I know its been a few weeks since I have posted in here. I apologize, but as you will see I have been extremely busy the past few weeks and will continue to do so. Currently, I do not have any knitting wip but I have finished a few things since my most recent post. In my last post I had been working on a newborn baby boy sweater. It was suppose to have a hoodie, but after many discussions with mothers I work with, I learned that hoodies are really annoying for little babies. So I decided to forgo the hood on the sweater. Below is the finished product and I am pleased with it.
I have learned that striping is a little time consuming and annoying to do all the darning of the ends. So I am not sure I will do many more sweaters like this one. In addition to this sweater I knitted a pair of fingerless mitts for myself. I have gloves but I need the use of my fingers but still wanted to keep my hands warm. I feel in love with this pattern and I love the gloves. They are perfect for work when my hands get cold I can still type on my computer and keep my hands warm all at the same time.
Yes you read the title correctly, in addition to knitting I am teaching myself how to quilt using a sewing machine. I got motivated when I received a sewing machine from my MIL mom Sours. I will post a pic of the sewing machine next time I post about quilting. This weekend was my first attempt at cutting the fabrics I had purchased. I am making a quilt throw for our living room. This past week I bought my fabric. I did not end up using all the colors. I got some from a quilting shop called the quilting studio in Longmont and the rest from Joanns.
I am pleased with my selections for the first time picking out fabric on my own and as you see it matches my family room perfectly. Once you have the fabric the first step is to wash it and iron it. I washed it but forgot to iron and I learned after cutting that ironing is an important step, but I think I made out pretty well in the end. In order to cut the fabric you need a cutting mat, acrylic ruler, and a rotary knife. I purchased all these with my birthday money this summer.
I am pretty excited how all my squares came out. I cut 56 squares, that are 7.5 inches each. I am ready to start arranging them and figure out the way the colors will lay.
So far I it has been a learning experience for me as I continue with each step. I have learned that is you are going to cut big squares purchasing the fabric by the quarter is so much better than purchasing it in a fat quarter. The reason for this is b/c I was able to get 8 squares from a quarter and 4 squares from a fat quarter. I haven't figured out why people are so in love with fat quarters just yet, but this is my first quilt. I think they are really good for making smaller squares for certain projects and I am looking forward to learning about them. I will continue with both knitting and quilting over the next few weeks and look forward to sharing my adventures with you.
Its hard to see what its going to look like right now. Its currently looking like a mess, but I promise you that in a few days it will look much better. In quilting news I have finished the top part of the quilt. Now that means I just have the squares sewn together. I still have to finish the back, make a quilt sandwich ( which means put the layers together and pin them) , than stipple the quilt together( meaning putting a meandering design on the quilt while sewing the layers together, and finally bind the quilt. In addition to this I am contemplating whether or not to add a border. To be honest, I think its safe to say its likely I will add a border to the top. I think it will help make the quilt pop and I have plenty of batting. I don't want to be wasteful!!! The first picture are the squares place out on the floor.
I was really happy with how I had things placed. Kevin decided he wanted a try and be creative and try his own designs. So he played for a while but he didn't like anything. We tried to put it back the same, but I wasn't happy with it. In the end it doesn't matter b/c when I was sewing I couldn't see the quilt since it was behind the table I was sewing on. So a few of the blocks got mixed up and it created its own design, which I am happy with. Before I show you the finished top of the quilt ( finished for now) I promised I would post a picture of the sewing machine my MIL gave me for my birthday last year.
Its a Singer Advance. So far I have not complaints and I love using it. So I took two different pictures of my quilt top and I am happy with it so far and very excited about it needless to say.
I am really looking forward to continue with this quilt. I will probably go this week and look at fabric choices for borders. Then on Saturday if I get time I would like to cut, iron, and sew on the borders, and iron, cut and sew the back. If I get time this weekend I would also like to cut and iron the binding pieces and sandwich the quilt. That's a lot and I have a busy weekend so I will be impressed if accomplish all of this.
