Cable Knit Hat Finish and a Quilt Near Finish

I finished my cable knit hat and I'm so excited with how it turned out. This has been a long project for me and several times I was ready to give up but kept pushing. Then I switched to Addi Turbo needles and it made all the difference! With the change I was able to finish the hat in record time and mark off another finish from my Q1FAL list. This is number six. Check it out...

This is the Traveling Cable Hat pattern which can be found here for free from the Purl Bee. This was my first attempt at cables and I missed two crucial crossover stitches. One I did did a round later (because I couldn't figure out how to go backward with the cables) and the other I missed completely. Other than that it was a fairly straightforward concept and I just love the end result.

It's starting to get too warm for a hat here in Iowa but I'm willing to overlook that to show it off a bit. It looked crazy long and skinny when I was working on it but it stretched out nicely to fit pretty well in the end.

You can see the missed stitch on the bottom right. I keep telling myself it's not that bad and it's in the back. I'm still in love with the hat and super happy with my first attempt at cables.

Not only did I finish the hat but I've been on a super housewife streak lately. I've been doing my chores every day before I craft and not only is my house a much cleaner place but we're all happier too and I'm getting a ton done. Since my floor was so clean and I'd already moved the chairs to mop I quickly spray basted this quilt and then mopped again.

I'm quilting this one with straight lines every 1.5" and I'm loving how fast and easy it is after all the pebbles of my last quilt. I also adore this fabric, it is Road 15 by Sweetwater for Moda.

I've completed over half the quilt so far and should be done in time for the quarter finish linkup. This is number four on my list.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll probably post the quilt finish later this week if everything goes to plan.

Lotus Pond Quilt Finish!

I am so excited to share this finish with you! I'm so pleased with many aspects of this quilt from the fabric, to the pattern and piecing, but I'm most excited about the quilting. Also exciting is that this finish crosses off so many things. This is my goal for March with ALYoF and is #17 on my Q1FAL list. I also made this with all stash making it another finish for Sew My Stash 2015. Without further ado...

Here it is!! See, love! The fabric is Lotus Pond by Rae Hoekstra for Cloud9. I love the bold colors and prints. I picked the Vintage Quilt pattern from Camille Roskelley's book Simply Retro to show off the fabric and it did a great job.

For the quilting I did pebbles in all the white spaces with some free-motion straight lines in the border. This was my first attempt at pebbles and I'm so happy with them! I was going for a bubbles in water and made them all different sizes.

I think this is my favorite block. I adore these multi-colored snails. If you would have told me before this fabric that snails were cute I would have thought you were crazy but I love this.

I love this picture because there are so many great things to look at. You can see the fun snail backing fabric, the frog binding, my tag from yardage by Sweetwater for Moda, and how I did the borders/corners. The quilting on this one took me over three weeks of free-time but so worth it!

Now it is waiting for me in my favorite red rocker for some naptime reading. My daughter just finished this book and asked me to read it so we could talk about it together. The book is Scat by Carl Hiaasen and it's fun so far.

Quilt Stats:
Fabric: Lotus Pond by Rae Hoekstra for Cloud9
Pattern: Vintage by Camille Roskelley
Quilting: FMQ pebbles and straight lines by me.
Finished size: Twin

Thanks for stopping by! I'm linking up today with TGIFF and Fabric Frenzy Friday and Finish It Up Friday.

WiP Update and a Finish

I've been having a hard time blogging lately, especially in March. You see, about 3/4 of my traffic comes from Crazy Mom Quilts and her Finish It Up Friday linky. Without it I just don't get a ton of traffic and I take the time to work on a lot of labor intensive but little to show for it projects. Thus, the lack of posting as they would all pretty much be the same. However, you can find me fairly active on Instagram @julieschloemer.

That being said I do have some fun stuff to show you today. An eclectic collection of what I've been working on and finally another finish off my Q1FAL list.

This is number seven on my Q1FAL list. My daughter and I bought these cute wool pin cushions in October when we went to the AQS show in Des Moines. With the crazy move shortly after and getting settled down we just now got to them. Hers is finished too but she took it to school to show off so I had to go with an older shot. I love how these turned out but I know I won't be sticking any pins in them.

Another quick finish was this little pouch for my SIL who drove me all around Austin during my recent trip to Quiltcon. She was so sweet and told me how much she loved mine over and over that I thought I'd whip one up for her. The best part, it was all out of my stash, even the zip.

My SIL also got this cool crochet dragon. I made her one a long time ago but she gave it away to a sweet little boy from her class that ended up in the hospital. She teaches third grade in Texas. I think this one turned out even better than the first one so her generosity turned out well.

In other news I finished quilting my Lotus Pond quilt. This isn't the best picture but it has been raining and cloudy ever since this and it's the best I have right now. I did pebbles in all the white areas and a piano key-esque thing in the border. I love it and can't wait to show it off!

I'm really big into swaps on Instagram right now. Currently I'm enrolled in seven. This project is for the Cotton and Steel mini swap. My partner isn't very active on Instagram and has said nothing on any of my posts or, for what I can tell, anyone else in the hashtag. I hope she love it because I do!

I'm also finally putting my Miss Kate fat quarter bundle to use making a giant swoon. I'm doing 16 blocks instead of the usual nine. To help keep me motivated but not overwhelmed I joined up with the #swoonalong2015 and am making 2 blocks a month. I missed February with all the quiltcon and other craziness so here I am all caught up.

My knit cable hat is going so much better now. I was doing it on some bamboo needles and it was frustratingly slow. I switched to some Addi Turbo needles I grabbed off Amazon and I'm loving this project now and might actually have it finished this quarter!

I'm putting the binding on my Lotus Pond quilt and I'm so excited! This is my ALYoF goal for March and I totally think I can finish in time!

Here's a little peek of what is coming in the future. I either got these in the mail or picked them up at my new favorite LQS. The top left three are going to be Sailor Tops for me, my first ever attempt at a top. The others are for commissions, stash, or swaps.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to get back into a more regular blogging groove soon but my smallest one is going to have her tonsils removed the beginning of April so we'll see how that goes. I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.

Savor It: ALYoF Goal and Project Updates

My week has been crazy to say the least. There hasn't been a lot of time for crafting but what time I have had was taken up by labor intensive low-output projects which, thankfully, I'm loving right now. I've got a new motto: savor it. So often I try to rush through to start the next thing and I often find myself dissatisfied with my crafting. It's not relaxing me the way it should and it has stopped being as fun. So this week, I took the time to craft when I wanted to and otherwise playing with my kids and tried to enjoy my family. To savor it.

Here I am in my Patchwork Threads shirt with the cable hat. I think the problem is the needles. I've become used to Addi Rockets and these bamboo ones, while nice, are so much slower. I thought I'd want slow with cables because I thought it'd be hard but it's really not that bad.

I realize you can't see the hat very well in the last shot so here it is. This is the Traveling Cable Hat from the Purl Bee. I'm on my third of four repeats in the cable pattern, so basically halfway through. I want to say I've been working on this for like 6-8 months but I only started knitting in October so it can't be that long, hehe. This is what prompted my savor it movement. I want to enjoy working on this hat and, even if it takes longer, appreciate the beauty of it and the skills I'm picking up. Which brings me to my ALYoF goal...

 

This awesome quilt is my ALYoF goal for March. I'd like to have it finished by the end of the month so I can enjoy it before it gets too hot here. Ever since I bought this Lotus Pond fabric I knew I would love this quilt. I looked long and hard for a pattern I loved that would show it off. This is the Vintage pattern from Camille Roskelley's book Simply Retro. Then I waited until after my Quiltcon class to quilt it so I would be prepared to make it awesome.

Here's a shot of the quilting. I did free motion all over with straight-ish lines on the borders and then bubbles/pebbles in the triangles and squares. I am loving the whole process of this one! It's slow but I think I'm truly savoring every stitch and enjoying the view as I work. I've reached the halfway point with this one and while I'm excited to get it done I'm not rushing.

While I craft I love to listen to music, provided no one is napping. Three of my five kids were having an adorable little dance party. I adore how cute they are and how they don't even have to try to go with the flow.

Here's my last project of the week. This Fierce Little Dragon - pattern here. I asked my kids if it looks like a dragon and my eldest daughter, always the people pleaser said a hesitant yes. I told her I thought that it kind of look liked a snake. She heaved a huge audible sigh of relief and said, "I thought so too but I didn't want to hurt your feelings. It looks like a snake that swallowed something and is happy."

So that's me for the week. No finishes but a lot of progress. I think I may need to whip up a small zipper pouch so I can keep savoring my other projects and still feel a sense of accomplishment. Thanks for stopping by!