Dad's Bag

Today, I'm on the road driving to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to visit my Dad. Dad will be 87 next month. Dad is no longer able to care for himself. We moved him from our hometown last month to Baton Rouge where one of my brothers lives. My brother and his family are visiting Dad daily and helping tend to his needs. He is in an assisted-living facility, but there are still areas that he needs additional support.

This Friday is one of our teacher furlough days in my county school system. Monday is a holday so I took this opportunity to drive to Baton Rouge to give my brother and his family a break. I'm bringing one of my portable sewing machines to make some adjustments to Dad's clothing. I'll have my "knitting" and a novel. I'm hoping to visit a quilt shop or two in the mornings. My cousin's wife Niki gave me a wonderful fact sheet about quilt shops in south Louisiana. Dad is no longer an early riser so I should be able to shop and run errands in the mornings.

I've packed my LSU T-shirt to wear while watching the LSU/Florida game with him on Saturday. This is the wheelchair tote I made Dad to hang on the back of his wheelchair to carry his mail and other goodies.

I'm guaranteed great meals. You can eat most anywhere in Louisiana and get awesome meals.

Not Quite Socks

I love socks! I want to knit socks. It makes no sense. I can purchase perfectly great socks, but I want to knit a pair or two or three. The main problem is that I don't really know how to knit. Well, that never stopped me before. I normally fall in love with a project and jump right in without the necessary skills. I did that with counted cross-stich and quilting. Soooo, I decided to start small with knitting. Even I can see that I'm not ready for socks. I can't figure out the pictures in "how to knit socks" books. I made a couple of scarves, but don't wear scarves so washcloths seem to be the best project. It had been so long since I had knitted that I couldn't remember how to do the Purl stitch. A consultation with a teacher at school and studying my "how to book" solved this problem. Online videos were helpful, too.

This is what I've been working on in the evenings and during Saturday football games. It's College football season. Football is one of DH's passions. We see lots of football games this time of year. Geaux, Tigers!

I'm getting better at this knitting thing. I'm beginning to make some sense of the dishcloth pattern. I think I can even recognize which stitch is which. Atlanta quilting friends, does anyone know how to knit socks? I'm thinking I need a private tutor. My knitting guru at work took a class, but didn't finish the project. Kristie.... Brenda.... Anyone to the rescue?

What's Your Current Project?

What's your latest quilting project? What project or projects are you spending time with? The past couple of weeks (whenI've had sewing time), I've been working on a project that I've wanted to work on for several years. The pattern is from my friend/mentor Pat Wys of Silver Thimble Quilt Company. It's a log-cabin quilt made entirely from neutral fabrics. A couple of my "dark" neutrals will either make or break this project. I like the fabrics. I'm just not sure how they will work with the other fabrics. A couple of weeks ago I choose the fabrics I wanted in this quilt, cut the strips and then it sat in a plastic bag. At our last Silver Thimbles Sewing Saturday, I spent the entire time cutting the "logs". I labeled them and then laid them on my sewing table in the order they will be sewed.

Slowly, I'm working my way around the block. I'm using Magic Sizing spray after each round as I press to help keep the blocks square. I am squaring the block up after each round as the pattern suggests.

I have the blocks pinned with the next row of logs ready for sewing.

I had hope to have some time this weekend to continue building "my log cabin." but I took a nap instead :)

Sneak Peak

One of the blogs that I enjoy reading is written by several of the editors of Quiltmaker Magazine. The blog is Quilty Pleasures. Recently one of the posts was about the Nov/Dec 2009 issue which will soon be in mailboxes and magazine racks. Several of my quilting friends myself included are waiting for this issue for the last directions to complete Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, Christmas Lights. I was delighted to find that by going to the Quiltmaker website a preview of the final Christmas Lights layout can be seen. I didn't copy the photo here on my blog just in case you'd rather wait for your magazine to arrive. If you are insatiably curious like me, head to the Quiltmaker website or click here to see the design for Christmas Lights. Here's hoping that the magazine arrives soon! I'm ready to put the blocks on the design wall and see what my quilt top will look like.