First Blog of 2011!

Happy to be back at quilting again after a 2 week break over Christmas and New Years! LOL!

What have I been doing? Well actually I have been focusing more on knitting and I decided it was time to learn to make miter blocks. It is quite simple, if you have good directions.

My first attempt at a 4 miter block dishcloth was a disaster! I had to pull it all out 3 times before I got it right. (Finally had to look at the directions for making a mitered afghan on a different page in the knitting magazine.)

Then once I got going correctly, I realized that the finished product was destined to become  a  10" or 11"square dishcloth (or bigger), far too big for my liking, so I pulled it all out again and tried casting on less stitches. To make a long story even longer, I finally succeeded in completing a mitered dishcloth approximately  7 inches square which, to my mind, is a more useful and manageable size.

 Next knit project, learning to knit socks! Yup, I'm going to give it another attempt as soon as my sock yarn arrives in the mail. More about that later! :)

I AM currently working on a quilting project. I decided to make some 'scrappy' rectangle blocks out of the leftover black on white and white on black fabric which I had used in the Christmas quilt (Paradigm Shift - see December blog) that I had made recently. I'm using them in some place mats.

(Yes, thank you for asking, I AM getting a bit tired of making place mats, but these are destined to be a birthday gift for a male family member in the near future, during a month of the year that I rarely get the time to quilt because I am then dedicating most of my spare time to gardening. So I like to get a jump on things.)  They are turning out pretty well, I think.

I have 7 place mats in various stages of completion. Yes, it's a 'odd' number and I will likely cobble together some extra blocks in the end, in order to make an 8th one. I'm afraid noses might be out of join over that number though, since other past recipients of sets of place mats from me only got 6 each.... Oh well, tough! This individual had to wait the longest for his set so I guess he deserves one (or two) extra! That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)

I want to tell you about my visit to the quilt store in town yesterday.... It was very cold outside with snow coming down out of the heavens and gathering in menacing drifts on the highway. I had seen the grader come by the house not long before, which gave me false bravado to combat the elements!  By the time I realized how awful the weather truly was, I was already halfway to town. Might as well keep going, I thought to myself, as I'm creeping along the highway at 70km and slowing down even more whenever a vehicle approached me, due to the fact it was hard to see where the edge of the road was... But I was feel brave because I do have winter tires on the car and my AMA membership is all paid up.  In between watching what I could see of the road, I entertained myself with visions of, no, not sugar plums...  bolts of brightly colored fabrics, pretty little "fat quarters", sturdy 9 inch wedge rulers, fluffy white inner batting and shiny new thread the colors of sugar plums! :)

I made it safely to town and parked in front of the quilt store, my first stop on a list of errands to do. I eagerly rushed inside and took my time looking around and deciding what I wanted to buy. My thoughtful, generous husband had given me a $200 gift certificate for Christmas and I felt like the sky was the limit!

I managed to find quite an array of "fat quarters", three more than what I actually needed in order to create a beautiful table runner made up of half circles for which I have directions given to me by a fellow quilter friend of mine who I'll call WR.  ( In case it's unclear what 'fat quarters' are, they are a quarter of a yard of fabric about 20" by 20" square, used in a variety of quilting projects.)
I also found a few pink ones which I am planning on using for a pink baby quilt made up of half and half log cabin blocks  (similar idea to the black and white, half and half blocks in my Paradigm Shift Christmas quilt, remember?

The idea of having this big gift certificate in my purse made me bold and I bought a $40 kit to make a beautiful Towne Purse by Lazy Girl Designs, which comes with the fabric already chosen and cut, along with the necessary zipper and of course the directions. Normally I don't like someone else to choose  fabrics for me, but I loved the 3 that were chosen for this kit! (Mostly all browns and golds.)

For a minute or two I started thinking practically; I could probably just use some of the fabrics from my own stash to make a purse....  I did hesitate for a bit thinking of the directions I already had in one of my quilting magazines for a purse... but the "No Fear Zipper technique" and the "loaded with 10 pockets" on the front of the directions is what sold me!  I'm a sucker for a purse with lots of pockets and I have yet to sew in my first zipper....

"Anyway," I justified to myself, "Once you have these directions you can use your own fabric to make other purses for other female friends and family members' birthday and Christmas gifts."  :)

I succeeded in finding everything on my list and more! (Isn't that always the way!?)  After ringing in all my careful choices, the grand total came to $205! A bargain at only $5 (of my own money, that is)...  I happily staggered to my car across the street, under my heavy load of purchases, only to find the car hidden under a huge, thick blanket of fluffy snow! Had I been in there THAT long??

I juggled my purse and my big bag around until I could blindly reach into my purse outer pocket for my car keys, then unlocked the door and dropped everything into the back seat. I got the snow brush out of the trunk and proceeded to brush the snow off the car, almost as fast as Mother Nature was spreading more of it on! At the same time the wind kept blowing the snow back in my face and onto my open, black wool coat where it stuck. After circling the car several times, I finally succeeded in transferring most of the snow from the hood and the windows into the wind and onto my coat.
"Good enough", I thought, as I hopped into the driver's seat and dropped the snow brush on the floor in the back seat.  Time to make my way home while the highway was still visible. 

One stop at the post office on the way home to pick up the mail. I was pleased to see a parcel card in our mail box and was even happier once the parcel was handed over to me to see it was the Quilt Design for Macs CD I had ordered on the internet over the Christmas weekend!  Yahoo! Something new to try out in the coming weeks, indoors in the warmth and comfort of my home, while Mother Nature throws her temper tantrums outside, blasting us with more snow than we have seen in a long time.
 Let it rip! :)