Gotland Yarn

[Shari]

Spinning up the first ply, to what will be a two ply fingerling weight yarn.

Gotland is the wool they used for the, Lord of the Ring, series. Is very soft... though a bit of a challenge to spin.

So what is everyone else working on?
Quilting?

Sewing?
Crafts?

 

[chandab]

I'm working on a couple of quilts, they are commissioned, and as I've only shared this one block with the commissioner of the quilts, it's all I'll share here.



The rest of the fabrics in the quilt are a cute paisley, a viney pink and a butterfly print.

I've actually about got both tops done, now just waiting on the batting to arrive; the backing arrived a few days ago (it was at that point that I discovered I was out of batting).

 

[Shari]

They are beautiful!

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Shari that yarn looks so soft. My son's girl friend would love your yarns. Too bad we are so far away I would talk you into selling me some for her Christmas present this year. Now I am inspired to find a local spinner and see what they have for yarns. It would be a unique gift tht she wouldn't get for herself.

Thanks... I had no idea until now what to get for her.

Chanda that is a very pretty start. I keep saying I'm going to try quilting but haven't yet. All I do is dog collars (I put their name and owner's phone# on them) and table runners, placemats (neither quilted) and a the occasional baby blanket or bib/burp cloth set. No pictures tho.

 

[chandab]

Chanda that is a very pretty start. I keep saying I'm going to try quilting but haven't yet. All I do is dog collars (I put their name and owner's phone# on them) and table runners, placemats (neither quilted) and a the occasional baby blanket or bib/burp cloth set. No pictures tho.

Thank you. Sounds like you do a lot. If you haven't started quilting, my first quilt book was "your first quilt book, or it should be" by Carol Doak; it was an very good beginners book with out talking down to the reader. I made a quilt for my mom out of that book, don't have a picture, as it was before I was keeping any kind of record of my quilts. Should pull it out again, and try more of the patterns in the book.

 

[Charley]

Love the yarn and the fairy quilt. I'm not making anything at the moment. We are in the process of moving back to our farm and remodeling. I'm feeling like a yo-yo between Georgia and Virginia. We don't even use the GPS anymore....the van knows the way! I am looking forward to setting up my craft room. But first things came first..my tack/feed room is set up and cleaned up. It is so good to be back with my little horses! Hope to get our furniture moved in December. Our move should be complete by the beginning of 2014. Can't wait for normal life again!

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Thank you Chanda, I will see if I can find that book. I don't really know the first thing about quilting (well I get the piecing part of it since my mother quilted) and need something to give me a clear step by step to get started. Most of what I have seen talks about ironing every seam, is that something you find necessary? I hate ironing and try to avoid it, lol, I of course have to iron the table runners and place mats when I make them but with a quilt that seems like lots of ironing.

 

[Charley]

I also hate to iron....but many times it is necessary. I do a lot of finger pressing and pinning, but eventually I have to iron to get the seams to match and my finished piece to look the best it can be.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

'sigh' I was afraid of that Charley.

I seem to recall my mother having her ironing board permanently set up in her sewing room. If she ironed it was probably easier to work with the pieces if she ironed the seams because I'm pretty sure I got my dislike of ironing from her. I wish I'd paid more attention when she was around to answer these questions.

 

[chandab]

Yes, there is some ironing (actually they call it pressing in quilting, cause actual ironing can distort the seams), but since I mostly do simple patterns with just squares and rectangles and limit the triangles I use, I find I have less seams to press. Also strip piecing seems to reduce the amount of pressing to do. I'd still see if you could find that book in the library, and at least take a look at it and see if quilting is something you really want to try. I find it enjoyable, even with the pressing.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I do intend to check our local library for the book. I've seen plenty of tutorials on line but I'm a book kinda person and like to have a reference book to flip thro rather than trying to find it on line all the time. Good tip about ironing vs pressing. both require the same equipment tho. I love quilts and have designed several, I used to design for/with my mother but she did all the real work. It is something that makes me think of her and I think making a quilt would make me feel closer to her somehow. Anyway if I ever do get brave enough to try to make a quilt I'll try to take some pictures and post them on here

 

[chandab]

When you are ready, start with something small; a table runner, wall-hanging, up to lap quilt size; don't over-face yourself and you'll be less likely to get discouraged and quit. Most of mine are still small, as I want to be able to do all of it myself, and I can only quilt up to a small twin size on my home machine (I did buy one for quilting with a large harp, but not as big as a full-quilting machine would be), so most of mine are baby and lap size plus table runners and such.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Have you ever done any hand quilting? How difficult is it to learn and do? I have a Janome machine and the book talks about its quilting stitches but it seems it might be a bit challenging to do more than a smallish piece on it.

 

[chandab]

I'm not patient enough to do any hand quilting, but I think I tried a little bit on my niece's quilt, I hand quilted hearts in the blank squares (at least I think this was the quilt, my niece is 9 now, so quite awhile ago).

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

What a feminine little quilt that is. Just right for a girl who likes princesses and flowers and that kind of thing. LOL. Well in truth even a tomboy type girl would love it (I would have and I sure wasn't - am not- a girly girl ) Lovely.

 

[chandab]

Thank you. I wish I had a better picture of it, but at least I have a picture. There are many quilts I made, that I never took a picture of, didn't think of it at the time. Now I try to take pictures of the finished product to save (some I just have pics while I'm working on it, and I forget to take finished pics).

Here's my favorite quilt, its a keeper:



I made this one for my sister, but I can't remember if it was for my nephew or one she asked me to make for a fried of hers:





Here's one I made for my sister for a fundraiser they donated to for something (it has kitties on it):



Here's the only quilt I've ever made that someone else quilted (I needed a big quilt in this case, and it was too big for me to quilt, a friend quilted it in exchange for fabric), my sister wanted a quilt for them to watch TV as a family together, they lay it out on the floor and all lay on it to watch movies (or used to when I made it 7 years ago):

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Oh my, my favourite is the one with kitties.

I would make one like that for my daughter who's room is done in purple and mauve and cream. It would be perfect and she'd love those kitties

. I really like the pattern on the last one too, it took me a while to figure out it is pinwheels since it is draped over something that allows for valleys and peaks it looked like just randomly spaced squares lol, I was thinking, "wow, that one would be tough to make" then I realized what the pattern was. I still think its a nice pattern. Maybe its the time of year but I am really getting in the mood to sew (and your quilts are really tempting me to give that a try) I must get to the library and see if I can find that book you recommended. Today I think I will use some of the fleece I've got and try an eternity scarf. I am not sure how it will work out but people knit them (I can't knit ) so a stretchy knitted fabric should work I hope.

BTW, Shari, I am sorry we've hijacked your thread about that lovely yarn.

 

[chandab]

The last quilt is a basic block, one called square in a square, but then I used uneven setting triangles to tilt the blocks.

I'd have to look to see if I still have the book or pattern for the kitty quilt, but I think it's a pattern that uses large pieces to make one big block to make a quilt (instead of several regular size blocks to make a quilt).

 

[Charley]

Regarding hand quilting. I do love to do this. It is the original way that I learned to quilt. But I have come to love to machine quilt also and find that family and friends do not know the difference. To me, I prefer to do hand quilting on smaller items such as purses but when it comes to lap/baby size quilts I prefer to machine quilt. It does take a lot longer to hand quilt and I am always jabbing my fingers with the needle....something I have avoided with machine quilting.