Quilt Show

Today I went to my first quilt show. Carole and I loved the quilts. There were so many styles and variations on the same pattern. There were also techniques that I had not seen before. I thought that I would share some of my favorites.

This is the quilt that was hanging in the entrance when you came in. A variation on log cabin. It was all kinds of homes. It was a bit whimsical and I loved it.
These next two I really liked for the pattern. The first one is called spinning star. I didn't get the name of the second one, but I think that I have seen the pattern before.These next two were done by a lady that specializes in applique. She was doing a demonstration and she was amazing. I was totally awed! If I was a quilter I would want to do something like this. The first one is all kinds of flowers, and the second one was Halloween. I would have liked to buy it for a wall decoration. It was absolutely fun! The picture isn't close enough to do it justice. There was a lot of detail.The next two I just liked the color schemes. I actually wouldn't mind trying an easier version of the stained glass one. Okay, let me restate that! I would like to do a version without the "lead look", just the piecing of the different shapes.These next two were out of this world in the way of small detail piecing. The first one was done with thousands of 2" hexagons. The information paper said it took her 5 years to finish it. This one was thousands of 1/2 inch squares. It was mind boggling that she didn't go nuts doing it. The information sheet said it took 18 months. She said she didn't do much else! I can imagine!

Here is a close up so you can see some of the piecing.This one was done by two people. The first lady put the pattern on and did all of the quilting, and the second lady water colored it with fabric paint. This picture does not do it justice. It was beautiful.This last quilt is the one that won the Grand Sweepstakes. It had quite a few different techniques on it.I did learn something new though. One of the ladies in a booth was knitting with fabric. She was making a scarf. It was really fun. She said she uses batik fabric because it has a tighter weave and does not ravel. She cuts it 1/2 inch wide on the bias and then knots it into a long strand and knits. I so want to try it. I think I will for the boutique.

Of course, after going to a wonderful quilt show it got me to thinking. About 9-10 years ago I made all three of my children quillos. Twin size quilts that fold into a pillow. They have loved them and taken them everywhere. The boys quilts are literally falling apart. They are to the point that there is no way to fix them. They were my beginning attempts to piece. I didn't quilt them, just pieced. Here is a picture of the boy's.
As you can see, very simple. I would like to make them new quilts for Christmas. They would definitely be pieced, but I would not have the time to quilt them. Maybe I could do some basic machine quilting along the piecing lines. A new friend of mine at church is a quilter. I will have to ask her advice. There's always another project down the road!!!

Sweater Set

I have been spending a lot of time in my garden and doing household things. I have been working on the sweater/skirt set. Wathching LDS Conference this weekend gave me good opportunity to knit as I listened. I have both sleeves done, the left side and about half of the right. It is going to be so cute made up. I decided to give you a sneek preview with a picture of one of the sleeves.I am hoping that this won't take too much longer!

I am excited for tomorrow. There is a huge quilt show at our convention center. My friend Carole and I are going to go. I can't wait. I love looking at quilts. Going with a friend just makes it more fun. I wonder if we will be able to take pictures. I would like to take pictures of some of my favorites.

Boy's Sweater

I almost had this done when the yarn for the skirt/sweater set came in, so I went ahead and finished it. I think it turned out really cute. I haven't done a double cable before. It was a bit intricate at first. After doing several repeats, I got it. After that it was a breeze. It knitted up really fast.

I am starting the skirt/sweater set tonight.

Sundress

I finshed the sundress last night. It turned out really cute, despite the amount of times I had to start. The yarn for the skirt/sweater isn't in yet, so I guess I will start one of the boys sweaters while I wait.

Can I knit???

After 20+ years of knitting most of the time I feel that I am intermediate/advanced knitter. There are times though that I wonder if I know what I am doing.

Take for example the last two days. I started the sundress for my large order and I have had to rip it out completely twice and rip back once. It is knitted from the bottom up. I got up to the waist the first time and noticed that the contrasting stripes that are one the bottom were backwards, and I had done the beginning couple of rows wrong so it was rolling really bad. Rip #1. The second time I got up past the stripes to the ruffle decrease and it was off 15 stitches. I have no idea that I counted that badly. Rip #2. Third time to the stripes and they were still backwards after following the pattern really close. I realized the pattern was wrong and they had an extra row in it. Rip #3. I am finally half way up to the waist again, and everything looks great.

This is the pattern that I am doing. Isn't it darling??

Olivia pattern by Leisure Arts "Mama's Girl" Designed by Larisa Scott

Large Knit for Hire order

Today, I received my first large knit for hire order. Two of the ladies at work, combined to do one order. It will be half trade and half money (their order is larger than mine:>) I will be knitting for their grandchildren. I am doing a 18mo bibbed sundress, a ruffled sweater and skirt in and three v-neck boys pullover sweaters.

The sundress is a 18mo and will be green with white trim. It is a Leisure Arts pattern. The sweater/skirt and the boys sweaters are all Sidar patters. The ruffled sweater will be white with a navy blue skirt. The boys sweaters are all the same except for color, light blue, darker blue and red.

I have never knit for someone else on the scale before. I was trying not to out price myself, but at the same time, it is my time to do it. I charged $50 each for the sundress and sweater/skirt, and $32 each for the boys sweaters. I know that sounds like a lot, but I'm not sure if I charged enough. When this is over, I will have a better idea of how to charge. I will posts pictures of them when they are done.

In our town, it used to be really hard to find sport weight yarn. In any color. Only Hurst Ben Franklin carried it consistantly. When I went to go buy the yarn for this order I realized how much that had changed. Now, it is really prevelant everywhere. Even skeins I picked up that said baby yarn, were in fact sport weight. Again the only one that had baby yarn was Ben Franklin. NOTE OF DISCLAIMER HERE: (We have a wonderful yarn shop in town where I know I could have found it. However, it is a little pricey and for a toddler I think you should just be able to throw it in the washing machine. I use her yarn more for special projects and adults.)

SMALL RANT: You would think with a town this size, and the popularity of knitting and crocheting that the stores that carry yarn would have a little more variety.

Handwork as Art

I have a great grandfather and great uncle that were artists on my mom's side. My father, didn't do much artwork as he grew older and had a family, but was always drawing as a child. The family always said that he was very good. My daughter is an amazing artist. Talen seems to ooze from her in fine art and in music. Even though I took art through high school, I never felt that I had the artistic talent. I draw stick firgures. LOL

I have been thinking a lot about it the last couple of months. I learned how to crochet at 11 and knit at 12 in our church group for girls. It seemed as if the moment I picked up a crochet hook, that I was also hooked. From that moment on, there have been very few periods in my life that I have not had some form of a handwork project going.

Through the years I have had capricious interludes with many forms of stitchery. There was bargello, needlepoint, tatting, embordiery and even Brazillian embordiery. I also had a good long love affair with counted cross stitch (I'm not quite sure I am over that one yet:>) I have always come back to my first love though.

I was mainly a crocheter for many years. I knew how to knit, but prefered crochet as a young woman. I made many doilies, Barbie clothes and baby booties and even a few afagans.

When I was pregnant with my daughter Ann, my husband was in the military. We were stationed in San Angelo, Texas. I lived far away from my church group, had no car, no phone and I was going stir crazy. I wanted to make baby clothes. Everything that I saw that I wanted to make was knitted. What better time to get my skills back with two needles? Not only did I make several items for my daughter, but I fell for knitting hard. All of a sudden it clicked, just as crocheting had many years before.

Do I like one over the other? That is really hard to answer. I love them both, but for different reasons. I like crocheting for afagans, accessories, doilies and other misc stuff. Knitting is for clothing, for the most part. Although they do overlap, on many things. It all depends on the look you want.

Knitting is my therapy tool. When I am stressed I can pick it up to relax. When I am working out a problem I can use that time to think things through and come up with a game plan.

Just as any artist I love looking at new colors and shades of yarn. I could spend hours in a yarn department thinking of the possibilities. As I have practiced, and my skill has increased so have my horizons. The yarn has become my pallette and my project my canvas. Just as an artist plays with light and shadows to create an effect in the picture, a knitter or crocheter plays with the stitches and pattern to create the effect that she wants.

Many artists long for the day when the public gets what they are trying to say behind the art piece. For me, it is much the same way. I love seeing the expression of joy on someones face when they open a handmade gift, and know it was made just for them. It makes it all worthwhile. I love the challenge of learning a new technique to use.

Maybe I'm not so far from being an artist than I thought.