a new baby in the house. This year, I make no promises. I'll get done what I can, and there's always next year.

Several years ago, I started a set of crazy quilted Christmas stockings for my family. There isn't really much left to do with the embellishments. Once that's done, they'll just need to be assembled. The biggest task to get these finished this year is making another one. When I started them, I only needed four. Now, there are five of us. Each one is different with a separate theme for the person it was created for. That will make creating a new one easier. I don't have to worry about matching the style and fabrics, only shape.

In the spirit of giving and to help keep me focused, I've decided to do a series of blog posts about this project. My goal is to post a detail photo with a description of the stitches and embellishments used. Daily would be ideal, but my husband and I are spending our weekends house hunting. So, Monday through Friday is more likely.

I'll start things off with a full shot of my daughter's stocking. Hers is the most Christmasy. She chose red and green for her colors. Her theme is cats and frogs, her favorite animals. Clicking on the photo will bring up a larger view.

Welcome Fall

Okay, so fall is working its way into winter, but here it is anyway. I made this wreath with a craft group I'm a part of. When I moved a couple of months ago, I didn't keep any of the previous wreaths I made. So, when my group decided to make wreaths, I splurged a little and had fun with it. Even still, the supplies only ran around $15.

Pink & Green Crazy Quilt Block

I've returned to the pink and green CQ block that I began embellishing during Sharon's encrusted crazy quilting class earlier this year. It's always interesting to see a block develop. I can nudge it in one direction or another, but each one seems to take on a life of its own.This one has strong angular lines. I may be able to soften them up a bit with further seam embellishment. We'll see what happens.

Here are a couple of details still in progress:

The first shows last week's TAST stitch, Zig Zag Spanish Knotted stitch. It took a while to get into the rhythm of this stitch. I later realized that I left out a step, but it isn't terribly obvious. I'll get it right next time. I used Caron Wildflowers thread for this stitch and couched down some fluffy knitting fibers with it. Along one side, I've added cast on stitches. I've used cast on stitches before and never managed to make them neat. The light bulb finally went off as I was doing the last stitch. By passing the thread through the fabric on the other side of the starting point, the stitch is anchored all neat and tidy. I probably won't rip these out and redo them, but now I know the trick for next time.

This week's TAST includes variants of the Pekinese stitch. Here, I've done two rows of double Pekinese stitch with different lengths of back stitch. I plan to lace the rows also, but haven't chosen a thread yet. Look for that in the next update. I'm not sure I like how much space the bottom row takes out of the brocade patch. I'll be keeping an eye on that space more as this block develops. I'm starting to see fine golden spider webs around the edges of this patch, open in the center.

Progress on the Blue CQ Block

I've added another TAST stitch to my blue CQ block. It is the drizzle stitch, which I've admired but never attempted. I was put off by the whole idea of having to rethread the needle so much. However, it is a stitch with great character. So for the challenge, I went ahead with it.
A needle threader might have been useful, but it really wasn't so bad. Finicky threads aren't so fun, though. The first two photos show different angles of the drizzle stitch done with a silk blend knitting thread with very little twist. I cast on twelve times for each of these stitches.
The next two photos show the drizzle stitch as more of an accent to another area of stitching. I used a number 8 pearl cotton for these. At the bottom of each silk ribbon flower, I did one drizzle stitch with eight cast ons and one with four cast ons. The photo to the left also shows a larger drizzle stitch cluster from the earlier photos for comparison. That thread is a little larger, somewhere between the sizes of a 5 and 8 pearl cotton.

This next photo is a close up of just the area with the smaller drizzle stitches.





The last photo shows the whole block as it is now. The embroidery is mostly done and I will be moving on to other embellishments. On to the beads, buttons, motifs, and such.

New scarf

The first scarf is finished from my recent stash acquisition. It was made with Lion Suede and Bernat Bling Bling. I picked out a pretty textured stitch from a knitting stitch encyclopedia for the body of the scarf. When it was long enough, I crocheted chain stitch loops for the fringe.

MeMe

I've been tagged by Candi for my first MeMe! Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.


Now for the 7 facts about me:

1. I love God.

2. I have three children, ages 17, 14, and 1. I love each one of them the most.

3. I have the best husband. We've been together for 10 years. I love him more every day.

4. At 4 months old, we discovered the baby was allergic to wheat. Some friends suggested she had already gotten most of the benefit from nursing, so I should give her formula and continue eating whatever I wanted. I never had to think about it. I gave up everything with wheat in it. The list is quite extensive and includes sandwiches, pizza, cookies, crackers, and almost everything that comes from a can or box. With a few exceptions, I cook nearly everything from scratch. As a result, I have lost an extra 30 pounds after losing the baby weight and we are much healthier. The baby just had her first birthday. She shows no sign of wanting to give up nursing yet.

5. There is only one thing I miss since giving up wheat. My husband and I had a traditional date night of Chinese take out and a rented movie. We've gone on fancier dates, but that was always my favorite. Unfortunately, Chinese food is full of wheat. It's in the soy sauce.

6. I have more projects planned and/or started than I could possibly finish anytime soon. They include all sorts of things: knitting, traditional quilts, crazy quilts, doll clothes, paintings, scrapbooks, ornaments.

7. I met my husband online. At the time, we lived on opposite sides of the country.

And for the 7 people I tag:
Ati
Mindy
Lori
Jo in NZ
JoWynn
LinMoon
Carol-Anne

Blue CQ Details, TAST

I've worked a bit more on my blue crazy quilt block. With so much going on, I am just not dedicated to one project at a time. Crazy quilting is nice to work on a bit here and there to relax between other projects. These blocks also take longer because I have no finished project in mind for them. They simply exist to enjoy the process. When I finish enough blocks, I'll figure out what to do with them.

This first detail shows my variation on the linked chain stitch. This was a TAST stitch a couple of weeks ago. I probably should have started with the actual stitch, but I'll get around to that sooner or later. When I read through the original TAST post describing this stitch, I kept thinking it might be interesting with an extra chain. So my version has the twisted chain alternating with a set of three chains.

This next detail includes the twisted satin stitch. I started with straight stitches in yellow cotton pearl #5. Then I added the twist stitch with a light brown silk thread that is much thinner. I like the effect in this spot, but if I use this stitch again I will try it with pearl for both parts of the stitch.




The last detail shows a seam with different stitches built up in layers. It started with the feather stitch in variegated thread. I added pistol stitches with the pale silver thread and then fly stitches with navy silk floss.

Beads or glitz to come later.

I started embellishing this block during SharonB's encrusted crazy quilting class in February. She's running the class again in November. If you're interested in learning more, be sure to check it out. Sharon includes tons of information and eye candy in her lessons. I thoroughly enjoyed the class.

Vickie Howell's podcast coming soon

I've just discovered Vickie Howell's blog, and soon she'll have a podcast. I must admit, I don't know anything about podcasts. I saw a few episodes of Vickie's show, Knitty Gritty, when it aired on HGTV a few months ago. It's normally on DIY network, which I don't get. Maybe this is good incentive to learn about podcasts.

Dolly

Haven't finished the clothes yet, but here's the finished dolly for my angel's birthday.

Crazy Quilt Blog

A Wagonwife's Life

This blog was mentioned on one of the yahoo groups and is pretty cool. It has nice photos and how-to info on techniques for embellishing a crazy quilt.

Littlest Angel's Birthday Dolly

Another new project, but one that will be finished this week. My little angel is having her first birthday on Friday. Her daddy drew the face for her dolly. I spent the last couple nights embroidering it after she went to sleep. It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by.

Scarf Knitting

I started knitting another scarf last week. The stitch pattern comes from the Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns. Some of the stitch's design is lost with this yarn, but it produces a wonderful texture and scalloped sides. Lion suede yarn is soft and will make a cozy scarf.

Knitting

As I mentioned in my post about the new yarn stash, I have a plan. The plan is to use the glitzy new yarn in combination with other yarns in my stash and make holiday gifts. I'm thinking of scarves, hats, purses, and maybe shawls or throw pillows. This is the first project on the needles. It's a simple garter stitch scarf. Narrow stripes of blue Bling Bling are paired with stripes of cream chenille which get progressively wider in the center and narrower on the ends. The chenille is quite slippery on size 13 needles, but it has a nice lacy look.

Clay Quilt Shop

Found on the Lazy Girl blog:

Quilt shop in polymer clay.

Stash Aquisition

During my recent move, I made the mistake of sharing a few revelations with my wonderful husband. Going through the stash in preparation for packing revealed that I have more than I could possibly use in the near future. This is even more true now that I have a toddler again.

Lugging all of the stash around the old apartment while packing, onto the truck, into storage, onto another truck, into the new apartment, and then into its new home in the new apartment... all of this revealed to me that I have much too much. With the prospect of doing this all again when we buy our house next year, I decided to use up as much as I could before that. This shouldn't be too much of a stretch. I have a list a mile long of planned projects. Many of them intended for gifts, so the finished item won't have to be moved again. The biggest challenge is the time factor.

Towards the end of the move, I ran out of space and time and had to throw away some stash. Nothing that can't easily be replaced. Nothing worth crying over. Some batting and pillow forms. A box of miscellaneous craft supplies left over from previous projects and not since used. The revelation here is that a good sale is only a bargain if the acquired stash is put to good use. Otherwise, the costs of stashing it just become too much. Those costs being to some degree the obvious waste of money, but more so the loss of space, my husband's frustration, the lengthening list of projects and ideas that leads to them being set aside and forgotten about.

All of this led to my decision to use up what I have and not buy any more stash... at least until I have finished a few projects and after we buy our house. Telling my husband about this decision was not very smart. It has not even been a month yet and I have already succumbed to the lure of bargain stash.

We were doing some shopping after church last Sunday. I spotted the Michael's sale flyer. They had advertised a clearance sale on yarn, only $1 per skein. You should have seen the look of dismay on my husband's face when I suggested we stop and check it out. He reminded me of all the aforementioned things that I had shared with him. I pointed out that I had just mailed out eight packages of squishies to cq list buddies to share and lessen the stash. Doesn't that count for anything? He suggested I finish a project first like I had planned. I argued that it wouldn't hurt to just pop in and see what they had. It probably wouldn't be anything I wanted anyway. And then I did it. I pouted. It was not my finest moment. I tried to take it back. I told him not to worry about it, I could stop by on my own some other time. It was too late. My husband cannot resist the dreaded pout. I'm not proud, but here is what I found...














I was a little right. Most of what was in the clearance bin was not anything I wanted. It was mostly Lion Brand fun fur, fancy fur and boa, a few skeins of twister and a few skeins of ribbon yarn. What I did find was this Bernat bling bling. It has such a nice texture and sparkle. The pale blues on the right are baby lash yarn. One of the black and white skeins is Moda Dea swirl. It was the only one left. At $1 per skein, I just couldn't pass these up. I am so weak. But not to worry, I have a plan. :)

Blue CQ Details, TAST

Take a Stitch Tuesday ran with the crested chain stitch a few weeks back. It looked interesting and I wanted to try it, but I didn't know where. I was also offline for a while and couldn't access the directions while I was stitching. Well, I am back online now and finally found a place to try it. I did have to redo a part of it that was too crooked on the curve, but I like this stitch and plan to use it more. It adds a good deal of texture and interest. Here, the stitch was worked with rayon floss, fairly closely spaced, and over some couched fibers.

In this detail, the original line of buttonhole stitches felt too straight and had too harsh a contrast of values. So, I added some lacing over the buttonhole stitches. The lacing thread was a silk tweed knitting yarn. I don't do much with lacing stitches, but I am pleased with the result here. The lacing pattern produced a nice wave like look and toned down the value contrast. It turned out so nicely that it's a shame it doesn't contrast more with the dark fabric underneath. I may try to enhance it a bit by adding small gold accent stitches or beads.

Back in Action

After my recent move, I am finally getting settled and back to blogging. The new apartment wasn't ready until a week after we left the old apartment. So, everything went into storage and we went to visit my grandmother for a week. She was thrilled to have us and we had a wonderful visit. I took one project with me to work on. Only one fit in the car with all the baby gear. I chose the blue crazy quilt block that I started embellishing during Sharon's encrusted crazy quilting class last February. She is offering this class again in a few weeks and I highly recommend it. Her instructions are great for beginners and seasoned crazy quilters interested in applying design concepts to their crazy quilting. This is the progress I've made so far. None of the seams are really finished yet, but there are a couple of things to highlight.

The white wavy seam is my attempt at the Portuguese Stem Stitch for Take A Stitch Tuesday. It wasn't done correctly as I was working from memory, but it is some variation of knotted stem stitch. Now that my internet access has been restored and I can stitch with the instructions, I will have to give this stitch another try.

The chevron seam has straight stitches along side it. The idea was to continue the geometric shapes from the patch above it. This is my first try at doing this purposely. I'll be working at this more as my muse permits.

This next seam is a herringbone stitch with buttonhole stitches done over it. I've tried it once before, but I like this one better. I used a #5 pearl cotton for the herringbone. Then the buttonhole was done with 2 strands of the new DMC color variations embroidery floss. If you haven't seen this combination of stitches, Annie has instructions on her blog.

There are several things going on here. On the left seam is branches feather stitch that will have white stitches or beads added later. A fancy twist of fibers was couched down around a printed angel picture. I've started a meandering filler design with detached chain stitches on the right. Along the edge of teal lace, I started with a wide cretan stitch and then added rich yellow straight stitces for an accent. The yellow was picked up from the printed patch and will be repeated as an accent throughout the block.

My First Quilt

I started making quilts a few years ago. The first was for my son's birthday. It's a simple nine patch. The quilting comes from my crazy quilt background. I used crochet cotton and did a herringbone stitch along the edges of the nine patch blocks. The back is microfleece and it is very soft and cozy.

Bit by the knit bug

I've finished the back of a sweater for M. I'm following a knitty.com pattern with a couple of adjustments and different yarns. I'm not the fastest knitter, but it's coming along nicely.

Jayne Hats

My wonderful husband is a Firefly fan. He reads forums about prop making and came across patterns for Jayne's hat. I agreed to make him one. After several trips to the craft store and buying multiple skeins of various yarns for him to choose from, I have managed to knit him a hat that he is proud to wear. I put extra effort into reproducing the hat with its straggly bits instead of trying to improve on the design. The ear flaps curl up and have strings hanging. The whole thing is loose and floppy. But, wonderful husband feels loved and that is what counts.


I then proceeded to make a not-quite-matching hat for our little angel. I used soft cotton yarn in baby girl colors. She seems to like it, but she doesn't keep hats on her head. This is fine for now as it is currently the hottest part of summer here. When winter comes we will try to keep it on her head longer.