December

 I finished a cowl and won some fabric.

This cowl was knit for a daughter-in-law who celebrated a birthday. Her favourite colour is purple. It's made from double knit washable wool.

This is a slightly better photo of the colours.

I belong to two quilt guilds and the meetings have been online via zoom. I won the three fabrics on the right just for being a member and showing up. The guild guest speaker for November was Jenni Smith who wrote a book on the history of Liberty of London fabrics. One of the quilt shops in Toronto, the Country Clothesline donated 3 groups of fat quarters that night and so the guild had a draw. I was lucky the second time around. I now need a good pattern to use up the Liberty of London fabrics.

Favourite knitting

 Ever since I knit my first hat, I have enjoyed making them. Recently, my daughter asked me to make some hats for her sons and so, I picked up a skein of yarn and did some browsing on Ravelry. I wanted to try some other hat patterns so I printed off some patterns and away I went. 

I had a skein of green and it was close to the colour that was in the variegated yarn that I bought. This helped me to stretch the amount and I ended up making these three hats. I think my favourite is the one on the right - the all rib hat. I like toques to have a fold-over and this one turned out great. I did make one in a different variegated - a beige and brown but, since my son liked it and it fit, I gave it to him. This hat fits many head sizes because it has so much stretch to it.

***************

Note: See the comments for pattern information for all three hats.

First snowfall and hall quilts

This is what we woke up to this morning. 

It started late last night.

The flakes were just light last night - just after midnight.

This morning the flakes were big. I went out as soon as I got up and swept the sidewalk and driveway.

I love the look of the snow on the bare branches.

There is no one tree that is prettier than the others when the snow blankets them.

Harry the scarecrow was on the hall wall but he's in the cupboard now.

This is the backing fabric.

I don't always try to match the back with the front but this fabric just seemed to fit.

The little quilt was made in 2016.

Bob the snowman took Harry's place on the hall wall. He goes up on the day of the first snowfall. 

This was a piece of fabric that was on my shelf in the sewing room and I decided to use it for the back.

It just seemed to be the perfect piece. I don't know where it came from but I think a friend of mine gave it to me.

The front fabrics and the pattern were a kit from a quilt shop that has now closed. Originally, the fabric that was behind Bob, that was provided in the kit, was too dark so I changed it. I don't often use a pen to label my quilts.

This is one of my favourite quilts. It's small but it never made it to the wall. It has no sleeve for hanging. I put it in my sewing room so I can get a  sleeve put on. It has no name but I did embroider 2019 on the back.

 

Kitchen reno update

 It's moving forward and will soon be totally finished.

My backsplash tile. I love them.

Each coloured tile has a light, medium and dark, along with the fact that they are not totally flat. The pattern is all random. As the tiler was putting them up, I handed him the tile that I wanted next. 

I really wanted to add a nice lime green as a 'pop' tile but they didn't have the right shade of green so I found these tiles that had shades of the same colour and went with them instead. 

There is still work to be done and handles to be installed. I'll take photos again and share them with you once it's all completely finished.

The big reno

 It has begun. My kitchen is being demolished.

The white wall had tall cupboards.

There's lots of light coming in.

My children didn't like my desk and thought it was just a catch-all. I always thought it could have been used to do homework but it never was.

It all went out the back door. 

The peninsula is gone (but it will come back.) The microwave will be moved. It was always in an awkward spot. There will be less cupboards.

These will be gone.

The lighting will be potlights and pendant lights over the peninsula. The flooring will be removed. You can tell by the floor where the tall cupboards used to be. All gone and not coming back. It will be a big kitchen with lots of wall space.

Still sewing

I had to update some items that I made years ago. I had the fabrics, the pattern was oh so easy but I lacked initiative and time.

My twin granddaughters turned 7 last month and they had needed bigger hooded towels for a couple of years now.

My daughter Maili agreed to model them for me since the girls are not allowed to have their photo on social media.

These were birthday gifts but not total surprises since I had them choose the flannel and the towel that they wanted. This one was Mackenzie's choice.

This is the flannel that Severn chose.

They are long on the girls but not quite floor length.

Severn had first choice of fabrics and she chose this turquoise colour towel. Her favourite colours are actually pink and purple but I didn't have any.

I purchased the flannel a couple of years ago in Stratford, Ontario when my husband and I were travelling around collecting patterns for Row by Row.

This was in Fabricland and the words are all Finnish words. That's the reason I bought it - my heritage is Finnish. Severn chose the flannel because she likes cats. I also have a smaller piece of the same fabric but with a pink background. It just wasn't enough for the whole hooded towel. On hindsight, I could have made the hood part in pink. Oh well.

I did make one for their cousin Teemu since he was in need of a bigger one but I forgot to take photos.

Today

 Happy Thanksgiving.

These are two of four loaves I made. 

We had our big feast yesterday and the day was perfect. Family time. Lots to eat - outdoor style since my kitchen is being renovated. 

Testing, testing - again

I am a pattern tester for a few quilt designers. One of those designers, Aimee Leptick of The Little Bird Designs needed a pattern tested with a quick turnaround. It was a paper pieced pattern and since I had tested another paper pieced pattern for her, a landscape (you can find it here), I thought I would give it a go. I did have other sewing to do but I made the time to this.

This is the first part.

The pattern is 15" X 22.5" and since there are several large pieces in the pattern, I sewed a basting stitch in the seam of those pieces. As a matter of fact, I sewed  basting stitches on several smaller pieces just so things would be easier to sew together.

Here's my take on the finished block. The original pattern shows a pink truck on a background that is all one colour but since I like blue and have quite a bit of it, I made my truck blue. I also wanted it to be travelling down a road and the pattern pieces easily lent to changing the fabric evenly. I'm sure this would look great if I were to use trees as the overall background or maybe a fabric that had houses printed on it. There are loads of possibilities.

There is another version of this block that includes an evergreen tree in the back of the truck which would be perfect as a Christmas wall hanging or included in a Christmas quilt. It's a great pattern and you can find it here as a single truck or as a combination pattern which includes the evergreen tree. 

Both patterns and the bundle are on sale until the end of September.

Have fun with it.

Something new from something old and other small projects

 Sometimes you can extend the life of an outfit.

I made two outfits that were similar for my twin granddaughters when they were about two (they turn 7 this month.) This is the top (minus the ruffle) and there were shorts too. It's a fairly loose fit and it has a zipper in the back. One of the twins' cousins is still wearing the top even though she is a size 4. It was just a bit short and I decided that I could add a ruffle so it would look a bit nicer. I couldn't find the fabric that I used but I did find something that was a close match. It just so happened that there was a lot of that fabric and since I had just finished sewing a little dress for another granddaughter, the pattern I used included pedal pushers (or Capris or cropped pants) with a ruffle on the hem of the legs.

Here's the new outfit. I hope she gets some wear out of it since the summer is almost over.

I finished another hat for one of the grandchildren. I'm stockpiling in anticipation of cold weather needs. This is number two. The pattern is free from Ravelry and is called Citrus Hat by Laura Treadway. The one from the previous post was called Rusty Barn Hat by Christy Houghton. I'm trying to add to my repertoire of hats. So far, I haven't found one that equals my favourite, Bankhead hat by Susie Gourlay. All the hat patterns are found free on Ravelry.

I also finished a small, preemie hat. This pattern is one of my favourites for babies. The pattern can be made in any size and it stretches so it fits different sized heads. The pattern is Bev's Baby Ribs pattern from Bev's Country Cottage.

These are what I finished up yesterday. Six face masks for a wedding party. The front of the mask matches the groomsmen's ties. The lining for the three men has golf clubs and balls because the groom likes to golf. For the bridesmaids, the lining is nurse-related because the bride is a nurse. I threaded thin elastic into the sides but left them untied so that the wearer could adjust it to their own liking.

We finally have some cooler temperatures and very little, if any, humidity so it's quite comfortable outside. I noticed that at 7 o'clock this morning it was 13C with blue skies. That makes it lovely walking weather. Stay safe and don't forget to wear a mask.

A few little things

There is a list of things to make and it changes every once in a while. I haven't finished the l sweaters that I was knitting but I got into knitting hats instead. 

This little hat is a preemie size.

I thought I would try taking a photo of the little hat with different backgrounds.

I needed to make something that I could finish quickly and I also wanted to make something for charity. In this case a NICU department in a hospital.

Today, I finished this little dress. It sat unfinished for a couple of months because the neckline and armholes were to be finished with single fold bias tape and I don't particularly like this finish because it tends to pucker. I initially cut it and was going to finish it for my youngest granddaughter's birthday - in June. It's still hot enough so she will get some wear out of it yet.

I finished this hat today too. I have decided to make several hats for my grandchildren for the coming colder months. This way I will have some on hand for when they are needed. I've never used this pattern before and it's OK but I may not make another one. There are a couple of different patterns that I want to try out and I have the yarn so while I am watching TV in the evenings, I can knit hats.

My eldest son Mark came over the other day and brought his three daughters. They brought strawberries to share with their cousins and they gave me these lovely lilies. I have not had anything in my kitchen for months so these made the kitchen a much nicer place to be in.