Handcrafting With Love

Another Way to Cut Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt Blocks

2012-01-24T18:53:00.000-06:00

If you'd like to make your own quilt based on The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt and you are a rotary cutting enthusiast, you are probably disappointed that the book only provides paper templates for cutting the block pieces. Good News! Marti Michell, with permission from the book publisher, has figured out how to cut 101 of the 111 blocks using the Marti Michell Perfect Patchwork templates. The

Review: The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt

2012-01-24T18:10:00.000-06:00

In 1922, The Farmer's Wife magazine asked readers, "If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, in light of your own experience, have her marry a farmer?" Inspired by the contest, author Laurie Aaron Hird created a 111 block queen-sized sampler quilt and then wrote/edited a book. The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt: Letters from 1920s farm wives and the 111 blocks they inspired contains

Taking a Break

2011-12-22T19:01:00.000-06:00

I'm taking a break from crafting Christmas gifts to wish you a happy holiday season whichever holiday you celebrate: Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa. I can't show any of my Christmas crafting until gifts are opened, but I bought this fabric in November. Some of the fabric was purchased on Black Friday. Some was bought the weekend before Black Friday. The colors are pretty accurate except the

A Squishy from Piecemeal Quilts

2011-11-03T14:53:00.000-05:00

I returned from a weekend visit to my mom to find a squishy from Sandi at Piecemeal Quilts. A while back, I innocently left a comment on her blog and was surprised to receive an email that I had left the 2,000th comment on her blog and she wanted to send me a gift. The squishy contained a jelly roll of fabric strips. A label identifies these wonderful fabrics as "Cosmos in Bloom Strips" from

Review: Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks

2011-10-11T17:58:00.000-05:00

Want to knit socks from the toe up? In Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks, Melissa Morgan-Oakes shows how to knit toe-up socks and how to knit both socks in the pair at the same time. Full of detailed instructions, Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks has a variety of patterns for children, women and adults. The spiral bound hardback stays open to the page you’re viewing making it easy to view the instructions as you

Strip-O-Rama Quilt Top Complete

2011-10-09T21:15:00.000-05:00

Remember our September Fast & Fun quilt top that no one finished at our 3rd Sunday Project Linus meeting? I finally finished stitching mine together and will now reveal that I chose to do a piano key border. Jodie's design had 2 plain borders and I got adventurous. A pattern is just a starting point. Right? The piano key border is made from the same fabrics that are in the blocks. I

The Lost Heroes Art Quilt

2011-09-28T17:14:00.000-05:00

In The Lost Heroes Art Quilt, quilt artist Julie Feingold honors the memory of Americans who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars since September 11, 2001. 50 fallen heroes, one from each of the 50 states, are shown on the quilt. Childhood pictures of the fallen heroes are sewn into vintage GI Joe jackets. Words about the hero are printed on the sashing bordering their block. 32 more heroes

Project Linus - Third Sunday Group - September

2011-09-21T17:54:00.001-05:00

Our Fast & Fun quilt top for September, 2011 was Strip-O-Rama. Our Third Sunday group met at JoAnns Fabrics in Independence, MO last Sunday, September 18, to work on Project Linus blankets. Strip-O-Rama is a 38" by 47" scrap quilt top with 63 blocks that finish to 4½" square. It was designed by our group facilitator, Jodie. This sight greeted us when we arrived. A volunteer bought oodles of 2

How Red Heart Makes Yarn

2011-09-20T17:01:00.000-05:00

This was in my Inbox today and I thought some of you might be interested in how a big yarn manufacturer makes acrylic yarn. If the embedded video above doesn't work for you, visit Learn How Red Heart Yarn is Made to watch the video.

Project Linus - Third Sunday Group - August

2011-08-28T21:12:00.000-05:00

Star Lite, Star Brite was our Fast & Fun quilt top for August, 2011. Our Third Sunday group met at JoAnns Fabrics in Independence, MO last Sunday, August 21, to work on Project Linus blankets. Star Lite, Star Brite is a 36" by 47" quilt top with six 9" friendship stars. It was designed by our energetic group facilitator, Jodie, who also cuts kits for our group. Three quilt tops were finished

Blazer to Backpack

2011-08-21T20:42:00.000-05:00

I would never look for a fiber-craft project in the Sierra Club magazine. But the September/October issue arrived in my mailbox this week and there on page 9 was the Blazer Backpack. The idea is to repurpose an unused jacket and turn it into something useful. The instructions for making the Blazer Backpack are on the website in the form of a 16 step slide show. The project is rated with a

Evolution of an Afghan

2011-08-17T19:05:00.000-05:00

In October 2003, I made half a dozen rectangular granny squares to demonstrate a join as you go technique at a Project Linus event. I used some random bits of yarn that had been donated, including a neon green and some white. There was only enough yarn for a few rectangles. It was just a sample for a demonstration. I never intended to make it into something usable. But I really hate to

Review: Quilter's Academy Vol.1 Freshman Year: A Skill-Building Course in Quiltmaking

2011-08-15T20:12:00.001-05:00

Almost all the books I read are borrowed from the library, so it's been at least a few months since they were released / published. Now that I'm blogging again, I'll occasionally review a book that I think is worth sharing. Up first, a book by mother-daughter quilting authors Harriet Hargrave & Carrie Hargrave. Quilter's Academy Vol.1 Freshman Year: A Skill-Building Course in Quiltmaking is

Clessidra Knee Socks

2011-08-10T22:21:00.001-05:00

During my year long hiatus from blogging, I continued knitting socks at my normal snail's pace, in bits and pieces while I worked on other projects. After I finished my toe-up Hermione's Everyday Socks, I almost immediately cast on a pair of knee socks. A few years ago when I was still learning how much yarn a pair of knee socks needed, I found some lovely red Regia sock yarn. (I love red!) I

Yarn Bowl

2011-08-06T21:52:00.001-05:00

A yarn bowl is not a sporting event, though it could tempt pets or small children to play. My (step)sister, Susie, recently gave me this yarn bowl for my 55th birthday. I love the fun purple dots and the purple interior. The bowl holds yarn balls and keeps them from rolling away. I love the curvy J-shaped slot that holds your yarn, yet lets you remove it from the bowl if needed. You can

Where Do You Get Your Yarn?

2011-08-05T21:55:00.001-05:00

At our knitting/stitching group meeting at the library yesterday, new member Susie asked, "Where do you get your yarn?" "In Albuquerque," I replied. "From Audrey," Sandy said. Not quite the answer that Susie was looking for. Audrey is known for shipping hundreds of hand knit hats each year to be distributed to Native American children. People frequently give her yarn to support the project and

Finish What You Start?

2011-07-31T21:28:00.000-05:00

You may have deduced from my last post that sometimes I have trouble finishing projects. Ever wonder why I quit writing about the Lone Star quilt in 2008? That's right, I quit working on it and it's languishing as a UFO. My niece may never get her wedding gift. The Learning EQ7 series didn't stop just because of my long hiatus from blogging. I also got sidetracked and quit doing the lessons.

How to Finish a Quilt

2011-07-26T21:30:00.003-05:00

Most quilters know how to make a quilt. Choose the pattern and fabric Cut fabric and stitch pieces into a quilt top Prepare an appropriate sized quilt back Layer back, batting and top together and baste for quilting Quilt the layers. Bind the quilt Sounds easy. Just do a series of steps and the quilt is done. The journey to finishing this bear quilt wasn't quite as quick or straight forward.

Everyday (Sock) Finish

2011-07-19T19:47:00.001-05:00

I'm way overdue in sharing the finish of my toe-up Hermione's Everyday Socks. My apologies. I paused blogging to clean the house for an impending Mom visit and never pressed resume blogging. I really like these socks and wear them regularly. I finished them on August 19, 2010, almost a year ago. I have been better about keeping my knit and crochet projects up to date in Ravelry. My

You Can Quilt That Out

2011-05-13T16:59:00.003-05:00

Check out this hilarious video set to the song "You Can Quilt That Out" by Cathy Miller. Click over to the video's YouTube Page and read the comments there for more information.

I Have Heels

2010-07-11T22:34:00.004-05:00

I finished the heels on my toe-up Hermione's Everyday Socks. 2½ months after beginning these socks, I'm knitting on the legs. I mostly knit on socks at knitting club and when I'm at my mom's. At home, I mostly work on other things. Which is why I spent 6 months, start to finish, on the last pair of socks I made! The heels are a garter-stitch edged eye of partridge stitch pattern. I'm

Double Cross Scrapghan

2010-07-10T19:44:00.002-05:00

Fourth of July weekend at my mom's was the perfect time to start an afghan. I have my thermostat set above 80°F to save energy, so I'm always a bit cool at my mom's in the summertime. I'm using a bunch of scrap yarn I've had a while. Mostly, I'm changing colors whenever I finish off the one I'm using. There's enough of a couple of them to do a few rows, switch to something else and use the

Knitting Club - July - 1st Thursday

2010-07-02T13:29:00.000-05:00

We had a good sized group at knitting club yesterday. I was working on the heel flap of one of the socks I'm knitting. The first hour, that mostly meant I was repeatedly picking up stitches that kept jumping off the needles. They finally got tired and quit misbehaving, so the second hour was much more productive for me. Cathy was knitting the mate to this sock. Cathy also brought this drop

Learning EQ7 - Part 5

2010-06-30T23:27:00.004-05:00

Find a list of all the articles in this series on the Learning EQ7 Series page. The sidebar also has a link to the series page. Video 9 - Print the LessonsDuration: 1 minute, 21 seconds The videos are the first step in learning EQ7. Halfway down the help menu you'll see "EQ7 lessons (PDFs)." Click on that item and a list of the 22 lessons is displayed in a new window. Adobe Acrobat Reader is

Good Intentions, Incomplete Follow Through

2010-06-28T22:39:00.006-05:00

The Kansas City Project Linus chapter had a special blanket making day on Saturday to make weighted blankets for autistic and special needs children. I wrote about weighted blankets for autism early this month, so I won't cover details of the blankets here. I spent last week getting ready for the blanket day, in between various computer and TV based sidetracks. Debby gave some fleece back to me