Book Club and Star Dreaming

The Book Club/Tiny Block Swap is still going strong. Read a book, make 16 tiny stars, discuss, swap, repeat two months later. This time we met at Renee's. She was eager to show off her brand new kitchen, and we were all eager to ooh and ahh.

We also got a tour of her sewing space. Love her fabric storage system.

Renee also has a stack of bins, nearly from floor to ceiling, with various quilts planned, kitted, and ready to sew. Grab and go. That's organization.

We're about at the midway point of the block swap, so each of us now has nearly 100 3 inch star blocks.

Has anyone else been mocking up quilts in Electric Quilt or on paper to figure out the best way to use them? I sure have!

This is the quilt that inspired the swap in the first place. Here is another possibility. And here's more inspiration:

No clue who made that quilt above--it's just a pic sent to me by a friend. But variable stars would work very well with such a setting, don't you think?

It will be about a year until we're done making blocks, so there's plenty of time to make the very best choice. And I'm open for suggestions...

For Oden...

At last--ta da!--here's a finished project. I've shown a couple hints of this one on Facebook, but was keeping it under wraps until it arrived at its destination on Vancouver Island, at the home of a very new little person named Oden.

The pattern is Winding Ways or Wheel of Mystery, one of my faves. I bought a template set for this pattern a few years back--knew it would see some use, and it has. It's fairly simple sewing, despite the curves. Not a pattern to be afraid of! Then you get the incredible bonus of secondary and tertiary patterns twinkling across the surface. This is what I call bang for the buck....one of my favorite things about quiltmaking.

Er...actually, I guess I have a lot of favorite things about quiltmaking.

I started with a box full of pieces leftover from another baby quilt in this pattern made several years back. (I have to admit I seldom measure and figure when I start a quilt, I just start cutting.) Anyway, that recipient is in KINDERGARTEN now, visits the library frequently, and has the best nose for M&Ms of just about any child I've ever met. A man after my own heart!

I added the orange for this quilt, and for all intents and purposes, cut up most of the remaining batik I had on hand. I love the gentle jolt the orange adds.

The quilting is just loopy meandering, done in a rainbow of different pastel-ish rayon threads. The backing fabric is a pastel green print, which really doesn't show too well in the photos.

I'm thinking this is a perfect quilt for this baby and for this mom too--she's a young woman who has traveled widely and who looks beyond the surface for life's meaning. May this be a talisman for them both. Best wishes for a long and interesting life for Mr. Oden.

Project details:

Pattern: Winding Ways or Wheel of Mystery, made from Marty Michell templates.

Block size: 8.5 inches.

Finished size of quilt: 51 inches square

Top fabrics: 100% cotton batiks

Backing: 100% cotton

Batting: Warm and Natural

Quilting top thread: 30 wt. rayon, in multiple colors

Quilting bobbin thread: 60 wt. cotton

More-o Noro

The Superbowl is going on in another part of the house and I'm too nervous to watch it. There's a great deal of regional pride hanging on this game. Hiding out from the TV (while staying in earshot) has spurred me to get back to the blog, after a slight absence.

Sewing, knitting, and life have been going on here, along with some work-related issues that seem to have zapped some of my time, energy, and good humor. But enough about that. Here I am, hanging in, if not quite triumphant yet. As always, fiber is comfort and joy.

After I finished the big shawl (and I need to get some Finished Object pictures posted, don't I?)I've been dipping into the knitting stash, working on some smaller projects that may or may not become gifts at a later date.

After I made one striped Noro scarf that turned out very rainbow-y and zoomy, I bought yarn for a more subdued version of the same pattern. This is such a wonderful pattern--absolutely mindless knitting, and all the while you're producing fabric with wonderful color counterpoint. And it's changing and evolving all the time--that keeps you knitting to see what's next.

It's alternating colors in 2 rows of K1P1, with a little slip-stitch edge treatment that hides the yarns as they're carried up the side. It lays perfectly flat. Simple and elegant.

Very pleased with this scarf. Not ruling out making more of these!

And I have to say that my original zoomy-colored version of this scarf has grown on me. People comment on it when I wear it and that's always fun. But given the choice, I usually prefer subtlety to hitting people over the head. Although that restraint is tested from time to time.

Project details:

Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf, generic pattern, described here.

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, colors 270 and 8; 2 balls of each.

Needle: Addi Turbo circular, size 7 US.

Whoo hoo--game over! I think my week just got off to a good start.