Getting my veggies

These little veggies are my new favorite thing to knit. With interruptions, I can knit one up in about a day or two. I'm giving them to my daughter for her kitchen, but I think they'd look cute in a bowl on a table. There are 20 in the book I got (20 to make, knitted veggies) so I've got quite a few to go, and yarn to buy of course.

Christmas Prep and Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

Things are wonderfully busy around here, we're finishing up the last week of school (Connections Academy Online) before two weeks of break. We're all ready, especially me! 

I've been trying to make a flurry of gifts for the kiddos and for family and friends. Patchwork napkin rings and napkins, bags, knitting, wool felt. No matter how early I think I start, the holiday always seems to creep up on me. 

In fun news, I entered quite a few contests on Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day(week) and I won! 24 chevron fat quarters by Riley Blake from Stash Fabrics and a Sugar Hill charm pack and jelly roll from Quilt Taffy. I've already been looking for patterns for these really great precuts.

I hope all of your Christmas preparations are going smoothly and merrily!

Thanks For Stopping by!

Patchwork Ball

I made this sweet little ball for my daughter from the book I ♥ Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale. I could make every project from this book. I used linen and scraps from my stash. It was my first go at english paper piecing and it was fun, I'm sure I'll do it again, not sure if I could make a quilt, but these small projects are not too time consuming.

A Mystery Part 3, Top Finished

I just realized I totally forgot to post about part 2 (I posted part 1 here) it was mostly cutting anyway, but here it is finished.
It was fun just picking fabrics without worrying about the final design. It's queen size so I think it's going to be a topper for my bed, about time I kept a quilt for myself!
Now to get quilting...

Thanks for stopping by!

Heather

I've joined Bea Quilter's 2012 Pin Cushion Swap!

Each month you make a pin cushion and send it out to a person on the list. I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone makes.

There's room for more swappers, if you're interested head on over and sign up!

On My Needles

This is called Barb's Koigu Ruffle, there's quite a few stitches to cast on(648) but it's knitting up fast. I'm not sure what the yarn is, I bought it about 9 months ago and can't remember.

Trying Something New

So far in my quilting I've mostly followed patterns and used yardage. But an ever growing pile of scraps and a need for order brought me to Amazon, hoping to find a solution. I searched for "Modern Scraps" and came up with a few results, one of which was this book, "create your own free-form quilts". It sounded interesting and got good reviews, so I ordered.

Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts

The author of this book Rayna Gillman encourages you to sew, not think, kind of hard for me, but fun to do. She calls it Therapy Sewing, just cut and organize strips and start sewing them together. Try not to think about it too much, just pick quickly.  You sew strips together of any width by trimming them at the same time and then matching them together. There are no rulers used during the initial sewing process.

One interested side lesson has been sewing curved seams, which I've never attempted because it seemed too hard, but the way you piece the curved seams together in this book without perfection and stress, is a great intro to curved piecing without all the pressure. I may actually try that double wedding ring I've been avoiding for years.

So here are a few pictures of my results.

Green palette

variety of strips and cut up UFO blocks

Thanks for stopping by!

Heather