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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Quilt Bucket-List & Knitting

Thank-you so much for all the kind comments on my Anniversary Quilt!!! I tend to forget how wonderful blogging can be!


As a word of encouragement, that quilt was much easier to make than I thought it would be. I kept putting it off until the last moment, and now I don't know why. I thought there would have to be lots of planning, marking, unpicking, struggling..., but really it was lighter than a pieced quilt top, I didn't have the restraint of seam lines to quilt within, I didn't break needles on bulky seams, I had the freedom to quilt the designs I wanted to, where I wanted to.... It was really a joy to quilt, it came out better than I anticipated, and it made all the 'practice' quilting I have been doing the past few years worth it. A whole cloth quilt was on my Bucket-List of quilts to make, and I am glad to have checked it off.


It looks like this outside my windows, so I did take the whole cloth quilt off my bed since it was just too much 'white'! I'll save it for summer.


I put the log cabin quilt back on my bed. A Log Cabin quilt was the first quilt on my Bucket List of quilts, I had been wanting to make one since I first started quilting seriously 7 years ago. It took me a while to collect a good assortment of light and dark fabrics to be able to make it (these are mostly reproduction fabrics). I made this one last year, and it is probably my favourite quilt. I made it for my son's room, but it looked better in mine, and I found a better one for him in my stash of quilts.
The next quilt on my bucket list is a double wedding ring quilt, I have the fabric and I am ready to go! What's on your Bucket List of Quilts?

Last month I also did some spinning and knitting.


I bought a 'fibre of the month' subscription from SweetGeorgia Yarns, and this was the January fibre (BFL and silk).


I divided the fibre into the different colours,


and spun it gradationally,


into this skein.


I knit a scarf/shawl with it. Although I just made it to the yellow, I am glad that I didn't make it any bigger, it is 2.3m/95" long and 40cm/16" wide. The pattern is Heaven Scent by Boo Knits, more details can be found here.

This is another Boo Knits shawl that I made last month -


The pattern is Sweet Dreams, it was a surprisingly easy knit, more details here.


It is made with lace weight yarn (Knit Picks Shadow), and it is the first time that I have knitted with beads (Matsuno Dyna-Mites 8/0) - easier than I thought it would be too....hmmm......

This next one I started spinning at the end of the month-


This is the February fibre (merino, silk and bamboo).


I spun it into a DK weight, 2ply yarn. It is the first time I have tried something with bamboo. It is lovely, soft and silky,


and knitting up beautifully. I am hoping to have enough to make my first hand spun sweater. It is top down, with short sleeves (might be very cropped if I run out of yarn!).
I joined the fibre of the month to get different colours than I normally dye, and these two have definitely been out of 'my box', I look forward to this month's (it is the last month of the subscription).

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!