It may not look like my quilt has really grown any since last week but it has. Those little green squares take just about as much time to stitch on as the octagons!
I’m about half way through bobbin #2 of the Shoot roving.
My WIP Wednesday posts may be a little on the lite side for the next few weeks. I’m doing a bit of commission knitting and it’s a super secret project!
The quilt has a few more patches. I’ve also basted a boat load more patches in the new fabric. I hope to stitch these on this week.
I’ve knit almost through the greens.
I spun up the first bobbin of the Shoot roving and I’ve gotten the second one started.
Well…. I went a little quilt crazy this week.
A new row on this section and 27 sets of two stitched together.
What is not in this picture is the 30+ octagons I basted, the big stack of squares I cut, or the 4-5 dozen templates I cut out. I also bought six more fabrics to go with this quilt.
Quilt crazy indeed!
I’m also up to 32 points on the Hitchhiker – Only 10 more to go!
My quilt is growing!
Bobbin #2 is half way finished.
Also, I’m up to 28/42 points on the Hitchhiker shawl.
Two years ago, I started a quilt. I didn’t get very far before other things took my time and attention. Lately, I’ve been wanting to pick this project back up and get started again. Since I am on the go so much, I really need a project that can travel well. Most people don’t think of quilting as something that you can stash in a bag and break out in a waiting room but with English Paper Piecing it’s really quite easy to do just that.
I keep my project in an old Altoids tin and it easily fits into any bag or even my pocket. I have a small stack of fabric & paper templates, bright colored thread on a small cardboard tube for basting, a safety pin and paper clip for securing the template to the fabric, tiny scissors, and, of course, a needle. The cardboard tube with thread came from a basic sewing kit I picked up for just a couple of bucks. It would be just as easy to wind an embroidery thread bobbin if you don’t have one of these tubes.
The entire project gets stashed in a larger bag which contains all the fabric for the project including the backing and binding and the various colors of thread I’ll be using for stitching the pieces together. The only thing missing is the batting.
Once I have several several octagons and tiny squares basted, I stitch them together into groups like this:
When I’m traveling with the basted pieces waiting to be stitched together into groups, I usually just stash them in a small zip lock bag. Still easy to stash in a bag but maybe not so much in a pocket.
When I begin putting the groups together, the project will become less travel friendly but I should have plenty of travel time with my quilt pieces before that happens.
If you’re interested in learning how to do English Paper Piecing, Craftsy has a fantastic article for getting started. There are plenty of places to download templates of various shapes. My templates came from a set of metal quilting templates I was gifted from my grandmother. I traced enough to fill a sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper, ran a couple dozen copies, and cut them out.
This week I’ve been working hard to finish projects that have been around for awhile. I’ve finally finished the feather & fan lace cashmere scarf that I started in January. It was a great travel project because it could fit in a small zip-lock bag and it was a simple four row repeat with only one row of lace work. I’ve worked on it in many waiting rooms.
I also finished the Handknit Heroes Issue #1 POW! Hooded Scarf that is a shop sample for A Likely Yarn. It’s a simple pattern that is fairly quick to knit. I’m hosting a knit along at the shop for this project. If anyone is in the Abingdon, Virginia area and wants to join in, we will be meeting Thursday June 11, June 25, and July 9 from 5:00-7:00. The first meeting is a meet, greet, & cast-on. The second is a sit, knit & chat. The third is the reveal. You can reveal your finished project, in progress project or your secret identity and bring your favorite snack to share. I’ll be starting the shop sample for the Handknit Heroes Issue #2 Net of Justice Bag soon and the KAL for that project will start in mid August.
I received a commission in January from a family member of the person I made the stockings for last fall. They wanted one more for their family and I happily accepted. Unfortunately, tax season doesn’t really allow me to work on things like I want so I had to wait to start the project. I finished the stocking this week and I’m happy with how it turned out.
I’ve also started sewing together the books I’ve been working on. These are two that I completed yesterday and will be available in the shop soon.
This reminds me of a little boy’s bedroom curtains from the 1950’s or 1960’s.
This one is a simple green book. Green polka dots with green parchment type paper inside.
One last bit of info, if you are in the Abingdon area this weekend, A Likely Yarn is having a Moving/Memorial Day sale Saturday, Sunday & Monday. The shop will be closed Tuesday-Sunday of next week during the move but will reopen on June 1st at the new Pecan St. location.
I’ve been getting so much done…
This is my newest project, a Baby Blocks quilt in red, white and blue. This is just part of the first two rows. I cut enough pieces tonight for seven or eight more rows.
Two knit wash cloths for a friend that’s having a baby girl. 70% Tanguis Cotton 30% linen.
Four new needle books. I haven’t listed these in the shop yet because I haven’t had enough sunshine to take decent photos of them.
I had planned on walking to work beginning today…. but Blackberry Winter put a stop to it. It’s currently 45 degrees and very cold drizzly rain. Oh well, I suppose that I can wait a few more days.
I bought fabric to begin a Baby Blocks quilt from one of the pattern books that I got yesterday. It’s cream, navy, and a dark red. I can’t wait to get started on it!
As promised, here are the photos of my finished quilt.
Hand Quilted. Machine and hand pieced. Blocks are: top left – Ohio Star, top right – Ohio Rose, bottom left – Chicken Scratch or Amish Embroidery hearts, and bottom right – Log Cabin Heart. The Ohio Star is machine pieced. The Ohio Rose is needle turn appliqué. The Log Cabin Heart is Paper Pieced. The patch on the back is embroidered muslin that I appliquéd on.
Visit my flickr page for detail photos of the quilt.
I’m so excited that my quilt will be on display at the AAC during the Portfolio Resume Exhibit this Friday. I’m not a part of the portfolio resume class but Robyn has asked our quilting class to include our quilts for the exhibit.
Fingers hurt….. back hurts….. wrists hurts…. arms hurt….
But I got the entire thing quilted and the binding has been sewn to it. I just have to fold it over and attach it to the back.
I’m planning on having it 100% completely finished by Wednesday. I’ll post some photos tomorrow… I’m too pooped to do it now.
Paper Kitty 
