BUTTERFLIES AND BERETS

Well, my picnic quilt is finally completed (minus the label, which I am told by my quilting friend experts is a must!).



The butterflies in the sashing of that quilt became the inspiration for this butterfly baby quilt for the new baby of a young couple at our church:


And, no, it didn't take long to get something back on my knitting needles. It started off with this really neat cast on for a picot edge:


and ended with some fun binding from my daughter's Chocolate Lollipop collection of fabric:


I felt really good, when I wore the beret for the first time yesterday and a young lady complimented me on it and added, "It suits you."


I think that was a compliment too; I'll take it as such anyway. Now to decide which of the stripe colors I want to use for another beret--monochromatic this time, with maybe a contrasting band.

NO KNITTING ON MY NEEDLES?

My goodness, I can't believe that after having 3 knitting projects going at the same time that I have no knitting on any of my needles. I will be doing something about that in just a few minutes here--starting the beret that I showed you a couple months ago.

I was able to complete the sweater vest for my grandson and sent it off with his mom this morning after she left here from her too short visit:

I'm actually happy that I didn't have quite enough yarn to complete it; I trimmed the neck and arm bands in dark brown and really like it. (Not sure you can see that in this not-so-good photo.)

And this quilt is most likely as I write winging its way over the Atlantic to my sister-in-law for her first grandchild:


So now it's on to that beret I'm knitting for myself, a sweater for an October birthday, 3 baby quilts, and then I think it will be about time to start on the Christmas jammies for the 11 (one more than last year) grandchildren. Then I guess it will be time to start the knitting projects for the 3 January birthdays. Looks like I'll be able to keep busy for a while.

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS

Well, I'm finally getting around to finishing up a lot of works in progress.

I just did a quilt tying, I think only the second I have ever done.


And I also have the binding machine sewn on that tied baby quilt and another--remember that "picnic" quilt"? Just need to do the hand sewing of that and they will be finished. Hooray!


I'm also working on a couple strip quilts that I'll show you in a couple days. Wow, they sure go fast!

Oh, and I am so pleased that I figured out a spot to keep my binding strips so they won't get all wrinkled before I get around to using them.


And I'm moving right along knitting the vest for my 11 yo DGS.


All in all, it's been a pretty busy sewing and knitting week.

Oh, and by the say, yes, his sister's sweater did finally arrive. Whew, that was a relief!

WHERE'S THE SWEATER?

Oh, no: the sweater that I sent "priority mail" to my granddaughter on Monday still had not arrived yesterday. And to top it all off, I don't even have photographic proof that I finished it. I did take a photo of it, but looked all through my uploaded photos and cannot find it. Isn't that a bummer!

At least the hooded sweater that I completed for my son to take home to his little girl got there safely and I even have a photo to share:



Back to some sort of needle work now--well after I do some house cleaning that is.

THERE'S A WHOLE LOT OF KNITTIN' GOIN' ON

Oh, my goodness, too many projects and not enough hours in the day!

In the midst of assembling the sweater for my 13 yo granddaughter, and starting a vest for my 11 yo grandson, I decided to try and finish the birthday sweater (the red one) for my almost 6 year old granddaughter so her dad, who is visiting this week, can take it home to her--almost in time for her birthday on the 20th.


In the meantime, I'm working on a couple baby quilt tops:

This one is for my sister-in-law's new granddaughter in Greece. I did my shopping in daughter Anna Maria's studio when we visited there last weekend. (It's from her new Garden Party line.) Lucky me, huh?


This will be a strip quilt for a sweet young lady at church, having her second daughter any day now. (Some fabric from my stash, some that I picked up this week at my favorite quilt shop.)


In the meantime, this hand quilting has been put aside, waiting for a time when the birthdays aren't quite so imminent.


Oh and while we were visiting our daughter last week, I convinced her children to model some of the knitting that I have done for them through the years.

Can't let that go by without sharing with you!

Lots of fun knitting on the horizon

Well, I've been doing a bit of on line pattern hunting and have found what I think my almost 6 year old granddaughter will like for her upcoming birthday. She showed me some "fancy" yarn that she said she would like for her next sweater but said that the color was "your choice". So I'm making this for her in red. I couldn't find the yarn at any of the "big box" craft stores or local yarn shops, so I ordered it on-line yesterday and can't wait for it to arrive.

I also found an adorable vest for another granddaughter who will be 5 in January. Her mom "fessed" up that she has all of 11 sweaters, so doesn't need another. All the better for me--less knitting and time saved.

The sweater that I've been working on is all done except for assembly and knitting the front and neck bands. In the meantime, I've started a vest for my grandson who will be 11 on Sunday.

(Drats, I can't figure out how to rotate the photo, but "you get the picture".)

But all this knitting (and my quilting) has taken a back seat temporarily while I have been making creole and spaghetti sauce from our bumper tomato crop.


Hmm, that's my hubby in the background, making his favorite summer meal: a Greek tomato salad. He could (and really does some times) eat a tomato salad 3 times a day! Ah, but with such good tomatoes and our own wonderful olive oil, why not?

Back to a bit of my machine quilting

So I finally got in the mood to do a bit of quilting yesterday. This is my set up at my kitchen table to hold the weight of the large 68" square quilt.


I finally finished the "Stitch in the Ditch" on my picnic quilt--although a lot is beside the ditch and some crosses over back and forth. Oh, well. At least it's a start.
I did learn a good trick from one of my on line quilting friends, though: move the needle from the center of the foot. It helps tremendously--especially when I figured out to move the needle to the opposite side of where the seam allowance is pressed:


AND I also played around with my free motion--outlining the butterflies on the border. 1 border down and 3 to go.

Then just the binding and I'll be done!