Life with Nin

Quilting UFOs

UFOs.  Unfinishe objects in crafting circles.  This year my quilt guild has a UFO challenge.  We were invited to register our UFOs with the goal of completing as many as possible by the end of the year. 

As there is no penalty for not completing a UFO, I registered 8 of them.  I have a couple more which I didn't register that I really don't think I will get around to working on this year.  The rules said you could't have worked on the project for at least 6 months.  I was tempted to register my dogwood quilt since I had left it in Florida for 5 months, but wasn't willing to last out one more month to make it the required six months.  Since I'm hand quilting, I wasn't about to let a month's worth of cooler weather pass by without working on it.  Besides, I'm not sure if I will actually finish the dogwood quilt this year.  I might, but then again I might not.

Now, added to the challenge of finishing UFOs, there is our guild service project this year: making twin sized quilts for the kids in the foster care system, many of whom are placed in foster care with few if any possessions.  My personal goal for that is to make one quilt top a month for the service project.

And then there is the big girl  quilt Lolly wants me to make for her.  And my dream of working on a landscape quilt or two.

But, I have no time to be daunted by what I have set out to do.  Instead, I need to get to work!

I have two quilts just waiting to be layered,  quilted, and bound.

 

This photo was taken 13 months ago.  In the meantime it has sat and waited.

This mini was made in May 2011.

This top was made at a workshop in late 2010 or early 2011.  I miscalculated the size.  I was trying to make a lap quilt, but it came out too large for that and too small for anything else.  At this point I am planning to figure out a way to add some borders and hopefully including a border of pinwheels to make it twin size so it can be one of my charity quilts.  There will be some serious math involved in figuring out just how to make the pinwheel border.  So this project needs borders, layering, quilting and binding.

Then there is this Christmas wall hanging, which got this far in September 2011,  which needs borders,  then layering, quilting and binding.

This is a Hawaiian block to finish appliquing and is intended to be part of a baby quilt.  Can you see the turtles and whales?  I think I started this in 2010.  I'm not sure if I'm going to do three more squares like this and then put something in the center or use this as the center and put other squares around it.  I've actually started working on this one, as it is a nice, small, portable project, so it went to Quilt Bee last night.

A block of the month kit we got when Chase was working at JoAnn's.  The original plan was I would piece it, she would embroider it and it would go to someone as a wedding present.  I've pieced 5 blocks and  embroidered 2 of a total of 12.  It is no longer intended as a wedding present.

And then there is this pile of Blocks of the Month that I won at guild a year and a half ago.  Not my favorite block and the fabric choices are all so different that I'm not at all sure what it will take to bring them together into a pleasing whole.  Again, this is intended for our charity project.

Well, I thought I'd registered 8 UFOs, but at this moment I can't come up with the last two.  I'll have to check at the meeting on Monday and see what the final number was.

 

Dogwood Quilt Update - March 2012

It's been about six months since I did an update on my dogwood quilt, because nothing was happening.  The quilt stayed in Florida while I was in Maine.  But since I've been home I've made some serious progress on the hand quilting.  In fact, I have most of the center section half quilted.

Okay, that doesn't sound like much when I word it that way, but I really did get a lot of quilting in.  The center section is quilted as a cross hatch, which basically means you quilt diagonal lines and then quilt again at a 90 degree angle.  I am finishing up the first set of diagonal lines; in fact, I may have them done in the center section by the end of this week.

I had about six of the lines done when I left.  I came home and tore three of them out, because somehow I had gotten tucks in the front.  Now, I half expected to have that problem on the back, as I've struggled with that with machine quilting, but I thought I'd see them and be able to prevent them on the front.  Nope.  It didn't work that way.

The first bit of quilting I did I didn't use a hoop.  Now I'm using a hoop (from my husband's Aunt Jo's mom) and the quilting looks much better.  It's harder on needles, though.  I bend and break needles frequently when quilting in a hoop.  No wonder my grandmother had a stockpile of about 100, which I am now going through.  I thought she always took her quilts to the church in Beaver, PA, where the ladies quilted, but maybe that was only in her later years.  If she wasn't doing some quilting hereself, I have no idea why she would have had that many size 7 betweens.

My stitches aren't perfect, but I am getting better as I go - and if I give up on the bent needles soon enough.  :)

Anyway, my plan when I've finished this bit up, is to move to the next section before I do the crossing part of the cross hatch.   I'll have to get the orginal quilt out and see what's next.  Some of the green areas before the border are quilted in different patterns and then there is more cross hatching.

I assume that I'll be able to do the crossing part without using a hoop, which will make the project somewhat portable, so I'll be able to work on it at quilt bee and during our vacation in June.

Happy Birthday, Daddy - Just a Moment

A new Friday ritual inspired by other blogs.  A single photo from this past week.... few no words.... just a moment captured in time.  If you feel inspired to share.... leave a link the comments with your moment.} My thanks to Soulemama for inspiring {just a moment}.

Tomorrow would have been my father's 99th birthday.  It's hard to find photos of him as he was usually the one behind the camera, but here is one from April 1953.  I was six months old.

Miss you, Daddy, every day.

May you all have a wonderful weekend.

Homemade Pepper Relish

In case you think I've just been relaxing since I got home, I have to tell a story on myself.  I got home after dinner time on a Thursday.  As I was sitting around with my men, I saw the food ads on the table, so I started to look at those. 

That's when I got myself in trouble.  There were red, green, yellow and orange peppers on sale.  Homemade Pepper Relish the paper screamed. 

My favorite kind of relish - and no high fructose corn syrup, either. 

So, less than 18 hours after I got home from 5 months in Maine, there I was, up to my elbows, literally, in peppers.

Fortunately, the recipe isn't very complicated.  Clean the peppers and onions and chop them in a food processor.  Cover with boiling water for ten minutes.  Drain.

Then boil for half an hour in the vinegar, salt, sugar and mustard seed brine.

Since the relish is hot, all I had to do was sterilize the jars, load in the relish and put it in a warm, draft free place to cool.  In the process of cooling a vacuum is formed and the lids seal.

 

By the time I was home for 24 hours, I had 18 pints of pepper relish.  I repeated the process the next week and with any luck, I now have enough relish to last us for the year.

Or maybe not, considering how much my family likes this.

 

Maine Knitting, part 3, Knits for adults

I didn't just knit for the granddaughters.  I also managed some knitting for adults, including, amazingly, a couple of things for me.  I've noticed that most of the knitting and quilting I do is for other people.  It's time I also did some for me.

The first and last things I knit in Maine were fingerless gloves for friends.  I loved the pattern so much for the first pair, that I had to make a second pair which was started in Maine and finished today.

I wore my fingerless gloves almost all the time in Maine. 

This is a "car" hat; a hat to be left in the car for when one is needed and you can't find the one you want.   I found the pattern in one of Chase's books, Weekend Hats.  The pattern name, wanderer cap makes me think of wanders in the woods.

I'd been looking at cowls before I went to Maine.  After I got tired of having the ends of my scarves fall into things, I made this one for myself.  The pattern is from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  I wore this a lot, too.  The only thing I would do differently is not make it quite so large in diameter as it did stretch out some.  I do expect to make myself several more cowls for the next time I have a winter in the north.

This was my other big project, and I'm not sure that it is quite finished even yet, although I wore it a lot once it was finished, starting on New Year's Eve.   The original pattern came from Modern Top Down Knitting.   I found the pattern needed a fair amount of modification, but since it was knit from the top down, I was able to try the sweater on as I went and make the changes without having to tear out too much.   I'm still not sure if the sleeves are quite long enough and if the neckline isn't just a bit too large.  Making the neckline a bit tighter will involved kintting the hood for a third time. I'm also not satisfied with how obvious the snaps are.  I'm still playing with how to make that look smoother.  I love how warm the sweater is, though, so it's worth all the tweeking to get it right.

Maine Knitting, part 2, Knits for Rhi and Lolly

Naturally Rhi and Lolly expected that Nin would do some knitting for them while I visited.  They were not disappointed.  First I worked on socks.  I redid the pair I'd made for Rhi that were too small.

Here's proof that she actually wore them, at least briefly.  She wore them for the first week or so after they were done and then they got buried in the bottom of her drawer.  :(

Then I made Lolly's socks.  She wanted the owl motif on the top, so that's what she got.  It would show up better on a solid  or heather yarn, but she likes them well enough.

Here's a closeup of the owl's:

These came out a little big, so I'm going to assume that's why they weren't worn much.

But I admit it; I'm not sure how many more pairs of socks I'm going to make, as I wasn't completely satisfied with the two pairs I'd made for me that I wore.  I think I know what some of the issues are.  I'm just not sure that I'm convinced it is worth the effort to keep experimenting.  Anyone have any good suggestions of what to do with the rest of my sock yarn?

Then there were hats.  Both girls have several hats, but Chase asked me to knit up a couple of children's sized hats that belonged to no one specifically for those days when favorite hats have disappeared.  The first one I did was Soulemama's Rosa hat.

 

 The next hat I made ended up being called the strawberry hats.  Yes, hats.  I had to make them each one.

They are slightly different so they can be told apart.

I also admit to some crocheting of doll clothes, helping out Mrs. Claus, but I can't post photos of those or I might be caught.

Next up, knitting for adults.  Whew!  Aren't you glad I'm nearly caught up here?

Missing Shannon

The phone rings.  I smile when I see Chase is calling, even though the timing is inconvenient.  Supper is almost on the table and a minor flood is on the kitchen floor.  So I hold the mop in one hand (no, you can't wring out a sponge mop with only one hand, I tried.) and grab the phone.

"Shannon died this afternoon."

I could not believe what I heard, a reaction that is being shared by the community of which I became a part during the five months I lived with Chase and her family in Maine.  Shannon, 39, wife of Patrick, mother of four children under 10, including her twin girls, 3.5 who are friends of  my granddaughters.  Shannon, who touched my life in the brief time that I knew her.  Shannon, who I was looking forward to seeing again in a few months.

That's Shannon on the right in the photo, taken at Chase's shower.

What do you say to a grown child who has lost a friend to an untimely death?  Shannon died in her sleep while taking a nap with the little ones in the next room. 

What can you do besides listen and grieve together, when you are 1800 miles away?

Shannon always had a kind word.  She sent Chase the perfect card after Little Cutie was born when illness in her family kept her from visiting right away.   She wrote me a note which left tears in my eyes - the good kind - the day I left to head home.  Her voice will be so missed.

For those of you who don't know, and I didn't, there is a great page, Take Them A Meal dot com, http://www.takethemameal.com/ which allows people to schedule meal delivery whenver that is needed to help a family .  It works for potlucks, too.   Shannon's family's meal schedule was filled up so quickly that many friends who want to help are already closed out.  Just a small reflection of how many lives Shannon touched and how much she will be missed.

Maine Knitting, part 1, Baby Knits

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I didn't get a lot of quilting or sewing done while I was in Maine.  What I did do was knit.  A lot.  Knitting, at least on circular needles, has the advantage that you can put it down easily anytime and it tends to be small and therefore pretty portable.  So in the next several posts, I'll show you what I made.

My first project was started and completed on the train trip to Maine.  I started it in Florida and finished it up in Connecticut, I think, or maybe it was Rhode Island. 

It sat without buttons until after LC was born.  i just couldn't decide what buttons worked for this until I met the person who was to wear it. Knowing that Chase tends to have large babies, I made this in the 6-12 month size.

It's hard to see in this photo, but the buttons have a celtic feel and were just what the sweater needed. But with it buttoned up, there isn't a lot of growing room left. 

I had so much fun making this sweater that when Chase and I were invited to a shower for Chase's mdwife with just a week and a half's notice, I whipped up the smaller version for Holly's baby.  The hat was Chase's contribution - and is the reason for the white buttons.

I made other two things - or three, depending on how you want to count - for LC after she was born.  Baby legs, for keeping those chubby little legs warm during diaper changes

and a bonnet. 

The idea of the bonnet is that with the chin strap, maybe we could actually keep a hat on her.   But, she has a different idea. 

Turning it around on her head is the first step in getting it off.  Maybe when the bonnet isn't so much too large it will work as intended. 

 

Next up - knitting for the girls.

 

 

 

One Little Word

During the end of December and the beginning of January on blogs I follow and Facebook, I hear a lot about people's words for the year.  The idea is to chose a word to focus on, to reflect on, as you go throughout your days and see where that word takes you by the end of the year.  (See Ali Edwards' post on this idea, here.) An interesting idea, I've always thought, but easier said then done.  A year ago I thought about it, tried to find a word that fit, but nothing came to me.  January gave way to February and I let the idea go and just went on about my life. 

This year I was reminded about One Little Word by my friend Karen at Musing, Mischief and Mayhem.  Her word for 2012 is contentment, a good and powerful word, but not the one I needed to hear.

Now, finding quiet time to meditate or think about something like a word for the year while waiting for LC to arrive (and it was hard not to think she was already late as the older girls were each early) and tending to Chase and the girls was difficult.  So I assumed that once again I would see this as a good idea but nothing would come of it.  Yet one night, as I was settling down on the top of the girls' bunk bed, my word for the year found me.   

Listen. 

The word popped out in the darkness, almost as though it were a flashing neon sign.  I listened to the sounds of the night, the furnace cycling on, the girls breathing, the incessant squeak of the bunk bed whenever I moved. 

And then I realized my word had found me.  "Listen" isn't only about listening to the sounds around me, although I find that a helpful tool for living in the moment.  More importantly, it is about listening to the people around me, to what they say and what is left unsaid.  Listening without formulating my reply while I'm listening.  Totally focused listening.  That is one of my challenges for this year.

But, perhaps more importantly, my challenge is to listen to my heart, to nurture my intuition, to find my way to being the best me I can be.

I see being found by my word of the year as part of my journey with my friends Kelly and Tracy at Dao of Doing.   Reinventing my life without young children in it every day, making my life reflect who I am at this stage of life is what I am doing right now.

And so, my word for 2012 is Listen.  I'm still looking for a way to express it visually in a place I see frequently to help keep "listen" in my mind.

Did you chose a word for the year?  What word spoke to you?  Now that we are several months into the year, how has your word affected your life?

 

 

Little Cutie's Quilt

Looking back over my posts, I seem to have neglected showing you Little Cutie's quilt.  I didn't finish it until last month, but apparently I never showed it to you in progress, either.  So now you'll get to see the whole thing.

Chase saw the kit for this quilt at Connecting Threads.  The pattern is for a wall hanging, but knowing how generous Connecting Threads is with the fabric in their kits, I was able to figure out what extra fabric I would need to make this pattern into a baby quilt.

Like Rhi's big girl quilt, LC quilt involved applique.  Since it will be laundered often, I chose to use machine applique.  But learning from Rhi's quilt, I used a different technique.  The raw edge machine applique I used on Rhi's quilt, despite satin stitch along the edges, still frays some.  So on this quilt, I cut out the leaves with a seam allowance and stitched completely around the leaf onto fusible interfacing (right side of the fabric to fusible side of the interfacing). 

Then I made a small slit in the center of interfacing and used that hole to turn the leaf right side out.  With this extra step, there are no raw edges. 

I fused the leaves onto the background blocks and satin stitched all around.

The stems were too small to successfully use this technique, so I hand appliqued those, using  needle turn applique.

I'd gotten this far before I headed up to Maine a month earlier than originally planned.  Finishing the top of the quilt would have been my next project before I left.

Somehow quilting time was hard to come by in Maine.  I think it had something to do with getting to play with my granddaughters.  :)  But I was bound and determined to at least get the top pieced before Chase's shower in early December.

I got Chase and the girls involved in the layout and managed to get the top stitched before the shower.

The quilting didn't happen until after LC was born.  I decided to use wool batting, the first quilt I've made without cotton batting.   And I got to try out quilting on Chase's new sewing machine with the bells and whistles; normally I use my 1974 Kenmore.

My conclusion is that a newer machine has some nice features, but the truth of the matter is that only experience will make me a better quilter, not a newer machine.  That was what I suspected anyway.  :)

With the exception of hand stitching a few hexagon blocks and a pillow cover I made to finish my Pay It Forward commitment, this was almost the only quilting I did since the first week in October.  Very unusal for me!