Work was unusually slow this week, so I was able to sneak some time and work on Dad’s Christmas quilt.
And like the Celtic Star quilt, this one is now ready for quilting!
I had a lot of fun designing and putting this one together.
The pieced blocks I used were pretty simple, and the fabrics made them so much fun.
And of course, the blocks I cut from the panel are totally adorable.
I’ve got some dog themed flannel for the back, but I forgot to take a pic. It’s all packed away and ready for a trip to Mom’s. With any luck, I can sneak away next weekend.
I had hoped to finish up the top on this one this weekend as well, but it was not to be. Saturday we ended up out all day, so I only had Sunday for sewing, and that was dedicated to the celtic top.
But earlier in the week, I was able to finish the missing eight friendship stars, and get the one with another plain black border around them. It’s a good size now… 51″ square, but I’d still like to make it a little bit bigger.
I just have to decide if I want a full border, or just add to top and bottom.
As soon as Dad’s socks were off the needles, I was onto the next project on the gift list. This was something for Dave’s Grandma.
A couple years back, I bought three balls of this yarn:
Lion Bran Ferris Wheel. It’s an acrylic yarn that looks somewhat handspun with long colour runs. I know I had a plan for it when I bought it, but I can’t for the life of me remember what that plan was.
I decided, since it was acrylic, it was a good candidate for use for Grandma’s gift (I don’t have to worry if his Mom throws it in the dryer – because she totally will).
Because of the long colour runs, I decided it would be a perfect candidate for Wingspan.
I wasn’t wrong! The pattern is written for fingering weight yarn, but the Ferris Wheel is worsted. I’m doing the same stitch count, but on 5mm needles. It’s going to be a nice big scarf. The pattern calls for eight triangles, and I’m about halfway through the fourth, and just coming up to the end of the first ball.
If I have enough leftover, I’ll knit up a matching hat. But first, I’ve got to finish this! Back to the needles – Relic is helping keep me on task!
November is already half over (how the heck did that happen) so I’m really motivated to get boogieing on the three quilts I want done for Christmas.
The first up is the celtic star quilt.
It took a whole afternoon, but all those stars came together beautifully. The secondary patterns look great, just as I hoped.
And I’m especially thrilled that I managed to keep those cornerstones all going the same way. (The fabric is directional).
I had just enough of this orange granite fabric to give it a nice wide border. At 64″ x 82″, it’s the largest of the three quilts I am trying to finish by Christmas.
I decided to splurge, and got one of the gradient backings that goes with this fabric line.
Now this one is in the to-quilt pile, and ready for the next trip to Mom’s. Onto the next!
I know many of you knit for charities (or know people who do), so I’m helping to get the word out about this wonderful giveaway from one of my favourite places to buy yarn
We know so many wonderful people knit and crochet for good causes. We’d love to hear your stories and help out. We’ve partnered with Bernat and Patons yarn to give 12 individuals and groups a total of $4000 worth of yarn to use towards their good works / charitable projects. Since we get requests from all over, and we’d like to do something nice for our neighbours, this is open to Canadians and Americans.
Thanks for all the comments on the living room – we are very happy with it. And in the pictures, you saw a little glimpse of my house plant hoard.
One of the things I really liked about this house was that I would have SO MUCH MORE ROOM FOR PLANTS!!!! Not that I didn’t have a good collection already (it took three loads in Dory to get them all here from the townhouse). But since we’ve got here, I’ve steadily added to it here and there.
On the way to Mom’s the other weekend, I stopped at a big greenhouse by her place. There, I picked up a new cactus.
You may recall this little planter I have.
Although his tail was cute (a piece of conical snake plant), it just didn’t have quite the look I wanted. But at this greenhouse, I found the perfect thing!!!
That’s much better.
Of course, I couldn’t leave that big green house with just ONE cactus.
Another type of Snake Plant (called Patula), and a Burro’s Tail succulent.
I also picked up something I’ve been coveting for a very long time.
It’s just an air plant, but it’s been glued into a sea urchin shell, so it looks like a little planty jellyfish! It’s not very big, but it’s just so darn cute. It’s now hanging in my bathroom where it will get lots of humidity.
A few days later, Dave and I made a trip to Home Depot. ALL of their house plants were 50% off. I managed to resist and only buy three. (Admittedly, if Dave hadn’t been with me, I probably would have bought more.)
I’ve wanted an Anthurium (far left), for a long time, but they are usually quite pricey. Half off was very exciting. If they had a red one, I probably would have got one of those too. The one on the right is a Dracaena – I already have a couple of these, though they are different types. They are very easy to grow.
But the one I love the most is the little guy in the middle
He’s a type of Aloe (Aloe Ferox), and I just love his creepy, monster-like looks!
FINALLY!!!! I can show you a (mostly) finished living room. I got tired of waiting for Dave to have time to help me move the furniture, so when he went to his Grandma’s last weekend, I did it myself.
The recliner is heavy enough, but let’s not talk about moving a sofa-bed by yourself, never mind my antique radio! Still, with much huffing and pufffing, I managed it. And here is the result.
If I’m remembering my measurements correctly, the room is about 13.5′ x 13.5′. A nice cozy size for the two of us. There are still things to be done – baseboard and cove trim, as well as a new window and window trim, but like Dave’s studio, it’s about 98% complete.
I absolutely love my cheery green walls. To be honest, it’s a little more eye-popping than the plan I had in my head. But I love it! Wit the dark toned furniture, and all my plants, I really think it’s the perfect shade.
The flooring is the same as Dave’s studio, and is much darker than I wanted, but I have to admit, it goes well with the furniture. Especially the radios. You can see my 1937 RCA Victor in the corner (Dave made me take the plants off it as soon as he got home). Under the TV is a 1950s Philco console. It’s another of Dave’s restorations and it has a radio and a turntable (both work). In the townhouse, it was hidden away in his studio. It’s nice to have a place to display it properly as he did such a beautiful job on the restoration.
And speaking of that TV. When we were dithering about putting an offer on the house (well Dave was dithering, I knew this was our house), one of the things I promised Dave was that he could upsize our TV. In the townhouse, we had a 37″ but Dave wanted bigger. The townhouse living room was too small for anything bigger, but I said if we got this house, he could go as big as he wanted. Happily, he stuck to a reasonable 50 inches. (Though I know he really wanted 72″).
Because we had to hang drywall anyway, Dave took advantage of the opportunity to run speaker wires for the surround system behind it, and install a conduit to house all the TV/Internet/Component cables. The little bit of wire you can see at ground level will all be hidden by baseboard. The system looks wireless, but actually isn’t! He’s very proud of that.
I do laugh when I look back and think that we expected to have all this done BEFORE we actually moved in (within two months). If we’d hadn’t had the long commute, other projects, and day jobs… we could have done it. Instead, it took us six months. But sitting here, in a room that’s coordinated and all mine… is a wonderful reward for all that work!
Here’s a little before and after
And here’s the journey that got us here…
Now I settle in for a winter of (mostly) quiet. The chaos can begin again in the Spring.
I’m afraid I lost the game of yarn chicken with Dad’s socks. And not just by a little. I lost with about four inches to go on the last sock. Since I didn’t have another matching skein, I had to resort to drastic measures.
I undid the kitchener stitch on the first sock and ravelled back the toe.
I attached the yarn to the second sock (leaving the first sock off the needles) and I carefully unravelled the first sock as I knit some more inches on second sock with its yarn. Once I had them to a point where they were even, I cut the yarn, and put the first sock back on the needles
Then I got a contrasting (Some dark brown tweedy Regia) and finished off the toe on each sock.
And that’s another present done, dusted, and off the to-do list!
The pattern is Studmaster. It’s not a freebie, but at just $2, it’s worth the price of admission. I think it’s the first pair of socks I’ve knit that’s only patterned on the front, not the back. It helps the sock go that much quicker! This pair took about two weeks of non-steady knitting.
With these done, it’s time to check out what remains on the list and go stash diving! Stay tuned!
Wandering Cat Studio 