A Knitting Blister!

You can't see it, or I would have taken a picture for you. But it's true - I have given myself a blister from knitting!

It first appeared on Tuesday, a sharp, small pain on my index finger. It felt just like a wart feels. But I haven't had a wart since Junior High!! My first thought? Ugh, I hate getting older. I even talked to my Mom about it when we went to the farmer's market that day. She agreed that getting older sucks! LOL

So, Wednesday evening, I sit down to do some knitting, as I hadn't touched it since Monday night. I had done quite a bit between Sunday and Monday night football games this past weekend. I start knitting and I hit the wart - again and again. The exact same spot that I use to hold the needle while sliding more stitches up is where I'm getting a wart? Great.

Then I thought about it a minute. That just seems too coincidental. A wart, which I haven't had in over 25 years, in the exact spot I use repeatedly while knitting? Yeah....it's not a wart, I've given myself a knitting blister! LOL

Guess it's time to take a break from the afghan and get back to work on the quilt :)

Halloween Rug?

Another project I started this summer. You all know those fabric bowls everyone is making using cotton clothesline? Well, I made a few of those this year, and decided the technique would make a wonderful rug for the kitchen.

I started pulling all the fabrics I didn't really like from my stash (you know, the ones that people gave you that you just can't figure out what to do with?) and cut them into 1/2" strips. I started with the purple pile, then got through the orange and green piles, too. At that point, I decided I'd better start actually sewing the thing before I cut any more fabrics.

This is how far I've gotten to date. As you can see, it has somehow morphed into a Halloween rug. Huh. Not exactly what I was planning - but what can I expect when I only pull oranges, greens and purples?? Yeah...I should have seen it coming.


As you can see from the closeup, I cut up an especially horrendous Charlie Brown green Halloween fabric, thinking the technique would disguise the design....I'm not sure it did.

Oh well, I'll still use it. It's going to be a rug for goodness sake - it's not like it will stay pristine very long. It's meant to be used and used up. And I'd better get back to work on it, it's not nearly large enough yet.

Felix's new favorite chair. Anytime I'm in my sewing room, he's keeping my sewing machine chair warm for me :) Looks like he's working hard at it, too :)

Candied Hexagons..

I finished all the pieces tonight to square up Candied Hexagons. I didn't snap a new pic though. However, I did measure it on the design wall and it's an odd size. It's 53" wide by 52" long. Very odd. I was hoping to make a large lap robe, something about 63" by 78". Ok, so a 5" border would fix the width issue....but I've got 26" to make up in length! I measured the height of 2 rows and found they are 15", so I think I'm going to make 2 more rows of blocks, then add a 5" border all around. That should get me to the size I need....so, 22 more blocks to go! LOL

Ugly Fabrics..

When I first started quilting 15 years ago, I remember being told that I needed to use 'ugly' fabrics in my quilts so my 'favorite' fabrics would shine. The concept, apparently, was to keep the competition down. I also remember being told that you can't use all 'favorite' fabrics in a quilt. Hmm...not that I necessarily agreed with this concept, it just never occurred to me to question it.

I didn't actually go out and buy 'ugly' fabrics for my quilts. In fact, every fabric purchase I have ever made were all 'favorite' fabrics. And I noticed that the trend in fabric usage has changed in recent years. I read blogs all the time that show absolutely gorgeous quilts where the maker claims every piece of fabric is a 'favorite' to her. I'm thinking specifically of the Australian quilters right now. They just have a flair for bright, happy, gorgeous quilts. And there isn't an 'ugly' fabric to be found. Of course, this isn't limited to Australian quilters, we have lots of quilters around the world that are making quilts that are filled with 'favorite' fabrics.

So, what's this got to do with anything? Well, I've finally finished all the blocks in my Candied Hexagons quilt..


I'm currently working on those last 6 side pieces to square it up. At least, I think I'm done making blocks...it turned out a lot more square than I had anticipated. Anyway...I'm rearranging blocks every time I stand up and I'm realizing I have an 'ugly' fabric in the quilt. I'm not exactly sure how it got there. Notice the 2 whole hexagons on the bottom row? The pink roses on the brown background? I think I was hoping the roses would stand out more. And being that the fabric colors fit the quilt colors, I figured they'd just blend right in. They're not. Those 2 blocks are the first thing I see whenever I look at this quilt.

Oh wait, there are 3 of those blocks! I just realized there's one on the top, too. And another bit of this 'ugly' fabric is in one of the pieced blocks. I think I can handle the pieced block, but those 3 large hunks of 'ugly' fabric are driving me to distraction.

What's the consensus? Should I take them out to follow today's trends of "No Ugly Fabrics Allowed" or follow the trend I was taught in the beginning of "Use Those Ugly Fabrics to Allow the Gorgeous Ones to Shine!"

I don't know...

Here's a close-up of Felix sleeping - seems like that's all any of the pets are doing these days since it's started to turn cooler. I actually turned on the furnace yesterday just to get the chill out of the house. It's been alternately raining or sun shining here today, so a perfect day to get a lot done in the Sewing Room :)

A Little Catching Up..

This is what DH and I were doing on September 11 - celebrating DH's brother's 30th birthday. His girlfriend organized it to be a surprise lunch for him - she lives in another state and came to visit unannounced, surprise #1, then got the rest of the family at the restaurant and brought him in for surprise #2. She did a pretty good job of organizing it, too :) We all had a great time and DH got to spend some time with his family. They live 3 hours away, so we don't get to see them as often as he'd like.


Here is Candied Hexagons on the design wall. I think this picture was taken at the end of August. I have a LOT more done on this quilt. I counted the empty spots on the wall this morning and there are only 12 more spots to fill. Of course, after I get all the blocks made, then begins the rearranging process, followed by the actual assembly of the quilt. But who cares! I'm almost done! LOL

This basket has been holding my Candied Hexagon blocks for me - one glassine envelope per block. That basket is now empty! Woohoo!!

One last shot of Nika. We rescued her from the pound 14 years ago and she was a joy in our lives. We loved how the neighbor kids would talk about her on Halloween night, as she loved to sit on the stairwell banister in front of the door and watch all the activity. Being a black cat, she was quite the hit! We'll miss you Nika. Have fun in kitty heaven.

Well, this was supposed to be at the top of my post, but it showed up here and I'm afraid to move it for fear it might lose it's ability to play...

Anyways, this is my nephew Kendrick (the one I made the Big Boy quilt for last year) and niece Haley (she was visiting us from NC). DH and I took them both to the zoo right after we learned about Laura's death - we needed something to get our minds off it. Anyway, you can see that Haley was having a ball hovering around Kendrick. I was trying to get him to not be afraid to hold the tame birds we were feeding - but whenever a bird touched him, he jumped and they wouldn't stay...looking back, it looks like he was having fun, though :)

RIP Nika

At the risk of making my blog a funeral one, I want to say that we lost one of our kitties today. She was a rescue from the pound 14 years ago. She died in my arms in the back yard, how she would want to go, I think.

Nika

1996 - 2011

Life is running slow...

Things have been fairly quiet around here the last couple of weeks. I think it's God's way of letting us heal after losing Laura so tragically. She's all over the news in Michigan, North Carolina, Texas and Iowa... But like I said, things are staying pretty quiet in our neck of the woods.

I've been working mainly on my Candied Hexagons quilt and the Circles applique quilt lately. It's been waaaay too hot to work on Mom's tablerunner. That particular project has been pushed back to a Christmas gift (I missed her birthday deadline). We've been dealing with temps in the 90's and above for a few weeks and even the air conditioning isn't able to tackle that. The humidity is just horrid, too. I keep telling people I've become an expert sweater this year (sorry if that's too much information).

We had DH's birthday party this past weekend. It was nice, we had burgers on the grill and corn on the cob. Our neighbor brought over 2 cakes! A chocolate and a peach upside down...they were both wonderful :) I got a sunburn, but I blame it on the meds I'm taking for the rosacea...I was only in the sun for 15 minutes, honest!!! LOL

I've been spending some time this past week going through the drawers and places in my sewing room that I don't normally go through...you know those places that collect things you don't want to get rid of, but promptly forget about once you put them away? Anyway, I've collected a small pile of things that I have no use for, or haven't used since I've bought them and am planning to have a give-away soon. I've got to get pics taken of them first. Can you tell the picture-taking is my least favorite part of blogging?? If only my photographer DH was more interested in taking pics I ask him to take....oh well.

I guess that's it for now...I hope you are all surviving the Heat Wave of 2011, too!