Workbasket #74

WIPs:

Potluck Cowl:

So close! I nearly finished the cowl. I decided to sew-off the binding to retain maximum stretchy-ness. At our Google meet knitting group, I was earnestly sewing the binding off when DC exclaimed. She thought that I was frogging this project (again) when she saw the long string of yarn being pulled away from the project. I am 1/6th of the way around the binding. I am sure to finish it during my next knitting night.

HP blanket:

Having taken the fabric off the back of the blanket, I had to find a more supporting way to back it. Something that would keep the boarders straight. After consulting Uncle Google, I found several examples of knit wall hangings being mounted on foam core board. After cutting the board to size, I used spray glue to attach a very thin layer of cotton quilt batting. On the reverse side, covered the back with the previously used piece of fabric. Using large whip-stitches, the back fabric was affixed to the batting on the front before attaching the knit blanket. The knit blanket was then stretched and attached to the edges, through the fabric, by small whip stitches.

Finding the center of each side of the blanket and the board, the pins were matched up and placed. Tiny whip stitches attaching the blanket at the edges. Every 5 stitches (or so), I would make 3 stitches on top on each other to hold the thread from pulling back out under tension.

Dolly Dearest:

Finding myself spending a lunchtime in my car without any other project to work on, this one made a hop from UFO list to WIP list. Most likely it will be a short lived stay, for the moment. This is the beginning of the next garment of Dolly’s ensemble.

LB’s Bday gift:

At 9 inches it was joined to be knit in the round. As of this moment it is back to 12 inches. Headed towards the cuff!

12 Days of Christmas Quilt:

Having taken out the offending stitches that caused the bunching and puckering, the quilting needed to be replaced after smoothing out the fabric. The front fabric is VERY patterned with quite a bit of white. It made it rather difficult to see the white marking lines to sew in the quilting. At some point, I had noticed that the back fabric was plain. This made it very easy to see the marks. The hand quilting went much faster then. If you look in the second photo, you can see the 3 leaves in the corner. 2 had been hand quilted from the back and one from the front. You may notice that the stitches look pretty good on the ones quilted from the back, and kinda wimpy on the other one. Conversly the 2 that look good from the back, look wimpy on the front. (sigh) As much as I enjoy hand sewing, it takes me considerably longer. Can you hear that? That is the sound of UFOs stacking up in the background. Having a few free hours this past weekend, I made the execuative decision to using the sewing machine. Carefully following the hand sewn stitches and then turning and back stitching took hardly any time at all to finish the quilting portion of this project.

I cut left over, back of quilt, fabric on the bias and pieced together quilt binding. Usually I cut it at 2 inches. This time I cut it at 3 inches. … I just realized something. I made this binding as if I was making bias tape. That isn’t how I have been taught to bind a quilt. Instead of folding each raw edge into the center, I should have just ironed it flat being folded in 1/2. Then the two raw edges are machine sewn down, all the way round the quilt edge. Leaving the folded edge to be hand sewn down on the other side of the quilt edge. This doubles up the fabric on the binding, making it two layers thick. You know… where there is lots of wear. I’m glad I figured this out as I was talking to you and before I actually started (or finished) sewing it to the quilt.

UFOs:

• Dr. Who Towels – Tardis
• Flower of the Month Embroidery – January