Learning to Paper Piece

About 4 years ago, I sewed my first stitch, after having protested the idea of sewing for much of my life. It's amazing, really, how kids will transform you. After a series of events with my boys, that landed them in the hospital, and realizing during this time, just how much comfort their blankies provided to them, I decided I wanted to learn how to quilt. At the same time, I started our local Project Linus chapter (we provide hand made quilts to seriously ill children). My mission, to make quilts for other children in need.

In the beginning, my quilts were simply patchwork quilts, and I did really enjoy making them. Over time, these have become a bit boring to me, and seriously, how many patchwork quilts can one person have? That said, I went on a hunt....I needed a challenge. I joined a number of quilt guilds, and a few online quilting groups. Both offer a lot of learning opportunity from some of the most skilled quilters. Some of these groups also offer exchanges. While I was reluctant to join at first, worried my skills were not up to par, I have found that it's a great way to try new techniques, without committing yourself to an entire quilt. This month, to go along with our Celebration of Color, I opted to try a little paper piecing with some red fabrics I had in my stash. I must admit, I'm not a real "heart" person. A little too "cutesie" for me. However, with these rich reds, I rather liked them. I found that paper piecing is a great way to use up those little scraps of fabric that I have been collecting in a box. Now I'm stash diving for the next paper piecing project :-)

February Reds - A Little Lesson

If you follow our blog, then you learned about pure color, tone, shade, and tints last month. We had a little lesson in this exploration last week, and the gorgeous reds you see to the left were the result.

The 2nd from the left, is our pure red. Reds can be very tricky, as many times they either have orange/brown undertones, or blue undertones. This red is gorgeously pure! As you may recall, a tint is created when adding white to a pure color. Tinkly Cocktail, on the far left, was our result. Next, we added a little gray, to create a tone, and come up Sangria, a sort of smokey red. Lastly, was creating a shade....adding black to our true red. The result....heavenly! We called it crushed velvet as the richness in colors makes us think of velvet. It appears, that it quickly became a favorite! We posted our update on Facebook on February 2nd, and it sold out almost immediately. Not to fear though, we've restocked! Remember that these glorious reds are on sale this month at 15% Off!

The Meaning of Yellow

Yellow evokes a number of different feelings for people. For some, yellow is the color of the warmth. For others, Hope. And yet for others, it means danger. These meanings can change, dependent on our mood, and yellow can take on many different forms, all at the same time. I find yellow to be a stimulating color. When I seen the bright yellow sun in the morning, I feel chipper, ready to take on the day ahead. I feel bold; free. I admire artists who use the color yellow so freely. To me, it speaks volumes about their view of the world and their aura. However, yellow can very easily be overused. When I am surrounded by yellow I feel overstimulated, anxious and long to escape to a more calming color like blue.

Yellow is one of those colors that many of us so wish we could wear, but it just doesn't look good on most. (I so envy people who can wear yellow and look good in it!) There was a time, during the Elizabethan Era, that yellow was symbolic for wealth and social status, and so it didn't matter how it looked on you. Thankfully, times have changed and for those of us who craft, we find other ways to use yellow. Yellow fiber, yellow fabric, yellow paint; you get the idea.

Now, go take a look in your closet......Find one item that is yellow. Come back here and share with us what it is that you find, and what kind of feelings it evokes in you.

Cookie A Never Disappoints

Admittedly, when I started knitting socks, I was quite intimidated by so many sock designers, but Cookie A was at the top of the charts. I love that so many of her sock patterns are assymetrical. They are interesting, from the cuff to the toe, never a boring stitch. Some of her patterns are chart heavy, and it scared me. My first Cookie A pattern was BFF. An easy pattern and a great little nibble on cables. When Sock Innovations came out, I was beyond excited, and for the first time ever, I actually knit up several patterns from that book. It was at a great time in my life, when I actually had a little time to focus on the pattern, and learn to read the charts. I was hooked! Imagine my excitement when Knit. Sock. Love. came out! There are sssooo many gorgeous patterns in this book, that it was hard to decide on which to start first. Thankfully, I found a KAL on Ravelry, and the choice was made for me....Pointelle it is!

At the same time, I decided that this is the year to spend a little time studying the colorwheel, and opted to start with yellow. A happy, cheerful, warming color. Well, a marriage made in heaven, for sure. Look at Pointelle, knit up with one of our January colors, Lemon Cream, on the BFL base. Need I say more? The pattern is so well written, the charts are easy to understand, and not once was I bored knitting this sock. Now on to the 2nd sock.

A Celebration Of Color - January

The start of 2011 begins a year long celebration, if you will, and exploration of the color wheel. As you may have guessed by now, color makes me happy. VERY HAPPY! I'm always stumped when my boys try to nail me down and ask me favorite color, because the truth is, they all are. As a fiber artist, just like any other type of artistry, it's easy to get stuck in a rut. I was feeling a bit "stuck" this past fall, and decided I was going to spend this coming year studying. Playing with a variety of color combinations, and exploring each colors beauty unto itself.

I have gathered a few tools to help me along the way and will share them with you over the coming year. One of which is the 3-in-1 Color Tool (image to the right). This is printed by C&T Publishing, and it's a great tool for someone who is always dabbling in color. Whether it be with yarn, roving, fabric or paper.

To begin, let me share with you a bit of information to pave the way for our studies. There are 3 primary colors in our color wheel. Colors that most accurately reflect the colors of our world. The blending of our 3 primary colors, offers up limitless possibilities in new color. Add in white, black and grey, and it's sheer magic.

Each color on our color wheel can be categorized within 4 different categories:
Pure Color
Soft Tints - created by adding white to the pure color
Shades - created by adding black to your color
Tones - created by adding grey

A sampling of an experiment with the above would be our colorway Green Mountain. We took a beautiful green and dyed a section of the skein, added a little grey to the green and dyed another section, and added yet another color, black, to the green, to dye the third. GORGEOUS!

During our color wheel studies, we will explore a new color each month, starting with the primary colors of yellow, red and blue. Since January can be so cold, dark and gloomy, we've decided to start with yellow. Yellow is warm, sunny, happy, uplifting.

In the coming months, we will explore shades, tints and tones of each color. Through the year, each color of the month will be offered at a 15% discount in our shop, to encourage you to explore the world of color with us.

In the meantime, we'd love to hear from you. How would you describe yellow?

Labors Of Love

Whew! It's all I can say. It's been a mad dash since Thanksgiving to finish Jake's Log Cabin blanket, and it is finally finished, washed, wrapped and under the tree. This gift was truly a labor of love. The fact is, I hate knitting blankets. BORING! The project that seems like you will never get it off the needles. Now, here it is, all in it's glory. Can't wait to see his face when he opens it.

Then, off to the next. My mother-in-law apparently spent several years knitting all of the little squares in this blanket. My father-in-law brought it to me, in a box, after my mother-in-law passed away in 2009. It was knit as little 4 inch squares, and the squares had been stitched together to make 3 large strips. Assembled, this covers my king size bed. I crocheted the 3 strips together, with plans to give it to my step-daughter for Christmas. After getting this done, I wanted to wash it, given I didn't really know how old the blanket was. This is what happened......


She sewed all those little squares to together, and they all came apart in the wash. Guess I know what Miranda is getting next year for Christmas.

Holiday Gift Making Madness

Each year, I find myself more interested in giving hand made items. When I started knitting, I was a bit selfish, and would only gift hand knitted items to a few, carefully selected people. Times being what they are, and needing to cut back on spending a little bit, this year, I decided that most everyone on my Christmas List was going to get handmade. After all, I have all that yarn, and fabric, just sitting there, haunting me. It's time to let some of it go. My goal was to knit my husband, myself and the 2 boys stockings. Well, I got stockings done for the boys, but hubby and I will have to wait.

Jake has been asking me for his own knit blanket (He likes to scoff mine) for 2 years. I decided to make him the Log Cabin, to use up some Encore stash that I need to move. While I love the way the blanket is turning out, and I'm nearing the last round of knitting, oy, I AM NOT A BLANKET KNITTER!! The rows have gotten so long, it takes me 2 days to get one block of color done. Not to mention, that the blanket that was intend to eat up my stash, has actually added to my stash. If I stopped when I ran out of yarn, it would have been too small. I've since had to purchase 8 more skeins, and I'm knitting this thing until the Encore is gone!

Then comes socks for hubby. Size 0 needle, 80 stitches, with a 5x3 ribbing. Enough said. I've pierced my finger more times than I can count knitting these socks, and I'm only about 60% of the way done.

There are other small items on the needles, hats, fingerless mitts, and bath mitts. With just over 3 weeks until Christmas, I'm up at 3am, trying to get knitting time in and get these done.


The list goes on with sewn/quilted items, and it seems this year that I am making more gifts for others to give than I am making to give. I've got several quilts in the work, (I'm not hitting panic mode because 2 of them just need to be quilted and binded, but I have to get them shipped by the 15th. AGH!), finished my granddaughter's stocking, and few other little surprises that I cannot post about here, just yet.

All of that said, I'll be in hibernation for the next 3 weeks, trying to get all of these project done and out the door. December 26th, I'm knitting for ME!