Not to be outdone by my mother and mother-in-law, I have finally uploaded my own image! This is the completed quilt top to my foundation Noah’s Ark quilt that I am making for Baby Oberreuter-Charzinski 2, due at the end of May. I sewed all the rows together, did the sashing, and added to borders this morning while the boys were at the coffee shop. It’s amazing what you can get done without any small people underfoot!
Hey, everyone, if you haven’t noticed already, there’s a new subtitle in the header. Many thanks to Marty for the quote – she was summarizing our upcoming move, and I think she captured it perfectly!
Here is the Celtic Stained Glass wall hanging I made in a class with Beth Ann Williams. The pattern is from her book Celtic Quilts. I used pre-made fusible bias tape and my itty bitty iron.
If this uploads, I have become a crackpot geek! And I only had to call for help once!
Marty
For all your crossword and/or chocolate fans, here’s a photo of the World’s First All Chocolate Crossword Puzzle* that I sent to Marty for the recent celebration. Obviously I am inordinately proud of the Crackpottiness of this project.
Ann
*There are no data to support this claim.
For a photo of one of my wackiest projects, go to http://junecookscreativesewing.com/newsletter.pdf. Go to page 5 and check out the picture. I’m pretty sure I am the third from the left.
Marty
I’m hoping to get this particular crackpot project done by next winter. I’ve procured the pattern (Dale #3006 – Sedalen) and materials (Bea Ellis Knitwear had Dale Heilo on sale in February), but I won’t cast on until I’ve gotten done with a couple other Nordic-style multicolored projects. I’m currently working on the Nordic Mittens from the Winter 2004 issue of Interweave Knits – no picture yet, but check out my college friend Rebekkah’s version. I’m actually using her leftover yarn, but I’m using black as the main color instead of the brownish color so the mittens will better coordinate with my black wool coat.
So, in its yarn-in-plastic-bag state, here’s my Dale sweater.
Total materials cost: about $120.
Cost of similar finished sweater at local store: $288.
I’m donating the price difference to Knitters Without Borders
Cathy asked about knitted rugs. Here’s one that I made last year from a free pattern found on the Interweave Magazine website.
Yarn: Lion Brand Lion Cotton
What I changed:
All of the colors in the pattern, and I added a crocheted border to make the edges more even and add a “finished” look.
What I learned:
When changing all the colors for a multi-color pattern, create a customized version of the pattern. If your pattern comes in electronic form, try copying the pattern text into your favorite word processor. With strategic use of find/replace, change the color names into the ones you’re using. That way, you don’t have to always remember that “red” is actually blue, and blue is some other color.
The brush-on rug backing stuff for hooked rugs is amazing. The cotton yarn otherwise won’t hold its shape, even with blocking. I pinned the rug out into a rectangle on my folding cardboard clothes pattern-cutting board, using the markings to make the edges straight and even, then applied the backing. Voila – rug doesn’t slide on my floor, and the shape is fixed!
Here, to grace the pages of our Crackpot Website, are photos of the heart quilt that we all made this summer at Lake Goshorn and which I just delivered to The Villages here in Lafayette a couple of days ago. First, two pictures of the quilt taken in our living room:
And then a photo of the quilt being held by Vivian Leuck, manager of the Lafayette office of The Villages. This is the photo that I already e-mailed to all of you.
Woo hoo, everyone!!! I think I have successfully uploaded my first photo!!! It is the photo of my modification of the cute little critters that Rebecca knitted for all of us for Christmas. I hope you all like it. If I really was successful and if uploads, I will upload a few photos of our Crackpot Linus Quilt, which should now probably be know as the Crackpot Villages Quilt.
Hi everyone!
I’m pleased to report that my first experiment with machine quilting has been a success! I made a pair of placemats for Chris and me in a very simple pattern, really more as an excuse to try out machine quilting on something without a whole lot of meaning (or piecing effort) attached to it. Here’s what one of them looks like:
Obviously, I made the pattern as simple as possible – just 3-inch squares in four different blues and four different white (two are “true” whites and two are off-whites). I really like blue-and-white quilts, but I’m always attracted to designs with more color in them, so this was an opportunity to see how blue-and-white goes in a low-commitment environment. Plus, as you’ll see below, blue and white go well with the dining room decor:
Also, when I was up in Holland last summer, I was smitten by an adorable Delft-esque Dutch print that Field’s had, so I bought two fat quarters to serve as the backing. Rebecca and Marty, you’re probably sick to death of the motif, but I thought it was quite interesting:
The quilting itself went off without a hitch — no puckering or other problems — which might have been because I took a tip from Nancy and used white flannel as a batting, since it’s very thin, and it might hold together better than standard batting. It’s not the most accurate quilting in the world — it wobbles around a bit and strays from the ditch periodically — but it’s not bad, and the best part is…
…each placemat took me about 30 minutes to quilt. Awesome! I’m totally converted to the cult of machine quilting (though how you wrestle a full-size quilt is beyond me) if for no other reason than I will actually finish projects this way. I’ll still do stuff by hand when it’s important (Nancy, your wall hanging comes to mind), but other stuff will be machine all the way. Wahoo!