There are no Resolutions in this post, only ideas.

Posted on December 31, 2013 by MissCarlotta

I don’t really make New Years Resolutions… more because people seem to think its a great thing to think of and then don’t take them all that seriously. So I always have ideas and things I want to do and I do list them out as goals. In 2012 it was a new Christmas Stocking each month from January to October with a goal on selling them. I exceeded that plan in the crafting department, but I wish I’d done a bit better in the selling. In 2013 it was sweaters, gloves, and working on my Star Quilt.

Well I did get the Sweaters part done… I made 3 this year.

The Ben

Luscious Post Op

My Spoke Sweater Finished just in time to make the 2013 cut off

I didn’t get any gloves made and the only mittens were for a 6 month old which didn’t really have separate thumb holes so I am not counting them towards the original goal, and not much work on my star quilt so those will just have to move into 2014.

Instead I tackled some lace shawls.

First Spring Thaw

Evening Grosbeak inspired Gamayun

A second Spring Thaw

And doubled the amount of quilts I’ve made with four more. (BONUS: A Christmas gift of a quilted table set that I designed and hand appliquéd)

Endless Stairs

My first ever Dresden Plate

Disappearing 4 patch Star Trek

Half Square Triangle Star Trek

Technically just table set, but hand appliquéd presents

I also made up some great plushies, custom curtains and finished my first ever double knit scarf… so there was certainly quite a bit going on in 2013.

So now its time to think about all I want to achieve in 2014….

I have six quilts on my list this year!

A movie inspired gift quilt (lap size)
An Art Quilt (3-4ft square) Inspired by one of Ben’s favorite Artists
A Commissioned Baby Quilt
My Star Quilt (Back again! – King size)
A Christmas Cathedral Window Quilt
An as yet to be determined 2nd quilt for the family room. Ben loves our VideoGame quilt, but thinks there should be a second quilt, because after all there are two of us.

In the knitting front I’ve got some other unique projects planned.

A Scarf and Shawl from my wonderful new Alpaca yarn! I’m debating making my own patterns for these, but we shall see!
Gloves are still on the list! I’ve already got the conductive thread to make them Smart Phone capable!
I’m going to tackle a second pair of socks. I think with my skills I’ve worked on I might be able to do some patterns that won’t make me so bored by sock #2 (aka Second Sock Syndrome)
I’ve got a few more shawls planned. Including one bird inspired based on the Stellars Jay

These Jays from the PNW are vibrant Blue and Black!

I’d also like to tackle Brioche stitch as a new stitch this year. Perhaps I’ll use up my “Action Green” from the Seahawks Stocking on that.

So its a bit of a list looking at it all at once… but if I can tackle 3 sweaters, 4 quilts and learning so much about lace in a year… I out to have a good start on some of these… RIGHT?

The Stockings were Hung….

Posted on December 20, 2013 by MissCarlotta

This morning I woke up a good hour early, and rolled over to peek out the window to gauge the time and…. snow! Like a good inch or so, there was snow on the ground and the tree branches. I was so excited I couldn’t go back to sleep! I love snow… so much that relatives several states away will call to tell me when they get their first snows of the season.

But we were on stockings. Ben and I have stockings… we hang ours on the knobs of the china hutch. Its not that we don’t have a fireplace, with mantle, but we don’t have those stocking hooks… and frankly the way I try to stuff them its probably good that I can pull out the drawer below for added stability sometimes!

While I did not make quite so many stockings this year, Ben and I signed up for the Redditgifts Secret Santa Exchange this year and I knew I wanted to give our giftees some custom Christmas Stockings full of holiday cheer.

My giftee collects vintage hand fans. So I thought a modified Grandmother’s fan design would be appreciated.

Stuffed so full I couldn’t even fit that last gift in!

Ben’s giftee really liked the Seattle Seahawks, which means I know have half a skein of “Action Green” yarn in my stash:

The Hawks are doing pretty good this year! Up to 12-2

And I did indeed make sure to put 12 feathers on the heel and cuff….

The back of the Hawk’s stocking featuring the rest of the wrap around design.

I do hope they like all their gifts, and as with the last gift exchange, (Which was Star Trek in case you forgot!) I will update this post with any response from our giftees.

Meanwhile, my Santa was really quite on the ball… she has already sent me a great new knitting book called Woodland Knits.

Thanks again my Santa!

There are some adorable patterns in there to give me lots of ideas in the new year. I say the new year because this week I was all about a pair of commissioned custom StarCraft2 Scarves. And I’ve cast on the second of my sleeves on my Spoke Sweater. So between the housekeeping and cookie making and early Christmas having…. I am knitting like a made fiend to see if I can’t get it done to wear Christmas Day.

Here’s a quick preview of the main body so you can see how far along I am:

Just needs some seaming, sleeves and a good blocking!

UPDATE! My Secret Santa Giftee received and liked her gifts!

And so did Ben’s Giftee (who posted a whole album – click the title) Ben also posted what he received here.

A Sunflower State Retirement Frame of Mind

Posted on September 13, 2013 by MissCarlotta

I have been holding onto this post for over a week… and all the in progress photos too… because I am a secret agent quilter spy! (Or at least that’s what I tell myself.) For my 7th finished quilt, I wanted to celebrate an amazing woman, Ben’s mom, Dale. (For bonus geek points, she is named after Dale Arden, Flash Gordon’s girlfriend.)

Dale has been working for the past 28.7 years with the Kansas State Department of Education. And so round about mid-August I found a great tutorial on making Dresden Plate Quilts online that made me feel full of confidence that a Sunflower State retiree could actually have a sunflower Dresden quilt. So off I went to get a Dresden ruler and my fabric palette.

I actually had the brown fabrics already.

And for the front of the quilt I made up 9 sunflower blocks. Mine were 17 inch blocks, which sounds like a weird number, but actually with the borders came out to a nice 60 inch square lap quilt.

And here the front is.. in all its sunny glory!

Now here’s why the spy parts come in…. I decided that this should be a secret project, but I wanted to tie in her work with the quilt… so I called her boss (ok I got the assistant to her boss) who patched me through to another co-worker that became my agent on the inside. She hooked me up with a fine selection of photos, which I added to the back of the quilt.

This is also a good view to see how I did my quilting lines!

The picture rail on the back brought the yellows and the blue from the front to the back.. and then a small pip on the front, brought some of the backing yellow forward.

I did get a bit lucky in places where I quilted through the picture rail.

I used the same basic method for making the center circles that is illustrated in the tutorial I linked above, to make the leaves on my itty bitty Dresden Quilt tag on the back:

With some creative folding presentation, front of a single square, and the tag got a highlight too!

I really do need to thank my agent on the inside. The quilt was mailed on Monday, with expectation of arriving Friday in time for the party they were having. For whatever reason on Monday I was thinking was an after work thing, and after a few more conversations… realized it was more after lunch in timing. So the two of us were eyeballing that online tracking like it was overtime of the Super Bowl. And then… it ticked over from “Out for Delivery” to “The Receiver’s location was closed on the 1st delivery attempt. A 2nd delivery attempt will be made.” But my Agent on the inside (name withheld because she’s a secret agent… duh!) went above and beyond to drive out and meet the truck and take delivery. I shall formally file a commendation in her agent personnel file.

Flower Power!

And now for some technical specs, because as a newer quilter (this is number 7) I find them helpful. I used up nearly all of my 1/4 yard of each of the yellow petals fabrics, of which I picked out seven different variations. True 1/4 yards, not fat quarters there. I also used up 1/2 yard of the dark green in just the lattice work on the front, not including the border. I had originally thought I would do 18-20 inch squares, so I had some blue left over of the 2.5 yards I bought.

Additional Photos in the progress gallery here.

Happy Birthday to me~ A Gift made from part of a Tree!

Posted on August 3, 2013 by MissCarlotta

Perhaps you will recall my friends I gave the orange and blue quilts to? (If not see here and here) Well, “Mr. Endless Stairs” enjoys woodworking, and frankly he’s pretty amazing at it. Today he brought me a gift I totally happy danced over.

My very own Quilt Rack:

Happy Dance not shown.

Now I’m having a difficult time deciding where I want to put it… for now its in the family room, with my first ever quilt on it:

PIkmin 3 is out tomorrow fyi! And those aren’t wrinkles.. those are snuggle impressions! (ok, they ARE wrinkles but I couldn’t wait to take pictures!)

And here’s a couple more glamour shots…. I will have a post sometime in the not too distant future where you can see that light blue one in the back better, but that’s for another day… today its all about the wood underneath!

Yes… its overcast here near the Seattle side…. what makes you ask?

And a fine top down view with some new fabrics from the new local quilt shop:

I think the blue one looks like Frank Lloyd Wright stain glass, and the green is more Tiffany style

And while I said it in person, I shall say it again to all and sundry…. Thanks! It really is an amazing gift.

To Boldly Go…into Star Trek Quilts

Posted on May 20, 2013 by MissCarlotta

While I could bore you with the details of how Ben suggested we do the Star Trek Reddit gift exchange, and how I am extremely nervous about gifting strangers handmade gifts because I’m afraid they will be seen as the golden macaroni pencil cup.. I think instead I will just post the silly little Captain’s Log Story I sent with my giftee’s quilt (and of course photos!).

Disappearing 4 patch in Trek, Command Gold, Science Blue and Red Shirt

B Captain’s LogB

Stardate 2264.2

While on our way to check on one of the outlying colonies, Mr. Spock noted the presence of several indicators of intelligent life in an adjoining star system and I’ve decided to check it out.

Stardate 2264.3

The Enterprise has been stopped at the 4^th planet in the System. Mr. Scott assures me that the engines are all online but that “She just won’t go!”

Meanwhile, we have been hailed by a being who says her name is Materialanna, representing the Textilian Homeworld. They are claiming we have caused a rent in their space-time fabric and demanding we sew up a suitable patch.

Spock is concerned about the inconsistency of a species that seems to view space-time as a fabric, and yet has the ability to stop a starship.

I have decided at this point to go along with their quilt patch plan, and if nothing else, that will hopefully give Mr. Scott the time he needs to figure out how to get the Enterprise moving again.

Stardate 2264.6

I assigned Dr. McCoy to the seaming of our patch fabric. He mentioned something about “Doctor Not a Seamstress” and “Hospital Not a Sewing Circle!” but after reminding him he had the most stitching experience of anyone, he agreed to take up the task in one of the storage bays.

Quilt #5 is alive!

Stardate 2266.8

The quilt patch is complete! The Textilians have accepted our patch piece and assure us that it will be sent to the proper place and time. Mr. Scott is reporting full function of the Enterprise. Inexplicably, Mr. Spock has noted that all signs of life in this system have ceased to register on his scope.

And I made one for Ben’s giftee too. He helped with the layout, and even ironed once!

Star Trek Into Darkness! KHAAAAANNNNNNNNN!!!!

6th Quilt…… KHAAAAANNNNNNNNN!!!!

These two babies are already wrapped up and in the mail. Normally I wouldn’t post gift items until they were received, but in this case the giftees do not have any idea who is gifting them so it is all still a mystery. These two are backed with a classic trek fleece which was a first for me and I think they turned out pretty well. I will update with a link here if they post about getting them.

UPDATE: Ben’s Giftee posted about getting her items.

UPDATE #2: After no tracking updates since Tuesday… my giftee got his gift!

Quilt 4: Endless Stairs Fiery Companion

Posted on March 26, 2013 by MissCarlotta

A while back you may remember I bought a bunch of orange fabric and made some friends a Cracker Quilt.

Cracker Blocks arranged in a 4 color woven pattern.

The Cracker Quilt

Well because I am kind of new to the whole thing and worried about things like running out of fabric or butchering my fabric in some fit of miscutting… I overplan in the fabric department. So for my fourth quilt I didn’t actually have to buy any new fabric at all! I wanted something that would look like a companion piece to the cracker quilt… so I settled on a pattern called Endless Stairs.

And in the tradition of not spoiling the surprise I bring you… the Endless Fiery Stairs Quilt:

Front… with all the stairs!

For the Back… I wanted to do something a bit different. I have been admiring some of the newer quilt designs where the quilter pulls in the design elements or embellishes the backside in a complementary way. I went with a framed chevron pattern.

Echoing the front but done with angles instead of rectangles

I am a believer in trying new things. They won’t always be a success… but not every failing is a failure. For the back piece… I pieced my orange and blue middle stripe first and then realized I hadn’t sewn in the blue triangles between the points. WHOOPS! I did actually manage to pull off piecing those triangles in there.. but it was a lesson in not getting too focused in and to take your time making sure you’ve seen the whole bigger picture.

Here’s an extra detail shot, especially since Ben got the new cards for the nice camera!

And btw… I still have quite a bit of orange left!

The dark orange is actually a combination of 3 different fabrics.

What to expect in 2013

Posted on December 31, 2012 by MissCarlotta

Well last year I set myself the goal of one Christmas stocking a month from January to October and it went pretty well. I sold a few of the stockings, and hopefully someone will take advantage of this coupon code “InWithTheNew” and save themselves 25% on those I have left in the etsy shop!

So this year I thought it might be good to set myself some of those crafty goals again… so here’s what I know I want to do in 2013:

I’ve accepted a commission on 18 itty bitty red birds for one of my aunts Christmas Trees. The pattern is available on ravelry, my only difference is that instead of yarn I used size 5 DMC floss on what I think are my size 00 knitting needles (I swear I thought I was going to bend those things as I was going along!)

This tree soon to be populated with a flock of red birds

I’d also like to tackle my first sweaters. I want to make one for myself and one for Ben. For him, I’ve picked out my pattern… and its aptly named… Ben!

I'm gonna make a Ben for my Ben so he can Ben in his Ben!

I’m gonna make a Ben for my Ben so he can be Ben in his Ben!

On the Quilting front, I’ve picked fabric and cut for my first square on the grand King sized Quilt I want to make for our bed:

I picked up a couple of these Jelly Rolls at the Labor Day Sale and then did the math on downscaling some star blocks to fit the roll cuts

This is my first Block cut and just starting to piece.

Because its going to be so big, my plan is to piece it and then take a class and quilt it on a long arm machine at one of the local(ish) quilt shops! If you want to follow along, just as in prior cases… there is an album started for this one.

And lastly, but certainly not least… I want to start making gloves and mittens in a similar style to last years stockings. Which means lots of fiddling until I find what works best in that arena.

So… Wish me luck!

Quilt Three: A Fiery Cracker

Posted on October 6, 2012 by MissCarlotta

So awhile back my local quilt shop closed, and it was such a sad day for me. The owner, Mary, was one of those generous and kind founts of knowledge who seemed to be excited about your project and offered truly helpful tips and ideas to complete it. So I went to visit her during her closing sale and lament her loss and wish her well. And while I was there I did purchase a couple things, including a fine selection of orange fabrics, because I have a friend and I just knew she liked Orange. That was July 16th.

Selected fabrics. The blue was bought separately. And my favorite out of them all was the orange with gold swirls… that’s the one I picked out first.

Now I did ask her what her husband’s favorite color was, and was told that it was blue, so that would work out well for me.. a nice complimentary color even if I didn’t go the same shade as his absolute favorite. And so a few days later, while we were out seeing The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX on the week it opened (July 21st to be exact) the conversation came up again… and she says to us “Orange isn’t really my favorite color” O.O!!!

But since she has misled me all this time and she does actually like orange and somewhat collect things with orange, and because I’d already bought the fabric… she’s getting an orange quilt! And just to give her a bit of a giggle…. I immortalized that very quote on her quilt tag!

So I finally finished that quilt yesterday. And by finished that means I don’t actually have a 100% done photo, because as I was heading upstairs to get the quilt tag after stitching down the binding while watching X-Files… Ben announced to me that he had invited us and our friends to go out to dinner. So here’s the closest to done I have from that morning with the binding all pinned down and ready for sewn down:

Cracker Blocks arranged in a 4 color woven pattern.

The design is called a cracker quilt. I found several people that think that this is the eating cracker related, but from what I’ve read and the design elements I believe its more a Gift Cracker related. Where the cracker design you see is a combination of the two long colored bars capped by their matching triangles in the first square and continues into the same colored triangles of the next square forming the gift cracker shape.

For my quilting, I did stitch in the ditch outlining the diamond shape of each orange square, and the inner blue rectangles, and then I did a couple variations of echo quilting on my blue squares:

A bit of a detail photo

I learned many new things while making this one… things like when you are making points, you should stitch your seam just behind the prior stitches and not through those stitches to get the best results. And my two dark oranges… don’t photo and look so disparate as I thought they would. For those of you that like such things… here’s a link to the gallery of in progress photos.

Let it Snow!

Posted on September 10, 2012 by MissCarlotta

Quilt Two is now completed! This one I made for my grandmother, and was inspired in part by Hawaiian Quilts. Final size is approximately 50×50 inches, which is not really a standard size for anything, but just what I thought looked good and would work as a smaller lap quilt. I did a much better job of the binding this time around, in fact there were corners I felt looked downright professional!

“Are ye the ghosts of fallen leaves, O flakes of snow, For which, through naked trees, the winds A-mourning go?” ― John Banister Tabb

I am going to mail this out just as soon as I figure out my letter I want to write with it. I’m sure that societal conventions would say this is a Christmas Gift type of quilt, but I’m too impatient to tell her I love her and think about her all the time. So conventions be damned!

There is a whole gallery about this quilt you can check out with pictures of flakes I didn’t use, close ups of materials and in progress work available here. I plan to send some of those photos with the quilt.

While putting this together I found some pretty cool stuff… like there was a fine Gentleman by the name of Wilson A Bentley that took the first photo of an individual snowflake all the way back in 1885! And he was so fascinated by snow, he went on to take 4999 more! You can read a bit more about him over at snowflakebentley.com. Also… there are scientists at Caltech creating snowflakes in their lab to study how they are formed, and you can watch video clips of some of the snowflakes being formed on their site SnowCrystals.com.

Not just geeky knitting happens here…

Posted on July 16, 2012 by MissCarlotta

I realize that I knit quite a bit of geeky things… even my first quilt was all videogame blocks. But I do work on other more traditional beautiful projects. The banner above was a peg-rack full of scarves. So here’s a couple in the works projects…. (apologies in advance these are cell phone photos)

First I have some pieces that will eventually be a baby afghan. I don’t have children, and frankly don’t really know what I’ll do with it when its done, but I just liked the designs and was given some children’s weight/color yarn. So these are my edges based on and a wheat ear cabling. I like the leaf design, and my somewhat matching yarn is just the blue verigated with no greens…. I am thinking I will make it a tree row and then add a border.

Half Done with the second side.

Here’s a closer detail on the stitching.

To be fair, I’ve had that project on the needles for some time, was working on it while traveling and just getting distracted and kept pulling out rows because I flubbed it up and then going back… but I’m finally making some solid forward progress.

Second item…
I am working on my second quilt. The original plan was a very hawaiian style quilt, as a gift to my grandmother. She used to go to Hawaii every winter with my grandfather. And I wanted her to know how much I think about her and worry about her even though I am the world’s worst letter writer (in the mailing it out dept). However, my quilt blocks aren’t super Hawaiian, and fall more toward the snowflakes realm of things… so its a snowflake quilt. I have all my flakes cut out and I’m currently appliquéing them on.

Yes, I love snow.

Unfortunately my quilt shop near me is closing this month. 😦
Which has me all manner of sad, since the proprietor was the kindest and most helpful person in my quilting experiments. She always seemed sincerely interested in my quilting efforts, even though it was obvious the subject matter wasn’t familiar. So now.. my nearest fabric shop is once again.. at least 30 minutes away.

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