Batik Squares
 
Batik fabric sewn together in squares.  The quilting was rather simple and done with a machine on corners of quilt.  Big  X's or, if fabric was the fish I quilted around each fish using thick white thread.  My second quilt ever.  I only used one layer of batting and it was 100% cotton so it is a rather thin blanket.  The white fabric is actually tan-ish natural cotton (can't remember the official term) and is used for the back of the quilt too.

Hockey Quilt
 

My first quilt ever.  This is a great idea for parents who don't know what to do with all those T-shirts your child gets for a particular sport.  In this case the sport is hockey.  This was an ongoing blanket and has grown over the years.  The secret is to turn each T-shirt (one side or both depending on image) into a square (mine end up being rectangles most of the time).  Each square is quilted, batted and sewn separately.  When you get enough squared to make a side you add it to the blanket.  I also added patches and hockey related T-shirt images that didn't come from a tournament or playoffs.

Pinwheel Quilt

The first quilt where I actually used a pattern and used the correct size by using those plastic pieces available at fabric stores for cutting.  The key is to have one of those round cutters.  Wish I had know that when I completed my silk quilt!  Bad picture but you get the idea.  I used the sewing matching for everything and have learned that it is far easier, for me, and far more accurate if I sew by hand.  (See below)

Sun & Stars Quilt

I did not use a pattern but came up with my own design.  It is a Sun & Stars theme.  It is 90% hand sewn and hand quilted.  The  blanket ended up being rather large after I had sewed all the pieces together.  I did use the sewing machine to put the back of the quilt to the front plus a little bit with the octagons.  I found that I could not line things up evenly with the sewing machine and that those parts that I attempted using a machine were 'off."  So, back to hand sewing.  Besides regular 'quilting' I quilted various sun and moon faces on the larger yellow blocks. Then I painted some of them with fabric paint.

Silk Quilt

My third quilt.  I didn't know about proper sizing for the triangles so the middle has a lot of extra fabric.  If I could do this over it would look a lot 'cleaner,' except for the fact that my cat had dug her nails into the silk so much that the silk began to run.  Don't use silk if you intend to actually use the blanket, or if you have cats.

I got scrap silk at Dharma Trading company and died the silk various colors.  The died silk looks very cool.  I then cut the middle shapes out and sort of winged it from there.  It looks very nice in real life but for the sizing.  It was a learning experience and I now understand the importance of correct shaping.  I doubled the batting for this quilt as I learned after my batik quilt that some batting is just too thin.  The back of this quilt is black cotton.

Baby Quilt

My first 'baby' quilt, and the first quilt I have made for someone else.  Very simple squares placed randomly.  The cloth I got from Beverly's in a pack plus I added some off-white.  The back is flannel.

Fall Project

This is the last quilt I finished before I moved overseas. It took about two years because I worked on it off and on over that time. It has a fall theme.

A Knitters Supply Bag

Very Good Idea! for those who have a lot of knitting 'stuff.'  They sell these types of bags but they are rather expensive.  I made pockets for the needles and labeled them with tin tags a, b, c, etc. that were actually made for scrapbooking.  Below the knitting pocket is one long pocket and on that pocket is a smaller pocket (the batik fabric).  I sewed and glued pink Velcro to the inside of each pocket as well as at the top of the bag (where you see the fold in the pictures) .  The Velcro at the top holds the longer knitting needles in place.  I roll up the bag and use a hair rubber band to keep it rolled up.  I came up with this before I saw the same basic idea on Knitty Gritty.

The first scarf f I ever finished.  The pattern is knit a few, purl a few.  I don't remember the exact numbers but for example:

Knit 10, Purl 10, knit 10, purl 10, knit 10
then you are done with the row and the next row is reversed
Purl 10, knit 10, purl 10, knit 10, purl 10.

White - two balls of yarn.
Colored - two balls of yarn, one on each end.

I made the middle first with a mohair type white yarn.  The shape is wide enough for a shawl or long enough for a scarf so I bought two balls of yarn at $17 each ( mohair alpaca something) and added both ends.  I used larger needles on rather thin yarn so the scarf has a lacy look about it.

My second scarf.  Can't remember the pattern exactly but the ends are:

Basic Rib Stitch:
Knit 2, purl 2, till end of row,
reverse for next row
Purl 2, knit 2
then after 7 or 8 rows I begin the braid in the middle.
 Cable Stitch:
first row: purl 14, knit 6, purl 14, knit 6, purl 14
next row reverse: knit 14, purl 6, knit 14, purl 6 knit 14, etc.
after 5 rows of this I switch three using separate needles to create the braid.  I can't explain how to do it very well, so look in a book, or go here.

I used four balls of wool for this scarf.  Not very long for the amount of yarn .

I used two balls of yarn divided again because the yarn was similar but not exact.  I had originally bought one ball of yarn for my son to teach him how to knit.  He wasn't into it and the yarn sat around for a year or two.  I started knitting this scarf and found one ball wasn't enough so I bought another. Same brand but the colors had changed some.  So I divided each ball into two and knitted in 4 parts, old ball, new ball, old ball, new ball.

The pattern:
The bottoms ends,  which are similar to other scarves: (Rib Stitch) knit 2, purl 2, knit 2, purl 2 for as long as you want then reverse for next row (purl 2, knit 2, purl 2, knit 2 ,etc.) (Double ribbing)
The rest is knit 7, purl 7......for the width your are knitting then reverse the next row purl 7, knit 7
EXCEPT for the width ends.  The very last stitch at each end has to be the opposite of what you are on.  So if you just knitted 7 the last stitch is a purl.  Then you are on the next row and you knit the first stitch and purl the next 7.  This keeps the scarf from curling (at least with this acrylic yarn).
The scarf ends up looking like 'squares.'  (The zigzag colors are because of the yarn.)

Cougar Scarf

Fastest scarf I ever knitted.  Took me about a week, just before hockey playoffs.  These were the colors of my son's last ice hockey team.  I made a pattern of 10 but it is hard to see:

After the bottom ends (same double ribbing)
knit 10, purl 10, knit 10, purl 10
next row
purl 10, knit 10, purl 10, knit 10,
repeat for as long as you want adding on different colors.

I measured the length of each color by putting it next to the last similar color, I did not count rows since it really didn't matter as the yarn is so fuzzy you wouldn't be able to tell that some colors are longer or shorter by a row or two.

It is a scarf although the picture makes it look like a circle.  The ends are in the front and are just placed next to each other for the photograph.  The ends are the three colors on each side, one side dark blue, black, white, other side white, black, dark blue.

Part of the back of the sweater then the front of a sweater I made just before I moved overseas. I used a pattern.

This pattern is similar to one I saw in an Arts & Crafts magazine ( Bungalow).  My silk paint ran a bit so I stitched white around the flowers.  Otherwise the flowers would be a big orange mess.  Material is for furniture, kind of velvety with a rubber backing.