Two finished quilts and two pairs of mitts!

My Row-by-row quilt is done! I finally got around to doing the binding... I bought the American Jane kit online last year. The fabric is from their 'Punctuation' range.

The Quilted Crow girls have (again) done a wonderful job with the machine quilting.

In the end, the binding only took around 5 hours from cutting and piecing the strips to hand-finishing it on the wrong side. In my head the binding had become a bigger-than-Ben-Hur task and I've been procrastinating for quite a few weeks. It feels good to have it done. I can move on to new projects and not feel quite so guilty about the unfinished ones!

And here's my finished April mini-quilt from Kathleen Tracy's quilt-a-long. I emailed her the finished photos and got a lovely reply - thank you Kathleen!

Here's the back. I really enjoyed making this little quilt and am looking forward to participating again in the future.

These fingerless mitts are for my oldest nephew, Marcel, and are knitted from some very gorgeous Zara merino in my stash, and were posted to Melbourne yesterday. I love this yarn. It's so soft and machine washes beautifully. I have a cardigan knitted in the stuff and it still hasn't pilled after 2 years of almost constant wear.

And these mitts are for Alice - knitted in Jo Sharp tweeds also from my stash. I hope she likes them. We went for a walk on the mountain on the weekend, in the mist and the cold. Gosh it was beautiful! But by 5pm we were all feeling the need for extra layers and scarves and mitts!

I have so many more plans for things I want to make (and things I need to finish!). Making things keeps me content and gives me so much joy. I watched a documentary on the weekend about how we see colour, and I imagined what life might be like without colour - a whole lot less rich, that's for sure. It made me realise how much of the pleasure of making comes from the colour of the yarns and fabrics I choose.

Wishing you all a gorgeous Autumn - enjoy the changing colours and the crispness in the air - it's the perfect time for knitting and quilting!

Mariner's compass workshop - part 1

A couple of months ago, I wrote that I had enrolled in a Mariner's compass workshop at the Patch Works in West Hobart. We had our first of two sessions this afternoon and it was great. I have never done paper foundation piecing before and the crisp result and accurate points are truly astounding. Jill is a patient and knowledgeable tutor and I learned so much!

I completed the last of my eight point units about 10 minutes ago and had to post straight away! Next bit of homework is to joint the eight units together. I'll do that in daylight when I'm less tired.

It's coming along nicely! I haven't chosen the fabric for my curved inner border yet. I'm thinking a dark caramel brown or mid blue. I have lots of fabric left over from the points, and was thinking of using it in a pieced rather than plain border. Can't wait for our second workshop!

The other ladies in the workshop are using mainly batiks and have chosen some really awesome colour combinations - lots of lovely greens, blue and purples. I'm looking forward to seeing their finished projects - how inspiring!

Birthday mitts and April quilt progress

A completed pair of Bouteloua Mitts! These are for my sister-in-law. Happy Birthday Shannon! The yarn is Naturally Waikiwi 4ply sock - with New Zealand Merino, nylon, alpaca and possum.

You'll remember from this post that I've been making a grey pair for myself (still unfinished). It's a beautiful pattern and very satisfying to knit.

Here is an update on the April quilt-a-long. It's all pieced, sandwiched and pinned ready for hand quilting. I think I'll need to put some serious time in to get this finished by the end of April - I can see the quilting taking me a long time...

I've also got a few more projects on the go - some fingerless gloves for my nephew and for Alice, and a Steampunk Softie also for my nephew. Plus a whole pile of things on my wish-list. Sigh. So many beautiful projects, so little time!

Mitts, socks, a hat and a quilt-a-long

Well, it's been a long while since my last post. I've done lots of crafting, but not a lot of posting! I've joined A Sentimental Quilter's April quilt-a-long and am very happy so far. It has taken a lot longer than I expected to get these little blocks together. There's a real art to getting scrappy blocks looking good and Kathleen Tracy is  a genius. I have all her books and love her small quilts to bits.

These fingerless gloves are bit of a frankenstein - cuffs from Nancy Bush's 'Norwegian Gloves', some stripes to my own design, meshed together using an old Patons glove pattern. They've turned out ok, but I don't like the colours now they're knitted up. I'd definitely make them again - in different colours.

I wrote out the pattern as a pdf, so it'll be easy to replicate them. I'm not sure about posting it as a freebie because I've re-used the cuff from someone else's pattern. I learned a lot writing up the pattern and would definitely like to publish something original in the future.

The completed socks! These were given to my friend Alice, and she has been wearing them around the house to keep cosy.

And finally a beanie for my brother's birthday. I love the way the greens and blues and greys meld together. I wasn't sure about the colour combination when I started, but love the result.