A knitted shawl

I finished this shawl on the April 21 and just forgot to post! At 20" X 62", it's snuggly and warm. 

I used my own pattern and Kenzie yarn. I did an 18 stitch cable on both long sides of the shawl with 3 full rows of garter stitch on all four sides. The rest of the shawl, the center 54 stitches in each row, was also garter stitch. 

close up of one side

 I used the cable design from Knit Picks Cable Mug Cozy with slight modification.

close up of other side

The color is more like this - a little teal.

I think this shawl will spend a lot of time in the car - it feels wonderful when we are traveling.

Decisions...

We've been very busy with all that is going on around here.

First a Ray update - the cancer surgery will be in 2 1/2 weeks. When the cancer surgeon is finished, the general surgeon will take over and fix whatever, if anything, else is wrong. What can be felt in the abdomen/seen on the CT scan might be an inflammation and/or a couple of hernias. In the meantime, Ray feels great. He is in a Prostate Cancer Prevention Study for the University of Wisconsin and has absolutely no side effects from those drugs. 

I haven't done much quilting but I have been working on a leader/ender quilt from 2 1/2" batik squares. I decided it was time to put it together. So up it went on the design wall. Sorry this photo isn't very clear.

When I was throwing up the 9-patches that will have white around them, some got turned and this became another possibility.

Decisions, decisions...

Retreat Projects

We never got around to taking a group picture at our retreat - we were just so busy having fun! Here are a few shots...

Leona's spring placemat. 

Krista's gorgeous batik quilt.

Ann's blocks with MANY small pieces.

Ann working on one of those cute blocks with Fanny, her machine.

Polly's beautiful quilt.

Another quilt of Polly's still in need of a couple of borders. 

The beginning of one of Sandy's quilts.

Another of Sandy's pretty quilts.

Saundra making a gazillion black and white nine patches.

Betsy's cute table mats.

Another of Polly's quilts. 

Barb's neat flower wall hanging totally finished!

The center of Leona's quilt - she spent almost ALL of one day cutting the small pieces!

Betsy's great star quilt.

I finished this quilt top.

And I made this rather bright quilt.

We all had a productive and fun three days. Can't wait to do it again!

A relaxing weekend

This past weekend, I was at a retreat with a group of great friends. We were at the Lutheran Outdoor Ministries Center near Oregon,  Illinois. It's been a while since I've quilted with many of these ladies. Actually all nine of us have never had a retreat together!

This Center is so nice and the staff members are fantastic.

Our retreat was supposed to start late Friday afternoon but we were able to get in much earlier so most of us had the whole day to sew! 

This is the room we sewed in:

We ate our meals in the same area - just 'around the corner'.

My sewing area was in a corner by some windows. I took this photo on Sunday and it was raining.

In the evening, when I went to my room just a short walk, I spent a little time in this corner.

It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend. I'll post some of the projects tomorrow.

A little color!

As I switched out all of the winter and snowman decorations with spring things, I made a list of small quilts that I wanted to make. One was a table runner for the behind-the-couch table. 

About a week later, I made this runner.

The fabrics are batiks, except for the white. I had a package of thirty 10"X10" pieces that I bought in Juneau, Alaska in 2012. I added 5 more pieces in green, blue, and purple to make 35 different pieces.

It is 14" wide and 43 1/2" long.  I machine quilted the runner with straight lines across the shorter width on the colored squares. Then I quilted in the ditch around the outer colored border.

It looks more springlike than the view out my window!

A Baby Quilt for Donation

I started this quilt at Quilt Camp last fall. 

This was a kit and the backing was included so I decided not to change the size. It is 37" X 28", a little small.

The backing is cute vehicles.

I finally got back to this in February. The windmills are quilted in spirals and the border is quilted with echo shells.

The binding was finished in March. 

Whew! One would think it was a big, difficult project! It wasn't!

A tiny vest

I finished this vest for a 14" doll a while back. I just sent it to our almost 10-year-old granddaughter. She turns 10 in 3 days. I really hope it fits one of her loved dolls!

It is really symmetrical - I just didn't get a great picture of the back.

I used the pattern Summer Vest for American Girl Dolls by Janet Longaphie. It's free on ravelry.com. I made a couple changes to the 'ribbing'.  The yarn is Ella Rae Classic Superwash from my stash.

Still Jumping Hurdles

Ray’s surgery has been schedule for mid-May at the University of Wisconsin Hospital. We both wish it was this week but the doctors don’t seem to be in as big a hurry! We were told it is a slow growing cancer and we know it has not spread but nevertheless, it would be nice to have it gone.

Ray was asked to be in a study for prostate cancer prevention – it will not benefit him but it may benefit our sons, grandsons, and others. We find out when he begins the study today. Some things do happen fast! We will be back in Madison soon so he can have the study work-up. His part will end the day before surgery.

Ray continues to feel well. We are so grateful that many of our prayers have been answered.