Peek-a-boo!

I finished tacking down the last of the binding on the afternoon of December 30, so this is the official last finished project for 2018.

Autumn in the Country is the perfect couch quilt. It’s about 50″ square, so it’s just perfect for movie watching, book reading, cat snuggling, and all manner of wonderfully lazy activities.

This quilt is special for a couple reasons. It’s the first quilt I’ve made entirely from one fabric collection – in this case Country Blossom from Craftsy. I started with a Jelly Roll for the centre (using the Summer in the Park tutorial), and I bought a few yards of the other fabrics for the borders, binding and backing.

The backing is the white version of the green border fabric and I love it. It’s such a bold, beautiful print!

The second thing that makes it special is that I completed it all myself (without contracting quilting out to Mom).

All those lovely loops are mine, and it was a blast to do them. Mom’s machine had a stitch regulation mode, so I didn’t have to worry about keeping my speed even to keep my stitches nice… I could just doodle away!

Now I can’t wait to finish up a few more quilts I have waiting!

On New Year’s Eve (day), I took the opportunity to get the studio in order, and clear out a few small projects so I could start the new year fresh.

Autumn A-Whirl was one of those projects. It just needed its borders, and the fabric had arrived mid-December, so it was time to get it done.

I put a nice wide, 6″ border of this beautiful batik on it. (and I still have a nice big chunk of it left.)  It’s still a small quilt – probably a little larger than lap size – but it’s a wonderful gathering of all those gorgeous fabrics!

My Snoopervisor has thoroughly inspected it, and given his approval. Which is good – once quilted, it will cover the blanket box at the end of the bed, which is where Mr. Burton spends most nights.

Now I have two project boxes empty… what, oh what, should I start next?

 

 

I completely failed on last year’s knitting goal of releasing new designs, so I’m just going to bring it forward and use it for this year’s goal.

I have lots of designs more or less ready to go. Some need some re-knitting, some need sizes worked out, and some just need the pattern typed up and formatted. I just need to commit to getting that done. 2019 is the year!

The On the Go designs are probably the most complete, so you’ll probably see them first.

But I’ve also got a few cardigans…

They are Queen Mab, Cygnet, and Wildflowers

I also need to work out some sizes for the Posey Bonnet.

Which should be a quick little task.

And last, but not least…

A seamless version of the kitty cat hat (Modeled hear by Miss Wren.)

And of course, there’s always new designs swimming around my head… so bring on the New Year! I’m ready!

 

2018 was a pretty good year, knitwise… I completed 40 projects, which is my biggest project count yet, though many were small, quick projects.

Interestingly, I did not knit one shawl this year, which quite surprised me when I went over all my projects. If you’ve been around the blog for any length of time, you’ll know I love knitting shawls.

There were a lot of socks knit this year, thanks in no small part to my On the Go designs:

In fact, I knit 11 pairs, which I think is the most I’ve ever knit in the year.

While I didn’t get around to releasing any designs this year, I did work on them..

And I’ve been told my Cygnet protoype got lots of wear over the summer.

I was very pleased to finally finish the Empire Line Cardigan

A knit I’d started  and frogged and restarted many, many times. If you count from when I very first put needles to yarn on this one, it took me 11 years to finally complete!

And of course, there were many fun knits for the fair.

Sadly, I will not be entering the Ancaster Fair in 2019. I found out that the reason my beautiful yellow socks did not win a ribbon was because they were disqualified for not being “a new item”. I politely requested to know how the judges determined that, and provided proof that they were new  (ravelry entry and blog posts), but the Fair Adminstration couldn’t be bothered to respond. So I won’t be spending all that time on projects that can arbitrarily disqualified. I don’t mind not winning a ribbon, but I want it to be for a fair reason

So what will 2019 bring….? Tune in tomorrow!

As promised,  I tried my hand at using Mom’s long arm yesterday…

… and it is sooooo much easier than trying to free motion on my little Singer. The main difference is that with the long arm, you’re moving the needle. With my Singer, you’re moving the fabric. As someone who loves to draw, I had a really hard time adapting to the latter – imagine trying to draw with the pencil held still, but moving the paper under it. Using the longarm is much like moving the pencil. It didn’t take long to get comfortable with it.

I didn’t do anything fancy – just loop-dee-loops, but that was just perfect for the Autumn in the Country quilt. Since it’s just a lap quilt, I was able to quilt the whole thing in one afternoon! I’m working on the binding now, so I’ll have an FO post for you soon!

And I’m already excited about quilting my next one!

 

Despite what you saw in yesterday’s post… we haven’t been completely unproductive this week. I did take a little time to finish up the Swan top.

And I couldn’t be more pleased. I adore the silvery grey with the pale pinks and blues. It’s unconventional, but elegant. The finished top is about 32″ square, so it’s not huge, but I was a little worried  it might be too small for a baby blanket.

But my Snoopervisor ensures me it’s just right. And seeing him on it, giving me a sense of scale, I think he’s right.

I’ve got some pale pink that should work for binding, but I’ve got my heart set on a flannel back for this, so I’ll have to hit up Lens. I hope I can find something with swans, but I’m not going to be too picky.

Mom’s giving me long-arm lessons this weekend, so if they go well, I may  even quilt myself. Baby is due mid January, but I’m not too concerned with getting it done before then… as long as I get it to her by spring, I’ll be happy.

I’ve been off work all week for the holidays, and while the start of the week was busy, the rest of it has mostly looked like this…

We hope your week has been just as relaxing! Now it’s time for the weekend!

With Dave’s socks off the needles, I needed something new on. Normally, around this time of year, I take part in Andi Satterlund’s KALs. But as of the moment, I’m undecided on whether I’m going to this year.

Several months back, I joined Weight Watchers, and I’ve been seeing some results. It makes me reluctant to start a cardigan that might not fit well in a few months.

So, I decided to stick to something that will fit no matter how much weight I lose…

Socks!

It’s a new design… a deceptively simple slip-stitch pattern that I release as a freebie when they are done.

And I know… you’re probably wondering what’s happened to the On The Go designs I promised to release by the end of the year.

Sadly, the flu and the day job got in the way. But as soon as I get Dave back to work and out of my way (and off my computer!) after the holidays, I’ll be typing them all up and getting them released!

In the mean time, I’ll be working on these.

Happy Boxing Day!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are able to relax a little now. I’m happy to say, I finished Dave’s Christmas socks in time, and I didn’t even have to knit in church on Christmas Eve (They were finished the night before). I ended up playing a serious game of yarn chicken with this pair…

… hence the blue toes. I was lucky, I had a bit of blue Barn Cat in the stash that was a pretty close match to the blue in the yarn. I think it worked out well.

As you can see, I got two different pooling patterns on the socks. And just like on the first sock, the leg pooled differently than the foot. So interesting!

They are now keeping Dave’s feet warm… and I have to find something new to knit!