Warmth in the North

putting my rotary cutter to work

    I've spent a lot of time cutting over the last few days.  First there was 48, 9" squares for the Dead Simple Quilt Along.  I love the fabrics but they're really close in colour so I'm hoping my palette choice won't bite me in the end.

    Next, I sorted out fabric for the Geese in a Ring Swap, as I've signed up for round 3.  I hope everyone is ok with my fabric choices.  I've been reading all the comments in the group but some people are staying quiet and I have to get started. 

    Finally, while doing the laundry, I cut out 112 charm squares for the Sewing Summit Color Wheel Charm Swap.  The tutorial on Oh, Fransson! is really detailed and clear, it was just a matter of being accurate and taking my time.  Then I sorted them into pairs, which in theory will make the swapping process easier.

    Cutting seems like half the work in sewing or quilting.  It takes a long time if I want to be accurate but the results are worth it.  Now I just have to get some sewing time in but that may take a few days.

McCafferty

    This shawl is my new love.  It's warm, light, airy and so easy to wear.  I think it's the yarn, handspun by the lovely Jolene of Jobo Designs, that makes it so perfect.  The pattern is mostly garter stitch and Jolene's yarn really make the shawl special as opposed to plain.

    The edging took forever and a day but that's entirely my fault as I loath knitting on edging.  It just seems to take eons, while all the turning back and forth drives me nuts.  All that aside I do think it's rather pretty and the pattern was really easy to follow, even for the short row bits.

    I really, truly love the plums and purples running through the shawl.  They're so rich and remind me harvests and autumn rain showers, when the sky quickly gets dark in the mid afternoon.  McCafferty is my second entry into Celebrate Color for the month, it's simple and won't win any awards but for me it's what autumn is all about, rustic, warm and rich.

outside my box

    I don't know what's gotten into me recently but I've become a joiner.  Ever since May when I signed up for do. Good Stitches I've gone crazy.  The Sewing Summit and the fat quarter swap, the charm square swap plus the secret bee that will all be taking place in just two weeks.  Beyond that For the Love of Solids Swap and The Dead Simple Quilt Along are rounding out my on-line participation bonanza.

    Then yesterday I went to the quilt store to buy fabric to make my charms.  I've been assigned blue and blue-green and browsed until I settled on some Neptune.  When I went to pay I added on a free motion quiting class and joined the mystery block of the month.  I choose the pick your own fabric option but still it's rather scary.  Who knows what will be next, maybe I'll actually have the guts to go to a guild meeting.

nothing much going on

    I'm not up to much of anything but there are a few things I'd forgotten to post.  First up is my plain, little name tag.  I'm going to the Sewing Summit in a few weeks and I hate wearing name tags.  You might think those two things are unrelated but conventions sort of require name tags, don't they?  They are providing some but I saw that other people were making their own and it got me thinking.  Maybe, just maybe, if I make my own I'll not be such a grouch when I wear it.

    Some bunting with my name stitched in my writing and I was done.  It's pretty tiny, less than 2"x3" but I really like it and it should do the trick.  Jeni, Amanda, and Faith all have pretty fantastic handmade name tags, if you're looking for some inspiration.  

    In entirely unrelated news, on Friday this lovely little card was in my post office box.  I'm fairly certain that it's for all the do. Good Stitches circles that have sent quilts to My Very Own Blanket but it was so nice to get such a sweet card in the mail.  As a bonus they called me Ms. Kennedy, which is fairly hilarious, sort of like being called ma'am by people at least twice my age.  Yes, the things I get enjoyment from are quite silly.

a makeup roll

    After seeing Erin's review of Rachel's makeup roll pattern for Travel Handmade, I knew there was one in my future.  It's the brush storage that drew me in, mine always get chucked to the bottom of the makeup bag, seeing them all lined up is so nice.  Armed with some Heirloom and a bit of Kona Hibiscus, I made my own and it'll be coming along with me to the Sewing Summit.

    The pattern is very detailed and easy to follow, I'm tempted to make a few more as Christmas gifts.  The only change I made was to use an hair elastic rather than a crochet loop fastener.  It's a little bit of a cheat, instead of needing to know exactly how full the roll will always be, the elastic creates a bit of wiggle room.  I can't wait to fill it up and take it along with me to fun and exciting places.

little luxuries

    I've been playing with some tiny bits of Liberty of London tana lawn for the last few days.  There's no way I'll ever be able to make an entire quilt out of Liberty fabrics, they're hard to get your hands on and pricey.  I do have a plan that just might let me make the most out of every bit that I do have.  It involves a lifetime of English paper piecing, my new addiction, so I'd better get started. 

my abby tote

   

    Here's my new fall bag and one of my entries into Celebrate Color for September.  It's the Abby tote from V and Co with a few mods.  I've been wanting to make this bag for a while and when I saw this fabric from Joel Dewberry's Heirloom, I knew it would be mine. 

    Everyone was out of fusible fleece so I just used some leftover batting and added it to the outside fabric during the gathering stage.  The pattern doesn't call for any lining other than the second fabric but I wanted to add a bit of padding.  I also added some leftover interfacing to the top bands and the handles.  The last thing I changed was practical but a little bit sad... the wonderful bow has been shortened.  I'll never use it as a scarf and it was bound to come undone and go trailing in the mud and snow.
      It's wonderful that the tote is reversible although I'm in love with the Rose Bouquet in Gold so it might not get flipped inside out all that often.  The one downside to it being reversible is that there are no pockets.  I should have just added some anyway but didn't think of it while sewing.

    My Abby bag is already in use, carrying all my many things to work.  It easily fits my laptop, lunch and everything else that I feel compelled to drag everywhere. I really do love it and it's going to be coming along with me to the Sewing Summit in a few weeks. 

for the love of solids

    A while ago I joined For the Love of Solids on Flickr.  It's my first swap in a reeaally long time and was a ton of fun. We had to make make our partner one large item and one small item using only solids.  Let me tell you it was harder than I thought. 

   This pillow cover has already been mailed off to my partner.  It took me forever to decided what to make her, I tried to use the colours she mentioned and poured over her inspiration mosaic and photo stream trying to figure out what she'd like.  I settled on the simple plus pattern because it tends to make the fabrics the star of the show without being boring. 

    While I like the pillow I love this little pouch.  It's my first attempt at English paper piecing and I think the hexies turned out really well.  I used this tutorial for a make-up bag but I imagine my partner can use it for whatever she likes.  I stuffed it with a few other goodies and along with the pillow cover put it in the mail last week.  Now I'm waiting and hoping she likes everything.

a dead simple quilt

    

    I decided to join Lynne of Lily's Quilts Dead Simple Quilt along and today she posted the fabric requirements.  First we had to pick out palettes for our quilts and I choose this one from Design Seeds.  It's almost all shades of gray but I love it.  If you look in my closet at any given moment you'll see a disproportionate amount of gray, it's my colour of choice.  For some reason I shy away from it in quilting, so this is the prefect opportunity for me to play with my favorite colour.

    This morning right after I read the fabric requirements I reached into my stash and started picking out fabric.  All of the deeper purples come from Heirloom and those lighter grayish purples are from Parisville but everything else is really randomly chosen.  I'm in love with the stack of fabric and can't wait to start cutting.

pfft

    All my knitting is in this exact state.  Almost done with some made up problem keeping me from spending a bit of time finishing it off.  At the moment I despise all the turning required to knit on this lace boarder and have gone on strike.  Hopefully my sanity will return and I'll get back to knitting because I really, really want to wear this.  Autumn is coming and my neck is going to be cold soon!