The first project I started and finished this week was not a quilting project but is part of my quest to find a way to give back to the community in some way and also to have projects I can work on when watching TV with the Hubs or when I am between quilting projects. Two New Year activities on my list are to make knitted caps for Newborns in Need and little quilts for Project Linus. I have quite an inventory of both yarn and fabric so I am set to go on both activities. Since I have not knitted baby hats in quite some time, I decided to knit a prototype cap this week. I have heard that using double pointed needles after a long hiatus is like riding a bike and I found that to be true. I made a tiny cap for a preemie which took less than a day and was a perfect practice piece. I was able to maintain my gauge and produced a hat 5" tall with a 10" circumference. It is the size of my fist. This was made with variegated yarn and size 3 double pointed needles.
The second project that I completed, also in one day, is a Christmas table runner for the dining table at our cabin. It was made using the Easy Striped Table Runner pattern by Karen Montgomery. This is the second table runner I have made using this pattern. You can see my Timesaver Table Runner here. (This table runner was a gift for a dear friend who just bought a canal front home several months before Hurricane Sandy hit the area. Their home was under 4 feet of water but the table runner survived! It took some time but they have restored their home and were blessed to enjoy it this summer.) When using this pattern, it is very interesting to see the variations resulting from the way the fabric is cut. My next table runner project will illustrate this. The table runner finishes to 16" x 45" so you could get two of them out of 1.5 yards of fabric. This runner was made from a kit of pre-cut yardage which measured 22" x 54" and included backing fabric as well. I also used 18" batting which I purchased from a roll of batting during last year's NJ Shop Hop. This is a perfect size for table runners and results in very few scraps.
The candle holder was a recent gift from my sister-in-law. It was made from the trunk of a tree that grew on the front lawn of the house where she and her 5 siblings were raised, my Hubs being one of those siblings. The tree was planted in the early 50s and recently declined into poor health which necessitated it being felled. Each of the siblings now have a wonderful memory of that house and that tree.
And of course, I had a group of QIs watching my every move while I was stitching.
Got to run back to making these wonderful runners!
