Lisa Kay Knits... and Quilts!

Ginger checked out the Christmas tree. The Santa hat ornament came from David (Southern Cross Fibre) as part of the ocean towel swap, last year. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Some time ago, I ran across the Sue Spargo " Embroidering Texture and Dimension by Hand " class on Craftsy. I've watched the whole thing and started collecting wools, threads and embellishments to make the butterfly sampler that is part of the class. (This class is half off right now, for Black Friday weekend.) I am completely buried in Christmas quilting, and so I haven't actually started making the butterflies. I became very aware of and interested in Sue Spargo's work right at the time that her web site announced sign ups for next year's "block of the month" club for 2016, " Cuppa ." I signed up for it and will anxiously await the first kit in the second week of each month, starting in January. There are ~1000 people signed up, and kit mailings are spread out over the weeks of the month. I got week two. Unfortunately, the club is "private," and no social media info about it is allowed, so I won't be able to post prog...

Well, it is long past time to post, but here is what Mitchell did for Halloween. The back of his shirt says, "Steve_Duncan," his username on the multi-player server where he plays Minecraft online. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Here's what it looks like after I wash my hand-knitted socks. I keep them in a certain spot for "dirty socks" and save them up for a while. Then, I hand wash them in batches, by color. (This was three colors.) I soak them in luke-warm water with " Soak ," gently squeeze them a bit to get some water out, and put them in the washer on spin (all three batches together). "Soak" doesn't have to be rinsed out, which is one of the best parts. After the spin, they go on the drying rack. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I got Mitchell's quilt back from machine quilting (yes, yes, I paid someone to quilt it), and I got the binding and label done. His daddy modeled it for me. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

Mitchell started 4th grade this week. Happy Knitting, Lisa Kay

I returned to a UFO (unfinished object) that has been in its project bag since I took a class at the 2011 AQS show in Nashville. It was a class called "Curing Curve-a-Phobia," and we basically learned how to make the quarter circle blocks for an old-fashioned "Drunkard's Path" block. I had made nine blocks. I pulled them out and put them together with two borders. Here is the quilt sandwich, ready to be basted: I started hand quilting. Here are the first two circles quilted. I'm really pleased with how the quilting is going. I purchased a TJ's Quick Quilter spoon, having seen an article from Jenny Beyer saying how well it worked at resolving the problem of sore fingers from sticking them with the needle. (I also recommend the video. I never would have figured it out, otherwise.) In addition to solving sore fingers, it also helps gauge stitches. I am very pleased to say that I'm getting ten stitches per inch. I recall that I used to get ar...