A Picture for Sunday - Peacock in the Wheat

Eyes like an owl's.  If I were a predator I think I might be scared.

Six Little Cardigans

Six little cardigans, all finished, and now there are only five left because the toddler grandad cardigan was given to my niece a few days ago for her little baby boy.

It has been quite a marathon, knitting three different sizes, in different colour combinations, and with the round neck and V neck in each size.  The trouble is that I am now so much in the zone that I have started two more, scaling it up for a bigger toddler, and down for a tiny newborn.  I shall be taking my time, though.  The priority now is to finish drafting the instructions for these three sizes, and I can add in the last two sizes later.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 239 - Filling in Fields

Recognising where I am on a blank canvas is suddenly getting easier.  Just a few blocks of colour here and there to show the position of different fields, and later I will be able to stitch the hedges and trees.  Now I am beginning to see the way forward.  

Typical though.  As soon as I am gripped by enthusiasm we get hit by a heatwave.  Record temperatures are expected in London today, and that is the direction we are travelling this evening...

Here goes for week 239:-

Many thanks to Gail for linking up last time with her beautiful baby quilt.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

Also you can watch her video!

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.

  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

A Picture for Sunday - Partial Eclipse of the Moon

Until very recently I hadn't really appreciated how clearly visible the moon's surface is from earth.  I enjoyed staying up late last Tuesday and photographing the eclipse from our attic window.  It doesn't look much like cheese to me.  More like a giant gooseberry.

Interesting that the eclipse was on the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11.  No sign of the flag on my pictures, though.

Sewing Together Slipped Stitch Edges

One of the quickest and easiest ways of sewing seams in knitting is with slipped stitch edges.  The seam comes out nice and flat, and is worked from the right side.

The slipped stitches make loops that go right over the edge.  With Fisherman's Rib, they are more easily seen from the back.

On the front, they are more tucked out of sight, curling round to the back.

To sew the seam, imagine the loops as the interlocking teeth of a zip.  Run the needle through the loops, through one from the right, then from the left, all the way up the seam.  A seam on a little cardigan is finished in minutes.

Choosing Buttons

Choosing the right colour buttons is like putting the cherry on the cake.  You know instantly when you have the right match.

These bright orange buttons were originally intended for the green and orange V neck cardy I finished a couple of weeks ago.  However, when it came to stitching them on, I didn't.  They were a near miss, so I went shopping instead.  At that point I hadn't realised what a good match they were for this latest cardigan, which I was then halfway through knitting.  It took me a while to see how much the orange streaks in the yarn stood out; once the button band was knitted, and I saw the way the buttons contrasted with the purple and white fleck, I knew they were ideal.

This is the sixth little cardigan in the series that I have made for my first pattern.  All I have left to do is to sew it up and stitch on the buttons.  Meanwhile, I have started drafting the pattern, which will appear here on the blog as a separate page.  

I am almost excited about it.

A Picture for Sunday - Cornflowers in the Evening

Evening light shows up the blue of cornflowers, as I discovered just before sunset today.

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 237 - Laying The Foundation

Rumpled and not very attractive.  I hate this stage.  I am anchoring down various sections of the landscape with well-spaced quilting of more or less the right colour and in the right general direction, so that when I start infilling with the detail the whole thing doesn't pucker up to blazes.  It is a slow process, and because it is so boring I keep sloping off and doing something else.  It is also slightly nerve wracking.  The great advantage is that I am looking hard at the picture I am working from, and gradually getting it embedded into my brain.

The machine is running beautifully smoothly after the oiling it had before we went away.  I gave it a good cleaning around the needlebar and pressure bar before starting sewing to make sure I didn't get an oily smudge on the fabric.  It is all too easy to forget and find out the hard way, but not this time. 

Also I am thinking of starting another, completely different, quilting project to run alongside this one so I don't get too neurotic about it.

Here goes for week 235:-

This week I am featuring two gorgeous projects!

Firstly, many thanks to Margarita for linking up last time with her .  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more...

… and secondly to Andrée for showing us her finished Gaia's garden.  Such a wonderful riot of colour!

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.

  
3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.