Gifts

It's not even my birthday.



A surprise from a talented potter. Cobalt is my favorite color.



Another friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer recently. As someone in her quilting group, I made a few blocks for her comfort quilt.



It's a raw-edge applique quilt. I don't remember the quilt pattern's name, but the loose edges will ravel once the quilt is washed. Each block was quilted before it was sewn into the quilt.



Even the seams between the blocks will be left exposed to ravel up some. My favorite blocks to make were the squares. The circles kept cupping as I sewed them down, even when starched...though not as much. The quilt is a great stash buster, and the cutting and sewing laughs at perfectionism. I like laughing at perfectionism.



Another surprise came to me this week: thank you cards from a third grade class in Kansas.



Have you ever heard of DonorsChoose.org? Please go visit the site if you get the chance. It's "an online charity connecting you to classrooms in need." The donor gets to chose which project proposal to support, in full or in part, and DonorsChoose will purchase and ship the requested supplies to the classroom. It's awesome.


Finally, my next thank-you blanket.



It's based on the "Look Ma - No Seams!" throw on the blog Things Soo Likes. I'm using Marble Chunky yarn and size US 11 needles. I was worried all the garter stitch would drive me batty by now, but I'm holding steady. Progress happens more quickly with fatter needles.

At least something moves quickly when more girth is involved.

What's done is done

I've finished a few items in the near month since I last posted.

The Felted Windmill Bag



More or less, a failure. It's only a bag because I hammered a few jeans snaps up the sides. Otherwise it's an arm sling for the Jolly Green Giant. My wayward moment with this project was knitting each panel too widely, 40 stitches wide I think. I didn't have enough yarn to make each panel twice a long, so the felting produced this...thing.


Waterfall Throw



A much better result, even though I drifted from the instructions on this one, too. The pattern by Lion Brand yarn calls for a GIANT size US 35 set of needles and to double-strand the Homespun yarn. I tried it but I value the few strand of coherency I have left to me in my middle age. So I went down to a size US 17 set with very pointy tips, used a single strand of yarn, and cast on about twice as many stitches. With this yarn, needles with very pointy tips is key. They keep down the blood pressure. This is a thank-you gift for someone who helped tremendously with the work on my dad's house.


I have a few more items to show, but not enough time to write about them just now. They'll give me the incentive to update this here blog more often!