Beth Ferrier’s Blog

 On newsstands now, in the May issue of McCall’s Quick Quilts, you’ll find this easy and speedy quilt project. Isn’t it a cheerful quilt? It’s made with fabric from my Audrey’s Garden fabric line from P&B. I pieced the quilt (truthfully, in one long day, it’s that easy) and Terrie McCullough did a spectacular job of quilting it for me. (While I usually do my own quilting, I was dead in the middle of manuscript deadline when the project needed to be done.)

The working title was Garden Trellis, but it’s called “May Morning” in the magazine (which I think is a much better name). Our kits have already sold out. Sorry! They don’t even have some of the fabrics in the warehouse any more, darn it all.

 PS. If you’d like to hunt down the fabric for this quilt , this link will take you to a list of the shops that bought the whole collection. You’ll need:

1 1/8 yards AUDG 784 B; 1 1/8 AUDG 784 G; 1 yard AUDG 783 BY; 5/8 yard AUDG 783 RC; 1 1/4 yard AUDG 785 WR; 4 1/2 yards AUDG 780 R

One day while terribly off task, I was clicking through my favorite blogs. Most days I just check in on my favorites and get on with work. Some days, when I’m into serious work avoidance, I click on the links to see what my blog buddies look at when they’re off task.

I’ve been a knitter since God wore short pants, now knitting is what I do so I know I’m not working. As a little kid I taught myself to throw the yarn without letting go of the needles. Dropping the needles, fumbling for the yarn, throwing the stitch and then grabbing the needles again seemed slow and inefficient. So I have my own strange little dance with the yarn that lets me knit quickly and neatly.

It’s funny how something will just catch my fancy and won’t let go. For forty-five years I’ve avoided Fair Isle knitting like the plague, figuring it was slow, slow, slow. Then somewhere online I saw a video where the knitter worked with a yarn in each hand. Of course I can’t find the original video, I don’t think it was this video, but it’s close enough to give you the idea. Oh, my, how cool is that? I had to learn it!

So what’s a goofy girl like me supposed to do? Off to my local yarn shop. With me went Kristin Knits, written by one of my favorite bloggers, Kristin Nicholas. The book is full of incredible projects with lots of color. I love how she adds details to her knitting with embroidery. The projects range from simple scarves to adorable mittens and socks to incredible cardigans.

Of course I decided make the most complicated cardigan in the book. What better way to learn how to knit Fair Isle throwing the yarn with both hands! I’ll surely be an expert by the time I’m done.

I’m not going to tell you how much I spent because my husband reads this blog. (Love you sweetie.)  The yarn is a wool/silk blend by Cascade Yarns called Venezia Worsted. It’s heavenly to knit. (Isn’t that the cutest planter holding the yarn? It’s actually shaped like a coffee cup but I forgot to turn it so you could see the handle.) I’m thinking the blend will be cooler against my skin (which always seems to be too warm what with my inner child playing with matches and all) than a 100% wool yarn.

I promise I’ll keep you posted on my progress/folly. Did you ever jump into a new technique in a big way? Did you finish? Would you do it again?

It’s an old Chinese curse: may you have an interesting life. Thankfully the last few weeks have been blissfully uninteresting. Good for getting things done, mundane things like making kits, filling orders and writing patterns. Good for enjoying time with the family and puttering around the house. Not so good for conjuring up interesting blog posts.

For a few days last week we had spring. We set a record high, whoo hoo! We were practically in bathing suits, even if the high was only sixty degrees. (For my California friends, sixty degrees is down jacket weather. For us it’s time to break out the sunscreen.)

The ice covering the pond melted completely and look who came out from under the rocks!

 I know it’s dark, there was a lot of glare on the water’s surface. I think it was sunlight but since we haven’t seen much of that since last October don’t take my word for it. I’m happy to report that seven fish have survived the winter so far. (That’s a leaf on the surface.) Of course, we had another six inches of snow dumped on us last weekend and temps into the single digits, so the pond is frozen over again.

In between trimming and trimming and trimming the bazillion applique shapes for Now & Forever (who designed this quilt anyway?) I’ve been ruminating on my next challenge. Once again the powers that be invited me to be a part of the Pilgrim and Roy Challenge to benefit the American Quilters Society Museum.

This is the fabric. Now this is interesting. I’m only allowed to add one fabric. I don’t have to use all of them. I can’t use the other side. And the quilt needs to finish around 40 inches square.

I’m playing around with the idea of a pieced background and some applique (there’s a surprise). I’d like to showcase a technique (or two) out of the new book. I’ve purchased a quiet dark blue as one possible additional fabric and a zippy green with confetti of all the colors here as another. I’ll post a picture of the two additional fabrics soon. The blue is safe. The green has a lot of energy. What do you think? What would you do?

It could be the mid-winter blahs, or perhaps it’s post-manuscript blues. What ever it is, I’ve just not been inspired to blog. I’ve opened the writing screen several times only to stare at the monitor wondering what on earth could be interesting enough to write about. In short, lately I’m just not that into me.

That said, I have been busy working on my Now & Forever quilt. (Except when I’ve fallen into the Facebook Scramble hole. I swear I need a twelve step group to tear me away from that goofy word game.)  

I’ve worked out a bit of a plan for my fabric choices for each block. I’ve gathered five shades of each color, mostly to make the applique more interesting, but I’m only using three fabrics in any given block or applique shape. Here are the five shades of pink I’ll use for the quilt. 

From those I chose these three for my Pink Spinel Block. The block calls for Dark, Medium and Light fabrics. While I didn’t choose the darkest dark or the lightest light I still have dark, medium and light fabrics for my block.

For other blocks I may choose the three darkest, or the three lightest, or even every other fabric (the darkest, the lightest and the middlest). The variations in value will make the quilt sparkle.

Here are my first blocks.

I think pink is just a happy color, and we sure can use a little happiness right now.  And here’s a sneak peak at a quick layout of all of the blocks. I’m working away on the applique now, all the freezer paper shapes are cut and pressed to the fabrics. The trimming has begun and soon I’ll be a glue basting fool.

 I’m off to Lansing, MI tonight to giggle with the Capitol City Quilt Guild. Will I see you there?