New Quilt Patterns

My latest designs for Hoffman California Fabrics are now available on their website for download.   Maple Lane  fabric collection pattern is available in both  quilt size and as a table runner.

The “Ornaments and Baubles” design  for the Pear Tree Greetings fabric line (which has lovely partridges in the main focus fabric) is very simple piecing – especially since the outer border is a stripe-printed fabric not a zillion little rectangles all sewn together!

Maple Lane Black quilt – Coming Spring 2014

Male Lane Cream – Coming Spring 2014

Maple Lane Black – Coming Spril 2014

Maple Lane – coming Spring 2014

Pear Tree Greetings – Baubles and Balls – coming Spring 2014

Pear Tree Greetings – Coming Spring 2014

 

 

Aspen Creek Lodge

My latest pattern for Hoffman California Fabrics is now available on their website.  The fabric collection, which I love, perfect for the lodge look, a cabin in the woods, or any “manly” looking quilt is Aspen Creek.  I love the birds, not just the well know Hoffman Cardinals – these bird prints have different varieties of birds on them.

Aspen Creek Lodge – Aspen Creek collection
cream-gold colorway 2013

Aspen Creek Lodge – Aspen Creek Collection
brown gold colorway 2013

Aspen Creek Lodge for Aspen Creek Collection – black silver 2013

Clicking on the quilt image will give you a larger  image of it.  Just go to hoffmanfabrics.com for the free pattern download.

Bits of busy-ness

It has been a crazy busy week.  Work has been busy – that’s good but I’ve got some big projects I swore I would have off my desk by the end of the week but way too many things of butted in and slowed me down.

I’m working on a new pattern for Hoffman Fabrics and while I can’t show it just yet – if you like their bird fabrics and a sort of lodge / cabin in the woods feel – then this fabric line just might be for you and I think it would be a good “man” quilt too.  But there’s been much playing in EQ, making changes, swapping fabrics and I think I’ve now got the final colorways nailed down which is good since I need to write the pattern up this weekend.

Also an update – if you downloaded the Snow Birds pattern from the Hoffman California Fabrics website prior to last week, you may wish to reprint — or at least reprint the portion with the bird block instructions.  I had an error — all the cutting was right, I just neglected to include where to stitch one of the pieces.  The directions have been corrected.

 

 

 

 

In between several other things, I now have the baby sweater ready to add the final four rows of garter stitch and bind off and then the sleeves  should go quickly since baby sleeves just aren’t that long! LOL.

 

 

I did a bit of swatching for my Camp Loopy 3 project.  I wasn’t real concerned if I got the same gauge as the pattern called for but wanted to see how stretchy the yarn would be in the pattern to have an idea of how it would block.   I had been thinking I might want to make the shawl a bit wider and a bit longer.  I still will make it longer but don’t need to make it wider – it’s really stretchy in the yarn I’m using because I knit fairly loosely, so I can block the heck out of it so it makes it nice and drapey and opens up the design but I definitely don’t need to make it wider.  For once my swatching, which I readily admit I seldom do, has paid off.  I may actually leave off a pattern repeat or two and make it bit narrower since I knit loosely it ends up larger anyway.  Course I didn’t actually check the stitch count for gauge before I ripped it out – DUH – so I just have to figure out how wide I really want the shawl.  But I’ve got a week or so to think on that.

Time to go collapse in a chair — but dang no little cooking elves came in and left me dinner   – peanut butter sandwich may be on the menu. 🙂

A Box of Fun, A Box of Lovelies, and a lot of craziness

  Yes my Box Of Fun from The Loopy Ewe arrived today with my yarn for the 2nd Camp Loopy project.  Little Loopy is guarding it and studying the pattern since I put him in charge of finding the right needles size for this pattern  — he knows it will be a daunting task since I have circular needles scattered all over the place but he has until July 1 to find it. 🙂

Then there was the Box of Lovelies — no that’s not a subsidiary of the Loopy Ewe.    It was a box of lovely fabrics.    I have no idea now much yardage was in that box — a lot! — and I’m not even going to think about what that fabric would do to my stashbusting report (1) because I haven’t really been keeping track of what’s coming in in the first place, I’m more or less tracking what gets used as I finish projects and (2)  gift fabric doesn’t count towards stashbusting in my sewing room!!  Suffice to say, if I were tracking fabric in versus fabric out so far this year, I am deeply deeply in the red so I will stick with just tracking how much fabric I’m moving out of the sewing room.

But in these photos you can see I’m not deeply in the red — I’m deeply into turquoise and peaches and greens and purples Oh My!  It was a wonderful box of hot off the presses (just released at Quilt Market in May) batiks sent by Hoffman California Fabrics.  I am sooo in batik heaven now.

I can’t wait to go spread them out and check them all out.

There is one project specifically planned for some of these but the hard part will be chosing which ones to use for that project.   I may need to plan another weeks’ vacation to stay home and sew again!!!

Here’s the newest photo of Wingspan.  I’m just starting the seventh wedge.  I love the way it’s turning out and I can’t believe how easy it is to do.  After the first wedge, you don’t even need to following the pattern anymore.  I shortened my wedges on this one so I wouldn’t run out of yarn since I want to make it longer than the pattern calls for but I may need to make another one with normal length wedges.

Wingspan was my precursor to work on before trying to tackle Dreambird.  Judy – yes THAT friend Judy, and I had been emailing about making Dreambird.  And see her post from today here where she’s talking about it.  People called her crazy – I call her adventurous,  (I also call her a bed short sheeting sneak but she knows that!), willing to try new things (and if this doesn’t work out she’ll have a few things she will be calling ME so it’s a good thing it’s a long way from Texas to Wisconsin).   But I have publicly thrown down the gauntlet (in other words left her a comment on her blog — hey that’s the same thing as throwing down the gauntlet in cyberland)  that YES, we will make Dreambird after all the Camp Loopy projects are done and her garden harvesting, canning, freezing, drying peak has slowed down – it will be a duel to the finish….  Oops got carried away there….. no dueling….. what I really said was:

YES!!  WE WILL make it after Camp Loopy and when your garden slows down That will give me time to search out the right yarn I want for it. since the original  yarn I bought for this, the colors were not what they were portrayed on the website so I need to find something else.  I think we can do it (despite you giving me more credit for my knitting skills than I really have) LOL
 I’m not saying it’ will be easy and it certainly won’t be something I can work on on the bus,  but in reading through the directions it looks like one of those patterns that will make sense as you are actually doing it (and if you ignore the schematic drawings because those are just plain crazy looking) VBG.  It’s just short rows — we’re not afraid of short rows! (should I get us t-shirts printed with that saying on it?)  So prepare yourself woman – the gauntlet has been thrown down — we can do this despite those that may think us crazy.

I’m still thinking I may have to get t-shirts that say “We’re Not Afraid of Short Rows!”.  ROFLOL   but I may need to put on the back of mine in little print “But I am a little scared of Judy if this doesn’t work out.”  😉

Walkin from the mailbox….

flippin through the latest Quiltmaker that arrived and….. hey, I recognize that quilt.

I didn’t take a very good photo – hard to get one that won’t glare on the page and this one turned our blurry but it’s the Snowbirds design I did for Hoffman California Fabrics which you can find on their website for download.   I never know if one of my designs will end up in one of their ads so it’s always a fun surprise to come across them unawares. 🙂

And for those who have asked in the past what the blue and yellow fabrics were that I colored in the original Heads or Tails bird design with – that line is  Riverwoods Collection, Midnight Blue by Karen Combs (Troy Corporation).  Those who asked I told that I didn’t know if they were still available since they came out in one of last year’s EQ stash updates.  However, there’s a big ad in Quiltmaker for that line as well so they must still be readily available.

For those who were thinking of making the Kinta project from Ravelry that I did for my Camp Loopy 1 project — after a couple people who made it added to their Ravelry project pages that yarn had run short in the yardage indicated and we couldn’t do as many repeats as the pattern called for, the designer has upped the yardage amount and decreased the repeats so hopefully no one else will have that issue.  Just like quilting patterns, knitting ones sometimes need some tweaking even through they’ve been edited and tested.  That’s the beauty of the project pages in Ravelry- designers can see who makes their designs and if they had any issues that may need to be looked at a second time.  If they need to make a correction to the pattern and you have it in your “library”, you automatically get an email and it shows that you need to download the update in your library.  Many times I buy patterns but don’t start them right away, or for months, or perhaps a year…… but when I do go back to print the pattern the update will be waiting for me.  And if you’re thinking about making a particular pattern – you can see all the projects others have made in all different kinds of yarn to help decide what you might like.  Tho mine didn’t have as many repeats – it’s still pretty and a good, wearable size.    And no, I have no connection to the designer or Ravelry – just a happy knitter and Ravelry user — but if you’re a knitter (or crocheter)  and haven’t checked out Ravelry you don’t know what you’re missing.

Speaking of which – the Welted Beanie pattern is from there, and is free, and it is turning out so cute (tho I don’t know if my Dad would like to hear that I’m making him a ‘cute’ hat) LOL and no, those flowers are not part of it – they are stitch markers. LOL   I love the brim of it — four welts (you can see how they look more easily on the pattern in Ravelry that is done in a solid color)  but they look like four rows of corded piping to put it in more sewing/quilting terms.  I’m on the final decreases at the top and need to switch from my circular needle to dps.  It is a fast and super easy knit.  I think I’ll  be making more of these  – they would be great hats for charity.  I always hated hats with lots of ribbing and none of that to do on this one.

4 days

Yes I’ve given myself a nice 4-day weekend.  My plan – a lot of sewing, some cooking, dinner with a friend, knitting and yes, there definitely does need to be some cleaning!   Looking around me I have to wonder why I have random hanks of yarn on the couch, on the shelf below the tv, on the breakfast bar (I think I was digging looking for a specific one and never put them all away — or maybe they exploded out of the too full storage tubs) . They need to be gathered and put away. 

Then there’s the new fabric I just received from Hancocks of Paducah.  That too only made it as far as the couch (which unfortunately is the “dropping” place when I walk in the door at night.   I got the Kona Black I need to make my batik swap blocks so that will go in the washer tonight along with some batiks so I can start cutting out those blocks tomorrow.  Are you participating in the swap and if so, how are your blocks coming?

I also ordered three other fabrics to use together in a quilt – I so love the colors and there’s a wide stripey fabric that is stunning.  I haven’t taken a photo of them but I will one of these days.  I may need to design one of the upcoming Stitchin with Justquiltin projects around that fabric.  Speaking of which – Stitching with Justquiltin 2013 that is – don’t forget the first free project will be posted on Saturday and that you need to click the button in the sidebar for that particular project in order to get everything you need.

But digressing a moment back to the Hancocks of Paducah order — included was their latest fabric catalog (which I’ve only skimmed and it made me really want to order more fabric!) but I did a double take when I first looked at it.

 

 There on the front cover, very bottom, middle quilt is my quilt design!  It’s one I did for Hoffman Fabrics for that particular line of fabric, Istanbul. 

I don’t know if bodes well for my credit cards or checking account that in addition to this catalog to peruse a bit more, I also got in today’s mail Keepsake Quilting, Knitpicks and some other yarn catalog.   Will power……

I did make progress this week on my Loopy Ewe 1st Quarter Challenge project (the one that has to be only one skein of yarn and have cables in it).  Drifted Pearls is coming along but I’m still afraid I may run out of yarn — but then I always am afraid of that.  We shall see.  Tho I still don’t really care to do cables, even one stitch cables, I do love the cables, twisted stitches and bobbles and scallopy edge on this scarf.

Now perhaps a bit of tidying up while I heat up some dinner. 

 

Spumoni and Stained Glass

Not often two things you think about together.

But here’s the stained glass

  I got it quilted today, binding made, sewn on and pinned to the back so I just need to hand sew it down.

 

I did start cutting out the pieces for my two remaining CTS houses but then I came across this which a friend had given me for my birthday — the Spumoni

 

I need a new totebag so I’m thinking I may need to use these for that once I come up with a plan.

Where or where did my photo go?

I told you about a photo yesterday – it was there when I posted the blog post – but WordPress clearly was having a hissy fit and left it off the post.

So – let’s try again.

 Yes I see a photo so hopefully you will too. Spectra scarf with Poems sock yarn and I think the blue is Caper sock. I love the color combination and it’s actually an easy pattern to remember so I can just stitch away on it now that I’ve mastered picking up and knitting my wrapped stitches on the short rows (most of the problem was just me remember to pick them up).

I’ve been busy the past two days working on a new design for Hoffman Fabrics — crunch time since Market is fast approaching.  So busy in fact that I just remembered when I walked in the door, there was a box left by the postman.  Yesterday there was a box, which I thought was something else I ordered and when I went to open it …. surpise, the advance copies of Quiltmaker 100 Blocks that come out next month came sliding out of it.  Lots of fantastic blocks and extras of the issue for giveaways – how great is that! 🙂  Tonight’s box had a Quiltmaker label on it too and I think it’s the highly coveted 100 Block Coffee mug with all the blocks printed on it — they are so cute.   So enough typing – time to go check out that Box!   Remember, the 100 Blocks Blog tour is fast approaching!

Denise

Border Blocks done

Finally, after stitching various fabric combinations, I came up with the final border blocks for Madison Square Gardens.  My problem was I didn’t have enough brown (due to rotary cutting error) so had to figure out which of the other fabrics I had enough left of.  Decided to mix the brown bordered blocks with the light background fabric bordered blocks.  The fabric in the center of the light ones and in the corners is a pretty print that is part of the Madison Collection which I was going to use as backing.  But it won’t miss a strip or two – there’s not quite enough length in the piece I have for the backing so I will probably piece some of the leftover fabrics into it to make the backing large enough anyway.

Time for a lunch break and then get those border sections sewn to the quilt.

Monday’s progress

I got all the rows joined together and am now working on the border blocks.

It’s kind of funny tho because I was emailing with a friend and we were talking about fabric and I said I normally don’t work with a whole fabric line in one quilt as I generally don’t stitch anything for myself that “matchy” and I generally don’t use too many large prints.  And then here’s this quilt – which I am totally using one fabric line for, big prints and all and bording on the pinky side of things — something else I usually don’t use – pinky fabrics. LOL  But I liked all the fabrics individually in this collection so it was easy to make them work together.

It’s good to work outside the usual box (comfort zone) from time to time.  Once this one is finished and photographed for EQ Boutique, it will probably be used as a charity fund raiser quilt. But enough sewing for today – since the iron’s on I’ll iron some clothes for tomorrow and then go knit the rest of the night. It’s been a busy but very relaxing long weekend for me.