Tag Archives: Quilting

In addition to knitting and crochet, I also like to quilt. So if you are interested in quilting, all those details are cataloged here.

Ravelry Makes Me Feel Incompetent

Posted on
Reply

It’s a bad addiction, this ravelry thing. I spend far too much time on there oogling other projects and stumbling upon patterns that I absolutely must make. It really becomes a hinderance. I look at my current projects and I slowly become uninterested in them. I really need to throw away my bookmark and tell myself not to look at ravelry again until I have complete a few projects and am ready to start fresh. But yeah right, that’s not going to actually happen.

I just need to control what it is that I surf ravelry for. If I just stick to forums and don’t click the pattern/project links, I won’t have any trouble. I’ve currently got 4 WIPs and that is more than enough for my plate. If I could only get them finished in a timely manner then restrict myself to only 2 at a time, I’d be doing a whole lot better. 

I have too many ideas and ambitions and I just don’t have the time to knit fast enough to follow through with all those ideas. For instance: I still want to make the crochet hexagon blanket and I’ve even gone so far as to purchase the pattern book (in Japanese no less) for it. I have yarn sitting in my stash waiting for me to do the rectangular granny afghan. I also would love to make a ripple blanket. And lets not forget the countless items in my ravelry queue and favorites (for maybe some day). 

I’m sure every knitter has these issues, but it really does overwhelm me the amount of stuff I want to make or have pending to make (meaning I have pattern and yarn patiently waiting for the cast on). And I can’t seem to finish anything fast enough for my liking. Once I cast on a new project, it’s like a race to the finish so that I can start a new project. 

I managed to get down to 2 WIPs and I told myself I wouldn’t cast on anything else. 2 WIPs were more than enough. I’d prefer 1, but I know that’s unreasonable. There’s no way I can knit a lace shawl while watching tv, so why not use that time to work on a pair of socks, for instance. But anyway, somehow, I didn’t listen to the niggling voice in my head telling me to wait. And I ended up casting on 2 more projects. So now I have 4, 2 of which are pretty labor intensive…one a lace shawl that requires concentration and no interruptions while I count and recite the stitch pattern out loud as I knit. The other is DH’s afghan which is just going to take a while, no matter how I look at it. Mindless tv knitting, but I’m making it extra long and wider than suggested because I have a 6’1″ tall husband.

The other two are somewhat simpler, but not really. The cardigan is simple, I’m just knitting a sleeve…pretty basic structure there and I’ve got the stitch pattern down. Just a matter of doing it, so I can seam it up and move on. The cabled bag is time consuming…doing two repeats of each row in a 12 row cabled stitch pattern takes time. But I’m 1/2 way through it, so the project is moving right along. I can see these two being finished fairly quickly. I will finish them both before I cast on for anything else.

Then I’ll have 3 projects going. Because once the bag and the cardigan are finished, I will immediately cast on for my sister’s wedding afghan. This is my mammoth project. Probably the biggest I’ve done to date. But as I mentioned, I really need to get the other two projects done first. Ugh!

I also have hopes of knitting some towels for Christmas. I still have yet to start on the baby’s Christmas stocking, which I bought the kit for back in January. And I want to start working on my quilting again now that mom has given me a decent sewing machine.

It’s really a good thing my husband both supports and encourages my hobbies.

Chamomile

Posted on
Reply

Believe it or not, I finished the front of Chamomile and cast on the back. I also did the first two rows (to establish the ribbing pattern). Woohoo! I’m of course paranoid that I will run out of yarn because mine is coming out bigger than what the pattern says. My gauge is off, but it’s off on all the pieces so when I put them together it will all match, it will just be bigger which is fine by me. I like loose sweaters, I just hope I have enough yarn to finish it. I have 2 1/3 skeins left.

Anyway, I also started on the second sock during the past week. I have 5 more rows of ribbing to do on the band, then I start the leg in stockinette. So I’m actually making some progress on my projects and it feels great. I actually enjoyed working on Chamomile this morning.

In other news, I worked on my quilt some more today also. I have all the strips done to form the units that make up the blocks. 4 units make up one block and I have 42 blocks. I just have to sew the three strips together to make the units. That won’t be as easy…I have to make my corners line up as best as possible and I know that it’s going to be a little tough on some of the pieces. I may have to rip some of the seams and redo them to get things to line up.

Tying a Quilt

Posted on
Reply

After doing a little research and thinking about it for a few days, I’m starting to lean towards the idea of tying my first quilt rather than quilting it. I’m pretty convinced that hand quilting is not the best choice for a queen size quilt, especially my first one. And since I’ve not quilted before, I probably should machine quilt it. My mom suggested sending it off to be quilted but I don’t want to do that. Cost way too much and then I can’t say I did it all myself. So my best choice as a beginner on such a large quilt is most likely to tie it. I’ve read up on how to tie it…every 3-4 inches, which works out well because of the quilt design. And it’s going to be a bed quilt, so it won’t have too much rough handling. So that decision is done. I will be tying this first quilt of mine. I’ll leave the machine quilting for a smaller project since I’ve never done that before.

Quilt Pieces Cut

Posted on
Reply

Quilt Pieces

Here are all the pieces for my quilt top. All cut…now the fun begins in piecing it together. Blocks are 12″. There are 42 blocks layed out 6×7 and it makes a full/queen size quilt.

My New Sewing Room

Posted on
Reply

Sewing Room

Here is my sewing room. I got home from work yesterday and it was all set up. Ok, this isn’t the whole room, but it’s just the main sewing area. On one wall there is a queen-sized bed for guests, because this room also doubles as the guest room. Next to the bed, there is an old secretary that used to be his grandmother’s. I use it to keep all my magazines and books. Next to the secretary is another plastic drawer thing like the one in the picture above. It holds most of my yarn stash. The one in the picture is mainly empty because my DH took it from the computer room. He dumped all the computer stuff that was in it into his old filing cabinet, just so I could use it for more storage. The room also has a window and two small closets. One of the closets has more yarn (2 big boxes full of yarn for 2 separate projects) and my cross-stitch supplies. It also has my old sewing machine (that used to be my mom’s). In between the two small closets is a window. There under the window is a 4-drawer chest that I’m going to clean out so that I’ll have even more storage and a small 13″ TV. So I can watch my soaps or Food TV while I sew. :) I’m so happy with my new sewing area. My DH said he has his craft garage (he uses the garage as his workshop) and now I have my craft room. Of course he also put in an order. I told him now I’d have to go shopping so I could start on my quilt, and he said I have to make 2 queen-sized quilts, one for each bed. So I have my work cut out for me. And yes, I plan to go fabric shopping this weekend.

My First Quilt

Posted on
Reply

I’ve picked the pattern for my first quilt. It’s an Oklahoma Twister from the February 2006 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. I totally love it! And my LQS has that triangle paper that makes it easy to do all those triangles. So I think I’ll be out shopping this weekend…need to get my triangle paper and fabric. I’m so excited! I can’t wait to start working on it. I’ll make sure to post pics of my progress. I saw two other quilts in that same magazine that I think I’d like to make, so those have been marked for future project ideas. Wow! All these projects are going to make my head spin. Between knitting, crochet, quilting and cross-stitch, I’ve got a lot on my plate. Not to mention scrapbooking. Sheesh…so much to do and so little time. Darn job…it’s just interfering with my hobbies. LOL!

Anyway, last night I purchased my sewing table with my Christmas money. I got it at Wal-Mart so it isn’t fancy, but it is perfect for me. I don’t have much space as it is. It comes with a cushioned stool so I don’t have to drag the computer chair from room to room. That will be nice. Now we just have to rearrange the guest room so that everything fits nice and I have a feng shui workspace. LOL! Right now, everything is just sort of thrown in the room and it isn’t the most productive placement.