Sunday, 18 November 2012

Dear Jane and More Knitting

It's been another hectic week - I think I spent most of this week recovering from last week. My well was a running on empty by the end of this past week but feels recharged now.
I got two Dear Jane blocks finished:



H8

I2
And I did a little knitting. A friend at school is having a baby boy - instead of buying an outfit I decided to knit two little hats. This is the first one:


The second will be in green tones and will be a different style - the other is called a "tea bag helmet" - I'll leave that up to your imagination!

Sunday, 11 November 2012

Dear Jane and some knitting

I bought a house this week - after over a year of searching. I'm very pleased with it and it closes in three weeks so I have a lot to do.
So, I didn't sew much this week.

My Dear Jane progress is one block:

F1
And I finished a scarf for a friend. It's knit on huge needles with huge yarn so it didn't take too long. She picked out the yarn at the Creative Festival and says it feels like teddy bear skin - which grosses me out a little to be honest. It's shades of black and grey, which didn't show up so well in the photo.

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Dear Jane

A mostly wordless post...

A4

C12, 49 pieces

C12 back with nicely twirled seams

Sunday, 4 November 2012

Long Arm Quilting Class

Today I went to the house of my teacher for the Dear Jane class for a chance to learn how to try her long arm machine (and learn how to use it). After today, I have a whole new appreciation for the beautiful work done on those machines.

The class was 3 hours. First we learned how to load the machine, then practiced pantographs and then free motion/front of the machine work. It looks a lot harder than it is! The machine is not too heavy, but requires a certain kind of momentum to get the curves looking good. It's kind of awkward in terms of where to stand. And I found it really hard to use both hands evenly on the machine - I can see one shoulder getting more sore than the other for sure.

Here's my pantograph work:



It's a little squared when it should be more rounded - it's like learning to machine quilt all over again!
The free motion went a little smoother and looks more rounded.  I kept reminding myself that this was also a plain muslin top with high contrast thread, so everything showed (good and not so good).

All in all, I enjoyed the class. Now, I can rent the machine for a day and do my own quilting on it.  I need to start with something small and easy - and not the red and white hunter's star.  I think I'll pay to have that one done.