Happy Halloween!

How To Properly Measure A Quilt Top

I bet you didn't know the proper way to measure a quilt top is to spread it out on the floor, lay down on the quilt top, and check to make sure there is plenty of extra fabric on all sides.  If you didn't know this little tidbit of information, don't feel bad...I just learned it too, thanks to our 4 year-old grandson!

The Lil' Cowboy's Quilt

Our lil' cowboy is spending a few days with us while his mommy and daddy finally pack and get things moved to town for good!  He has a big long "to do" list  while he's staying with us and one of them is to make a quilt!  He's pulling out all of his favorite strips from the scrap basket and laying them out on the floor while I do the cutting and stitching.  It's probably not a pattern that we will be copyrighting, but we both think it's going to be a pretty neat quilt just the same!

Silent Sunday

Airing of the Quilts - Tunkhannock, PA

Mindless Knitting

There are some really good TV shows on this fall, so that means I'm in need of some mindless knitting!  Dishcloths are the perfect project for that!  If I get too involved in the show and knit when I should purl, it won't matter...the end result will still get the dishes clean!

The free pattern for this dishcloth can be found HERE. 

Salt Air

Winter is trying to make an early entrance here in northern Pennsylvania, so I'm doing my best to push it back by working on another quilt top using a pack of Salt Air charm squares.  If that charm doesn't keep the snow away, nothing will!

Babies Don't Care

This was a fun little top to put together.  The pattern is Line Dance by Kathy Mack and can be found for free at Moda Bake Shop.  It didn't take a lot of time or thought, but after looking at the photo, I think I should have put a little more thought into it and spread the red squares around a little better.  Oh well, done is better than perfect and babies don't care if all of the red squares are grouped together!

Silent Sunday

Airing of the Quilts - Tunkhannock, PA

On The Needles

I have cast on another lace scarf, but this one is going to take a little more thought and time than my last one.  Although it's a pattern of easy stitches, it's a pattern that takes some concentration.  Definitely not one to work on while watching TV or thinking about something else, so I'm trying to make a little quiet time each day to knit a few rows.

Back In The Sewing Room!

I managed to find my way back into the sewing room this week!  I pulled out a charm pack and a few yards of gray solid and got started on a simple modern baby quilt.  It really felt good to sit down at the machine and work on something that didn't require a whole lot of thought.  I think it's the perfect project to help me get my quilting mojo back!

A Fall Finish

Here's my Magz Bias Scarf all finished just in time for fall weather!  Now that it has been blocked, the edges lay nice and flat and you can really see the lace pattern...blocking really did make the difference with this one!

Silent Sunday

Airing of the Quilts - Tunkhannock, PA

To Block Or Not To Block?

To block or not to block?  That is the question!  A lot of the items that I knit don't require blocking, but the edges rolled inward on this scarf so badly that it really had to be blocked.  Blocking isn't nearly as scary as it sounds.  Simply wet the item, gently squeeze out the excess water, and then lay it flat to dry adding pins where necessary to help it hold its shape.  Seriously...that's it!  The hardest part of blocking is waiting for your newly finished hand-knit to dry!

You can find a great tutorial on blocking at The Purl Bee.

Another Scarf

It definitely seems like I have been on a knitting jag lately.  I guess I started knitting more while my machine was in the shop and I just haven't stopped!  This is a free pattern from Ravelry, Magz Bias Scarf.  It's an easy bias lace pattern, just a simple pattern row followed by a purl row.  Perfect for TV knitting! 

Eat More Cake!

Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.

Silent Sunday

Airing of the Quilts - Tunkhannock, PA

Airing Of The Quilts

See that forecast for Saturday?!  It's going to be perfect weather for the Airing of the Quilts in Tunkhannock, PA!  Tomorrow morning I'm going to load up the car with a couple of my quilty friends and we're going to take in the all of the sights that we can handle...endless mountains, fall leaves, and quilts, quilts and more QUILTS!  It promises to be a great day! 

Mismatched

With four older sisters our littlest miss doesn't have any shortage of hand-knit-hand-me-downs, but I thought she should still have a few things of her very own.  These socks are knit with self-striping yarn and because her older sisters love mismatched socks, I purposely started the second sock with a different start point in the yarn pattern, so the stripes wouldn't match.  Little Miss won't know the difference, but her older sisters will get a kick out of the fact that her socks don't match!