On and off the Needles - 11/30/12

I was able to finish this pair of big black socks for my oldest son. This is the 3rd pair I've made. Simple 2 X 2 rib down the leg.

So I felt I deserved a reward for this finish and contemplated casting on one of these new beauties I picked up on Wednesday at Knit On in Newport, Ky.

I've never knitted with the Fame Trend on the left or the Jarbo on the right but I did go to Ravelry and check out what others have made with them and they both  look great.  I'm thinking a shawl with the Fame Trends and socks with the Jarbo. That Opal in the middle will be a pair of lacy or patterned socks and the yellow at the bottom is from jwrayco and may grow up to be socks or a shawl. I haven't decided. I just looked at the tag on this skein and realized it was dyed in Nevada, MO... isn't that the town Judy L used to live in? Its a small world.

But then I remembered I have several socks without mates languishing in my WIP basket and instead I cast on the 2nd sock for this pair.

This is Lorna's Laces  colorway In the Wind and it a plain vanilla stockinette sock - mindless knitting which sounds very relaxing. And in a week or so this should become a great new pair of socks.

Well I have lots of plans for my weekend. I want to finish those Big Stars for Nick and I want to get the binding on my Christmas quilt so I can take it to the guild meeting Monday night.  Hope that you and I both have happy, productive weekends!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

All I want for Christmas....

well, I have my two front teeth, but I don't have an 11 foot inflatable reindeer whose head moves back and forth!!

Oh my goodness, I came across this guy at Walmart in the garden center and he immediately captured my heart. Now there really is no justifiable reason for purchasing an 11 foot reindeer except I think it is hilarious. I would love to see this guy in front of my son's house because the scale and proportion would be FUNNY! My son's house is a one story, low slung house and it would tower over the house. My son thinks I'm a bit unstable but not certifiable..... yet.... but maybe in the near future - LOL! I haven't gone and bought one, but I giving it serious thought.

On the sewing front, I've had a change of direction and those soft Fig Tree Marigold blocks have made way for these BIG stars.

Yep, these are just like the Big Debbie Stars but I'm calling these Big Nick Stars for my youngest son. He asked for a new quilt for his bed and picked these blocks and fabrics. Nick rarely asks me to do something quilty for him so I wanted to jump right on this. I'm going to make 9 blocks and do sashing. I want to get this done in time to take it to the guild meeting Monday night so I can pass it off to my long arm quilter, Cass. And there is nothing as motivating as a looming deadline. I should be able to pull it off.

Nick picked all the fabric for this quilt. He chose tone on tone and patterns that were not girly and he did a good job. All the reds and blacks came from my stash. I did have to get some more of that Moda Marbles background but it is another almost free quilt. I like that!


Off to get the last 3 blocks sewn - happy stitching!

carol fun

Take two on Design Wall Monday

I have truly enjoyed this holiday weekend. There was a big tasty meal on Thursday and then lots of stitching, knitting and sewing time. Since I finished the Big Debbie Stars I was looking for a new project and this quilt called out the loudest from its giant ziploc bag. This is the Marigolds pattern by Fig Tree, you can see it here.

I've made mine a bit bigger and this is the first version I put up on my design wall.

I love the fabrics. I used several Fig Tree collections - Buttercup, California Girl and Tapestry. I got all the individual units together late on Friday night and put them on my design wall and went off to bed. When I got up on Saturday and looked at this top with fresh eyes I was surprised that it didn't look like I had pictured it in my mind....all I saw were big red x's! The pretty Marigold flower blocks had been swallowed up by the coral-y red sashing. Definitely not what I wanted.(The picture doesn't really show how strong that coral fabric is...trust me it was in your face in real life.)

So after a trip to Fabric Shack in Waynesville for the purchase of some new sashing fabric I had this version....now this is what I was going for - a soft vintage look - and the buttery yellow tone is an added bonus for me. You know how yellow is my favorite color!

I got that upper left corner sewed together. I'm also very happy with the background fabric I used. This is PearlEssence by Galaxy for EE Schenck Company.

Can you see the shimmer of the scrolls? Very pretty. I got this at Fabric Shack too. I may have to go back again (such a hardship -LOL) and see if I can get some more. I hope to have some time to assemble this top this week.

Hope your week is fun and productive!
Happy stitching-
carol fun

Slow stitching on Sunday

Well Thursday seemed like a Saturday, and then Friday seemed like Sunday, but then Saturday came around again. Sheesh....I'm glad my cell phone tells me what day of the week it actually is. Anyway after the big meal on Thursday I planted myself in my cushy chair and stitched the day away, and this is what I have to show for it.

I "built" a house and started digging a pond -- not bad for no heavy lifting. This is a new sampler by Barbara Ana Designs called "Remember Me". I'm stitching it on a lovely 32 ct. peachy brown piece of R & R Breakfast Blend linen and I'm using Valdani 6 ply floss.

Here's a picture of the completed chart.

I love the quirkiness of this piece - the giant lady, the big flowers and adorable collection of animals. But what really sent me over the moon was the chickens...did you see them in the bottom right and left corners? Cute cute cute!!

Now there are a bunch of other all ready started projects I could be working on but this is the one that is talking to me and I am listening - LOL!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great week ahead.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you all the best on this lovely Thanksgiving day!

carol fun

Mr. Gobbles

So do you have all your Thanksgiving prepartions done? No, me neither. I have several dishes I still need to work on and while the spirit is willing right now the flesh is weak and tired. Instead I thought I'd sit down and share my newest Thanksgiving decoration --Mr. Gobbles!

Isn't he adorable? He was a gift from my friend Lois in Nebraska and she has really outdone herself this time. Mr. Gobbles (that's what I named him) stands about 10" tall and is about 10" wide - great proportions, similar to my body type but lets not go into that now. He is going to look wonderful as my centerpiece tomorrow.

Along with Mr. Gobbles Lois sent a cute card with the following verse:

Hip Hip Hooray for Turkey Day

May your stuffing be tasty

And your turkey plump.

May your potatoes and gravy

Have nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious

And your pies take the prize.

But most of all my dear friend

May your Thanksgiving dinner

Stay off of your thighs!

A sentiment we can all embrace.... Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And now I'm trudging back to the kitchen.

carol fun 

Big Debbie Stars on Design Wall Monday

Drum roll please!! Big Debbie Stars!!

By the time I got the sashing on it got too big for my design wall, so this picture has it laying on the floor of my foyer and I'm hanging over the banister to take the shot. Oh I am in love with this quilt! Now this is a free quilt - ALL of the fabrics came from my stash. ALL 91 different Debbie Mumm fabrics! I am so thankful for my stash!

By piecing the sashing strips with 2 fabrics per 24" block I was able to showcase lots of novelties that make me happy!

Button-y vines, holly, Christmas trees, Peace on Earth, kittys and Fall leaves.

Baskets, evergreens, fruit, gingerbread guys, ladybug (this is about the last of this one I have - oh how I wish she'd reprint this one), pumpkins, polka dot chickens, chicken wire and vines.

More dotty chickens, presents, vines, words of friendship, sweet girlfriends, plaid gingerbread guys, tiny buttons, watermelon and letters.

Popcorn garlands and cardinals, the Joy of Quilting (I loved that collection), sprinkles and more buttons.

More sprinkles, sunflowers, cute Christmas words, a dotty doggie, button-y vines and vine-y
sunflowers.

Button eyes (from a Raggedy Ann collection), baskets, a dotty kitty, stars, pie and dotty chickens.

And a grand finale of bigger dotty chickens!

It even amazes me how many dotty chickens I have in my stash. Over the years I have made at least 20 quilts exclusively using Debbie Mumm fabrics...and I may have another 20 still on my list of quilts I want to make. However, at the moment I'm going to switch gears and the next quilt I'm working on is using  Moda's Fig Tree fabrics  - soft blues, greens, corals, tans, yellows.   A change of pace.

Hope your Thanksgiving preparations are going smoothly. I'm hitting the grocery store today and Costco tomorrow and with any luck I won't have to go into  a retail establishment until the weekend.

Happy stitching!
carol fun