My new featherweight

This is it! My new featherweight! Isn't she beautiful?? She was born in 1953 and runs like a dream! So far I've only played with her a bit. Have yet to make a quilt, but hope to remedy that really soon. She's been sitting on my sewing table patiently waiting for us to create our very first quilt together. Just waiting until I feel a bit better (recovering from oral surgery). Until then I've been quietly stitching away on a wall hanging. I hope to have it finished up by this weekend. At least the top anyway.

Cabbage Rose wall hanging

Since I didn't have enough background fabric for a full-sized quilt I decided to make this block into a wall hanging. I came up with a basic design using EQ6 (a wonderful quilt program that I really should use more often). The borders of this quilt were made using scraps and left-over fabric from the center applique. It will be bound using the darker blue fabric. Anything (fabric-wise) that was left-over from this project was then cut into strips and put into the strip container. I had already used most of it in yet another applique project. If the fabric shows up in yet another one of my quilts then I would rather it be in the form of a strip.....as silly as that sounds. :) The completed wall hanging measures approximately 38" wide by 32 1/2" high. Of course now I'm wondering how to quilt it. By hand? Or by machine?

Since I can hear my sheep baaing as I write this I thought I would include an update on them. It has been a while since I chatted about them. All six of the lambs are doing very well. They are now two months old. They feel comfortable enough with the rest of the flock that it's not uncommon for them to go out to pasture without their mamas. They are due for their second shot next week. It will be quite the time rounding them all up since they are still on the shy side of things when it comes to people. As for the rest of the flock.....well, everyone is doing wonderfully. Fleeces are growing in and looking so lovely! I think we will have a good crop of fleeces come next spring.

September Song

Here is the center of my completed mystery quilt. As the title shows, I have named my quilt "September Song". It just didn't look like "crush" anything. Reminds me more of fall than anything else. Finally decided on how I want to do the borders. They will be kept simple. No pieced borders at all. The quilt center is so busy that there really needs to be a quiet place......someplace for the eye to rest. I will be sure to share a picture once the borders are on. As for the left-over pieces....well, I've been playing with them on my design wall and it looks like they will make a nice wall hanging. I'll play with them more once the quilt is done.

Update on my knitting: My sweater is coming along rather nicely. I have done the shaping for the armholes and am real pleased with how it's looking. I'm still working on the sweater back, but hope to finish it up soon. It's not going as quick as I was hoping simply because I don't always have the time to work on it. Some days I'm lucky if I can knit for 15 minutes. Oh well. A little bit of time is better than none. :)

Applique Blocks

Here are the two applique blocks that I have been working on. One is for my Baltimore Bunny quilt. It's block #6. I started this as a block of the month early last year. I was doing pretty good keeping up until I got sidetracked. Feels great to be working on it again though.

The other block is Cabbage Rose. It's actually a block from Robyn Pandolph's Botanika quilt. I had purchased it as a kit quite some ago and then never got around to actually making it. Well, when I finally pulled the kit out I discovered that the background fabric included wasn't large enough for the applique ....and that I really didn't care for some of the fabrics included. So I pulled some fabric from my stash and proceeded to work on the block. The block turned out so pretty that I ended up buying the entire set of patterns for the Botanika quilt.....and some very pretty background fabric. I didn't have enough fabric for an entire quilt and really didn't want to go scrappy. I will be using a wide variety of fabrics, colors, and prints for the applique so having the background all the same will give the eye a place to rest. As for this block.....well, it will be made into a wall hanging.

I should probably include an update on my Orange Crush mystery quilt. The mystery has been solved. I laid all the blocks out on my design wall and now have 3 seams left to sew before the quilt center is finished. Haven't quite decided on borders yet. The mystery did come with a pieced border, but I'm not quite sure I will be adding that to my quilt. The center is pretty busy as it is. Plain borders just may be what is needed to finish it of....but I'm still thinking on that. As for the name of the quilt...."September Song" is what it will be known as from now on. I will be sure to post a picture of the completed quilt center....and then one of the completed quilt.

Orange Crush - Step #5 - second half

Well, I definitely wasn't expecting to finish these blocks up as quickly as I did.....but here they are.....done!! All 18 of the half blocks are now completed and waiting to be put into a quilt top. For the first time I am actually caught up with this mystery. Now I wonder what step #6 will entail.

Sweater Update: I worked on it for a bit this morning. Manged to get the first lace section done plus the four rows of garter stitch. Looks like the eyelet row is next. Wonder how hard this will be to accomplish? I've never done any lace knitting at all. And have only done one sweater....and that one was with large needles and bulky yarn. So this is definitely a learning experience.....and a most pleasant one at that.

Orange Crush - Step #5

This is only the first part of step #5 done. There are still some half blocks that need to be made....which I'm hoping to get done today. I was so excited over how my 20 album blocks turned out that I just couldn't wait to share. :) I wasn't real crazy about the colors and fabrics I chose, but I'm thinking that this will turn out to be a rather pretty quilt when it's all said and done.

Even though my sweater is still in the beginning stages of construction, I still wanted to share pictures of it. This is the bottom 4" or so of the sweater back. After way too many "duh" moments, I finally got things figured out. I just wish the lace pattern showed up a bit better in the photo. The sweater is being knit using a Shetland lamb/kid mohair blend yarn that I spun up years ago. I was saving it for that special project.....which I finally found in the book "A Fine Fleece". Now I hope I am able to do the pattern and the yarn justice.