I've been Knitting a Sweater

I usually buy the Knit Simple magazine when I have the urge for a new project.  Well, this spring I was instantly taken by the first pattern in the magazine.  The lace detail is a honeybee design that I liked instantly.  Here's how mine turned out.

And now for the back....extra cute....

I started it on May 16th and finished a few days ago.  Yeah!  Don't you love finishing things??

New Hat Love

We spend some of our time on the weekend driving in a cute little car with no roof. My hair of course suffers some.  Not just from the breeze but my head is sometimes cold... OK, it's fall here and the daytime highs haven't been above 10C for a week (or maybe more...)

Anyhooo, I undertook to make the Wanderer hat from Weekend Hats: 25 Knitted Caps, Berets, Cloches.  It is really pleasing how it turned out.

I thought it would be too small for my big head.  You see mine measures at 23inches in diameter.

So I undertook to make the hat a tiny bit larger by adding in six extra stitches (as the decrease on the crown was in six places)  My machinations worked and but the hat is more like a beret.  I love it tho.

The details are:
     Wanderer Cap
     1- 100 gm (192m ) ball Patons Classic Wool Worsted (4)
     colour: new denim

New Shopping Bag

So I have this problem with the shopping bags you buy for a $1 or so or maybe the ones that are given to me - they are just too big.  If I let the grocery store carry out people fill them they are often too heavy for me later.  Plus, I seem to have crushed stuff when I get home...so I looked at the grocery bag made of flimsy plastic

and thought they are designed this size and shape because they work....so....

I made a simple pattern by cutting the bag open....

After that I finished the edges, first with the serger and then by turning under a smidge and topstitching .

Voila, it's a wonderful thing.  In case you wonder the bottom was double stitched on the outside and then serged also on the outside as befits such a utilitarian item.

I made two like this and my DH promptly expropriated them for his lunch (all those round glass dishes) and his gym things.

Progress on my Wheel Around Blocks

I am really liking how this block is going together.  I am using the set of fat quarters I got from Sew Sisters a couple of months ago and they are wonderful.

Here's how it starts. ( I am using a scrapbooking case to store the blocks as they are 12 1/2 inches square )

And...

Then I sew the triangles on all four sides of of the corner squares...

After pressing the seams open I have the corners for two blocks...

And Voila!

I haven't decided if there will be sashing or not.  Then I saw on the cover of a Fons and Porter Magazine that Mary Fons had done this block on point...hmmm....

(If you scroll down the Magazine page to March/April 2013 you can see what I mean)

Lil Twister Tool

So we made a detour on our way home through South Dakota and visited Quilt-tiques in Rapid City.  Sure there were other sights there but this one sticks out in my mind. (Oh, yeah, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse,...)

I bought a kit with the Lil Twister Tool that makes these cool pinwheels.
It went together in a day and here is the small top

Cute and christmas-y
I liked it just this way but the pattern recommends the addition of some ribbon...

What do you think?  This is what they recommend.  But is it necessary??

Embroidery progress

This is a design I made of flowers in a circle...I'm on a bit of a circle thing right now...

I coloured in some of the petals and leaves as an experiment to see how the embroidery looks.  I feel that sometimes it just looks not substantial enough especially in a quilt.  I bought some fabric colour felt pens at Michaels and just started fooling around.  I'll show you when it is more complete.

New Fabric, Yum!

The new addition to my stash has been washed and folded.  I had a great summer, how about you?

I 'needed' some green for my hexagon quilt but I got a bit carried away...where did all that pink come from...?