Crossing Threads

Dolly's bed is finished:

I used a Sterilite Underbed Box 28 Qt., Model #1846 DH found at Walmart for $4.38. To keep the mattress from sinking into the depression when Dolly lies down, I cut a piece of an old political sign the same size as the mattress, which is 16 X 23”, 1” foam (left over from Dolly’s chair), and put it in the mattress cover at the base of the foam. I put the seam of the mattress cover in the middle, so it wouldn’t show. Dolly doesn’t sink in, but the mattress is still nice and soft, so she can sleep well.

The dust ruffle is four 7" WOF strips of quilting fabric sewn together and hemmed 1/4" and an additional 1/4", gathered at the top and sewn with a 1/4” seam to a piece of muslin cut the shape of the lid of the storage box.

The “fitted” bottom sheet was a simple sack, similar to a pillow case, as I showed in last week’s blog post. I used some nice quilting fabric to trim the top sheet and pillow case. The blanket is a piece of fleece, cut to size and trimmed with satin doubled over (like quilt binding) and zig-zagged along the loose edge, to replicate the look of a real blanket.

The quilt was the last item to finish:

It’s a simple 9-patch with sashing. I used some fabrics from my stash collected when a quilting buddy brought out some fabric sample books given her by a relative who was a fabric distributor. I thought Daphne might like the bright colors, which are not really my style. I’m not a machine-quilter, and I don't have a walking foot for my Featherweight, but this project was small enough I decided to have a go. I sewed in the same direction for each vertical line of stitching, starting with the middle, with pins to hold the three layers in place. Then I sewed all the horizontal lines of stitching, also starting with the middle line of stitching and always sewing in the same direction. When I finished, I pulled the top threads through to the back of the quilt, tied it together with the bobbin thread and used a needle to thread them through to the inside of the quilt. 

So Dolly didn't need to sleep in her clothes, I sewed some pajama bottoms and knitted a camisole top.

…and a robe. I used McCall's 2506, now out-of-print, for the pajama bottoms and the robe. Sewing the fleece was a job. I had to use a lot more pins than usual when setting in the sleeves. The fleece kept sliding to the side.



The shopping ensemble is finally finished. You may remember (or not) that I started this outfit right after I bought all the yarn for it and the Valentine’s Day ensemble, beginning with the skirt. January 1st the KAL started, so I made the top that went with that outfit, so Dolly could wear it with the finished skirt. Dolly gradually changed clothes as the other items were finished. The white top goes very well with both outfits.

A bonnet pattern was given for free to each person who completed the KAL. I had yarn left from the shopping ensemble skirt and the same yarn from some socks I made a few years ago, Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

Here’s the complete outfit, including Dolly's new shoes, roomy enough to get on over her socks without too much effort:

Common Threads met at Karan’s on Thursday. Margareth brought her new Jakob doll wearing the outfit she made for him.

Margareth is expecting her first grandchild, a boy, so this doll will be for him to play with when he visits her. She has plenty of time to outfit him completely. She also showed us this diaper bag she made. The base is a changing mat that comes out, and the straps can be positioned to fit over one shoulder or used as a backpack.

The pattern is Simplicity 3031os.

Sundance has started. I had my first shift on Friday. Before my first shift, I met up with fellow fiber fan and Aloha Blu Fiber Shoppe owner, along with her husband.

She brought me this lovely swag:

That will probably be the only swag I get from Sundance this year, but you never know. It was undoubtedly the best, though. You can only use so many oversized T-shirts.

Spinners, don’t forget, we’re having a Spin Along on the Knitting Community if anyone wants to join in.

Where? Right here, in the Knitting Community Spin Along.

When? Noon on Friday, February 5 - noon on Monday, February 8, 2016, in whatever time zone you're in.

Equipment: Spindle or wheel. (If you want to use the pencil method to spin, that's OK, too.)

Materials: Any spinable fiber. (Dryer lint, anyone?)

No prizes, no pressure, just spinning together and sharing what we’re doing.

What's on my needles:  A cape for Dolly. The Trickle Socks, waiting.

What's on my Featherweight: Finished Dolly’s quilt. Still a few things for make for the doll.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Final Empire by Bandon Sanderson. Got a special deal on it, along with the next book in the series. Still reading The Other Harlow Girl by Lynn Messina on the Kindle app.

What's in my wine glass: Crane Lake Malbec, a good wine for the price.

What's my tip of the week: I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but here's a tip I've shared with my local quilt guild. It always surprises me that more people don't know about this, so I'm sharing it here.

To reduce bulk where four or more seams come together, you can often fan them out in opposite directions. You have to take out a few stitches in the seam allowance. (See photo.) These seams are sewn over, so the seam doesn’t become weaker when you do this. This is especially useful when working on miniature quilts, smaller-scale quilts, or quilts that have very small pieces.

Here is a 9-patch block (five of one fabric and four of another fabric sewn together in alternating order) from the doll quilt. The intersections on the lower part of the block have been "treated." The intersections on the upper part show the stitches that are being removed. I use an awl, but a seam ripper (sharp side away from the thread) may also be used to undo the threads from the seam allowance.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Annie Get Your Knitting Needles

It has NOT been a quiet week here. First, there were the Sundance shifts, but I had some knitting time during some of them, so here's my progress:


I'm on the first sleeve, but this photo was taken before the Super Bowl game, so it's a little further along now.

I had three shifts at the Sundance Film Festival, which is over, but I have one shift (today) left to work, "The Best of the Fest" for locals, to compensate them for having to put up with the Festival.

The piecing of the first quilt top of the new year, "Seeing Stars," is done.

The pattern is "Clara's Journey" from Connecting Threads.

As you can see, this quilt is too big for my design wall. The finished quilt is 91.5" square. Now I have to decide how I want to have it quilted.

The big news, though, is the addition to the family (at least those living in the house), DGD1, who has come to live with us. She made a great addition to the church choir, which was in need of altos. We sat where the altos and sopranos meet, and I took a selfie of us:

She went with me to Common Threads on Thursday, CO a scarf, and had several inches done by the time we left. We're going to have fun knitting together. I had to help her make room in the guest room for her clothes, which took some time. I think she's pretty well settled in, though. She's been here before, but just for a week at a time.

We watched the Annie Awards Saturday night online. For your weekly cuteness, here are DS2 and DDIL2, sitting in the audience:

DS2 and his team were nominated for "Animated Effects in an Animated Production." They didn't win, but the film he was nominated for, The Boxtrolls, won two awards. There are five people on his team, and they would each have won an award. Too bad they didn't win, but not bad for first time out, and it was exciting that they got to go to the awards. Their boys were staying with the other grandparents. The lucky ones who live near them.

What's on my needles: Brick Cardigan, first sleeve started.

What's on my Featherweight: "Seeing Stars" quilt top done.

What's on my loom: Some warp for another scarf, but still folded up.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to In the Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotsen. Finished And Only To Deceive by Tasha Alexander, paperback.  I've decided I want to read more by the same author. This was the first of the "Lady Emily" series. They are mysteries. I have several books from Book Bub on my iPad, but haven't started one yet.

What's my app of the week: iBooks, which allowed me to download and keep the Annies program.

What's in my wine glass: Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon, 2012 vintage. Very nice.

What's my tip of the week: A quilt batt that stays together well (such as Warm & Natural) makes a great design wall. I sewed a hem at the top and bottom of time and ran a batten through each, to keep it flat. I have hooks at each side of the top of the closet in my fiber studio, so I can rest one of the battens on it. If I had to, I could roll up quilt blocks and all to store. I can put blocks and pieces on the design wall without using pins, but strips and bigger sections stay put better with pins. I think an old blanket would work, and I've heard of people using the back side of a plastic tablecloth, the kind with a flannel backing.


Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Dancing in the Sun

I'm making use of the new LED light for my Featherweight, which is back out of its case and on the job.


The piecing of the first quilt top of the new year, "Seeing Stars," is almost done. Here's the photo I took of the first block, ready to put together.


The pattern is "Clara's Journey" from Connecting Threads.

The center nine-patches and the primary fabrics in the big stars are scrappy, but otherwise I've been consistent in the use of fabrics. All that's left to do is the borders, which will finish the outer small stars, with an outer border of the off-white background fabric.


The turquoise was sort of a daring feat for me. I'm branching out. (I still love traditional and vintage reproduction fabrics, though.)

The Sundance Film Festival has started again, and I've served one shift (on Saturday) of the four I have planned. I have another one this afternoon/evening.

I always take something to work on, in case I have some down time on the job. Saturday I was assigned "exit/re-entry, which gets pretty quiet after the film starts, so I got some knitting done. I've been making good progress on my Brick Cardigan. (The pattern is "Aleph" by Hannah Cuviello.)

We went to the opera yesterday, so I had the trip down to SLC and during the opera to work on it.



Our older granddaughter is coming for a visit and will be here when I get home from my shift. I see sushi and more knitting in my future....

What's on my needles: Brick Cardigan, good progress.

What's on my Featherweight: "Seeing Stars" quilt, center done, just the borders to go.

What's on my loom: Some warp for another scarf, but still folded up.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The President's Pilot by Robert Gandt, and Home from the Sea by Mercedes Lackey. Now listening to In the Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotsen. Still reading And Only To Deceive by Tasha Alexander, not on the iPad for once but a paperback version I picked up at a rummage sale.

What's my app of the week: Southwest, for flight information, etc.

What's in my wine glass: A Chianti this time, Livingston Cellars.

What's my tip of the week: There are a number of apps that let you make calls through the Internet without charge, which is handy if you live in the mountains and have poor or no cell service in your home or you're visiting a place where you have access to WiFi but don't have service. Some of these apps allow you to use your own cell phone number.


Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Done With Sundance, Back to Fiber Fun!

The official Sundance Film Festival is over for this year.

DH and I still have one volunteer shift to do tonight. After the festival is over, Sundance puts on two free screenings of one or two of the best films. We're working that. Then it's all over for another year. While watching the lobby during a film or guarding the door to the Green Room, I managed to get some knitting done. The first sleeve (second version) is finished, and I have several inches done on the second sleeve.

The one thing I didn't do much of last week was sleep.

Vintage Stitchers met on schedule. Janet brought several items for show-and-tell, like this cute machine appliqué. 

Janet also worked on this appliqué project, using a machine buttonhole stitch. 

While not working on it, she pieced this B&W and purple quilt top...

...and this modern quilt top. 

She says she's entered a new "modern" stage. She has been using modern fabrics and traditional patterns, but has recently become drawn to more modern patterns. It will be interesting to see what she does.

Ellen came back Tuesday night. I picked her and Brenda up at Ellen's daughter's house so we could drive to the meeting together. She had this hand appliqué to show off. 

I worked on appliquéing some leaves on the last panel of my Delectable Pathways quilt. 

After the meeting, we stopped at Barnes & Noble so Brenda could pick up a book she had ordered. I had bought a 2-qt. slow cooker and had been looking for a vegetarian cookbook for it. The one I was considering was Vegan Slow Cooking for Two or Just for You by Kathy Hester. They had it at B&N, so I was able to look at it. It looked pretty good, so I bought it.

From there, we went to Elaine's Quilt Block, so Ellen could pick up some light, neutral fabric for background for blocks for her "Home Sweet Home" quilt. It's the book I used for the quilt over my mantle. Remember this?

I had given my book to Ellen, along with the templates I had made. Now she's making the full-size quilt with all nine blocks. 

While Ellen and Brenda were looking, I thought I would see if they had any fabric that would be good for the I-spy quilts I'm working on. In the sale room, I found this great fabric:

I'm cutting the squares at 4 1/2", and they will be 4" finished. If I cut a 4 1/2 square from these, the cut includes all of the light blue border around each image. This makes alternate images unusable at this size, but I was able to get enough to finish what I needed. Here are all my I-spy squares cut out. 

The piles on the right are for Zachary, and the ones on the left are for Soren. Many are the same fabrics, but where I only had one of a kind, I tried to pick what would be most relevant to each boy.

I went stash-diving and came up with some fabric for sashing and cornerstones for Zachary's quilt. I hope to start piecing it this week.

On a different note, DH bought us participation in the National Geographic Genographic Project.

My results have come back, and we're still waiting for his, although we mailed them at the same time. 

It turns out I'm 43% Northern European, 37% Mediterranean and 17% Southwest Asian (today's India, Tajikistan, Iran, etc.; most Europeans have this). The populations I'm most like are British Isles and German. No surprise there, but I have quite a bit more Mediterranean than typical for British and slightly more than typical for German populations. My percentage of Southwest Asian is typical for both groups. The real surprise came when it was broken down into haplogroups. My first branch (about 30,000 yrs. ago) is U5, which is almost exclusively Scandinavian, primarily Finnish. (!) This is especially interesting because DH is half Finnish. It means that our kids carry more Finnish-type genes than we thought. Somewhere between 22,000 and 4,000 yrs. ago, people from this group migrated either to Europe or South Asia. The next branch is U5A. The largest population with this lineage is Slovenia, although it is found in Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Lebanon and India. I'm specifically U5a1b. All of this is on my mother's side. Women don't get results from the paternal side, because it's carried on the Y chromosome. However, it means I'm more German than I thought. The only German ancestors I knew about already were on my father's side. I'm providing the project with information that might help them with continuing studies. I read some of the comments made by people in the U5a1b group, and they are mostly from the British Isles and Germany, but some of them mentioned coming from the US's deep south, as my parents did. I was a little disappointed that I didn't seem to have any race other than Caucasian in me. That would have been even more interesting.

Maybe you skipped over my little dissertation, and that's OK. To reward you for tuning in, though, here's some cuteness: Soren was riding the monorail during a recent trip to Seattle. Clearly he prefers his book to really drinking in the experience. Maybe he's going to be a proofreader when he grows up!

What's on my needles: "Green Tea" socks for me, second sock. Dogwood Blossoms still holding, and Christmas Waffle sweater moving along, with the second sleeve (second version) underway.

What's on my loom: Belated Christmas present scarves, holding. I hope to make some progress this week. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listing to Phantoms by Dean Koontz, from Audible. Still reading Pemberly to Waterloo by Anna Elliot in iBooks, bought through Book Bub. Also listening to the Fiber Hooligan podcast and the Knit Picks podcast, as usual.

What's my app of the week: It has to be the Messages app. I've found I'm using it more all the time, as I get used to a phone service that doesn't charge for texting. It really came in handy during the film festival.

What's in my wine glass: Bogle Vineyards Petite Sirah, 2011. Very nice. (My wine steward doesn't buy bad wine.)

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

The Sundance Knitter/Quilter

Sundance has taken up a lot of my time this week. We start each shift with a meeting. Here are some of my fellow volunteers at the meeting.

Sunday was especially time-consuming. The last film Sunday night was three hours long, which meant I got home at nearly 2:00 AM! I have seen three films so far, and they have all been good. When I'm not working in the theater, I often have time to knit, keeping an eye on the patrons who come and go during a film or during the meeting before my 8-hr. shift starts (or 9-hr. Sunday). 

However, I managed to fit in the Common Threads meeting at Georgette's. Margareth was working on a pullover that she was going to have to adjust to fit, so she and I did some math together. (It's always better to do math with a friend.) Several people were working on scarves. 

Georgette had to do some repairs to a couple of beautiful needlepoint pillows she had made. (Georgette is our needlepoint specialist. 

The purchased I-spy squares arrived. Here they are, ready to be cut to 4 1/2". 

Both sets of purchased I-spy squares appear to be identical, but it doesn't matter, since I'm making two. I suggest if you order two packages for the same quilt, you should let the vendor (in my case, Piecemaker Quilts) know that you need them all to be different. Now I've found more 4 1/2" I-spy squares at the bottom of a bin in my stash. However, some of those are not really worth using. I'll put aside any I can't use (I don't plan on making bed-size quilts!!!!) for a potential future baby. 

I managed to work on the Christmas Waffle sweater. I wasn't liking how the first sleeve was coming out, because it was constructed top-down, while the body was bottom-up. There's a slight difference in the top and the bottom of the pattern rounds, and that was bothering me.

I stuffed some tissue inside the sleeve and took this closeup, so you can see what I mean. The holes in the waffle pattern look like little hearts right-side-up. (They look like upside-down hearts upside-down.)

I also didn't like putting in decreases with the pattern. I think it's easier to make increases fit into a pattern of this type. There were some other things I was unhappy about, besides the fact that I was knitting more tightly, they mostly had to do with the confusion of jumping around in the pattern copy. I was hating the process. I decided to try making a sleeve bottom-up, without taking out the other sleeve, almost done. I also wrote out the instructions (sort of short-hand) to eliminate jumping around. I'm liking it better. 

Sooooo…I'm off to the frog pond for that first try on the sleeve. But looking at the bright side: I get to have that fun all over again, and this time I'll know I"m doing it right, so it will be more fun.

What's on my needles: "Green Tea" socks for me, second sock past the gusset.  Dogwood Blossoms holding, and Christmas Waffle sweater moving along, with the first sleeve almost done (second version).

What's on my loom: Belated Christmas present scarves, making progress. I have 24" done on the first scarf. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Just finished The Gates of Sleep by Mercedes Lackey, from Audible and ready to start something else. Dragonseye by Anne McCaffrey was deleted by the library so I'm back to reading Pemberly to Waterloo by Anna Elliot in iBooks, bought through Book Bub until the first book becomes available again. Also listening to the Fiber Hooligan podcast and the Knit Picks podcast, as usual.

What's my app of the week: It has to be the new Sundance Film Festival app. I can check information on films, answer questions for patrons about scheduling, etc. It also has the e-waitlist function built in. It has been useful for answering questions asked by patrons when I'm on duty. 

What's in my wine glass: Twisted Old Vine Zinfandel 2011 vintage, by Twisted Vinyards. One of my personal favorites. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

High Fiber--High on Sundance, Quilting and Knitting

What a busy week! My Vintage Stitchers group met right in the middle of Sundance!

More on quilting later. It has been a busy week at Sundance. Here are some fellow volunteers taking a quick break between films.

We had a little excitement on Sunday, while I was at the opera. There was a demonstration by a handful of people from the Westboro Baptist Church against the film, "Red State," which was playing at the Eccles Theater, which is part of Park City High School. (They have been making headlines lately by picketing funerals of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and are known for their hatred of gays and some other groups.) They were met by an estimated 200 high school students protesting their protest, shown here in a photo taken by a friend and fellow volunteer:

No one was hurt, although some of the students and other supporters who joined them were rowdy. As for star sightings, I have seen many familiar faces, including William H. Macy and Ray Liotta. I have seen several other films I have enjoyed, but my new favorite is Salvation Boulevard. I'm sure it will be available in theaters and Netflix. It stars Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Marissa Tomei and Ed Harris. It's very funny, but gives you a lot to think about. It's one I think I would like to own.

I got some time to work on the Gretel Cardi for Daphne. I started this last week and had time to work on it during my shift Monday, when I was a ticket-taker, and again Friday, when I got to guard a door. (My other shifts were all in the theater as an usher.) Here's a progress photo for the cardi:

The cardi is the Natural Beauty for Baby from Knit On Down  published by The House of White Birches using Knit Picks' Swish Worsted   in Delft Heather, machine-washable and dryable, good for baby apparel.

Vintage Stitchers met on Thursday, and, as usual, there were some interesting items for show-and-tell. Rebecca changed the border from what was used in the pattern:

The pattern is from Simple Graces  by Kim Diehl.


Diane is on her sixth block from Hop To It!   by Edyta Sitar. (It was the book I got my bunny block from that I used in Daphne's quilt.)

Barbara brought some quilt tops her sister made, so Julie can quilt them. Here's one:

Here's another, first the top:

The the backing, also spectacular! (The sister lives in Texas.)

The sister sent them to Barbara so Julie could quilt them for her. You can send quilting directly to Julie. You can contact her at thorum@xmission.com.

Janet started this quilt years ago. A UFO finished! (Well, all but the quilting and binding.)

Here's another she started long ago:

Remember this quilt of Diane's from two weeks ago? The quilting is done!

Barbara got back some finished projects, too. Here's the car seat cover, all quilted. Julie had to work around the ties:

And the quilt for the same baby:

We haven't had a gratuitous baby photo, so here is Daphne, waiting for her Gretel
Cardi to be finished:

She is starting to crawl now, but the photo of her in action just shows her cute butt instead of her cute face.

Stay tuned for more adventures of the fearless knitter/spinner/quilter and fan of films from the rarified air high above Park City!

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the iPad. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.