Stitch Adventures

The naivete of a beginning quilter

I consider myself to be a beginning or almost intermediate quilter.  I really love quilting - both hand and machine quilting are fascinating to me. 

I joined the Ojai Quilters group about two years ago - because I was getting lonely sitting at home typing on the computer all day.  Most Tuesday mornings I get up early enough to exercise, have coffee, and get to the meeting place by 9a.m.  I'm mentioning that because I am not normally a morning person!  The group is small (5-10 people most times), and does all hand quilting and pieceing too. 

There are usually 2-3 quilts in frames set up to hand-quilt.  Or, in my case, practice quilting on.  We keep track of the hours spent working on quilts, and then whomever has the most hours gets to put on the next quilt.  I had no idea I had built up enough hours, but two weeks ago I was apalled to hear that I was next up to put a quilt on a frame!

Dismayed because I don't have a bunch of quilt tops laying around which apparently most avid quilters have.  I've prided myself on completing one quilt at a time, before going on to the next.  But the biggest challenge - I have never really made a "traditional" quilt.  Of the 7 quilts I've made, all have been very simple blocks, applique, and wall quilts. 

I feel a need to make a quilt that deserves to be hand quilted by these wonderful quilting ladies.  They work on traditional quilts, so I need to make a traditional quilt. 

I finally settled on a pattern I downloaded from The Quilt Show.  Last year I was a member, and was able to access the block of the month for both applique and piecing. (You can sign up for their newsletter and videos, which are excellent - even if you can't afford a membership).

So the quilt I began working on is the pieced block of the month (BOM) designed by Sue Garman.  It is a star and irish chain quilt.  Here's what it will look like, design-wise, when I get done.

 
Now that I'm looking at the completed picture, and have spent countless days just cutting, I'm wondering at the naivete of a beginner quilter.  How in the world can I have expected to get this done quickly so I have a quilt to put on the frame?

One step at a time.

 

One skein wonders

My youngest daughter gave me a wonderful Christmas present - a ball of yarn that she said looked like me.  Meaning the colors (or maybe that I'm usually pretty fuzzy because I always have a project going, and I'm covered with fibers and threads, etc.)

I was so inspired by the colors, and was excited because it was a ball of self-striping yarn, which I've never worked with before.  So I immediately set out to make something on Christmas Day.  Think about it - all your presents are done, so you can finally make something for yourself!

I looked for an inspirational pattern in my book One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit or Crochet, and chose an easy scarf.  Within a few hours I had completed the scarf pictured here:

I used a simple rib pattern (k1,p1) on each row, and then made a cable cross about every 14 rows or so.  Here's a closeup:

A very easy pattern - which I've done before.  The yarn is Mochi plus, a wonderful wool blend yarn, made by Crystal Palace Yarns. 

Now that it's completed, I'm wishing I had another ball, so I can make the scarf longer, or maybe take this apart, and make a scarf that's a more open weave. The ribbing scrunches the stitches together, making it narrower.  So many possibilities!

 

Life begins at 60

Okay, so 60 sounds old.  But, I prefer to think of it as getting older, not old.  Just a number, it's how you feel and act that counts, etc.  All those cliches.

The last three months I have been getting my Dad moved into an assisted living facility.  A long, emotionally painful process.  But he is getting adjusted, has good food, safety, caring, and is making friends.  He is in a good place.

I am amazed at the amount of time and thought it takes to care for an older loved one. Or takes out of us.  So many of us baby boomers, if we are lucky enough to have parents that are elderly, will go through the same emotionally charged decisions.

I have learned to enjoy the staff at the "Home", and look forward to seeing not only my Dad, but so many of the other patients, all "Old", but delightfully engaging.  Their bodies may be giving them troubles, but Oh the Minds!  I laugh more, and appreciate my own life more when I am there.

Because I may be the big 60, but I have my health, people I love, a roof over my head, and the ability to work with my hands.  I can pursue my passions for fibers - and I need to do it now, not when I have more time.