One More Down, and One Almost There!

It's a very exciting day in Craft World.  Earlier today I got my hat done.  I love making things but I can't remember the last time I made anything for myself.  To that end, my mother in law put yarn in my Christmas stocking and said it was just for me.  Yay!!  Here's my hat in lovely Gelato Stripe:

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I wasn't able to follow the instructions perfectly which I attribute to my novice knitter status, but it's all good AND it fits.  Even better.  The hat pattern is called Zinnia Dahlia by Petra Hoy and you can find it here.  I still have some yarn left over and I'm not sure what to do with it.  It's called "I Love This Yarn" and it has sort of a chenille quality to it, but not quite as soft as chenille.  I'm thinking some fingerless gloves might be the most useful thing to make.

So, I said I wasn't going to buy any more fabric for my daughter's quilt.  And then I tried cutting strips for the binding out of what I had left.  I was about 50" shy of what I needed.  Fortunately I was able to get back to the fabric store while the print I needed was still on good sale.  And THIS time, I used my serger on the edges. (trumpets sound)  Thanks Mom, for buying me a serger before I even knew I needed one.  No fraying, no cleaning up thread balls and tangles out of the dryer.  From now on ALL new fabric that comes in my house will have its raw edges serged before washing. 

Look how pretty these edges are!

With a replenished supply of pow pink polka dot and some clever cutting, I got enough 2" strips to go all the way around the quilt edges.  It's now been sewn, trimmed, and ironed, and the completed quilt top (more trumpets) is folded in the shelf waiting for batting.  I'll pick that up this week and then knock out the handquilting.

I'm glad I found this book at the library: Mastering Precision Piecing: 7 Spectacular Quilts with Techniques for Success.  When the author says Spectacular, she means it.  The quilts are intricate and teensy and gorgeous.  I'm only a few pages into it and the suggestions and guidelines given have already improved my work.  Super exciting (for me, anyway)!  I'm very interested in doing the best work I can - hopefully nice enough to sell!

Today's movie recommendation: Across the Universe.  Absolutely beautiful.  I attribute errors in my newly finished hat to being distracted by it.  If you haven't seen it and you like music, you should see it.  If you haven't seen it and you like art, you should see it.  If you haven't seen it and you like a good love story, you should see it.  I never really got the Beatles and only some of their music appeals to me, but I found the soundtrack playing in my head all day.  I'm totally putting it on my wishlist.

I still haven't gone through my pattern pile and made a list of what fabrics I need, but I have a few more days to do that before my craft store coupon expires.  Next, I think I'm going to tackle a pair of socks for my knitting project, and a skirt.  Oh, I think that means I get to take my dress form out of the box.  YAY!   Now to find a place to put it...