Arne & Carlos Workshop

Recently I had a wonderful opportunity to take a workshop from Arne and Carlos.  I have to say, these guys are down to earth and fun.  They have been on the go and giving workshops and lectures in North America since June of this year.  If I'd been touring that long I'd be exhausted, but these fellas are full of pep and wonderful stories about knitting and their travels.

The workshop I took was Knitting and Purling the Norwegian Way and was held at Wool'n Things in Orleans, Ontario.  Arne and Carlos explained how this method of knitting was done and then taught us in groups of 3 or 4 and gave individual attention to participants.  I have now learned a new way to knit and with a bit of practice, feel I will conquer it.  







The gents were very personable and graciously signed my Christmas Balls book.  By the way, this is a great book of patterns for knitting Christmas Balls which make great gifts.  I've made about 30 in the past year.  (God jul means Merry Christmas in Norwegian)

They were very kind to pose with the participants for selfies as well.

If you ever have a chance to take a workshop from Arne and Carlos be sure to do so.  If you can't, then certainly watch their YouTube channel or have a look at their website where there's lots to see and learn.

Tusen takk

Jigsaw Puzzle Charity Quilt

I made this quilt last year.  The larger pieces make this quilt go together quickly.  I needed to be very mindful of the layout to  ensure the pieces went together correctly.

The color combination is based on material stash from Victoria's Quilts.  Sometimes the colors aren't quite what I'd normally use, but it gets the job done.

Another quilt for a cancer patient in the area.

Summer Strawberry Salad with Maple Dressing

Summer's here and that's when I make this wonderful salad.  Easy to do and gives me lots of time for my knitting and quilting.

This salad has evolved over the past 10 years and I've tweeked it to suit my family's favorite ingredients.  I make it in June and July when the strawberries are in season.  It's made with local  strawberries and maple syrup and maple vinegar from a nearby maple sugar bush. 

Salad 
 

Iceberg or romaine lettuce

1 Granny Smith apple

Strawberries (two or three for each serving)

Sugar glazed pecans

Blue cheese (I use Castello Crumbled Danish Blue Cheese)

Place torn  lettuce leaves on individual salad plates.  Place several thin slices of Granny Smith apple and a couple of sliced strawberries on the lettuce.   Top it off with half a dozen homemade sugar glazed pecans and a sprinkling of crumbled blue cheese.  Pour the Maple Dressing over the salad.

Maple Dressing:

¼ cup Pure Maple Vinegar

½ cup canola oil

2 tablespoons white sugar

2 – 3 tablespoons Medium or Amber Maple Syrup

Pinch of salt

½ teaspoon dry mustard

Combine all ingredients and shake well. 

Tip:  Store any leftover dressing in the fridge and remove about an hour before you plan to use it.

Here's a link for the recipe for the Glazed Pecans 

 
Give it a try.  I am sure you’ll enjoy it. Have a great summer!!

Knitting Project Bags

Indigo

I was drawn to this Hudson fabric with the recognizable Hudson Bay colors and decided to make Knitting Project bags out of it with coordinating plain fabric.  

Green

It's the perfect size bag for socks or cowl projects.
The bag is made with 100% quilting cotton and is fully lined with a light colored 100% cotton fabric.

It has a fusible fleece between the inner and outer layers of the bag.  There is a coordinating 4" strap on the side.  It has a zipper closing on top.
There is lots of open space in the bag due to its boxed bottom. 
As an extra touch, each bag is quilted. 

Red

Yellow

The size of the bag is approximately 10"high x 12" wide with a  4 1/2" bottom.

I'm only making a few of these Hudson color bags.  I can't use them all so I'm selling them for $40 (CDN) each plus shipping.  If you'd like to order one, you can reach me through Instagram @suecquilts. 

Striped Socks

The GroceryGirls May Sock Bash on Ravelry

is for striped socks.  I had some Paintbox Yarns striped rainbow yarn that I thought would be perfect.   I knit a Cuff Down sock based on a pattern by Kay Jones of the Bakery Bears.  It went together very well, even the gusset heel flap was easy to do as it was well explained in the pattern.  The heels and toes were knit with some left over yarn that coordinated with the colors.

The Kitchener bind off always makes such a nice finish. 

I found a great tutorial by Suzanne Bryan that demonstrated how to do this method without having "ears".  Here's the video.

I avoid using dpns as I much prefer the Magic Loop method and try to adapt patterns whenever I can.  I knit these socks with 2.25 mm needles, it always seems to take a bit longer.  But the time spent was worth it.

Socks for Hubby

I finished a pair of socks for hubby who picked out the colours on his own. He is not into indie dyed wool or anything showy; just warm and comfortable were his criteria. Set loose in the yarn store, he chose Regia 4-ply grey with maroon contrast, perhaps something like his great-grandfather would have worn! Which is what his photograph intended to portray with everything in the photo (except the socks) dating to c. 1900. He’s quite happy with how everything turned out.

 

He liked them so much that he requested another pair.  I made them with the left over wool from his first pair - just the opposite colors.  I used Susan B Anderson's socks for men pattern.  Turkish cast on, toe up socks, short row heel on 2.25 mm ChiaoGoo circular needles - my go to method for socks.  I also do a little something to avoid the annoying hole that sometimes appears when you join the finished heel stitches to the instep stitches.  Socks are enjoyable to knit -  I can knit them fairly quickly; they don't take much yarn and they are functional and appreciated by the recipient. :)

 

Starburst Blossom

I enjoyed the PEI MQG mystery quilt so much that I made a second one for the local Victoria's Quilts group.  I changed the layout a bit and had to cut off a few points to have it the proper size for the groups size requirements.

Colors worked well together.  There was a lot of piecing but I had fun assembling each block and putting together the quilt top.  

I tried some different quilting designs this time using echo stitching for the inside and outside of squares and a more curved design for the other blocks.  

It's always a challenge to quilt this on my domestic Bernina.  It's about as big a size (50 x 70) that I can maneuver.   The nice part about using my machine is that the BSR makes the quilt stitches even.

 

 

Joy of Long-arm Quilting

Over the past couple of years,  I have had the delightful opportunity to use the long-arm quilt machine at Happy Wife Quilting.  Jen, who runs the home-based shop, guided me through each step.  

The initial set-up requires accuracy to make sure the quilt top is straight.  Once you are ready, you follow a pantograph for the design.  It takes a bit of practice to follow the design with the laser light, but with a few tips from Jen, I managed to quilt 3 large scrappy quilts, several other large quilts and a baby quilt.  Not all at the same time, mind you.:)

Happy Wife Quilting's New Long Arm

I really enjoyed using the long arm.  It was a very zen-like mode once I got into the swing of things.  Long-arm quilting gives the quilts such a quality finished look.

Some quilts that I long-arm quilted at Jen's were approximately 90 x 90 inches and took about 5 hours from setup to finish. The smaller sizes were finished in a few hours.

The binding was sewn on at home with my walking foot and then the excess batting and backing were trimmed away. 


My quilts are always finished by hand sewing the binding around the edges.  The label is applied at this time as well.  

Long-arm quilting - love it!!