The Past Week

Dear Mom,
Except for the mountain that was plowed from the cul-de-sac into the front yard, all of last weeks snow has melted.
Revealing this-

One of the hundreds of crocus bulbs I've planted in the front yard. Last summer's heat and drought took it's toll and I neglected to add more to the lawn last fall. Hopefully this summer will be different and there will be another 100 bulbs blooming next spring. I get a thrill every time I see these brave flowers in my winter-brown lawn.

Yesterday I wore my Alpine Tweed sweater and the boldly patterned dress I sewed to church.

This dress is a lengthened Schoolhouse Tunic minus the pleats in the skirt. I wore this with a grey camisole and grey tights.  I love this cardigan. The dress is okay. I am still on a search for the perfect tunic/dress pattern. I saw Lisette pattern 2245 on Pinterest, ordered it, and it arrived on Saturday. I need some time to work up a little sewing bravery- I will mentally sew it a few times and then have to wake up one day with all the stars lined up and say to myself "today is the day"- and then I can start sewing on that one. Stay tuned.

By far, the very nicest thing that happened last week was this:

My friend, YarnshopAnne, made this quilt. For ME!
 

This was a thank you for a sweater I made and gave to her. She is most definitely Knit worthy, the sweater is perfect on her and I wanted her to have it with no strings attached and no thanks needed..... But I very happily accepted the quilt!

I have taken about eleventy-two photos of this quilt, and I move it about, trying it on in different rooms.  Right now it is on the railing between the family room and kitchen- pretty much so I can admire it all day long.

Thank you Anne!

Love,
Kim

A Confession

Dear Mom,
Way back in JUNE, Michele and I had a little exchange. We traded a pair of handknit socks and an appliqued quilt block.
That quilt block has waited so long to be finished. I was feeling guilty. Because it was so beautiful, I was afraid that I would ruin it. It has taken me this long to work up the courage.
Thursday evening I took a deep breath and turned Michele's applique into a very special pillow.

Michele had very thoughtfully sent along fabric for the backing. I just needed to sew in a zipper, stitch up the other three sides, and insert the pillow form. As with most things, it was the thinking about it that was the hard part. The actual doing it was a breeze. As I said, my fear of ruining it had paralyzed me. But this gift wasn't meant to be folded away and taken out occasionally to be admired. It deserved to be seen and shared and to remind me of the kind, special person who made it for me. It now sits where you see it in that photo- in my knitting nest. Thank you, Michele!

February's socks are ahead of schedule. This is even a man-sized pair!

I've pretty much only knit on these this past week. It would seem that my nasty too-much-winter dispostion has affected my knitting. None of my knitting in progress was appealing, and I mostly knit these socks by default. I couldn't even work up the enthusiasm to start a new project. But now that one sock is done and the second sock started, and the weather forecast is promising mid 30's today, 40's tomorrow and maybe even into the 50's (!!!!!) next week, I feel a glimmer of hope. And I made a second pair of Duffers last night! I'll share them here once they've been felted and finished.

Love,
Kim

The life of a quilt

Dear Mom,
With a shiny new engagement ring on my finger and the ink still drying on my License to Practice Dental Hygiene in the State of Indiana, I did what all graduates/brides-to-be did in 1982. (NOT). I took a quilting class. At the end of the 4 week class I had a set of placemats- an Ohio Star, a Drunkards Path, an applique and I can't remember what the 4th one was. My goal after the class ended, in fact, the whole reason for taking the class, was to make a queen sized quilt for our bed. For some reason making this quilt was as important to me as picking out china. Go Figure. Good thing ours was a long engagement.  And why I thought I could jump from a 4 week quilt class with 4 placemats under my thimble to a QUEEN sized quilt I have no idea, but it never occurred to me to do it any differently. (There is probably something very psychologically revealing in this, but as Popeye would say- I am what I am.)

Need I say it? The quilt was finished in plenty of time.

The entire thing was hand quilted.

I've never quilted again.

1983

The quilt, probably days after moving in. I want to laugh at the stark white walls of our apartment. And that I decorated (?!) the headboard with a framed picture, candlesticks and a dried flower arrangement. 
And as much as I loved this quilt then and the colors I chose, they are not what I would choose if I were to do it all again today.

Five years later, we were still using the quilt, and letting our dog sleep on it.

I see that my romantic notions of decorating the headboard have been replaced by a book and telephone.And that we still have stark white-ish walls and no artwork.

That quilt lived hard, was the best for napping under, was faded by the sun and wearing out in so many places it was overwhelming to me to think of repairing it. Plus my hand quilting stitches were never that good to begin with and there were sections that looked as if they had never been quilted at all. Eventually the quilt was folded up and stored away in an "I'll just fix that some other day" spot.

I don't know how long ago I decided that using the quilt for another purpose was better than not using it at all, and I will probably spend time in Quilt Purgatory for this, but I cut the quilt apart and made some placemats. Another cut and I made an ironing board cover.

Which brings me to yesterday.

When I purchased my spinning wheel, Daphne Joy, one of the main reasons I chose her was her ability to fold up and travel easily. Ashford makes carrying cases especially for the Ashford Joy wheels, but I would rather spend the $110+ on roving. Still, I felt like Daphne was sort of exposed when I carried her outside without benefit of a cover.

On one of my blog wandering days- don't we all have those?- I stumbled across the Two Kates Bag. I measured Daphne and dug through some fabric scraps, found more quilt parts and voila!~ a Two Kates Bag big enough for Daphne.

Rather than sew the handles together as the pattern instructs, I left them separated and added snaps so I could close the bag inside Daphne's built in handle.

By the way- next time you need a blog wandering day- take a look at Needled- the blog where I found the Two Kates Bag. Kate Davies is an inspiration.

Love,
Kim