Busy knitting

My young friend Amy's baby is due in August.  She and her husband know if it's a boy or girl but are keeping that secret until baby is born. I wanted to knit a couple of cardigans/hoodies for her and asked for colours. Navy and grey were two of the colours mentioned so here is the cardigan I finished a couple of days ago.

I haven't knitted for a while and decided to buy some new baby patterns.  I have real problems with spacial awareness and found the knitting instructions hard to follow. I knitted the Left front OK but when it came to the Right front and the pattern just said "Reverse instruction of Left front" I got in a mess.  Fortunately one of my Patchwork friends who is an expert knitter came to my aid and I managed to finish it.  Don't think I'll be using this pattern again though!

However, I was pleased with how it turned out.  A hooded jacket is next - a different pattern - which I hope I can cope with.

Sailing by

The Patchwork Group I belong to often make quilts to commemorate members' significant birthdays.
Mary, a lovely lady who was a member of our group, sadly died three years ago.  Her husband John will shortly celebrate his 90th birthday so we are making him a quilt. As John still sails this was our pattern choice:
Sailing Boats Quilt from Two From One Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott.

We are initially making one of each block but eventually a few extra blocks will be needed.

We have the same background fabric for the boats and a few 2.5" squares for the 16 Patch but are using our own fabric for the sails and the extra 16 Patch squares.  This is so there is continuity in the quilt but also a bit more variety.  We are using a few different brown fabrics for the boats.

I sewed mine this afternoon. Pictured with the book pattern.

Irish Blessing

I was ironing some tea towels I had brought back from church to wash.

This was one of them:

 

 

It looks like cross stitch - which I have never done - but I thought the words we appropriate for quilters too.

 

My hands have been sewing up some more stash blocks:

4 one colour 5" string blocks, 4 Spool blocks and 5 more Twinkler blocks.

I have sets kitted out ready to sew and I make a few when I feel like doing so. Sometimes I make the Spool blocks in Leader and Ender style but the other blocks I make as a proper project. Really because I like to lay out the Twinkler blocks in pairs and make two at a time (Bonnie Hunter style, chasing each other) so I can web each block. Of course this helps to line up the seams when sewing the rows together.

When I am making the String blocks I make my stitch length much smaller so taking off the paper foundation is not a problem. Not suitable for making Leader and Ender style or I would be forever altering the length of my stitch!

 

Here they are:

 

 

Must have a count up and see how many of each type of block I have.

 

A little gift for a blog friend

I love how quilting brings together people from different parts of the world.
Over the past few years I have followed many quilting blogs and feel attached to many quilters whom I know I will very probably not meet in person.  We do, however, have "conversations" via email and their blogs so, in a weird way, I feel I "know" them, am interested in their projects and what is going on in their worlds.

So, as a little "Thank you" to a lady whose work and zany humour I very much admire, I sent a little gift:

and the other side.................

 

I added a little hand stitching and pretty buttons for embellishment.

 

Inside I popped a few of my 3" 9 patches.

New baby quilt being created

Our step granddaughter has asked me if I would make a baby boy quilt for her friend who knows the baby she is expecting in June will be a boy. We have looked at some photos of baby quilts I have made and she has chosen a strippy style one with the name appliqued near the top.

I made a start on it this week and have made 2 strips of Happy Blocks:

And 2 strips of fabric circles: each one is a different animal fabric.

 I have already started to applique these with hand blanket stitching. Once they are all stitched I will create a strippy quilt, interspersing these strips with strips of bright fabrics.
I enjoy making these quilts as I design as I go along. Good fun!

I have also started some baby knitting today. One of my young friends is expecting a baby in August and I asked  her if she would like some hand knitted cardigans.  Yes was the answer so I was off to the Wool Shop for some new patterns and wool. Amy sent me some photos of the type of style she likes and when I looked through my patterns I decided I needed more up-to-date ones.
The colours are different for me too - navy, grey, yellow, red. I have bought navy and grey for one cardigan and a lovely variegated soft greys wool for a hooded jacket.  I haven't done any knitting for a while so this is a lovely change for me.

Well, I'm off to do a few more rows of knitting before I make our tea.

Where's Mr Pukeko?

I have just finished a baby boy quilt using Cathy's "Happy Blocks" idea.

Each Happy Block measure 6.5" before being sewn into rows.
Each centre ( cut at 4.5") is different, cut from scraps and yardage and I tried to make the framing strips ( cut at 1.75") from a variety of fabrics.

One of the blocks features pukekos, a beautifully bright New Zealand bird.  We see a lot of them when we are in NZ, one of my favourite birds as they are so distinctive with their bright blue feathers and Pillar box red beaks, legs and feet.  Their other name is Swamp hen as their habitat is swampy paddocks.

The quilt is going to baby Jayden, born in NZ on 29th April, a new grandson for friends Miriam and Frank.  So, the title of the quilt is "Where's Mr Pukeko?" and I hope baby Jayden will have fun looking for the pukeko when he is a little older.

Definitely a Girl's Happy Blocks quilt!

I am enjoying making Happy Blocks from my stash.  They are fun to make, sorting out suitable fabrics for the centres and the block borders and the quilt tops come together very quickly.

I started a "Girl" top on Sunday, using quite a few charms from a set I won from Sew Sisters in a recent Scraptastic Tuesday draw. I needed 25 centres, all different and I found some that were suitable in my small packet of already cut 5" squares. I only had to cut a few more from stash scraps.

Then I cut some 2" strips from other scraps for the borders of the Happy Blocks centres and started to sew those to the centres.

Yesterday I finished making all 25 blocks and sewed them up into a quilt top:

Now I have two Happy Blocks tops ready to sandwich with batting and backing.  Both quilts will finish at around 38" square, a size I like to make for new baby gifts as they are useful as a Playmat as well as a snuggling quilt.

Thanks again to Cathy of Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting for the idea.