Quilts and Companionship

Quilting! 

I finally made it back to my quilting group, Vintage Stitchers. We met at Diane's. She had this lovely quilt on the wall, "Good Night, Irene," I think, although she may have tweaked it.

Carol had this yummy quilt top finished. She said it lay around a long time, hibernating.

She's happy to have finished it. She also got out these paper-pieced bird blocks, which had also been in hibernation.

They weren't originally supposed to be paper-pieced, but she converted the pattern. Then she didn't like the process. The blocks are fun, though. It will also be fun to see what she does with them.

Brenda has been doing some machine embroidery and machine appliqué.

Marilyn, our other hard-core machine-embroidery expert had finished this kitchen towel. Just in time for Halloween.

She also had been working on potholders. I believe these will be gifts.

Diane brought out a weaving project she made some time ago, when she still had space for her floor loom: a waffle-weave plaid table runner.

Janet has become quite the knitter.

I have shown this before, but now it's done. It's a design by Kirsten Kapur, whose group is called "Through the Loops." The pattern is "Fugue in Mosaic Minor," a little play on the fact that it has two bands of mosaic knitting (the colorwork sections). It wasn't that long ago when I remember Janet saying, "I'm not really a knitter." She has certainly turned into one, although she still spends a lot of time quilting.

Two interesting things came up at this last meeting. One was that a member said she was disappointed in the quilting job she paid someone to do. She was so disappointed she was thinking of picking out the quilting. (If you're a quilter, you will know what a job that would be.) It was supposed to be a gift for someone special in her life, and she didn't know how she could give it to this loved one. 

Technically, the quilting was fine, but she didn't like that the thread used in the light parts of the quilt was darker than the background. There were some other issues, too, but all having to do with a matter of taste. We all had a look. While some said they would have preferred a thread that wasn't as obvious, most of us liked it, as the quilt had sort of a modern feel to it, and the quilting design and thread suited it. Someone pointed out that she may only be unhappy because she was anticipating a different look to it. Often we're disappointed if things aren't the way we expected them to be. I think she was starting to feel better about it when our meeting broke up.

The other interesting thing: One of the older members of the group said that she never liked to play bridge, but when she was younger her mother kept trying to get her to learn. The mother kept telling her, "When you get old, if you don't play bridge, you won't have anything to do nor will you have any friends." We all had a good laugh over that one. I never could understand the point of bridge...or golf.

You may remember from last week's blog post that we are "expecting" a new arrival in the post: Charlotte Anne (Lotte, a Götz doll called "Anna in Paris). The "girls" and I have been putting together a starter wardrobe for when she arrives, any day now. I had already made a dress for her. I made her coat next, because it's already getting cold here, and it makes me feel cold if I look around and see scantily clad dolls. Her meet outfit is a pink knitted dress. I thought this green would look good with it. The pattern is Jacknitss Coatigan Set. Mandy consented to model. (Did she really have a choice?) I added some length to the sleeves, because these girls have longer arms.

You can see the neckline is rather low to keep her neck warm. She could wear a scarf, but the pink dress has a turtleneck, so it should work fine with this coat. If she wants to wear pants, though, she needs a turtleneck sweater if she's going to run and play. I decided to make her one. But first, I needed to finish the hat that goes with the coat.

Mandy was shocked to see how little yarn was left after I finished the hat. What she's holding includes all the little tails I cut off after weaving in the ends of the coat and hat. 

The yarn is Knit Picks Telemark (discontinued), a fairly dense wool yarn, so a 50g ball didn't have as many yards as most sport weight yarns. Plan B was to just make a headband, but this worked. There is a messy-bun version of the hat and a beanie included in the pattern. I picked the beanie, because it took less yarn.

For the turtleneck, I used Knit Picks Palette in "Celadon Heather." I started out with a pattern I had, Una Hendry's Ski Set for 18" Dolls. The pattern includes ski pants and a hat, with colorwork bands on the pullover and the hat, but I just made the basic pullover, leaving off the colorwork. Mandy stood in front of the mirror, so you could see that it buttons down the back.

I knit the sleeves in the round, from the top down, partly to avoid having to sew the sleeve seams, and partly so I could get the right length. I also tapered the sleeves more than the pattern called for, so they wouldn't be baggy around the wrists.

For the turtleneck, I started out picking up stitches around the neck, as for the neck band, but used fewer stitches, as these girls have skinny graceful, swanlike necks, and I wanted it to fit. I made the ribbing 2" and then bound off. I made the buttonhole/button bands as directed, but continued them up to the top of the turtleneck ribbing. I spaced the buttons further apart, so there would be one button at the base of the neck and one halfway up the turtleneck, so when the top of the turtleneck is turned down, it stays closed.

You can see what a difference it makes with the coat.

Now Mandy wants one to go with her Cabbagetown Jacket, so I'm working on it, using Palette in Golden Heather. She has been a good sport, with everything I'm making for Lotte, so she deserves it.

Speaking of good sports, Vroni agreed to model Lotte's PJs. I finished them on Saturday.

These are supposed to be for Lotte, but the girls have decided that when Lotte gets here, they will show her all the PJs we have and let her pick. (They always end up wearing each other's clothes anyway, so does it really matter?) Now Vroni wants a turtleneck, too.

I've had a lot of fun taking photos of the dolls and their clothes. I've posted some of them on various forums. Last week someone told me that My Doll Best Friend's Doll In-Site Magazine was featuring one of my photos in its Gallery Spot: a shot of Mandy, sitting in the light of the window, knitting Dolly's mittens. I was very excited, and had to go to look:

They pick from photos people have posted in their forum. The person who posted the photo chosen gets a little gift from them. I'm waiting to see what I get.

Halloween is coming up. For a little Halloween fun, I was trying to think of a good caption for this photo:

"Raptured...or raptored? The only one who knows isn't telling."

Or: "They taste OK once you get them out of the wrapper."

Do you have a better one?

What's on my needles: Mandy's turtleneck.

What's on my Featherweight: Um…doll clothes?

What's on my loom: Still waiting.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is still awaiting her next task. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listening to music for Park City Singers' Holiday Concert. I’m about halfway through Amy Corwin’s novel All She Loves on the Kindle app.

What's in my wine glass: Fisheye Shiraz, 2015 (Mandy's birth year, so its a good vintage.)

What's my tip of the week: Fold your yarn into a loop to thread it into your yarn needle, rather than trying to stick the point through. This will also work for thread.

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 or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.