Listen to the expert

Since all my quilt fabric is packed away due to the paint project and I was itching to sew something (there's something about those long summer days that make me want to sew!) what was I to do but buy more fabric! I've made a couple of blue and white double irish chain quilts for friend's baby boys like this one:

So I had this vision of a similar quilt with big white squares for a light and bright fun summer look. So off I went to my local quilt store and chose my dark blue, medium blue and white. I went up to the owner and asked what she thought. She said it was nice but had I thought of doing a triple irish chain pattern with a floral in the center? I said no and was thinking to myself I really wanted a white look although I do love flowers.

She went over to the blue section and picked up a couple of florals and although still doubtful (why yes I am slow to change) I could see where she was going. She said I should put the white next to the floral as that would really set it off. She added the floral and the transformation was amazing!

I love how this quilt turned out so I am glad I listened to an expert :) Next up is adding the borders.

Before and After

My house was built in the mid-80s and had those oh so lovely popcorn ceilings (whoever thought those up should be shot!) so a couple of months ago I had all of it removed and the entire house painted minus the laundry room and closets painted.

After I recovered (mostly) from the upheaval I decided to go ahead and have the closets and laundry room painted and be done with the whole mess. My outstanding painter also does small home repair jobs so was able to fix several annoying issues in my laundry room.

#1) Several years ago I had the house replumbed since it originally had polybutylene pipe (big lawsuit over that kind) and my plumber left this nice hole above my dryer:

#2) It's hard to tell from this picture but a very small and fairly useless cabinet lived over the washer:

#3) A big ugly wooden shelf also lived over the washer and dryer that held the hot water heater until I had it moved under the house. Seemed to me a hot water heater over two electrical appliances was not best idea.... The shelf was narrow over the washer then widened over the dryer making the space above the dryer hard to use.

#4) My washer lid didn't clear the shelf so my dad cut a notch out for me so it at least opened most of the way:

#5) Space where hot water used to live was wasted and needed some improving:

And now after with new shelving and paint:

My washer lid now opens all the way!

I have SO much more storage and the room is so bright and clean. Although the rest of my house is now covered in drywall dust again...but so worth it!

29 and holding

This weekend I worked on assembling the 31 "plain" blocks that go in the triple irish chain blue and white quilt. When I got done and I had 4 side strips leftover. I'm usually pretty careful ie anal when I cut the strip sets so I was pretty sure I wasn't off by 4. I counted the blocks and sure enough I had 29.

I went into the drawer where I keep all the parts to this project and found the 2 extra center squares. I just hadn't grabbed them all when I started assembling. I whipped up the last 2 blocks in about 20 minutes so I'm ready to start sewing blocks into rows.

One of the 31:

Click to enlarge

Blocking and a block

Thanks to yarn harlots recent post and advice from skittermagoo my first attempt at blocking sweater parts was relatively easy. I did discover the blocking mat I bought from knitpicks is only big enough to hold the fronts and back so I'll have to block the sleeves another day which actually works out well because I still have 5 more rows left on the 2nd sleeve. I blocked the fronts on top of each other to make sure they come out the same size.

Central-park-no-hoodie fronts and back:

Hopefully the seaming will go as well. I'm still on track to take this sweater with me to Scotland in August although it's hard to think of wearing wool when it's 95 out.

Last weekend I made 32 of these:

The pattern is triple irish chain and the fabric reminds me of blue and white china which I love. I'm working on the blocks that will alternate with this one and I can't wait to see it all laid out!

New Blog!

Hi and welcome to Carolina22nStitches!

Stayed tuned for pictures of some nearly finished quilting and knitting projects!

So this first post isn't too bare here is a picture of a quilt I made for my sister a couple of years ago celebrating her first year as a mother: