WIP--Pleasingly Black Shawl

I have no new finished projects to share this week.  This is my current knitting project which I have been working on for weeks now.  Still have many weeks to go as it is only about half finished. The pattern is Pleasing Reversibility in Lace by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer.  The yarn is Shibui Knits Silk Cloud which is very soft.  The yarn can be difficult (as least for me) to frog (or unknit) when I make a mistake.  One reason it is so slow going.  It’s going to be lovely when finished.

Fantasy Footwear -- Part Three

Let me refer you back to the these two previous posts (beginning, part 2) for the back story of this quilt.  It took me a while to decide how I wanted to do the actual quilting.  As you may notice in the photos below I made a few false starts with my marking.  I'll have to be careful when doing the quilting to not take a wrong turn onto those false start marks.  I finally settled on a circle around the shoe.  Inside the circle will be hatch quilting in a horizontal direction.  Outside the circle will be hatch quilting on a 45 degree angle.  The shoe will be outline quilted.  All of that will be done with white thread.  Then I will most likely do some additional quilting on top of the larger green leaves and tulips, we'll see.

In this photo, you can see the freezer paper I used to sketch my quilt design (after I had made the earlier false starts).   I marked the actual quilt using the freezer paper to get my outside square marked, then trimmed each corner from the circle and marked the circle.

And here is one corner marked.  I don’t plan to mark the inner hatch marks until I have stitched around the shoe and stitched the circle plus another inner circle 1/4 inch from the original circle.

Fantasy Footwear -- Part Two

See the prior post for the back story on this quilt work-in-progress.  After placing all the small pieces and fusing them into place it was time to do the detail stitching.  These photos show some of the stitching.  This first one shows the entire quilt top.

This one shows the heel of the shoe which I love.

Here is the butterfly which really came alive with the stitching added.

I really like how the daffodils came out.

The tulips may need a bit more work.

And here is the toe of the shoe with the bulb sitting on it

Now it's time to put the top, batting, and backing together and come to a decision regarding just how the actual quilting will be done.

Niche in Blue Sweater

I've taken on more ambitious knitting projects this past year.  This latest project uses the pattern Niche by Norah Gaughan.  The yarn is Berroco Maya™ in blue,  color 5632.   The sweater is knitted from the left sleeve cuff to the right.  I have made it past the boat neck to the right shoulder region. I love the way the yarn feels.

Here you can see the cable a little better.

I am looking forward to wearing this one. 

Fantasy Footwear Quilt-- the Beginning

This quilt story will be told in multiple posts as I progress from the beginning to the quilt's completion.

The inspiration for this quilt came from an old Stuart Weitzman shoe ad that I tore out of a magazine (don’t recall which magazine or the year) and saved.  Recently I decided it was time for this photo to become a quilt. 

First step was enlarging the original photo.  This was done by using FedEx Kinko to enlarge the origin 400% onto one large piece of paper.  Here you can see the sheet with the enlarged photo in black and white and the origin in the upper right corner.

The next step was to use my living room window as a light box to transfer the drawing/sketch to the white background fabric.

 

As this quilt will be used as an “art piece” or “wall quilt” I decided it would be okay to use a raw edge fusing technic for fabric “puzzle pieces.”  I used Pellon EZ Steam II for my fusible web.  I used freezer paper to make a pattern for each individual piece.  I quickly discovered I really needed to think “ahead” so that the background pieces where added first.   It is best not to have to lift these small pieces and reposition them too often. 

 

 

I had to lift and trim some of the background green stems/leaves so they wouldn’t show through the light flower fabrics.  That was just a bit tricky, a little scary, but I managed to do it.  Those forceps you see in the above photo was a huge help.

 

All the fabric “puzzle pieces” are now in place.  Next stage will be doing some detail stitching before I make the quilt sandwich.

The quilt name – fantasy footwear – popped into my head as I was getting started late summer and football season was getting ready to start too.  Several stories regarding fantasy football were in the news.  It seemed so appropriate. 

Two Works in Progress

Currently I'm working on two projects.  This first one is a knitting project.  It is a lace sweater knit from the top down.  A challenge to me.  I made myself do a swatch to try to decide which size needle I needed to use to obtain the correct finished garment size.  Gauge swatches are something I still don't feel completely comfortable with, but I did two using both size 3 and size 4 needles.  I choose to use the size 4 needles.  The pattern is Alina Top Down by Lankakomero.  The yarn is  Lion Brand LB 1878 in a dark red.

The other project is a quilting one.  It is a lap size quilt using purple fabrics, the ones from the Memory Lane quilt and others from my stash. I have basted the finished top and have begun machine quilting.  The finished quilt will be 42 in square.

Here is a close up to show some of the quilt marking.

This is the stencil I plan to use for marking the border area.

Butterfly Quilt--WIP

This quilt has been a WIP off and on for years.  I purchased the butterfly blocks more than 15 yrs ago as a quilt top.  I wish I have taken a photo of the quilt top for documentation purposes, but alas I did not.   The blocks were set together with blocks of yellow fabric like this photo shows which I did not find flattering.  I undid the quilt and set the blocks aside -- 16 of them, though I have only used 12 in this quilt.  I like these fabrics, just not with the butterflies.

Soon after I sketched out a new setting which is close to what I have actually used.  I found the fabrics I wanted to use -- a dark blue with red roses for the sashing which I have since used in other projects and a beige floral with red, blue, and green which I used for other projects saving some for this one.  Unfortunately, I did not save enough and had to "make do" with another fabric for two of the blocks.  I have finished piecing the quilt top, made the quilt sandwich of top/batting/backing, and have begun the marking and quilting.   

I will mark more area than I can quilt with one bobbin of thread, do that quilting, then mark more.  I do this when I have to use chalk marking (for the dark areas) as I find it fades too much if I mark too far ahead.

Progress Note -- Charm Quilt

I finally have the charm quilt pieced.  It is basted and I have begun the quilting.  I looked through my copy of Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns but did not find this pattern.  So I still don't know the name of the pattern.

Here is a close up to show some of the quilting

Progress Notes --- WIPs

I'm making progress knitting the Swirl jacket I began over a month ago.  It's either going to be wonderful or a big mess.  Not sure at the moment.  Here's what it looks like now

Also working on a new quilting project.  It's a "repeat" of one I made a few years ago -- "You Melt My Heart."  It was inspired by Movin Meat’s post:  Fearful Symmetry.  As before, I took the EKG, printed it out, enlarged a small segment and used it for the quilt. 

The first one never sold on Etsy, so I donated it to my old medical school for the silent auction at my 30th medical school reunion.  Then I ran into a cardiologist friend, the conversation somehow turned to quilts and I showed him the photo of the quilt (based on an EKG).  He commented that he would like to make a bid on it, so I "won" the quilt at the auction and gave it to him.  I almost ended up in a bidding war with a young hospitalist who liked the quilt.  I apologized and told her why I wanted it back, she gave in.  I promised to make her another. 

Since I no longer have the same fabrics as the first version, I laid out some fabrics trying to decide on how this one should look.  I ended up choosing the two on the left for the heart.

I like this for the background but don't have enough to do the binding as well, so will need to make a trip to the fabric store and try to find something that will work as well or better.

Two WIPs

I have two projects I am currently working on.  One is another scrappy child's quilt.   This one is for a colleague who saw another one I had done.  It will be used for his grandchildren.  I pieced twelve 11 in blocks (so when sewn to the sashing will finish at 10.5 in square).  The sashing is 2.5 in wide, so when sewn to the blocks will measure 2 in wide.  Here are some photos of some of the fun details.  This first one shows robots, flowers, skiers, a red convertible.

This one shows a cat peeking out, a razorback, Tigger, a steamboat, stars.

And in this one you can see the owl in the connecting 2.5 in square, a dancing cat in a hat, a race car, carolers, trees.  

The other is an ambitious knitting project.  I’m making a swirl jacket using the pattern Sheer Beauty by Sandra McIver.   

Here I've stretched out the knitting so you can see the two yarns:  Noro Taiyo (color #28) and Malabrigo Lace in Damask (#13o).

In Progress

I’m currently working on two projects, one quilting and one knitting.   Here you can see the blocks of a new baby quilt.  I have actually finished piecing it and have begun the quilting.  The quilt will measure 42 in square when done.

The knitting project is a scarf using Blue Ridge Yarns Silk Shimmer Lace yarn (100% silk) and the pattern Three Sisters Scarves # Three by Monika Steinbauer.  

I know who will receive the baby quilt when it’s done, but I have yet to decide who will receive the scarf.  I am enjoying the process with both projects.

Old Cross Stitch Pieces and An Update

I’m still working on the Whole Cloth African quilt, so I ‘m just going to share a couple of old cross stitch pieces I did years ago.  The first one I did during medical school during my senior year pediatric rotation spent out-of-town shadowing a pediatrician in private practice.  It was good on many levels.  I loved watching him interact with his patients and their parents. 

This piece was framed at one time and hung on the walls of my apartments in Baton Rouge, Wheeling, Pittsburg, Boston, and even here in Little Rock.

This bookmark (one of the problems with e-books is these aren’t needed) I did in Boston during my plastic surgery residency.  I actually took a 6 week sailing class on the Charles River.  I haven’t done any sailing since moving back inland. 

Here’s a small segment of the Whole Cloth African quilt with the corresponding view from the back below.  The colors aren’t true in this first one.  The color is more green.
Here’s from the back.  Making progress, but at the point in the project where it’s seems to be slowed to a crawl.

WIP -- African Whole Cloth Quilt

A friend from high school gave me some gorgeous fabric from her travels.  She was cleaning out her closets and I won the lottery.  This gorgeous fabric is from the African continent (the stickers fell off so I don’t know for sure which country).   It measures approximately 56 in X 76 in (photo only shows part of it).  I couldn’t bring myself to cut it up into smaller pieces so have decided to make a whole cloth quilt. 

I felt the animals and trees needed to be three dimensional, so have opted to use the trapunto method of sewing polyfil batting to the fabric and then trimming around each piece to remove the batting from areas that aren’t meant to “stand out.” 

I then made a quilt sandwich of the quilt front, cotton batting (Hobbs), and the quilt back (which is a lovely green though the below photo has washed it out).  I am now in the process of machine quilting the piece.  I’m using outline or echo quilting.