Autumn Pumpkin Jumpin

I am determined that as long as there is no snow in the office parking lot, it is still Autumn. Therefore, to celebrate Autumn, I finally 'finished' this cute wall hanging enough that I could bring it in and hang it in my office. I started it a couple years ago on the island, where I bought the pattern and fabric and started tracing the shapes. Last year I got the background and pieced border sewn. This year I got all the shapes cut out and ironed on to the background and got the other borders added. In keeping with this trend, I think next year I will do the fancy stitching around all the cut outs and the following year I will quilt it. So with the binding and hanging sleeve I figure it will be another 3 years until it is truly done, but it makes me smile. I hope the snow holds off until I can get the snowflake one ready to hang. That one has been waiting much longer, but is finally cut out.

Tatonka is a great quilt weight

I recently found the most perfect solution to having my quilt take flight while I'm trying to work on it. Place one 82.5 pound black lab on the end of it.

Tatonka was gracious enough to demonstrate this for me. You can see that he is fully tortured by this task, but being a good dog he does as he is told. No more pesky flying quilt! Thanks Tatonka.

This is a quilt for my Dad. It's about 10 years in the making. Smokey is currently working long hours for a show so I downloaded an Elm Creek Quilts book from audible and I listen to it and quilt after the dog park/dinner hours. Last night I got to move the frame over a section. I hope to finish the flying geese border some day too. One side is on and the other is about half done.

Tatonka now lays under the frame on my feet since the roll at the end is smaller.

Necklace for Kyle

Turns out I can do simple beading with one hand, so I made a necklace for my nephew, Kyle. He's a Jesus freak and I love him for it. Smokey had to help me with the knots. He's a knotting guru. Don't hold your breath for any knitting posts, cause you might turn blue.

Sandi's Necklace

This is a necklace I bought last summer for my step-mom, Sandi. It is mastadon ivory with a teardrop of baleen. A forget-me-not is carved onto the baleen. I added a jump ring to the baleen so it would lay flat and another one to the ivory to connect it to the chain.

Stripey hats for mother daughter

And here we have a very cute stripey hat for my niece, Meshayla. I got the pattern from a book I got her for Christmas, Shall I Knit You a Hat? It's a story about bunny rabbits knitting hats for their woodland friends. I have a couple ends to weave in yet, but it should be in the mail shortly. The yarn is a hodge-podge of scraps I had laying around.

The mother hat was actually my second attempt on Meshayla's hat. It was still huge, so I decided to line it with a wind proof earband.

Here's the big picture of the mother hat. It's nice and toasty and should work well for keeping ears warm while using those snowshoes she got for Christmas.

Horsin around handbag

Christmas 2009 gift for my horse loving super tall sister. I made her a vest for her birthday the previous summer with the same fabric. It's always a joy to make gifts for people who are wowed by your work - which means you keep making them! The outer fabric is a super light ultra suede with machine embroidered horse heads; lining is super soft brown; one inside pocket; ribbon button loop and wide ribbon handle with accent stitching. I was very pleased with the results of altering a pattern from a bag lady class taken on the island.

Blue Island Socks

Yesterday I finished weaving in the ends for these socks. I finished one sock this summer and then I stopped and made Christmas presents.

These are for a lady on the island who bought the yarn and picked this pattern out of the same book I made Mom's socks out of. They were really fun to knit and I look forward to finishing another pair in the same pattern I started a long time ago. Why can I knit one sock fairly quicly but it takes me forever to finish the pair?