Friday, December 27, 2013

Scrappy Hexagon Finish

Merry Christmas to my MIL Carla!
I had to wait a day or two before posting so there wouldn't be a slip up on the surprise.



Bound in a fun yellow print (not the same as the yellow hexagon) but hard to see that it is a print in this pic.



Fun swirly machine quilting from Lynn. Look closely at the navy hexagon.  She did that in each block.
Back is entirely from that blue/yellow floral.
And Carla, if for whatever reason you don't like the quilt, L. says she'll happily take it from you.
She was a tad disappointed that it wasn't coming to her.

I forgot to take measurements before sending it off to Idaho, but that is my 6 footer daughter holding it up with only her feet peeking out.

Here is the beginning of this quilt.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Christmas Card 2013


Enjoy the season!
Renae & Family


Sorry, changed the card slightly for blogging.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Love is in the Air quilt finish

I was going to try and come up with something super creative with these charm packs that I found at the thrift store, but ran out of steam and just wanted it finished.  A 9 patch design was the way to go.

It is now dubbed the "love" quilt.  Which means we can put it out at Valentine's season or it can be the "love" quilt (wink wink) or if one of my kids thinks they need to take it with them when they leave home down the road it can be the "Mom loves you" quilt.


Lynn's fun heart quilting.


Sometimes simple is just the way to go.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Happy Fall Y'all Quilt

Here is another quilt that I got the binding all done.
A little late for Fall around here, but we'll use it anyway.



Pieced backing


Close-up of Lynn's quilting.  She did each of the borders in a different leaf motif.


She also quilted "Happy Fall Y'all" on some of the solid blocks.
Here's to getting another one completed.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Candy Coated Finally Completed

I've been working on the bindings of the quilts that all arrived together.

Emily tells me that this one was the favorite of everyone who saw it. Who would've thought that it would've turned out so lovely when I bought those Marcus Bros. Civil War print fat quarters at the thrift store.  She even took it once to her quilt club while it was still out in Utah.  One of my aunts was eyeballing it according to my cousin.



I am SUPER pleased with how it turned out.
Love the quilting that Lynn did for me.
Just some nice wavy lines across all the strips.
I wanted something fairly basic to not out-busy the quilt itself.



We've already used it a couple different times while watching T.V.
It has been SUPER cold here.  And I do mean S.U.P.E.R.



Pieced back--using the scraps of the scraps for a portion of the back.

Quilt pattern I used--Candy Coated from Sunday Morning Quilts.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Slouchy knitted beanie knock-off

It is dangerous to let your children browse Pinterest.
When mine do then it usually turns into another project for me.

Daughter #1 saw this cap and wanted it.
Slouchy Knit Oversized Beanie Cap Hat.  Ribbed band, then in the round knit, a couple rows of purl, then rib again, and repeat.  Super easy!

At $14 it wasn't a bad price, but when I said we could make one she looked at me a little incredulously.  I've made many a knit cap using circular needles and I knew I could come awfully close to this style.

I made a practice one with some yarn from her stash and came up with the pattern adapted from the cap pattern I usually use.

Here's the first prototype modeled by my youngest daughter who has also commandeered this hat.



The yarn I used was junk, to be quite honest.  But is was a freebie and it worked just fine for practice. It is just really stiff once it is made up and so it doesn't really slouch.  Although, the pattern allows for some great stretch to accommodate a ponytail underneath.


Top view of crown shaping

On the second hat (that goes to daughter #1) we decided that 6 rows of ribbing instead of 4 was better for the edge.

Detail of pattern


And this yarn was a bit softer and slouches better.

______________________________________
Slouchy Knit Hat

Finished hat circumference 20” and from edge to top.

Size 8 – 16” circular needles
Size 8 double-pointed needles

Cast on 84 sts.

Ribbing:Join and work 6 rnds in k1, p1 rib.

Body of Hat:
*Knit 3 rnds. 
Purl 5 rnds
Knit 3 rnds.
Work 3 rnds in k1, p1, rib.*
Repeat above section between (* *)  2 more times.

Knit 1 round

Shape crown, working decs as follows, changing to dpns when necessary.

Rnd 1: *k2tog, k4; rep from * -70 sts.
Rnd 2, 4, 6, 8 knit
Rnd 3: *k2tog, k3; rep from * -56 sts.
*Start using Dpns at Round 5
Rnd 5: *k2tog, k2; rep from * -42 sts.
Rnd 7: *k2tog, k1; rep from * -28 sts.
Rnd 9: *k2tog; rep from * -14 sts.
Rnd 10: k2tog 7 times -7 sts.

Cut yarn. With tapestry needle, run tail through remaining 7 stitches and fasten off. Weave in ends.
________________________________________________

Notes:
My suggestion for a slouchy-ier hat would be to add to the purl rounds and/or to the ribbing rounds.  Give it a bit more length and then therefore more slouch.
OR
Add another section repeat (for a total of 4) if you like your hat really slouchy.


I'm working on #3 for me.  Love the green.

Enjoy! And stay warm.
We've got 20's today and it feels balmy compared to our past week of sub zero wind chill temps.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Thoughts about Christmas Trees

So....here is the dilemma for many of us every year, especially once we are married and have kids that are old enough to voice their opinions (which is at about 2 years old):

Real vs. fake tree. 
White vs. green tree.  
Colored vs. white lights. 
Star or angel on top. 
Traditional decorations or not.
Same decorations every year or change of theme.
Stockings hung all season or just the night before.

The list probably goes on and on when you try and mesh two family traditions into one.

My hubby grew up in Idaho where every year they drove up into the hills and cut down a live tree and brought it home to decorate.  I grew up in Kansas.  No hills.  When we got a real tree it was at the tree lot down the road.  That was my normal.

I vividly remember our neighbors, the Sauers, had a white tree with pink decorations (early 70's decor).  I was in kindergarten or first grade then.  A white tree was not right to me at that age.  I just couldn't believe that they had this ugly fake white tree.

Then somewhere along the line we got a fake green tree.  Less mess, you know exactly what size it will be from year to year and you can wire on the decorations and leave them if you want.  I also went to college and apartment living requires fake trees.

Once I got married and finally got out of apartments and into a house we went back to real trees.  Then we had more kids and less room and those trees you buy at the tree lot become a lot bigger once you open them up.  I bought a fake SKINNY green tree on clearance one year.  It has made me really happy because it doesn't overwhelm my whole living room.

Then last year during the holiday season I found a skinny white tree at the thrift store and bought it.  I had visions of the Sauers' tree once again, in disbelief that I was seriously entertaining the idea of a white tree for my own home.  But it really made me excited to think about it.

I warned my family that the following Christmas (meaning this year) I'd be putting up a white tree and that there had better not be any complaining.  It didn't mean that we'd always have a white tree, but this year we would.  So basically....deal with it.

Here is how it all turned out.


A lit view at night.


And a daylight view (before our dumping of snow yesterday)

My oldest son told me that he prefers the white tree. (that is a bit shocking)

My oldest daughter said, "I don't get the monkeys."
The other kids replied, "It's just 'cuz they're fun."
Yep, that's about it.

Our neighbors across the street told me that they like to see our tree at night through the window too.  Thank you!  I hope you all take some time to sit by your tree, at night, with only the tree lights on and enjoy some time by yourself or with your family.

Details:
  • Silver wire star thrift store purchase for $2
  • Stuffed Beanie Babies orangutans acquired at the thrift store for $.75 each, except large one on top for about $2.
  • Initialornaments inspired by this pin.
  • Various clearance ornaments (purple snowflakes, green stars, joy, blue icicles and silver disco balls) last year from Target and Wal-Mart.
  • Made the orange dot garland from scrap paper and thread.
  • White star cookie cutters turned into ornaments.
  • Both colored AND white lights on the tree.  Oooh! Who knew you could actually do that.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Quilt Bindings Bonanza

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend.  We had a nice relaxing time.  Thursday I put the turkey in the roaster around noon, we left to go see the movie Frozen with the kids, and when we came back it was almost done and my parents were almost here.  It worked out great.

Saturday our youngest son was baptized.  He is a funny guy and didn't want "people he didn't know" to come.  I told him that I didn't think that anyone who didn't know him would just show up because they felt like it.  Regardless, it was a small group that came to support him and our family.  He was happy with that.



Along with some other things, my parents brought my pile of quilts (6) that I had sent out to Utah to Lynn for quilting  It was fun to get them all back in a large pile.  The bindings are next on my project list along with pajama bottoms for the kids for Christmas....once I get all the flannel pre-washed and dried.



I have to say that I already did 3 bindings while my parents were here.
I just couldn't stand it, and I already had the fabric.
That top one was apparently being coveted by a few while in the process of being quilted.
I am super happy with it and it was used a couple of times over the weekend.
The blue one is partially attached and the bottom 2 are next.
I had to go buy a piece this morning for one of the bindings.

Enjoy your upcoming holiday season.
I'll be posting a few things here and there, but mostly trying to make this time calmer than it has been in years past.  Wish me luck!

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