Snow Day Catch Up!

Today is a Snow Day! We have already had quite a few this winter, although some were more like Frigid Cold Days, when the wind chill factor was -20.   We are under a blizzard warning, so the six of us are hunkered down. I have already baked a batch of cookies and a loaf of banana bread.  The younger three kids tried going outside for a little bit but the snow isn't packing, and it is COLD.  Soon, I want to break out some board games, but for now everyone is attached to a screen. Phil is playing Skrym on his PS3, Sam is playing on the Wii, while Max is battling someone in Pokemon on his DS, and I am pretty sure that Brooke and Vince are crafting some mines.  So that gives me the chance to share some projects.

Once I finished the ruffle scarf, I went back to the yarn stash to see what other scarves were waiting to be made.  I bought this rainbow yarn years ago when a fabric store was going out of business.  I knew that Brooke would love the bright colors, and that it would go with any coat as she gets older.  The stitch pattern is very easy and with such a thick yarn on 17 needles, the scarf worked up very quickly.   I found the pattern on Pinterest called a  Scrunchable Scarf.   Cast on in a multiple of 3 (I did twelve for Brooke's) and then Knit 2, Purl 1. Because of the multiple of three it makes its own pattern of knit row, purl row, and moss row.  Brooke loves it - she gave me a big hug when I gave it to her.

Next up, I finished my St. Patrick's Day ribbon wreath.  For this one I did buy all the shamrock ribbon but I used the plain greens left from Christmas, so I kinda used stuff up, right? I love having that bit of sparkle on some of the ribbons, and how the orange pops, in honor of the Irish flag colors.  I just started working on one that for a dear friend of mine next.  I gave her a Christmas ribbon wreath, which she has hanging on her door in her retirement community. Since it's March, I thought she would like something she could leave up all the time.  Purple is her favorite color, so I have a nice variety of purple ribbons for her.

After 16 years, I finally took my sewing machine in to be serviced.  The tension has been so off, (I think because the bobbin wasn't winding at the right tension) that it has been hard to work on anything without getting extremely frustrated.  If you sew too, you know those little loops that form on the back of your seam when the tension isn't right.  So annoying.

The last quilt I worked on is still a work in progress but I can finish it without the machine. I pieced the top of this autumn log cabin before Sam was born (He's almost 13) and since it was one of the very first things I had ever done, I made the mistake of using the polyester batting. It made for a rather puffy quilt when I machine quilted in the ditch in the log cabin section.  My intention has always been to hand sew leaf shapes in the border, using a gold metallic floss. I thought it would pick up the gold that is in some of the dark fabrics.  I used to have several leaf shaped copper cookie cutters (they had a purpose too, but I can't remember what it is) that would be perfect for this task. Unfortunately, I have no idea where they have gone. I know where they used to be before we moved. Now, not so much. Plan B - I will find some leaf shapes online and make my own templates.  Of course, ask soon as finish the quilt I'll find the cookie cutters. Never fails, right?

Hopefully, the Autumn Log Cabin will be another item crossed off the UFO list soon.

Time to go round everyone up for some game time.  I hope that you are all warm and safe and happily crafting wherever you are!

My first "ruffle" scarf

I don't know about you, but when I go to a craft store for one thing, very often I bring home a lot more than I intended.  Stickers, paper, a yard of fabric, a skein of yarn...or two...or three.  When I finished Vince's scarf I went looking through all the boxes and bags of "impulse" skeins to see what might be the next project.  That's when I found a skein of purple yarn, the kind that makes the ruffle scarf.

I had not made a ruffle scarf before, but I followed the directions on the inside of the skein wrapper.  I worked on it for a bit but it didn't seem to be working.  Instead of a ruffle, it made kind of bell shape.  So I went online and found a very helpful blog that said to knit every other stitch on the flat edge of the yarn. This did the trick and soon I had a very cute scarf.

It didn't take very long to make, as you only knit six stitches a row, and the yarn ruffles by itself.  I can see many more ruffle scarves in the future for friends and family alike.  There are so many pretty yarns to choose from, some with sequins and sparkles, I might just have to make them all!

Baby Boy quilt #1

About five years ago I had six friends who were having babies, and one was a two-for-one! I set out to make quilts for all those babies, and got a good start on them, but sadly, most are still sitting in the craft oasis in different stages of being finished.

This baby boy quilt was one of those projects.  I forget where I saw the idea of the columns of small strips with the border in between.  It's a great way to use up scraps and worked up pretty quickly.  Think of the possibilities with this quick pattern - white strips with red and green Christmas fabrics, black strips with Halloween fabrics, brown strips with pink baby girl fabrics.  

I cut the brown strips into 2 and a half inch strips from salvage to salvage.  The blue strips were also cut to 2.5 wide and 4 inches long (being that most of the fabrics were leftovers from other projects, I think that was as long as I could go). If you wanted to make the vertical strips longer, (if you were doing a project for a kid or adult) I think that would work as long as the widths of the strips are the same.

Once I had finished piecing, I wasn't quite sure how to quilt the layers together (which is why it sat for so long).  Stitching in the ditch along the brown borders was easy and an obvious way to quilt, but I was at a loss for how to quilt in the blue area.   My sewing machine is just a regular Singer, not designed specifically for quilting, so doing straight lines when quilting is all I have tried.

Since the Candy Corn quilt had turned out so well, I figured I would try something a little more complicated for the baby quilt.  I grabbed a star shaped cookie cutter and used that as my template to draw stars along the blue sections of the quilt.  Then I machine quilted each star.  It took a few stars to get the tension just right in my machine (it's always been a bit touchy with the tension controls) but I thought they turned out well.  I used the same brown strips for the binding and ta-da!  another UFO is finished. 

As the baby I started this for is now a five year old boy in Pre-K, who is probably much more interested in cars, dinosaurs, and superheroes, this quilt will go instead to a new baby boy, who is the long awaited son of one of Phil's oldest friends.  I wish they lived closer so we could visit and coo over the little man, but I am happy knowing that a dear friend will enjoy it for years to come.