Quilting, Knitting, and TAST

Spool quilt on the design wall. Those paper labels on the spools helped me keep my rows straight. I've decided to do the applique border after all, it really adds a nice touch. so far the leaves and flowers are just pinned on but the vine is sewn in place. This wall hanging is from Edyta Sitar's larger quilt pattern from her book Friendship Strips and Scraps.

Saturday I went to Bath and shopped at Mariner's Compass quilt shop. I bought these three fabrics to make another "Ann" quilt. This will be my project at the quilt retreat next weekend. Sunday I washed and ironed the fabrics and cut all the pieces out for the quilt. I put together one block. I told myself it was because I wanted to have one complete block to refer to when I get to the retreat, but really I just wanted to see one made up! I hope to get the whole quilt top made next weekend. We go to Camp Kieve in Nobleboro which is on Damariscotta Lake. Such a beautiful location and the facility is the best, we are treated so well there, I can't wait to go! 

I've been knitting sock for hubby. I'm ready to turn the heel on the second sock. Trying to get these done before the weather is too warm to wear them. Realistically, it won't be too warm to soon here in Maine. I'm knitting these with Paton's Kroy sock yarn which I bought at Joann's. Joann's has really improved their yarn inventory. I was pleased to find this yarn which is 75% wool, 25% nylon. I used to knit with Paton's yarn when I lived in Halifax in the 1970s so it is fun to find it again. 

TAST Week10 - - - - - - -  Running Stitch

The cloth was purchased at Joann's and is called a Bread Cloth. It has a nice feel to it even though it is polyester. I sewed the blue stitches with perl cotton. 

Here's a close up of the yellow running stitches. I whipped the yellow perl cotton with various threads. The whipped stitches are simply threaded under the running stitches without going into the fabric. The bottom row has blue perl cotton, the center row uses a red chenille yarn, and the top row is green velvet thread which is more like a cord. You can see that the blue thread is whipped from the top of each yellow stitch while the green velvet goes in from the top on one stitch, then in from the bottom on the next stitch. Maybe that's not really whipped, but I don't know what else to call it!

I looked at some of the other TAST running stitch samples and saw a sample from the small forest that I really liked, so I tried it out on my sampler. The fabrics are some hand dyed fabric I made five or six years ago. I used regular embroidery floss, three strands for this. I really like how it gives texture and color and it's so quick and easy. 

Here's another little sample form the that same piece. I don't know if this is really running stitch, but it is just straight stitch. Two stitches paired to make an interesting background. 

Check out more samples from TAST (Take a stitch Tuesday) on SharonB's blog "Pintangle".

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy!