Serial Quilters

I had pic uploading problems with my last blog(s). Therefore, I have decided to make the quilting thing a serial thing. If you are reading this, and you haven't read the post from July 5th, scroll down and read that first.

Go on. We'll wait.

Ok. Now that you understand just what is going on, I will continue with the pictures.

This is a Postage Stamp Quilt. Not so very impressed with squares that have a 30s feel to them? Well, then, I shall tell you WHY you should be impressed. Guess why this is called a Postage Stamp Quilt. Go on, just guess. Those little squares are the size of a stamp. And not the special event, larger than you thought when you wrote the address stamps. I'm talking about normal, ugly stamps that you get when you sneak one from work. Tiny stamps that make your tongue taste bad. When bazillions of them are put together into a single quilt, you get something like this (which is not oversized - it's a regular queen size quilt:


This is one of the quilts that fell into the technical prowess/how did she do that without going crazy category. The description:

My Birthday Quilt by Linda Sittler, La Salle, Illinois. Made from cotton
reproduction patterns and wool batting using machine piecing and quilting.
Linda's comments: "This reproduction of an antique quilt contains 2,304
nine-patch blocks. Total pieces within the quilt are 11,520. I started October
2004 and completed May 5, 2005, my birthday."

Well, the repro fabrics explains the 30s feel. But do you really have a grasp of the time frame? If she started October 1st, this quilt of mind-numbing smallness only took 7 months and 4 days.

Seven months and four days, max, start to freakin finish.

I am not worthy. My Neighbor's Baby Quilt for Which I Have Bought Fabric But Will Probably Not Finish will not be even close.

Knitting News

I am continuing to slog away at The Bedroom Sweater. I manage a whopping 4 rows per week - 14 stitches per row. I'm a machine. I want to knit something for myself, and I got those new books a while back. I picked a pattern...and realized I do not have enough of the yellow raw silk to do it. *sigh* What can one make from 600yds of yarn that takes size 9 needles? Nothing really to wear...no wonder it was on sale! I shall just have to buy new yarn. I know. It's a hardship.

I *did* make a bookmark. I made buckles and everything. I don't have a photo - it's coming. I decided to kind of free-form design the thing (oh yeah, flexing those design muscles with a bookmark). I have decided that in its official, I-should-try-to-write-it-out form, I will make it smaller. Or multi-sized, since not all books are the same? I'm still trying to decide. I am entering the Knit-Along for Vickie Howell's BFF Wrist Cuffs, as I mentioned (and I haven't signed up on the msg board, but I shall soonly). I got a microfiber in bright colors - I'm into a green/blue/yellow phase. I'm not sure why, but Suzy, you would love it. ;) I made a swatch (that's right, Kelly - a swatch! What have you done to me?) with size 3 dpns - and it looks very yummy! I'll post eventually that photo, too :)

Family

Gretchen and the girls came to Chicago a while ago. We did many things.

We took the train into The City. We learned how to read train schedules and we learned that Aunt Jess wears weird socks (big blue and green striped knee highs). Aunt Jess’s Pippi Longstocking socks are very helpful if your mom asks what Aunt Jess looks like in case you are lost in a crowd and you have to answer without looking at her.