Category: finished object

A Quilt for Jess

My friend Jess lives in Brooklyn with her two adorable kids, and we’ve been online friends for years! She was lamenting that she had all these beautiful fabrics that she’d brought back from a trip to India, but never enough time to do something with them.

I’ve really been enjoying hand quilting the last few years, so I volunteered to make her fabrics up into a quilt! It seemed like a nice opportunity to put a quilt together without having buy all the materials (which can be a lot) and sometimes I like the act of making even more than the finished product.

She packed up all the fabrics and batting and mailed them up to me, with the understanding that it might take me awhile to get the quilt done. I was aiming for a year, but it took a little longer – about 17 months. Of course I didn’t work on it intensively, there were times when I would put it down for weeks. The top went pretty quickly because I did it on the machine – this strip piecing tutorial came in very handy. Each block is about 4.5″ square, finished.

I actually make the top a little too big the first time, so I just took a couple of strips off the side and bottom. I used one pieced strip down the middle of the back, and the others to make the striped binding.

The back is made up of width-of-fabric strips that I didn’t use for the top, with blues/greens on one side of the centre strip and pinks/yellows on the other. Once everything was pieced, I made my quilt sandwich and thread basted it together really well before I started hand quilting.

A Quilt for Jess
Time: March 2015-August 2016
Materials: Printed cotton fabrics from India, cotton batting
Techniques: Machine pieced, hand quilted, hand bound
Size: 80″ square

It’s not perfect, but I know it’ll be cherished for years to come!

August 23, 2016
New Pattern! Willowdale Shawl

Willowdale is the neighbourhood I grew up in, in North York. North York was its own town (mayor, city council, school board, etc), until it was incorporated into the City of Toronto in 1998.

What’s that got to do with this pretty shawl? Not much! But it’s a nice name, right?

Willowdale is worked from the top down, beginning with a garter tab and a zigzag-and-garter-ridge lace pattern. The bottom edging is worked in a similar pattern of chevrons.

The yarn is Mountain Colors Louisa, a SUPER SOFT cashmere/silk blend. Since it’s a pretty precious yarn, I wanted to make sure that the shawl uses just one skein – perfect for light layer or even a gift for a special someone. It’s pretty big just with the one skein too, since both cashmere and silk tend to loosen and grow when they hit water. Finished measurements: 66″ across the top edge, 16.5″ deep.

The lace patterns are given in both charted and row-by-row directions.

This 4 page PDF pattern is $6 CAD.

Queue, fave, and buy on Ravelry!

June 15, 2016
May zoomed by

Now that I feel like I *might* have a bit of breathing room on my current deadline projects, a quick catch-up!

I have a couple of patterns in the new June issue of I Like Knitting. I don’t think they’re on Ravelry yet though:

Dad’s Dress Socks are worked in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, one of my all-time favourite sock yarns, in Douglas Fir. They’re worked top down, with an easy staggered ridge pattern and heel flap and gusset.

Maritime Cardigan is a pretty adorable (if I do say so myself!) baby cardigan in sizes 3 months – 2 years. It’s worked from the top down, with panels of twisted stitch medallions down the back and fronts, short sleeves, and ribbed edgings. This one’s also knit in Lorna’s Laces, in the beautiful Shepherd Sport (colour Poppy).

We finally got out to the garden this weekend and planted out the tomatoes and herbs. Sorry for the overexposed photos, it’s way too hot (and unshaded!) to spend much time out on the deck in the morning!

Lots of tomatoes this year: 9 plants, mostly cherry types.

The peas are doing pretty well, getting established – I wish there were most plants though, I ran out and I suspect that the squirrels may have gotten ahold of some of them.

I bought this “framberry/pineberry/strawberry” pack at the grocery store and have high hopes for them! I’ve never grown berries before. We’ll see how they do in a container. Quite a few of the plants at the nursery had teeny tiny fruit – I tried to pick ones that had flowers, but not fruit yet.

We usually just grow basil in with all the tomatoes, but I wanted some different herbs this year as well. Mint, coriander, dill and basil in a container together. It’s okay with me if the mint takes over eventually!

Lettuce that I planted a month or so ago (in COLD April) is definitely ready for some eating. The spread in the container came out a bit patchy, but I’m not sure whether I should plant more seeds since it’ll be so hot.

In knitting, I’ve had so many deadline projects that I can’t share yet, but these will be available soon!

Milkweed original and XL (uses 200g of fingering weight yarn), and a new shawlette in super pretty Mountain Colors Louisa: a cashmere/silk blend that’s OMG SO SOFT. Coming in June!

May 30, 2016