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  • All written material and original images and photographs copyright ©. Meredith A. Henning. 2006-2009 Please do not duplicate or re-print without permission, thank you.

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May Flowers :: My First Block

Remember the Pretties?? I received my very first block for my quilt!  From the very creative and inspiring Amy at Fresh Vintage! You can start drooling now....

Amy's Block for Me (May)

This just makes me smile!!  I chose a scrappy log cabin style block pattern, and I think maybe she forgot the scrappy part, it's lovely isn't it!!

I can't wait to see what everyone else will send! It's so beautiful Amy, thanks again :)

Happy May!

Pretties ~ May

Myfabricmay It's my month for sending out fabric for the VBQ!!

Isn't this lovely, it's going to become my garden for Mary quilt....

Can't wait to see what all the other delightful ladies will send back with their own special touches in each of their blocks!

It has been so fun participating in this kind of a quilting group, I will treasure this experience always! Especially since my dear Violet is enjoying it right along with me! (Hmm, wonder what she'll create for me??? She says she's not showing it to me until she finishes, and that she might even mail it ;-)

Many blessings in your quilting and crafting and creating!

Melanie's Block ~ March

My Block for Melanie

Melanie asked for a block with crosses in it. She sent the absolutely gorgeous "celtic" black and white fabric, isn't it amazing, I just loved working with it!  I was inspired by a lovely block I saw online, sorry can't remember where to link for you.

And here is Violet's incredible block:

Violet's Block for MelanieAll I can say is WOW, I am in awe of my creative daughter, she inspires me so much!!! Note her signature embroidery :) You can see the rest of Melanie's blocks here, enjoy!

Many blessings and please visit again soon!

Theresa's Block ~ February

I forgot to post our finished blocks of Theresa's month!! Here is my *nature inspired* block for Theresa!

Theres'a Block 

(Gee, I guess I could have cropped this one, oh well) Here is Violet's it's SO CUTE!!

Theresa's Block Violet 

Can you stand the adorable little mousie tea party!!  See the rest of the nature blocks for Theresa here!

See you soon!

Sneak Peek of Theresa's Block

Theresa's sneak 

Here's a little peek at my "Nature Themed" quilt block for Theresa at Lapazhome Learning.  I can't believe this woman just moved to beautiful Key Largo all the way from Alaska!  She's warming up and thawing out, so I know she'll enjoy seeing a little peek at her block.  Violet will work on finishing hers up this weekend and then I'll post her peek too!

Quilting Spree for a Quilting Bee!

Violet and I excitedly accepted an invitation to join our very first Virtual Quilting Bee with some very talented and lovely ladies across the country!  We completed our very first blocks and sent them off last week to the first recipient, seamstress extraordiare ~ Michele Quigley!

Violet's block is so sweet and she incorporated Michele's fabrics into a nine-patch construction.  I think she did great for her first real quilt block!

Violet's block for michele 

And a close up of the Rose Baby she embroidered so beautifully...

Violet's embroidery 

My block is a little more eclectic and random. I wanted to try doing something sort of free form, so here's mine...

Meredith's block for michele 

Michele's fabric is the beautiful blue with the brown and tan floral pattern as well as the royal blue and brown floral.  It was delicious to work with and to add complimentary fabrics from our own stash.  Speaking of our fabric stash...a certain fabric store is having a President's Day sale over the weekend, hope we can make it out!!

You can view all of the beautiful blocks at our Virtual Bee here!  Thanks for stopping by today, many blessings in your day.

Some W-I-P...

With many sick days beginning before Thanksgiving and continuing still, I have been doing a fair amount of knitting amidst the administering to the convalescing.  Here's a few things I have been doing:

A Hat for me.  I discovered a delightful little knitting shop near my new home and found this delicious yarn and thought I'd try a hat for me, although I rarely wear hats, so we'll see, maybe it'll be for Violet (shh, don't tell her)!  Yarn is Curious Creek Fibers "Omo in colorway Birches of Norway".  I'm knitting on a US #3 for some lovely small stitches :)

Momhat 

My first attempt at cables.  This handbag was featured in Holiday 2007 issue of Knit Simple magazine and it was very fun and quick to knit up even with the cables!  The yarn I chose for this project is delightful - Rowan "all seasons cotton" in LOT20J5.  I really liked how this knit up, very soft.  I plan to line it with some of the leftover sage cotton fabric we used to back and finish Violet's quilt.  Should be cute and I'll actually get to use it :) 

Cabledhandbag 

Here's a little closer look at the cables, they were actually quite fun to do and the strap is a quick seed stitch!

Cables 

This next piece probably won't be finished until next year as I may have to set it aside while I work on Christmas presents, but it's a beautiful wrap I just had to try! Featured in the same issue of Knit Simple as the cable bag, I chose some luxurious Alpaca/Wool yarn in cream, sage, camel and chocolate, YUM!

Stripewrap 

And the other half...

Stripwrap2 

It is a beautiful stockinette stitch with either side being edged with a seed stitch so it does tend to knit fairly quickly.  I'd love to have at least half of it done before the weekend, but at 64 inches it may take me a little longer!

Hope your knitting has been enjoyable and creative, I am so happy to have even just a few minutes each day to unwind with my needles.  Now if I can just fire up that sewing machine again we'll be in good shape!

Blessings!

Violet's Creativity!

Violet is so creative and just loves to make things for her brothers and friends!  I love her enthusiasm for finding ways to make someone else happy with her special creations.  Here is a few of the little niceties she's recently made.  First, here is a look at her sewing case, she's added to it over the years, but it has made a very lovely and quite portable case, she even brings it to sew in the car!! (She uses the yellow ball block for a darning ball, clever girl) ;-)

Sewing case

:: Needle Case from Sewing With St. Anne by Alice Cantrell.

Needlecasewithtie 

Insidecase 

:: Sun Bonnet also from Sewing With Saint Anne.

Sunbonnet

:: Pin Cushion for me :)

Pincushion 

:: An adorable mp3 player case she crocheted for me back in the summer, I just love it's cuteness!

Mp3case

:: This darling Knitted Striped Ball was an inspiration from a great Knitting DVD we checked out at our library!

Knitted ball

:: Pretty little Mermaid.

Mermaid 

There's so much more, but my uploading time has expired, better save some for another time :)

Many blessings creating something lovely with your sweeties!

My Tasha Tudor Shawl!

My Tasha Tudor Shawl is officially finished!!  I managed to eek out the last of the lace edging yesterday morning before breakfast.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out as this is the very first thing I have ever knit for myself!  The yarn is so soft and yet weighty so it's not flimsy at all.  I'm very happy with the buttery color I found as well, yummy comes close, but it is truly delish!

I think I just may have to make a matching one for Violet now, shh!

Sorry this is a little blurry...

Meshawl   

A Close-up of the edging...

Laceedging

And the bottom point...

Shawlpoint

And one more for good measure :)

Shawl_2

It feels so good to have a completed project other than a hat under my belt and Violet and I are off on several new projects as well.  I promise I'll get a work in progress (WIP) album up soon...In the meantime, I'll just entice you!  I'm knitting a Pastel Argyle sweater set for Violet from Vogue's Ultimate Knitting book and a Cabled Shoulder Bag I saw in the Knit Simple Holiday magazine 2007 edition.

Violet is trying her hand at some leg warmers in a luscious periwinkle blue, a ballet sweater in pink and a darling little drawstring purse in kelly green!

We'll be busy for a while that's for sure!!  I hope you're wrapping your hands around something creative to ease your soul and feed your spirit!! 

Please nt in the side-bar a new list for Creativity in Action!  Be sure to check out the first one I've added, it's a delightful project to do with your children!!  I'd love to link to any fun projects you have to share, it's a great way to spread ideas for others to try as well!!

Many blessings in your day!

Knitting Samplers

Violet and I have been experimenting with different knitting stitches and we've knit up a few samplers that we wanted to share.  There are so many great knitting technique books available that it's sometimes hard to know where to start, or where to go once you've mastered the basics.  I will add our new favorite books we're enjoying right now for knitting and please share yours in the comments too! 

Here is Violet's sampler starting at the needle and going down:

  • Purl 2 Knit 2 Ribbing
  • Seed Stitch (she really likes this one, isn't it beautiful)
  • Stockinette Stitch (her current favorite)

Her sampler was knit with Size 6 Bamboo Circular needles.  This is a size she's using to create afgahan squares for a blanket she's creating!  We need a work in progress (WIP) side bar next!!

Violetsampler

I was inspired by the many different stitches at StitchGuide.com and the Lion Brand site Stitch Finder!My sampler from top to bottom:

  • Seed Stitch
  • Knit 1 Purl 1 Rib
  • Mock Cable (I LOVE this one)
  • Knit 2 Purl 2 Rib
  • Double Moss Stitch (another of my new faves)

Momsampler

I knit my sampler with a Size 4 Bamboo Circular needle which I love.  It's the size I'm using for my almost finished Tasha Tudor Shawl!!

Thanks for stopping in today and please share your WIP if you care!!