Knitting Socks!

I have to say thank you to two people....Michelle Marr of Michelles Romantic Tangle blog and Judy Laquidara of Patchwork Times. Their enthusiasm and "can do" attitude for sock knitting helped me to finally start knitting socks. I mean real socks!

It's not as if I've not made socks before. One pair of worsted weight tube socks, then years later, one pair of regular socks but again with worsted weight yarn. But I struggled. Turning the heel, gussets, picking up stitches, none of it came easily.

At one point Michelle did blog posts with instructions on how she did socks. Thanks Michelle! And Judy was confident that we could learn anything we really wanted to from the Internet. I now have made two pairs of socks. Fingering weight yarn! The first two aren't perfect but certainly wearable. This brown yarn is my third pair and I'm already more relaxed than I was on the others, I've told myself that once I do a "perfect" pair of these simple stockinette socks I will allow myself to move on to a more complicated pattern. Hey! I'm looking forward to doing cables! You would not believe how many different ideas I have save on Pinterest! Wait! We are all quilters and knitters! I know we all overindulge on Pinterest dreams.

I love bloggers! P.S. I made no effort to have the stripes matched on the socks. I love them just the way they are!

Cheers!
Toni

2017 FAL Q2

I don't use Blogger very often so....I make mistakes! I totally deleted my post, weeks after posting it, for the First Quarter. I couldn't get credit for the ones I finished as I don't remember which ones I had entered! Dang!  I did finish three (for sure!) for the first quarter, not shown here, but some of the following, while not finished, were on my first quarter list. I've made progress on many of them and now again I'm going to try for finishes this quarter.

From first Qtr, now quilted, need to trim and bind

From first quarter, now just need to trim and bind

This one too I'm pretty sure I had on first Qtr. Progress made? Backing pieced. Will try again for a finish this quarter.

I think this too was shown before. Progress made? Finished piecing top. Back pieced.

Another, almost finish!Quilted! Only need to bind.

Mostly quilted. Need to finish quilting and bind.

Progress on this one? Again, only pieced the back. Need to layer, quilt, bind, etc

  

This one is brand new. I have most of the fabric for the backing. Will need to piece back, layer, quilt and bind.

Oh my goodness! Besides these that I'm entering for my second quarter finishes. I have three more that I'm piecing. You need to keep things interesting. Again, like the first quarter, there is only one quilt that I'm doing for me, the "Confetti" quilt has a Halloween fabric backing. I'm keeping that one. Otherwise, all others are being donated through our charity group, Quilts from the Heart.
http://www.quiltsfromtheheart.org/

Cheers! And I have promised myself I will not accidently delete this post!
Toni

End of January 2017-Progress Report

WHOA! I had published this post, complete with pictures and now I see that something happened. Darn!

Oh! I found my mistake but don't want to spend time explaining it. See below for a reprint of what should have been here days ago!

It is sunny at the coast, in WA, in January. How lucky is that?

I'm participating in three, yes three, different on-line activities with quilting friends.

The first I signed on for was a Quiltathon over at Patchwork Times.
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2017/01/04/quiltathon-tomorrow-2/

The goal is to get your household prepared in such a way that you can focus on quilting with fewer interruptions on specific days with your online friends.  The fun part of this is that Judy first asked that we make a list of twelve items, as detailed a list as we desired, of projects we wanted to work on each month. So you know...make some progress on UFO's. When January"s number was announced you would work on your project corresponding to that number. Mine ended up being "complete my Stack and Whack blocks".  Yeaaa! This made me dig out the already cut pieces and get them sewn into blocks.  I did it! All thirty five blocks are pieced.! My design wall is currently taken up with another project but here is a sampling of a few.

Another fun project to motivate completion is the Finish Along. There are many bloggers contributing to the success and work involved with doing an activity that spans many months and in this case....gives prizes.  I am following through:
http://www.shecanquilt.ca/2017/01/2017-finish-long-link-up-your-q1-lists.html

If you check that site it will list the other sites you can visit for inspiration.  The Finish Along progress is reported every quarter, but as I already have my first (okay, easiest) three finished. I have the pictures here. These pictures may not look much different from my first ones, but if you look closely you will see these three now have bindings. I have already turned them over to "Quilts from the Heart" for charity donations. The color would be much truer if I took pictures outside!

 Lastly I'm doing a Quilt A Long here: http://mamaspark.blogspot.com/.
She is doing a great job on the tutorial for Ocean Waves. So if you have ever thought about doing one, here is a good place to start! I decided to do my blocks in a slightly different manner but I am loving the encouragement you get when you "Quilt A Long"  Here are my first four blocks. I will continue to work on getting those points to show! These four are much better than my first "trial block".

I hope you are making time to "Quilt A Long" with some quilting friends!

Cheers!
Toni

2017~First Quarter Finish Along Projects to Complete

It is sunny at the coast, in WA, in January. How lucky is that?

I'm participating in three, yes three, different on-line activities with quilting friends.

The first I signed on for was a Quiltathon over at Patchwork Times.
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2017/01/04/quiltathon-tomorrow-2/

The goal is to get your household prepared in such a way that you can focus on quilting with fewer interruptions on specific days with your online friends.  The fun part of this is that Judy first asked that we make a list of twelve items, as detailed a list as we desired, of projects we wanted to work on each month. So you know...make some progress on UFO's. When January"s number was announced you would work on your project corresponding to that number. Mine ended up being "complete my Stack and Whack blocks".  Yeaaa! This made me dig out the already cut pieces and get them sewn into blocks.  I did it! All thirty five blocks are pieced.! My design wall is currently taken up with another project but here is a sampling of a few.

Another fun project to motivate completion is the Finish Along. There are many bloggers contributing to the success and work involved with doing an activity that spans many months and in this case....gives prizes.  I am following through:
http://www.shecanquilt.ca/2017/01/2017-finish-long-link-up-your-q1-lists.html

If you check that site it will list the other sites you can visit for inspiration.  The Finish Along progress is reported every quarter, but as I already have my first (okay, easiest) three finished. I have the pictures here. These pictures may not look much different from my first ones, but if you look closely you will see these three now have bindings. I have already turned them over to "Quilts from the Heart" for charity donations. Thed color would be much truer if I took pictures outside!

 Lastly I'm doing a Quilt A Long here: http://mamaspark.blogspot.com/.
She is doing a great job on the tutorial for Ocean Waves. So if you have ever thought about doing one, here is a good place to start! I decided to do my blocks in a slightly different manner but I am loving the encouragement you get when you "Quilt A Long"  Here are my first four blocks. I will continue to work on getting those points to show! These four are much better than my first "trial block".

I hope you are making time to "Quilt A Long" with some quilting friends!

Cheers!
Toni

First of the year Stash Report

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 0 yards
Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Fabric for 2017: 0 yards used

I certainly hope I use more yarn this year. I want more socks. And maybe some hats. We will see!

Yarn Used (or removed) this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 0 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Yarn for 2017: 0 yards

Cheers!

Toni