Productivity in the quilting department has really fallen lately. My bout with the sick, coupled with a really heavy workload at the day job has really cut into my sewing time. But this weekend, I managed to bang out a couple more Marseilles stars

They are made from charm squares, and since I can get two matching centres from two charm squares, I’ve worked out a way that I can sew two blocks at a time with chain piecing.

Last time I showed these, many of you commented how nice they look on point. I agree, and I think that’s how I’m going to lay them out in the final quilt. I just have to decide if I want them touching each other, or with a plain block in between (like in my bear paws). Then Mom could do some fancy quilting on the plain blocks!

It will really come down to how big things are working out once all my blocks are done (I have 10 more to go). This is another couch quilt, so I don’t want it too big.

Of course, I’ve got plenty of time to decide – I’m no where close to finishing the star blocks.

We interrupt this Christmas knitting to work on (and finish) more Christmas knitting…

As I was going through all the stuff I had to wrap for Christmas, I realized there was one small present I’d forgotten about. Luckily, it was small and quick and I had them knit up in no time…

The pattern is Family Slippers and I used some Bernat Chunky Felting I had kicking around in my stash. I loved using the Felting because the single ply makes them look a little like the Phentex Mom used to use, but the Felting is much nicer!

A couple evening of knitting and they were done, and now I can get back to Dave’s Christmas socks. Of course, if I don’t finish his socks in time, he can always get them for Valentine’s Day!

As if I didn’t already have enough… Mom stopped by and delivered my birthday present.

Just look at all this beautiful fabric! A purrfect kit for a purrfect little lap blanket. I’m not going to start sewing until I have a box free, but I might start cutting soon. This one is going to require a lot of cutting!

But in my defense, it was ordered weeks before the Black Friday sales… it just took a really long time to get here.

You see, Samantha has commissioned me to make another quilt, and I needed to order some fabric from Missouri Star Quilt Co from it (more on that later). But I really wanted to make the most of their flat rate shipping.

I got a pretty fall batik for my Autumn a-whirl borders (more on that later too), but then I spied a weekly deal they were offering – an End-of-the-bolt surprise bag of 4.2 lbs of fabric. They said it worked out to about 7-8 yards of fabric, which at the special sale price, came in around $4 a yard – a little cheaper than what I can get for ends at Lens.

Now I know a lot of people don’t like surprises, but I’m quite fond of them. I thought it would be fun to take a chance and see what I got.

Let me say… I am not disappointed! The bulk are more blender/background fabrics, but that’s nothing to complain about – a quilter always has use for those.

There were also some lovely florals. And I do so love florals!

Especially those fantastic sunflowers!

But there were a few really fantastic pieces

These fish are just fantastic – and HUGE!!! They are far too big for quilting – if I cut them all up, you’ll lose them. I’m thinking they will make a great project bag. Or even another dress for Wren!

There was even a beautiful batik!

It went right in the box with all my other beautiful batiks!

And last… but  definitley not least…

I think you can guess what my favourite piece of the pack was!

The pieces vary in size, and I haven’t measured them all, but they are pretty much all between half a yard and a yard. This was a fantastic exercise in stash enhancement!

While we have plenty of windows, and a big sliding glass door on the back of our house, the garage takes up the majority of the front. There’s just the front door window, and a small bathroom window… there just aren’t many opportunities to keep an eye on what’s going on out there.

And that’s just not acceptable when you’re a cat…

There so many squirrels and birds out there that need to be yelled at!!!!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! I hope you all enjoy your patterns!

I wouldn’t say I’m in a knitting funk… but with all my Christmas presents out of the way, and no plans for designs or anything else, I found myself at a crossroads.

A crossroads where I could knit anything… but had no idea what I wanted to knit. I agonized over it for days, and still couldn’t come to a decision. So while I’m deciding, I thought I might as well make one more Christmas gift.

I figured there was enough time to whip up a pair of socks for Dave before the big day. Nothing fancy – just plain ol’ vanilla… but the yarn makes up for it. It’s beautiful Cherry Tree Hill which was I received from Nancy at Wyoming Breezes in a swap this summer.

The colourway is Serengeti, and since Dave and I watch a lot of nature documentaries together, it’s appropriate.

They are nice and mindless, so while I work on them, I can contemplate what I really want to make!

Today is my birthday…. as of today, I have made 39 successful trips around the sun!

To celebrate, I’m giving all of you a gift! Please feel free to choose one knitting pattern from my ravelry store… absolutely free!

Just use the code FREE39 at checkout!

As you know, neighbour Krista is a bird lover. So much so, that she named her daughter Wren. So months ago, when I saw the pattern to knit a little Wren, I knew I had to do it for her. I thought it would make a cute little Christmas ornament.

It took less than an hour to knit, and very little time to sew up. That said, I’m not overly thrilled with it. Mine isn’t shaped quite like the pattern, his tail doesn’t tip up, and he looks more like a little beady-eyed submarine. I think it has something to do with how I sewed him up. I may take out the seams and try again. I’m also not thrilled with his eyes. I used some hematite beads, because I though they had a nice bit of shine. I think I may take them off an embroider instead – these ones stick out too much.

Not every knit can be perfect…. and there’s still time to fix before Christmas!

And the last Christmas hat is done!

I am happy to say, I was able to rework the pattern so it’s completely seamless

As written, you knit flat around the face opening (and seam it closed at the end). Then knit until the ear increases are done. Then you cast off, and knit down the back. Then you pick up stitches around the bottom and knit the neck ribbing (again knitting flat). At the end, you sew the neck and face opening seams. And seam the back and up the ears.

It was very easy to knit the face opening in the round, getting rid of that seam. Then you still knit flat until ears are increased. But then it gets tricky to continue seamlessly. I managed it by putting the ear stitches on holders, and using short rows, ssks, and ktogs to join the sides to the back as you knit. Then it was simple to pick up the neck and knit in the round until its complete. The ears were then grafted closed.

And while I’m happy with how it looks, grafting the ears did leave a little hole that needed to been seamed closed, so it’s no quite a perfect solution.

I’m going to try again… using short rows and decreases to close the ears before starting the back. I’m not sure it’s going to work, but I figure it’s worth a shot.

I’m recording my notes, so whichever way is more successful, I’ll share the pattern with all of you. Hopefully by the end of the month!

I did something I said I wasn’t going to do…

I let all those Leader and Ender HSTs pile up and now I have a mountain to trim before I can move forward with the next step of the quilt. I hate trimming. Like really HATE it. It’s not hard… but it’s just so darn tedious. I promised myself that I was going to trim a few every day and I didn’t and now I have more than 150 that need to be trimmed and ironed.

I managed to get about 20 done before I was ready to run over my fingers with the rotary cutter. Maybe if I do 20 every day, I can make this a little less painful (and keep my fingers…)