BOM Rehab 2: Blocks done!

BOM Rehab is keeping me motivated to finish my many BOMs. I just finished the last two blocks in the Fat Quarter Shop's 2008 Designer Mystery BOM.

I finished block11. This block was a challenge, but I liked the way it turned out.

I also finished block 12. I thought about changing this block, but in the interest of finishing this quilt, I stuck with the directions.

 Now I just have to finish the top. I did purchase the finishing kit and it takes a lot of cutting.

BOM Rehab 1: Ten down, two to go

Two weeks ago I finished another block in the Fat Quarter Shop's 2008 Designer Mystery BOM, but didn't get a chance to post about it until now. I started working on the 2008 BOM a few months ago, but ran into a snag with Month 9.

The pattern below is what the block was supposed to look like.

I liked the pinwheels in the block, but not the colors--it was too monochromatic. I don't mind monochromatic blocks, but this block was green and not my favorite color in the fabric line. So I put off working on this block. I worked on the next block in the BOM and I started thinking about how I could change this block.

I visited Moda's free pattern site and saw the pattern for Deb Strain's Nature's Gift line. The colors were similar to the Peace on Earth line and it also included pinwheels. I really liked the design so I decided to change the BOM block to look more like this pattern.

This is how the block  turned out.

I like it so much better. And I think it looks great with the rest of the blocks.

And that leaves just two blocks to go.

BOM Hall of Shame

Hi. My name is Helen and I am a BOM-aholic. Maybe  it is more accurate to say that I am a recovering BOM-aholic since I am now participating in just one BOM. But it has been very difficult to restrain myself.

When Sinta announced she was starting BOM Rehab it seemed perfect for me because I am so weak when it comes to BOMs. But it also made me wonder just how many BOMs I have joined, which meant I had to count them. It wasn't easy because they are stashed in a few places. I counted 14 BOMs. They fall in a several categories:

• Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery BOMs (2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012).
• Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs: Le Jardin, Pumpkin Hill, Rabbits Prefer Chocolate, Baltimore Bunnies, and A Tisket, A Tasket.
• Robyn Pandolph's With Willing Hands: Mystery Quilt, and Botanika.
• Jan Patek's Girl Gang: Pokeberry Quilt, Feathered Star, and Sunshine on My Shoulder.
• Fons and Porter's Scrapbag Star (my first BOM started in 1999). 

Right now I am not ready to share how much I have accomplished on those BOMs.

One thing is for sure: I am not going to start any more applique BOMs until I finish at least one.

I am looking forward to making some progress on my BOMs and seeing the progress made by other participants.

A pillow for Penny

Even though Penny has been my best friend since we were sophomores in high school, the last few years I have struggled to come up with Christmas gift ideas for her. At this point in our lives, we have both acquired most of what we need for our homes. I can always find a silly little gift, but in the past few years it has been a challenge to think of the special gift. It doesn't help that she has consistently found special gifts for me.

Penny has two blonde  Cairn Terriers and for the past few years I have tried to find something related to Cairn Terriers, but it isn't easy. If she had a Scottie, a West Highland White, a Jack Russel, or one of the designer breeds it would be much easier. But there aren't many gift items featuring Cairn Terriers.

I have looked for quilt patterns for Cairns and it is the same story. I did find a pattern for a paper-pieced Cairn, but it had a ridiculous number of pieces,  plus I don't have any experience with paper piecing and it seemed likely I could waste a lot of time and fabric on it. It was getting close to Christmas and I needed something simpler so I could actually finish it in time. So, I drew around the edge of the paper-pieced pattern and managed to reduce the number of pieces to five pieces that I appliqued to the top of the pillow. I was pleased with the results and Penny loved it.

I loved the way the fabrics worked together. They are all Moda fabrics. The background is Hometown by Sweetwater, the first border is Essential Dots, and the large border is from Maison de Garance. I had just a fat quarter of the Maison de Garance, which would have worked for the front borders, but in a "duh" moment I realized I'd need it for the back too. Luckily, a local quilt shop had plenty of the same fabric. I'm thinking I will go get more so I can make myself a pillow just like this one, except without the Cairn Terrier.

My mini design boards

I've been enjoying reading the blogs about the Farmer's Wife quilt-a-long. And I think Lori Holt's mini design board is a brilliant idea for working on the 6-inch blocks. I followed her excellent tutorial to create five mini design boards.

This was my first experience using a hot glue gun and I learned a few things. First, they mean it when they say it is a hot glue gun. Second, my hot glue gun is not a precision instrument. Maybe next time I'll figure out how to use it without burning my fingers or dripping hot glue all over.

I like the way they turned out, especially the map fabric from Moda's Peace on Earth collection. I'm looking forward to using them.

If it is the Fourth of July...

I'll be wearing my Firecracker shawl.

Yeah, I know the days of eyelash shawls are pretty much over, but I like this one because the eyelash yarn reminds me of fireworks. I received the one ball of the eyelash yarn in a gift bag several years ago at the Acorn Street Knitting Retreat in Leavenworth, Washington. At first I was disappointed because the yarn didn't seem as pretty as the yarn the other knitters received. It had a blue thread and red and white and sparkly eyelashes. Then I warmed up to it and started thinking about how I would use it.

I decided to use the yarn for a garter stitch shaped shawl. I bought some navy blue Sevilla yarn and then started trying to make it work. I thought I would use it every other row, but there wasn't enough yarn. When I tried to find more of the yarn I was told that it was a sample yarn and there wasn't any more of it. So I came up with another plan--to use two rows of the Sevilla and one row of the eyelash. It worked great. I have work it on the Fourth of July ever since.

I know it will be the hit of my brother's Fourth of July party, as usual.

2010 Knitting Olympics

After reading the Yarn Harlot's blog about the 2010 Knitting Olympics, I decided that it would be great fun to participate. There was something about her statement to those who "would like to challenge themselves while embracing the Olympic spirit, and is just whacked enough to play along with me" that called to me. I figured I would be watching the Olympics for hours anyway. Why not use this opportunity to push my knitting skills?

I decided that my challenge would be lace. My previous experience was painful. A few years ago I took a  lace and my project--a lace leaf shawl in SeaSilk--never got beyond what could be mistaken for a thong before I gave up. It didn't help that the instructor would explain the pattern and then, as we started to work, would talk non-stop. I'd listen to her for a few minutes, then look at my lace and have to fix my mistakes. I tried working at home but that didn't seem to help. Hmmm. Yeah. Me. Just whacked enough to take on a lace project while watching the Olympics.

The last time I saw my friend Susan she showed me a shawl she made out of SeaSilk. She used the Ostrich Plumes pattern from A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. She said it was pretty easy. So I decided to tackle that pattern.  I promptly ripped out the lace leaf shawl and waited for the flame to be lit to cast on. That's where I ran into my first problem. The pattern directions said, "Multiple of 16 sts plus 1." Uh, huh? Was that 16 sts plus 1 = 17 for each repeat? So, if I wanted to have seven repeats that would be 7 X 17? Or would that be 7 X 16 + 1. I knew I was in trouble, but I decided the first option must be right. I cast on the 7 X 17 stitches (don't make me calculate that here). I was off and running.

The first three rows were easy--just simple stockinette. I should have been more concerned about the fact that I dropped a stitch in the stockinette even before I got to the pattern. Then I got to the pattern stitch (K1, yo) 3 times. Got it. (ssk) twice Check. Sl 2 knit-wise--K1--P2sso. What the.... I had never seen that stitch. I checked all my knitting books but since I don't have any beginning lace books they were no help. I went online and found a very helpful YouTube video. Okay. So, got that.

But somehow the pattern wasn't turning out. I suspected I cast on the wrong number of stitches.

The next day I went to Acorn Street Yarn where Bridget was kind enough to look at my knitting and let me know where I went wrong. So I cast on the correct number of stitches and am off and running again.

Lace. Yeah. And the Olympics. I might need to rethink my challenge.