Pull Through Wrap

My mom came to visit this weekend for my youngest sons birthday. She brought me a handfull of free knitting and crochet leaflets that she had picked up at a craft store. She really liked this one by Red Heart and so I am making it for her. I think that it is really unique. I can't wait to see it finished.

New Bed Afghan

About 6 years ago I had the brilliant idea that I wanted to do a afghan for our bed. I wanted to knit it in panels that had different stitches on them. I wanted it a little thicker and so I double stranded it. I have a king size bed, and so the panels were quite large. I made about 6 of them before I started to put them together. No matter how I tried I just couldn't make them look nice when I put them together.

At this point I had about 24 skeins of yarn into this project. I couldn't throw it all away and so I took the panels out and rolled the yarn into balls and put them in a large garbage bag. They set in my closet for a while, and moved with us 3 years ago. Last year I tried to seperate the double strands and did one ball and gave up. They were so hopelessly twisted together that was a nightmare and back into the closet they went.

Finally when I finished the baby entrelac blanket I decided to try it with this doubled yarn. It worked. I have worked it as far as I can at this point. I have used all the previous yarn. I have run out of the varigated and they only sell it at Christmas. The name of it is Holly and Ivy. At this point it is about a queen size and very heavy. It is back in the closet now, but just awaiting the holidays to get more yarn and then I will finish it finally. 6 year UFO almost done!

Here is a picture to give you an idea what it looks like.

Crocheted Entrelac Baby Blanket

Sunday afternoon I went through all my leftover yarns and came up with 5 that actually went together. I couldn't believe my luck. I started with two squares on the entrelac and made a baby blanket. I went around the whole thing in single crochet with the beginning color to finish it off. I ended up being 35" by 37 1/2" inches. Perfect for a baby blanket.

It is quite heavy and probably not something I want to work on in the summer around here. I still need to block it, but it is finished. I'm thinking that one I was going to knit for my guest room is going to be done this way instead. I love the way it looks like patchwork. It is so easy. There is no turning your work and each round is a color, so you have a minimum of color changes.

Possibilities...

Crochet Entrelac

The funny thing about the quilt show is that both years I have gone I have learned a new technique that is not related to quilting. Two years ago I learned how to cut bias strips and knit them into scarves.

This year as we were leaving I saw one of the vendors crocheting. I can't go by someone and not ask them what they are working on. At first it looked like a baby sweater. When she showed it to us it was actually a crocheted entrelac afghan.

As a knitter I have wanted to learn entrelac for a couple of years and haven't got around to it. She showed me a little of how to do it and then gave me a website to get step by step instructions. They are very clear and well written with a lot of photos to help. Here is the link if you are interested. http://mylifeinknots.blogspot.com/search/label/Entralac%20Afghan. I sat down today and worked the beginning of a sample and I really like it. This is the beginning two rows in a sport weight. I am going to go through my left over yarn and see what I can come up with.

2011 Dixie Quilt Guild Show

Warning: This is a long post!

Today was the 2011 Dixie Quilt show. The theme was Gems of the Desert. This is the quilt that they were drawing for.

There was a special exhibition of Marva Dalebout's quilts. She passed away last year. She was a resident of So Utah and a Silver Thimble recipient for her body of work. She began as a painter. Here are a couple that I really liked. There was also one of a little girl painting flowers, but I forgot to take a picture of it. They were displaying about 50 of her quilts. This first one was my favorite.
I think this one is absolutely whimsical and hilarious! I really liked the colors on this one. Many of the quilts this year featured these elongated triangles and the elongated shapes that you see in the circle. Must be a new template to play with.

I loved how this quilter used the red and the geometric and it isn't overwhelming. I liked the overall presentation. Lots of small piecing.
The information sheet on this one said that she got the pattern off of the internet. It is called twisted ribbon. I like the whimsical twist on a classic square.
This quilt reminded my friend Carole and I of an Amish quilt. It was all applique. It was amazing. It must have taken 1000's of hours. I forgot to write down what award it got.
Here is another award winner. This one was all pieced. This one was very unique. I loved the black and white shiloette on white. Very striking!

The following two quilts were what I would call mixed media. They were by the same person. the boots had thinned copper, suede, ultra suede, leather and other fabrics in it. The picture beside it I took to help give you an idea of the dimensional aspect of it.

There was also a lot of hand painted quilts at the show this year. This is one that I really liked. I thought the use of color and theme was excellent.

This picture doesn't do this quilt the justice that it deserves. The way she used her colors was amazing. All of the leaves were different colors. The triangles around them varied in hue as it went around the larger triangle. It must have taken a lot of work to get them just right.

This was another award winner. This was all pieced. Amazing work! Loved the colors on it too! I loved this version of a fan quilt. I had to take a close up of it since you loose a lot of the detail when you are back far enough to see the whole thing.

This quilt was amazing to me. It was made of the two fabrics. The floral print and the ecru. Then the small border of black on the inside and a larger one on the outside. I thought it was very well thought out. I would have never thought you could do something like that.

Quilting

With all of my handwork projects, you might not guess that I am also a bookworm. I love to read, and read a variety of things. Usually nothing to deep. I read to unwind and escape. I started a new series a couple of weeks ago that I found by accident. It is called the Elm Creek Quilt series by Jennifer Chiaverini. I am really loving this series. It is about a group of women who quilt, their lives, their friendship and about their lives. They are all let by the matriarch Sylvia Bergstrom.

I have just finished book 9 of 15 I think. I am really getting the itch to learn to quilt. I know! Crazy huh? Like I need another project or hobbie.

My father's mother quilted. She gave all the granddaughters quilts that she had made before she died. I cherish it. Since starting this series, I cherish it even more for the history behind it. I also know how much work goes into things like that.

I called around yesterday to the quilt shops in town. Several of them give beginning classes. Then next one should be in June. I may do it, just to say that I have. Even if I don't do anything but the sample quilt. At least I will know how.

Shawl, 2nd Pattern

I have finally finished the second pattern of my shawl. I had to take part of it out several times because I dropped a stitch and couldn't catch it. Not a good thing with lace. I have started working on the 3rd pattern. When I did my daughter's I didn't to the lace edging around the bottom, but put fringe on it. I'm trying to decide what to do with this one.