FWQA: Plan B

School has started and summer is over. {This is very sad to type} The school gives us a nice four day weekend for Labor Day. So, Mike and I headed up to Vermont for some relaxation with great friends and this nugget. Isn't that car awesome?

Now for the real share of the day. In my "free time" this summer I did come up with an alternative plan for my Farmer's Wife Quilt Along. At this point I am so desperately far behind and have no desire to catch up.

Absolutely none. 

Currently 21 blocks are done, so abandoning the project completely also wouldn't work for me. Too much time has already been invested.

Introducing Plan B ...

Each Farmer's Wife block was matched with a 6.5 inch hourglass block (finished 6 inches).  I used Cirrus from Cloud 9 fabrics in Mist with Kona Snow. The blocks are arranged alternating hourglass and Farmer's Wife block to create a 6 x 7 grid. 

Around the outside is an 1.5 inch border. To make this quilt finish a little larger, I added another border of flying geese. Each piece finishes at 3 inches x 6 inches, with a diamond in each corner. Two sides are in warm colors, the other two in cool colors.

I used the four geese at a time method to speed up the process. In total I needed 14 different prints to make 56 flying geese. The backing was pieced from extra fabric not used in the blocks. 

One afternoon was all I needed to get the new plan completed. It came out super cute and it done :) 

Details:
Finished Size: 51 inches x 57 inches, Pattern: 1930's Farmer's Wife Quilt Blocks, Fabric: various  1930's prints, Batting: 80/20 blend, Thread: Connecting Threads - Parchment, Quilting: Stipple

Quilt Net: - 6.5 yards

Year to Date: - 90 yards

Knitting Nuisances

I found some random yarn at my parents house from ages ago when I first attempted becoming a knitter.  I am left handed, and my Mom is also.  When I was young my Mom tried teaching me using my left hand, and it never clicked.  Then we figured out I knit with my right hand!  Weird, right?  Being left handed and knitting with my right!  At this point I was watching her and trying to make the stitches backwards.  Still didn't click and I ended up more confused.  Finally, my Grandmother taught me using my right hand.  It clicked, well sorta.  She taught me how to knit and purl. 

About 6 months ago I took out my knitting needles again.  So far, I have mostly made small wash cloths.  The small size makes them manageable.  I have been working on controlling my tension.  It's hard finding the balance of just right.  The cotton yarn is easy to work with and the final product is very useful.  Now I just have a ton of wash cloths! 

Just recently I purchased a Knitting book by Margaret Hubert.  It has been very helpful.  There are so many pictures of, well, everything.  I felt as though I was ready for more of a challenge, and this book has been great.  It covers all the abbreviations, and walks through all the stitches in photos and written instructions.

The book also includes instructions and photos for 200 patterns!  What makes me the happiest with this book is each of the patterns is labeled: easy, intermediate, or experienced.  To start I obviously chose an easy pattern called Trinity.  It has a nice lacy look that appears complicated.  My one complaint is I do wish the book would show the back or at least note if the pattern is double sided.

At the start of this project, I was not familiar with knitting from a pattern and my only goal was to not screw it up.  Let's just say I am thankful it's very easy undo stitches or just start over.  This is a picture of attempt 5 and I am just beginning to feel comfortable with the stitches (the poor yarn just looks overworked!).  Once again adding to my long learning curve.  

This project will become a blanket for a car seat and the largest project I have ever taken on!  So far the whole thing has either been a nuisance or an epic fail.  Too soon to tell which yet.  

Eventually I would like to make a small baby sized afghan.  At my current rate of progress that should happen sometime around the next decade.  Just going to have to stick with small projects for now ... 

Anyone out there have pointers for a newbie knitter?  I need some tips and tricks!!!  For now I am going to sit and eat some of these delicious wafers :)

Sew long for now, 

CHELS