A Finished Quilt Top...Hooray!

Wow! A finished quilt top! I'm loving how it's turning out, too...Here's the final top, with borders, even! Another view, just cause I'm in love!

I made the decision at some point to have the cars and trucks facing the same direction, but alternating direction on each row. Of course, I made a very nice pick-up (ute for my Aussie friends) that I really liked, and only realized I'd made it facing the wrong direction after I'd finished it...what else is new? So, making lemonade from spare lemons, I decided to use the "mistake" block as the quilt label. I think it turned out pretty well...what do YOU think?

So, when we return from our overseas trip, all I'll have left to do is put the layers together and actually quilt it. Hopefully then, when Hugo and his family arrive from London for a visit later in March, I can give the actual finished quilt to him and they can hand carry it back. Not that I don't trust the Post...

We had a great weekend, making a run up to the Sydney Festival final concert of the year, Opera in the Domain...what a great venue, and the opera (Candide) was just terrific. A zillion thanks to Chris and Adele for thinking of us, and for putting us up on Saturday night. Of course, I forgot my camera, so I didn't get to memorialize the evening...

Off to California in a week...can't wait!

Oh, My Stars & Garters...That Was CLOSE!!

Can you believe it? SKYP Sock #1 finished, with 2 grams of yarn left. I was sweating it, for sure. I guess it's optimistic to think you can be sure of making a pair of men's socks with two skeins of Koigu. Any feet larger than DH's (about size 10) haven't got a prayer. I was already auditioning scraps of other sock yarn for the toes, just in case. So glad that wasn't necessary. Now, on to Sock #2... Meanwhile, Print O' the Waves has come to a standstill, due to lack of yarn:

I got one short side border and most of one long side border knitted on before running out. Fortunately, I have one skein being sent to me in California by a kind Raveler. Can you imagine how annoyed I'd be to have to switch dyelots at this point?

Not such happy news on the quilt front, though. I took a cruise through local fabric shops for just the right sashing fabric for Hugo's Wheels, to no avail. So, I'll need to wait till the California trip in two weeks. I had hoped this top would be all stitched together before we left, but that's not to be.

Oh, and Happy Australia Day to Aussie blogger friends!

To Canberra We Shall Go...

So we're doing a little road trip today, to Canberra where it's going to be hot, hot, hot...35 C. Not nice! However, we're hoping both venues where we're going will be air-conditioned. Not sure if this will be going from the Ridiculous to the Sublime or not: first up will be a matinee of Avatar in 3D. Then, for a little "high kulcha," doncha know: the Masterpieces of the Musee d'Orsay at the National Gallery. It's a members only event, so we're hoping the crowds will be a tiny bit less than if we just went on a regular day. Promises to be a fun day! Then the long drive back home, 90 minutes or so.

In other news, I've FINALLY finished the paper-pieced blocks for Hugo's Wheels, and am auditioning sashing, cornerstones and borders. Wanna see? I thought so! This gives you an idea of how it might finish up. The dark blue is too dark (looks much darker in person) and I'll look for something a bit lighter with a slightly more turquoise tone to the blue. The wavy turquoise print for the outer border will stay, and I think the red cornerstones and skinny border will be something close to this. All in all, I'm pleased with how it's looking. Hope to get the piecing finished before we leave in a couple of weeks.
And since it feels very funny not to have a pair of socks on the needles, I decided to use this gorgeous dark green variegated Koigu to make a pair of socks for Ross. The pattern is called Simple SKYP Socks, and it's very fun to knit...relaxing, easy to take along, only two rows to the pattern so you can always tell where you are. I can even talk or watch TV while working on these:

And it's been ages since I reported on this Print O' The Wave shawl/stole. It's my longest WIP, since I started it well over a year ago. A fun knit, but I need concentration and quiet so it often spends time in hibernation. I will, however, run out of yarn before I can finish the knitted-on border. Fortunately, Ravelry friends pointed me to a nice woman in California who is sending me one more skein of this KnitPicks Shadow laceweight yarn in the Sunset colorway, so I can finish this one. Hopefully in this lifetime!

So that's what's up with me at the moment. Summer in the Southern Highlands...a good time to knit. What else is new?!

I'm MELTING......

It is so hot today, and humid, and enervating. At least the hot winds of earlier today are moderating a bit. Have I mentioned that I don't do well in the heat? So what am I doing? Baking a Nectarine Cobbler. Must be mad! But the nectarines are really delicious this year, and we're going to some friends' house for dinner and I volunteered to bring the pudding (that's Aussie-speak for dessert, dontcha know?), so voila! One Nectarine Cobbler coming up.

No progress on Hugo's Wheels today. It's paper-pieced with blocks from EQ6, and I just don't have the patience for all those fiddly bits and the attendant mess today. Did a little work on my Print O' The Waves shawl...I finished the first short side of the knitted-on border. Fun, but slow going.

Here are the first blocks I've completed for Hugo's Wheels. Actually there's one more, but I haven't photographed it yet. Here's the Sports Car...

and the Fire Truck... and the Double-Decker Bus...

and a Blue Sedan...

and the Ambulance (I love the ambulance!)...

Only six more blocks to go. The one that's finished but not photographed is a big semi-truck.

It'll be great to get this one wrapped up and delivered!

Hello, World!

What happened to the last six months? I think Facebook and Twitter took up all my bandwidth and I've been neglecting my blog, but the time has come to make a new start.

As you see, summer has arrived in the Southern Highlands, and DH is back into his walking routine. However, given the number and perversity of the blowflies (and ordinary flies) around here, this is his new "look" when walking...quite a fashion statement, no? I told him he looks like he's the bride at a Goth wedding...black veil and all! So what have I been knitting, you wonder? (Well, given my long silence, you may have long since given up wondering, and who could blame you?!) Here are Eli's Footlets. These were part of a Schoolhouse Press Knit-along, so I decided to use up bits and pieces of yarn I had around. These should be cozy when winter rolls around again.

And here is a progress shot of my Cookie A. socks, Clandestine, using Slackford Studio's wondrous Stalwart Sock yarn in the colorway True Blood. These socks are actually finished now, but I haven't got a good shot of the socks modeled yet. Can't recommend the pattern and the yarn highly enough...just gorgeous.

And finally, thanks to friends in Sydney who invited us to stay at their apartment on New Year's Eve. I got this shot of the red smoke and fire falling from the Sydney Harbour Bridge at the 9PM fireworks display for kids. This little girl really enjoyed the show.

In other news, I'm back into quilting mode and have made a good start on Hugo's Wheels...paper-pieced cars, busses, trucks, etc. Pics soon, I hope.

Hope you and yours had a great Holiday season, and that 2010 will be a better year for us all!

Alive and Well and Kindle-ing in Oakland

Can you believe that before we left Australia I didn't get a photo of the completed quilt? Here's the best I can offer...it's all pinned together and laid out on the queen-size guest bed, so at least you can see how it fit. The quilting was a trial, but fun...I have such trouble stuffing large quilts through my home machine. I get stuck, then it all pops free and I get great big stitches, and other fun stuff. Still, Katie has now received the quilt and tells me she really, really likes it, and THAT's what's important! And here's what I've been up to lately: Kindle! With reassurance from some good Blog Buddies, I took the plunge, and I am totally in love...

Of course, as usual, here's the first thing we did when we arrived in Oakland. Can you see that happy smile? TACOS!

There has been knitting going on, too. This plain ribbed sock, made with gorgeous merino sock yarn from Piedmont Yarn Shop, knit on 2.25 bamboo DPNs. It's such a luscious color, I've decided to call these socks my Plain Strawberry Vanilla Socks.

And there's even been an FO (finished object) today. My first Kiri Shawl, in KnitPicks Swish DK in Forest Heather, knit on KP Options 4.5mm. I added some size 6/0 beads in a very pale green crystal and I think I'm going to like them. Once the shawl is dry, I'll try to get DH to take a pick of it being worn.

Other than that, it's been eating, drinking, walking the neighborhoods around our apartment, visiting family and friends and really enjoying life. We took a trip up to the Sierra Nevada Foothills over the weekend, visiting friends in Pioneer, and we even got a little rainstorm...unheard of in California in July!

Eight more days of play, and then we return to Oz. No hope at all that we'll have the same flight experience we had on the way up: the plane was madly oversold, and they bumped us to Business Class...what an incredible luxury!

Nearly Finished!

It was a productive week, I'm happy to say! Realized at some point that there's no floor space that's safe to pin on and large enough for a queen-size quilt inside the house. So...a couple of days ago I set myself up in the garage after carefully sweeping up any dust and dirt. It was freezing out there! Worked out pretty well, though. Here's "Life is a Promise, Fulfill It", and all the layers stretched out and ready for pinning. Before I started the layering process, I decided to try to get one shot of the entire quilt top, for posterity. Not easy...had to perch on a ladder and it still isn't really satisfactory. I need a design wall!

Back in the house, after all the hours of pinning, sore knees, sore fingers, but that quilt is all pinned together!

Here's how I reworked the top border to balance Katie's name a bit.

Y.esterday and today I cloistered myself in the sewing room and got the entire top quilted! Hooray! Also got the binding strips prepared, so tomorrow I will sew those on and start on the hand sewing of the folded-over edge.

This baby is nearly ready for its new owner.

Another BIG thanks to Tonya...I needed to swat up on the wonky letter instructions again when I did these borders. I'm really happy with how they turned out!