Oh NO!

I've been knitting on this sock for months now.  Ok, I haven't been working on it for months...I started it, got so far, lost interest, tried again but got confused.  Then on a couple of road trips recently I made great progress.  Well until I got halfway down the foot and tried it on. 

RATS! It's huge on my foot.  

Let me just say that I have great ankles...and this sock is not showing them off! 

So, sniff, I ripped out the entire sock.  Good bye knitting.

It took a lot less time to pull out the yarn than to knit it up.  I was using a new custom fit sock pattern where you do a sample stitch, measure your foot and the figure out how many stitches to use.  I checked my old instructions and realized the "custom" sock instructions had 20 stitches more.  Um, no wonder it was sagging and bagging.  

Sock knitters know the hardest part of the sock (if knitting cuff down) is getting the cuff started without twisting the top.  It took a few ripped stitches but I have about 4 rows done with all the ribs lined up correctly.  It will go fine now that I have it started.  Of course, it may be another year before I get this single sock done and then there is the second one!  

Are you a sock knitter?  Do you prefer knitting cuff down or toe up?  I thought I liked the cuff down method but I'm beginning to think toe up might be easier. Tell me what you like and why!  

This is the first time I've done a blog post from my iPad.  I don't have as many options with this but I'm happy to see it works. 

Happy Quilting All! (and knitting!). Bonnie 

Design Wall Monday 8-25-2014

Somehow the week went by and I didn't get another blog post up.  I keep trying to but for some reason I don't succeed.  I'll try again this week but don't hold your breath! 

I have a huge design wall and a little design wall.  Both are full up!  I've taken photos of both but I didn't get a whole lot done on any of the stuff I have hanging up there. 

The big wall has the Dresden baskets and the mystery quilt.  Nothing changed on the mystery quilt as I had to buy additional fabric to finish it.  The Dresden baskets got the inside sashing done.  I need to sew the rows together and then the outside border which is actually going to be the orange just like the sashing.  I've draped a piece of orange at the top to see how it will look. 

I started a new row by row.  This one is from a shop in Fredericksburg, Va, Crazy Cousins.  It's a really nice shop and I can see taking field trips to it every once and a while. 

The owls still need their eyes but I plan to use buttons so the eyes won't be there until after all the rows are together and quilted.  

Now on to my goals. I guess I did well because I didn't have all that much on the list for the week.  Needless to say we were pretty tired after the kids and grands left but it was a fun visit.  Sophia enjoyed her one day of being alone with us at Grammy Camp.  No not all that special this time but she did well being without her parents.  Now to plan a better Grammy Camp for next time. 

Week of August 18, 2014

Find fabric I’m missing for Mystery Quilt√

Work on Row by Row √

Bind baby quilts√ well at least 1 is done!

Sash Dresden baskets Not touched

Figure out entertainment during Grammy Camp√

Pick up Sophie for Grammy Camp√

Enjoy Jenny, Sophie, Natalie and Brian’s visit√

Week of August 25, 2014

Finish binding baby quilts

Sew Dresden baskets together into a top

Start next row by row

Wash more of the donated fabric

Visit Nag’s Head

Go to Sit and Stitch on Sunday

Plan quilting for the mystery for relay quilt

Not much planned for this week. I'm definitely going to finish the baby quilts as I need the finish.  I did end up buying some fabric this week as I ran out of the background for the mystery quilt.  I also bought fabric for the borders.  I should get that finished soon so I can take it off the design wall.  

I've been piling up things to quilt as I've got a computer kit on order from Nolting.  When it comes in it will turn the whole long arm into a computerized quilting machine.  I'm anxious for it to get here and I keep holding off quilting things but I need to start on some of my projects so I can finish and move the quilts on to their new lives.  

Don't forget to visit Patchwork Times as your starting point for looking at design walls all over the internet. 

Happy Quilting All! 

Design Wall Monday 8-18-2014

It was a heck of a busy week around here.  I got a bit of sewing done Monday and Tuesday.  But by late afternoon Tuesday I was felled by an infection.  Luckily my doctor's office had evening hours and I was on antibiotics within an hour or so of the visit.  And, antibiotics are so amazing!  

We had planned to go down to Nags Head to continue our quest for a beach house.  We had several houses set to see and hotel reservations.  As it turned out we did get down there and saw the houses.  One was great and we put in an offer.  Just to shorten this the owner decided to take it off the market. What? We were not pleased but we're still optimistic that we'll eventually get a beach house.  Time will tell. 

That pretty much depleted my sewing time along with my lack of motivation.  Kevin and Ellie came down Saturday for a short visit.  Sunday we went on a River Cruise to a winery for lunch and wine tasting with some of our alumni group and our neighbors, Bill and Diana.  It was a grey, overcast day but it was a wonderful trip.

Along the way we saw a lot of eagles.  I even was privileged to see an eagle swoop down, catch a fish and fly off with it in his claws.  They are such majestic birds.  The winery tour was fun although I'm not that much of a drinker.  Overall we had a great time. 

My design wall doesn't look all that different.  I have sewn the first 3 or 4 rows together, taken them off the wall and then added the next rows.  I have run out of the beige fabric and have started hunting for it.  UGH.  Hopefully I'll find some left at the store I bought it at.  I'm also going to try to find borders for it.  If I can find the dark turquoise blue I used in the stars, I will buy enough to use it.  I think the burgundy is too dark for the center of the top so I'll try some other fabrics.  Hopefully I'll at least get enough background fabric to finish the center. The star points are turquoise, deep burgundy and the background.

Sometime soon I need to clean off my cutting table.  I'm piling it higher and deeper!  What you can't really tell is the pile of fabric topped off by the pink is about 8" high.  Someone donated two big bins of fabric to the guild and I've been washing it and refolding.  This is the beginning. (note the two red fabrics are mine.) 

Surprisingly I did make a bit of headway on my goals. 

Week of August 11, 2014

Sew blocks into rows from mystery√ done until i ran out of background fabric.

Finish binding on 3 baby quilts OOPS!

Add border top and bottom to small heart quilt √

Keep working on row by rows √

Sash Dresden baskets √ started

Work on new Christmas Favorites block Nope

Week of August 18, 2014

Find fabric I’m missing for Mystery Quilt

Work on Row by Row

Bind baby quilts

Sash Dresden baskets

Figure out entertainment during Grammy Camp

Pick up Sophie for Grammy Camp

Enjoy Jenny, Sophie, Natalie and Brian’s visit

Join up with Patchwork Times to see lots of design walls. 

Happy Quilting All!