In the quilting groove again

This recently resurrected quilt dates back more than ten years. I started it for my mother's 75th birthday. It was meant to alternate nine-patch blocks with appliqued heart blocks in her favourite colour, blue, but as usual I didn't plan it. When I laid all the blocks out, I was dismayed to discover that it was about half the size of a tennis court. So, I quickly formulated plan B: use the heart blocks alone. I managed to finish the quilt on time (midnight the night before counts as 'on time'!), and Mum loved it. (There's nothing like handmade for getting maternal brownie points.)

The leftover blocks languished for years, but a while ago I put them together into an Irish Chain pattern. I started quilting, using pearl thread, and got a fair bit done during the London Olympics, but then my hands became problematic, and unhappily I downed tools for many months.

When my hands finally recovered, I got going again. The patchwork design itself is fairly plain, so I branched out from my usual strictly utilitarian quilting and did a design in the centres of the white squares ... 

... plus a scrolly white border.

I didn't use batting as I wanted a light quilt that's suitable for the cooler summer nights when a sheet alone isn't enough but a proper quilt or blanket is too much. It has already had some use this summer.

When Mum died, I gave the heart quilt to my cousin Karen, Mum's favourite niece. I think Mum would have approved.

Operation S.A.B.L.E.

After eighteen months of silence, I'm reviving this blog – all because I had a tidy-and-sort session last weekend and was appalled yet again by how much stash I have. There are drawers and bags and suitcases full of yarn, and about five boxes of fabric for both dressmaking and quilting.

A colleague told me there's an acronym for this syndrome: 'S.A.B.LE. – Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy'. This struck a resounding chord, so I have vowed to go on a stash diet, and buy no more new yarn and fabric until I get rid of the old. 

I'm starting with yarns. Those I'm keeping for special projects have gone into one drawer. The rest are in a bag by the sofa, and will be used for TV knitting – scarves, hats, slippers and other things that I will give to charity. I made a start with this scarf, which I finished in about a week:

Specs
One 200-gram ball of 8-ply Alpaca from Bendigo Woollen Mills
5 mm needles
I used a favourite stitch, a slipstitch rib:

        Cast on an odd number of stitches (45 for this scarf).
        Row 1: Knit 1, then (slip 1 purlwise, knit 1) to end of row.
        Row 2: Knit all stitches.

This stitch is one I found in Joelle Hoverson's Last-minute Knitted Gifts. She used it for a rug that I loved from the instant I saw it, and which I made as a friend's housewarming present.

The stitch is simplicity itself (no purling!), very quick and rhythmic to do, and produces a lovely lofty fabric with vertical ridges on the front and a loopy effect on the back. I've also made several charity scarves from this stitch, and I'd love to see it in a sweater.

One ball of yarn down, so many more to go...