The New Black

I have a new camera, or at least it is new to me, and so now I can almost capture the subtle colours of this dark on black quilt. It is a small little piece I made when I was making the bigger dark on black quilt. It was a way for me to test quilting on black fabric, but until I tried this new to me dslr, all I got was a black photograph.

This was a really fun little piece to quilt. One of the nice things about working small is how fun the quilting is to do. Eventually I will get a photograph of the back of the piece because it has a nice little surprise touch.

Winding it Up

I have been working on a project made from fine, lace weight yarn that came in hanks. Winding the hanks into balls was a slow and laborious process. Luckily, I had no trouble with the yarn being tangled, and I had a plastic bin that kept the yarn neat, while winding, but with 400 years per hank it was a slow process. After winding 2 balls with that method I changed rooms and bumped into my swiveling computer chair, draped with a fleece coat -- I was hit with the proverbial lightning bolt. The chair would be perfect for holding a hank. Without the coat the chair would be too small, but with the coat it is perfect. I bunched up the arms of the coat a little so that they hold the yarn and of course the yarn kind of clings to the fleece.

Winding the balls of yarn is still slow, but the process is much quicker because I do not need to unwind the yarn and navigate the corners of the bin, I can just gently push the chair so it spins and the yarn unwinds -- my own multi-use knitting knotty.

First Nine Patch Finished

Here it is quilted, washed, dried and hanging out on the line in the late afternoon shade. I am quite pleased with it and am looking forward to making the next iteration.

Nine Patch Nears Completion

Finally, I am at work sewing the binding onto my first nine patch quilt. Now, it is about time to start thinking about making the rest of the blocks for the second one, but I also have to finish up knitting a few scarves. Oh and I want to finish up a few caps to donate to a local charity that allows people to shop for supplies free and which makes up packs of gifts for kids at Christmas and since Oregon has seen a large increase in homeless school kids, I fear they have need for lots of things for children.

There are always a few choices about what to make and do.