These are my first attempts at flowers. A few of the roses even look like roses! The great thing about flowers is that even if a flower doesn't look like it's supposed to, it looks pretty. We're letting the icing harden on these and we'll use them on a cake next week.
My niece, Dr. Melanie Hauser sent me a picture of her latest quilt. She had some great t-shirts that were taking over her closet and she decided to put them to better use. It's a rag quilt with the snipped frayed edges. We just love to do rag quilts. One year, Mel and I made rag quilts for each other. We both wanted one but didn't think we'd ever get around to making ourselves one, so we made them for each other that year for Christmas! This one is t-shirts and jeans on the front, and I think she used flannel on the back to give the "rag" effect on the front. This is soooo cute, Mel! Thanks for sharing the pics with me. (I put it in the gallery on the website, too).
Let's attach the handles and finish the tote bag. You should have (2) 18-inch handles. Turn the top edge down 1-inch and press. Slip a handle under the cuff leaving about a 6-inch space between each end. Pin the handle ends through the cuff.
Stitch the handles just under the cuff. Repeat for the handle on the other side.
Fold the handles up and stitch all the way around the top of the cuff, through the handles.
Da Da! Wasn't that easy??? Thanks for the free pattern, Lazy Girl Designs!
To Square up the bottom corners, we already cut a 2" square from each corner. For each cut corner, open up the hole you created and match up the seams.
Pin and stitch across the opening. Be sure to reinforce the beginning and ending of the stitching line.
Now turn the bag right side out through the opening you left. Stitch the opening shut right along the edge. Now comes the fun part. It felt a little like folding a fitted sheet. Fold the end with the little opening section you just stitched inside the other end. This way, the area you left open to turn and then stitched, will be the lining and will not show. Do your best to push the lining inside the bag then press the fold along the top. You now have the finished bag without handles. We'll do them tomorrow.
For the handles, fold the long strip in half then open it up and fold the edges into the center fold. Then fold on the original fold line. This makes a long piece that is 4 pieces of fabric thick. Stitch along the open edge, very close to the edge. Then cut it in half, giving you (2) 18-inch handles.
Stitch around the 3 open sides of the main handbag, leaving an opening to turn.
Cut a 2 inch square from each corner.
The second cake was a doll. Since it was Valentine's week, I made it in red, pink and white. Since my DH and I are empty nesters and our "kids" are grown men, I was at a bit of a loss to know what to do with a doll cake... until I learned that my friend was hosting a tea party on Valentine's Day with her 9-year-old daughter for her girl scout troop. Yippie! A good home for my doll cake!
It's time to line the bag and finish up. After sewing around the lining from side marker to side marker (which leaves the top open), put the bag inside the lining, right sides together. To add a little extra ease in opening the finished bag, you might want to stitch the lining just a little bit below the markers- leaving a slightly larger opening. Not much- just a little bit. I found that the finished bag was a little tight- I wanted it to open a little more.
Stitch around the top opening, leaving an area open to turn the bag. I did a lot of pinning, as the knitted bag was pretty stretchy and I wanted to make sure it didn't slip out of place before it was stitched.
Turn right side out, and lightly press. Whip stitch the opening (where my hand is).
I said, "Give it to me!" "Drop!"
"I mean it- DROP IT".
OK- Here's the paper. I picked the winner for you..... send the calendar to CAROL!
I'm in Philadelphia visiting with family and I have the pleasure of sleeping under a wonderfully fun quilt that my niece, Melanie made for her sister. She used the Magic Stack N' Whack book (the first one, I think) for the pattern.
The print for the blocks was a stripe- I think it turned out really cute!
This was the first quilt Melanie ever machine quilted. She used a variegated thread on the print, and a metallic thread on the dark blue background. 
This one is a sampler. I don't know about you, but when I make a sampler quilt, it's usually planned- several different blocks with somewhat related fabric sewn together with some sort of plan. Not Leona. Her sampler quilts were leftover blocks from quilts she made- or extra blocks made on purpose to have left over. Then- when she had a pile, she stuck them together in a quilt. Three ladies in a row- add a few pieced blocks- throw in another lady- then a few Sunbonnet Sues- and what the heck- throw in a Dresden Plate.
I remember her tracing around cardboard templaits with pencil on the fabric and then cutting out the pieces with scissors. Oh, wait! I remember doing that myself!!! The difference is that I switched to rotary cutters. She was still tracing and cutting with scissors until her last days. I'm not even sure if she ever got a rotary cutter. In fact, I'm not sure she would have used it even if she had one!
Her family can see their old clothing in this one!
Now THIS one is a real surprise. It's a pretty non-descript quilt- just simple old fabric squares sewn and tied. But look closer.....
I finished the front and back of the bag and used the yarn and a big fat rounded point needle to sew the front to the back. To do that, I put the right sides facing, and stitched around, starting and ending at the stitch markers on the sides. So there is a little space at the top of the sides that is open. Then turn the bag right side out. 
I took a fat quarter (I love this batik- and it just happens to be on my website). Laying the knitted bag out on top of a double layer of the fabric, as flat as I could, but not stretching it, I traced around the bag at about 1/4 inch larger than the bag.
Then it's a simple stitch around- to the same points where you stopped at the stitch markers on the knitting. Leave the lining inside out, because that's how you want to put it inside the knitted bag.
When you get to rows 10 and 11, you come to the stitches that make the little poofy triangle part of the pattern. It's not hard- just a little odd if you've never done it before. In row 10, the pattern reads: "P7 wrapping yarn 3 times for each stitch". To do this, you are working 7 purls. But instead of inserting the needle, wrapping the yarn around it and purling the stitch off, you are going to insert the needle, wrap the yarn around the needle 3 times, and then purl it off. (I use my left thumb nail to "catch" the yarn against the needle as I do the 3 wraps- otherwise they tend to fall off). You'll end up with 7 triple loops on your right needle.
When you get to row 11, when you get to the triple loops, the pattern reads, "slip7 wyif dropping extra wraps, then insert left needle back into these 7 stitches and p7 tog". Don't panic! It's not as bad as it sounds! "wyif" means "with yarn in front". When you purl, the yarn is in front- so they are setting you up to do a purl. As you reach each of the triple wraps, slip them from the left to the right needle. They all come unraveled and you have one giant loop. Do this for all 7, and you'll have 7 giant loops on the right needle.
Take the 7 giant loops and put them on the left needle. Squish them all together and treat them as one loop- and purl them off all together. It feels awkward- but just do it. Trust me. They'll look a little tidy-er in a few rows.
By the time you do a few more rows, you will see the pattern develop. You might want to gently tug down on the whole piece and it will look better. Now you see why I want to line this thing! Yes- it's full of holes! Not to worry- just keep going. (remember- click on the picture to make it bigger).
Before starting to knit, I'd like to suggest a tip that makes knitting patterns like this a LOT easier for me. It will take you about 10 minutes, and you'll be happier for hours to come! For this pattern, the diamond pattern is worked on 26 rows. The stitches are not complicated, but each of the 26 rows are different. I don't know about you, but my eyes never remember where they looked last on a pattern page like this! I know- you can use a ruler and pull it down the page- but then the ruler goes flying when the dog walks by and wags his tail over the page. You can use a stitch counter, but then you still have to look down the page to find the line. You can mark it with a pencil, but you need to repeat the diamond pattern over and over and the page gets messy fast. I like to make myself a little pattern booklet. For this pattern, I cut 26 pieces of heavy paper and punched a hole in the top left corner of the stack. I wrote one pattern line on each piece, then tied them together with a piece of scrap yarn. After working a row, I flip the "page". I always know that I need to start with the page that is currently showing. Really- it just takes a few minutes to do this and you'll be smiling for hours. You have to work these rows 6 times- so it's really worth the 10 minutes!
This pattern is for the "intermediate knitter". I don't know exactly what that means. If you'd knitted before, you can do this. If my little pictures aren't enough, check out the Lion Brand website (where you got this pattern) or Ravelry. I'm really hooked on Ravelry. If you like to knit or crochet, you HAVE to check out Ravelry! Aside from basic knit and purl, there are a few different stitches used in this pattern. Above is M1 (or Make one). There is a horizontal stitch right below the next stitch to be knitted. I have my thumb nail on it in the photo above. Lift it onto the left hand needle and knit it--- and you've "made" an extra stitch (increased one).
This photo (above) illustrates p2tog, which means purl 2 together. It's just like a purl, only you take 2 stitches together. It effectively decreases your row by one stitch.
This photo (above) illustrates p2tog-tbl, which means purl two together through back loops. It's the same as purl 2 together, only you do it through the back. With yarn in front, take your right hand needle and insert in the next 2 stitches on the left hand needle in the back- going in the direction of the point. In other words, you are actually poking it throught the second stitch before the first stitch. Then just wrap your yarn and purl them off together.
Here's the first of a dozen bags for 2009. This is a free pattern that I found on the Lion Brand yarn website. It's called "Lion Brand Wood-Ease Purse (pattern number 60402)". To get the free pattern, log onto the Lion Brand website. You'll need to register with the site and create a password. I have been registered on their site for over a year and haven't gotten junk mail or anything. It's a really good site. They have a lot of free patterns, as well as beautiful patterns for sale. If you have any trouble getting onto the site or finding the pattern, let me know and I'll see if I can help. I also want to note that they have a help feature on this site, which I've used. I got hopelessly stuck on a pattern once and sent them an email. Within a day, a very nice lady sent me straight with just a few sentences!
