Quilting and knitting

I'm back to the sewing machine!  Finally!  After months of not touching it.  Little 5" blocks with corners.  All sorts of William Morris prints.  14 rows x 14 rows.  A bit larger than my usual lap quilts.  I am so enjoying this.  It's good to have the quilting mojo back again.

Knitting is going on while I'm waiting for the first round of Sock Madness.  Finished and accepted for the qualifying round.  But you know that I cannot be without anything on the needles.  So I started a lovely shawl, Roiling Waters, and bought yarn for it from Earthfaire.  I'm using the yarns from kit A.  I rarely buy kits, but Ellen does such a lovely job of putting yarns together, and her prices are reasonable, so why do it all myself?  She also does amazing bead bracelets, etc.  Check her out!

No more inept quiltarian.

I'm still in starry heaven.  Who knew that flying geese could be such fun?  Way back when I started quilting, I did a couple of Schnibbles, and one of the patterns included tons of flying geese.  So, being brave and dumb, I made tons of the geese.  I used Carrie's method, which works for most people, but not for me.  This time, I made rectangles with folding corners, and I can do it!  By golly, I'm a real quilter!  Like knitting, the quilting world has lots of ways to make the same object. And one of these days, I'm going back to making Schnibbles!

I boxed in one of the stars and I like how it looks. I have 4 different fabrics for the boxes.  This star is my first star before I got those points correct.  I'll keep it just to remind me of how far I've gotten.  Besides, I like the color.

And i am no longer an inept quiltarian.  Well until the next time something messes up.  Eh, who cares, I'm learning and having fun.

More Stars.

I think I'm a star-crossed lover.  I love making stars.  Yes, I know what the original phrase means.  But I like making stars and then arranging them, and crossing them over each other.  Sigh.

Stars again

 

Yay, stars!  I did it!  I conquered flying geese and folded corners!  Wow, does this ever open up possibilities for me.  

I really struggled with these two elements, until I realized that moving the needle was the way to handle them.  So I move the needle to the right 2 clicks (I have an older Pfaff without the gazillion needle positions), and then my sewing line is a pinch over the actual sewing line.  And it works!

There are many quilters who can handle that scant 1/4" seam naturally without having to resort to playing with needle positions, but I'm not one of them.  So, my scant 1/4" seam is 3 clicks to the right, and now my geese and corners are 2 clicks to the right.  

I made a note and stuck it onto the machine, 'cause you know I'm going to forget this.