Looking Up

I'm feeling more cheerful about my work since the last post for several reasons.  One is shown below.  My daughter-in-law took the Athena's Puzzle quilt home when they visited last week, and here you see it in use. What could be better!

I finished the scarf.  The color combination in this outfit is not the best, but you get the idea.  This was fun, incredibly fast, and satisfied any knitting urge I may have had.

And finally, I learned that my joke quilt has been accepted by Road to California.  Entering this seemed like a long shot to me; I thought the quilt's uniqueness would be in its favor, but the quilting isn't up to the super level that seems to be expected everywhere.  So the email was a happy surprise.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  I did lots of cooking yesterday, and am cleaning today, but not too strenuously.  

What I've Learned Recently

1.  Sometimes less is more.  I like the way this charity quilt turned out with minimal quilting.  With the polyester batting, it should be enough.

2.  How to make an ugly quilt:  Throw in too many, too bright "accent" blocks.  Oh, well on a dark and stormy night it will be just fine.

3.  I can still knit.  I just discovered this novelty yarn, called Marina Glitz, and thought I could manage a scarf that requires only eight stitches.

You pick up the loops on the top of the web and knit them, and the result is this ruffly scarf.  Although it's a bit trickier than I expected, I have finished half of the skein in two nights of TV watching.  It might be tempting to make more for gifts, but most colors seem to be out-of-stock in all the web sites I checked.

Ho Hum

Must get motivated.  Must get motivated.

This will not help much.

Here's the latest Hoffman Challenge fabric.  First off, fabric with roses is not my style, but the other problem is the disappointingly sleazy quality of this fabric.  It looks more like a Walmart knockoff than a Hoffman--the weave is coarse, and the colors don't have the usual sharp definition. At $10.50 a yard the high cost of cotton is really hitting home.  To be fair, there seems to be a white over print over the images which may have something to do with the blurred look, but the general effect isn't very successful.

I do have an idea, but I'll need to get motivated to start.  That seems to be the hard part for me lately.