Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Because It's So Hot...

I'm sharing shawls!

My mother and her two sisters were all knitters. I think my mother was the most dedicated and prolific of the three. I did not get the knitting gene but fortunately my sister did. Many years ago she made this shawl for me:


She was a little shocked at how worn it was looking the last time she visited. Since then she has been on a mission to make The Perfect Shawl for me. :- ) Happily she hasn't hit upon it yet! (That means I get several shawls before she's done.)

That first effort has been wonderful but sometimes is too big and gets in the way. The next one was made of a wool and alpaca blend:


I think the pink and aqua yarn is a hand dye. I've had this one for a couple of years now and don't remember the details anymore. I especially like the lacy edging she created.


The most recent addition to my collection just arrived the other day:


This one is made from a variegated sock yarn in a color called bittersweet. The colors range from orange through red to purple. Just yummy. And look at the gorgeous knitting!


It's too bad my birthday is in the summer, otherwise I would be using this beauty daily!

Monday, July 21, 2014

Hatched!

I've had my laptop back for nearly a week now. Unfortunately my body hasn't been co-operating much of late. It's always something isn't it?!

Let's get right back to the chicken quilt I was working on before I dropped my laptop. I had the central feathered star surrounded by an assortment of blocks featuring chicken prints.


I remember commenting that I wasn't sure about the print I'd chosen for the sashing. I thought it might be too busy. Barbara was right; it looks fine to me now. :- )

I had to pleat the flimsy on the design wall in order to build the top out to the width I wanted for the finished quilt.





Here's what the finished flimsy looked like:


You'll notice that the blue print border does not extend all the way across the top and bottom. That's all there was!

Because the top is so busy I asked for a simple meander when my son did the quilting.



It's rare that I will choose a light color to bind a quilt but it was the best option I had in this case.

I haven't been able to get a full shot of the completed quilt yet. In the picture below you can see what I chose for the back. It's not quite the same red as what's in the front but close enough.


I finished another flimsy while the laptop was away. I'll have to show it to you in my next post. ;- )

Monday, July 7, 2014

Cracked

There's good news and bad news from the Magpie's Nest. The good news is that the chicken blocks have been sewn into a flimsy and are awaiting quilting. The bad news is that I dropped my laptop on its poor head - accidentally of course! The body of the computer seems to function just fine but the connection between the guts and the screen has been compromised. It had to be shipped off to Who-Knows-Where for potential repairs and I have no idea how long it will be gone. My Dear Husband has set me up with his laptop for the time being but my abilities are limited at this point. We will return to what little normal programming there was as soon as possible. :- )  Thank you for your patience.