Quilting

When I was sorting through all my various boxes of craft things, I ran across a box full of the quilts I had made way back when.  All of them are just the tops and have been awaiting quilting for more than ten years!  I really need to get back them finished and put to good use.

I could get them finished quicker if I do my quilting by machine, but I didn't like doing my quilting by machine back when I made these tops.  I decided to make a few potholders to see if I liked machine quilting any better now.

Nope.  Just don't like machine quilting at all.  I need to toughen up those quilting fingers and get to work and face up to the fact that it will be years before all of these tops are quilted.

Even though I didn't care for the machine quilting, and I rushed so my seams don't match and they are all a little "off", I do like the cute potholders I made.  I'll be making more of these since they are so quick and easy to complete.

I finished this easy hanging kitchen towel in just a couple of days.  Used up some Bernat cotton I had in my stash.  Need to remember on the next one that the buttonhole tends to stretch so I need to make it smaller or use a much bigger button.  I'm going to have to stitch up the buttonhole a bit on this one because I like the button I used and don't want to replace it.  A couple of these with some dishcloths and matching potholders would make a great gift.

I really like that I've taken up so many of the crafts I used to do but had given up in lieu of knitting.  I stitched up a couple of cards for Mother's Day and really like how they turned out.  Paul wrote a poem that we've written inside.  Now to pull out some more floss and work up something for Father's Day so nobody feels left out.

I needed something pretty mindless to work on while I watched TV, and the washcloths I had in the bathroom were in dire need of replacing, so I tried out this waffle weave pattern I've had queued for some time.  I really like how it turned out, so now I'll be making a bunch more and getting rid of some of the more ragged looking ones currently in use.

I learned about Bavarian Crochet at this past month's Prayer Shawl group meeting.  One of the ladies there had made a gorgeous afghan for someone as a gift and I knew immediately that I had to make one for myself.  A and I stopped at Michaels on the way home and found the pattern book and bought yarn, even though we both had promised not to start anything new.  A rationalizes that since we learned about it in church it is OK.  LOL

The pattern works up pretty quickly until you get to about round 10, at which time it seems to take endless hours to complete one side.  This photo shows 5 rounds complete, and I have now completed 12.  I love the look of this textured pattern and the colors I chose.  Another in progress photo later in the week.