Rambling Roses Design

I began this project totally clueless about the size of the end result. I’m attributing that to my quilting newbie-ish-ness. I had a couple (3 maybe?) charm packs of Scrumptious by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.

I decided that these would be great to make the perfect snuggle quilt, you know the kind you want to snuggle with while reading a book or watching TV.

I began slicing and sewing them to make blocks and had a nice stack going.

I sashed each block using Kona cotton in white and then I had rows! It was my first time doing something this big and I was super excited!

When I laid the rows out together on the floor, they looked colorful and bright, but oh so busy. I knew that I needed to add sashing between each row to break things up. I was beginning to sense that this project was going in a different direction than what I envisioned in the first place. I had a sinking feeling that size was going to be a problem.

Yup! It’s massive!!!

While it’s no king size quilt, this thing is huge! My son, Prithvi is almost 6 feet tall and he held it up high for me to take pictures.

I pin basted it on the floor last night and I’ve begun quilting it on my sewing machine. Hah, my tiny machine has got to quilt this BEAST!! I’ve chosen to quilt it using wavy lines and I know it can be done coz I’ve seen Kim do it on her sewing machine countless times and she made many large quilts, larger than this one even. Then again, she’d been quilting for 15 years!

My sewing table can’t handle the beast, so I’m quilting it at our dining table. My family won’t mind that this thing is going to sit there for however long it takes me to geterdone coz we eat dinner at our kitchen table anyways. Kiki’s called dibs on this one already so there’s no turning back, gulp!

The blissful ignorance of a newbie 😀

**Linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced**

Posted by Preeti & filed under Fabric, Quilting, WIP Wednesday. This post has 9 comments.

Impulse yarn purchases – knitters always make them! I’m not much of a sock knitter, but I can’t help resisting a skein of sock yarn every now and then. Especially when it is jewel-toned and gorgeous like this one.

I felt like it would be perfect for a scarf and thought I’d do a quick pattern rummage into the treasure trove that is Ravelry! Hitchhiker was the pattern that showed up number 1 on my list. But I wanted to keep looking for “that perfect pattern”. Yup, my search ended up in a two-day vortex of indecision. I finally gave up in frustration and cast on for none other than the original contender, Hitchhiker. Funny how that happens every time!

The Hitchhiker Scarf pattern is based on the hilarious and enjoyable book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. If you’ve read the book, you will remember that the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42!

Likewise, the Hitchhiker scarf has 42 “teeth” for the patterned edging.

I knew that I would have to either shorten the scarf or do some sort of modification to the pattern to make it work because my skein of Tosh Sock didn’t have the yardage required. I decided to add stripes halfway through my knitting. Some leftover Dream in Color Smooshy from this project looked like it would work for the stripes.

When I was about three-quarters of the way through, I had serious doubts about having enough yarn to make it to the magic number of 42 teeth. I got to the 40th tooth and realized my sci-fi scarf race had to end. I’d run out of both colors of yarn and had just a tiny bit of blue to finish the cast off edge.

42, 41, 40… the galaxy is still doing its thing brilliantly and I haven’t been zapped for not having the perfect number on my Hitchhiker!

Hitchhiker (Ravelry notes)
Pattern: Hitchhiker by Martina Behm
Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock in “Forestry”
Needles: Size US 7 / 4.5 mm

Posted by Preeti & filed under Accessories, Finished Knits, Scarves, Shawl, Stashbusting. This post has 7 comments.

I have been following Chase’s blog, quater inch mark, for quite a while. She does the most intricate piecing and hand quilting. Her posts about everyday life :: crafting or otherwise, are always so sweet. Chase hosted a QAL (quilt along) via the Pack Patch Flickr Group and I signed up to be a part of it. This QAL was so much fun and very interesting!

The blocks were a simple twelve patch, but there was a twist. Every Friday, she would give us two themes that our fabrics had to represent or a creative idea that we had to execute through our blocks. Some weeks were pretty straightforward, like these:

My favorite colors. Aqua and red, ’nuff said!

My favorite classic movie. Mine is Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The pink represents Holly Golightly’s hot pink dress and of course I had to pair it with black because of her famous black dress and chunky pearls 🙂

Some themes made you think harder:

I was born in... I was born in the 70’s, the era of orange, flower power and bell bottoms!

Home Block, representing family, warmth, laughter and a welcome place for friends

and Away Block… vacation, rainbow slushies and fun family times

Some of them were just plain fun:

Cheddar Block. Everyone loves cheese!

Laundry Days. I wish those were filled with bubbles and sunshine! Ah, but in the real world, I’m grateful for the convenience that is my washer and dryer to get me through laundry day 😉

I loved this set:

The moment of me and my parents. My mom’s favorite color is mustardy yellow. My dad once bought her a silk scarf in her favorite color with bright pink accents 🙂

The moment of me and my kids. Sweet memories of picnics in wildflower meadows 🙂

In case you are curious, all my blocks with blurbs about why I chose the fabric combinations that I did are in my flickr album.

There are so many wonderful blocks by other members and lovely finished mini quilts.

The QAL ran for about 10 weeks and then we were given instructions to assemble the blocks together and finish the mini quilt.

Initially, I began to quilt the mini using wavy lines.

But that distorted the blocks and took away from the crisp, clean lines that I loved about each block. So, I ripped that out and opted instead for old faithful… straight line quilting 🙂

Here’s my Pack Patch Mini Quilt all finished and bound.

It’s a fun mix of scraps from my stash and each block represents a different theme which makes it an interesting finished project.

Not sure if I will put this up on a wall. I haven’t washed it yet, so it doesn’t have that crinkly look that I love.

This mini quilt is extra, extra special because I backed it with fabric that my friend Kim gave me.

Thank you Chase for such a fun QAL, I’m looking forward to the next one 🙂

** Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday! **

Posted by Preeti & filed under Fabric, Quilting, Sewn Finishes. This post has 7 comments.

Ah September, I expected you to be so very different! Sigh!!

What should have been the first day of school filled with the excitement of seeing all their friends, exchanging summer stories, getting locker assignments, and meeting teachers, our kids were greeted with the unfortunate news that the teachers’ union in our province declared a full-scale strike 🙁 So, September began with no school and this continues indefinitely!

I decided to take the glass half full approach and told the kids that we would be doing “school” every morning at home. This announcement was met with a few groans, but I did say that there would be plenty of field trips involved to accompany their learning which made them change their minds real fast! Today is Day 5 of our school-at-home routine and I think a trip to Science World is warranted later in the week!

While we do school, I’ve been hand stitching some english paper pieced hexagons.

With our current schedule being the way it is, all I can manage to do are a couple hexagons here and there. I salute the many moms who homeschool their kids all the time!! Man, it’s hard to coax them to stay on course especially given that Prithvi is in Grade 10 and Kiki is in Grade 2. So, it’s mostly me “teaching” Miss. K while occasionally hovering over Prithvi. Yeah, pre-calculus is way different from regrouping numbers!!

I’ve sort of lost my knitting mojo and I’m sure it will return as soon as the leaves begin to turn outside. I’ve got a couple cozy things on my knitting needles so it’s not like I’m stuck looking for a project or anything 😉

Anyways, if I keep up with the the hexie making, I think can get enough done to make a cute notions pouch soon(ish). These little hexies are the perfect way to use up fabric scraps.

I’ve got a bunch of scraps.

If that wasn’t enough, while we were away, I bought a bag of… you guessed right, scraps!

Time to get back to no school-school. Talk soon 🙂

Wewantthisstriketobedonealready!!

Posted by Preeti & filed under Kids, Rambling, Sewing. This post has 7 comments.

It’s hard to switch gears from the pace of summer vacation to back-to-school mode, but such is life and it’s got to be done! We had a splendid time visiting the Oregon coast and it was one of the most memorable holidays we’ve had so far.

Of course, we took thousands of pictures but don’t worry, I’ll only share a few 😉

The Oregon coastline is one of the most spectacular driving routes in North America. As we passed sandy beaches, majestic cliffs, gigantic windswept boulders and lighthouses, it was hard not to be overwhelmed by the breathtaking beauty of it all.

We began our journey by crossing over this very, VERY long bridge from Washington into Oregon. The Astoria-Megler Bridge spans the Columbia River that separates the two states. Our first night was spent in lovely Astoria.

We did all of the touristy things that Astoria has to offer including climbing to the top of the extremely tall Astoria Column.

Once you get to the top, you completely forget that your knees feel like jelly and your lungs are on fire because the view is simply amazing!

The restored home of Capt. George Flavel and his family, the Flavel House Museum was a nice stop in Astoria.

(someone needs to really clean out that dirty camera lens, oops!)

I especially loved this staricase at the back of the house but I do not envy the maids who might have had to trek up and down those stairs all day doing various chores.

And look at all the tiny, perfect stitches on these hand pieced quilts.

I love the soft colors and the look on this one.

If you are ever in Astoria, you HAVE to stop for fish and chips at Bowpicker Fish and Chips. The lines can be long, but the wait is so worth it!!

We left Astoria and continued on down the coast thinking that we would stay the night at Seaside or Cannon Beach. Considering the many hotels that are between these two cities, we thought we’d find a room for the night! NOT!!!!! There wasn’t a single room available unless we drove three hours south to Florence! Vineet jokingly told the kids that we might have to spend the night in the car, they didn’t think it was one bit funny 😀 Anyways, we knew our best bet would be to head inland into Portland and stay there for the night and so we made that impromptu detour. What’s a family vacation without some adventure right? We’ve been to Portland before and we love that city so it was nice to be able to enjoy an unexpected visit 🙂

That “winging it with a place to stay” was only for the one night because the next part of our vacation was actually booked earlier this spring. We found a beach house to rent for a week in Netarts Bay which is part of Tillamook County and it was just amazing. The house is set up on a hill and overlooks the bay to the west and the open ocean to the east.

There’s a walking path from the house straight down to the beach. The sound of the waves and the couple dozen resident seals sunning themselves on the nearby sandbars, bliss!

Spectacular sunsets and views of the Three Arches standing strong in the Pacific Ocean, so very memorable!

The kids go back to school on September 2, the day after Labor Day. Bittersweet after the summer we’ve enjoyed together as a family. Although, I’m looking forward to the quiet so that I can actually get back to my sewing machine!

Summer 9

True that we have a few more weeks until summer officially ends, but September always feels like the beginning of a new chapter!

Posted by Preeti & filed under Family, Travel, Vacation. This post has 3 comments.

We’re heading out to the Oregon Coast in a couple days, so I’m writing this post in-between loads of laundry!

Like many others worldwide, we ventured out to catch a glimpse of the August supermoon. It was lovely, but the sunset before that was even more spectacular. Too bad we didn’t get any sunset pictures since it was all about the moon that night!

While we were waiting for moonrise, we spotted a beaver swimming to his house. I’ve never seen one in the wild before and I admit that I was more thrilled about that sighting than the whole moon thing!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far and none of that Polar Vortex insanity for my wintering Southern Hemisphere friends.

This summer has been so different from our usual try to do everything all at once before it ends style. There has been plenty of just ’cause and things like, let’s go get milkshakes even if we have to drive 40 minutes to that old-fashioned diner that makes them or decide to walk by the lake even though it’s bear country out there and walk really fast to trick those bears, (yeah, that doesn’t really work because mama bear got all protective about her bear cub and I could taste my heart at the back of my throat!!) The things that happen only during the dog days of summer. I love it! I think I’m a summer girl. But then again, I say that about every season 😉

Catch you on instagram while we’re on the road and oh yeah, I’ll be packing enough craft projects to keep my fingers busy. Maybe I’ll even finish something!

Posted by Preeti & filed under Rambling. This post has 3 comments.

I didn’t realize shawl knitting could be so much fun! You take stripes, garter stitch and short rows and you have yourself a winning combination! The Color Affection shawl was the perfect relaxing summer project and I was almost sad when I bound off the last stitch. Not for too long though, as I was plotting my next stripey project 🙂

For this shawl, I used Tosh Merino Light. The yellow is leftover from the Vitamin D cardigan I finished last summer and I paired it with a faded blue and a deep blue-black.

As far as knitterly notes go… I began the shawl using a garter stitch tab using Stephen West’s instructions. As always, I used a larger needle to knit the entire pattern and I’m glad I did because you really have to be mindful while knitting stripes especially when you switch colors. If you knit too tight (like I tend to do), then chances are that you will get a scrunched up edge. The answer to my tight knitting woes :: automatically reaching for larger knitting needles 🙂

Additionally with this particular pattern, to ensure that there is no puckering in the three colored stripes section, I added a yarn over (YO) between the first two stitches on every row. On the return trip, I dropped the YO and finished knitting the row. The extra bit of yarn adds the right amount of slack to help the stripes lay flat and once you’re on the next row, you can’t even tell that there was an (intentional) YO.

I bound off using a larger needle and Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off (JSSBO). Ysolda explains this technique really well in her tutorial. The edge turned out super stretchy and gave the whole shawl and smooth finished look. I’m going to use the JSSBO all the time now!

Color Affection (my Ravelry notes)
Pattern: Color Affection by Veera Valimaki
Yarn: Tosh Merino Light in “Candlewick”, “Denim” & “Thunderstorm”
Needles: Size US 7 / 4.5 mm

The shawl turned out to be a generous size and is so lovely and cozy wrapped around. I’m sure I will be so grateful for its warmth during morning drop-offs at school later this year 🙂

I might even knit this pattern again… now, that’s saying a lot since I hardly ever knit the same pattern twice 😉

Posted by Preeti & filed under Accessories, Finished Knits, Shawl. This post has 8 comments.

A few days ago I posted this on instagram

Our berry bonanza from a local blueberry farm. These are ahh-MAZ-ing! Blueberries are a regular feature in our kitchen throughout the year since they freeze perfectly. Blueberry pancakes, muffins, pies, smoothies, even in salads :: blueberries and crumbled goat cheese over arugula, my fave!

I thought I should try making blueberry scones. Actually, I’m not a big fan of scones because I don’t like the after taste of baking soda. Then, I found this scone recipe which uses fresh blueberries, lemon juice and most importantly, no baking soda!

From start to finish, this batch of scones took less than 30 minutes to make.

The perfect accompaniment to a mid-morning cup of coffee. And no, I didn’t eat all of them… at once 😉

I substituted the milk with buttermilk which made them so light and fluffy and there is just enough sweetness from the berries and a tiny bit of sugar (I used less than a 1/4 cup of sugar). I also didn’t bother with the glaze.

Fresh lemon juice and lemon zest enhance the flavor of the berries. These scones got a thumbs up from Kiki so I’ll definitely be bookmarking this recipe to make again!

I’ve also got a bit of blue action happening with my crafting. A few rows of blue thrown in on my Hitchhiker Scarf.

And some tiny half square triangles with a blue theme 🙂

Posted by Preeti & filed under Accessories, Food, Kids, Quilting, Shawl. This post has 5 comments.

I showed you this picture last time…

Now these are the remnants.

Which can mean only one thing :: I finished my Color Affection Shawl, yaa-hoo!

I definitely learned a few things about combining colors with this project.

See how vibrant that yellow-gold yarn looked in the yarn cake? In the finished shawl, the blue makes the yellow appear quite muted. You can’t tell with these pictures because they are closeups and your eyes are drawn to the yellow. But from a distance, meh!

All that science behind visual color pairing aside, I actually finished something, ahh! I can’t believe it!!

I’ll get this blocked and put up a post with finished pics soon after this heat wave has passed.

There has been a bit of sewing progress too. Rows, plenty of rows.

More about these projects next time.

It’s the weekend, folks! Enjoy!!

Posted by Preeti & filed under Finished Knits, Quilting, Shawl, Stashbusting. This post has 7 comments.

Today, we celebrate this amazing, beautiful country of ours.

Happy Birthday Canada!

Red and white was the flavor of the day. These cheesecake brownies didn’t turn out as pretty as I imagined they would be. However, they get full marks for yumminess!

Of course, it’s also strawberry season (and cherry and blueberry, oh my, I’m in heaven!!) so I made our favorite summer drink.

In a cocktail shaker, crush sliced strawberries, a couple leaves of fresh mint and a half teaspoon of sugar using a muddler. Once the strawberries are smashed well, add ice a slice of lemon and a splash of Sprite to the mixture and shake well to “marry” all of the flavors. Pour into chilled bevy glasses and top up with more Sprite.

For the adults, we added 2 oz of vodka making a grown up version.

I hope you are enjoying summer in your part of the world. (Winter for my lovely southern hemisphere friends :)) I love summer evenings with breathtaking sunsets and daylight finally fading when the clock reads 10 pm.

As the evenings stretch out, our favorite thing to do lately is sit outside until the mosquitoes win and we’re forced to go inside 🙂 For such days, I’ve picked out a summer knitting project. I’m late to the Color Affection party but that changes now that my yarn is wound and I’ve cast on. Endless rows of garter stitch tranquility!

The yarn I’m using, Tosh Merino Light in Denim, Candlewick and Thunderstorm.

Posted by Preeti & filed under Accessories, Canada, Family, Food, Shawl. This post has 2 comments.

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