Recycled blanket continue

After I finished the blankets, I was left with these knitted triangles from the original blanket. I thought I would use it to make a cushion cover or something similar, but as usual plans changed along the way...

I ended up with a string of knitted bunting instead.

I used slip stitches to attach the triangles and chain stitches in between. I followed this with two rows of single crochet stitches.

Here you can see the 'front' and 'back' of the string.

I had this ball of variegated turquois yarn for a while, but it never really spoke to me. It just sat there in the stash. And then suddenly last week it had something to say... (such fickle things, yarn)

A quick recap of 2011

Before I get into 2012, let's have a quick look back over the past year to see what have been accomplished:

Tried black-work for the first time:

black work portrait

Started knitting again - first time since childhood:

knitted portrait

mystery knitted project - unfinished

Did only one crochet project (unfinished as yet):

babette

Made two tutorials:

templates

embroidery pattern

Made two quilts:

stash-buster 1

stash-buster 2

Traveled to three countries:

Kenya

South Africa

Oman

Started a few long term project (still going...):

Project ABC

Arabian inspired designs

And a few other odd things:

I revamped the blog and designed a logo

I visited a few souks

I have many plans for 2012, which include lots of stitching, monetizing and travel.

Now, lets get to work!

Just playing...

...with a few fabric stips.

Trying my hand at fabric weaving.

No project in mind yet.

Stash-buster 2

The second stash-buster quilt is finished.  Another triangle quilt, this time pink.  I have one more blue one to finish, then we'll move on to something new.

Layering happens like this:

I put the backing fabric on the tiled floor and stick it down with masking-tape.

I then add the "batting".  For these quilts I used fleece blankets.  They are the perfect size, not to thick.. and very affordable.

The pieced layer comes on top.  When everything is smoothed down, I secure the three layers together with quilting safety-pins.

When everything is secured, I cut off the excess backing.  I leave a 5-10cm margin to accommodate any crawling.

The finished quilt.  I used straight stitching this time.  It went a lot faster, but I had more 'crawling' in the fabric.

I will try something new next time.

Some more IKEA backing.

Stash-buster 1

Stash-buster No 1 is done.  

It was a bit of a trial blazer, as I tried out a few ideas, but I think it turned out okay.

I didn't do a lot of planning for this one, I just cut a pile of blocks and started working.  

The triangles were cut years ago and ended up back in the stash box unused, so I started with those and just added more blocks to make up a small single blanket.

 It was the first time I tried machine-quilting.  

I like hand-quilting more, but I just don't have the time to work my way through all the stash by hand.  

I am very impressed with my very basic bottom-of-the-range Brother sewing machine - I think it did a great job.  

I used a variegated quilt-thread, which I like a lot - I think I'll stick with that for the following quilts too.

(Look how nicely the afternoon sun shines on my work space...)

I have already pieced the tops of the next two quilts, but I think I will change the quilting slightly.  

On this one I quilted around every block.  It took forever and it involved a lot of turning the whole blanket around while in the machine.  Not the perfect situation with my machine. Oh, and working away the loose ends! On the next one I will only do straight lines...

The back of the quilt is from IKEA.  I bought a whole roll a few years ago to use as table cloths for a party.  I am still trying work it all away...  I think I have enough to back ALL the stash-buster quilts I still plan to make.