On the Needles

 I've knit 2 balls of yarn into my Henley sweater and tried it on, it is still huge but my stitches are the right gauge so I started again in the smaller size which will have 9 fewer stitches in the body and will be 2 inches smaller I'll try it on and compare to the larger and decide to which I will knit sleeves. This is really turning out to be a lot of work fortunately I like the feel of the yarn and I still love the color. The tulips and the flowering almond will all be done long before I finish.  Then I got a box of fun...........

 I was just looking for some plain yarns to mix with leftovers for toes and heels of more footies and found my favorite words sale and free shipping so I met the quota. Happy knitting and have a great weekend and linking to Judy's On the Needles. --Ann--

next quilt

I pinned the beach ball quilt yesterday so my design wall is bare. The bare wall is soooo bare! Time to start another quilt so first I look at my stash of fabrics what should I use???? The last quilt was easy the beach balls fell out of the stack of bright fabrics. Two big decisions had already been made for that quilt the block and the colors all I had to do was figure out how to put it together. I'm starting with a clean slate here I can make anything I want ..........What fabric should I use??? Then I look at my favorite books maybe I'll get a great idea then I think about the fabrics I could use I get a short lived idea then look at another book OH that's right I was going to use those fabrics for this quilt but I don't feel like starting it today. Then I look through my stack of magazines that have pages marked and pages folded inside other magazines....... that has hand applique I don't feel like doing hand applique. Then I go to my file cabinet in search of a folder of quilt patterns and ideas I have pulled out of old magazines. Some I wonder why I saved that particular pattern others I wish I had the whole issue. I get lots of inspiration from my old magazines unfortunately I have purged my collection each time we have moved. I miss the design challenge articles from  Quilting Today, Traditional Quiltsworks and Miniature Quilts, sadly they are no longer publishing those magazines. Now I have too many ideas to choose from and then what fabrics should I use? Maybe tomorrow I'll figure it out.--Ann--

Morning strut

 The beautiful feathers of our state bird always take my breath away.  He always looks so proper with his white collar. I usually see him walking on the other side of the fence. --Ann--

design wall Beach Balls

 The borders and corner blocks are all sewn to the beach ball quilt. Darling Daughter and I love the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks so I put a black and white volley ball in for Wilson, I think I'll machine quilt a red hand on it. The left over beach balls and fish were put on the backing for the quilt. Sewing backing is my least favorite part of sewing a quilt. I sliced off the extra from the lower left cut it in half and sewed it back together and it filled in the missing corner.  Three pieces of background fabrics are completely used! The only thing more fun than buying fabric is using is completely and seeing all the quilts at Patchworktimes. -- Ann--

On and off the needles

New yarn! and favorite colors! the pattern is Henley T Shirt from Knitting Pure and Simple I've been going great guns since I brought the yarn home and them compared it to another sweater. It is huge, my knitting got relaxed and my stitches got big so my guage is off darn! so I will rip and start again on smaller needles. The yarn is a silk and cotton blend with a little acrylic and viscose it feels wonderful.

Footies are complete and the variegated yarn is all used up there is still yarn for more toes and heels of the solid green.

These socks have been neglected since I started the sweater. The cable pattern is so easy and doesn't require a cable needle you p2, knit 2 together then knit one between the two you knit together, do that again then purl 2 the next row is p2 K4 p2 K4 etc row 3 is p2, k1, k2 tog then knit one between the k2tog, k1 and p2, I wish I could remember where I found that stitch pattern. check out the knitting at Judy's On the Needles. I will while I rip and wind. --Ann-- stitch pattern is Nine to Five

out of the cupboard

 This is a round robin quilt from at least a decade ago.  Each of the quilters from the Wednesday night ladies chose a color palette and made our own center block then it was passed to quilter # 2 who was to add a border with triangles, #3 was to set it on point, #4 add a narrow border, #5 add something pretty, #6 I can't remember the specifics for the border with the saw tooth stars on point, #7 was an applique border, #8 half a border with stars, #9 the other half border with hearts. And then we each got our quilt back after months of not seeing it. I was thrilled with mine. I sent a bundle of fabrics with mine to keep everyone on track with my colors. It was professionally quilted by Kay at my Olive Branch, she did a wonderful job.
The other quilt I showed in yesterdays post was the spool quilt  which still isn't finished I only have a couple spools left to hand quilt then all those flying geese. I need to set a side a couple hours a week to hand quilt instead of knitting. --Ann--

a favorite color combination

 I love pink and green together  I found some more in the yarn shop.

Come back tomorrow to see the quilts and Friday to see what the yarn is going to be. Until then blissfully happy with sticks and string.--Ann--