I knew that the Hands to Soul mini quilt kit from my friend Melanie (contact her at HandstoSoul@gmail.com if you want to order one) would be a fairly fast project, but I didn't think I was actually going to finish in a single day. I could have whipped it together in 20 minutes with the sewing machine, but #1 that seemed against the principle of the kit itself, which was sort of meditative, #2 I'd already hauled the sewing machine back upstairs, and #3, I really felt like hand quilting it.
So I put it together by hand, and had a lovely time sewing as I listened to Season 4 Lost episode commentaries (you don't actually have to watch them, you can just listen to the cast members being goofy, which I enjoy for some reason). There wasn't any seaming (this isn't patchwork, even though it sort of looks like it is), and I attached the star appliqué with a blanket stitch. The rest of the assembly was just hemstitching- sewing the center square to the rest of the top (use a cool iron- the center square isn't 100% cotton), folding and sewing the backing border up and over the top, stitching the shiny gold ribbon in place around the center square. Easy peasy, and truly, meditative even with Hurley and Kate yammering in the background.
Though it's not necessary to quilt the piece at all, I did some very amateur quilting- my sense of straight is nil, my stitches are huge (for quilting stitches) and my fingers are definitely not used to pushing a needle through several layers of fabric for hours on end (read: I poked myself a bunch of times, though I managed not to bleed on anything). But I love how it came out (don't mind the small jog in the scan- I had to stitch 2 scans together to show the whole quilt). The finished mini quilt is about 10" x 10" (though not exactly 10" on any side- see above what I said about my sense of straight).
I used the buttons that Melanie included to decorate the top of my quilt, and I think I might want to work a little embroidery floss chain stitching around the star appliqué- I don't like the visible crooked blanket stitching. But otherwise, it's done. And I love it. I am going to hang it in my office.
And, just in case you thought I forgot how to knit for humans with all the doll knits of late, I finished the Lion Brand Sock Eze socks, and started work on the heel/sole of the Twisted Leftover Mitered Square Socks. I knit the short row heel on 30 sts (back and forth) with a coordinating mottled solid yarn (called a Subtle in Twisted-ese), and then will work the sole back and forth with the 3 colorways that I used for the miters (Agnes, Giles, Minstrel, in that order). I will pick up an edge stitch every right side row on the sole so I don't have to sew both seams when I finish. These are going to be beautiful socks.
So I put it together by hand, and had a lovely time sewing as I listened to Season 4 Lost episode commentaries (you don't actually have to watch them, you can just listen to the cast members being goofy, which I enjoy for some reason). There wasn't any seaming (this isn't patchwork, even though it sort of looks like it is), and I attached the star appliqué with a blanket stitch. The rest of the assembly was just hemstitching- sewing the center square to the rest of the top (use a cool iron- the center square isn't 100% cotton), folding and sewing the backing border up and over the top, stitching the shiny gold ribbon in place around the center square. Easy peasy, and truly, meditative even with Hurley and Kate yammering in the background.
Though it's not necessary to quilt the piece at all, I did some very amateur quilting- my sense of straight is nil, my stitches are huge (for quilting stitches) and my fingers are definitely not used to pushing a needle through several layers of fabric for hours on end (read: I poked myself a bunch of times, though I managed not to bleed on anything). But I love how it came out (don't mind the small jog in the scan- I had to stitch 2 scans together to show the whole quilt). The finished mini quilt is about 10" x 10" (though not exactly 10" on any side- see above what I said about my sense of straight).
I used the buttons that Melanie included to decorate the top of my quilt, and I think I might want to work a little embroidery floss chain stitching around the star appliqué- I don't like the visible crooked blanket stitching. But otherwise, it's done. And I love it. I am going to hang it in my office.
And, just in case you thought I forgot how to knit for humans with all the doll knits of late, I finished the Lion Brand Sock Eze socks, and started work on the heel/sole of the Twisted Leftover Mitered Square Socks. I knit the short row heel on 30 sts (back and forth) with a coordinating mottled solid yarn (called a Subtle in Twisted-ese), and then will work the sole back and forth with the 3 colorways that I used for the miters (Agnes, Giles, Minstrel, in that order). I will pick up an edge stitch every right side row on the sole so I don't have to sew both seams when I finish. These are going to be beautiful socks.
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