Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Mitered Square Blanket and No Laptop

I get a lot of questions and feedback about my knit mitered square blanket. I started another blog that just deals with my yarn projects http://easycrochetpatterns.blogspot.com/ because I thought maybe a lot of the quilters weren't interested in knitting and crochet projects.    If you want my version of the pattern, you can go there and click on the tab below the banner photo and print it.  You are supposed to use your leftover sock yarn on this blanket.  Now before you get too impressed and think I've knit this many pair of socks, scroll on down.
These are all of the yarn balls that I've gotten by trading with friends, and I did buy just a few skeins of my own to do this project.
I am struggling to do this blog post, because one of the hinges on my laptop separated away from the monitor, and the edge of the monitor was sticking out through the opening.  So my laptop is winging its way to Dell, and I am using our desktop.  When I left Office Max yesterday after dropping my laptop off for FedEx pickup, it felt a bit like when we took the kids to college for the first time and left them.  So I've turned to this:
And this:

With a fresh pitcher of this:
I've been busy appliqueing on my Hearts and Flowers quilt by Kim McLean and cutting out leaves, flowers, and circles from my new Kaffe fabrics.  When my husband gets home, I'll figure out where to stick my camera SD card in this computer so I can post photos of my progress.  This computer looks so big that if I put the SD card in the wrong place, it might swallow it whole.  Off to do some stitching. 

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Fabric Enhancement at Tennessee Quilts

Here are the fabrics that I bought at Tennessee Quilts.  I had been on a fabric diet for awhile before this trip.  Most of what I bought was either Kaffe Fassett or Phillip Jacobs.  I wanted to make sure that I have plenty of the brights to finish my Hearts and Flowers quilt by Kim McLean, and I stocked up to do her Stars and Sprigs coming out soon (I hope). 
I bought florals:

A few stripes:
Some dots:

The paisley jungle :
Some Phillip along with blue aboriginal dots:
This one because I thought it might come in handy sometime:

A bit of this and that:
And I also bought Kaffe's newest book :

 Today is September 26.  I know you don't want to be reminded, but 3 months from today will be the day after Christmas.  This is the time of year when I wish that I had started sewing Christmas presents in the spring and summer.  Here's a photo of the inside of the Christmas shop at Biltmore Estate.  Hope you are taking time to stitch today!!!



Friday, September 24, 2010

Visit to Tennessee Quilts

On vacation last week, we made a stop at Tennessee Quilts in Jonesboro, Tennessee.  I asked my hubby if it was on the way to Asheville, and he said it was even though we took some back roads that did a lot of twists and turns.  I am sure I was only in the store for 8 or 10 minutes, but he said it was an hour and a half.  I couldn't imagine how I could lose track of time in a quilt shop.  I have ordered from Tennessee Quilts on line before, so I knew they had some Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  I wasn't prepared for the number of bolts I saw.  They told me that they were pretty sure that they had every Kaffe fabric.  I can believe it.  I did do a bit of shopping (VBG).   I'll show you photos in my next post. 

This wall is all Kaffe.....and this isn't all of it.
Here is a closer look.  Notice up above the bolts there are groupings of 6 or 8 fabrics.  Those are bundles that they sell.  I picked up several bundles, but when it was all said and done I just bought yardage.  It was a bit like Hancocks of Paducah - kind of overwhelming.  I wanted one of everything. 
More Kaffe with some Paula Nadelstern to the left.  Over on the display at the right there is a pillow made from Kaffe fabric. 
This wasn't all Kaffe, but some of it was.  Notice the umbrella made from Kaffe fabric hanging from the ceiling.  It was a gorgeous shop, and I wish I had taken more photos. 
The bathroom was decorated in a pink flamingo theme.  The bathroom mirror had pink flamingo lights draped across it. 
There was even a pink flamingo wall hanging in the stall. 

This is the beautiful brick building that houses Tennessee Quilts.  Jonesboro was a pretty town.  I wish I could have spent more time there. 
The rockers on the front porch made you feel welcome even before entering.
More views of the mountains on the drive to the quilt shop.
The photo above was taken from the elevation of 2,966 feet.  We were a lot higher than that on the drive back through the Smoky Mountains.  I wasn't the only tourist taking photos of the signs.  There were even people posing beside different signs having their photo taken.  Yep, guilty! 



Happy Fall to everyone!!!!!!
I am working on my center of the Kim McLean Hearts and Flowers quilt that is in the Kaffe Fassett book Quilt Romance, and I will post it over on the Glorious Applique' blog after I get more of it stitched.  Hope you are all stitching today, too. 

Monday, September 20, 2010

Finished Table Runners and Small Quilt

When we went to North Carolina, I took enough hand sewing and knitting along that it looked I was going to attend a month long retreat.  Somehow in my mind I always think I will be able to sew and get so much more done than I actually do.  Maybe that is just the way a quilter thinks???   I was really too tired at night to do anything that I had to concentrate on a lot.  I did the machine quilting on these two table runners the week before we left, and while I was gone I sewed the bindings down.  I posted these two runners in a previous post as just tops.  One of the runners had a brown background.  I asked for input on which background you preferred, and the black background won hands down.  After seeing them side by side, I agreed that the black made the other colors pop.  So I took one apart and replaced the brown with black.  This runner pattern is in a book called Let's Do Lunch by Atkinson Designs.
This quilt was in my guest room upstairs.  Once in awhile I refold my quilts, and when I opened this one up the binding was sewn on by machine, but the handwork wasn't done.  No wonder it was folded with the binding where you couldn't see it.  So I took it along with me and finished sewing the binding on it, too.  The flowers on the corners are appliqued by hand, and I machine quilted this one. 
This photo was probably 2 1/2 or 3 feet wide.  As the elevator doors opened at the hotel in North Carolina, there were these two eyes glaring at you.   It was always good for a laugh. 

Hope you are finding time to stitch!!!!    

Friday, September 17, 2010

Beautiful Color

The gardens on Biltmore are just filled with beautiful color. You aren't going to believe this, but from Monday night until Tuesday morning, Biltmore House lifted the ban on taking photos in the house.  No, it wasn't because I asked about it and probably looked a bit cross at the guard.  They had changed their no photo policy overnight.  So before I toured the gardens, I went on another tour of the house and took some photos. 

This is my very favorite place in the house and the one I wanted you to see.  This is the winter conservatory.  This area is to the right of the main entryway. 
Here is my second favorite.  This is the loggia....the what?   I would call this a wonderful porch or veranda with a fantastic view. 
The grand staircase. 
Vanderbilt was a great collector of art.  The ceiling of his library was painted by Giovanni. 

I took a specialized tour yesterday that showed rooms that are not on the regular tour.  There were many Jan van Eyck sketches and works by Raphael.  Downstairs there are two Renoirs.  It was like touring a museum.

Here are some of the outdoor photos. 
When you reach the bottom of the trail, there is the Conservatory beyond the gardens.





There seemed to be a lot of red and purple used together.



Part of the water gardens.






I never get tired of the gorgeous view.  When Vanderbilt bought the land his estate is built on, he owned 125,000 acres. 
 Hope you are taking some time to stitch.  Oh, and there was a quilt shop stop on this trip.  More next time. 

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