Monday, August 30, 2010

Quilting Corner came to visit

A bunch of the ladies from Quilting Corner came this morning to my home, moving their weekly gathering at my invitation. While I am considered a member of the group, I have not had a chance to attend but a few of the gatherings. I was thrilled when they all agreed to travel here. We had a lovely morning of show and tell (all mine!) and it was a pleasure to explain the stories behind many of the pieces that I've made since I started quilting. We also had a very nice time at the bagel shop down the block for lunch.


The gatherings are almost always hosted by Etty in her home in Beitar. The highlight of today's gathering was the presentation to Etty of a quilt initiated by Susan of Scrap Happy. We all made signed blocks, but the quilt was organized, put together, and tied by Susan! Thank you, Susan! It's also Etty's birthday in about a week, so it was perfect timing.

 
Check the Quilting Corner blog for more photos, probably later today.

Enjoy!

Debbie

Monday, August 9, 2010

Shawl progress

  
Yes, I have been lazy about writing on the blog. Be sure you read to the end to find out about Sue's cute giveaway.

I have made some progress on the shawl I mentioned that I bought yarn for a few months ago. It is a bit further along than in the photo below I took a few weeks ago. The pattern doesn't show up as much in the variegated yarn, but I'm still OK with the way it's coming out.


I searched and searched the web for free shawl patterns. I've been collecting back issues of Piecework Magazine and found a PDF of the index of the magazine. I found quite a few shawls there and looked them up, but most of them were using charts. I don't like to knit or crochet with charts. I like the k1 p2 type of instructions.

Another link I found was a directory of tons of knitted shawl patterns. I only managed to get through the first column. Somewhere in the middle I found the one that I decided to make. It's this version of the Candle Flame pattern. In a google search, I also found a small correction to the pattern. It may have been on Ravelry.

I also liked this shawl pattern site. The patterns are sorted according to how much yarn you need for the shawl.

Henya had suggested: "Have you thought about making "Pi are square", by EZ? You can keep on going until the yarn runs out." That was very interesting to me, but, I couldn't find a free version of the pattern that I liked. Now, Wendy of Wendy Knits is showing her progress on a pi shawl she is making. This week she announced that next week she will be starting a knit along of another pi shawl! Wendy Johnson is also the author of Socks From the Toe Up, the book that I got the pattern for the first (and only) pair of socks I made!

BTW, I finally decided to subscribe to Piecework Magazine, but there are still some back issues that I am missing. If any of you have any that you would be willing to sell to me, I would appreciate it. Here are the ones that I need: July/August 2006, July/August 2007, September/October 2007, November/December 2007, September/October 2008 and January/February 2009.

Sue of Alderwood Quilts has announced her August giveaway. It's a really cute set of Quilter's Magnets by That Patchwork Place. You have until the end of August to enter.


Enjoy!

Debbie