I have no new knitting to show you. I do, however, have new quilting to show you because I finally finished the table runner for the living room coffee table. And also, 2 short runners for the end tables in there.

You may recall that I had trouble with the maths on these. I originally thought I’d follow this pattern. Easy-peasy, basically a rail fence.  I went through my scraps and pulled out all of my reds and and started planning. But then I decided that I didn’t want to cut 1.5 inch strips so I cut 2 inch strips instead. And I happily went along and sewed my 2 inch by 5 inch strips into 2s and then 4s. And then I pressed them. And that’s when I realized that I didn’t have squares, I had rectangles.

Whoops.

I set the whole thing aside and went downstairs and sulked for a while at my own stupidity. And then the next day I looked at it again and realized that I could cut 2×6.5 inch strips and attach those strips to the side of each rectangle and then I would have the square I should have had in the first place. My plan took more time than this would have if I had done it right in the first place but at least it was a plan. My friend Lois would call this a design decision.

And you know what? I wound up liking this variation even better.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Thanks, everyone, for your compliments on the Vivian sweater progress. It’s nice that so many of you think I deserve a break from this but believe me when I tell you that I have taken plenty of breaks from knitting this sweater. I started it back in April. My goal was to have it finished by Hannah’s birthday and that was September 3rd. Whoops. My goal now is Christmas but I’d really like to have it done by Thanksgiving so I really just need to keep moving forward. So far I have resisted the call of the Hawthorne but I’ve told myself I can cast it on as a reward when I get the second sleeve finished.

In the meantime, I have finished another lap quilt. The fabrics are from a second jelly roll that I bought at Keepsake Quilting when we visited last summer and it’s totally different from the one for Hannah.

It’s all blues and browns, for one thing.

And the pattern is a more traditional block, for another thing.

I dug through my fabric stash for the border and and binding fabrics found this floral print which is perfect. I think I had bought this for a Civil war period tie for Dale but either I never got around to making it or he didn’t like the fabric. It’s all used up now, though, so too bad for him.

I also found the backing fabric in my fiber stash. This, too, was bought for Dale. I believe it was going to be a Civil War period shirt but then he announced that he would only wear white shirts and black ties because that’s what General Hancock did. Whateverrrrr. Again, it’s a win for me because I didn’t have to go shopping to buy something to go with this quilt. That meant it got finished faster and for less money. Yay.

And it’s also a win for Dale since I made this quilt for him. He  clearly loves it and it’s much more useful than an 1860s style shirt and tie. It’s warmer, too.

I finished the Bali Pop Lap Quilt last weekend and I’m so excited to show it to you.

The colors are vibrant and gorgeous and it will be perfect for keeping my Hannah snuggly and warm this winter.

The pattern couldn’t have been easier. You just take all those strips and sew them together into one really long strip. Then you bring the two ends together with right sides facing, making sure not to twist the fabric. Sew that long seam. Snip it apart when you get to the end. Repeat.

It took about 90 minutes to sew the quilt top, then another hour to press it, square it up,  and attach the borders.  I sandwiched it with my backing fabric (same as the borders) and Warm ‘n Natural batting and then spent about two hours doing some free motion quilting.

I stippled Hannah’s name into the border at the top to personalize it. I already wish I’d included the date but I didn’t and, well,  done is better than perfect.

Once it was quilted, I squared it again, attached the binding and I was done.

It’s not a fancy or complex quilt and it’s certainly not the finest quilt I’ve ever made, but it was the perfect re-entry into quilting for me. And, let’s remember – it’s going to live in a dorm room.

It’s been quite some time since I have sat down at my sewing machine and quilted anything. Probably years, in fact. A couple of weeks ago, though, I spent a day visiting a couple of local quilt shops with my friends Lois and Blogless Sharon. Turns out, that was all I needed to kick-start my quilting mojo.

I bought this adorable little cupcake potholder kit and I’ve already made it. It didn’t take long, maybe just under 2 hours, and it’s pretty cute. I had to find my supplies and it took a while to remember how to use my walking foot but once I got going I found that I really enjoyed myself.

It’s going off in a care package to Hannah this week and I’m already working on my next quilting project. Remember this jelly roll?

Those strips have now been sewn into a quilt top and I got a beautiful dark blue bali print to use for the borders, backing and binding.

I’m still a fervent knitter and occasional spinner but it sure feels good to quilt again.

When my dear friend Debbie was killed last summer she was working on a quilt. No surprise there, as she was just about always working on a quilt. However, this quilt was for her son and Debbie’s husband asked if Sharon, Lois, Wendy and I would finish it. We agreed, knowing it might be painful at times but also knowing that Debbie would have wanted us to do this.

Debbie had the center squares all pieced and sewn together so we just had to decide on the border and do the final quilting and binding. Lois really pushed us to get it finished, I think she felt the burden of it the most, maybe because it was “living” at her house.

I would have been happy to ignore it for a good long time as facing that quilt was just a little too much like facing my grief. But I was dragged through the process by my friends and now it’s done.

If you know any quilt folklore then you know that the red in the center of a log cabin block represents the hearth or the heart of the home. Since Debbie’s death I have realized that she was truly the heart of our little group so it seems fitting that this last quilt is a Log Cabin design.

The fabric for the piano keys border came from all of our stashes so this quilt is truly a combination of all of us — our efforts, our fabric, our time and our love.

It’s a legacy and an heirloom and completing it is one more act of friendship towards Debbie. I guess it was a gift for all of us, too.