Baba might disapprove

Another quilt top quickly done. True, this is one of the ones which are for charity. But Baba was reported to hide the scissors on a Sunday. She might scold.

The cat Is scolding in her stead, as I iron seams.

Actually Playing on a Saturday

I am determined to use up the remaining fabric for the backing.

No one says you can't be determined while playing.

Competitive? Me?

Hot Spots

It's not news:  there is a lot of extreme unseasonable weather for this part of the summer.  Pick your place on a map:  it's either unbelievably hot or, in a few spots, unseasonably cool.

If I had to choose, I'd be in a cool spot.

However, I'm fortunate.  I don't have power outage in my living space.  My work space was shut down for a bit with power outage.  Today I'm using my office as my personal cooling center. 

In other news, my sewing machine has been the hot spot for hopping activity lately.  Made a graduation quilt for my niece*, finished at my mom's on the way to the event.  Nothing fancy - had a perky bundle of flannel purchased from a quilt shop in Iowa.  I had another plan for it, but the idea was only an idea for several years.  In the end I made nearly the same quick, big piece quilt I think they'd featured.  Tied, not quilted, but quickly loved and put to use on a very chilly graduation weekend.  

(Sorry about photo quality.  I need to get the camera back into use.  It's been awol and/or without batteries lately.)

Following that, I have been sewing some quilt tops to help with the grade school charity quilting project at the school where I volunteer. I don't usually help with that project - designed for the upper grade kids to do with the nearby senior center, the project involves the kids learning to sew, making large block quilt tops, and tying them.  The upper grade classes are currently pretty small - and the kids were kind of disappointed they didn't get many made.  New strategy, the project coordinator thought:  get some tops sewn up in advance so the kids can start tying, make progress in terms of quantity, and then start some to do beginning to end.  I totally get the excitement of having a LOT of quilts to donate.  The project coordinator was pretty clever, and she made up some quilt top "kits" to have ready at the volunteer luncheon.  I took one home, zipped it back the next week, and she promptly gave me three more.  I'm game.

And I don't mind some sewing to do while I plan the next sewing.  Witness the quilt of guilt that came out for finishing.  I knew one reason it stalled out, but I'd forgotten the other reason - I still had blocks to build.  Found a few stray triangles and squares cut out amidst the rest of the fabric.  And the fabric was AWFUL for triangles.  Way too much biasing,  I had one of the cardboard templates.  Who knows what kind of miscalculations there were in the math.  I don't know how many more I planned - probably another eight blocks, and those eight blocks inadvertently put this project on pause for YEARS.

I did the only reasonable thing.  I went for the finish line:  frames around the squares. wide sashing with contrasting blocks at the intersections, and a pair of wide borders.  I'm still contemplating one extra round of border, but I may call it quits.


On to the back.  I have nothing suitable.  I don't want to go shopping, when I have an embarassment of fabric to use.  Or at least that's what I thought until yesterday when I melted in the heat.


Looked at some of my fall purchase of blue quilt plaids I'd left here in my shop.  Not enough of them to substitute for a whole back.  I'm back to the first plan. I smell some kind of artsy finish.

I hope it isn't too odd.  It's hot.  My senses may short circuit.

*a quilt which is NOT the quilt begun when said niece was an infant..... that one went back to the back burner

Ugh. A flaw. Moving on.

Why does a flaw in the fabric surface after cutting and stitching. Why?

On to the reverse manual.
And on to piecing a section of the border, as naturally, not enough for a full piece.

That ugh also signals the path for machine quilting. Easier to camouflage that new seam....

From the Land of UFOs

A Guilt Quilt -

The blocks have been languishing for decades. Blocks are imperfect - fabric not all pure for quilt sources, and there's a bit of bias wobble and iron shrinking. (Golly, there's fuel for ignoring quilt finishing....)

Blocks were framed up with navy print two weeks ago. Sashing done this weekend. On to the borders and the backing!

Can't decide if I will tie it as was my circa late 80's plan and custom, or if I will ship it off to my former local quilt shop for machine quilting.

They may mock me. Some of those prints are lightly brushed, and there's a whack of polyester along with the cotton in those fabric blends.

Oh - the guilt part. I checked in with the friend. She'd be pleased to have it.

Some UFO's I can dispense with. This one I'll finish. The space opened up in the fabric drawer AND in the guilt pack will be amazingly free!

Blasts From Culinary Pasts

Carting these off to thrift store. Mother had them out, did we want them before they left. I took them home for a fast look before they head out.

That was only winter. What? I didn't look until today. Bag of thrift headed out, so one quick look today.

First Blast - Soup cookery!! Remember? Casseroles with creamed anything. Meatball stew. Stuff we kids could make on Saturdays when mom was working.
Things I didn't remember:
A whole chapter on surprising cakes and breads with the undefinable something and rosy glow of tomato soup. Eep.

Second blast: Altrusa's Favorites
What, who was Altrusa, we asked. Mother has no idea where it came from. Front leaf : Altrusa Club Objectives reflected a focus on supporting women in business and the professions as well as an array of educational outreach, public service, and nonpartisan political engagement.

A little Internet snooping showed that the history of the organization goes back to 1917, initially formed (in Tennessee?) by/for women to support the progress of women entering the profession during World War I. It has expanded in gender and in location, international perspectives and humanitarian concerns, including literacy projects.

Cookbook is decidedly still from a women's group, based on the printed objectives, and decidedly about the same vintage as the soup cookbook. Recipes with cake mix, canned soup, a taco dip to serve with taco flavored Doritos.

Blast three: a church cookbook from 1987, on Belmont in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. I am copying out a recipe or two - see the notecards sticking out?

Then it will go away.

What I am not (NOT) doing: taking the centennial cookbook to the local church in case someone wants their own blast from the past, nor the Altrusa one to the international headquarters located downtown.

There's only so much blast left in paper ephemera and cooking nostalgia.

Goodbye, cookbooks!

Daylight

F Leapin O

Thirty+ years ago, this was an intended pillow. I think it was a gift for my mother. Saw it last Christmas, carefully stowed in a drawer, two knit rectangles, neatly folded once.

Took it home to finish it up. Months more it sat.

Took it back to my mother's for a brief summer visit, along with supplies.

Happily, it will be staying. Her decor can still carry a curiously gold, Lydia's Rug Yarn pillow, made by her daughter. What a hoot.

Pardon the photo. ElizabethSable would despair of the photo aesthetic.

It took about two hours, with distractions, to sew and stuff a pillow form, stitch in a zipper by hand, and stitch ip the remaining seams.

Take note, UFO's. I'm rocking some finishing, kicking it old school.

So Long Mayhem, er, May

In addition to the usual May end of term events, the past days saw the following activity, in no particular order:

Office relocating - two of them plus three other rooms - for major renovation project;
Unpacking the office filled with storage moving crates - which resulted in looking like a cross between being in a giant Lego and being in an organized episode of Hoarders;
Graduation preparations, two sets;
Quilt making, one gift from start to finish;
Flower planting at the cemetery for Memorial Day;
Salad making, all sorts;
Road tripping with a couple teenagers, complete with a game of Botticelli and a whole lot of Rihanna;
Knitting on the road, xxx yards into a sweater and half a sock;
Registering for conferences;
Organizing workshops;
Making lists;
Crossing off lists;
House hunting;
Freaking out about house hunting;
Getting ready to decide I can't move this summer;
And getting ready to try catching up on sleep and laundry and cleaning and everything that was abandoned for the last several months.

Hello, June!

Now it's a holiday!

It really is the start of summer break if I'm sewing at my mother's dining table!

Basics

Basic math:

Too much work + too little time = Busy.

(Breakfast at home + two packed meals)x 7 days = Really want to eat dinner at home some day.

9 stitches X 11 rows = a reasonable square.

Wonky squares - blocking = Mystery.

I'm basically very busy right now and have no right to pretend this blog is active or that it is a link to friends.

But basically, I am an optimist.

(Oh, and I did finish this scarf.)

This Would Be the Problem

See the vine that travels center, starting at bottom, curving to right and then left?
See the curves on the lowest green section and the middle green section?
See the break in the top green section?
Skipped a couple rows.
Starting over.

This Would Be Before

Not sure the stripe will do. I can foresee changes in the yarn that won't mesh with this.

What's that they say about rest?

Do not know what possessed me.

Had wrestled my way through the little bump of red wool from mittenfarce over a summer knitting camp weekend or two. (Spindle from adriennec.)

Had begun to tackle the handdyed little bump from adriennec last summer, and even got past a single weekend of camp spinning, working on it during a visit with to my mother's.

Last night I finished AND decided to try to ply.

Next step, mini skein and bath!

Hard to figure, except a change IS almost as good as a rest.

An indulgent late night

Friday Night Fun

Simmering on a back burner

The blog is on the back burner. I've not lost interest - I do fear, however, that in terms of blog-years* I've neglected it as long as this quilt.

*(rhymes with dog-years, get it?) (I'll be here all week. Tip the waitstaff.)

Started when my niece was anticipated, blocks completed when I was freelancing, I am revisiting the stashed (long stories, not all mine) quilting project. For graduation. That's right. High school.

The blog absence seems not nearly so extended. Just simmering, waiting for attention.

(Meanwhile, in successful soup simmering, I made for the first time jjigae, a Korean kimchee soup with a recipe featuring tofu and spinach. YUM.)

It Was Fabulous

Goodbye, Big Button.

Knitting shall resume in 10 ... 9 ... 8 ...

Trying to be productive and focused.

Knitting takes a back seat.

(Okay. That was my break. Back to work.)

(Note to the knitting: You're lovely. It's not you, it's me.)

Messages from the Universe

I had, this week, my fair share of Messages That Shall Not Be Ignored.

No surprise to me, I subsequently finished this massive loop scarf and discovered it is not for me. The color is nice. (I will find a way to snap a truer tint.). The yarn has merino and silk and was on sale.

Proportionately too big for my needs. It needs a slimmer or younger.

However, I will not hold it for maybe or for another mood or for convincing myself or for frogging or any such nonsense. Universe has spoken: Gift time!

Happy Day

This day has

Good coffee,

Playing pantomime games with third graders,

Leftover lunch from lovely dinner with friends yesterday,

Lovely dinner plans tonight, complete with a snow plan,

Tickets for Race at the Goodman Theatre,

And a little time to get things done in between.

I may even knit a little.

Now

Past:
I didn't catch up on posting holiday knitting pictures. Captured a couple for Ravelry. I knit some unassuming and manly hats for all but one of the male adults in my close extended family. I knit a hat for my mother and the previously posted entrelac hat to my newest cousin (she married my cousin, but we're all family).

I put the pause button on the placemats - having made some excellent progress, mind. I will be finishing those in the next month and packing them into the gift box for sending out in November. This of course makes them past and future projects.

Future:
I have some ideas of what I'd like to knit this yearI assembled some knitting requests for the coming year. I have vast ideas of some sewing I'd like to do. I also have some graduation quilts I need to get rolling on. The blocks of the first one are done, at least, having been done for some time past. A future and past project, that one.

Now:
I am working on a quick bulky scarf loop. Call it what you will, and infinity is high-minded, but it is just a loop. Georgeous warm brown, this wool from Australia is a warm, cozy blend of merino and cashmere, happily a sale, happily also stash that has been sitting around awhile. It is not a gift. It's for me, and it's to wear now, now that we are having some winter for winter. I have knit through half the wool - more than half - and have hopes of finishing this week.




Now:
I have leapt from holidays to very busy January. Three road trips already since the holidays, I am feeling a little like I need some down time. However, I'm trying to sleep now, whenever I can, with the earliest bed times and most frequent naps in two weeks than I recall. I am getting a fair bit of work done, besides, and am teaching a class that I love. The class is half a day long, and it calls for being immediate, to be there now. I'm looking forward to resuming it on Tuesday.

Now:
Having indulged my at-the-desk-break by posting here, I need to walk a few flights of stairs and stretch so I can get back to some good desk time.

Warm Greetings for a Happy New Year!

This weekend I have been shifting into the New Year.
Nothing unexpected in it. Tidying and regrouping. Preparing and resting. Well, not so much resting as not racing.
Enjoying homemade soup from the freezer.
Leftover holiday treats disappear over bits of leftover and mostly crossed-out lists. Didn't finish the placemats. Will keep at them along the way this month.

This past year seemed over full and wrung out by May. Summer was a good turnaround for me. More calm. More doing of the things I used to do. The rest of the year profited, and the holidays were quite pleasant. No drama, little stress.

Now? New starts, new lists, swatching, sweeping - they are just little things.
Turns out that little things do matter.
Here's to a year filled with small, pleasant moments!

Tidings of a Season

My little corner has been a busy one. Had the fun of welcoming my little family of mother, sister, kids for the Christmas weekend. Enjoyed - not kidding - some advance preparation, cooking soups and pfeffernuss, cleaning and decorating over the past weeks.

We had good times, good giggles, good games, good visits, good church, good music, and Oh! Good Foods! I knew there was football in the air, but the kids didn't turn the television on all weekend. (I suppose the Bears lost?)

Some travel this week. I will be tackling a little more knitting and sewing today. (Of course I am, my sister would say!)

I wish my knitter friends joy, in whatever forms please you.

(My dear aunt, much loved and much missed, made the Joy I propped onto the hall mirror. She was a proper maker of Christmas!)

Surprises

How'd I go this long without trying entrelac?

Same thing goes for spaghetti squash, which I tackled for the first time this fall. The second half of the one i baked this week made a fine squash & tomato gratin this evening. (Leftovers from that, one more lunch tomorrow.). Yum.

Similarly yummy, this hat. As I followed a recipe and not a pattern, I will have to write down the details right now. I tried on the hat and I love it.

The hat is a Christmas present I will be proud to give. I will have to make another one soon, though. I have made two caps for myself recently that are nice looking, but they are not so spectacular on me. This entrelac hat? A very nice surprise.

Workshop in Holiday Mode

Hardly ever happens: I am in a holiday making mode. Early December usually finds me worn, frazzled and behind.

Since I am not entirely worn, frazzled, or - well - since I am getting at least some things done ahead, I am making time for me. Perversely, I am enjoying that me-time by doing some holiday gift making. Pulled out the holiday fabric amassed over time (and at sales) and began with some placemats for two of my cousins with young families.

Whee! It's going to be quite a stack. Brought it into the shop, where I factor in a bit of me-time sewing early and late.

Cooking on a Sunday

I planned to cook.
Then I started this hat, following an in-store pattern, picked up with this yarn.

Turned out the pattern was a recipe.  Several rows of entrelac rectangles, it said.   There were specifics for the left leaning triangles.  There are specifics for right leaning ones shortly, followed by two recipe options for the decreases. Nothing about the rectangles in between except a number of rounds of rectangles done by the author. Now that I know the pattern is a recipe, I am at least prepared for the next surprise, as I suspect the decreases aren't what I remember of the shop sample.

Could be I just don't remember.  Could be the scramble to find guidance for the rectangles placed other hat images in my head.  Did I mention that this is my first entrelac foray?

So I will be considering multiple sources for the top if this hat.  Good thing I was planning on a creative day-off challenge.  

Doubly good there are containers of soup and ratatouille in the freezer.

December!

Here's to a December which includes some textile fun!

Finger Puppets

A friend of mine makes adorable little finger puppets and sells them on Etsy. She makes custom orders as well.

Adorable.

Sh! She doesn't know I posted this.

Rhinos in Process

Among the projects that have kept me busy lately:



These were still in progress, at the time of this impromptu photo romp.



Wire hangers of varying sizes and configurations for the armature.



You can tell they're not done yet, because horn application is in varied states. We made two-horned rhinos. Nine of them.

T-shirt yarn - some overdyed from chain mail knitting some years ago. Some of varying grey and kindred tones from additional cannibalized shirts. When done, we did some fabric overpainting. And we added eyes.



Guess whose tshirt drawer was thinned out a little extra? Win and win.

Textile Play, scene 2

Sunday night
Fabric paint
Lno block carving
Paint scumbling

Some success
A lot of rustic printing

Geeky Costume Details

Plata, Plato, Playdough.

I keep wanting to call this colorway Plato. I had a parakeet named Plato. I thought the name was playdough, because I knew more about that lovely colored substance than I did the philosopher.

The yarn here is Malabrigo Gruesa in the colorway Plata - for the metal, not the philosopher.

A 65 yard quick hat, this one was. Only three inches remained!

Textile Play: Experiments

Cork circles, on the right




Plastic "cedar" fronds




A foam rubber flower die cut, eventually with bits ripped off and out



Cork faced with haphazard netting of crochet cotton (held on the sides with pins, it looks very disturbing)

Urban Rustic

Called for a brick wall, somehow....

Losing Track, Staying on Course

I have more hand printing play underway. I'm tackling some embroidery for costume. Costumes are on schedule for several projects. Knitting a quick hat. Working on other knits.

BUT I'VE LOST TRACK OF MY FLICKR ID details. Honestly.

I just timed out my efforts into a 12 hour lockdown.

At least the important stuff is on course.

I'm just losing track of the passwords.

Knitting for Plays

I am a dork. Let it be said.

I'm now knitting another costume piece.

Urban Rustic gloves (pattern from Knitty)



from some very old stash wool


The pair will serve as another costume piece for an upcoming play. Actors are being asked to talk with us about what their characters would wear. We couldn't find gloves that were crude enough for one character without being fingerless. "I'm a survivor," she said. "I'd have the tips of my fingers covered."

FAST knit. Knitting up on 11's, and truthfully would be a lousy pair of gloves for serious warmth. Too loose for real winter. Still, they're a look that seems to work well for the occasion.

The costume shawls of previous posts - both in the same production. And one of the actors decided her character activity is knitting. Because of that, she picked the beige costume shawl made a couple years ago out of the shawl bin samples I pulled for her. As her knitting prop she is currently using a project she started a long time ago. Have to go stash diving quickly for a suitable knitting prop for her, as her current project is pretty pristine.

I am a dork. I am so amused.

I hope to be done tomorrow. What will amuse me then?

Play

I have given myself permission to play a tiny bit this fall.
Here's one piece - I am taking part in a handpainted fabric swap, sponsored by Leslie Keating of onegirl - now Maze & Vale .




Last week I found a lovely piece of plain linen & cotton yardage in the remnants section of Vogue Fabrics. It could serve for the fat quarters, but I'm feeling indecisive. This past weekend I picked up some 100% cotton canvas yardage. (If I don't use it for this project, it's targeted for some cloth bags.) Will be going through some other on-hand yardage, as well, and have started the prewashing of the fabric I just picked up.

This decision-making sea of choices is part of play. I invited a friend over yesterday to meet me in the shop to play with some fabric paint printing. Tried our hand at using a variety of found objects. Decided that was the focus of the sampling activity for the evening.

It was good to play and think about what I might best do for this project.

Knitting Photo Finish; Or, Tricking a Smart Phone

Smart Phone photography isn't entirely Smart.

I've been playing games at tricking it into capturing better color. Well, different color.

Sunny day indoor location and truer color:



Same location, same time and day - totally faded out:



Fluorescent light, early evening - not great color:


Moments later, having figured out I can fake out the light meter by pointing it at the light and taking the picture quickly - better color:



Taken earlier before said experiment - crazily disappointing color:



Much better color. Also, THIS COSTUME PIECE is DONE. Done for a different show than the one for which it was started, but hey, done is good.

Fall Knitting

Football Knitting meet Costume Knitting.

I'll be in the stands.