Binding the Quilt – The Best Part of Quilt Making

This weekend, I’ve been working on attaching the binding to my quilt. This is my favourite part of quilt making.

 

First I machine sew strips of fabric to the edge of the quilt.

 

 

 

 

Then I fold the binding over and hand stitch the binding in place. 

 

 

 

 

The result is a nice, neat edge for the quilt.

 

 

 

 

What makes this my favourite part of quilt making is that I get to snuggle up on the couch, under the quilt while I sew the binding in place.  Cici has discovered this is her favourite part of quilt making too, and she has been snuggled up with me for much of the weekend.

 

 

 

 

Jacob also couldn’t resist joining us on the couch, but he is a teenager so we are not allowed to take his picture.

 

 

 

 

Here are some extra pictures of Cici enjoying the quilt this weekend.

 

 

 

Hand-me-down Yarn (a la Cici)

This week I completed a new project using some hand-me-down yarn.

To set some context, I don’t like receiving hand-me-down yarn or fabric. I knit or sew with that which inspires me, and I find it difficult to get inspired by others’ cast off supplies. I hate saying no to my mother, but I’ve had to say no to her offers of fabric and yarn more times that I can recall. I try hard to avoid situations where I have to decline generous offers of yarn, because it is hard for me to get inspired by yarn that I didn’t pick out. We live in a teeny, tiny space, so there isn’t room to store a lot of yarn and fabric for use “someday”. I have received some great gifts of sock yarn in the past that I’ve enjoyed using, but in those cases they were picked out special for me and held more meaning that the typical hand-me-down yarn scenario.

So why did I work on this project using someone else’s yarn? Well it started last Saturday when my sister sent me a funny picture of a dog wearing a crocheted sweater that made it look like a sheep. It was hilarious and Cici would have looked perfect in it, but I just shook my head at it and tried to walk away from the computer. But of course, I couldn’t walk away without checking out Ravelry first to see if the pattern for the sheep sweater was available. I did uncover the source of the sheep sweater, but the pattern is still in development. While on Ravelry, I checked out the other 1,135 patterns for pet clothing (yes Ravelry has 1,135 patterns for pet clothing!) and was frustrated to discover that most dog sweaters are designed for dachshunds or yorkies, not for my muscle-bound staffy. Oh well, I didn’t want to knit Cici a sweater anyway.

As the hours passed by I continued to mull about the idea of a Cici sweater when I remembered I have some completely impractical white hand-me-down yarn in my stash. White and boucle – kind of like a sheep!  At Christmas my sister foisted a bag of yarn on me and said I should use it or give it away or something. It was a bag of quite nice boucle yarn, but not something I’m really interested in. When she gave it to me we were in the midst of family gathering chaos so there wasn’t much for me to do but accept it. But on Saturday I was happy I took it, as the wheels in my brain began to turn.

Then I remembered one other ball of yarn I had, that I didn’t necessarily want. One day a ball of bizarre pink and purple eyelash yarn showed up on our apartment. I questioned a friend of mine about it, since only she and our superintendent have keys to our apartment. Eyelash yarn didn’t seem to be what Simon, the Super would use, so it must have been left by our friend, but she claims it wasn’t her and blamed Cici for leaving the yarn. I decided that the yarn was not something I would ever use, but the frugal part of me kicked in and rather than throw it out, it got stashed away in a drawer.

So, bring all that background info together and the result was this completely impractical white sweater for Cici, with some lovely pink and purple trim. 

She loves it! (You can tell by the look of disdain on her face.)

The best thing about a dog, compared to a cat, is that a dog lets you play dress up with it. J

Two last thoughts… I’m very impressed with the fact that I was able to make up this pattern and it fits her perfectly, and I will never knit with eyelash yarn again.

 

 

 

And the Quilt Gets Tied

I’ve had some extra time on my hand this week, which I’ve used to tie the quilt. It isn’t difficult to tie a quilt, but it does take up some space in my “sewing room/office/everything else room” so I didn’t want to start this phase until I was sure I could finish it. In about an hour, the quilt should be all tied up.

I have a fantastic Q-Snap quiltingframe that my mother-in-law bought me years ago. It is the perfect solution for a quilting frame in a small space.

I’ve decided to tie the quilt with some wool, because I think the wool fibres should grab each other and felt up so the ties will not easily slip out. (And because I love wool!)  I found a wonderful skein that comes in the perfect mix of greens and purples.

And one final photo… While Cici was greatly afraid when the quilt frame made its debut, she is highly in favour of snuggling up with the work in progress.

Next up, sewing on some binding strips.

The Peril of Lace Knitting

As mentioned, I’ve been working on a lace cardigan lately. Lace comes with some challenges:

• For true lace, the yarn is very fine (as in thin) which can be more difficult to work with than a substantial thick yarn
• Lace patterns have lots of “yarn overs” and “knit X sts together” which can be hard to memorize, so the pattern must be constantly at hand
• Checking the gauge isn’t as simple as just knitting up a swatch and getting out the ruler, since the lace must be properly blocked to determine its true measurements

As I started the cardigan I dutifully knit a swatch and blocked it and measured it. It was too small. So I pulled out a larger needle and dutifully knit a swatch and blocked it and measured it. It was too big. So I pulled out an in between sized needle and knit a swatch and blocked it and measured it and it was just right. It took a few days to get through all those blocking stages, but in the end I was happy with the result.

Here are the three swatches. I do think the middle one is just right.

Now that I’ve noted the challenges, let’s get to the peril:

• The true peril of lace knitting is that when you drop a stich, or make another mistake in knitting, it is nearly impossible to pick that stich back up, or rip back your knitting to a point where the mistake is easily recovered from.

I discovered this last night. I had knit half of the second sleeve when I noticed I was short one stich in the row I was on. I counted my stitches, counted again, and again, and again, and I was definitely short a stitch. I could see exactly where the stitch should be, but I couldn’t see how to get that one stitch back. I tried one way and it didn’t look right. I tried a second way and it didn’t look right. I puzzled and puzzled and then I gave up. I yanked out the needle and pulled out a solid week’s worth of knitting and the second sleeve was no more.  Grrrr... so frustrating.

There is a solution to this problem. It is called a lifeline. The theory is that if you put a thread through a row of stitches you know are correct, it will hold those stitches in place and be your lifeline so that when you have to rip out your knitting to correct a mistake, you only have to go back as far as your lifeline where you will be able to easily pick up the stitches. I know that lifelines are good, as you can see with the two white lifelines that I’ve put into the body of my sweater.

But did I use a lifeline in the second sleeve?  Nooooo, I got cocky. I knit the first sleeve perfectly, so why waste time putting in a lifeline when I could easily knit the second sleeve just as perfectly. (Not)

Oh well, I’ve got many knitting hours ahead and the sweater will get done. (But not this weekend.)

I’ve been so frustrated with the lace sleeve debacle that I turned my thoughts to other random ideas and I’ve stepped over to the dark side and started this new project.

 

I’m not prepared to tell you what this is yet, but it starts off with some eyelash yarn (shudder!)

Cici Snow Photo Shoot Failure

It is a gorgeous day outside, today in Toronto. Yesterday we had the "worst storm in 5 years"! All they can do on the news is talk about the horrid snow fall, and all the trauma the city went through. As usual, Torontonians are over-reacting to a little bit of white stuff. There is all of 20 cm out there, which is alot for one dumping, but not so bad compared to some of the damage being done by Nemo on the East Coast.

I decided to take advantage of the snow to get some nice winter shots of Cici. Unfortunately, Cici is too much of a princess to stand in the snow, so the photo shoot was a failure. I'll share the photos with you anyway.


I started by tricking Cici to run into the untrampled snow, by throwing a snow ball to fetch. When she realized what was happening, she immediately ran back out of the snow. All I got was a blurry dog photo.

Then she stood on the clear sidewalk and glared at me.

So, I dragged her back into the deeper snow, and she immediately ran away from me.

Here she stands near the sidewalk wondering why I am still standing in the deep snow.

My next trick was to move to a different part of the yard, with slightly whiter snow and better lighting. I dragged her into the snow and tried to get her to stay. She reluctantly stayed for about 3 seconds.

Here she is giving up on me and starting to run away.

Only time she stood still for a photo was after she ran halfway up to the door, and looked back to see if I was still standing like a lunatic in the snow.

So much for getting some winter photos of her.

Big Plans for 2013

Happy New Year!

 

The first days of January are always so wonderful. A vast, full year of potential lies ahead. For me the potential holds the following:
 

More blogging

I won’t promise to achieve this immediately, but I do know my blog has dwindled lately, and I miss it. My day job (the one that pays!) has been very greedy with my time lately, which is why the blogging has slowed. I have a plan in place to help correct this situation, but it doesn’t take effect for another few weeks, so you won’t see an immediate change, but I hope there will be more frequent posting in the future.

 

More pictures

I’ve just bought myself a wonderful new camera. It isn’t state of the art (in fact, it is last year’s model), but it is a wonderfully compact Nikon Coolpix S6200 that will live in my purse so I’m more frequently ready to take a picture or two, to share with you.

I didn’t actually use it much over Christmas, because we were either talking or eating, but I did take a moment to snap the following picture while I was eating my lunch today. The view of the decorations from my food court table, at First Canadian Place, was quite stunning. This picture doesn’t quite do the holiday décor justice, but I’ll share it as just one example of pictures to come.

 

 

More cooking

We spent the weekend with our great friends in Niagara Falls. We were there long enough to enjoy some spectacular food and drink. In addition to hanging out in their kitchen we had some time to kill during the day. What are two women most apt to do with time on their hands? Shopping!

We stumbled upon a Stokes store that was having a great sale and so I bought some great new toys. I’m not much of a cook, but I do love a good kitchen gadget. I recently decided that my hand mashed potatoes were not good enough, and that I NEEDED a potato ricer to improve things. So, into the store we went and I bought a potato ricer, micro plane grater, stainless steel measuring cups and a 14L stock pot.

The cooking fun begins tonight with some mashed potatoes, but there will need to be future recipes that involve a large quantity of soup or stew in the stock pot, and something with lemon zest so I can try out my new grater.

For the sake of a gratuitous picture… I give you Cici and her New Year’s friend. Sally played hostess to Cici and the two dogs played, and played, and played. Cici is still exhausted.

More sewing

The weekend shopping spree also saw the purchase of quilt batting, to stuff the quilt I’m making. And, I bought a new pillow form and some fabric for a new pillow for our couch, to replace the current one which Cici has claimed as her dog bed.

More knitting

And finally, I have great plans for more knitting. I’m afraid to look into my stash, as I know I will be overwhelmed, but there is plenty of yarn to keep me busy.

I’ve started my first 2013 knitting project, with plans to complete a lace cardigan in 2013.

I’ve already distracted myself from that project, and decided I need to complete a new pair of mittens before the end of January.

The “I make mittens” group on Ravelry, has been highly active in 2012. Mary Elizabeth, one of the moderators, proactively sought me out this weekend, and had me count up the mittens I made in 2012. I came up with six pairs, which means I now want to knit at least 7 pairs in 2013. Must get started now!

I’m sure I’ll knit some socks, and I’ve got yarn that would make a good hat, and of course there is the Leftover Blanket which would be great to finish in 2013.

So much yarn, so little time!

More time with friends!

I have had some good times with friends in 2012. You know who you are - if you were laughing with me, and not at me. J I hope there will be more coffees, lunches, dinners and drinks in our future!

I’ve also made some online friends for the first time in my life. My introverted, cautious side has held me back from calling people friends, if I haven’t met them face to face, but all that changed in 2012. Sharing a common love of all things Walt Disney World, I’ve been able to virtually meet some great people, that I truly call my friends. Again, you know who you are, if we’ve shared some laughter and support together in 2012. I wish you more laughter and only good times ahead for 2013! (And of course, I wish you many trips to Disney, which some of you are well on your way to accomplishing!)

Soooo…. That should be enough to keep my busy this year!

Merry Christmas! 2012

Blog Catch Up (and a dog party!)

I’ve been a bad blogger lately, and have not found the time to keep up with this thing. My day job has been keeping my busy lately, so I’m home around 7 most nights. By the time we eat and clean up, there isn’t much time left for this blog. I’ve got some plans in place to remedy this in the New Year, so if we all just hang on for a bit longer, this blog may come back to its former life by the end of January.

For now I give you a small sampling of what I’ve been up to in the past week, or so.

We had a pot luck lunch at work this week so last weekend was all about making some broccoli salad and peppermint cookies. The broccoli salad was well received, and the peppermint cookies pleased me, as they always do.

Cici loves the smell of peppermint cookies, so while I iced and sprinkled she worked on perfecting her begging pose.

I’ve been working on the Leftover Blanket lately. It is a great project for a cold winter night. Cici is quite fond of the smell of the real wool, so she usually come in for a snuggle as I knit.  One evening when I turned my back on it for a brief moment, I came back to this…

Admitting that in addition to lacking the time to blog, I also lack the time to bake, I solved my need for Christmas baking, by picking up an order from Gracie’s Christmas Cookies. It has been a challenge to keep certain hands out, to allow for some cookies to still be around on Christmas Eve.

I squeezed in some quality sewing time yesterday, which allowed me to make good progress on my quilt. I now have 48 12” squares ready to be joined together. I predict the quilt will be finished in the first half of 2013.

And finally, yesterday Cici invited some friends over. It was dog party central in our house.

There was begging in the kitchen,

Monitoring of the outside world,

Hanging out in the living room,

And much holding of the dachshund, against his best wishes. Cici is too big to hold like this, so we were all over this little guy.

Only eight days until Christmas! Love this time of year!

 

And the Quilt Sewing Begins

I started sewing the quilt together last weekend, but them my gainful employment got in the way and all progress has ground to a halt.

I sewed triangles onto each corner of the centre blocks and resulted in four piles of quilt blocks. Now I must trim each block to a nice, neat square, like the pile on the right. (It is the organizer in me that likes to make a quilt – I actually enjoy trimming each square so they are perfectly neat.)

I had hoped to be able to trim all the squares this week and be able to show you only the neatly trimmed pieces, but I've given up on that dream. I didn’t have to work late tonight, but by the time I took the train home, came in, changed to comfy clothes, bathed the dog (just because it was time), and fed the kid (well took the kid out to eat at Chipotle), it is now 8:25 pm, and I’m just getting around to posting this blog.  This working for a living thing is highly overrated.

As soon as this post is up, I’m gonna get my butt on the couch and watch some Young and the Restless, Big Bang Theory and Grays.

In other news...

Here is a gratuitous picture of Cici sulking after her bath. Her paws are all better now and she is back to her good old self.

Cici's Fall Photo Shoot

It is a gorgeous Thanksgiving Monday, and since the only item officially on the agenda is eating leftovers, we decided to spend our morning with Cici in the park. I brought the camera which resulted in me subjecting Cici to regular stops for photo opportunities. Surprisingly, Cici was more interested in looking around for better sights and smells, than posing for the perfect photo.

Here are the best results of the tormenting of Cici.

I think this is the best shot of the lot...

And finally, a gratuitous shot of the park exit, because it is so nice...