BOM's, AQOTM, and a KAL

The end of the month is always a flurry of sewing to catch up on for me!

Here are my Ostrich Block of the Month (BOM) blocks - 

This month was "Stars", I made two 9" Ohio Stars.
Here are all of my blocks so far -

These are my Pieces of Time BOM blocks (7.5" blocks) -

and all of them together (plus the pattern - a long way to go) -

My Art Quilt of the Month (AQOTM) was inspired by all the roses blooming in the garden -

I even used a leaf as a stamp for the quilt (just painted the back of a leaf with gold fabric paint).

It is 6"x8". The rose photo is an altered photo of a rose in the garden, that I printed on fabric. Something different for this month - no beads! That was a challenge for me!

Here are all six AQOTM so far  (hard to believe that half a year has gone by) -

I participated in a mystery Knit-A-Long (KAL) for June from Craftsy. This is the first time I have ever done something like that. It was exciting to get the beautiful skein of yarn in May, and then wonder about what we would be making in June.

It is a lace cowl. The yarn is a silk and mohair blend that is as thin as a hair and floated, plus it was knit on large needles. I have never knit with anything so fine and it was a challenge (one person said she felt like Charlotte spinning her web).

It also had a 16 stitch cable at the start and end of the row which was another challenge - once the instructor added a video on how to do that, things went much smoother for me. Everything was well explained and it was nice to knit along with others.
It is very rewarding to finish something so challenging. It is so soft and light, I look forward to wearing it. If you click on the link, you can see how it can be worn.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Knitting and Dyeing

I haven't been spending much time on the computer, but I have been doing lots of other things.

Summer is finally here and I have enjoyed working outside!!

Things are growing and blooming, which is so nice after that incredible long winter.

I have done a bit of sewing on the Rob Peter to Pay Paul quilt -

I also finished knitting a sweater -

This is The Seamless Artemisia Sweater from Craftsy.

It is such a great way to knit a sweater - from the top down with no seams, so I tried it on as it grew to make sure that it fit just right (it is 30°C/86°F today and hopefully it will be a long time until I need to wear a wool sweater!).

The only thing that I did different than the instructions was to knit the sleeves two at a time, using the magic loop technique (like I knit socks).

Yesterday I dyed some wool ready for spinning.

It is the first time I have tried this and it went very well (I used acid dyes - just need vinegar to set the dye, and I steamed the bundles in an old canner). The top pastel one is wool and nylon for socks, it came out lighter than I expected. This is the fibre before steaming -

This Saturday the Tour de Fleece starts - it is a month long online spinning challenge (runs the time of the Tour de France), so I am all set.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Another Stash Buster

I cut out another stash busting quilt -

This time with Asian fabric (I did buy 3 metres of beige to tie it all together, and to be able to make something a useable size - so not a true stash buster). I just had lots of little pieces and so it is nice to be able to make something with it.

I used the Rob Peter to Pay Paul GO! die for the cutting.

This is the layout (I think it will have to remain on the "design" floor until it is sewn together). The design creates circles - I cut out sets of four "melons" for each circle. Now for lots of sewing! It will be 54" x 70".

The last of the tulips from my garden - I planted these ones last fall.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥