OFF (and ON) the NEEDLES . . .

Been a while since I've checked in, I guess.  

I've not been doing much quilting, but I have been moving right along with my knitting needles.

I finished this cowl for myself a couple weeks ago and finally got it blocked today.

I've made these wash cloths while in waiting rooms.  (Seems I've been doing a lot of that lately.)

And using the same wash cloth pattern--only with double yarn and many more rows--have finished a baby blanket.

Currently I'm working on this sweater for my grandson's 15th (How can that be?) birthday in January.
I'll continue as soon as I have measurements.  If I keep going before binding off for the armholes, it will be down to his knees!

 

I've also almost finished a sweater for my almost 9 year old granddaughter.  Just need to add the buttons.  And because it's a very loose knit, I'm going to add fabric to the back of the button and buttonhole band.  Should be interesting. . . . I'll let you know how it turns out.

QUILTS & SWEATERS

It's been a while since I've been around to give you an update on the status of all that University of Tennessee fabric that I "inherited" from my friend Jan.  Well, here it is.  These are the 6 quilts that went to Project Linus a couple weeks ago.  With the exception of one "baby/toddler size", they will be perfect for pre-teens or teens.  It's my understanding that's the size that the charity needs most.

And while I wasn't sewing the quilts, I spent my evening TV time completing this sweater that will be a an October birthday gift for one of my granddaughters.  I know, I'm really ahead this year.  I'm working on a January birthday one right now and have a pattern chosen and swatch completed for another January birthday.  Also working on a mindless baby quilt that I can easily knit while watching the Olympics these next few days.

And when I'm not glued to the TV cheering on the US athletes, I might just be in the sewing room trying my hand at  free motion quilting on the UT quilt I'm keeping for myself.  (I love the backing fabric I found for this quilt -- designed by my daughter's friend Denise Sdhmidt for Quilt Traditions.)

I'll check back and let you know when the quilting and binding is finished.

HOLIDAY + FAMILY = GOOD TIMES

Oh my, could our summer holiday time have come and gone already?  Well, I guess so.  

Our son and family from NY arrived on Saturday evening to be joined by his sisters and their families from South Carolina and Nashville on Sunday.

Yesterday morning before they all headed out (son will spend a couple days with his SC sis and family before returning to NY) we were able to get some family photos snapped -- much to the consternation of some of the cousins, but they very nicely humored their Nani.

So here we are:

And here are all of the "grands" pretty much in order of age:

Oh, and almost everyone did have a Nani quilt for bed time.  And all the summer time birthday celebrants who got a new Nani knitted sweater, scarf, or cowl were quite happy with them.

Hooray!

I'VE BEEN BUSY . . .

Well, I guess it's been a while since I checked in with all of you.  I've been pretty busy in the quilting and knitting world.  (I'll just show you the quilting stuff for now, though,  as the knitting is for upcoming birthday gifts.  Oh, I must remember to wrap all those gifts before the family --yep all 18 or them-- start arriving tomorrow for our summer-time picnic weekend .

When I was last here I was working on the University of TN quilts.  I thought I had finished with all the useable pieces of fabric, but had these scraps left and just COULD NOT let it go to waste.

So I was able to come up with this small quilt (about 36x36).  I will have to get some backing for it.  My friend Jan had enough fabric to back the other 6.  (They were all about 40x54.)

 I'll get back to that sandwiching and quilting in a few days.

But in the meantime I wanted to finish these quilts so the older girls that end up sleeping on couches this week end will have something special to make the couch sleeping a bit more fun.

You may remember that these have been in the works for a while.  They are finally finished!

I'm calling this one Buttons and Bows:

And this one Tiptoe Through the Tulips:

Just right for girls' nightie time at Nani's house, right?

REMEMBERING JAN

It's been just a year ago this month that my dear quilting friend, Jan, passed away.  Although she had lived in Florida for many years, her heart still belonged to Tennessee.  That being said, she was an avid University of Tennessee football fan!  She had quite a stash of UT fabric. Jan's family gave Polly, one of our on-line quilting friends, that stash when she visited Jan shortly before Jan "went Home".   Since I live in TN, Polly brought that stash to me when she and some of our other on-line quilters came to TN for Jan's funeral.

How wonderful, and healing, it has been for me during the one year anniversary of Jan's passing to work with this fabric.  

These will be wonderful quilts for teen and 'tweens for Project Linus.

This is a bit of the stash, cut into usable blocks for assembly and the folded first quilt I made:

This is the second on my design wall.  I might do a bit of rearranging of the blocks.

When my husband saw the first one, he like it well enough that he said we needed to keep it!  

As a UT grad, I'm thinking that just might be a good idea.  It would be wonderful to keep something that was Jan's.  (There's enough fabric for a couple more, so I guess I'll just make them all and then decide which to keep as my memorial to my dear friend.)

On the knitting front, I managed to finish this sweater for my grandson.  A good deal of it was done while I was flat on my back with my legs elevated, recovering from foot surgery  Yes, it is possible to knit lying down!  Takes a little practice, but it can be done.  The hardest part was not dropping the cable needle, ha-ha, but I got pretty good at it by the time I was able to be upright and finish this birthday gift -- a couple months ahead of time, too!  

 So now it's time to start on another sweater and get that second quilt put together.

I'VE BEEN BUSY, BUT I'M BACK

So, I'm back -- with no more hammertoes and straight big toes! -- and moving around quite well and able to use my foot on the sewing machine pedal.  What better way to spend time until I can drive again!  (That activity is hampered by the boot I'm still wearing on my right foot, but this too shall pass.)

I had these quilt blocks mostly set on my design wall and ready to sew, just waiting until I got the last two from my "block exchange" friends.  They are now sewn together with the sashing.   (These are "churn dash" blocks, by the way.)  

There is a great churn dash quilt that is tied with bows in Denyse Schmidt's new book "Modern Quilts / Traditional Inspiration".

I have always wanted to "tie" a quilt using buttons.  With Denyse's inspiration I have decided upon a 

Buttons and Bows quilt.  The bows will go in the junction of the blocks, and there will be buttons in the center of each block.  I used my sashing fabric (which will also be the backing) to make the bows).  I wanted to use the same fabric as I was afraid that the sashing might "read" a little too pink for the reds in the blocks.  Using the fabric for the bows should tie it all together quite nicely.

The bow strips are all made and the buttons chosen, so it's just a matter of getting the top, batting, and backing sandwiched and then have fun tying.

 On the knitting front:  while I was off my feet, I did quite a lot of knitting
including  this curly scarf for my daughter-in law.

 I also finished up this bolero sweater for a granddaughter.

And the sweater vest I've been knitting for a grandson is done except for the seaming, neck and armbands.

I'll show you that next time.

Great to be back in the blogging world!

. . . and a few other needle work things

. . . Talk about a UFO (For those not acquainted with the lingo, that's "Unfinished Object"),

I hate to admit just how long this unfinished needlepoint project has been hiding every so cleverly in my closet.  Well, really that would have to be several closets, 'cause this is the third house I've lived in since I started it.

Let's see now, I'm guessing that I started it somewhere in the late 70s or early 80s.  Wow, can that be possible?  Yep, it is.  I'm absolutely amazed that the moths didn't start eating the wool -- either what's already on the canvas or in the bag waiting to be worked.  I guess those little insects just decided that I really needed to finish this project . . .

. . . so I would finally have the matching pillow to go with this one that sits on a wandering dining room chair in a corner of our living room.

I'm hoping to figure out how to use that frame so that I can do some stitching while lying on my back.  (I'm having foot surgery next week and will be out of commission for a while.  Hmmmmmm, should be an interesting 10 days until I get the approval to let my feet rest BELOW the level of my heart.

So if you don't see anything here for a while, know that I'm following doctor's orders and not sitting at the computer desk.  (Sadly no laptop in the household.  Bummer, now would certainly be a good time to have one of those electronic devices.  Oh well, I'll get caught up on some long overdue reading.)

See you soon.