Good Will from the old to the new----Old Sweaters to New Projects

Gina of Gina Quilts and Knits, is an amazing talented and creative lady. She completes an amazing number of projects. She always inspires me to step up my creative game.

Recently she posted pictures of an infinity scarf she twisted to make a meobis....from re-purposed yarn, ding, ding, ding. Gina had already knit a shawl from part of the yarn and then Kool Aid dyed more to make the moebis. Since the weather is changing it is time to get the dye pots out and have some fun.

I remembered how much fun it was to re-purpose yarn by raveling sweaters from Good Will. So, since we were already at Good Will I just had to check for sweaters. What a haul!!! I found one cotton and 4 wool sweaters. They look like they are about fingering weight which is my new favorite weight of yarn for knitting. SCORE.

These 66 years young eyes will wait for a bright morning when they are well rested and the fun shall begin.

This feels like a lambs wool, very soft and a large sweater

Close up, I am hoping that they carried the yarns right up the sides otherwise there will be many short pieces of yarn to join.

This wool is lovely variegated and will be fun to knit again.
Love the colors blends

You can see the subtle color changes in the close up. Yummy yarn. 

This is a very pretty soft blue color not the gray that the camera shows. It is lambs wool, viscose and angora, soft and a little bit fuzzy, but not too much to tickle my nose.

This yarm may have some over-dyeing, since it is such a pale shade. I can even do some hand painting and see what comes of it.

The red in this sweater is much deeper and richer. Many yards of yarn to be had. Excited to ravel it and see what it wants to be for it's second go round!

The cotton sweater it is a much deeper shade of teal than in this picture. I love the large stitches, this is more a worsted weight than fingering weight. Cotton is great for spring or summer.

This yarn may also have some over-dyeing or hand-painting. It will be fun to experiment.Will

Thank you Gina for your inspiration. 

I will keep you updated as these projects progress,

Happy Saturday everyone,

Easy street--The New Bonnie Hunter Mystery

It is that time of year again. Bonnie Hunter's mystery for 2012 is in full swing. Bonnie, of Quiltville fame generously hosts a free mystery annually. It is so much fun.

I have completed clue one and am excited to see clue 2 tomorrow morning.

Click over to Linky Monday at Quiltville, scroll down and see the progress of over 200 of us from all over this big wide world. And of course if you would like to join us on Easy Street we would love to have you. There is always room for one more. We are having a ball.

I have 232 4-patch units for Clue 1. We only need 192 but I need to make mine larger so I just finished up all the strips I had cut. Not sure how many more I will need but this is a start. They are clipped together in groups of 10. This way I only need to count once. It is good to know how many units I have made and how many to go. 

These are some of the fabrics chosen for my quilt. There will be more variety from my stash but these are the "newbies".

October 2012 Charity Items to Nevada and Virginia

I belong to an online Charity group with almost a thousand members worldwide. Each month we donate items to a different cause. In October we are donating to Riverside Hospital in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.
There is always a need for preemie items so the items you see pictured are on their way to warm some little ones in Virginia.

Usually knitting is my chosen craft but occasionally I will get on a crocheting kick and it's fun. These are the result of such a kick!!

Preemie afghans for Riverside Hospital in Virginia

A variety of preemie and newborn items for Riverside Hospital. The little caps that have the pom poms were knit by Mom and the blue knit caps and knit booties are also Mom's handiwork. 

A few more items going to Riverside

These quilts are going to Nevada where there is a reception honoring Viet Nam Veterans. Since Greg my brother was a Viet Nam Veteran  Mom and I decided to participate and send these quilts in his memory. Greg was a wonderful man and he is sorely missed.

Mom and I chose the fabrics and I cut the strips to her specifications. Then she designed the quilt top, pieced the strips and added borders. I quilted and bound them.

We have several more tops pieced and will be sending them to a Veterans Administration hospital in the future. There are a number of new VA hospitals opening in 2013. Their goal is to have a quilt on the bed when a Veteran is admitted. The quilt is a gift and is theirs to keep.

These quilts are one way to show our appreciation for our armed forces who serve and have served our nation.

Viet Nam quilt #1

Viet Nam quilt #2

Get it right or get it wrong?

Sometimes "getting it wrong" opens up a whole new way of looking at things and offers a new perspective and even a way to solve a problem...

Daughter Jennifer and I are working on a BOM (block of the month) quilt together. BOM is a program where you are sent only part of the quilt pattern and fabric each month. Usually the program lasts a year. This is such a program. But as with most BOM programs the quilt when finished will not be big enough for a queen let alone a king size bed, so we need to make more blocks.

We have been mulling this over since month one and had not come up with any ideas for addtional blocks.

By a happy chance, I mixed up an orientation of a set of motifs in one of the blocks and came up with an alternate block. We decided to make alternate blocks using the same motifs but a different arrangement.

We decided this was a good solution because the quilt would still have the same percent of color as in the original and none of the new blocks should stand out and look different than the original blocks.

These are my blocks. In rows 2 and 3 you can see the reorientation of part of the motifs in each block. I like the differences and will be happy to see how the other blocks evolve.

Jennifer's blocks are on the left. She is looking forward to making her additional blocks in the near future. 

Charity knitting for Kikis Hats

A great charity project, you can read about it here.

In September we were making hats and mitten sets. Here are the sets that I donated. These will be going to Minnesota where it is really really cold in the winter. 

Pizza Pizza

A shout out to my Bestie in food and fiber, Deb. Deb is a baker -- a wonderful baker (and cook too), quilter, knitter, crafter, singer, actress....the list goes on and on. 

We get together every Tuesday morning. We talk and share new ideas with each other. We are excited and giddy by the time the morning is over, at potential new projects and recipes.  We both love "new and shiny" ideas.

Years ago I baked lots of bread and even ground my own flours from whole grains. I loved it. It took too much time so I stopped baking.

Deb told me about the Artisan Breads in 5 minutes a day. She helped me get started with my first loaf, which was a success. We have been enjoying the Artisan breads for the last couple weeks.

I mixed up some pizza dough earlier in the week and Saturday night, we had pizza night. I baked all 6 of pizzas!

We didn't have any pizza meats so all 6 were meatless. We didn't have any prepared pizza sauce so we made it from scratch. It is not likely that I will go back to store bought pizza sauce. We decided to make all 6 so we could experiment with ingredients, baking pans, baking stone and baking times.

We used our normal ingredients -- mushrooms, green olives, sauteed onions and green peppers, and shredded cheeses. The star of the show turned out to be fresh mozzarella balls in and herb olive oil marinade. Oh goodness no more shredded cheeses for us.

 This pizza has our porch tomatoes and the fresh marinated mozzarella. The bits of cheese that are browned on the pan are crispy and crunchy goodness a treat.

This pizza has some shredded cheddar along with the fresh mozzarella., and other ingredients.  

Pizza night was a success, Keith and son-in-law Juan said they do not want to have any other pizzas EVER again. I am excited to make more.

Thanks Deb, for another awesome idea. Next time you will have to come for the party!!

Sheba is finished--Tuesday art show

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This is the finished product of the painting Mom started in August 2012. The painting was already framed and my phone camera would not take a straight on view so Sheba looks a little wonky. 

The bottom of the painting makes it look like she is walking through tall grasses. The detail is amazing.

This is the original sketch. What a difference. Mom has been experimenting with alcohol inks and I think she has mastered it.


Have a great Tuesday,
Nancy