Finished Knit

A finished pair of socks.  Traditional Gansey stitch pattern.  No written pattern since I did toe up two-at-time on circular needles with a heel variation. There is a bit of stellina fiber in this yarn.  My concern that it might be a bit scratchy was entirely unfounded.  I don't feel it, but I do love the bit of sparkle.

I started these about a week into April, knowing I was going to have  time merely waiting on other people to do things in April and that, secondly, this is historically a very windy month, and knitting is a good distraction. Therefore, knitting socks allowed me to be productive instead of crazy.

I've decided I need more fuchsia yarn for more fuchsia socks, although mostly I just need more socks because the ones I began knitting about eight or nine years ago are wearing out--not that my early socks fit all that well anyway.  This is a great time to knit socks since there are so many indie dyers doing absolutely amazing yarn dyeing on such a wide variety of bases.

This afternoon I'm tying to finish up another pair of socks that had been languishing since sometime in 2016. This has been a good weekend for knitting since it came with a major cold-front, high winds, and a reported nine inches of snow.  This snow storm was the only major snow storm we've had this winter (aside from quite a few little ones).  It was fascinating to hear and sometimes watch the snow slide off my less-than-a-year-old metal roof. I'm thinking the drip line below my roof is going to be a wonderful place for some blooming plants, since if we have a normal winter with normal snows and a normal summer with normal monsoons, a lot more moisture will be benefiting the soil.

I am still trying to figure out what I'd like to grow as a ground cover. Someone suggested vinca major, so I may try some of that. While I'd love to grow rosemary and lavender, I priced bulk rosemary seed and about fell over.  I had an ever-expanding rosemary patch that was obliterated last year when I lost control of the yard and had to hire someone to mow it while I was at work.  I'm hoping some of the rosemary will reappear this year; if so, I'll begin moving it to a better location. Because of our high wind/desert location, our choices for ground cover are somewhat limited. (Not the my neighbor's invasive sumac and choke cherries have gotten the message that we don't want them!)

Less than a month until the end of my school year.  Two weeks until my daughter  graduates with a Bachelor's in Materials Science & Engineering.  She'll be home while she works in ABQ at her summer internship and then will head back to Socorro for her master's degree.  I'm hoping I can be more productive in the housekeeping and quiltmaking departments this summer.

Happy quiltmaking, knitting, etc.,

Simply Sweet (1/2017 FNSI III)

I can't believe I finished this quilt top in a weekend!  Of course, I did not finish the laundry and some of the housework!

(I  need a design wall, but I no longer have a good place to put it.)

The four patches were pieced from a charm pack of  Northcote Range (Moda) in 2012.  They were done shortly after the assault/brain injury, and I don't know why I didn't finish them sooner, except that life became even more complicated, and I just persist in designing quilt after quilt in my head, and it takes much, much longer to create a real quilt.

This did take many more hours than I would have predicted.

 The four patches include all but a few of the charms from the pack, because the stripes were large and wouldn't have worked.  Five strips of seven 4-patches.  The rose on white strips were cut 2.5 inches, and the borders were cut six inches. And now that it's all assembled, it still reminds me of quilts from my childhood, except that where I grew up in the Midwest most of the quiltmakers at that time would have used a solid white instead of the rose print.  I just love that rose print.  I also have another pack of the charm squares, but not enough of either the blue or the rose print to make a twin to this quilt.  It's about 46" by 56", and will be smaller after quilting. I don't have yardage that will work for the back (imagine that!), so it will be a while.

It's so quietly sweet and simple. So, I'm naming it Simply Sweet.

While it's just the top, I'm going to count it as my first finish of 2017.  It was good to focus on this quilt top instead of other things, like the national news, for example.  (I'm pretty sure there has never before been this kind of ugliness this long after a Presidential election within my lifetime.) And while I was praying for whoever will receive this quilt, I'm also praying for my 20 year old nephew Thomas who's been hospitalized in Houston.  So, good use of my weekend.

Back to work tomorrow, and expecting more winter weather.

I linked to Freemotion by the River, Let's Bee Social and My Quilt Infatuation.

Happy quiltmaking and creating,

January FNSI Sewing

This is all I managed last night, and all I've managed as of 11:00 this a.m.  I have spent hours looking for rulers, specifically for a 25 year old Omnigrid triangle ruler that is no longer being manufactured.

I'm thinking this means I am probably going to have to order Bonnie Hunter's new Essential Triangle Tool. For today, I'll have to make do with something else, and rejoice that I relocated some rulers I'd stashed on a shelf and forgotten. I didn't forget the rulers; I merely forgot where I stashed them!

We had wind, rain, sleet, and snow this morning, so we cancelled our Victory Prayer Quilt Sew-In. Now the snow clouds have dissipated, but the wind is so high that with the temperature a little above freezing, the snow is both melting and evaporating.  I'm thinking I don't need to go out and check how bad the mud is, right?

Happy creativity, dear readers,

Mrs. Lebo's Legacy VI

Blocks 8 and 9 of my checkered Dresden are finished!

Last night we had no internet access, and that made it a perfect time to give 100% of my concentration to applique.  Although I was very tired, I appliqued block 8.  It's true that without the distraction of laundry, a movie, or music, I managed an entire block in just under an hour.

Tonight I decided to forego distractions and applique the last block.

They are such happy blocks.  They remind me of the colors in the Dick, Jane, and Sally readers.  Since I really wanted to learn to read, I really loved those books.  Some of that carries over into my response to Sandy Klop's fabrics.  Most of these prints are from Moda's Bread'n'Butter by American Jane [Sandy Klop].  Now that these are done, I'm sorry that I resisted quilting with these colors for so long.  My excuse was that they don't go with my house.  However, I'm getting old, so I'm tossing that excuse out the window!

I'm not sure when this quilt will be finished.  I can probably get the blocks set together this weekend, but I'm going to have to order more border fabric.  I've decided I might as well go all out and use a red print!

The message our ISP posted on their phone system was that most of their New Mexico customers were without service, and they didn't know when it would be restored.  When I finally reached a tech support person later that night, she said the outage might be connected to our wind storms, but she really couldn't say for sure.  At the moment our service is slower than when we were on dial-up, so I hope they get it fixed soon, preferably before the next round of wind and storms arrives. We're currently at 0.04 Mbps.  So, now we have more recent experience with what internet service was like in the  "old days." Something like this certainly makes us grateful for the technological advances of the last few years.

Happy quiltmaking,...

Mrs. Lebo's Legacy V

Still at work on the applique for these checkered Dresden plate blocks.  Here's what I have so far (in fast photos because I have too much to do before bedtime and too little time to do it). I also don't have a handy place to take good photos, so I'll do that later, but these show the variety of wedges created from one 42 strip jelly roll of American Jane's Bread 'n' Butter and four additional strips of fabric.

The seventh of nine blocks is about half done and under the needle of my treadled Necchi.

I'm using a 2 mm stitch length with a 1 mm zigzag. This experience really has me wishing for a hand crank machine that does zigzag, but I'm not at all sure such a machine exists. I think by the time Singer had built in zigzag the machines could no longer be converted to hand crank. One lesson learned: assemble the wedges, glue baste the center circle (I used Elmer's water soluble school glue--dot, dot, not a lot), pin to background square (heavily spray starched square); applique center first, and fine tune pinning of wedges and then applique them.  That works much, much better than appliqueing center to the Dresden plate before placing it on the background.

I promise to shoot better photos in better lighting later. I'm feeling a little shaky because right now our winds are 39 mph at 49 degrees with intermittent precipitation and all this noisy weather  makes me more than a bit discombobulated! The wind speed is predicted to drop after midnight.  I certainly hope it does! I'd fall asleep to music, but if I do, it's likely I won't wake up when my radio alarm goes off at five in the morning.

Happy quiltmaking,....

Mrs. Lebo's Legacy IV - Progress

We had major weather overnight, making this a perfect day to work on my Dresden plate quilt.

 I did decide to use the yellow print for the center of the plates.  This gave me the chance to revert to my old ways of applique.  I cut the circles from card stock, and got out an ancient piece of beeswax, and my treasured thimble that was a gift from an elderly lady in Cleveland, Tennessee when my grandmother's thimble, complete with a monogram D, disappeared.

 This sterling thimble with nice, deep serviceable dimples is lovely, and a great consolation for the loss of my paternal grandmother's sterling and gold thimble.

 I gathered the circles around the cardstock and then pressed them well.  Handwork is slow stuff, but the circles needed to be circles.

 The interfacing method didn't work well at all, despite careful stitching and turning and pressing.

 The applique is being done with a tiny zigzag on my vintage Necchi treadle.  I sought out the Necchi years ago because I wanted to treadle a machine that could zigzag.

 I quickly realized I needed an open toed foot for better visibility, so I pulled out these two.  Necchi BUs are high shank machines.  I'm not at all sure of the intended purpose of these feet.  The one on the right is working just fine, so I didn't try the one on the left.

 The one on the left is covered with this textured plastic/silicone(?) piece.  I'd love to know its intended use. (Edited to add: Gypsy Quilter says it's for sewing on buttons--so the foot will hold them in position and not damage them.  See her comment below.)

 Here's the first block completed.  I did begin and end the zigzag with long thread tails that I pulled to the back and knotted for security.

Although it feels like the applique takes forever, it is nearly invisible and is taking a lot less time than hand applique.  Hopefully, Dolly Shreve Scheer, who did incredible hand applique, and whose partially finished applique inspired me over 40 years ago, would approve.

Since this will be machined quilted, I'm not trimming away the background as I did with the first Dresden plates I created long ago.

I awoke several times last night with the roof being pelted with ice.  When I braved five degrees this morning to do minimal shoveling and wheel the garbage out to the street, the snow was quite powdery above the layers of snow pellets. When I was a kid, all the adults said that if the temperature reached 10-degrees, it was too cold to snow.  Clearly not the case today east of the Sandia mountains in New Mexico. I'm not sure it reached twenty today. Despite ample sunshine, nothing melted. We cancelled our appointments, stayed in and, aside from cooking, I worked on my quilt.  The College girl watched Poirot, napped, and texted friends.  (She learned this week that her acceptance to graduate school is sitting on the desk of the Dean of Students, who will be back on campus on Wednesday.  I'm delighted with how hard she has worked and of the success she is building for her future.)

As these storms move east across the U.S., I hope everyone stays warm and happily busy.

Happy quiltmaking, knitting, etc.,

Quilting Inspiration

The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is a little over 100 miles from where I live.
Allen W. Sanders took this amazing and inspiring photograph in the pre-dawn light.


I think these colors would be wonderful in a quilt!

There are plenty of other awe-inspiring photos on the Bosque del Apache's Facebook Site. The site features the works of many gifted nature photographers.
Just something to consider whether looking for quilting inspiration or an escape to nature

I did quilt a prayer quilt this weekend, but haven't yet taken a photo.  I'd like to get the binding on first--and binding is the part of a quilt that I struggle with.  The binding and quilt are both ready for me to get with it!

Edit: This photo of predawn in the bosque can be purchased in a variety of forms at the following link:
http://fineartamerica.com/products/predawn-at-the-bosque-allen-w-sanders-art-print.html


Happy quiltmaking and knitting,.....

Chop, Chop, Softly!

I thought today might be another PJ Quilting day.  But I received a text from the College Girl encouraging me to go to the post office, so I had to get dressed.  I do see a lot of people wearing PJs at our post office and a few other places, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

However, I did spend most of the day quiltmaking.


The are blocks I began making at our last Victory Prayer Quilt sewing day and finished a few seams at a time over the last few weeks. This is the same piecework pattern I used in the Chop, Chop, Sew quilt. These soft colors created a very different looking quilt.

The fabrics began as squares left over from a layer cake from another quilt. I searched my stash for a quiet, almost-solid, off-white to use for the sashing and border.  The pink corner stones were another left over, and I plan to use the rest of that fabric for the binding.

The white-on-white print is barely visible in the photo; it too speaks softly.

I made this one smaller than the last top because I had only ten patches--so I have one left over for something; it might get pieced into the backing.

This project kept me busy all day, and I haven't yet cut the binding.  The top finished at 39.5 inches, a good size for a prayer quilt for someone to use for napping or reading. I do wish I were capable of cutting and piecing a whole lot faster!

We're having a beautiful spring-like day.  The last of the snow that has lived in my yard since before Christmas is finally melted.  However, we can be pretty sure this is Faux Spring and that we'll see more of winter.  We'll enjoy the sunshine while we can!

Happy quiltmaking,....

2 Days Post Blizzard

Last night when I turned in, it was -5F.  I was concerned about how low the temperatures might fall, and I left a lamp with an old incandescent bulb lit beneath the kitchen sink,  the only sink on an exterior wall. When I awoke to discover the temperature was +17F., I was surprised.




Apparently the front had moved into our area during the night.  It stayed cold all day, although we did get some sun late in the afternoon.

I'm getting some organizing done, and some cooking, of course, but there is nothing being finished on the quilting front--and there needs to be.

Happy quiltmaking and knitting....

Snowy Sunday

This was a few hours ago.  The winds are bringing more horizontal snow and are still moving around what has fallen.  I-40 remains closed for many miles--and many miles of other other roads are closed or dangerous. We are still within the "Blizzard Zone."

The pharmacist at Smith's texted me that a prescription has been filled.  I will not pick that one up today.

I still haven't read my new magazines--but I'm getting some fabrics, including scraps, moved around.  I hope to finish some binding.  I may start sewing some leftover patches from other quilts together.

Stay warm, dry, and pleasantly occupied, everyone.....

This is the NM Roads map as of 8:15 this evening.  However, it hasn't been updated.  I-40 is closed across the entire state--and I'm guessing there are more closed roads.

Goliath Creeps Into My Town

The National Weather Service has named him Goliath. Locals are calling it Snowmagedden. This storm is twisting and turning here in our state and not going anywhere for a while.  The thing is that it's huge and stretches across many states.

We had to go to the grocery/pharmacy for  prescription refills and a few things to create multiple meals and pots of soup this morning. We waited in line for 20 minutes for the refills and another 30 minutes or so for grocery checkout.

This is one hour into the storm.


This is six hours into the storm, and the last daylight photo.


We were up to only about six inches accumulation.


But with the snow blowing horizontally, looks can be deceiving.
Yes, it's true; in New Mexico, snow is often horizontal.


This is what NMRoads is reporting at 8:00 p.m.--except there are reports that the roads are worse.  I'm thinking the state can't keep the website up to date due to so much activity.

I just received a message from a friend saying, "I just heard about the accident that closed I-40: 2 Semis, 3 Cars, 2 Fatalities. Praying for everyone involved."

One of her relatives is an EMT, so I suspect the message is correct. A lot of travelers and families need our prayers tonight.


I'm grateful for a warm house and pajamas fresh from the dryer.  Three new magazines, some knitting, beautiful music playing, and a College Girl who didn't dare suggest going out in this are keeping me happy--and feeling fortunate.  (The homemade chicken noodle soup and homemade rolls probably helped too.)

 I'm offering prayers for all those being impacted by this huge storm.

Stay home, stay safe, stay warm.
If you can sew, quilt, knit, or cook instead of going out in it, you are truly blessed.


10:00 p.m. update: We're now being told this storm will not be out of here until 6 a.m. Monday.

Quilt Day!

I did shovel snow yesterday.  Lots more came and lots blew away.  Here's what we are left with this morning; a lot of little freshly hatched snowflake siblings are joining this.

Still no mountains in sight.  Happy to be inside, safe, warm, and with a lot of choices for hot meals and beverages!

Albuquerque is claiming they experienced their highest single-day snowfall since records were started in 1931.  Far from our highest out here in the country (about 40 miles away), but it is plenty; however, there is more on the way.

A perfect day for quiltmaking in a nice, warm house--nice hot meals planned and probably some made-from-scratch-with-almond-milk hot chocolate to be consumed.

 More quilting to be done on a Victory Prayer Quilt for a Kansas cousin who had a heart attack and by-pass surgery a week and a half ago.

 I need to change to a Bobbin-Line thread to quilt the picture panels.

 I'm using one of the new cones of green for most of the rest of the quilting.

I've lost count of the number of prayer quilts ready for quilting (I think I'll line them up for a count this afternoon), and I'm really longing to remove a Singer 15-88 from my treadle cabinet, drop this treasure in, and try her out.  She needs a new name, and I'm open to suggestions.

For all my friends farther east wondering about what we're going to do with these storms, be aware that although they are stalled over Northern and Central New Mexico for the moment, they are not wearing themselves out, so we will probably send them east so we can be ready for the next ones.

And, I just looked out the window, and the high school senior from the farm across the road is out there shoveling for the little old ladies who live on our little street--there are some benefits to getting older!


Happy quiltmaking and knitting,