sorry for the silence the past week, but I got sick last weekend and didn't do much of anything most of the week. then it was time to go visit family for the weekend. I did manage to slowly, and I mean slowly, bind my green circles quilt.

I'm pretty much in love with this quilt. the different blocks. the curved piecing. all the different fabrics. the binding. yep, all of it.

for the quilting, I made random straight and curved lines with some quarter circles and faux wonky nine patches. I wanted to echo all the movement going on in the quilt and fill in the "blanks" in the random grey blocks.

I wasn't sure what to do with the back, so I randomly pieced some of the leftover grey fabric with kona in grass green. the circles were originally supposed to go in the front but I wasn't feeling that, so to the back they went. I threw them on the back and wherever they landed was where they were appliquéd. can you sense a theme here?

I decided to go with the pressed leaves print from wildwood for the binding. I was always leaning towards that one and once I saw it against the grey I knew it was perfect. the green matches the overall quilt, while the pinky purple and white just make everything pop. by the way, this was the first time I was able to make a bias binding without wanting to kill myself or anyone near me. I always mess up something, be it the way I cut the fabric or sewing it at the wrong angle. this time I did a continuous binding and it came out great. soooo much easier and faster.

Posted by bitter purl at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)

while I go find some more batting and decide how I want to quilt the circle quilt, can you decide which fabric I should use for the binding? thanks

I'm leaning towards one, but I won't say which. also, the heather bailey dots (on top) is only a fat quarter so I would have to go find more. ok go!

here's a little reminder:

Posted by bitter purl at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

crafting

baking

and eating

now I just wish they lasted longer. how was your weekend?

Posted by bitter purl at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I wish I had some exciting excuse for being offline for so long, but really I have nothing. literally. 2010 has not been a very crafty year for me so far. between my arm hurting too much to knit and regular life stuff getting in the way, there just hasn't been much time. I was feeling a little down about this, especially with all my yarn mocking me from their shelves, but now I don't mind so much. I love what I've made, or am working on, so far. I'm just going to consider this a little slow down.

my arm has been acting up for a little while now. a couple of weeks ago I tried to finish a sweater and just after a few rounds in the sleeves my wrist was on fire. I honestly think the culprit was this cowl I knit in january. I probably should have taken my time with it but that malabrigo silky merino was just calling out to me. the yarn was a gift from stef and I had to put it to use right away. straight up stockinette on 4mm needles, I love you but I hate you. no, I love you. the pain is almost worth it. this cowl is so cuddly and I love the shimmer in the yarn.

oh wait, maybe it was the other super long stockinette scarf/cowl I was knitting at the same time. this time with some malabrigo in natural and shokay in azure with 5.5mm needles. I started this over christmas as a way to stashbust and for something to do in car rides. I may even love this one more, it's that snuggly.

after a few weeks of doing nothing craft wise, I started up a new schedule for myself. I've been sewing a little bit each day, usually in the morning with some tea and npr. I love it, it feels like a little treat before I have to jump into the minutiae of the everyday. a little bit each day and I finally have all the rows for my next quilt pieced. now I just need to figure out how and if I want to appliqué some circles and how big of a border to make.

Posted by bitter purl at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

I've noticed that a lot of knitters have been turning to sewing and quilting lately. nothing like another obsession to increase our stashes I say.

I thought I would help spread the word about the modern quilt guild. the original branch was started by julie, she's been putting everything together for us. I think it's going to be fun meeting up with other quilters beyond the internet.

I'm still in the middle of my quilting frenzy. I've been slowly working on my third quilt while following along with the fourth round of the orb quilt along. I'm loving all the greens I'm working with. it will eventually be a mix of nine-patch and string blocks with curved piecing and appliqued circles. I haven't dared touch the circles yet! but that's ok since I'm only halfway through my string blocks.

Posted by bitter purl at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)