Progress on Quilt

This afternoon, I finished assembling all the quilt pieces after creating and attaching the design to one of the middle squares of the quilt. I used a t-shirt transfer sheet and the logo from the wedding invitation to create it, ironed it on to some cotton fabric and sewed that on to the quilt square. Next steps will be to add a light batting and the backing fabric (plaid flannel) and then tie the quilt. I'm pretty pleased with how it looks so far. Since I assembled the pieces in squares of 9 patches I didn't have as much trouble getting it to square up as I have when I have made long strips of squares (in previous quilt projects). After about 5 of these blankets, I seem to have developed some shortcuts in design and assembly.

Completed items

Here are the before and after pictures of my recent items. The "Landscapes" yarn case (multicolored) shrunk much less than the ones knitted with Patton's wool. The Patton's wool item that was garter (all knit) stitch also shrunk less than the one that was stockinette (knit one row, purl one row) stitch.

Trip to Boise, "Repurposed" sweaters

Today, I drove from Boise back to SE Idaho, a 230+ mile trip across Southern Idaho. It was a beautiful drive and I had my IPOD to provide accompanying music and one lecture from Stanford I-tunes to help me pass the time. As I enjoyed scenes of the Snake River, beautiful hills that looked as if they covered in velveteen, and agricultural land which was a patchwork of color and activity, I was reminded of many of the reasons why I love this place, Idaho.

In addition to attending a productive meeting in Boise, I had the opportunity for another of my favorite actitivies in that I stopped in at one of my favorite thrift stores there to shop for craft supplies. I ended up with six 100% wool sweaters which are wonderful candidates for felting projects for a grand total of about $15. One has the bonus of some gorgeous wooden buttons.

While I was in Boise, I completed knitting two business card cases (pre and post felting photos to come later), one with Patton's wool and another with Landscapes yarn. All in all, a very satisfactory trip.

First Sale, Quilt Transfer design

Last night I sold my first items on Etsy, a couple of hand knitted, felted cases for IPOD or cell phone. Pretty exciting for someone who's never tried to sell any of my crafts before.
I've experimented with a couple of different closures for my bags/cases and think I like using buttons best. The earth-tone case actually has a velcro closure with a decorative button.






I also printed a design on inkjet t-shirt transfer paper to use on my denim quilt. I took the design from the Wedding invitation and added the names and dates for the wedding. As you can see, you have to print a mirror image in order to have it print properly on the fabric. I haven't decided yet where I will put this on the quilt.

I'm headed off to Boise today on a short business trip but hope to do some knitting while I'm gone. Here's a poem I wrote afer visiting Albertson Park there a few years ago:

Visiting Autumn

Two seasons meet
along the Boise River
It is the end of one time
the beginning of another

Summer is just a memory
while winter waits her turn
The trees around me are dressed
in brilliant yellows, reds, and browns

Their brittle leaves dance and fall
while purple flowers bloom
As I approach my own autumn
I feel this season deeply

Felted item

OK, well I haven't exactly figured out this blogging thing yet. I forgot to post the other photo I had planned. Here it is. It's a felted case for my Smartphone.

First Post, greetings from Idaho

Well, I'm new to blogging and this is my first post. I wanted to create a blog as a place where I could share some of my creative projects, hand-crafted items and poetry.

I live in Southeast Idaho and still work full time, so I never have enough time for all the creative projects I would like to do. I hope to retire in a few years and have more time to devote to these pursuits. Until then, I have to choose my projects carefully.

My current project is a jeans quilt I am creating for my nephew's wedding in July. I started with 6" squares cut from about 5-6 pairs of jeans (light, medium, and dark). I sewed 9 squares together to create larger squares and plan to surround these with a strip of squares made from a medium and dark triangle. See photo of work in progress. I plan to post again to show my progress.

Recently, I've been experimenting with felting, making business card cases, IPOD cases, small purses, and bags. Most of these are hand-knitted items which I have felted but I created a few items using recycled wool sweaters from thrift stores. I'm posting a photo of one of my items, but you can see more on my Etsy store: http://homemadeoriginals.etsy.com/