Finished...unfinished

 

One finish for New Years' Eve...I started these years and years ago (a legwarmer pattern from knitty.com). After making a trip to the grocery store in cold, blowing snow yesterday, I came home, holed up with a couple of movies and finished off the foot of the second one.  We are so lucky to have a warm, cozy house, but when it gets this cold (still near zero when I got up this a.m.) they are a welcome addition to the day's wardrobe--even if they are knit from acrylic (because at the time I hadn't begun knitting socks).  Actually, I was making them for "Crazy Sock Day", part of a Read Across America celebration week in our school district. They're not as warm as if they had been made from wool, but I can wear a pair of wool socks beneath them, and they were knit from worsted weight, so they went pretty fast.

 I kind of stalled on this quilt, but hope to get in some sewing time and add borders today.  Every one of these kaleidoscope quilts I've done has received a different kind of setting. I can hardly wait to put feathers in those large sort of triangular areas along the edges.
Years ago I recognized that there were so many patchwork patterns I wanted to try, I'd probably never make the same pattern twice, but these kaleidoscopes became kind of addictive--or therapeutic. Up until the time I figured out how to do these, about the only pattern I'd repeated was a nine-patch.
At the same time I was figuring out how to do kaleidoscopes with repeating sections of fabric, Bethany Reynolds figured it out. She's made a career out of them.  I'm thinking this will probably be my last one unless I decide to make one from Noah's Ark fabric that's been sitting on the shelf for years awaiting my next kaleidoscope.  We'll see....

 I thought I'd attach the binding for this little quilt yesterday, but got sidetracked from that too.  These fabrics are my hand-dyes and were supposed to help me get out of my traditional little box--about ten years ago.  You'll notice that the squares still look like boxes, so what was I thinking!?  It's quilted with lovely feathers in metallic/holographic sliver thread--but I don't think it opened the lid on the box! It's taken a lot of years, a lot of life changes, and a lot of prayer to even open the lid on the box!  Actually, boxes are some of my favorite things! I kind of like opening the lid just a bit and peeking out. (It would be an entirely different matter if I were locked in a box and had no way to get out!) And I do enjoy the very real little boxes I've collected over the years!

My other New Years Eve Day project was washing a bunch of lace and linens--who knows when they'll get turned into some other projects--but at least they're clean!

Wishing all my family, friends, and blog readers a

Happy, Healthy, Prosperous 2011!