Tuesday, November 30, 2010

It's Quilting Day Again!!!

YAY! I'll get to work on the Texas Quilt! It's coming along nicely, slowly, but nicely! I've been knitting up a storm since the Studio 328 got here, so the quilt has had to take a 'back seat' so to speak...But today is going to be spent working on it! Yesterday evening I knitted another baby blanket and booties, this time in pink for the hospital... that was after knitting blue baby booties, 2 dog collars and a dog sweater earlier in the day... so yep, guess it's time to get back to  quilting....Think I'll take my camera to the Quilting Group today and see if I can snag a pix or two of some of their projects!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Knitting Day...

Today's been spent machine knitting and putting a new sponge bar on the standard gauge knitting machine...then I knitted a pair of baby blue booties to go with the baby blanket that I made for the hospital, made two cute little knitted collar's for my dogs in sparkle red with cookie buttons for closers, and since Canela, the wiennie dog is so cold natured, I knitted her a sweater out of the sparkle red yarn too--and added a classy black cord bow on it's back. I can't tell if she likes it or not, but it does fit her well, and I think looks cute on her! It's not from any pattern... just 'guesstimates', but fun all the same...
Canela, you're too cute!!!

I think she looks quite 'fetching' in her new frock!!!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Hope you had a Great Holiday!

We sure did! Our son and his family came on Wednesday for a early Thanksgiving Dinner, complete with homemade yeast rolls, Turkey, dressing...etc...yum!!! Then on to daughter's house in Donie to enjoy going to the Homestead Heritage Thanksgiving Fair...Oh WOW...was it nice! The kids got to dip candles and make a wreath....and I got some beautiful fingering weight plum colored hand dyed superwash yarn that I'm hand knitting a scarf for my grand daughter Cara.... I took a picture of it in progress to share with you... It's sooo yummy to hand knit with! I also took a picture of the machine knitted baby blanket for the hospital in Baby Blue...I'll make a pair of booties to go with it, probably tomorrow -when everything has settled down a little-- (this week was wild! LOL)--Then I have to get a Baby Pink one for a little girl knitted... I also dipped some pine cones in melted candle wax last week for fire starters for a couple of friends of mine at church, then Marvin & Rachel picked up two bags full of pinecones at Donie, so guess it's time to heat up the wax again so we'll have enough fire starters for our wood stove! I also have another sweatshirt jacket going for my sister....Life is always an adventure! The only time I'm really unhappy, is when I'm bored!;) (and that can be easily rectified!!!) LOL!!! Here's hoping your Holiday Projects go well this next week!!!
Machine knit tuck stitch baby blanket using sport weight baby blue yarn.

Hand knit scarf for grand daughter for Christmas....beautiful yarn!
Cathy

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Almost Thanksgiving....

Turkey Day is almost here!!!!! gobble, gobble..... We had a wonderful meal at the quilting group today! There was 17 of us joined together for fun, food and quilting! Can't beat it! While I was at the club meeting, hubby was working on Christmas presents and putting a storm door on the greenhouse and recovered the east & west walls of it with heavy clear plastic....what a good guy.... & just in time.......it's suppose to get into the 20's Thursday night...nevermind it was in the upper 70's today and should be in the lower 80's tomorrow! YIKES! That will be quite a change! Hubby & I have ridden our bikes to Santa Anna & back the last two days! It's been beautiful! 23 miles each time...stopping for breakfast Monday and stopping for a diet coke today as a break, then taking the long way through the mountain back home...too much fun!
The next few days around here will be pretty busy...I do love the Holidays! I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving....I know I have too many blessings to count....I'm so very thankful to the Lord... He has supplied all my needs and the vast majority of my wants... Who could ask for more?

Saturday, November 20, 2010

The Studio 328 is here!

YAY! It's here, and it's a Honey! It came by UPS yesterday and I spent the afternoon playing with putting it together and checking it out... So far I've knitted a scarf for Cara and a set of baby booties. I got the scarf seamed and the pompoms made last night...I still have to seam the booties. It's so exciting to have a machine exactly like the first one that I learned to machine knit on... so many memories...so many ideas! Anyway, thought I'd share some pixs....The scarf - made for an 8 year old -is just 70 sts. wide and 400 rows knit with sock weight 4ply at T 7 -E wrap cast on every other needle, then put all needles in work on 2nd row...at the end, I transferred every other needle putting empty needles in out of work position. Knit one row--take off on waste yarn...Thread tails through end stitches and draw up tightly. Secure tail...Mattress stitch seam together... Make pom poms and attach.

What a pretty old girl!!!! I love her already!!!

Close up of baby bootie in progress... I found this pattern at
http://www.rayofhope.co.uk/

She knits beautifully!!

Sorry the pix is so dark...The background is a swirl afghan knitted on a Singer 155 Bulky machine.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Homemade Yeast Rolls...

My daughter is the bread maker in our family... I can make bread, but whether or not it rises and turns out ok is a 'hit or miss' situation. Rachel worked in a donut shop for quite awhile when she was younger and really got the program down to an art, so I haven't made bread very often since then. Well, when Marvin said he wanted to take bread to the hospital's Thanksgiving meal, I opened my big mouth and said, 'I'll make rolls rather than buy them.' Why do I do things like that? Doh!!!! Anyway, I fretted and fretted about them, but the yeast gods smiled on me and they came out ok... at least almost all of them were gone by the time I left and I didn't see any being thrown in the trash or people using them as projectiles! LOL! Here's a pix...don't pay attention to my poor stove...It had quite a workout this summer canning hundreds of jars of veggies from the garden...It's had a tough life... But it still works!
60 Homemade Yeast Rolls and Honey...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Baby Booties & Cap

I knitted these today on my old Studio/Singer 360 knitting machine. I was so happy to find the exact same pattern for the booties I used to use in days gone by. The internet is an amazing source of information, if a person has the time to spend hunting for what they want! I also found the pattern for the yokes that I used to knit and sew onto sweatshirts. I'll have to wait for my Studio 328 to get here to try it as the 360 is short about 10 of the needles needed to start the yoke with. I removed those needles from the bed when I deep cleaned it because they had a bit of corrosion on them and I was afraid they might cause trouble knitting...Anyway, here's a couple pixs of the yokes...one just the yoke and the other sewn onto a sweatshirt...


Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Today was Quilting Group Day!!!!

YAY!!! I do enjoy Tuesdays and we had LOTS of 'show & tell'. Now when you see in the notes under the pictures that some of these ladies were my teachers in school, realize that I'm 53 years old...I think that's just awesome! I am so blessed to be able to sew with ladies I've known so many years...One of the ladies (Ludy Jane) I'm elbow kin to through my hubby, another one I've known her mother since I was 12  years old....etc. etc.....So without further adieu....
Betty's Star Quilt is just beautiful!!!

Carol Burroughs, my Jr. High P.E. Coach, finished 2 Jackets.... This is the Bargello design one!


This is Vicki's paper pieced top in Swirled Log Cabin style!

This is Carol's Sweatshirt Jacket....Looks really good on her!

This is a close up of Vicki's quilt...I LOVE Purple!!!!

Biscuit Quilt! Blast from the Past! Thanks Ludy Jane Bryan for sharing!!!

Close up of the Biscuit Quilt!

Sybil's machine applique and pieced quilt - stunning!!!

Close up of a quilt by Sybil....Absolutely perfect work!

Isn't this Bunny Quilt going to be adorable??? Made by my High School Home Ec. teacher Raye King...
She's still doing beautiful work!!!!

Terra McMahon made some classy napkins to dress up her table for the Holidays!
I'm loving that fringe!!!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Ben's Quilt is Completed!










This one quilted easier than Cara's....thank goodness! I think it will suit him to a 'T'! The only problem now is that I've quilted and completed all the quilt tops that I have assembled....That means I've got to 'get it together' and get the Texas Quilt put together!
I joined the Pink Ladies Group at our  County Hospital here and have been wondering what service I could do that would really 'be my cup of tea' so to speak...and I think I've decided what it is I really would like to do...A very sweet lady in the group has been making Receiving Blankets for all the newborns. This is especially nice since most of these babies will start out with precious little in this world. She would make them up ahead in pink or blue colors putting 2 in a clear gift bag with a cute little pair of socks. These would be kept at and given out from the Gift Shop which is run by the Pink Ladies. I found out yesterday that the lady making these will not be able to make them anymore and there is only one gift set left in pink for a girl. I think this would be something I would really love to do... so guess I'd better get going on a blanket or afghan for a boy!-- and a pair of booties of course!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Gammie is playing nice again!!!

Yes, Gammie (my vintage quilting machine) is still fraying the top thread fairly often, but she is quilting perfect tensioned stitches again! I knew if I fed her the thread she likes that she'd respond favorably! Anyway, here's a pix or two of her with Ben's quilt in the works.... And, Hello to old friends Sheila and Phil---they found us on Facebook! Haven't seen them in over 10 years! We grew up together here in Coleman County, Texas but as time tends to do, we lost touch. It's good to hear from you again!
Ben's hand embroidered airplane quilt set up on Gammie....

Shows quilting..... meandering and loops...

Close up of Gammie's foot....

She's an oldie....but she runs!!! LOL! Probably circa 1983...one of the first years Gammill made quilting machines. 10 1/2 inch throat... long arm machines are now common with 24 inch throats!!!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Another Sweatshirt Jacket...

Yep! This is a second one for me....so you know I love the 1st one! They are sooo comfy! Did I mention I like green?!? Who would have thought? Tomorrow is scheduled to put Ben's quilt in the quilter and work on some tabogins, mittens & scarves for the grandkids...great stocking stuffers don't ya know!?! Let's see, Black & white for Jason with red trim... Pink & purple for Cara...hmmm... What to do for Ben... I'll have to check my stash of yarn and see what 'looks' like him!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Cara's quilt is finished!

YAY! It took longer than I thought it would because I kept having tension problems on the quilting machine (Gammie). She doesn't like anything different and I used spooled thread on top instead of coned serger thread...Gammie kicked and screamed for 3 rows of quilting before I finally figured out how to get her to play nice... Her quilting tension definitely gave me tension! LOL! But the quilt turned out really nice, and I'll for sure be using coned serger thread on Ben's quilt that is going in the frame next! Gammie can have quite a temper tantrum when she's unhappy....So I'll do my best to keep her happy in the future!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Machine Knitting too!

Well, I spent Monday through Thursday morning with the two grandkids that live in Donie...too much fun! Cooked Posole, Tamales, hard candy suckers; ate out two wonderful meals, one Mexican food and the other a great sandwich with dipping sauce; listened to Christmas music and embroidered quilt blocks.... Came home and started cleaning on my punchcard bulky knitting machine- hadn't used it in years-- and found Dianaknits on Youtube. She had a wonderful video on a Swirl Baby Blanket almost exactly like I used to make...but lost the pattern to...Anyway, here's pixs of the quilt blocks and Baby Blanket....
Almost 4 foot wide...with I used to call Pie Crust Edge...Dianaknits calls it Noodle Edge.







Hoping this will be the block in Jason's pillowcase....
I've recently found a Studio 328 24 stitch punchcard machine just like my first knitting machine of many years ago...on EBay in super looking condition, with the ribber and lots of attachments... so am hoping to do much more machine knitting in the future. When we lived in Las Cruces, NM I was part of a machine knitting group that included I guess around 2 dozen members at least! It was a very large part of my life for quite awhile. When we moved to Central Texas, no one around here even knew what a knitting machine was!.. There certainly was no group for moral support and encouragement.... It seems machine knitting either has come back into favor, or I've just found the Yahoo groups on the Web... Anyway, it's very fun again now that I have people to talk to about it and I'm hoping to again become prolific!