Valerie's Blog Archives - Page 161 of 169

October 14, 2009January 27, 2017

Knitting Break (entry 26)

So Jackie from Jackie’s Stitches Blog I love this blog and have it in my RSS feeds so I don’t miss a thing!! She is a quilter and a knitter and some of you quilters out there are also knitters…well I’ve been taking a break from quilting and started picking up my needles lately – mostly for Christmas presents and hostess gifts.

Anyway, I was reading Jackie’s blog and she had the cutest knitting needle keeper so I had to tell her about mine from my Mum I think in the 70’s she made it – here’s the pics Jackie – just for you;)

Closed and Tied!!

Open obviously…love it!

Here’s some of the cloths I’ve whipped up…I always wonder why they make the cute little cotton dishcloth balls of yarn so small…I always have this little bit left over like enough to do just 1/4 or 1/2 of the next one…so I’ve improvised some of them

All of these below I didn’t use a pattern just made them up out of my own experiences with knitting.

this one is showing using up the speckled yarn and adding in the plain

More to come, I’m also working on some scarves…

October 14, 2009January 27, 2017

Freezer Paper Example (entry 25)

For those of you who listen to Alison Rosen’s podcast on iTunes & Blog Within a Quarter Inch She recently did a podcast and blog questionnaire about freezer paper. Most quilters use it for many applications – see her blog for a bit of a list.

One of the suggestions I mentioned (yes I was featured on her podcast – how cool is this!!) was using it in an awkward space as a template – well I heard her podcast today…and I’m not sure it made sense once read outloud…“And also templates – if you want the perfect piece but not sure how to cut it out – use freezer paper to fill in the opening, add 1/4″ seam allowance, cut, and sew into place – this is the most useful application I’ve found for freezer paper.” This is what I said…now for my demonstration

This is the frame of the label for my Pinkie Lee quilt I finished, I used the left over dresden fan tips from the front, sewed them together and then I had to come up with the circle in the center…some of you would probably use a protractor but I don’t have one of those (hmm that could change if I continue working with circles)

take a scrape piece of freezer paper, place in the opening (or over it in this case) trace out the exact shape (or rough shape for my demo) DO NOT adhere to the fabric at this point.

cut out roughly the shape or exact shape like if you were using this method of inset triangles (this is how I figured out this method way back when)

now adhere to your fabric for your label on the wrong side of the fabric, cut approx 1/4″ or more (in this case), press with dry iron. (button is so my camera can focus on the white – she’s so picky;))

Write out your label with pigma pen, press seam allowance under while freezer paper is still attached to give you a nice smooth finished edge – remove freezer paper before sewing to your quilt with a whip stitch.

Good luck!!

Valerie

October 6, 2009January 27, 2017

Purchases (entry 24)

While we were at the retreat we went into Sundre (just about 5 min from where we stayed) and they had the cutest iron on transfers…so many of us bought these – so adorable

Ducks – my MIL and me love ducks.

couldn’t resist the dogs

more puppy’s (see I couldn’t resist)

When I was at the creative stitches show, I found these excellent scrap booking letters that I use for applique – works great and they were a good price. Since I purchased these at the show I have seen these chipboard letters at the dollar store for $1 – I paid $6 and thought that was a steal.