New Inspirations

Vintage Stitchers met at Barbara’s on Thursday. She showed us this great Dresden Plate quilt top:

She had a quilt pattern that had big, empty squares in it. She substituted the Dresden Plate blocks for the big squares. What an interesting setting! Carol also had a finished quilt top:

This is a fairly simple design, starting with a snowball block, but Carol’s pairings of fabrics (some of them from Kaffe Fassett’s collection) makes it stunning.

Barbara had also finished this appliqué for a quilt she had inherited from a friend who passed on.

No truer friend can be had than one who will finish your UFO when you're no longer able. The pattern was “Apricot Preserves” by Ann Danzig's Granny's Attic. She found some mistakes in the instructions that led to making the blocks too small. She'll have to buy more fabric. Oh, darn!

I’m still knitting Doll clothes. The second “Kiltie Combo” outfit is done, this one in blue. It will go to Daphne Jr. in May.

You may remember from last week's post that the inspiration for this outfit came from the shoes, sent to me by mistake instead of the pink and gray shoes. (I ended up buying them anyway, because they're so cute, but the store sent me the correct pair, seen on Dolly, below.) Here is the Ravelry page for the project.

I snapped a photo of both “girls” together, so you can see them with the hats:

I caught them discussing where they could get their hands on a jumprope.

The blue version is from machine-washable yarn, just in case it ends up in the laundry hamper. This is the pattern I’m using for a pullover to go with it.

Here’s my progress:

I’m not crazy about the yarn, although it’s soft and machine-washable. The strands cling together with static electricity, making the colorwork difficult. (I had no trouble with it during the making of the rest of the outfit, though.)

In other doll-knitting news, someone else on Ravelry used my Everyday Play pattern to make this cute dress. I love the creative changes she made to my simple little design.

Rehearsals for The Messiah Project continue. We expect to have Maestro Griffith back again to help us rehearse beginning on Thursday. I’ll try to get some photos.

What's on my needles: The Argyle Pullover for Daphne Jr.

What's on my Featherweight: Fiber studio is under construction. Can we say, “Spring Cleaning?”

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listened to "The Silent Girls" by Eric Rickstad (fascinating and creepy) and now listening to "Magnificent Devices" by Shelley Adina and narrated by Fiona Hardingham, a continuation of the series from the Steampunk genre, which I find interesting. Also reading "A Lady of High Regard" by Tracie Peterson on the Kindle app. I think I would have liked this one as an audiobook. 

What's in my wine glass: Fisheye Pinot Noir. Always nice.

What's my tip of the week: A little late for this, but the time change isn't as bad if you gradually move your sleep and eating schedules over to the new time. Better yet, just keep them at the time you normally do these things if you can. For instance, if you normally eat lunch at noon during the winter, wait until 1:00 PM after the time change. It works for the pups. Even better would be if they would leave Daylight Savings Time all year.

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.