Jelly Roll Quilt Racing

There is nothing like the deadline of a show to spur one on to making new work, and with it the attendant anxiety I have about that very process. I think for me, immersion into the particular way of thinking that I need for making art has been in short supply for several years, mainly because of the anxiety of selling the house and giving up my studio, which has been my refuge and my solace for the last 18 years. I have really enjoyed knitting, which is portable and procedural and unfolds very slowly, incrementally, in time. The timescale of knitting is different from quilting, because it is almost fixed. You can't really hurry knitting. It is always one stitch at a time, regardless of the complexity of the pattern or the color . Quilting, however, can be manipulated and you can vastly simplify and streamline and use shortcuts. I think I gave up knitting in the first place a long time ago because to arrive at a garment, it takes a lot longer if you create the fabric too. Why knit if you can buy fabric, cut it up and sew it together? But that digression will move in a different direction from my point today, which is: how fast can you make a quilt that is simple, fun and interesting to look at?

I ran across a jellyroll of batik fabrics which I had purchased a while ago at a show and thought I should make something out of that. In searching the internet for ideas, I ran across this : Jelly Roll Race Quilts http://blog.heirloomcreations.net/?tag=jelly-roll-races and  this:http://craftygardenmom.blogspot.com/2011/12/jelly-roll-race-quilt-tutorial.html I thought that was a fun idea. Then I thought it might be good to use up some of my collection of Kaffe Fasset and Jane Sassaman fabrics which I have collected over the years, in case I didn't like the quilt, so as not to use the actual jelly roll. LOL. I also didn't like the diagonals created by mitering the strips, though, so I pieced them on end and added blue squares between strips.So, here is my "Racing with Kaffe and Jane" quilt: 49inX 67in. which took me about 3 days including quilting. I used a pillowcase method to finish the edges so I could avoid binding it. It needs blocking, but I love how it turned out.

I also completed a quilt for my mother who is studying astronomy and loves to discuss galaxies and black holes. I thought she needed a new quilt! But this one took a lot more time due to the piecing and cutting of triangles.Now I still have to decide what to do with my jellyroll. And I have a whole box of Kaffe and Jane fabrics left, of course. ...

Gerald at 48

My brother Phideaux Xavier ( www.bloodfish.com ) sent me a link to a marvelous interview with Ian Anderson here: http://www.classicrockrevisited.com/interviewiananderson2012.htm. As a young person, I adored Jethro Tull and followed their music over the years. I made a few friends around my love of Ian Anderson's music, and recently was saddened to find one of them had passed away, as I went to share this article with her.It is always a shock to find yourself face to face with mortality and the possibility that our time is limited. We really never know what will happen to us, and how much time is left to finish all of our projects, complete our brainstorms and finally work on that magnum opus. Telling folks you love them is always big on the list, and as we never know, it is a reminder to make each day count. Goodbye, Pamela, and may you rest in peace.

Spring in February?

The weather today is a balmy 55 degrees F, and crocuses and hyacinths are coming up in my yard.

Certainly this has been the warmest weather I can remember for this time of year. I am glad for this, as our heating bills have been less! Leaving more money for yarn I suppose. Speaking of which, I wrote up and posted on Ravelry my pattern for Garter Stitch Circular Shrug, http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/garter-stitch-circular-shrug
which is a stash-busting pattern. I decided to offer it for free and see how many variations folks would make of it. Also I didn't do all the calculations , so I felt it was a bit of work for folks to figure out, thus, free..

I'm still working on patterns for a few other sweaters, but somehow writing them up is not as much fun as knitting them! I love the figuring-out-on-the-fly part but not the spreadsheet part...
In other news, I am still looking for the right buyer for my marvelous house, and will be on the RiverArts Artist Studio Tour this year. That should be fun.It is April 28th and 29th, 2012.  I plan to hang as many of my quilts as I can and have a kind of retrospective for myself. Perhaps I will make a few small new pieces also.

New Year Blues!

 For a change, I decided to work up some cowls and infinity scarves as the year came to a close. This first one is one skein of Misty Alpaca Chunky, which I overdyed with BlueGum dye. I love the bright blue color, and this one skein project is very easy. On a size 10.5 needle, Cast on 30 sts using a provisional cast on, and knit 30 sts. Turn and knit 30, then turn,* knit 15, wrap and turn, knit 15. Turn, knit 30 sts  4 times, repeat from * . When you have approx a yard of yarn left,and yarn is coming out at opposite end from beginning tail yarn,  remove provisional sts and place live sts on a needle. Here you can either do a 3 needle bind off, or graft by Kitchener stitch for Garter: which is as follows:( set up leave P front, P back), then work across row as follows:
Front needle:K off, P leave
Back needle:K off, P leave.

 Now, this seed stitch cowl was done with size 19 needles and 2 skeins of "Baby", a kind of big wool. A nice warm merino!

 This infinity scarf was made with 3 skeins of Bocciolo, which was a birthday gift from my friend Cara. I love how the yarn's bobbles of bright blue popped out! I used double moss stitch, which was loosely followed, as this was my knit-in-public knitting for a while, and some wine may have been involved. But I love this scarf!

My final project for December, shown here still in progress, was done with "Crazy Sexy Wool" by Wool and the Gang ( www.woolandthegang.com ), which also made the size 19 needles.Talk about instant gratification! This scarf took about 6 hours to knit, and was a lot of fun to watch grow. I have been having fun learning how to graft in seed stitch, and that formula is approximately thus:
front needle: opposite off, same on
back needle: opposite off, same on
with "opposite" meaning the reverse of how the stitch looks to you ( either K or P), and "same" meaning how it appears ( k or P).
So, Happy New Year to all of my faithful readers, and I hope 2012 brings you all health, peace and prosperity, but also joy and delight!

Thanksgiving Roast Vegetables

When I visited my kids at college last month, we had the most delicious vegetable medly for dinner. I recreate it here for your enjoyment:

Roasted Root Vegetables:

Peel and cut into 1/2 inch cubes the following vegetables:( or purchase pre-cubed)
2 Sweet potatoes or yams
1 butternut squash
2 or 3 Parsnips
3 or 4 fresh red beets

Toss with 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Spread one layer thick on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and a small amount of salt. (Other herbs may be added, but caution: they may overpower the delicate flavor of the veggies).

Roast at 400 degrees for 45 min to 1 hour, turning over every 20 minutes, until most of the veggies are soft and lightly browned.

Serves 6-8.

Serve warm. Will keep in fridge for several days, covered. Reheats nicely!
I wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Change of Seasons

Changing seasons here in the NorthEast USA is always a challenge. There is no clear demarcation, so the weather can change from summertime 80 degrees down to chilly 50s in a day. Thus one needs an array of clothes to cover every eventuality! Thus I made 2 similar sweaters, one in linen and one in wool/alpaca to chase away the chills. The top photos are of Waterlily Cosmos, so called because of the waterlily edging and the top down construction like my other Cosmos sweaters. I really enjoyed knitting that one after the unforgiving linen, but the second  sweater, Summer Leaves, has its charms also! It is a variation of the Metamorphosis sweater, with same numbers but different lace patterns. It was a pleasure to play with pattern and texture in both of these, and I am already thinking of more variations.

Labor Day blues

I finally finished my quilt for my son, even though he left for college 2 weeks ago! I always underestimate how long quilts take to make! This one is 72in X 88 in, the size for a Twin bed, and is made of mostly blue and white fabrics which I had on hand. Some are rather old ( one was used as a maternity dress when I was carrying him), one was used in his Bar-Mitzvah quilt, several were used in "Crystal Blues", a quilt I made in 1998, whic I still enjoy. I also bought a few  new pieces of fabric for this quilt. It is machine pieced and quilted, with a walking foot for the body of the quilt, but with free motion for the border. I also machine applied the binding. It was a challenge to photograph this huge thing! I hope he likes it...