Monday, July 13, 2015

Tale of Two Socks

Two years ago in August I posted a picture of "bad sock" - too big, too pointy of a toe and heel and general not a good sock.

Fast forward to June of this year - we are in temporary housing while waiting to close on our farm house in NC.  All of my quilting supplies are in storage.  Most of my knitting is in storage.  Almost everything is in storage.  But I did keep out the yarn and the restart of "bad sock".

I loved the yarn and now that I am moving back to a colder climate - wool socks will definitely be necessary -so in June I started working on it again.  I tried to work on it where every I could - it even went out on the boat while the guys went fishing.



I got a few rows done - they didn't even get a nibble!

By the middle of June, I was the the cuff on the first sock.



I avoided second sock syndrome - I finished both of these last week.


I am especially pleased at how the stripes match.

Now if we could only get to started on our new adventure - we were supposed to close today but ran in to some issues.  Hopefully they will be resolved this week and the next post will be pictures of our little farm house.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

An Overdue Update

I have been very quiet on my blog as I have not been creating art for the last few months - instead I have been preparing our home for sale, selling our home (much faster than anticipated), packing and packing and packing followed by moving to storage units and a very small apartment in Charleston.

It was a bitter sweet day when we left - I miss the view from my studio everyday


As well as the various wild life I was privileged to see over the last ten years.


Since then life has been full with the graduation of my son 


A few weeks of vacation (including a cruise to the Bahamas) with relatives


(no the parrot is not a relation but one we viewed in Nassau at Ardastra Gardens).

This is all in preparation for the next phase in our lives. I hope to get my studio up and running by the end of next month.  Just a hint: it will eventually include several of these in a much different location than I currently live. 








Sunday, February 8, 2015

Grand Illusion - the Modest Version

The last few weeks a seen very little progress on my Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt as I have had a paint brush in my hand more often than a needle and thread.  We are preparing to sell our home in the near future and are doing all those little projects that you put off until you are getting ready to leave!

I have finished one block as well as lots of parts and like how it is turning out.


My Grand Illusion guilt will be a more modest version - instead of five blocks by five blocks - I have decided to do three by four.  I don't need another large quilt and as I quilt all my own quilts on a domestic machine - smaller quilts are easier to manage.  

It is packed up for now but it will reappear in the near future. 

Monday, February 2, 2015

Working on My Quilting PHD

An appropriate post for Ground Hog Day - I am gathering my list of PHD's (projects half done) to turn into my guild next week.  To give the guilds membership incentive to finish their projects, for the last few years we have turned in our list of PHD's in at the beginning of the year that we would like to finish by the end of the year.  Each time one is complete it is shown during our show and tell and marked off.  At the end of the year prizes are awarded to those who complete the most on their list.  This year we can turn in twelve (believe me, I have more than that!)

First on the list is Anniversary Flowers.  This is the oldest on this years list and I think one of the first quilts I designed myself.  I pretty sure I was making it to celebrate by twentieth wedding anniversary - hence the name.  Since my husband and I just past our thirty-third anniversary - it has been hanging around for awhile. The reason I haven't finished it is that it is hand-applique.  Something I didn't do well back then and still don't.  I am a machine girl.  I have a idea how to fix it and as it isn't very big I think it deserves to be finished.


The next is the newest on the list - Road Home.  I designed and started this quilt in 2014 planning to teach it as my beginning quilt this year.  I decided it doesn't really work as a beginning quilt and since I am quilting it on my featherweight - the machine that has my walking foot - it has been slow going. The featherweight is a wonderful machine but the physical set up I have is not the greatest and my shoulders and back handle only about three rows before I have to give up.


The rest on the list aren't in any particular order, but are quilts that I need to finish.  The next group are tops that are finished and just require quilting and binding.  I do all my own machine quilting and piece much faster than I quilt. 

Number three is the Mystery Quilt I designed last year for my guild using yardage:



Number four is the Scrappy Mystery:


Number five is an I Spy for a great nephew that will be entering high school if I don't get busy and finish this one (he will actually only be two in October):


The next one needs a border to make it a better size and of course quilting and binding:


Number seven and eight are small wall quilts that have some quilting but need a bit more as well as beading and finish work:



Number nine and ten are new quilts using my Charleston Single House pattern (one large and one small) and need applique work, quilting, embellishing and finishing:




Number eleven is a group quilt that I don't have a picture for but just needs quilting and binding.

Number twelve (also no picture) is the quilt to be made from the blocks from last years Cobblestone Quilters Guild block of the month.  This might end up being twelve a and twelve b as I plan to donate the quilt(s) to charity and I might be able to get two smaller ones done faster than one large one.

This is the twelve I will turn in to the guild - hopefully I won't have a feeling of deja vu next year when I prepare 2016's list.