Sewvivor - knitnlit

Hi and welcome if you are visiting via Sewvivor! I have decided to throw my hat into the ring, and 'audition' for the Sewvivor: quilted edition! :) 

I had a very difficult time trying to decide what quilt to enter for this competition, and I finally chose this one I just finished up this week! 

I am so very very pleased with the way this one came out - it was many many hours of piecing, cutting and pressing! 

The pattern is Simply Woven from the Moda Bake Shop, and I had a good time picking some of my favorite fabrics to use in it.  

I did some simple straight line quilting (my favorite!) and I backed it with some of my favorite DS prints, and used this great grey and white striped binding. This one finished at twin size, and I think I will put it away to save for one of my girls when they are a little older. I can't bear to part with it! 

Crossing my fingers and toes I'm one of the 16 selected! How fun would that be?? 

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Large Quilts - Swoon!

Hi! Welcome if you are visiting from Blogger's Quilt Festival! I am so excited to share this recent finish - it is one of my favorites!



I have long wanted to make this pattern, and I purchased a FQ bundle of Denyse Schmidt's Florence line with some birthday money last summer.  Finally, after the holidays were over, I had time to cut into this loveliness!

I used Kona Coal for the background, and I really like it - I think it compliments the colors of the DS fabric very well.

I am so happy to have this on my bed!

Blogger's Quilt Festival: ROYGBIV Quilts - Less is More

Hi! Welcome if you are visiting from Blogger's Quilt Festival! I am so excited to share this quilt with you today - it is one of my new favorites!



I finished this quilt earlier this spring for my quilt guild's solids challenge. The pattern is Less is More by Elizabeth Dackson, available in her book, Becoming a Confident Quilter.

I changed it up a tiny bit, but having the center of each block be one color, instead of a shade of the other colors in the blocks. The light grey is Kona Ash, and the dark grey is Kona Steel. I used a FQ bundle of Kona solids for the blocks - I really love the way it looks!

I finished up the binding on this on our drive to Indiana this March, and it snowed while we were there, so I was able to take my first 'quilt in the snow' pictures! :)

Beyond Neutral

I am so excited to finally be able to share this with you! Last spring I sewed up a sample for John Adam's new book Beyond Neutral. Well, the book is out, and I can finally show you what I made!



I can't wait to see all of the other patterns in the book - from the sneak peaks I've seen, they look awesome! See more peeks on John's blog!

Alder Skirt pattern testing

I was so fortunate to be able to test the new alder skirt (for girls) for Rachael at Imagine Gnats.

This is such a cute, basic skirt pattern - great for beginners! 

I really love the way it came out, and I can't wait to make some more - I think this will be a great option for school skirts - cute, flattering, and just the right length. 

Plus pockets! My kids are obsessed with pockets, so this is definitely a winner in their book!

I encourage you to pop over to Rachael's shop and pick up your own copy - there is even a pattern sized for women! I'm excited to make one for myself too!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

Hi! And welcome if you are coming from Sew Mama Sew's great Giveaway Day!

Today I am excited to give away one of my zippered pouches.

I love these for containing my various knitting projects and my EPP materials! 

This bag measures 7.5” tall, 13.5” wide, with a 4” gusseted bottom, which allows the bag to stand on its own.

To enter, just leave a comment! And if you don't win, you can purchase your own pouch in my etsy shop.

Thanks for stopping by! 

UPDATE! We have a winner! Barbara P - you are our winner! You are a no-reply commenter, so I can't email you. Please send me an email at knitnlit AT gmail DOT com to claim your prize!

Two new sweaters for the kiddos!

I finished up these two sweaters for Henry and Ellie during the Ravellenic Games as well. Ellie is so excited that mommy finally finished her sweater (I am making a promise to myself to finish hers first this fall!).



For Henry's I followed the Sanctuary for Baby pattern, and omitted the collar. I knew he would just chew on it, and it would get gross.



For Ellie's sweater I used the Korrigan pattern, which I made several modifications to (I didn't knit the sleeves flat as called for). I knit the 24 month size, and it came out perfectly! (She is a tiny thing!)
I think it came out really cute, especially given all the trouble I had keeping track of the cable chart (too many increases!)

Two new sweaters!

I am so pleased that I met all of my Ravellenic Games challenges! I finished up two more adult sized sweaters.



First up was my Must Have Cardigan. It came out lovely (apologies for the less than stellar picture), but alas, it is a bit too small to fit me comfortably. That's what happens when you start a project 4 years before you finish it!



I also finished up my Featherweight Cardigan. It grew a lot with soaking and blocking, and it is a great length on me! I wore it a bit on Sunday when it was a just a bit chilly outside, and it kept me very warm. I am looking forward to getting a lot of wear out of it this spring and summer!

WIP Wednesday: Fabric Stacks

No real sewing to speak of lately, but I have been making pretty stacks for the next round of quilts. Now if my kids would be healthy and could go to school maybe I could sew!

P is for Plaid, Pleats, Piping and PINK!

I had so very much fun making this dress for Samantha for P week. I had bought yardage of this great DS plaid at JoAnn's a while ago, saving it for the perfect dress. And I think it looks pretty great!



I used the Oliver + S Library Dress, and added some length (I think I cut the size five dress with the size seven length). It is a little too big around, but she will be able to wear it for a while! The only other mod I made was to tack down the front overlap so it wouldn't gap.



I used hot pink piping around the waistband, and pink buttons on the back. I really enjoyed the process of putting this dress together and I am really happy with the cute pattern - I know it will be a regular addition to my arsenal! And she wore it for picture day - another P!

Quilt a Long: Same Block, Different Day

Here we go! This is the second post about the new quilt-a-long. The first is found here. Today we will talk more about fabric choices and planning our blocks.

I used Kona solids in Lupine, Violet, Dark Violet, Jade Green, Candy Green, Ice Frappe, Steel and Iron.  You will need to chose three colors, and three shades of each color, though I only used two greys - I saved my dark grey (Charcoal) for sashing. I recommend a half yard of each color, so you can play with your layout as much as you want.

You will need to download the quilt block here, and start planning your quilt. When I was planning my blocks, I tried to match my colored pencils as closely as possible to the Kona colors and started there.

There are 12 blocks in all, but you can make more if you want a larger quilt. Or, if you don't want to plan yours, assign each color a letter and number (A1, A2, A3, etc) and you can follow along with my layouts each week.

I will start posting blocks next week, and they will go up on Mondays (no guarantee on what time on Mondays!).

Please let me know if you have any questions!

February FWMQG BOM: HST block with tutorial

Welcome! This tutorial is part of the FWMQG BOM program - this is our February block, focusing on making a star block with half-square triangles. 

You can make HSTs in any way you want. You will need 1/4 yard of the colors you choose (if you make the interior star in different colors you will need less.) this makes a 16" finished block. You could get a larger or smaller clock by changing yet size of your squares and HSTs.

Cut: 16 2.5" squares of your background fabric

16 3" squares of your background fabric.

12 3" squares of color A (dark pink in my example)

12 3" squares of color B (dark yellow in my example)

4 3" squares of color C (light pink)

4 3" squares of color D (light yellow)

Make the following HST combinations:

Use 2 squares of color D/background (Makes 4 total squares)

Use 2 squares of color C/background (Makes 4 total squares)

Use 2 squares of color D/color C (Makes 4 total squares)

Use 6 squares of color B/background (Makes 12 total squares)

Use 6 squares of color A/background (Makes 12 total squares)

Use 6 squares of color A/color B (Makes 12 total squares)

Press and trim your HSTs to 2.5" and lay them out in these rows:

Row 1

Row 2

Row 3

Row 4

Row 5

Row 6

Row 7

Row 8

Press your rows and sew together. You may find it helps reduce the bulk to press your seams open, both on the back of the HSTs and in the rows and columns.



You're done! Please let me know if you have any questions!

Sketchy Stars Quilt

I am really so pleased with the way this quilt finished up! I was inspired by this quilt, and when I received a bundle of Sketch for Christmas last year, I decided that it would be perfect for this project.



I love wonky stars, and really enjoyed using them again in this quilt. I'm also a sucker for a rainbow, so this was two of my favorite things!



I used a beautiful dark grey Painter's Canvas for the backing and a Kaffe Fasset dot for the binding. I quilted diagonal straight lines in one direction, to give the illusion that the stars were 'shooting.' I am very pleased with how these things really make the quilt complete. I can't wait to snuggle under this one!

WIP Wednesday

I am so excited that I managed to finish up the last five Lucky Stars blocks last week. Now I have to decide how I want to put my quilt together! I haven't been sewing much this week, but I am looking forward to getting back to the machine. I have five quilts waiting to be basted, and I finally bought batting. Hoping to get backing made this week and get some basting done next week! Three are queen sized, one is nearly, and one is a throw, so it will be a lot of basting! 

Today I sat down and made a list of what I want to work on in the upcoming months, and I think I will pull fabric and play with color ideas just for fun between chores tomorrow! 

Linking up with Lee!

Tangled Yoke: A New Knit Sweater for me!

I am so very very excited to have this sweater finished and to have it fit so well!



The pattern is Tangled Yoke from an old issue of Interweave. I am a bit ashamed of how long this one was a WIP, but I would stall out on certain sections (before the sleeves, after the yoke was joined, before the cable, in the middle of the cable). However, it only took a few hours of work to get her finished up! I am really pleased with the fit - it's a worry when you started the sweater before you had four kids!



I am a bit disappointed by the ladders in the sleeves - I'm chalking it up to not wanting to pull the yarn too tightly on my DPNs, since it has a tendency to break. I'm calling it a design feature now!

I can already tell that this is going to be my go-to sweater. It is just the right amount of warmth for most Texas winter days, the sleeve length is great, and it is comfy buttoned up.

Now I'm off to finish up two more sweaters!

New Quilt-a-Long?

So last spring, I came across this pin on Pinterest.



(This image is from the Quilter's Guild of Plano)

I loved what they had done - taken the same block and sewed it up in 12 different ways, using the values and hues of the quilt blocks to make the block look different each time. I immediately drew up the block, and colored it in 12 different ways, then bought fabric and started cutting. It got put to the side over the holidays, but I decided it would be one of the first quilts I finished this year, so I plowed through all of the blocks in just a few days.



I would love to gauge interest in holding a quilt-a-long for this design. It can be as easy or as complicated as you would like. You can color your blocks in your 12 designs, or you could follow along with me.

You would need (at minimum) 1/2 yard cuts of fabric, three in values of one color, three in another and 2 in your last. I suggest a dark, medium and light value in each shade.  I used three values of raspberry, three of teal and two greys. (My dark grey I used for sashing and borders.)

Please let me know if you are interested! I would love to see all the possibilities you could dream up!

FWMQG Solids Challenge

I am really excited about this quilt! I purchased Becoming a Confident Quilter with a Christmas Gift Card, and I loved this quilt in the book (Less is More). I thought it would be perfect for the FWMQG Solids Challenge!



I used a FQ bundle of Kona solids, and changed up the pattern a bit to use what I had. I paired dark and light shades of most colors (I paired yellow and light orange and red and dark orange) and used Kona Ash for the centers of each block. The background is Kona Steel, and I like the blue-ness of the grey with these colors. This was a quick quilt to put together and I really like it. Now to make a backing and decide how to quilt it!

Valentines Gifts 2014

I wasn't sure what to do for the teachers for Valentine's Day, but I wanted to do something small. A friend gifted me this cute heart fabric, and I whipped up four coffee cozys today. I even had heart buttons for them! 

I have come to think that the best thing about Pinterest is the ideas for class/teacher gifts (and the quilty inspiration too, of course!).

I had pinned the Love Bug idea a few years ago, and we finally did it this year. Ben did bouncy balls (Valentine, you make my heart bounce!) and Ellie wanted to do 'vroom-vroom' cars. Her cards say things like "I wheelie love you," and "valentine you make my heart race!" I bought cute things at the dollar store and baggies at JoAnn's, printed the tags on cardstock and voila! Done! I think they are all really cute, and they were quick and inexpensive, and NOT CANDY! :)

WIP Wednesday - Paper piecing

I have mostly been knitting as fast as I can this week, but I did finish up these four Lucky Stars blocks at the end of last week. I always think I love paper piecing, then it can be tricky to line up seams, and I get frustrated and vow never to do it again, and then I see the finished blocks and love it again. It's a vicious cycle I guess! 

O is for Octopus

My apologies in advance, I didn't get a shot of the girls wearing these on O day, so this is what you get.



I had picked up some of this cute fabric a few months ago, and when I went back to get some, they were out of it. I had a hard time choosing something else I liked, and then I thought I could order online! Duh! Luckily, when I went to do that I saw that JoAnn's now has a 'check store stock' feature, and it said my local store had some more of this print, so I stopped by and grabbed some. Samantha really wanted her and Ellie to have matching skirts again, so I made two. They really like them, which is always nice!