Not Knitting

I did promise to post about some crafty endeavors soon, I just didn't promise that craftiness would involve knitting. I am knitting - finishing a neck cowl, using up yarn from the TYC on a pair of mittens, and even working on a summer shrug. However, my latest endeavor involved this:
A Quilt!! I've dabbled a bit into sewing and have made a couple of hand tied quilts many, many years ago. It just so happens that my favorite LYS is within a quilt shop. So I'm constantly bombarded by beautiful quilts every time I go to look/fondle yarn or take a knitting class. I have a colleague who has shown me a couple of quilts she's made, so I guess the quilting bug is contagious.

I have a friend who will be celebrating a milestone birthday very soon. I thought she might like a little something to wrap up in on a chilly evening. I also thought a quilt would be something I could finish relatively quickly. Well - perhaps not so much. I started this quilt top several weeks ago & only finished the borders yesterday. I still have to piece together the back & then send it off to someone for the actual quilting. My machine is pretty old & simple & I've never done machine quilting before. So - I figure if I want this to look nice & get done before my friend celebrates another milestone, I should pay someone who knows what they're doing to quilt it.

While the quilt is far from perfect (I have a lot to learn & practice in regards to measuring & squaring up a quilt, I just love how the colors blend together. I used a set of batik fabric strips known as "Bali Pops". These strips help alleviate much of the cutting that's done during quilting. Now if I can just find something magical to help me with measuring accurately. The colorway of this set of strips is called "Green Tea" - a perfect color combo for my friend.

I've enjoyed this quilting process & love the colors. However, I can't foresee it becoming a passion or accumulating a stash of fabric any where near the likes of my stash of yarn. Quilting ties me to a machine which makes it very not portable. If the quilt is done before we head out on our next road trip adventure (post about that coming soon), I'll be sure to share.

Back to enjoy the afternoon sun & knitting.... Ciao!