Mini Mania Challenge June #16

This months challenge was Stars.   Easy you would think!  The first problem was the 3 colours that we were told to use being Yellow, Aqua, and Purple!  As you can imagine there was much discussion on what is Purple and what is Mauve!  Eventually, it was agreed that the Purple police would not be visiting, so just use what we had in our stash.  We could use as many shades of these colours to make our quilt, and there had to be at least 4 Stars and we could choose a different background colour.  My first thoughts were to make scrappy stars, but that didn't work for me, so I decided to play.

I started with a 12" block which I increased in size to give me an 18" finished block.

Then I started to reduce the star pattern, and tried to work in my colours

 I started with the smallest star, which measures 2" finished.   I then added that to my 4" finished block, hoping that my decreasing worked, and that it would all fit together.

  I  got a bit nervous after joining the first two so chose to make the big Daddy size star next.

It looks like its coming together

Just have to fill in the gap now..... that's three, now for the fourth.

Phew! that seems to work.

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The finished block is 18" square, contains the three colours, and 4 stars are (almost) 'present and correct'.  You can't see, on the photo, but each star is shadow quilted and  the outside of each star is quilted with a free motion vermicelli stitch. 

Go over to flickr to see all the other ladies mini quilts, and don't forget you can always join us.  I wonder what next month will bring????

   

Up and Down times....

All I seem to have been doing lately is getting in the car and travelling.  We have made the trip to London a number of times (nothing exciting - hospital visits)   We just seem to get over one journey then it's time to do it again. We also had offered to take our granddaughter to Heathrow as she was travelling to America joining one of the 'Camp America' groups for the summer, so that was another trip down the M1 and the dreaded M25. Actually we have been lucky with the traffic, so that's a bonus.  Mr. D and I had a trip to Cumbria, up there one day then back the next.  We had lovely weather while we were up there, walked along the prom at Grange over Sands, something we never did while we lived there, and I believe there was torrential rain and storms in the South - so once again we have to count ourselves as the lucky ones.

The weather this summer has been atrocious, but one flower in the garden seems to have benefited. With so much rain I have been picking the blooms and having the benifit of these beauties in the house

Beauties aren't they 

I can't say I have been in the best of spirits and there comes a time when you just need to get out and do something a bit different.  I used to do most of the gardening, but these days it's been handed over to Mr. D, still I needed to do some heavy digging.   I don't really enjoy weeding, but give me a patch of ground, a garden fork, and I am a happy bunny.

Clay soil, and full of clay....heavy work!

down and dirty! 

but not sure if its going to get finished today - look at the sky!

shirt off, must be warm!

There has been a bit of crafting going on, albeit only knitting.  I finished my first shawl in The Shawl Society over at Ravelry  and a finish to the scarf that I started after a trip to Purlwise, the yarn shop at Kimbolton, (I'm not sure if the pattern has a name),   It seemed if you bought the yarn you could have the pattern as a freebie Yeah!

Nice easy knit 

I also tried to make some sort of keeper for my double pointed needles, and my interchangeable needles.  It took me ages to start this project and I have to say it didn't have my full attention but I did get it finished.  Problem was, the first time I took it for a road trip the needles fell out......back to the drawing board!!

Looks good, but not practical

T-hen a friend showed me a neat keeper for double pointed needles, so I thought I would have a go

RESULT ...... for the double pointed needles, and I think it will work for the interchangeable

I expect the next time I see you it will be to show you this months Mini Mania Challenge.....goodness where does the time go????

Happy playing 

Knitting needles flashing away

I feel I have been neglecting my blog recently, so I apologise but I did show you my Mini Mania quilt in the making, and  I have been busy  knitting too.

It seems that shawls are the 'in' thing to knit at the moment and as I have some nice yarn stashed away, I decided to have a go.  This first yarn was bought last year at Fiber East and is a lace weight silk mix, which I think came in a skein of 110g.  and after completing the shawl I still have 79g left, so definitely enough for a second shawl.

This second shawl was made from a 20g ball of Subline Lace ( extra fine merino wool), well I say 20g, but I ran out of yarn as I was casting off so had to join the second ball for the last few stitches......still there is plenty left  for some fine knit fingerless gloves.

This was where I had to join the second ball...BOO HOO!

Blocking the shawl.....must find some pins now.

The other knitting I have been doing is the bead knitting for my half dolls.  Before I can start knitting I have to thread the beads onto my yarn, which starts with threading them onto sewing thread, then transferring the beads onto the cotton.  Believe me - threading the beads takes almost as long as the knitting, but it's a job that can be done while watching the T.V.

This is where it begins 

Transferred  to the  cotton and knitting on the go.

Finished 

A friend has some antique half dolls so I did a deal.......I would do the knitting and she would share one of her dolls with me.  

She chose her doll first, and I chose to use this skirt pattern.

Isn't she a darling!

For my doll I made the same skirt  but as she is a little smaller I altered the length of the skirt , but now I think it needs to be a bit longer, so maybe I will have to do some re-knitting

Lilac beaded skirt to go with her purple flowers

Our summer has been a long time coming this year, but one consolation is that these beautiful Iris's have lasted a lot longer in the cooler weather.

So pretty 

Hope to catch up again soon.