"Two-Timing"

With two quilts due in April, I find myself going back and forth between projects, which I am quite enjoying. The top one has been in the works for about two years and by the looks of it I took my merry time. It's a simple hand quilt job and perfect for my Stitch'n'Bitch or evenings on the sofa in front of the telly.

The other one is shaping up nicely too ...



I finished auditioning blocks for the bottom two rows (with what is now the bottom row moving up and the other one moving down ...) so the top should be finished by the end of next week. That leaves me time to ponder the quilting. While I would have liked some straight line quilting, I think that will distract from the zig-zag.

Festival of Quilts 2011

It's always good to have something to look forward to and this year, quilt-wise, I have not one but two "somethings". Not only am I going on retreat at the end of September but I'm also going to the Festival of Quilts in Brum in August.

I am already very excited because not only do I love quilts, I also love having something to look forward to, it anchors my year and helps me stay motivated through the hard slog of weekly routine as a working mum of two and "career widow".

Already, I am plotting accomodation, transportation, education (lots of classes available) and also shopping! Birmingham has excellent shopping and I intend to make use of the weak pound. Which all settles the question of when to leave (Thursday! not Friday).

Now I can't help wondering how many Euro bloggers I will run into!

Details of stripes and shirts ...

I am making good progress with my big zig quilt and am particularly enarmoured with the stripes here ... I like that they are all going in the same direction, a minor detail, but I like it all the same.

Also, unlike previous projects, I have been diligently cutting to size and ironing as well.

Is this a good idea?

A while back, I started the assembly-line style production of blocks for AmandaJean's no-triangle-zig pattern by cutting long pieces of fabric, sewing them together, one solid, one patterned and then cutting them to size. This is working rather well.



But this time 'round, I'm using a fairly graphic stripey fabric and I am wondering whether I will need to alternate horizontal and vertical stripes ... we shall see!

Must make one of those heart mini quilts

Look what I found in VickiVictoria's photo stream .... it's based on instructions from Freda's Hive

Happily chopping away!

I am having good fun in my little cave aka sewing room, hacking fabric into pieces in order to turn this heap into something new!

Eternity is finished - yay!

Finally, I'm done but not without a few mishaps. First of all, I really struggled with the instructions going from rib to regular so I reversed the order. No issues there. But then I have never been really good at casting on so I ended up with a lot, and I mean a LOT, extra stitches (4). And finally, I ran out of yarn during cast off (1) so had to frog that part and re-do it because I didn't have yarn that matched (2) and was too cheap to get another skein. So there you go: adventures in knitting!

1.) 2.)
3.) 4.)

But I LOVE it and the Rowan Lima yarn is just delicious to work with and wear! I think I might do another one - albeit with less stitches.