July 14, 2009
Lacy things and tasty things
It's been a while, hasn't it? There was a kitchen renovation in there that sucked up a lot of psychic energy, but I think things are mostly back to normal now.
(More photos here for the curious.)
Anyway, back to my current lace knitting project--a handspun Rosemary shawl, as shown above. One really nice thing about Gladys Amedro's shawls is that they're worked from the outside in, meaning the rows get shorter and faster the further you go.
The sparkle level is more accurate in this photo. The yarn is spun from Cleopatra batts from Enchanted Knoll Farm--8 ounces on my little Ethan Jakob spindle. The shawl has eaten up a lot of yarn so far, though, so I'm eying the remaining skeins a bit nervously....
In addition to the ubiquitous lace knitting, projects have been multiplying around here at a somewhat alarming rate.
There is spinning, of course. This is tussah silk acquired at Connecticut Sheep and Wool last year. (There are many other spinning projects in progress, but they should probably wait for a post of their own.)
Some of you may notice from this photo that I've dug out the Dear Jane blocks again. (!) But I'm considering a smaller quilt at this point, with some different colors. We'll see how that goes. :)
A new kitchen means a revived interest in making tasty foods. We made butter this weekend with this as guidance, but using a food processor instead of a stand mixer. Easy and yum. We subsequently used the butter in French toast, rhubarb cobbler, and raspberry cream cheese muffins.
(Tatting has even made a reappearance, but I've no photos to back that up yet.)
Posted by missalicefaye at 02:37 PM | Comments (21)
February 26, 2007
Trees, you say?
If you rotate the photo 180 degrees in your mind, the motif on the right really does look something like a tree now....
Rest assured, no lace was harmed this weekend thanks to these handy little toggles:
Lifted from random bags in the attic. The idea is not original--in the Wedding Ring Shawl pattern, Sharon Miller suggests using one of these to keep the stitches from escaping while knitting the edging. They do grip very, very tightly, though, so I'm not leaving them on the needles for long periods of time.
For those of you wondering where the Dear Jane updates went, here is a little mosaic of some of my most recently finished blocks:
All hand pieced. Visit my design wall page for the stats on number of blocks completed so far, and for close ups, see my Flickr set. As always, of course, the Dear Jane Project group on Flickr is chock-full of lovely work by talented quilters.
I confess that my Dear Jane momentum has slowed a bit (temporarily!)--I haven't managed to set aside a good chunk of time for block preparation in the last few weeks. The days are short and the lure of the lace knitting is strong....
Posted by missalicefaye at 10:43 AM | Comments (8)
December 04, 2006
Mouse and star
Mouse in a Mirror
Hand pieced, 29 pieces, inset seams galore! These are the ones I like best, I think. They're kind of like piecing puzzles. Also, I don't number my pieces before I cut them out (except for the border triangles!), so sometimes it really is a puzzle trying to figure out which piece goes where. :)
Bennington Star
Hand pieced, 25 pieces. Pretty straighforward.
Over halfway through the Unst edging now. For a bit of relief, I've been working on a Swallowtail shawl from the Fall '06 Interweave Knits for my mum. Things go faster on size 4 needles, eh?
Posted by missalicefaye at 10:08 AM | Comments (3)
November 30, 2006
Pie sale
Hand pieced, 21 pieces. Lots of very small curves.
These blocks, they provide nice blog entry titles. :)
If I can manage to put down the Dear Jane blocks for an evening, I might get to the halfway point in the Unst Stole edging tonight....
Posted by missalicefaye at 08:22 AM | Comments (1)
November 27, 2006
Jane at Thanksgiving
Carolyn has gently pointed out that I'm slacking again with the progress posts. The long weekend was productive on the Dear Jane front--you can now trace my path through the house by the trail of discarded tiny freezer paper templates. Above is Widow's Pane. Hand pieced under the influence between lulls in eating at Thanksgiving.
Dee Dee's Delight. Appliqued. Lots of pointy tips--argh!
Jane's Tears. My first go at reverse applique--I'll definitely be using this technique more often! (I vaguely remember a cheesy Star Trek episode playing in the background. Velour uniform alert.)
Bennington Cross. Hand pieced. My first border triangle--it took several episodes of Law and Order to get through this one.
The Unst Stole received attention this weekend, too, but edging progress is not especially exciting in photograph. I'll post something when I'm at the halfway point, sometime this week.
Posted by missalicefaye at 10:21 AM | Comments (8)
November 23, 2006
Patriot's Lantern
Hand pieced, 37 pieces.
Posted by missalicefaye at 01:40 PM | Comments (5)
November 21, 2006
Dear Jane backlog
I've been neglectful. Dear Jane blocks have multiplied in the last few weeks, but I haven't posted them. All are hand-pieced. The hexagon bit in the one above (Papa's Star) nearly kicked my ass, but I managed to survive.
And, thanks to Jennifer, I now have a new, improved (bigger) design wall.
Brandon's Star
Sweet Tater Pie
Quilt Jail
Justin's Comet
Mirror Image
Posted by missalicefaye at 10:35 AM | Comments (6)
November 08, 2006
Ben's Bowtie
Hand pieced at the beach between swims. Mine may be the sandiest Dear Jane ever....
Posted by missalicefaye at 11:31 AM | Comments (5)
November 06, 2006
Dear Jane goes to Cayman
Hand appliqued on the flight from New York to Fort Lauderdale (en route to Grand Cayman....)
Day 2 of vacation here on the island. Resort wi-fi by the ocean is just one of the lovely perks here.
And these are a few of my favorite things:
The second border of the Unst stole is almost done. The edging should be a bit more manageable for travel knitting! :)
Posted by missalicefaye at 07:20 PM | Comments (9)
October 31, 2006
Tinker Toy
Block B-9, Tinker Toy. The inset bits are so easy with hand piecing!
Posted by missalicefaye at 09:03 PM | Comments (5)
October 27, 2006
Indianapolis (Block G-7)
Finished yesterday during the lunch hour. I pieced the background and then appliqued the four wedge shapes--painstakingly trying to line up the corners. Probably I should have just pieced the whole thing. :)
I'm assuming that this block is named "Indianapolis" because of that big circle in downtown Indy. Possibly the names are explained in the Dear Jane book, but then I'd actually have to read it...
Meanwhile, the first border of the Unst stole is almost finished. These two projects are fierce competitors for my precious crafting time!
Posted by missalicefaye at 04:23 PM | Comments (4)
October 26, 2006
The Dear Jane project
These days, more than usual I am preoccupied with thoughts of large, complex, delicate projects--the Unst Stole, Orenburg shawls, the Wedding Ring Shawl. And this:
The 1863 Jane A. Stickle quilt. You can read all about it at the Dear Jane site.
Carolyn invited me to join a group of intrepid quilters undertaking this ambitious and beautiful project, including the talented and brave Heidi, Jen, and Melanie.
169 4.5-inch square blocks surrounded by 52 triangles and four corner triangles. My plan is to hand-piece and applique the whole thing. Shades of blue with a muslin background. My first block (J-7, Chicken Tracks) is pictured above. You can see where it fits (looking so lonely!) into the larger quilt on my design wall. (Blank design wall template created by Sharon Mastbrook.)
This is a Long Term project. You'll be hearing about it for many, many (many!) months to come. :)
Posted by missalicefaye at 11:38 AM | Comments (13)
