I am not really a quilter but over the years I have made several log cabin quilts. They have all been machined and hand-tied and while I have enjoyed making them, quilting never really seduced me the way that knitting has. Anyhow, I have been working on this quilt for my sister, Donna, for the past year and a half. I am going to visit her tomorrow and thanks to that deadline I finally finished it last Sunday! I spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the barn watching hail, snow and blue sky through the big hayloft windows and working on the quilt. I am happy with it and I really truly hope that Donna & John love it. It is their housewarming gift for their "new" home in Arizona. They have been in it for well over two years... these things take time ;)
P.S. If you look under my work table you will spy a beautiful hand-painted floor cloth. It is the project my sister, Julie, and I did while she and Mikey were visiting last October. I LOVE it! Julie designed it and I was her assistant. By helping her I got to learn how to do it (not to mention have all the pleasure of playing with her). I think I'll do another when the weather warms up a little and the barn warms up with it. I had to wear 3 layers and mitts this past weekend while working on Donna's quilt; it was cold out there :)
I love knitting for babies. Everything turns out so cute that you just want to cuddle it and because the pieces are so small they knit up quickly. I adore this set I made for a beautiful new girl named Shaina. The corally pink will look beautiful on her. I used Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in color #609, shrimp for this set and I like it better than any cotton I've ever knit with. I will definitely buy it again. It is soft and had a tiny bit of bounce. Most cotton wears my hands out but I enjoyed every minute of knitting these tiny pieces. The Baby Bolero is from Oneskein by Leigh Radford. I've enjoyed poring over this book many times... when I'm up at the cabin I often read knitting patterns in bed before going to sleep. This book has been on my nightstand for the past several months. The hat is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson another bedside book with great patterns. Both of these books have ended up being faves. I made up the little sock booties as I went and was very happy with the way they turned out. Aren't they the cutest?
This is Emiley and Shane, my niece and nephew who live in Arizona. Paul & I just got back from a visit. While we were there I taught Em how to knit and she was an amazing student! She was attentive, quick to understand, focused, diligent... I have to say brilliant :) While we were there she learned to knit and finished her first two projects: 1: a small pink square that became the "cleaning cloth" for her Nintendo hand held & 2: this lovely pink scarf. This picture was taken at a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix last Sunday. It was 90 degrees out but Em just had to wear her new scarf. 
I am not really a quilter but over the years I have made several log cabin quilts. They have all been machined and hand-tied and while I have enjoyed making them, quilting never really seduced me the way that knitting has. Anyhow, I have been working on this quilt for my sister, Donna, for the past year and a half. I am going to visit her tomorrow and thanks to that deadline I finally finished it last Sunday! I spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the barn watching hail, snow and blue sky through the big hayloft windows and working on the quilt. I am happy with it and I really truly hope that Donna & John love it. It is their housewarming gift for their "new" home in Arizona. They have been in it for well over two years... these things take time ;) 