Grunt Work

What a mess we have here....

After some thought and also consultation with friends, I've decided to use large sunburst pieces to fill out the corners of the Lone Star quilt. Trying not to regret this decision...

I drew up a sunburst block in Electric Quilt, printed it out, and took my drawing to a nearby office supply store, where they cheerfully made me gigantic blowups and charged me a small fortune for them. (I miss my access to free printing at the library...)

So--financially, I am pretty much committed.

For a couple weeks I procrastinated beginning the sewing. Finally buckled myself down at the sewing machine and managed to make two sunbursts, which equal one corner, in four long hours of sewing. There was a fair amount of ripping and re-sewing, as well as some spitting out of bad words through clenched teeth.

I'm here to tell you that paper piecing on this large scale is even less fun than paper piecing on a small scale. Who knew? This project is looking like it definitely falls in the deadly category--it calls into play some conceptualizing skills that haven't been used in a long, long time. If ever. 

Not to mention that it eats up a lot of fabric.

Here's how one sunburst looks so far, untrimmed and butting up against a corner of the quilt.

 Worth continuing?

Mako Scarf/Shawl

As my stash of sock yarn overflows its allotted drawer, and as my stash of completed socks overflows ITS allotted drawer, I'm on the lookout for alternate pattern ideas for sock yarn. I found this pattern, Mako Scarf by Laura Patterson, at Prairie Junction Needlework in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, but it's also available as a Ravelry download. It looked like a perfect vehicle for a ball or two from the stash. And it looked graceful and pretty, and heaven knows I can use a bit of that...

After about five false starts, I got the learning curve under control and was off and running.

A couple well-placed markers made it an easy knit. It works up easily from one double ball of sock yarn or two small balls. In fact, If I'd known I would have as much yarn left over as I did, I would have added more increases (and decreases too, of course) and made it deeper.

But as it is, it makes a soft little neck scarf. And talk about fast! This project was begun on March 24 and completed on April 8. That is lightning speed for me.

This pattern is extremely clear and well-written, which is something I can't say for all charted patterns.

One big ball of sock yarn has hereby been dealt with!


The Details:
Pattern: Mako Shawl by Laura Patterson
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock, colorway Persia
Approximately 300 yards used.
Needles: US 6
Finished size: About 14 X 60 inches.

The Lone Star Progresses

OK, so here we are with the Lone Star... And I apologize for the bad setting for photos, but it's too windy to even try to photograph this monster outside today.

The setting squares have all been made and attached, and the outer diamonds have been made and attached. Where do I go from here?

In order to make this quilt square, four corner pieces are needed. Four gigantic triangles. And I'm faced with the same problem as I had with the inset squares--what to do with all that space?

I've been playing in EQ, drawing sunbursts, which would need huge enlargement and would be paper pieced. Is this what I want to do? Or I could continue with the star and chain blocks I used for the inset squares.

Lurking in the distance is the fact that the addition of the big triangles will bring this quilt only to about 100" square. ONLY?? Well, the quilt is for a queen-sized bed, and I like a nice generous drop. The quilt needs to be bigger than 100" square.

Which means....this quilt is going to need BORDERS. Much planning and piecing remains. In other words, the light is no where near appearing at the end of this particular tunnel.