International Quilting Day

This past Saturday was International Quilting Day. I finished up a few projects.

I pieced the pillow top last week, and machine quilted and finished it this weekend. I started piecing the table topper last weekend and finished it this weekend. The little coaster/mug mat I made this weekend as part of a sew along.

For the pillow I added a piece of needlepoint that my Mother made a while ago - it has been waiting around for the right project and I thought it went very well with the French General fabric.

The diamond shaped table topper was made with the Mini Hex n More ruler. It is a great little ruler (about 3" long), and a nice way to use up little bits of fabric (it is pretty easy to figure out how to combine pieces for the patterns too). The table topper is about 18"x31" (measured from the points).

The mug mat pattern was from Kathleen Tracy (A Sentimental Quilter). It is about 4"x7".

Can you tell I am trying to use up every little piece of a French General fat quarter pack! Two quilt tops (waiting for quilting - the Double Wedding Ring quilt top has some French General yardage too), a pillow cover, a table topper, a mug mat and a little chicken pincushion.

 This is what is left of the FQ's - enough for a little selvage bag I think/hope.


Yesterday it looked like this-

and we woke up to this this morning-

The beauty of snow in March is that it will melt soon.

The animals had to dig for seeds. The snow didn't stop the partridges from fighting (you can see them in the background).

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

More of the Same

My sweater is progressing nicely - I started the sleeves because I think I will have enough yarn to only use 3 colours (the body is almost the right length), but I just want to make sure. I am working on the transition from pink to blue, so there are lots of yarn balls on the go.

My dry, cracked fingers needed a break from knitting, so a little sewing project was just the right thing. I used up little scraps of French General fabric from the quilt tops I pieced recently. I used a pattern from Ocean Waves Quilt Guild and the PDF pattern is found here. My quilt blocks are 3.5" instead of 4.5". The little pincushion is stuffed with crushed walnut shells.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Random Photos and Progress

The sweater is progressing nicely - I think I have about 5 more inches to knit for the body, and it looks like I will have plenty of yarn for the sleeves. There is one more colour to add to the body.

Yesterday's sunrise

A rabbit enjoying some pineapple trimmings

We saw a flock of geese this morning - a sure sign of spring

I am always amazed how dirty the snow is when it starts melting

 Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!♥

Sweater Update

The hand dyed, hand spun sweater is coming along nicely (I added the neckband already because I want to be able to use all the pink wool left over for the top of the sleeves).

The snow has started melting - last year it didn't start melting until well into April. We also didn't get as much snow this year as last year.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

New Toy

My new toy is a blending board - it is a fun way to mix fibres for spinning. This is my first attempt, so I tried blending little bits of fibre I've had for a while. There is some BFL wool (from SweetGeorgia Yarn, in the Tavern colour way), natural silk and merino blend, gold angelina, and white tencel (a man made silky fibre, similar to rayon).

Using a blending board is like painting with fibres (here is a link for the product on YouTube) - very easy to use.

These are the rolages I produced - just over 40g of fibre.

They spun up so easily - I used a long draw, woolen method of spinning. This is the first time I have spun like this, and it sure was quick.

I ended up with about 140m, 40g of lace weight to light fingering weight yarn.

The yarn is nice and fluffy too, because it is a true woolen (both in fibre prep and drafting method). I think I am really going to enjoy my new toy!

the sunset this evening

Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Winnipeg

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Fourth Skein and a Start

I finished spinning the fourth (and last) skein of yarn for my sweater.

Made from these two bobbins. It came out more purple than I thought it would, so it is similar to the third skein.

All four skeins

About 800g, and almost 1400m in total.

I couldn't wait to start knitting the sweater.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Third Skein

I finished spinning the third skein of yarn yesterday (tomorrow I should finish spinning the last skein).

It was so pretty when it was spinning on the wheel.

The two bobbins before plying (each skein is made up of two different colour ways plied together),

and the finished skein. About 190g, and just over 400m of DK weight, 100% Merino wool yarn.

You can tell it is getting a bit warmer because the partridges don't need to puff out their feathers so much. They seem to have split off in to pairs now - spring must be on the way!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.♥

Second Skein

I finished spinning the second skein of yarn.

It blends well with the first skein.

We have had an unusual visitor at the bird feeder - a grackle (they usually migrate south for the winter). This is the second winter that we have seen one - I don't know if it is the same one or just coincidence.

Just because!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.♥

Quilt Tops, First Skein and Rabbits

I finished piecing the Four in Four quilt top,

now I have two quilt tops to quilt - I just need to get batting and backing.

I also finished spinning the first skein of yarn for the sweater. Almost 200g, over 350m, of about DK weight wool. I don't think it is quite so bright in real life.

I am working on the second skein.

After all that cold weather and wind, it was 'balmy' -5℃ today, with no wind - our oldest son was happy to be able to go for a ride.

The rabbits entertained us this evening-

It started out peaceful.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.♥

Fibre Fun

I dyed all 900g of Merino fibre for another attempt at knitting a sweater. I am really pleased how the colours came out. I have decided that I want to work with larger skeins of yarn for this attempt, so have decided to ply two different colours together to make a ~200g skein.

The next photos are the colour combinations-

I started spinning the first skein -

The fibre is 100% Merino wool from Ashford Fibre in New Zealand. I bought it from Fibre Detours (a Canadian online store).

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥