Cabins Built and Garden Being Planted

So many projects -- so little time!  When I think back to what I've had a chance to work on, I'm pretty happy I was able to get all 64 log cabins blocks pieced.  You may remember from last week that these are from a good friend's sons' boxer shorts that they outgrew.  I had never really paid a lot of attention to how a boxer was constructed but there are lots of plackets and small pieces of fabric.  In order to make the most of available fabric, this ended up involving a lot of individual cutting of one "log" at a time.

You can see the layout here.  I've laid it out on a sheet to try to minimize snippets of thread on the back.  I hate show through when I'm quilting and then find a random thread between the batting and top and showing through a light fabric!  ARGGHHHH!  So, I've starched the fabrics to minimize raveling but decided to layout on a sheet vs the floor since my design wall is too small.  Each block will finish at 7" so the quilt will be 56" x 56" which is a decent size for a lap quilt.  I'll back it with a great chocolate minkee knockoff to make it extra cozy.

And, I couldn't help myself and had to finish cutting the squares for my disappearing nine patch out of all my florals.  I'm hoping this works.  Each square is cut 3" and my 3" x 18" ruler was a lifesaver for the cutting.  It was a lot of ironing, starching, and cutting.  And, an unabashedly bragging moment is that all the scraps are cut into squares or strips and put away.  Happy to have that done at the same time.

Since I'm going to do a dark in the middle, mediums on the corners, and lights in between, the piles above are divided in the appropriate value.  I have no idea how many I have nor how many I need but I'm thinking I should have roughly four times as many mediums/lights as I do darks.  That's not quite the ratio here so I will play it by ear.

This is the proverbial test block (actually, the second).  The first I did had the mediums and lights switched and I wasn't sure about that.  And let's be realistic, when you cut a floral fabric, values are a bit subjective as you can see here in the lower right hand corner block.  No sweat -- I'm going for a mis-mash of happy color.

Here are a few of the blocks that I sub cut and put on the design wall.  Hmmmm.....I don't dislike it but I don't love it -- yet.  The fabrics are such fun and very different from other types of fabric that I normally work with.  And a bin is empty!!!!  This will entail mindless sewing and a lot of it.

Finally, the sky scarf for Mr Iquiltforfun is done.  I mentioned this earlier this year.  I have knit one full row in popcorn stitch everyday since January 9th.  White for snow (or one day of total fog), gray for rainy or overcast, charcoal for stormy, blue for blue (obviously), and blue/white heather for those days when the sky is blue and peppered with white clouds.  You can see the impact of the drought with all the blues at the end vs the gloomier days of winter when I started it.  The last "charcoal" stripe you see in the lower left hand corner was the day of tornadoes that took lives in Kentucky and southern Indiana.  We will never forget that day.

I'm not sure where I'll put my energy for the next few days.  Probably in complete and total anticipation for our trip to Toronto next week.  We are finally getting up to see our son and his family who moved in early June.  We have not seen our grandson in person (thank you Face Time!) in four months.  For all you grammies out there, you know this is way too long to go without a reading a story, playing with Thomas the Train, or getting a hug and and kiss!  I'll probably take my knitting and some handwork and wait about taking my little machine until I get the lay of the land.

I hope you are having a wonderfully creative week and getting hugs and kisses from those you love!  Jan

Blue Skies....

I am not a knitter anymore - but I love yarn and I used to love knitting.  I've done sweaters, afghans, socks, scarves, you name it!  Time and arthritis got in the way and quilting passion picked up.

This is a "sky scarf" which is current fairly popular on Ravelry, I think.  Basically, you knit a row everyday that reflects the color of the sky.  Most I have seen do the garter stitch but I decided to do popcorn as I like the blending better from row to row.  More of a "heather" look".  This will be for Mr Iquiltforfun and has 41 stitches for the 41 years of marriage.  Since it's already 15+ inches after two months, we're thinking we won't do a full year -- it would end up looking like a Harry Potter scarf and way too long to be functional.

 It has been fun to do and not too taxing.  Interestingly, I do find that if we're traveling and the days get "backed up", knitting several rows results in pain in my thumb which means I need to learn to knit continental (which is so much more ergonomic and efficient in movements) or give up the hope that I would ever be knitting funky socks in the future.  I really think I'd have to take a class as You Tube is not a great teacher for me on this for some reason.  I've done a little continental stitching - but I think I need a coach!

The yarn is worsted weight acrylic (I wasn't about to invest in fancy-dancy yarns in case this didn't work out well) and I'm using size 7 needles.

White:  foggy or snow (not much of that, thank goodness)
Blue/white:  blue skies with white clouds
Blue:  clear blue skies
Gray heather: overcast
Dark gray:  storms (last dark gray row on the left was the day of the deadly tornadoes)

There are a number of variations that I've seen.  A few people are doing "mood scarves" and using different colors to reflect their mood on any given day (that would be a bit too revealing for me).  You could also do colors to reflect how you spent your day (on the go, resting, friends, whatever).

I hope you have blue skies and are getting to stitch!  Jan